The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1886-10-06

fled themselves with honey, TWO or three
are allowed to escape, the hunters taking
care to observe the direction Of their
fight and to follow them as rapidly as
possible. When these bees are lost
sight of, two or three others are set
free and their course followed, and SO
on until the identical tree has been
reached II sometimes happens that
one set of bees take an opposite course
to their predecessors. The hunter
knows by this that he has passed the
tree, or otherwise missed his mark,
and he retraces his Steps and follows
the lead of the unerring bees. The
sight of the bee /, 50 strong and keen
that it can descry it's home at an i'm
mense distance. ~ II is aNwel-ascer-
tanned fact that if bee be caught on a
flower at any given distance south OF
its home, and then be taken in close
box an equal distance north OF it, the
little creature, when set free, after fly
ing in a circle for moment, will take
a straight course to its identical tree.
Therefore, the hunter who has intelli-
gence, patience and perseverance on
his side is sure to be successful in the
end.
1t not unfrequently happens that
when in the immediate neighborbood
of the tree. the hunter may not be able
to distinguish the particular one he is
searching for from the rest, as the en-
trance to the bee-castle is commonly
many feet above the ground. he is
not then at the end of his resources.
A small fire is kindled, and upon a
piece of stone or other suitable
material made hot, some honeycOmb
is placed; the smell will at once induce
the whole colony of bees to come down
from their citadel, when the hunters
proceed with their axes to bring down
the tree. A vigorous writer thus de-
scribcs the proceedings, when the
party of hunters had traced the honey
laden bees to their hive in the hollow
trunk of a blasted oak, into which,
after buzzing about for time. they en-
tered at a hole about sixty feet from
the ground: 1.-TWO of the bee-hunters
now piled their axes vigorously at the
foot of the tree, to level it with the
ground. The mere spectators and
amateurs in the meantime drew Oft tc
a cautious distance, to be out of the way
of the falling Of the tree and the ven
geance of its inmates. The Earring
blows of the axe seemed to have no Ell
feet in alarming or agitating this mos
industrious community; they continued
to ply at their usual occupations; some
arriving full-freighted into port, Others
sallying forth on new expeditions, lik'
so many merchantmen in a money
making metropolis, little suspicious 0
impending bankruptcy and downfall
Even loud crack, which announced
the disruption of the trunk, failed t
divert their attention from the intens'
pursuit of gain. At length, down cam'
the tree with a tremendous crash
bursting open from end to end ant
displaying all the boarded treasures o
the commonwealth. One of the hunt
ers Immediately ran up with wisp o
lighted hay, as q defense against tn
bees. The latter, however, made nj
attack and sought no revenge; the.
seemed Supplied by the catastrops
and unsuspicious of its cause, remain
ing crawling and buzzing about TIL
ruins, without offering us any molesta
ton" -, .r
When the tree had been brough
down, the whole party fell to witt
spoon and hunting-knife to scoop on
the combs with which the hollow trunl
was stored. A single tree has beef
known to yield from one hundredweigh
to one and half hundredweight.
''SOme of the combs were old and O
deep brown color; others were beau
tifully white, and the honey in thei
cells was almost limpid. Such of tn
combs as were entire were placed il
camp kettles, to be conveyed to the en-
campment; those which had bee
broken by the fall were devourcd o.
the spot. Every stark bee-hunter wa
to be seen with a rich morsel in hi
hand, dripping about his fingers, an
disappearing as rapidly as IL cream tai
before the holiday appetite of a school
boy"
Not in America alone, but in Afric
also, the wild-bee is an object of pull
suit by the natives. Even the Hotter
tots show considerable shrewdness !
obtaining the wild honey. The authc
Of an Expedition into the Interior {
|, Africa" thus describes an operation {
this kind: lone of the Hottentots oil
: served a number of bees entering
hole in the ground which had formerl
belonged to some animal of the weas'
, kind. As he made signs for us to com
to him, we turned that way, fearing b
|, had met with some accident" 1t ",
the home of recent swarm. "Whe
, the people began to unearth the bee
l did not expect that We should escaE
being severely stung; but they knew
we'll how to manage an affair OF tn
=. kind, that they robbed the poor he'
with the greatest ease and safet.
, Before they commenced digging, a fiji
was made near the hole, and col
, stantly supplied with damp fuel,
produce cloud of smoke. In this II
,, workmen were completely envelope'
! so that the bees returning from tn
) field were prevented approaching, an
, those which flew out of the nest wei
. driven by it toa distance"
The same writer mentions anoth'
s incident, even more intereslin,
t "Whilst l was engaged in the cha
one day on foot with a Namaqua a
tendant, he pickedup small stone; !
9 looked at it earnestly, then over I'll
e plain, and threw it down again.
: asked what it was. He said there WI
the mark of a bee on it. Taking it u
: l also saw on it small pointed drc
e of wax, which had fallen from the b
r in its fight. The Namaqus notice
| fhn Hirnntinp tha ,Hn,n+ e tho .1ro,, i