Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1886-10-14

Oh nOncycOmD. w men tncy nave SatiS-
fed themselves with honey, two or three
are allowed to escape. the hunters taking
care to observe the direction of their
flight 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. 1t 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 is so strong and keen
that it can descry its home at an i'm
mense distance. 1t is a well-ascer-
tanned fact that if a 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 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 neighbOrhOod
of the tree. the hunter may not be able
to distinguish the particular one he is
searching for from the rest, rs the en-
trance to the bee-castle is commonly
many feet above the ground. He is
not then at the end of his resources.
| - l. lol
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-
scribes the proceedings, when the
party of hunters had traced the honey
laden bees to their hive in the hollow
trunk of blasted oak, into which,
after buzzing about for time. they en-
tered at 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 il with the
ground. The mere spectators and
amateurs in the meantime drew off to
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 eff
feet in alarming or agitating this most
industrious community; they continued
to ply at their usual occupations; some
arriving full-freighted into port, others
sallying forth on new expeditions, like
so many merchantmen in a money
making metropolis, little suspicious Of
impending bankruptcy and downfall.
Even loud crack, which announced
the disruption of the trunk, failed to
divert their attention from the intense
pursuit of gain. At length, down came
the tree with tremendous crash.
bursting open from end to end and
displaying all the boarded treasures of
the commonwealth. One of the hunt
ers Immediately ran up with a wisp Of
lighted hay, as defense against the
bees. The latter, however, made no
attack and sought no revenge: they
seemed Supplied by the catastrope
and unsuspicious of its cause, remain
ing crawling and buzzing about the
ruins, without offering us any molesta-
| ton"
When the tree had been brought
down, the whole party fell to with
spoon and hunting-knife to scoop out
the combs with which the hollow trunk
was stored. A single tree has been
known to yield from one hundredweight
to one and half hundredweight.
Some of the combs were old and of
a deep brown color; others were beau
tifully white, and the honey in their
cells was almost limpid. Such of the
combs as were entire were placed in
camp kettles, to be conveyed to the en-
campment: those which had been
broken by the fall were devoured on
the spot Every stark bee-hunter was
to be seen with rich morsel in his
hand, dripping about his fingers. and
disappearing as rapidly as cream tart
before the holiday appetite of a school
boy"
Not in America alone, but in Africa
] also, the wild-bee is an object of pur-
asuit by the natives. Even the Hotten-
tots show considerable shrewdness in
obtaining the wild honey. The author
Africa" thus describes an operation of
tnlS kllu. -one Vi tue IlOllcntOiS oU-
served Il number of bees entering a
hole in the ground which had formerly
belonged to some animal of the weasel
kind. As he made signs for us to come
to lin. we turned that way, fearing he
had met with some accident" 1t was
the home of a recent swarm. ''When
! the people began to unearth the bees,
l did not expect that we should escape
being severely stung; but they knew so
we'll how to manage an affair Of this
kind: that they robbed the poor bees
with the greatest ease. and safety.
Before they commenced digging, a fire
was made near the hole, and con-
stantly supplied with damp fuel, to
produce cloud OF. smoke. In this the
workmen were completely enveloped,
so that the bees returning from the
field were prevented. approaching, and
those. hich flew out.of the nest were
driven by it to distance"
The same writer mentions another
incident, even more. Interesting:
whilst 1 was engaged in the chase
one day on foot with Namaqua at
tendant, he picked up small stone; he
| looked at it earnestly, then over the
! plain. and threw it down again. l
asked what it was. He said there was