The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-06-18

on the cloudiest OF days, you may rest easy that
the weather Is going to turn out fine after all.
shut up the entrance to their hive with thick
wall Of WAX. leaving Il place OF inRress ana
"Rress through WHICH only one bee at tune
then no wax is placed against the entrance.
Ihe hggcst aud Oldest natural beehive IN
the world is located in Mendocino county. CALI
fornia. 1t is rift in the face Of all immense
cliff. and according to local traditions there Is
bees make their home. This remarkable curl
osity is known to the residents In its vicinity
as the Bee Rock They regard i as something
beehive ot the kind in the world. perhaps.
There is no possibility Of any one happen
for ail hours ~ the day a swarm OF insects
hovers about lts entrance for several hundred
away 1t serves as an almost unnecessary
warning not TO approach too near But the
spirits, who. don suits OF leather clothing and
masks OF wire. and carry huge torches II re-
the rock Tor bees by the Ru1drsds Of thou
sands descend upon the visitor. investing
Rim from eyer every point 9nd fairly dREa astdg
they keep up a terrible humming which bids
fair to dcaien the human intruder and angrily
81 bees forms and nearly obscures the sun.
Tho air grows heavy with a fetid odor, which
stiles the adyontursr and fine Dust which 10
Sits through the screens Of his wire mask
cnusing, the eyes to smart painfully Into the
sects fly to be consumed by thousands and
mark h. progress by mounting heaps of their
charred remains.
ut il well nigh impossible to ascertain the
actual entrance to the big bee cave. There is n
cavern in the cliff which appears to have an
oriflce which extends from top to bottom of the
inner VA II. but most Of the bees hover around
holo about twenty inches in diameter and
cgress. Some days II Is impossible TO ace even
the cliH. SO completely covered is IT with
and oy from IN and out ev OF ma 'he
IN summer the ground, near the natural
hive is strewn, with dead birds which haye
been stuna to death while, endcavorng to fly
through the swarms of bees. Quadrupeds
seldom venture within half mile Of the place
certain death is lurking: there. in front OF the
opening there is a great pile OF dried honey
which has flowed from The Interior. 1t has the
gcalcI after its iischarGc from a vo!cano.
=, some men who live near, the natural bee.
ter,,s day when the bees. were half dormant
pnd poured quantity Of henzne and n.tro:
built tremendous wood firc which filled the
cavern with flames and tossed red, lot ombrrs
destroyed and the safety Of the explorers. so
far as the insects went was thus assured.
tcrast TO be seen after they eainsd the Interior
walls inhrmsd in Wax and dried honey and
bottom to supply New York for Ave years But
unfortunately it was unfit for use. heIng oiled
with dead hoes and ashes from the fire. ME
explorers did not lingcr in prolitess cOnteh-
rlHtion. for the air in the cave was Initiated and
sitting. One remarkable thing in connection
with their visit and dcpredations il the fact
that although iunumerabe millions of bees
must have been annihilated by them. next
summer they we're as numerous and pugna-
cious as ever.
The Indians Of Mendocino county say that
long before the coming Of the white man and
q ed
men of their tribe were bound hand and foot
and carried TO within IA short distance Of the
bee cave by warriors wrapped in impenetrahle
blankets. There they were abandoned to suf-
fer the terrible agony of being stung to death. "