in hollow trees, and also in holes in the ground which have been made by some burrowing animals. The natives, to obtain the honey, have merely to blow into those holes, upon which the bees instantly decamp without resistance, and the plunderers, without making use of any defensive covering, pull out the combs with their hands, and deposit them in vessels brought for that purpose. It is probable from this account of the facility with which this species is deprived of its stores, and the fearlessness of the plunderers, that, like others to be afterwards mentioned, it has no sting. A second species found here is of a larger size and brighter colour than our domestic bee. These build their nests on the branches of trees, and generally at a great height. At a certain period of the year the inhabitants of the towns go out in a body to despoil them, and return laden with the booty. The third species is a remarkably small bee, not larger than a common fly, and of a blackish hue. Their honey is not generally much regarded; but the children sometimes amuse themselves by cutting a hole in the trunk of the tree where it is deposited, and carrying it off. Nay, Knox tells us that the inhabitants not only devour the honey, but have a strong taste—akin to that of the Hottentots who feed on the larvæ—for the bees themselves; and that when they discover a swarm on an inaccessible branch of a tree, they stupify them with the smoke of torches, causing them to drop on the ground, when they gather them and carry them home, "boiling and eating them, and esteeming them excellent food."
