the distance; and at the point where they meet, will be found the hive.

To track them on the line of their flight, so as to judge of this point, is the hunter's great care; and he rarely fails to find the spot, where, in some hollow, but not much decayed tree, these busy creatures have built their nest, and stored their sweets perhaps for years. To get at the honey the tree must be felled, and prostrated on the ground, and the poor insects lose every thing they possess, if, indeed, they escape with their lives. Hundreds of pounds of the most beautiful honeycomb have been found within the body of a single tree.

Even where the bee-hives are not stationary during the season of flowers, the instinct of the bee leads it always to find its home. In some countries it is a common custom with the people to remove their hives from one district to another, that the bees may make a larger collection of honey. In Lower Egypt, the flowers do not bloom so early by several weeks as in Upper Egypt, where the climate is milder. About the end of October the hives are collected together

from the different villages, numbered, marked with the names of the owners, and placed in boats prepared for the purpose. The boatmen take charge of them, and they are conveyed slowly up and down the river Nile, stopping a few days at a time, at certain stages of the journey, where the pasture for the bees is most plenty, the hives remaining in the boats. In about three months, they are returned to the place from which they had been carried; the little bees having in this way visited the sweet orange-flowers of the country, the Arabian jessamine, and a variety of other blossoms, repaying their owners for their care of them with a quantity of delicious honey, and an abundant supply of beeswax.

In Persia, and in some parts of Asia Minor, the practice of transporting the bees from place to place, in search of food, is said to be common. In the spring, when the herbage of the low countries has become dry and parched, the owner of the hives closes them up tightly, and conveys them to some village in the neighbouring mountains, where sweet flowers are plenty, and hires some one to watch and take

care of them till, in October, he removes them back to his home. These hives are usually made of straw, and therefore are light, and more easily transported in this way.

"Thou cheerful bee, come, freely come,

And travel round my woodbine bower,
Delight me with thy wandering hum,
And rouse me from my musing hour.
Oh, try no more yon tedious fields,
Come, taste the sweets my garden yields;
The treasure of each blooming mine,
The bud, the blossom, all are thine.

"And careless of the noontide heat,
I'll follow as thy ramble guides,
To watch thee pause to chafe thy feet,
And sweep them o'er thy downy sides.
Now in a flower-bell nestling lie,
And there thy busiest labour ply;
Then o'er the stem, though fair it grow,
With touch rejected, glance and go.

"O nature kind! O labourer wise!

Thou roam'st along the summer ray,
Glean'st every bliss thy life supplies,
And meet'st, prepared, thy wintry day.

Go, envied, go, with crowded gates, The hive thy rich return awaits; Bear home thy store in triumph gay, And shame each idler on thy way!

CHAPTER XII.

WAX-HONEY.

THE wax which we obtain from the industrious little bee is an article of great value. It is the wax of which the bee forms her beautiful comb; of this the cells are built, where the honey and the bee-bread are stored, where the eggs are laid, and the young bees are nursed.

The combs, filled with honey, when taken from the hive, are first placed to drain, when the finest and purest honey runs from them. They are then closely pressed to obtain the remainder; after which, all the particles of the comb are collected for the sake of the To prepare the wax for use, the combs are put into a woollen bag, and the bag placed in a kettle of water, over the fire. When the water has boiled for some time, the bag is taken out, and the water is set

wax.