large bees’ combs. The tree was straight and smooth-
barked and without a branch, till at seventy or eighty
feet from the ground it gave out the limb which the bees
had chosen for their home. As the men were evidently
looking after the bees, I waited to watch their operations.
One of them first produced a long piece of wood apparently
the stem of a small tree or creeper, which he had brought
with him, and began splitting it through in several directions,
which showed that it was very tough and stringy.
He then wrapped it in palm-leaves, which were secured
by twisting a slender creeper round them. He then
fastened his cloth tightly round his loins, and producing
another cloth wrapped it round his head, neck, and body,
and tied it firmly round his neck, leaving his face, arms,
and legs completely bare. Slung to his girdle he carried a
long thin coil of cord ; and while he had been making
these preparations one of his companions had cut a strong
creeper or bush-rope eight or ten yards long, to one end
of which the wood-torch was fastened, and lighted at the
bottom, emitting a steady stream of smoke. Just above
the torch a chopping-knife was fastened by a short cord.
The bee-hunter now took hold of the bush-rope just
above the torch and passed the other end round the trunk
of the tree, holding one end in each hand. Jerking it up
the tree a little above his head he set his foot against the
trunk, and leaning back began walking up it. It was
wonderful to see the skill with which he took advantage ol
the slightest irregularities of the bark or obliquity of the
stem to aid his ascent, jerking the stiff creeper a few feet
higher when he had found a firm hold © for his bare foot.
It almost made me giddy to look at him as he rapidly got
up—thirty, forty, fifty feet above the ground; and I kept
wondering how he could possibly mount the next few feet
of straight smooth trunk. Still, however, he kept on with
as much coolness and apparent certainty as if he wTere
going up a ladder, till he got within ten or fifteen feet of
the bees. Then he stopped a moment, and took care to
swing the torch (which hung just at his feet) a little
towards these dangerous insects, so as to send up the
stream of smoke between him and them. Still going on,
in a minute more he brought himself under the limb, and,
in a manner quite, unintelligible to me, seeing that both
hands were occupied in supporting himself by the creeper,
managed to get upon it.
By this time the bees began to be alarmed, and formed
a dense buzzing swarm just over him, but he brought
the torch up closer to him, and coolly brushed away
those that settled on his arms or legs. Then stretching
himself along the limb, he crept towards the nearest
comb and swung the torch just under it. The moment
the smoke touched it, its colour changed in a most curious
manner from black to white, the myriads of bees that had