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friend. PH answer for it, judging by the sign
vou carry between the windows of your face,”
returned Ben, laughing; “but hush, men,
hush. Th at first bee is filled, and begins to
think of home. —He’ll soon be off for Honey
Centre, and I must keep my eye on him.—
\ow, stand a little aside friends, and give m-e
room for my craft.”
The men complied, and La Bourdon was
n ow all intense attention to his business. The
bee first taken had, indeed filled itself to sa
tiety, and at first seemed to be too heavy to
rise* on the wing. After a few minutes of prep*
aration, however, up it went, circling around
the spot, as if uncertain what course to take.
The eye of Ben never left it, and when the
insect darted off, as it soon did, in an air line,
he saw’ it for fifty yards after the others had
lost sight of it. Beil took the range, and was
silent fully a minute while he did so,
‘‘That bee may have lighted in the corner
of yonder swamp,” he said, pointing, as he
spoke, to a bit of low laud that sustained a
growth of much larger trees than those which
grew in the “opening,” “or it has crossed
the point of the wood, and struck across the
prairie beyond, and made for a bit of thick
forest that is to be found about three miles
further. In the last case I shall have my
trouble for nothing.”
“What t'other do TANARUS” demanded Elksfoot,
..with very obvious curiosity.
■k“ Sure enough ; the other gentleman must
be nearly ready for a start, and we’ll see what
mad he travels. ’Tis always an assistance
to be a bee-hunter to get one creature fairly
off, as it helps him to line the next with great
er certainty.”
Ben would say ac iyve, and sartain, though
he was above saying creatoore, or creatui. —
This is the difference between a Pennsylva
nian and a Yankee. We shall not stop,
however, to note all these little peculiarities
in these individuals, but use the proper or the
peculiar dialect, as may happen to be most
convenient to ourselves.
But there was no time for disquisition, the
second bee now being ready for a start. Like
his companion, this insect rose and encircled
the stump several times, cre it darted away
towards its hive, in an air-line. So small
was the object, and so rapid its movement,
that no one but the bee-hunter saw the ani
mal after it had begun its journey in earnest.
To his disappointment, instead of flying in
the same direction as the bee first taken, this
little fellow went buzzing off, fairly at a right
angle! It was consequently clear that there
were two hives, and that they lay in very dif
ferent directions.
Without wasting his time in useless talk,
Le Bourdon now caught another bee, which
was subjected to the same process as those
first taken. —When this creature had filled it
self, it rose, circled the stump as usual, as if
to note the spot for a second visit, and darted
away, directly in a line with the bee first ta
ken. Ben noted its flight most accurately,
and had his eye on it, until it was quite a
hundred yards from the stump. This he was
enabled to do, by means of a quick sight and
long practice.
“ We’ll move our quarters, friends,” said
Buzzing Ben, good-humoredly, as soon as
satisfied, with this last observation, and gath
ering together his traps for a start. “ I must
angle for that hive and I fear it will turn out
to be across the prairie, and quite beyond my
reach for to-aay.”
The prairie alluded to was one of those
small natural meadows, or pastures, that are
to be found in Michigan, and may have con
tained four or five thousand acres open land.
The heavy timber of the swamp mentioned,
jutted into it, and the point to be determined
was to ascertain whether the bees had flown
over these trees, towards which they had cer
tainly gone in an air-line, or whether they
had found their hive among them. In order
to settle this material question, anew pro
cess was necessary. •
“ I must “angle” for them chaps,” repeat
ed Le Bourdon ; “and if you will go with
tne, strangers, you shall soon see the nicest
part of the business of bee-hunting. Many
a man who can 1 line ’ a bee, can do nothing
at an ‘angle.”
As this was only gibberish to the listeners,
no answer was made, but all prepared to fol
low Ben, who was soon ready to change his
ground. The bee-hunter took his way across
the open ground to a point fully a hundred
tods distant from his first position, where he
found another stump of a fallen tree, which
he converted into a stand. The same pro
cess was gone through with as before, and Le
bourdon was soon watching two bees that
had plunged their heads down into the cells
of the comb. Nothing could exceed the
gravity and attention of the Indians all this
time. They had fully comprehended the bu
siness of “lining” the insects towards their
hives, but they could not understand the vir-
g®©iri2{si&iEi a, ats& &is y ©asbit it s •
tue of the “angle.” The first bore so strong !
an affinity to their own pursuit of game, as ,
to be very obvious to their senses; but the
last included a species of information to !
which they were total strangers. Nor were •
they much the wiser after Le Bourdon had
taken his “angle ;” it required a sort of in- 1
duction to which they were not accustomed, j
in order to put the several parts of his pro
ceedings together, and to draw the inference.
As for Gerehom, he affected to be familiar
with all that was going on, though he was
just as ignorant as the Indians themselves.
This little bit of hypocrisy w’as the homage
he paid to his while blood —it being very un
seemly, according to his view of the matter,
for a pale face not to know more than a red
skin.
The bees were some little time in filling
themselves. At length one of them came out
of his cell, and was evidently getting ready
for his flight. Ben beckoned to the specta
tors to stand farther hack, in order to give
him a fair chance, and, just as he has dorre
so, the bee rose. After humming around the
stump for an instant, away the insect fiexv,
taking a course almost at right angles to that
in which Le Bourdon had expected to see it
fly. It required half a minute for him to re
collect that this little creature had gone off in
a line nearly parallel to that which had been
taken by the second of the bees, which he
had seen quit his original position. The line
led across the neighboring prairie, and any
attempt to follow these was hopeless.
But the second cieature w T as also soon rea
dy, and when it darted away, Le Bourdon, to
his manifest delight, saw that it held its flight
towards the point of the swamp, into or over
which two of his first captives had also gone.
This settled the doubtful matter. Had the 1
hive of these bees been beyond that wood, the
angle of intersection would not have been
there, but at the hive across the prairie. The
reader will understand that creatures which
obey an instinct, or such a reason as bees
possess, would never make a curvature in
their flights without some strong motive for
it. Thus, two bees taken from flowers that
stood half a mile apart, would be certain not
to cross each other’s tracks, in returning
home, until they met at the common hive;
and wherever the intersecting angle in iheir
respective flights might be, there would that
hive be also. As this repository of sweets
was the game Le Bourdon had in view, it is
easy to see how much he was pleased when
the direction taken by the last of his bees
gave him the necessary assurance that its
home would certainly be found in that very
point of dense wood.
The next thing was to ascertain which was
the particular tree in which the bees had
found a shelter. Collecting his implements,
Le Bourdon was soon ready, and, with a light
elastic tread, he moved off towards the point
of the wood, followed by the whole party.
The distance was about half a mile, and men
so much accustomed to use their limbs made
light of it. In a few minutes all were there,
and the bee-hunter was busy in looking for
his tree. This was the consummation of the
whole process, and Ben w T as not only provi
ded for the necessitiesof the case, but he was
well skilled in all the signs that betokened
the abodes of bees.
An uninstructed person might have passed
that point of wood a thousand times, without ;
the least consciousness of the presence of a
single insect of the sort now searched for.
In general, the bees flew too high to be easily
perceptible from the ground, though a prac
tised eye can discern them at distances that
would almost seem to be marvellous. But
Ben had other assistants than his eyes. He
knew that the tree he sought must be hollow,
and such trees usually give outward signs of
the defect that exists within. Then, some
species of w r ood are more frequented by the
bees than others, while the instinct of the in
dustrious little creature generally enables
them to select such homes as will not be very
likely to destroy all the fruits of their indus
try by an untimely fall, in all these par
ticulars, both bees and bee-hunter were well
versed, and Ben made his search accordingly.
Among the other implements of his calling,
Le Bourdon had a small spy-glass —one
scarcely larger than those that are used in
theatres, but which was powerful and every,
w r ay suited to its purposes. Ben was not
long in selecting a tree, a half decayed elm,
as the one likely to contain the hive: and by j
the aid of his glass, ho soon saw bees flying
among its dying branches, at a height of not
less than seventy feet from the ground. A j
little further search directed his attention to a
knot-hole, in and out of which the glass ena
bled him to see bees passing in stream*. This ;
decided the point; and putting aside all his j
implements but the axe, Buzzing Ben now :
set about the task of felling the tree.
“ Stranger ,” said Gershom. when Le Bour-
don had taken out the first chip, “ perhaps
you’d better let me do that part of the job. I
shall expect to come in for a share of the
honey, and I’m w illing to ’am all I take. I
was brought up on axes, and jack-knives,
and sich sort of food, and can cut or whittle
with the best chopper or the neatest whittler
in or out of New England.”
“You can try your hand, if you wish it.”
said Ben, relinquishing ihe axe. “ l can fell
a tree as well as yourself, but have no such
love for the business as to w ish to keep it all
to myself.”
“ Waal, I can say, I like it,” answered Ger
shom, first passing his thumb along the edge
of the axe. in order to ascertain itsstate, then
swinging the tool with a view to try its
‘hang.’ “Ican’t say much for your axe,
stranger , for this helve has no tarve to’t, to
my mind ; but, sich as it is, dow’n must come
this elm, though ten millions of bees should
set upon me for my pains.”
This w T as no idle boast of Waring’s.—
Worthless as he w’as in so many respects, he
was remarkably skilful with the axe, as he
now proved by the rapid manner in which he
severed the trunk of the large elm on which
he was at work. He inquired of Ben where
he should “lay the tree,” and when it came
clattering down, it fell on the precise spot in
dicated. Great was the confusion among the
bees at this sudden down-fall of their long
cherished home. The fact was not known
to their enemy, but they had inhabited that
tree for a long time; and the prize now ob
tained was the richest he had ever made in
his calling. As for the insects, they filled
the air in clouds, and all the invaders deemed
it prudent to withdraw to some little distance
for a time, lest the irritated and wronged bees
should set upon them and take an ample re
venge. Had they known their power, this
might easily have been done, no ingenuity of
man being able to protect him against the as
saults of this insignificant-looking animal,
when unable to cover himself, and the angry
little heroes are in earnest. On the present
occasion, however, no harm befel the marau
ders. So suddenly had the hive tumbled,
that its late occupants appeared to be aston
ished, and they submitted to their fate as men
yield to the power of tempests and earth
quakes. In half an hour most of them were
collected on an adjacent tree, where doubtless
a consultation on the mode of future proceed
ings was held after their fashion.
The Indians were more delighted with Le
Bourdon’s ingenious mode of discovering the
hive than with the richness of the prize;
while Ben himself, and Gershom, manifested
most satisfaction at the amount of the earn
ings. When the tree was cut in pieces, and
split, it was ascertained that years of sweets
were contained within its capacious cavities,
and Ben estimated the portion that fell to his
share at more than three hundred pounds of
good honey, comb included, after deducting
the portions that were given to the Indians,
and which were abstracted by Gershom. —
The three last, however, could carry but lit
tle, as they had no other means of bearing it
away than their own backs.
Southern (Eclectic.
THE DEAD SEA EXPEDITION.
The Southern Literary Messenger for Sep
tember has a very valuable article from the
pen of Lieut. Maury, detailing the results
of the late Exploring Expedition to the
Dead Sea. The article is too long for our
pages, and we therefore avail ourselves of
an abstract of it prepared for the Richmond
Republican.—[Ed.
Lieutenant Maury gives a history of this
expedition, brief but lucid, and which in
creases the anxiety of the public mind to see
the report of Lieutenant Maury, who has
made a successful survey, and who, we are
glad to learn, is expected soon to return to
this country.
We learn from Lieutenant Maury's article
that this expedition was planned by Lieuten
ant Lynch, and authorized by Secretary Ma
son. In the Spring of 1847, Lieut. Lynch
first addressed the Secretary on the subject,
recommending a circumnavigation and explo
ration of the Dead Sea and its entire coast —
stating that the expense would be trifling, as
our ships frequently touched at Acre, in Sy
ria, forty miles from Lake Tiberius or Sea of
Galilee, from which the River Jordan runs
and debouches into the first-named sea; that
the frame of a boat with crew and provisions,
could be transported on camels from Acre to
Tiberius, and there put together again. Only
one traveller, Mr. Cortigan, had ever circum
navigated the Dead Sea, and he had died at
the termination of his voyage, without leav-
ing any journal or notes behind. It was
contended also, that, independent of the eager
curiosity of all Christendom in regard to this
mysterious lake, this expedition is of value
to the interests of navigation.
The Secretary of the Navy received favor
ably the proposition of Lieut. Lynch, and an
opportunity soon occurred by which it could
be convenientily caried into effect. It was
necessary to send a store-ship to the Mediter
ranean squadron, and as, after her arrival,
she would have no employment for months,
the Secretary determined to send Lieut. Lynch
and his party in her; so that after meeting
the wants of the squadron, she could proceed
up the Levant, anti land Lieut. Lynch and his
companions. This was done. The store
ship “Supply” was provided with two me
tallic boats, one of copper, the other of iron ;
the former named “Fanny Mason,” and the
latter “ Fanny Skinner.” On their arrival at
their destination their troubles began, and in
their march to Lake Tiberius their boats had
to be transported over the most formidable
mountain gorges and heights, and to be low
ered down precipices with ropes. But these
difficulties were surmounted with true sailor
skill and perseverance, and on the Bth of
April the two Fannies, each with the Ameii
can ensign flying, weie afloat upon the beau
tiful blue waters of the Sea of Galilee. “Em
blematic of its Master, it alone of all things
around them remained the same. Just as the
Apostles saw it, when our Saviour said to it,
‘ Peace, be still!’ this little band of rovers
now beheld it.”
The navigation of the Jordan was found to
be most difficult and dangerous, from its fre
quent and fearful rapids. Lieut. Lynch solves
the secret of the depression between Lake Ti
berias and the Dead Sea, by the tortuous
course of the Jordan, which, in a distance of
sixty miles, winds through a course of two
hundred miles. Within this distance, Lieut.
Lynch and his party plunged down no less
than twenty-seven threatening rapids, besides
many others of less descent. The difference
of level between the two seas is over a thou
sand feet.
The water of the Jordan was sweet to
within a few hundred yards of its mouth.—
The waters of the sea were devoid of smell,
but bitter, salt, and nauseous. Upon entering
it, the boats were encountered by a gale, and
“it seemed as if the bows, so dense icas the
water , were encountering the sledge-hammers
of the Titans instead of the opposing waves
of an angry sea.” The pary proceeded dai
ly with their explorations, making topograph
ical sketches as they went, until they reached
the southern extremity of the Sea, where the
most wonderful sight that they had yet seen
awaited them.
“In passing the mountain of Uzdom (So
dom), we unexpectedly, and much to our as
tonishment,” says Lieut. Lynch, “saw a large,
rounded, turret-shaped column, facing towards
south-east, which proved to be of solid rock
salt, capped with carbonate of lime, one mass
of crystallization. Mr. Dale took a sketch
of it, and Dr. Anderson and 1 landed with
much difficulty and procured specimens from
it.” The party circumnavigated the lake, re
turned to their pace of departure, and brought
back their boats in, as complete order as tney
received them at New York. They were all
in fine health. This is a specimen of the
skill, system, and discipline of the American
navy. No nation in the woffd has such a
service. The time is coming when it will
give proofs of that fact palpable to the most
dull understanding. Thanks to the good
management of Lieut. Lynch, the whole cost
of this scientific exploration of the Dead Sea,
(except, of course, the cost of the equipage
and maintenance of the crew of the ship,) was
but seven hundred dollars.
From the letters of Lieutenant Lynch, quoted
by Lieutenant Maury, we transcribe the fol
lowing interesting facts elicited by the explo
rations :
“ The bottom of the northern half of this
sea is almost an entire plain. Its meridianal
lines at a short distance from the shore scarce
vary in depth. The deepest soundings thus
far is 188 fathoms, (1,128 feet.) Near the
shore the bottom is generally an incrustation
of salt, but the intermediate one is soft mud,
with many rectangular crystals —mostly cubes
—of pure salt. At one time, Stellwagers
lead brought up nothing but crystals. The
southern half of the sea is as shallow as the
northern one is deep, for about one-fourth of
its entire length, the depth does not exceed
three fathoms, (18 feet.) Its southern bed
has presented no crystals, hut the shores are
lined with incrustations of salt, and when we
landed at Uzdom, in the space of an hour,
our foot-prints were coated with crystalliza
tion. The opposite shores of the peninsula
and the west coast present evident marks of
disruption. There are unquestionably birds
and insects upon the shores, and ducks are
171