colour changed in a most curious manner from black to white, the myriads
of bees that had covered it flying off and forming a dense cloud above
and around. The man then lay at full length along the limb, and brushed
off the remaining bees with his hand, and then drawing his knife cut off
the comb at one slice close to the tree, and attaching the thin cord to
it, let it down to his companions below. He was all this time enveloped
in a crowd of angry bees, and how he bore their stings so coolly, and
went on with his work at that giddy height so deliberately, was more
than I could understand. The bees were evidently not stupified by the
smoke or driven away far by it, and it was impossible that the small
stream from the torch could protect his whole body when at work. There
were three other combs on the same tree, and all were successively
taken, and furnished the whole party with a luscious feast of honey and
young bees, as well as a valuable lot of wax.
After two of the combs had been let down, the bees became rather
numerous below, flying about wildly and stinging viciously. Several got
about me, and I was soon stung, and had to run away, beating them off
with my net and capturing them for specimens. Several of them followed
me for at least half a mile, getting into my hair and persecuting me
most pertinaciously, so that I was more astonished than ever at the
immunity of the natives. I am inclined to think that slow and deliberate
motion, and no attempt at escape, are perhaps the best safeguards. A bee
settling on a passive native probably behaves as it would on a tree or
other inanimate substance, which it does not attempt to sting. Still
they must often suffer, but they are used to the pain and learn to bear
it impassively, as without doing so no man could be a bee-hunter.
CHAPTER XIV. THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE TIMOR GROUP.
IF we look at a map of the Archipelago, nothing seems more unlikely than
that the closely connected chain of islands from Java to Timor should
differ materially in their natural productions. There are, it is true,
certain differences of climate and of physical geography, but these
do not correspond with the division the naturalist is obliged to make.
Between the two ends of the chain there is a great contrast of climate,
171