SINGULAR SAGACITY OF THE WILD BEES OF SURINAM.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 172, 14 July 1876, Page 7

SINGULAR SAGACITY OF THE WILD BEES OF SURINAM.

< «~ — A SIXGTC.AR story is related by Stedman, the traveller in Surinam, to show that bees know those who live about their nests. He says ; " On one occasion, I was visited at my hut, by a neighboring gentleman whom I conducted up my ladder ; but he had no sooner entered my aerial dwelling than he leaped down from the' top to the ground, roaring like a madman with agony and pain, after which he instantly plunged his head into the river. I soon discovered: the (cause of hi* distress to be an enormous nest of wild bees or wastee toassee, in the thatch directly above my head, as I stood within my door, when I immediately took to my heels, as he had done, and ordered the slaves to demolish them without delay. A tar mop was now brought, and the devastation just going to commence, when an old negro stepped forward and offered to receive any punishment I should decree if any one of these bees, should sting me in person. ' Massa,' said he, ' they would have stung' you long ago, had you been a stranger to them ; but they being your tenants, and allowed to build upon your' premises, they assuredly knew both you and yours, aud will never hurt either you or them.' lat once assented to the proposition, and tying the old black man to a tree, ordered my boy Quaco to ascend the ladder, which he did, and was not stung. I then ventured to follow ; and I declare, upon my honor, that even after shaking the nest, which made its inhabitants buzz about my ears, not a single bee attempted to sting me. I next released the negro and rewarded him for his discovery. This swarm of bees I afterwards kept as my body-guard. They have made many overseers take a desperate leap for my amusement, as I generally sent them up my ladder upon some frivolous message when I wished to punish them for injustice and cruelty to the negroes-— which was not seldom. The same negro assured me that on his master's estate was an ancient tree, in which had been lodged, ever since he could remember, a society of birds, and another of bees, both living in the greatest harmony together. But, should any strange bird come to disturb or feed upon the bees, they were iwstantly repulsed by their feathered allies, and if strange bees dared to venture near the birds' nests, the native swarm attacked the invaders and stung them to death."