288 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

time, in that country, with the assistance of birds and beasts
of prey, to reduce the carcase of the lion to a perfectly clean
skeleton, in which state it would form an appropriate habi-
tation for these little insects.

Mr. Burchell, in his ‘Travels in South Africa,’ says, that
the Hottentots of his party obtained three pounds of good
honey from a hole, left by some animal of the weazel kind ;
it is also spoken of as dropping, doubtless from honeycombs
formed in the trees and shrubs. Where wild bees are
abundant they build in the cavities, or even on the branches
of trees; and in many parts of India and the Indian islands,
the forests swarm with these insects: Mr. Roberts says, that
“the forests literally flow with honey, large combs may be
seen hanging from the trees,” and, from the frequent allu-
sions in the Scriptures, this was very probably the case in
Palestine.

In many countries, bee-hives were placed in the trees,
and on the western coast of Africa, the natives paid consi-
derable attention to the bees, for the sake of the wax,
hanging hives made of reeds on the boughs of the trees,
which are eagerly appropriated by the bees. The honey-
comb into which Jonathan dipped the end of his rod, was
probably hanging from the bough of a tree.