"In Lower Egypt, where the flower-harvest is not so early by several
weeks as in the upper districts of that country, this practice of
transportation is carried on to a considerable extent. About the
end of October the hives, after being collected together from the
different villages, and conveyed up the Nile, marked and numbered by
the individuals to whom they belong, are heaped pyramidally upon the
boats prepared to receive them, which, floating gradually down the
river, and stopping at certain stages of their passage, remain there a
longer or a shorter time, according to the produce which is afforded
by the surrounding country. After travelling three months in this
manner, the bees, having culled the perfumes of the orange flowers of
the Said, the essence of roses of the Faiocum, the treasures of the
Arabian jessamine, and a variety of flowers, are brought back about
the beginning of February to the places from which they have been
carried. The productiveness of the flowers at each respective stage
is ascertained by the gradual descent of the boats in the water, and
which is probably noted by a scale of measurement. This industry
procures for the Egyptians delicious honey and abundance of bees'-wax.
The proprietors, in return, pay the boatmen a recompense proportioned
to the number of hives which have thus been carried about from one
extremity of Egypt to the other."