The honey-bee has been an object of great interest from the very
earliest ages; the most ancient historical records make frequent
reference to it. ‘A little balm and a little honey’ formed part of the
present which Jacob sent into Egypt to Joseph in the time of the great
famine. The ‘busy bee’ figures also in Greek as well as Hebrew history.
The little creature has given a name to many females of high degree.
The Hebrew name of the bee (Deborah) was given to Rebecca’s nurse,
as also to that magnanimous prophetess whose courage and patriotism
inspired the flagging zeal and waning energies of her dispirited
countrymen. The Greek name of the bee (Melissa) was given to one of the
daughters of Melissus, king of Crete. It was she who, with her sister
Amalthæa, is fabled to have fed Jupiter with the milk of goats. She is
said, also, to have first discovered the means of collecting honey from
the stores of the bees, from which some ancient writers inferred that
she not only bore the name, but that she was actually changed into a
bee.
Another Greek story tells of a woman of Corinth, also bearing the name
of Melissa, who, having been admitted to officiate in the festivals
of Ceres, the goddess of agriculture, afterwards refused to initiate
others, and was torn to pieces for her disobedience, a swarm of bees
being made to rise from her body.
The old Greek name for the bee seems to have fallen into disuse in this
country as a name given to females, though there can be no reason why
its use should not be revived, for it is at least as melodious as the
Hebrew name of the same significance, still applied to many a matron
and maiden—a name which is expressive of honeyed sweetness, as also of
unwearied energy and untiring industry.
Those who have had personal knowledge and experience of bee-culture
will bear out the remark that bees are not particular as to the size
or the position of the home in which they choose to dwell, so that it
suffices for them to carry on with security their wonderful operations.
In their wild state, cavities of rocks and hollow trees are alike
available; and in their domestic conditions they have no preference for
a straw skep over a wooden box, nor for the wooden house over the straw
castle.
The bee, which, while under proper control and management, is one of
man’s best friends, proves, when assailed by him in any way, a terrible
adversary. Allusion is made to this by Moses in his story of what
befell the Israelites in their wilderness sojourn: ‘The Amorites came
out against you, and chased you as bees do, and destroyed you.’ The
strength and force of their sting is such as to enable them to pierce
the skin of the horse and other large animals and kill them. Their
ordinary speed when in flight, is from sixty to eighty miles an hour,
and they have been known to fly past the windows of an express train
when travelling at full speed in the same direction. Their manner of
attack is to dash straight at the object aimed at; and commonly, when
excited by the presence of some unknown spectator, and especially by
the intermeddling of some undexterous or mischievous person, they
will attack the face, aiming especially at the eyes. When, therefore,
the thousands which inhabit a single hive are aroused by the sound of
alarm, well understood by all the inmates, to repel an invader, they
sally forth with a courage and determination which none can withstand,
attacking their foes on every side with a fury it is impossible to
resist. King David must have witnessed just such a scene, which he
reproduces in his description of the fierce attacks, the determined
onslaughts of his bitter and unrelenting foes: ‘All nations compassed
me about ... they compassed me about like bees.’
Somewhat recently, the mishap of a porter in handling a box of bees
in transit by railway created an amusing and rather alarming scene at
the station. There was a general stampede of passengers and officials
flying in every direction, chased by the infuriated bees. It was
only when some one, skilled in the management of bees, catching the
queen and placing her in the box, restored confidence and quiet, for,
flocking loyally to her standard, the whole colony returned to the
case, which was in due time forwarded to its destination. But even this
was a small affair compared with what is related in ancient history of
persons being driven from their habitations, and the inhabitants of an
entire town being compelled to flee before myriads of bees. Ælianus,
who flourished about 200 A.D., gives an instance of this in one of his
seventeen books on animals. Mungo Park, too, the African traveller,
mentions a modern instance which took place near Dooproo: ‘We had no
sooner unloaded the asses than some of the people, being in search
of honey, inopportunely disturbed a large swarm of bees. They came
out in immense numbers, and attacked men and beasts at the same time.
Luckily, most of the asses were loose, and galloped up the valley; but
the horses and people were very much stung, and obliged to scamper
off in all directions. In fact, for half an hour the bees seemed
to have put an end to our journey. In the evening, when they became
less troublesome and we could venture to collect our cattle, we found
many of them much stung and swelled about the head. Three asses were
missing; one died in the evening, and another next morning. Our guide
lost his horse, and many of the people were much stung about the head
and face.’
The fierceness and unrelenting cruelty of the ancient Assyrians, and
the terror with which their swarming multitudes filled the inhabitants
of the lands they invaded, have caused them to be likened to bees in
their much-dreaded attacks on such as have aroused their anger: ‘And
it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall _hiss_ for the
fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the
bee that is in the land of Assyria. And they shall come, and shall rest
all of them in the desolate valleys, and in the holes of the rocks,
and upon all thorns, and upon all bushes.’ The ‘hiss’ was simply a
call, in allusion to the note of the queen bee, as she issues her royal
mandate to her ever loyal subjects to prepare for action. It has also
been supposed to allude to a custom prevailing in very ancient times
in connection with bee-culture, or honey-raising in the neighbourhood
of rivers. During the dry season, a number of hives would be placed
on a flat-bottomed boat, in the charge of an attendant. Very early
in the morning the boat would begin the day’s voyage, gently gliding
down the river, the bees sallying forth with the sun to collect their
golden stores and deposit them in their several hives, which they
commonly know by some mark. The innumerable flowers on the banks of
the rivers offered them a fine harvest-field. At the approach of
evening, the well-known whistle or ‘hiss’ of the care-taker—a decent
imitation of the queen’s own call—would bring them back to their hives
in multitudes, when the boat would be paddled back to the farm or other
place of rendezvous.
As an article of food, and as a much-valued and even royal luxury,
honey has been used from the remotest ages. Nor was it much, if any,
less in request as a healing medicine for both inward and outward
application. And though it may have fallen somewhat into disuse
in these days, when many good things are overlooked, and when the
artificial too often supplants the real, it may be safely predicted
that the wide and rapid spread of bee-culture will induce a return to
some of the wiser uses and methods and forms of adaptation employed by
our early forefathers, as well as stimulate to new applications and new
developments of its wondrous powers.
When and by whom mead or metheglin was first made from honey, could
not be easily determined. The two words are not unfrequently applied
to the same liquor; but that is not correct, as they are dissimilar.
Both, however, are made from honey, sometimes also from the refuse or
washings of the comb. Queen Elizabeth had such fondness for metheglin
as to prescribe carefully how it should be made and with what a variety
of herbs it should be flavoured. In Wales, it long continued to be
held in high esteem; and its various beneficial properties have been
quaintly set forth in a letter addressed to Cliffe the historian by the
learned Welshman, Rev. James Howells (born 1594), brother of Thomas
Howells, some time Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol. The uniqueness of
the communication is the apology for its quotation in full:
SIR—To inaugurate a new and jovial new year unto you, I send you
a morning’s draught [namely, a bottle of metheglin]. Neither Sir
John Barleycorn nor Bacchus hath anything to do with it; but it is
the pure juice of the bee, the laborious bee, and king of insects.
The Druids and old British bards were wont to take a carouse hereof
before they entered into their speculations; and if you do so when
your fancy labours with anything, it will do you no hurt; and I
know your fancy to be very good. But this drink always carries a
kind of state with it, for it must be attended with a brown toast;
nor will it admit of but one good draught, and that in the morning;
if more, it will keep a-humming in the head, and so speak much
of the house it came from, I mean the hive, as I gave a caution
elsewhere; and because the bottle might make more haste, have made
it go upon these (poetic) feet:
_J. H. T. C. Salutem et Annum Platonicum._
The juice of bees, not Bacchus, here behold,
Which British bards were wont to quaff of old;
The berries of the grape with furies swell,
But in the honeycomb the graces dwell.
This alludes to a saying which the Turks have, that there lurks a
devil in every berry of the vine. So I wish you cordially as to me
an auspicious and joyful new year, because you know I am, &c.
Metheglin is no doubt a healthy beverage, containing an admixture of
milk. Pallus Romulus, when he was a hundred years old, told Julius
Cæsar that he had preserved the vigour of his mind and body by taking
metheglin inwardly, and using oil outwardly. Metheglin and mead may
be made very strong, and, of course, they both contain some amount of
alcohol. In Virgil’s days, metheglin was used to qualify wine when
harsh. He writes of
Huge heavy honeycombs, of golden juice,
Not only sweet, but pure, and fit for use;
To allay the strength and hardness of the wine,
And with old Bacchus new metheglin join.
Mead or metheglin was the nectar of the Scandinavian nations, which
they expected to drink in heaven, using the skulls of their enemies as
goblets. Thus we read in Penrose’s _Carousal of Odin_:
Fill the honeyed beverage high;
Fill the skulls, ’tis Odin’s cry!
Heard ye not the powerful call,
Thundering through the vaulted hall?
Fill the meathe, and spread the board,
Vassals of the grisly lord!—
The feast begins, the skull goes round,
Laughter shouts—the shouts resound.
In England at the present time, mead, like many other old and excellent
domestic compounds, has passed almost entirely out of use. In very few
houses could it now be found. Here and there in a farmhouse where old
customs linger, it may still be had; and it is still used for colds
and other complaints, both in the case of men and cattle.
The revival of bee-keeping and the conduct of the enterprise on
scientific principles, will restore honey to its wonted place in the
domestic economy; and if carefully studied and thriftily managed, the
cultivation of bees and the product of honey may be made to form not
only an important article of food and a considerable item of domestic
revenue, but an ample source of amusement, and a means of recreation
healthful alike to body and mind.