g an attack. Some, braver than the
rest, occasionally flew towards him; but he, with perfect coolness,
brushed them away, allowing the smoke to circle round above his head,
thus keeping them at a distance from his face. At length he got close
to the cone, and, with one stroke of his knife, cut it from the bough,
when, fastening the end of the rope round it, he lowered it down to us.
Proceeding along the bough, he cut the other cone away in the same
manner, when the bees, angry at being deprived of their habitation,
food, and their young, began to dart down towards us. He, of course,
had enough to do to think of himself, and continued waving the torch
about his body, while he returned by the same way he had gone up, though
at a somewhat more rapid rate.

Meantime the bees had begun to swarm about our heads. Poor Merlin was
furiously attacked, and I saw him driving his nose among the leaves, in
the vain endeavour to get rid of them. Defeated by the pertinacious
insects, he rushed howling away through the forest. We, having secured
the cones, followed at full speed, the bees pursuing us, and every now
and then giving a disagreeable sting at our ears, face, and hands. We
knocked them off as they approached as well as we could. Though we were
glad we had got the honey, we agreed that we had paid somewhat dearly
for it. However, our blood was in good order, and the pain soon wore
off. We had not only got some delicious honey for our friends, but some
wax, which was of considerable value. We agreed, however, that the next
time we went bee-hunting we would each of us carry a torch for our
defence.

"Ali says there are many more cones in the island, and it is a pity not
to take them," said Mr Hooker. We were therefore ready to proceed,
provided we could find torches. Ali made us a sign to follow him, and
soon afterwards, on the side of a hill which we were passing, he pointed
out some tall trees. On approaching them we found that from the trunks
masses of a sort of gum had exuded.

"Those are dammar trees," observed Mr Hooker. "It burns readily, and
the natives of these regions use it for torches; indeed, in some places
it serves them instead of candles."

We found not only small lumps, but some weighing upwards of fifteen
pounds. Some were hanging on to the trunk; others had fallen, and were
partly buried in the ground near the roots. Ali took some of these
lumps, and, putting them on a piece of rock, with