CHINESE METHOD OF TAKING HONEY.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IV, Issue 32, 9 February 1869, Page 2

CHINESE METHOD OF TAKING HONEY.

To the Editob of thb Nelson Evening Maii» g IR — As • Old Biggs ' objected to the Yankee method of cleansing honey, which appeared in your paper sometime ago, lefc us see what he has to say against John Chinaman's (an ingenious chap on the whole) method of taking honey. It is extracted from Fortune's China. It may be presumed that the hive is somewhat different to the English hives* and to those used by our mead-loving old friend of the Waimea-road. It consists of a rough box, sometimes square, and sometimes cylindrical, -with a moveable top and bottom, and h placed 8 or 10 feet above the grouud, uuder the projecting eaves of a house or: outbuilding, the barbarous Chinese, in this as iu many other things, following the natural instinct of the bee which they turn to so good account. Mr Fortune says : — ♦ I left my work to see the process. The form of the hives in this instance was cylindrical; each was about 3 feet in height and rather wider at the bottom than the top. The operator got on a table and gently lifted down one of the hives and placed it on its side on the table. He then took the .moveable top off, and the honeycomb, with which the hive was quite full, was exposed to view. A large basin was brought, and the operator began to cut out the honeycomb with -a knife made apparently for the purpose,- and having the handle almost at" right angles with- the blade. Having taken out about 6ne-thirdof the contents of the hive the top was put on again, and the hive elevated to its former position.. The same operation was repeated with the other hives. 'It may be asked, Where were the bees all this time? They were ■ flying, about in great numbers, for the Bhuddist (the operator was a priest) takes not away animal life. No one waa stung, although mariy^fei® naked to the waist. A few dry stems and leaves of a plant like wormwood twisted into. a band-were kept burning slowly as the work" went on. The bees were hovering about our heads, but apparently quite incapabfc) of doing us the slightest injury. When the hives were properly fixed in their places the -fire was put out, and. the honey carried off in ■triumph without a sting .prjta less of a rbeeX;'- !\! : r^' •/\'\-. .'.,■.■' '; Vk : '..." '.'. : :.^'' -- ; - ■ ' : vJCpuro; e,fc., . .■,./...., .HONBYDEW.

We hear, on good authority that the . general Assembly will meet in March next, for the purpose of passing a money bill, and that then a dissolution, followed, of course, by a general election, 'will take place; — Auckland News. The Chronicle says that Colonel M'Doncell, iti going, up to the Front oa Monday •evening was. fired at by some parties in ! umbush, after, getting to the top of the Okehu hill. Happily the bullet did little . more., than graze tlie calf of his right leg. He rode back to town, and applied a lotioa to the "wound, and on Tuesday rejoined his division in \he field. Stragglers from the enemy's pa, at would seem, have crept in behind our force, and made the road to the Front unsafe especially for solitary travellers. — Evening Post. As will be seen by advertisement else- | ■where, Mr Wallace has been instructed by •the directors of the N.Z.S.N. Co., to sell by auction on the 26th inst., the wreck of . the B.S. Taranaki, as it now lies in Tory Channel. The purchaser will be -entitled to everything now in or upon the wreck, to th& vessel,, not being car-go or passeugecs' luggage, except such portion of those as he may be entitled to as ■salvor.: — Evening Post. If any evidence were wanting of the . 'bankrupt condition of the Provincial Government of Wellington, it is to be found in the following extract from that •ultra-Provincial .paper the ' Independent,' which says -with reference to the cessation of grants 'in aid of Educational purposes 'from the Provincial Government :~ Sooner than we would see the educational •system whieh has been established in this . Province silently abolished, and the children of outlyiDg settlers consequently left without any means of education within ; their reach, we would ask the General •Government to come to the rescue, by ,paying the grants in aid of schools in this 'province -out of the colonial chest, and bring the expenditure under the head of ■those -departments Vprovineially charged.' Jt is- a disagreeable alternative, 'but if •neither Province, Council' nor Government will stir in the matter there is no help •or it.* From Wanganui, in addition to the ■stirring war news, we hare the startling intelligence that a man was brought in from Rangatikei recently to the Wanganui Hospital, affected, with a disease which ?Drs Gibson and Earle, .pronounced to be small-pox. Those -gentlemen decliued to admit him into the hospital, no .provisions 'having been made there to meet such a •contingency, and the SergeaDt of Police having been applied to, had him put into a tent and otherwise attended to. The man is said to be a negro, and a stranger in those parts, but we have no information as to how the contagion was communicated to him, and entertain grave doubts of the •correctness of the medical gentlemen's •opinion as to the -n&tui'e of the disease. — Evening Post. Tbe Wanganui UeraJld .publishes the . following extraordinary document, which it says was given into their office by one •of the oldest settlers in the district: — ' Tito Kowarn- — Rangitira uui'n-ui, Chief of the Candibals— Salutations to you, whom the Pakeha soldiers have been unable o withstand in tire battle field, and whoe have been driven from thy face even as the whirlwind in its fury drives the leaves of the forest. Wherever feet tread, the laws of thy dread sovereiguity are •impressed. Yea, the boasted .niight of England retires as the sun in the distant West wlien. Binking in the ocean wave. Thy name shall live when thou hast retired from the toils of life j and generaunborn .shall reverence thy mighty name as the bfero of past ages. Thy ' mighty deseds of savage, life shall be preserved by the devotees of Exeter Hall', whose, deluded minds would cram heaven with such souls as thine. In marble tho»*h'alt io after years adorn some «i'^pt' in : E^etet* iioll as- a '6ain> of^miip.siqij'a'qj'--ent£rj>risfe;;^hetfelore, apprp^ch"s&j ; thljaui} » this" time". ortriumpß, X) Trto Kbwave, Iprostrate 1117 knee — yea, would condescend

to kiss thy tqe, And implore, thy clemenc^ to listen to the prayer of a distressed, pakeha, who would forego the name of the nation that gave him birth, to become a subject of thy protection. Driven by an imbecile pakeha Q-overumeut. from my' la,nd. I fled wiih my little oues to preserve our lives. But thuu, O Tito Kowaru, by right of conquest did take . possession of my houses and ihmls, and also the increase of my flocks mid herds, the product of many years industry. Therefore, as poverty stares me and mine in the faoe>. and as our own rulers can only give us ston-es in place of bread— r-though savage and canuibal as thou art, I would implore thy protection and the restoration of my property, and the tenth shall be thine, O mighty Rangatira. Let thy protection overshadow me, and thou shalt have thy desert with the Pakeha rulers in the world to come. — Cincints'Ato.'