In +Lower Egypt+, where the flower harvest is not so early as in the upper districts of that country, this practice of _transportation_ is carried on to a considerable extent. 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 shorter time, according to the produce which is afforded by the surrounding country. "After traveling three months in this manner, the bees, having culled the perfumes of the orange flowers of the Said, the essence of roses[G] of the Faicum, the treasures of the Arabian jessamine, and a variety of flowers, are brought back to the places from which they had been carried. This industry procures, for the Egyptians, delicious honey, and abundance of bees-wax. The proprietors, in return, pay the boatmen a recompence proportioned to the number of hives which have been thus carried about from one extremity of Egypt to the other." +Latreille+ states that between Cairo and Damietta a convoy of 4000 hives were seen upon the Nile by +Niebuhr+, on their transit from the upper to the lower districts of that country. Floating bee-hives were formerly common also in +France+. One barge was capable of containing from 60 to 100 hives, which, floating gently down their rivers, enabled the bees to gather the honey which is afforded by the flowers on their banks. +Reaumur+ likewise states it to have been the practice in some districts to transport them with similar views, by land, in vehicles contrived for the purpose. In +Savoy+, +Piedmont+, and other parts of +Italy+, the practice is also common. It is indeed of very ancient origin. Columella speaks of it as a very general custom among the Greeks, who used annually to send their bee-hives from Achaia into Attica. [Footnote G: Whatever inducement the bees of Egypt may have to ply the roses of that country, with us they pay very little attention to those beautiful flowers.]