An hour before day, I waked my sons to assist me in removing the bees to the new abode I had prepared for them.

I commenced by plastering up the entrance to their present dwelling with clay, leaving only room to admit the bowl of my pipe.

This was necessary, because I had neither masks nor gloves, as the regular bee-takers have.

I then began to smoke briskly, to stupify the bees.

At first we heard a great buzzing in the hollow, like the sound of a distant storm: the murmur ceased by degrees, and a profound stillness succeeded, and I withdrew my pipe without a single bee appearing.