It was in the ground, in an old white ant hill that the ants had abandoned and the bees had taken over: a bee hive. An "ant hill" sounds as if the bees had a mound-like dwelling. Actually they went in and out through the "chimney," which the ants had built above ground for ventilation, but all their community life was carried on in an underground chamber. I had a party of six "carriers." They were really porters, for they did not carry me, but had charge of my camping and surveying equipment. Five were Ovimbundus; the sixth, a man about thirty-five, came from a different tribe. His people lived farther inland.
Years before, when slavery, although illegal, was still practised, he had been stolen from them and sold among the Ovimbundu. He had the "filed" teeth, which are said to denote the practice of cannibalism in a tribe, although to call the teeth "filed" is a euphemism. The filing is done with a small axe. This is equipped with a blade turned like an adze. The person to be operated on lies on the ground on his back, the operator sits on him and chips clefts between all his upper teeth! But, cannibal or not, this porter was an expert bee-man. He wore only a dirty cloth, secured by the string around his waist on which it was hung. This cloth ordinarily falls loosely around the knees, but, in order to work among the bees, he pulled one corner between his legs in each direction, and fastened it up tight in his string, so that he was girded with a tight breech-clout. This left a maximum of his body exposed to possible stinging, but he took no further precautions.
With bees buzzing all around him, crawling over his head, neck, arms and torso, even into his woolly hair, he proceeded to take out of the ant hill twenty pounds of delicious honey without being stung at all. The carriers and I all shared in the feast, only somewhat differently. I took my honey straight; the other men ate brood comb, grubs and all. They say the grubs add zest to the taste! Eating sweets always seems to awaken an appetite for more, and we all began a sharp watch for a new source of honey. The men started talking about the honey guide, and wishing one would appear.
An hour had hardly passed before a porter shouted triumphantly; he heard a honey guide chattering somewhere. It was sitting on a branch of a Usia tree. "U" stands for "tree," "sia" means "leave," and the name comes from the fact that this kind of tree is "left" standing, because of its great size, when undergrowth is cleared away.
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