I worked on a beekeeping project in the Sudan in the mid 1980's and a           
major thrust was to convert beekeepers from a destructive harvest of            
primative log hives to a top-bar type hive.  Wood was in short supply,          
but we observed that the Sudanese stored drinking water in clay pots and        
were quite good an pot making.  For water storage the pots were great in        
that they were porous and the evaporative cooling made for a cool drink.        
We had some pot makers make a number of clay hive prototypes, but we            
never got good acceptance by the bees.  We ended up adapting a common           
woven (reed) market basket that worked quite well as a top bar hive when        
suspended between two trees.                                                    
                                                                                
Bill Lord                                                                       
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WILLIAM G LORD                                                                  
E-Mail  : wglord@franklin                                                       
Internet: [log in to unmask]                                          
Phone   : 9194963344