whe H OWN E Y-B EE 257 
“Perhaps, i it will be faid that thefe two circumftances by no 
‘means prove that the honey-bee was not a native of the 
‘countries of Néw-England. They only prove, it may be 
‘urged, that this little infe&t was not known to be a native 
of thofe countries. | 
They-do not abjolutely tide much more. But, on the 
‘one hand, I think it is highly improbable that the people 
of New-England would have been at.the trouble of im- 
‘porting bees from Europe, if they were natives of the 
country; and, on the other hand, itis certainly not likely 
that a perfon would have received a.grant of land, as Dr. 
Belknap has mentioned was the cafe, according to traditi- 
‘on, if the bees were already in the country. Had they 
been there, their exiftence could not but have been well 
known, unlefs we fuppofe that among them, as certain 
European writers have faid of the «aboriginal Americans, 
the principle of focial union was extremely weak; fo that 
thefe little infects, whofe government has, for ages, exci= 
ted theadmiration of philofophers, may have been {cattered, 
like the favages, in {mall families through vaft tracts of 
‘uncultivated country, and not aflociated in large, civilized 
communities. It has been fo much the rage to.{peculate 
falfely onthe tubje@ ef America, that l-fhould not be fur- 
prifed to find fuch a writer as De Pauw, sires a weak~ 
nefs of their political union as the reafon why honey-bees 
were not difcovered in the new-world. .Raynal would, 
probably, reafon thus likewife, had not this fine writer 
believed that there is fomething in the climate of Ameri- 
-ca, that is unfavourable to the generation of good things, 
Ye philofophers of Europe! come vifit our countries. 
The Reverend Mr. Heckewelder informs me, that although 
‘hehas feen the true honey-bees wild in various parts of 
-the United-States, at fome diftance from the fettlements 
of the whites, he has always been affured by the Indians, 
K k that 
