THe TI O ON E Y-B E E, 259 
‘ly decorated with fine, rich, low grounds, commonly called 
‘bottoms, abounding in a variety of plants, which are a- 
greeable to the bees, fuch as the Polygonum /candens, or 
Weld-buckwheat,and many others. Sogreat is the attach- 
ment of the honey-bees to thefe fituations, that fometimes 
they form a file, for a confiderable diftance, along a creek, 
or river, quaffing the nectar of the plants, but not ven- 
turing to extend themfelves far from thefe agreeable fitu- 
ations. 
The following quotation, from the Abbé Raynal’s PAz- 
lofophical and Political Hiftory of the fettlements and trade 
of the Europeans in both the Indies, fhall conclude what 
I have to fay in fupport of my opinion, that the honey- 
bee is not an indigenous animal of the American conti- 
nents. ‘¢ North America,” fays this elegant writer, ‘* was 
formerly devoured by infe&ts. Asthe air was not then 
purified, the ground cleared, the woods cut down, nor 
the waters drained off, thefe little animals deftroyed, with- 
out oppofition, all the productions of nature. None of 
them were ufefulto mankind*. There is only one at pre~ 
fent, which is the bee; but this is fuppofed to have been 
carried from the old tothe new world. The favages call 
it the Englith fly; and it is only found near the coafts. 
Thefe circumftances announce it to be of foreign origi- 
nal. The bees fly in numerous fwarms through the forefts 
of the new world, ‘Their numbers are continually increaf- 
ing, and their honey, which is converted to feveral ufes, 
fupplies many perfons with food. Their wax becomes 
‘daily a confiderable branch of trade+.” 
Kke It 
* What wretched philofophy! But, it isnot my bufinefs, inthis place, to expofe the pue- 
vile weaknefs of thefe affertions of Raynal. Tamnot ignorant, indeed, that they nicely fit 
the fyftem of certain writers who, in the fulnefs of a mifguided zeal, or in that debafement of 
mind which almoft neceffarily arifes ovt of the ftrong partialities for fyftem, in the producti- 
ons of the new-world, have been able to difcover no energies of matter, and only an embryo- 
‘late of mind. 1 leave thefe philofophers to the enjoyments of their dreams, 
+ See Vol. VIT. page 392 and 393. Englifh Tranflation, by Juftamond. London: 1788. 
a 
