288 FOREIGN .iS. 



they multiplied in the holla ,*s of the old trees,, that 

 there was soon sufficient wax for the annual con- 

 sumption. In 1 777, fourteen years from their intro- 

 duction, 715,000 Ibs. weight of wax were exported 

 from the Havannah, of a quality equal to the wax of 

 Venice. Including the contraband, Cuba exported 

 in 1 803, 42,670 arohas of wax, equal to more than 

 1900 tons. The price was then from twenty to 

 twenty-one piastres per aroba ; hut the average price 

 in time of peace is only fifteen piastres, or ^3, 2s. 6d. 

 sterling. A small part of this wax is produced by 

 the wild bees of the genus Trigones, which occupy 

 the trunks of the Cedrela odorata ; but the prin- 

 cipal part is the produce of the common honey-bee,* 

 originally imported from the old world to America 

 extended to the Southern States, and finally trans- 

 ferred to Cuba by the settlers from Florida.t 



In Jamaica, bees are cultivated to some extent, 



* Edinburgh Encyclop. article CUBA. 



f- M. Feburier states, in a note, that M. Michaux, a French 

 botanist, had been informed by the natives of Florida, that 

 bees formerly abounded in that province ; but that in one year 

 they had almost all emigrated to Cuba, which is distant twenty- 

 five leagues. Upon this, M. Feburier remarks : " As that 



island is covered with orange and lemon trees, the fragrance of 

 the blossoms must have been wafted to Florida, and have at- 

 tracted the bees ; a strong evidence of the acuteness of their 

 sense of smell." We should say, that their strength of wing 

 must have equalled their sense of smell. But the truth is, M. 

 Michaux had been misinformed ; for it is a well known fact, 

 that, as we have already stated, when the British obtained 

 possession of Florida, at the peace in 1763, many of the settlers 

 removed to Cuba, and carried their bees along with them. 



