GEOGRAPHY OF THE GENERA. 85 



by all the languages of the south of Europe, and is de- 

 rived from the name of Bugia, a town of Northern 

 Africa, whence, even as long back as the time of the 

 Roman Empire, wax was obtained to make candles for 

 lighting. The inhabitants of Trebizonde paid their tri- 

 bute to the Roman Empire in wax. Both honey and 

 wax are largely employed in pharmacy, and were also, 

 in ancient times, both extensively used in embalming. 

 The honey of Mount Hymetta in Attica, and of Hybla 

 in Sicily, were each in as high repute in classical coun- 

 tries as is that of Narbonne in Languedoc, by reason of 

 its choice delicacy, with us, and throughout France. 

 Distributed over the wide pastures of the Ukraine, every 

 peasant has his store of hives, which frequently, in their 

 harvests, realize more largely than their crops of grain, 

 multitudes of that peasantry computing as important 

 items in the estimate of their wealth the number of 

 their beehives, which often exceed five hundred to the 

 individual possessor. In Spain and Italy bees are largely 

 cultivated; and in the former country many a poor 

 parish priest, the religious monitor of an obscure hamlet, 

 can count hi* five thousand. 



In countries so rich in the productions of Flora, whose 

 seasons there are perennial, and which fluctuate only in 

 special locality, bees are removed to and fro to meet 

 these peculiarities. Thus in the south of France, where 

 large tracts are cultivated with aromatic shrubs and 

 flowers, for the distillation of essential oils and fragrant 

 waters, the hives of bees are moved up and down the 

 adjacent rivers upon rafts, as the flowering of the crops 

 succeed each other. In Italy, Spain, and Southern 

 Russia, the same practices are pursued, although we have 

 no detailed accounts of the precise spots; but we know 



