Night came, and we had to repair to 

 a hut, where to sleep I had to make a 

 tolerable bed with 2 poor ones. Very 

 early in the morning we proceeded on 

 our apiarian peregrination. I visited 3 

 other villages, and finally I found 2 bee- 

 keepers who, having but 1 colony each, 

 had nothing to fear from the prejudice. 

 I bought these hives, which the peas- 

 ants brought me to Lanarca on the fol- 

 lowing day. In these villages also the 

 mules, the muleteer and the interpreter 

 were carefully fumigated. 



But time was going on. Seeing that 

 my trip would not succeed as well as I 

 had anticipated, I decided to be satis- 

 fied with the eight colonies that I had, 

 and to return to Lanarca. In order not 

 to lose time, I taught the interpreter 

 the means to rear bees and tend queens 

 and swarms, and I hope that my les- 

 sons will suffice to secure a regular and 

 direct importation of Cyprian bees into 

 Europe. Such had been the aim of my 

 voyage in the East. 



On my return to Lanarca, I visited 

 our Consul, Mr. Magni. I narrated to 

 him the aim of my journey, and, as he 

 is not only acquainted but related to 

 Count G. Barbo, President of the Cen- 

 tral Society of Bee-Keepers of Italy, he 

 proved very courteous, and gave me a 

 copy of a report on the bee culture in 

 Cyprus Island, made to the Italian 

 Government by one of his predecessors. 

 I will copy it for L^Apicoltore* 



On Sunday and Monday I made the 

 transfer of my 6 colonies in their double 

 hives prepared for their transportation, 

 and provided with wire cloth. In the 

 comb taken out of the 6 hives I found 

 but a small piece of drone comb, not 

 larger than 4 inches square ; all the 

 other was worker comb, and all the cells 

 were perfectly regular, not of various 

 shapes as we are accustomed to find in 

 our Italian hives. The cells have ex- 

 actly the same diameter as the Italian. 



The bees are beautiful, orange-yellow, 

 they seem a little smaller than the Ital- 

 ians. They are peaceful, docile, as I 

 have observed during the transferring, 

 for I did not get a single sting, although 

 I worked during the cold hours of the 

 day. The thermometer at that time 

 did not exceed 15° cent. (58°Eahr.) in 

 the room where I made the transfer. I 

 saw all the queens of my hives; they 

 are beautiful yellow, of about the size 

 of our Italians. I noticed that most of 

 the combs were built across the en- 

 trance, what we call warm combs. 



There were no sticks inside the hives 

 to support the combs. One of these 

 hives was made with interwoven sprigs 



*I will translate it for the next number of the 

 American Bee Journal. C. D. 



coated with clay. The inside was well 

 polished and painted with a kind of 

 white varnish. This paint helps the 

 taking out of the comb, for by putting 

 a knife between the combs and the hive 

 the varnish is broken loose and the 

 comb may be taken out whole. Such 

 hives are unfit for transportation, for 

 the combs are not enough fastened to 

 the sides. Besides these hives are 

 nearly as heavy as if they were made 

 of stone. The hives made with earth 

 are pretty-well made and light, but too 

 brittle ; so much so, indeed, that, hav- 

 ing introduced my knife as a lever be- 

 tween the hive and its disk to take it 

 out, I broke 2 of these hives which had 

 a little resisted my pressure. They 

 were both the largest of the 6 that I 

 transferred. All the hives that I saw 

 in the island were similar to one or the 

 other of these kinds. 



On Monday evening I shut up the 6 

 colonies transferred and the two others 

 of earthern ware, and on Tuesday morn- 

 ing I took passage on the boat Ceres, 

 with my hives well packed up. But I 

 cannot say how much care and atten- 

 tion were indispensable to prevent the 

 squalls from agitating them. I left 

 Lanarca with spring-like weather, the 

 thermometer showing 12° Cent, above 

 zero (54 Eahr.), to arrive in Italy in full 

 winter, and what winter! I went 

 through Rhodes and arrived at Smyrna 

 on the 12th. This city has been embel- 

 lished by the French, and furnished 

 with a railroad which follows the shore, 

 and on which are also tramways. I saw 

 Syra, a pretty Greek city, which. is built 

 around a mountain. I visited Corfu, a 

 pretty and agreeable city, where we 

 were compelled to stay on account of a 

 squall which was too powerful for our 

 helix, and tossed us to and fro for a 

 whole night. From Syra to Trieste we 

 traveled at the rate of 26 kilometers an 

 hour (about 16 miles), and reached this 

 last city on Thursday at 3 p. m. I ar- 

 rived at Venice on the next day, and 

 my colonies were there transferred for 

 the last and 8th time. But these dan- 

 gerous operations were not the worst of 

 the perils to which the poor bees were 

 exposed. The cold would completely 

 kill all the aim and product of my jour- 

 ney and of my fatigue. Just think of 

 bees leaving Cyprus with 12° Cent, 

 above zero (54° Fahr.) while, on my ar- 

 rival at Monselice, Dec. 12, 1 found 10° 

 Cent, under zero (13° Fahr.). 



On my return from Cyprus I did not 

 gather bees, for I did not visit any api- 

 ary, thinking such work of no purpose, 

 since the bees that are found on the 

 way were already described by Mr. Ed. 

 Cori, of Brux, in Bohemia, and pub- 



