THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



87 



The Egyptian Bee. 



ITS MANAGEMENT IN EGYPT, AND ITS INTRO- 

 DUCTION INTO GERMANY. 



" In conclusion the author enters upon the 

 question of the acclimatization of new forms of 

 bees. For Europe he thinks tlie most valuable 

 form would be the Egyptian, partly on account 

 of their beauty, and partly because of their un- 

 willingness to use their stings, which appears to 

 be common to all African bees, and is also one 

 of the recommendations of the Italian bee." — 

 Annals and Magazine of Natural History for 

 May, 1863. 



Some time bcfere the appearance of Mr. Dal- 

 las' epitomised translation of Dr. Gerstiickcr's 

 paper on "The Geographical Distribution and 

 Varieties of the Honey Bee," from which the 

 above extract is taken, I had become aware of 

 the value attributed by the learned German to 

 the Egyptian race of honey bees (Apis fasciata,) 

 and had taken steps for obtaining it by 

 sending an order to a distinguished mercantile 

 firm in that country, to whom I had obtained 

 an introduction, for three colonies of bees, 

 accompanying nij'^ order with full instructions 

 for packing and transporting them to England. 

 This order was, however, never executed, for 

 reasons which I could not at the time compre- 

 hend, but which the follo'wing narrative explains 

 clearly enough, and the whole affair remained 

 in abeyance until last year, when I learned that 

 the Berlin Acclimatization Society had taken 

 the matter in hand, with what success Herr 

 Vogel, the distinguished German apiarian who 

 has acted for the society, shall relate for him- 

 self. — A Devonshire Bee-keeper. 



" We believe that Egypt was included in the 

 range of the creation of the bee, since, on 

 account of the obscurity and insufficient 

 knowledge we possess of the ancient history of 

 this country, we can neither prove that our 

 favorite insect spi'ead by degrees voluntarily 

 into it, nor that it was man wlio introduced the 

 bee into the valley of the Nile. 



" The historical fact that tlie ancient Egyp- 

 tians were a cultivated people gives us reason 

 enough to suppose that the bee was domesticated 

 in Egypt in the earliest times. Although we 

 do not find it reckoned among the animals that 

 were considered sacred, yet different anti- 

 quaries are of opinion that the mythical sacred- 

 ness of the bee was likewise intimated in the 

 name of Apis, by Avhich name the sacred bull 

 of the Egyptians was called, as the name of the 

 sacred bull is identical with the later Latin 

 denomination of the bee. It would be overhasty 

 to infer from the biblical account that because 

 the old patriarch Jacob, amongst other presents, 

 also sent honey to " the man" in Egypt, that 

 the bee did not exist in Egypt at that time, and 

 that therefore Jacob wished to make present of 

 honey to Joseph. According to the opinion of 

 biblical commentators the honey (^JD'bascJi,) 

 mentioned in Gen. liii, 11, was not the honey 

 of bees, but a kindofsuccedaneum, a thickened 

 grape juice, which was afterwards also taken 

 from Palestine into Egypt, which was poorer 

 in honey. It is still at the present day called 

 Dibs. 



" The ancient Egyptians used the Nile to 

 obtain rich harvests, and the ancient Egyptian 

 bee-keepers understood also how to use the 

 river for profiting from the plants through their 

 bees by carrying on an extensive wander-bee- 

 keeping on the great river. As Upper Egypt is 

 hotter than Lower Egypt, and the country there 

 is sooner freed from the inundation, the honey- 

 yielding plants also develope themselves earlier. 

 In Lower and Middle Egypt the bee-hives, 

 having been previously numbered, were piled 

 in a pyramidal form on boats especially con- 

 structed for this purpose, and were taken up the 

 Nile with the wandering bee-house. 



" When the chief gathering in Upper Egypt 

 was over, they were shipped a few miles lower 

 down the stream, and a halt was again made 

 so long as the bees found plenty of food. In 

 the beginning of February the stocks arrived in 

 Lower Egypt, where they were again delivered 

 to their owners. The bee-keepers of Upper 

 Egypt who had accompanied them, after their 

 hives had profited by the pasture near the sea, 

 went home again with their heavy stocks up 

 the stream, in April. 



"The civilization of Egypt fading by degrees, 

 and becoming worn-out and effete, ultimately 

 expired under the rule of the fanatical Maho- 

 metans. With the vanishing culture, bee-keep- 

 ing in Egypt, old and extensive as it was, sunk 

 too; at least modern travellers no longer see 

 anything of wander-bee-keeping on the Nile. 

 A change has taken place in Egypt also in 

 modern times. At present it is only those 

 Arabs (Fellahs) who are settled and carry on 

 agriculture, and a few Copts who keep bees, 

 whilst the Beduins, living on the borders of the 

 desert, keep none at all. From the small num- 

 ber of inhabitants in the country, (about three 

 millions,) we may judge of the very small 

 number of bee-keepers there. Bees are most 

 extensively cultivated in Upper Egypt. They 

 arc kept there in movable earthenware vessels, 

 and it is said that these vessels are immediately 

 walled in. In Middle and Lower Egypt there 

 are but few apiaries. An architect named 

 Kindler travelled in the neighborhood of Cairo 

 for some time without discovering one apiary. 

 Besides earthenware vessels, the bee-dwellings 

 here also consist of clay cylinders. Straw hives 

 do not seem to be in use, and when the word 

 korbe (straw hives) is used in accounts of travels 

 in Egypt, when speaking of the bee-keeping in 

 that country, it probably means bee-hives 

 only. 



" I only know the Egyptian cylinders by 

 sight... They are made of the Nile mud, from 

 which material also the poor people in that 

 country construct their miserable cottages. Such 

 a cylinder is about 15 inches diameter inside, 

 by 3 feet long, and has, therefore, about the 

 same internal dimensions as a large Dzierzon 

 hive. It is l^- to 2 inches in thickness. The 

 hive is closed at both ends by means of cir- 

 cular dises made of the same material ; and the 

 entrance, which is but small, is made in one of 

 these discs. Cross sticks are not employed. 

 The cylinders lie in a horizontal position, and 

 are placed, like draining tiles, under the shade 

 of a tree. The stock which was introduced into 



