THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



327 



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Read before the British Bee-Keepers' Abb'd. 



A Bee- Keepers' Experience in tlie East. 



T. B. BLOW. 



The Cyprian and Syrian races of 

 bees having of late years come promi- 

 nently into notice, and there being a 

 great difEerence of opinion as to tlieir 

 merits, 1 determined to make a visit 

 to these lands and see them in their 

 native stiite, and so be able to form an 

 accnrate and nnbiassed judgment. 



My original intention was to travel 

 via Trieste, Corfu, and Rhodes, take 

 observations, and bring colonies and 

 queens of the various races of bees in- 

 habiting the Eastern shores of the 

 Adriatic. I found, however, that my 

 €ngagements in England would not 

 permit of such a long absence as this 

 extended tour woiud require, and, 

 therefore, I determined to go direct to 

 Cyprus and thence on to Syria. 



My starting-point was Liverpool, 

 the vessel, on Sunday, 11th December, 

 touching tirst at Algiers. Owing to 

 my short stay there 1 was unable to 

 pay any attention to the bees of North 

 Africa. The next port was Malta, 

 and I was interested to find the bees 

 were black. This raised a susi)iciou 

 in my mind that tlie bees of South 

 Italy and Sicily were black, and this 

 has been confirmed by Mr. Benton in 

 last month's liritish liee Journal. He 

 states that black bees do occur in 

 Italy. When we consider that the 

 bees of tlie Eastern shores of the Ad- 

 riatic are black, I think that there can 

 be little doubt that the yellow Ligu- 

 rians of North Italy were originally 

 bees of the extreme East, brought 

 there ages ago by the Romans, and 

 that they have since become a distinct 

 local variety. 



Cyprus was reached in about 15 

 days, and I took up my abode at the 

 English club, there being no hotels in 

 Larnaca. I determined to remain at 

 Larnaca a few days to get a little idea 

 of the sort of people I had to deal 

 with, and to make the necessary ar- 

 rangements for the journey up into 

 the interior. Happening to mention 

 my business, I was told that an Amer- 

 ican bee merchant resided in Old Lar- 

 naca ; and, as I knew this could only 

 be Mr. Frank Benton, I resolved to at 

 once make his acquaintance. I found 

 that he was just about to leave 

 Cyprus, and was, in fact, packing his 

 bees for transit. As I was not going 

 up country for three or four days, I 

 paid him frequent visits, and assisted 

 in packing up his hives. I thus had 

 great opportunities of observing how 

 the bees conducted themselves in 

 their own land in modern hives. Mr. 

 Benton, too, frSely gave me much 

 valuable and interesting information, 

 which I shall touch upon later on. 

 Landing in a strange country, it was 

 indeed good fortune to meet with 

 such pleasant people as Mr. and Mrs. 

 Benton, and I have a vivid aud grate- 



ful recollection of the many kind- 

 nesses they showed me. 



Not speaking modern Greek, my 

 lirst search was for a guide and inter- 

 preter, and I found they were scarce 

 enough in Cyprus. Some, who were 

 otherwise suitable, did not speak 

 English ; others, who did, did not 

 know the country well ; and at last I 

 had to fall back upon one, by name 

 Spero, whose character, as given to 

 me in Larnaca, was not the most fa- 

 vorable. To be forewarned is how- 

 ever to be forearmed, and I therefore 

 felt able to contend with him. I found 

 that he had many good points. He 

 never allowed any one, besides him- 

 self, to rob or cheat me ; he spoke fair 

 English, knew the island well, and all 

 tlie people therein ; was a fair cook 

 (though, in a testimonial he showed 

 me, and which he seemed to value 

 very highly, he was described as an 

 ' indifferent cook "); was able to pro- 

 vide mules, and did not get intoxica- 

 ted more than once or twice a week. 

 I entered into a contract with him to 

 supply his own services, three mules, 

 one muleteer, and the best food and 

 lodging that the villages could afford 

 for any number of days that I might 

 think fit ; and I must say that he car- 

 ried it out well. 



A start was made on Monday morn- 

 ing, January 2. In the mule bags 

 were placed 48 small hives which I 

 had brought out with me. As I de- 

 sired to get the bees from the hills 

 rather than from the plains, where 

 tropical heat prevails in the summer, 

 we struck in the direction of the 

 mountain called Stavro Vuni, or 

 mountain of the holy cross. Inquiries 

 were made at the various villages 

 through which we passed, but the 

 people were not willing to sell their 

 bees; and Spero assured me that in 

 some cases I was mistaken for an 

 official, and they feared that some 

 taxation of the bees was intended, and 

 therefore they declined to have any 

 dealings. The fact that all the peo- 

 ple live in villages only, of course, 

 made it very convenient, for we had 

 not to run from house to house a mile 

 or two apart, as would have had to be 

 done in a country where the people 

 dwelt in scattered habitations. 



The lirst village where bees seemed 

 to be in great quantities was Hagia 

 Anna, but the people would not sell 

 at any price. We passed the village 

 mill in leaving, and the miller hearing 

 what was required informed us that a 

 man who owned 100 colonies was 

 deeply in his debt, and he would see 

 whether he was willing to sell. How- 

 ever, we found that the man ha(J gone 

 to Larnaca, and nothing of course 

 could be done. The miller very much 

 pressed me to wait, evidently seeing 

 a fair chance of getting his debt. We 

 proceeded, however, and, passing 

 through many villages with but few 

 bees, we arrived in the evening at 

 Lithrodonda, a large village wherein 

 were many hives. There was no inn 

 in the village, but as Spero knew the 

 parish priest, we put up there, and 

 were very courteously received, the 

 best room being set apart for my use. 

 VVe adjourned to the cafe, and told 

 the assembled gossips our business, 



and two or three persons set off to 

 call the bee-keepers of the place. 

 They evidently were not anxious to 

 sell, and this seemed to be the case 

 every vvljere, and Spero explained it in 

 this way. For two years the people 

 had had good crops of corn, wine and 

 oil, and were well off and out of debt, 

 and therefore did not mucn need 

 money. One, however, had 6 to sell, 

 and after long haggling we got to 

 within about l.s. per lot of each other, 

 but as I declined to advance, and he 

 was unwilling to retreat, tlie bargain 

 was not struck. 



We returned to our quarters at the 

 priest's, and it was soon evident that 

 he and Spero were old cronies to- 

 gether. They soon waxed merry over 

 their wine and mastic, and the priest, 

 being told of our difficulty in bargain- 

 ing, announced his intention of going 

 to see the people, who were his rela- 

 tions, and to try and complete the 

 sale. He soon returned, and told me 

 that the bees were mine. This being 

 satisfactory I retired. The furniture 

 of my room consisted of a kind of 

 shutter against the wall at one end, 

 and supported on two legs at the 

 other. This, with a somewhat thin 

 collection of clothes, formed the bed. 

 Great care was necessary, or the 

 whole affair would have come to grief. 

 Washing appliances did not seem to 

 be considered necessary, and the peo- 

 ple evidently were not fond of the ap- 

 plication of water. A beeswax taper 

 stuck against the wall, and the list of 

 furniture is complete. To levy a dis- 

 tress on the furniture of a village 

 home in Cyprus would be somewhat 

 of a farce. 



I rose early to get the bees, but 

 found the man had been persuaded by 

 his wife to run back from his bargain, 

 and though tlie priest came down and 

 tried to persuade them, and Spero 

 fetched two zaptiehs, or policemen, 

 they would not let us have them. 

 However, we heard that a man had 

 been to the village mill that morning, 

 and, hearing that we wanted bees, 

 had offered to sell. His place was 

 more than one hour distant, but I de- 

 termined to go. Here, again, the 

 man's wife was the impediment. She, 

 hearing that we wanted the bees, 

 positively declined to allow her hus- 

 band to come out of the house to see 

 us. She stood in the doorway and 

 kept guard over him, and inside he 

 iiad to remain, and we to go back to 

 Lithrodonda without bees. She — sen- 

 sible woman— said that if her husband 

 got the money for the bees he would 

 spend it in wine, and next year she 

 should have no honey. Arriving back 

 in Lithrodonda, we found that ourold 

 friends there had repented that they 

 had not sold the bees, aud I therefore 

 got the 6 lots. 



There not seeming much chance of 

 getting more bees near, I decided to 

 go back to Hagia Anna, and see 

 whether the debtor of the miller had 

 returned. He had, but during his 

 visit to Larnaca lie liad got some 

 money and paid the miller, so no bees 

 were to be had. He, however, kindly 

 offered to sell his bees at 100 piastres 

 (over 10s.) a lot, not to pick them, but 

 take them from the stack. I should 



