SHIPPING BEES TO CALIFORNIA. 251 



miles westward of any timber, on those vast prairies 

 between the Missouri and Rocky mountains, he has 

 found swarms of bees that had evidently iiown until 

 exhausted, and settled down in the grass, and there 

 built a pyramid of combs during summer ; but being 

 in so unprotected a condition, they would doubtless 

 be destroyed by the rains and storms of winter, or 

 by the bears, who are fond of honey; if indeed they 

 should escape destruction by the autumnal tires that 

 annually sweep over those plains. 



It is related by Col. Fremont, that when he was 

 on one of the highest peaks of the Rocky moun- 

 tains a bee came to him and flew around, apparently 

 as an omen of good ; but it was what is called 

 (improperly so,) a humble bee, and not one of our 

 domestic honey bees. 



Natural obstructions are equally great to prevent 

 bees from reaching California from the south (from 

 Mexico,) by way of the Colorado river. The greater 

 portion of the country in that direction is sterile, and 

 of such a character that bees could not exist in it or 

 pass over it. Hence I conclude that it was quite 

 impossible for bees of themselves to reach California. 

 The time required to make the voyage from any 

 Atlantic port, either in Europe or America, via Cape 

 Horn, was so great, that bees would certainly perish 

 before their arrival, if indeed the effort was ever 

 made by those early missionaries. The difficulty of 

 transporting them across the Isthmus of Darien, and 

 thence by sea to California, would involve a greater 

 amount of labor and difficulty than Spaniards in 



