BEES AWD WAX. 
261 
to America, has given rise to tlie general error, that the true 
Vitis vinifera is common to the two continents. The Parras 
nonieses which yields “ the somewhat sour wine of the island 
ot Cuba,” was probably gathered on the Titis iilia foliaYi}i\c\i 
Mr. Willdenouw has described from our herbals. In no 
part of the northern hemisphere has tho vine hitherto been 
cultivated with the view of producing wine, south ot the 
27° 48', or the latitude of the island of Ferro, one of the 
Canaries, and of 29° 2', or the latitude of Bushire in Persia. 
Wax. — This is not the produce of native bees (the Meli- 
pones of Latreille), but of Ijees brought from Europe by way 
of Florida. The trade in wax has only become important 
smce 1772. The exportation of the whole island, which 
from 1774 to 1779 was only 2,700 arrobas (average year), 
Was estimated in 1803, including contraband, at 42,700 
arrobas, of which 25,000 were destined for Vera Cruz. In 
the churches of Mexico there is a great consumption of 
Cuban wax. The price varies from sixteen to twenty piastres 
the arroba. 
Trinidad and the small port of Baraeoa also carry on a 
considerable trade in wax, furnished by the almost unculti- 
vated regions on tho east of the island. In the proximity of 
the sugar-factories many bees perish of inebriety from the 
molasses, of which they are extremely fond. In general 
the production of wax diminishes in pi-oportion as the culti- 
vation of the land augments. The exportation of wax, 
according to the present price, amounts to about 500,000 
of piastres. 
CoirMEBCE. — It has already been observed, that the 
importance of the commerce of the island of Cuba depends 
not solely on the riches of its productions, the wants of the 
population in the articles and merchandize of Europe, but 
also in great part on the favourable position of the port of 
the Havanuah. This port is situated at the entrance of the 
added something to the analogies of the woman-serpent, the conflict oj 
two brothers, the cataclysm of water, the raft of Coxcosc , the exploring 
bird, and many other things that teach us incontestably that there existed 
ft community of antique traditions between the nations of the two worlds ? 
(Views of the Cordilleras and Monuments of America.) 
