HUNTING BEES 
enabled them to see further and get the exact bee¬ 
line. They were also mystified by his covering the 
tumbler with his cap, doubtless considering that a 
further proof of necromancy. 
In a paper published in London in 1720 it is stated 
that all the bees in New England were originally 
brought in hives from England. The paper is 
entitled: An Account of a New Method in New 
England for Discovering Where the Bees Hive in 
the Woods, in Order to Get Their Honey. By 
Mr. Dudley. Philosophical Transactions Royal 
Society A. D. 1720. 
He says “The first planters in New England never 
observed a bee in the woods till many years after 
the country was settled. But what proves it beyond 
dispute is that the Aborigines (Indians) have no 
word in their language for a bee, as they have for 
all animals whatever proper to, or aboriginally of 
the country; and therefore for many years called a 
bee by the name of Englishman’s fly.” 
Nowadays there are probably few throughout the 
length and breadth of the land whose sole occupation 
and source of income is bee-hunting. But there are 
still a great many bee-hunters left—particularly in 
the more remote and rural districts of New England 
among those inhabitants of real Yankee ancestry, 
