Dee Lusby asked about (the Rev. Jeremy Belknap 1792 assertion that):

>"There is one circumstance in the history of Columbus,
>which proves that bees were known in the islands of the
>West Indies, at the time of his discovery. When on his
>first return to Europe he was in danger of perishing at
>sea, he wrote an account of his discovery on parchment,
>which he enclosed in a cake of wax, and put into a tight
>cask, committing the whole to the sea, in hope of its being
>driven on shore or taken up. This was procured in the
>island of Hispaniola, which he had visited, and it was one
>of the first fruits of his discovery."

   First of all, note that the above quotation does not use the term
"beeswax" but only "wax."

>Adrian: Question - Can you give more detail on your quote for me?

   Yes, here is the full reference:  Benjamin Smith Barton.  An Inquiry
into the Question, whether Apis mellifera, or True Honey-Bee, is a Native
of America.  Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. III
(Philadelphia, 1793), pp. 241-246.  [Dr. Barton was Professor of Natural
History and Botany at the University of Pennsylvania.]

   I have a photocopy of that article somewhere in my files but cannot
locate it on short notice.  However, the university library in Tucson
should be able to help in locating it in less time than I could.

>Also, if the first trip by Columbus brought back wax and I
>am sure others did also, then has any of this wax been
>sampled and analyzed to see what type of bees made it?

   If the wax Columbus had used, in fact, had been some type of beeswax, it
could well have been from Trigona and/or Melipona colonies that natives in
the Yucatan had been keeping for centuries before the arrival of Columbus
(see Eva Crane's books on that matter).

                                                        Adrian

Adrian M. Wenner                    (805) 963-8508 (home phone)
967 Garcia Road                     (805) 893-8062  (UCSB FAX)
Santa Barbara, CA  93106  [http://www.beesource.com/pov/wenner/index.htm]

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*    "We not only believe what we see:
*  to some extent we see what we believe."
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*                           Richard Gregory (1970)
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