Paragraph VIII. Of bees and their honey wax.

There are two kinds of bees and both are very much smaller than ours. The larger kind of these breeds in hives, which are very small. They do not make honeycomb as ours do, but a kind of small blisters like walnuts of wax all joined one to the other and full of honey. To cut them away they do nothing more than open the hives and to break away these blisters with a small stick, and thus the honey runs out and they take the wax when they please. The rest breed I the woods in hollows of trees and of stones and there they search for the wax, in which and in honey this land abounds, and the honey is very good, except that, as the fertility of the nourishment of the bees is great, it sometimes comes out a little watery and it is necessary to give it a boiling on the fire, and when this is done it is very good and keeps very well. The wax is good, except that it is very smoky, and the cause has never been ascertained, and in some provinces it is much more yellow on account of the flowers. These bees do not sting nor do they do harm when the honeycombs are cut.