There are two kinds
of bees, both being much smaller than ours; the larger of these are raised in
very small hives, and do not form a comb as do ours, but instead certain small
sacs like wax-nuts, all close together and full of honey. To get this it is
only necessary to open the hive and break the sacs for the honey to run out,
and then remove the wax as convenient.
The others live in
the woods, in the hollows of trees and rocks, where one must hunt the wax. With
this and the honey the country abounds, the hones being most excellent save for
the fact that it is somewhat watery on account of the fertility of the food of
the bees; it is therefore necessary to heat it at the fire, which makes it very
good and very hard. The wax is fine, except for being smoky, the reason for
which I have not been able to discover; in some provinces it is much yellower
on account of the flowers. These bees do not sting, even when the honey is
gathered. (Friar Diego de Landa, Yucatan Before and After the Conquest [trans.
William Gates; Baltimore, Md.: The Maya Society, 1937, 2011], 114)
