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Show H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. rnpted water, , or overed with .woods .fo vail: and fo thi ·k, that the fun's rays never penetrate them, 1s, he.: b ys, generally barren, and mo~e· abounding in poi fonous plants than all the reil: of the worl~l : the a1r unwho1 feme, and more cold th ,tn th.1t of the othc.:r cont nent: the climate unf:wourable to the pro 1ag<ttion of animals: all the animalG native to ·thcfe countries were fmaller, more deformed, teeblc, cowardly, and fiupid, than thofc of the an ··ient world; and thofe which were tranfported there foon degenerated, as well as all the pbnts tranC.plantcd there from Europe: the men hardly differed from the bca{h, ex ept in fig ure; but cvcn in this, m:1ny m:1rks of dCJCneration appear; their colour olive, their beads extremely hard and armed with coarfe thick locks, and the whole of the re!l of their bodi<:s totally dcfl:itute of hair: they are brutal and weakly, and fubje{\: to many violent difordcrs, occafioned by the in.C.tluhrity of their climate ; but bowever their bodies may be formed, their mind ~ arc fiill more imperfeCt; they arc fo irretcnt ive in memory, th:1t they forget to-day what they did yeficrday; they can neither reflect nor order their ide,ts, 11or arl! cap:tble of improving them, nor of thinking, bccaufe their brains circubtc only grof.~ vili ·ons humours; they arc infeniibk to the deliresof love, or any other pallion; their floth holds them funk in a iltvagc jb\te; their cowardice was tn;1de manitdl: at the conquel~; their mor,tl vices are correfpondent to their phyfical defeCls; drunkenn efs, lying, and pcdcr;dly, were comn:on in the inands, in Mexko, I'eru, and over all the new continent ; they lived without laws; the few arts they knew were very rude; ~griculture was totally neglected by them, their architeCture pitiful, and their utentils {l:ill more imperfect: in the whole new world were only two cities, uzco in North, and Mex;co in South America, and even thcfe confiituteJ but miferable hamlets, &c. This is a flight fketch of the monfl:rous picture which 1\1. de P. draws of America : we do not give it at length, nor fuy how other an~ hors, as ill informed or firongly prejudiced ~1s he is, have rcpre1\;ntcd it: Jt would watl:e too much time to copy their abfnrditics and err<JI'S. neither do we intend to mo.ke the apology of America or the Ameri~ cans,; that would rC(JUire a very vol llminous work: to write an error . two lines are fuflicient ; two plges, or two ihccts may not be fufficien~ to H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. to refu te it: we !hall, therefore, reply to thofe only which affect: the truth of our hiftory: we have chofen the work of M. de P. becaufe in it the errors of mofi others are colletl:ed. Although M. de P. is the principal author to whom we direct: our animadverfion s,, we {hall have occa!ion to remark upon others, and, among tbofe, on Count de Buffon. We have the utmoft ell:eem for this celebrated author, and confider him the moil: diligent, the moft accurate, and moll: eloquent naturalift of the age; perhaps there never was in the worlul one who made fuch progrcfs in the knowledge of animals as He has done; but as the fubject of the work he has un:.. clertaken is fo vafi: and fo various, it is not wonderful that he has fometi_tnes erred, or forgot what he has written with.refpeCl: to America, whcFe nature is fo inexhauftible ; the miil:akcs, therefore, or proofs we may adduce of his errors, can, have no influence. on the reputation of one fo defervedly refpected by the learned world. In the quotations of the Hiftory of G.!!adrupeds of count de Buffon, we made ufe of the Paris edition, in thirty-one volumes, twelves, concluded in the year I 768. In thafc: of the work of M. de P. we have ufed the London edition of 177 I, in three volumes, including the anfwer made him by Don Pernety, and reply of M. de Paw. D'I S- . ' . 199 |