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Show 244 DISSERT. IlL ~ H I S T 0 R :'\' ·0 F M E X I C 0 . The hi fioriographer Herrera, although in many r~fpects judic~ou s and moderate, when he makes a comparifon of the cl1mate and foil of Europe with America, !hews himfelf eminently ignorant evc:;n of the firfi elcmc1n s of gcogmphy, and utterS fuch abfurdit~es as would not be tolcn{te::d in a child. " Our !Jemijphere, he fays, 1s better than tb11 nt!'W one 'with refpcCl to ,clime. Our po!r: is more embelli.Jlxd ·witb flar.r, becaufe it has the nortl to 3} degrees, 'loit!J mcmy_ n!fjJlm~ant flars . By :whicp be (uppofes firft, ;that _rh~ fouthern hcm1f~h~re lS n ew~ tho~gh fo 1 many centuriet> a e -pafl: fince ... it ~1as been known lll. ~~a and Afnc~ .. Secondly, tha~ a~ l Amertra belongs.to the fout1lern hem;lfpher ana ~hat ~.o ·t A\n~rica i~ not conneCted with the fitme ~ole and ~ar . of t~ic Eurqpc;aqs . We have, he adds, anot!Jcr pre~emmmce, wb~c!J 1s1 that the j ul! Js fiv,en days longer to'lv.ards the tropzc q{ C~nc:r ~h~n towards /ba~ ql Capricorn;. as if the 1 excefs of the fun s !l:ay m the northern he · fjj>~ere was, not the fiune in the new as in the old conti~ent. . H pppears tha~ qur good hifioriographer was perfuaded, that the greater lo e whicl1 th<J.t hl~llinary bears to beautiful Europe was the caufe of hi~ longer ftay in the northern hemifphere. A thought truly gallant, and fit ·for. ~ Fr,ench poem, anq fr01n whence it ~omes, procee.ds ur Fhronicler, thut the ArCtic is colder than the AntarCtic part, pec;aufe it enjoys lefs of the fu n.. .attt how can there be lefs of the fun enjoyed in the ArCtic part, when this luminary is !even days l'ong~r in 'the northern hemifphere ? Our land extends f rom 'lvejl to eafl, and is t herifore more accommodating to human life than tbe other, 'lvhich grow:.. ing narrow from weft to eajl, enlarges too much f rom one to the ot#er pole ; for tbe land 'Zfkich lmgtbms itfi!f f rom 'lvtj} to eaj) is at a more ,·qup/ dijlance j iwn the cold qf the nortb, and the heat of the fouth. But if the north is the region of cold, and the fouth that of heat, as our chronicler ~u ppofcs , the equinoCtial countries, according to his principles, would certainly be the beil: calculated for human life, from being thofe wh~ch are equidiftant from nprth and fouth. In the other hemifphere our author concludes, there were no dogs, alfes, iheep, or goats, and no lemons, oranges, fi gs, nor quincei, &c. T hcfe, and other fuch abfurd. notions of feveral authors, are the I effeets of a blind and immoderate partiality to their own country, which rnakes them afcribe to it certain imaginary pre~ eminences ove~: all Q hers 1 in ' H I S TORY OF ME X I C 0. 1,' ·In the world. 1t would not be difficult to oppofe to their inveCtives. the great praifes which many very celebrated Europeans, better informed than them, hav(f beftowed on thofe countries; but befidcs that, it wouH:i be forc~ gn to o.ur purpofe, it would be difguftful tO< our read ... ~rs : we !hall therefore conten~ .ourfelves with examini.ng in this Differtatic;> n that which has bee11 written againil: the land of America in general, or againft that of Mexico in particular. J' S E C T. l. On t!Je pretmdcd l?wndation of A merica. .ALMOST all that M. Buffon and M. de Paw have written ~gainfi the land of America, refpeCl:ing its plants, its animals, and its inhabitants, is founded on the fuppofition of a general inundation, different from that which happened in the time of Noah, and much more recent, 0n account of which that vall: country remained a long time under w.ater. Fram this recent inundation arifes, fc1ys M. Buffon, the malignity of the climate· of America, the il:eril ity of its foil, the imperfe.Cl:ion of its animals, and the coldnefs of the AmeriIOans. Nature had not had time to put her defigns in execution, nor to take all her extenfion. The lakes and the marfhes left by that inundation, according to the affirmation of M. de Paw, occafion the exce"ffive humidity of the air which is the caufe of its infalubrity, of the extraordinary. multiplicatiolli of infeCl:s, of the irregularity and finallncfs of · the quadrupeds,. of the ftell'ility of the foi], of th~ barrennefs of the women·, of the abundance of milk. in the breail:s of the men, of the ftupidity of the Americans) and a thoufand other extraordinary ph::cnomena which he· has obferved.. Fnuch more diilinCt:ly from his clofet in Berlin,. than. we·who have paffed fo many years in America. Thefe two·aut-hors; though·they are-agreed with r.efpect to an in undation, .differ with refpeCl: tc;:>·the time· of it; for M. de·Paw believes . it to have been·much more ancient than-M. Buffon does. This fuppofition, however, is ill founded, and the inundation prerended to have happened to· the new. world , is a chimera. M. de Paw .. 245 DISSERT. Ill. '--V--1 . |