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Show 212 DISSERT. I. ~ H I S T 0 R y 0 F M E X I C 0. r. • of the old world !hews fufficiently clear, that the . " nc1s to any ' u origin of thofe animals , which are ~roper. to the new world ought " not to be afcribed to fimple degeneratiOn. However great and pow ... " er fiu I we may 1r.1t 1ppofe its effetts , we ca• nnot rea.fonably be per(uadc· d " t I1 a·t t 11 e1r.e am•m ;·.• Is have been originally the fam.e as thofe. of the old " continent; and unqueftionabJy it is more confificnt w1t~1 rcafon to " b 1' tllat the two continents were formerly conttguous and C lCVC, • } • f } u united, and that thofe fpecies which retired mto t 1e rcg1?ns o t 1e " new world, becaufe they found its climate and produchons more "agreeable to their naturcJ wer~ there iliut . ~p an~ ~cparated .from the u . others, by the irruptions bf the • fea which d1vJded AfJ;JC~ from " America (e)," &c. &c. From this difcourfe of cou.nt de DuHon we conclude, I. That there is no anim~l t properly Amencan; becaufe all of them went from the old ' continent, where they were created. 2. That the argument founded on the nature of the animals repugnant to cold, is of no weight to l11ew that the animals could not pafs to the old continent; becaufe thofe animals which could not pafs by the northern countries.from their nature, could pafs by that part where America and Africa were formerly united, as that author believes. 3· That by the way in which the Sapayus and Sagoini paifed to the new world, in like manner could elephan.ts, camels, lions, tygcrs, &c. Omitting many other opinions unworthy of mention, we lhall fub .. mit our own; not with a view to efiablilh any new fyfiem, but to offer materials for other abler pens, antl to 1llufirate fome points of our hifl:ury. I. Trw men and animals of America paifcd there from the old con- . tincnt. This is confirmed by the filcred writings. Mofes, who declares Noah the common .fiotk f all men after the deluge, fays exprefsly, that in that general inundation of the earth all its .quadrup'eds, (o) We rcquell our reaclcra to compnre what the count de Bttffon f.1ys concerning the ~n· cicnt Llnion of Aflica and Americ:~, \\ ith that which be writes in th eighteenth volume, 11 here hcfpcaka of the lion. "'fhc American lion,' ' he fny s, " nnn ot ue <.lef'·cnded from th lion of the old continent, becaufr the l:tttCI' . nly inhabits between tl c tropics; nnd natLII ~ hav• ing, it appc:m, !hut up rtll the paffi1gcs by the north, it could not paf& from the l'ou th rrn p:uta of A1in nnd Africa intoAmcl'ica, ns th cfc two , on tin ents nl'e fcpamted by immcn1i· fe.t3 ; on wl.i ch accot tr1t w~ ought to infer, <hat the J\mcri<:an lion is an :lllimal proper l\11d pec ul iar to the new world,l' . , birJs, ' . H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. birds, and reptiles, periihed, except a few individuals which were· DISSER T...- faved in the ark, to generate their fpec.ies. The repeated expremons I. which tl~e facred hifiorian ufes to fignify its univerfality, do not permit '----'"" us to doubt, that all quadrupeds, birds, and reptiles, which, are in the world, defcended from thofe few individuals which were Caved from the general inundacion. II. The firfi peoplcrs of America might pafs there in vefl't:ls by (ea, or travel by land, or by ice. J. They might either pafs there in veifels defigneqly, if the arm of the fel which feparated the one continent from the othet· was fmall; or be ~cidentally carried upon it by winds. There is .not a doubt that the firft peoplers of the new world might arrive there in the fame manner in which, many centuries after, the pilot or mariner did to whom, in the opinion of many authors, Columbus owed the firfi hints which incited him to his glorious and memorable difcovery (f). 2. They might pafs there by land on the fuppofition of the union of the !WO continents. 3· They might alfo make that paffage over the ice of fame frozen arm of the fea. No perfon is ignorant how vafi and durable the .frozen parts of the northern feas are : it would not therefore be wonderful, that a ftrait of the fea between the two continents fhould have been frozen for fame months, and that men had paflcd over it, eitl1er in fearch of new coun~ rics or in purf~.Iit of wild beat'l:s. We are~ however, only mentionmg what could have happened, not what pofitively did happen. III. The anc~ll:ors of the nations which peopled the country of Anahuac, of wh1ch alone we are treating, might pafs from the northern countries of Europe into the northern parts of America, or rather from the mofi cafiern parts of Alia to the moll: wefiedy part of A meric~. This conclufion is founded on the confhnt and general tradition of thofc nations, which unanimoufly £1y that their ancefl:ors came into Anahuac from the countries of the north and north-w H. This tradition is confirme~ by the remains of many ancient edifices built by thofe people in their migrations, which we hav·e already mentioned, (/). S~mc authors affirm, that the mariner who ga'vc intrlligencc to Columbus oF the new c:ountnes 111 the wcfl. was a nat ive· of Andulu fia; Come fi1y he w ·tq of Bit< ay, :md others thnt h~ was a l'on uguc l ~: i others deny the fa,·t entirely. However rhc cn fe was, iris certain thnt l11tlory rcco.rd s,. mHny i,tfl:atJCCS of vcfiels hal'-iug been driven by winds n11d ca.rricd mnny de~ gu:e¥. out ol thc.:tr cuurfe, 8 :-.a l |