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Show HIS T 0 R· Y 0 F ME X I C 0. DISSJ.:RT. Paw endeavours to fupport it on the teftimon y of. Acofta, on the III. l 1 a1 m o1n1. m• fi lll·t e number of lakes. and maril~es, on th.e vems of h1.e avy m• e- 'ta 1s , w h't c h ar e 1r:•.0 und almoft on the furface of th•e earth, on 1tn e m· m1· me • bodies 'which are found heaped ~ogether lying m the motl: ow m and pI a ces, on the deftru~tion of the great quadrupeds, an·d , laftl1y , ro. n the unanimous tradition of the Mexicans, Peruvians, and all t 1e 1ava~c' from the lat;d of Magellan to the river St. Lawrence, who all teihfy of their ancefiors on the mountains during the time the valleys were laid under water. . . It is true that Acofia, in book I. chap. 2 S ·of hts htll:ory., ilou htG whether that which the Americans fay a£ .the deluge ought to be underfiood of that of Noah, or of fome other particular :enc which ll:tppened in their land, as :hof: of Deucalion and ~gyge~ i.~ Greec~; ;tnd .it appears alfo that he mchne~ t? .adhere to thts o,pm~n, wh~ch l?e J~ys has been adopted by fome JUdiCIOUS ~en! 'hut, ootwtthfiandmg~ m book V. chap. I 9, fpcaking of the .firft con quell: .of the lncas, he gtves ·us to undedl:and that he firmly believed, that it ought to be underftood .of the deluge .of Noah. "' The pretext, (he fays) ~ndel' which they .conquered and rendered themfeJ.ves mafters of .the land was thnt .of feigning that after the unive~jal deluge {of which all thok Indiani had 'knowledge) they had new poopled .the world, feven of them iffiting from the cave of Pacaritambo, .and that all other men therefore ought .to render them homage as their progenitors." Acofta., therefore, k'new that that tradition of the Americans refpeeted the univerfal del~ge, and ·that the· fables with which it W3S blended had been invented by the Incas to ell:abli!h the right of their em.pire. What would that a~ thor :have faid, if he had had thofe proofs in favour <>f the tradition which ,.,..e have? The Mexicans, as their own hiftarians affirm, make no .mention of the deluge, without commcrnora.ting alfo the confufion .of tOt)gues and the di(perfion .of the people, and tl1ofe three fhing.s were rcprefented by them in a fingle painting, as appears from that picture which Siguenza had from D. F. d'.t}lbn Ixtlilxochitl, and .he from ,his noble ancell:ors, a copy of which has be.en given in .our hiftory.. The fame tradition has .been found among the Chiapnne!c, the TJnfcalans, the people of J\1ichuacan, of Cuba, and the Indians of :the ,continent, with the clrcumfiancc .of , a few men, witll fome animals., havi1 g B I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. having been faved in a vcffel from the deluge, and to. have fet at l~berty tirft a· bird, which did not return again to the vefiel, becaufe tt re ... mained. eating· carrion, and afterwards another, ~hich returned wi~h a green branch in its mouth : this re.nders it ev1dent, that they dtd not fpeak of a11y other deluge than that which drowned all the ea~th in the time of the patriarch Noah. All 'the circumftances whrch have difguifed or changed this moil: ancient and univerfal tradition among nations, have either been allegories, fuc? as thofe ~f the fe~en.. caves of the Mexicans• to fignify the feven d1.fferent nat1ons whtch peopled the country of Anahuac, or the fitl:ions of ignorance or ambition-. None of thofe nations believed ~ that men were faved u po11 the mountains/: but in. anr ark or ve.lfel, or, if poffible, any one thought otherwife, it was certainly becaufe. the tradition.. of the deluge, after fo many> centuries, had been changed~ It is therefore abfolu.tely fJ.lfe ·th:tt there· was. an• unanimous tradition of an inundation ·peculiar to America,. among all thofe. people who. dwelt. between the land of Magellan and the river St .. Lawrence. The lt\kes and the madhes which appear to Mr •. Buffon· and Mr. de Paw inconteftible marks and traces of this pretended inundatien, ate unqucftiot1ably the effeCts of the great rivers, the innumerable · fountains, and the very plentiful rait'lS of .A:mcrica. If th0fe lakes and marilies ·had .bcen made by that 'nundatiot:J, and n0t by the cau!Cs we have afiigned, .ther would, after fo many ages, have been confumed and dried up by the continual evaporation< which the. heat of the fun produces, particularly u~e~ !he torrid zone;.' o.r at~dea~·· they would have been . confi~erably d1muulhed-> . but no dtmmutiOn xs ohfervable,· except in thofe lakes, from .which.human induftry has · diverted the rivers· and.toJ.:rcnts- which .. difcharge~ themfel~es int6tthem;as in thofe o£ the vale of Mexico.. We. have feen and obferved the .:five principal Ukes of New Spaiu, which are thofe o£Tezcuco,. .Chalco, .Cuifco, Paz .. cuaro, and Chapalla, and ·are confident that they_ have not been formed, nor are . prefc r-ved, but by plentiful .rain• waters,·, rivers, , and fountain1. All the world .is. acq\lainted, that no rai11s are more copious ·and violent, nor any_ rivers fo gccat, as thofe of A merica~ Why .. then invc~t ~inu ndations while we have caufes · at . hand more natural and certam ? If the.lakes wer~ proofs of an inundation,. we oug!lt rather to . .believe it .. tQ. 8 DISSERT. xu. ~ |