OCR Text |
Show DISSF.RT. Ill. .. H I S T 0 R Y • 0 F M E X I C 0. tl1at a certain gigantic fpecies of ferpents is to be found in the woods, which attraCt men with their breath, and fwallow them up; but we know alfo that fcvcwl hifiori·ms, both ancient and modern~ report the .Gune thing of the fcrp nts of Afia, and even fomething more. Mcgaf~ thcnes, cited ~y Pliny, {;\id, that there were fcrpents found in Afia, f0 'brgc, that they [wallowed entire fiags and bulls (m). Metrodorus, cited by the f\me author, affirms, that in i\lia there were fcrpcnts which, by their breath, attraCted birds, however high they were, or quick their fligh t. Among the moderns, Gemelli, in vol. V. of his Tonr of the World, when he ·tre:1ts bf the animals 'Of the Phili ppine ifles, fpcaks thu s~ ·" There arc ferpcnts' in theft: iGancls 0f immoderate '~ fiz ; there is on~ cal·led Ibitin, very long, • which fufpending it((!lf ·" by the tail from the trnnk •of a tree, waits till flags , bears, and alfo '" n1en pafs hy, 1n order to attraCt them with its breath, and dcvom ~' them at once entirely:' ' from whence it is evident. that this very ancient f~1hle has been common to ooth continents (u). Mr. de P,tw woulu perh~ps fay, cl1at thefe monfirous animals were formerly feen in the old continent when .its clime was not yet perfected. But when that which the ancients wrote is compared with that which we know of Alia anu Africa at pre{cnt, who is there that will not perceive that the clim'ate of tho!e countries is at prefcnt, for the moll: part, wh~t it was two thoufand years ago ; that there is the C.1mc heat, the f.1me drynefs "Or 'humidity, the fune kind of plants, ,animals, and men, &c. Bcfides, even in our days, various forts of monfit'ous.flnimals have been feen in thofe rcg:ons which infinitely furpafs tho{e analagous to them in the new world. In what conn try of Amer#car could Iy.f. de Paw tltrd ants to equal thofe of the Philippine ifian&, ailed Sulum, refpechng which Hernandez '(o ~ aflirms, that they arc fix .fing~rs bro<\d in length, ., (111) ;McgaOhencs fcrj.bit, 1n India fcrpen tcs i!( tant:lll\ magnitudincm adolcfccrc, ut folidos )1aurio1nt ccr~os muroft[liC. McrroJorus circa 1{1hyhdncum amncm in pomo ut fu pc rvolnn• tell quanwis altc pcr niciterquc, alitcs haunu rnptas ,abforbcnnt. N;ota eli in Plu~ic '! bdlis ad 1lqme11 Bagrndamnn Regulo impcr. balcilis torm cntif<lliC ut oppidum ali<tpod eJ<pugnata fcrpens C((X pcdumlongitudini s. !'ellis cjus max illxquc .ufqllt! ad bellun1 Nm\,:\ntinum duravere 1tom:J! in tcmplo. Faciun1; l1is fid em in ltalia appellat:J! bo:x:. in tantcm amplitudincm cxc· untcs ut Divo Claudio, pt)nc'pe occ ifa: in Vaticnno fi>lidus in nlvo fpcctatus fit infans. l'lin. llift Nat. lib. viii. cap. 14. ' (11) Sec Bo111arc on the Minia of Africa, apd the Rci110trab of Ceylon, (o) Hcrn. mn. In fcctor. N. IIifp. cnp. 30. and • H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E :x; I C 0. and one in breadth ? Who h:ts ever fccn it\ America butterflies fo 'lt~rge as thofe of llourbon, Ternatc, the Philippine i!les, and all the Indian Archi~clago? . T~1e largell: bat of America (native to hot fhady c?~ntnes ) wlnch 1s ~h at called by Buffon vampiro, is, according to ~11m 6f the fize of :1 rptgeon. La Rougette, one of the fpecies of Afia, IS as large as a raven; and the Roz!/Jilttf., another fpeci es of Afia, is as IJjg a~ a large he~ (·p). Its wings, when extended , meafure from tip to ttp three Panfian feet, and according to Gemelli, who meafiued it in the Philippine ifics (q), fix palms. Mr. IJ uffon acknowledges the excefs in fize of the AJi~tic bat over• the American fpecie. , but deoi !i it as to number. 1 Gemelli fays, that thofc of the ifland of Luzon were fo num~ rou s t~ a t thc.:y ~ar kened the air, and that the 11oife which they made w1th the1r teeth, m eating the fr uits of the woods, was heard at the diilance of two miles (r:). M. de Paw fays, in tJlking of ferpents (s), " it cannot be affirmed that the new world has il1ewn any ~' ferpents larger than thofe which Mr. Adanfon faw in the deferts of " Africa.", The greateil: ferfent found in M ·xico, after a diligent fearch made by 1--rlernandez, was · eighteen feet long; but this is not to 1be compared with that th~ Moluccas, which I3omare fitys, is -thirty-three feet in length (t); nor with the Anacandt':}a of Ceylon, •whit h the fame •author fays is more tluan thirty~three feet long (u) 1; ·nor with others 'of Afia and Africa, , mentioned by the fame author.. Lall:ly, the argument drawn from .the multitude and fize of the American infeCts is fully as weighty as the ar~Liment drawn from the finallnefs :md fcal'city of lluadrupeds, and both deteCt the fam~ ignoraoce, ·or rather the fame yoluntary .and fhadied forg~ tfulncfs of the things of ·the old continent. With i'efpe& to what Mr. de Paw hils faid of the tribute of lice j 11 ·Mexico, in that, as well .as in many other things, he difcovers his ridiculous faith. It is true that Cortes found. bags of lice in the maga- .. I L I J I I I i ~. J' ' j c ' * •• w , I (f>) • B lllf'qn, }li (\-. Nat 1 tom Jr ix · • ' '" ' I I f • ( q) G'r mc II1' 1 , I I • l tom. v. • (r) What Gemelli f:tys rHpcltii'log>,J.e fu't·prlflllg. 111U.Cc of the b:m of the illanc\ of Luzon u confirmed by fcvcral pcl'fons worthy of credit, who have been Come yc~1rs in that illand. ( I) De~' O lO des. Rcchorch' Philofoph .• chap,, :a. I 'I t ' I · ~t)) B1 o 1 mVarc D 1 itlian; ~ni v.. d'. Hjfloi,-c , N<jtltr~ V t;:,o;i/ruv~·i· ,. 1 1 ; .:I, ,• i , ,_u ' • • / lllflt't/11(/(lj(l• 1 , , , 'Ill I I ~11, 1 1l i !'J J ll x 1 ; . , 11 ,} , oll i Il l ) . •'.1 zmes DlSSFRT. III. '-v--J |