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Show 272 mssr.RT. III. . ~ H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. rl'es cttmotu xicames, and other numerous fruits, roots, and fa"" , , . ld vary herbs, which cool and temperate cli~es yte ; ananas, mu-fas, cocoas, anonas, chirimoyas, mameys, chtcozapotes, zapotes, anq many others which hot countries produce; melons cucu,mbe~·s, oranges pomegranates, and others which cold or hot countnes equally, produce. At all feafons of the yea~ their market is a~t.Jndantly provided with variety of excellent frUlts, even at thofe tlmes when the Europeans muil: content themfelves with their chefnuts or at moil: with apples and grapes, which their indufiry ha~ pref:rved. Through all the year, even in the feverity of win~e1~, veffels enter their market by one of the innume1·able canals of the ~1ty, loaded with fuch variety of fruits, flowers, and herbs, that it feems as if all the feafons of the year offered their productions at once ; the mof!: valuable plants of Europe, as well as all the natjve produCtions of -Mexico being collected there; which all Europeans who have vifited that part can tcfl:ify. Nor is that land lefs abundant in plants ·Of medicinal nature. To be f.1tisfied of this truth, it will be fufficient to look into the work of the celebrated naturaliil: Hernandez ; in whichr nine hundred plants, that are for the moft· part produced in the neighbourhood of 'Mexico, are defcribed and de.figned, whofe virtues 1have been after .. tained by experience ; beG des three hundred others, the ufes of which are not mentio~ed; and without doubt there are innumerable others yet und.ifcovered. Mr. de ·Paw, .on the contrary, fays that America produces a greater number of poifonous plants than all th.e reO: of the world. Eu..t what 'cloes he know of tho plants whk-h are bred in the inland countries of Africa and A.fia, to enable him to make a comparifon? The 'fqil of America is fo fertile, 'that it is not to be wondered M if there is' abundance of every' tort in it. But to mention the trutb, we do not know that one twentieth pdrt of thofe poifonous plants ' which are produced in the old continent have been difcovered in 1New Spain. With refpefr to gums, refins, oils, ar1d other juices which the tree~ yield either fpontaneoufly o.tt with the aid of human indu!hy, New Spain, £1ys Acoil:a, excels : there are whole woods of acacia, which yields the true Arabian gum; but fi·om its plenty it is not fufficient1y 5 H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X .I C 0. fufficiently valued. There is beGdcs ba~fam, incenfe, copal of many fpecies, liquid amber, tecanpca, oil of fir, and many other juices ta .. luable for their fragrant odours, and medicinal virtues. Even thofe very woods with which the land of America is covered, as Buffqn and de Paw affirm, dcmonfi:rate its fertility. There have been, and there are fl:ill, in thefe moil: extenfive regions, gteat woods ; but there are 1,1ot fo many as that a journey of five or fix hundred miles may not be made without meeting one of .them? And what kind of woods are they? for the moft p,1rt confi!l:ing of fruit-bearing trees, fuch as the mufa, mamey, apple, orange, and ·lemon, in the woods of Coatzacualco, Mi11cca, and Michuacan; or of trees valuable for their wood or their gums, fuch as thofe which -feparatc the vale of Mexico from the diocefe of Angelopoli, and thofe of Chiapa, of the Zapotecas, &c. ; bcfides pines, oaks, a01es, hazels, firs, and a great many others, common to both continents. The trees peculiar to that 'land are in fi:ill greater number, and of more value. There are whole woods of cedar, as we have already mentioned. The conqueror Cortes was accufed by his rivals before Charles V. of having ufed for the palace which he made be built in Mexico, feven thoufand beams of cedar; and he excufed himfelf by £1ying that it was a common wood in that country. It is in fact fo very common, that they make the il:akes for the foundation of houfes in the mar!hy places of the ·capital, of this wood. There are alfo woods of ebony, that fo jufi:ly celebrated tree, in Chiapa, Yucatan, andt Cozume] ; of ;bra'iil wood in hot countries, and the odorous wood of •aloes in Mifl:eca. The Tapincorm, the Granadillo or red ebony, the .Camote, and others which we have mentioned in our hi11ory, afford ·better timber than is to be had in Europe. La11ly, to avoid a tedious enumeration, we refer the reader to Acofi:a, Hernandez, Ximc- ·nes, and other European authors who have been in New Spain, although all they fay is not fufficient to convey a competent idea of the fertility of that land. Acofi:a affirms, \hat " as well in refpect to " number as to variety of trees produced by nature, there is a greater • cc abundance in America than in Afia, Africa, and Europe."(~) (.f) Acofta, lib. iv. cnp. 30. Vol. II. Nn 'l'he • ~7~ DIS<;ERT. III. '-v---J |