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Show 298 DISSERT. IV. .. H I s T 0 R y 0 F M E X I C 0. difgu.ll:ful .fkin wirheut hair and furrowed with wrin~les; i~s enor-k · 11. d of , nofe. its long teeth placed w1thout 1ts moil: JllOUS trun Intlea "' ' . . h "d th and tL11·ncd upwards contrary to what IS obferved 111 t eous mou , ' , . . other animals, in order to increafe the deformity o: 1ts face; 1ts vail: 1 olygonous cars; its thick, crooked, an_d _prol:orttonably finallleg~; its unformed feet, with toes fcarct.:ly dJfl:mgm{hcd; and bfl:ly, Jts diminutive eyes and ridiculouGy {i)1all tail to a bod~ [o immcnfe, _are all circumfianccs which render the elephant a moft nregubr quadruped . Vve challenge our philofophers to find in the new world ·an ~-nt~al more difproportioncd, or whofc form is more ungraceful. S1m~lar refleCtions arifc from viewing the camel, the Macaco, of wluch ount de Bnffon f-ays that it is hidc01.jly dtjonncd, and more fo than all other an imals of the old continent; we dare not, however, blame the clime to which they belong, nor cenfure the Supreme Artificer who formed them. What our philofophers fity with refpeCl: to the fmaller ferocity of American wild bea!l:s, infiead of afii!l:ing them to prove the malignity of that clime, fervcs only to dcmonfiratc its mildncfs and bounty. " In America," fays count de Buffon, "where the air and the land are " more mild than thofe of Africa, the tyger, the lion, and the pan" thcr are terrible only in name ... They have degenerated, if fierce" nefs joined to cruelty made their nature ; or, to fpeak more pro" perly, they have only fuffcrcd the influence of the climate." What more can be deli red in favollr of the climate of America? Why, therefore docs he ever adduce the fmallcr ferocity of American animals ' ' as an argument of their degeneracy occa!ioned by the malignity of that clime? If the climate of the old continent ll10uld be e!l:ecmcd better than that of tbe new world, becaufC under the former the wild bea(l:s arc found mor'- t rriblc, for the f<une rcafon the climate of Africa ought to be cficcmcd in cornp::~mbly more excellent than that of Europe. This argnment, which we h.wc alrc:1.dy made ufc of, might be carried much farther to the confuron of our pi ilofophers . Bu t thofe authors have not a jnfl: idea of American animals . It is t nie that the Mirzt li, or Mexico n lion, is not to be com pared with the celebrated lions of Afri a. Th htter fp ccics either never did pafs into the nl!w world, or was cxtirpat<; l by man; but the fanner docs not H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. 299 nut yield to thofc of its fpecies, or the ]ion without hair of the old DISSERT. IV. continent, according to the tefl:imony of Hernandez, who knew both '--"v'--1 the one and the other. The Mexican tyger, whether it is or is not of the f:.lme fpecies with the royal tyger of Africa, as that is of 110 importance, has furprifing fi:rength and ferocity. There is no qua-druped, among thofe of Europe or America, which can be oppofed to it. It intrepidly attacks and tears men, deer, hor[es, bull , and even the moil: monfl:rous crocodiles, as Aco!l:a affirms. This learned ~uthor vaunts both its intrepidity and fwi ftncfs. G. de Oviedo, who had travelled through many countries of Europ , and was not ignorant of natural hiltory, fp ... aking of thofe American tygers, fays, " They arc animals very fi:rong in the legs, well armed with ·" claws) and fo terrible, that, in my judgment, none of the greatdl: " royal lions can rival their il:rength and fero city." The tyger is the terror of the American woods ; it is not pofiiblc to tame it or catch it when' it is grown up: thofc which are taken when young are not to be kept \\'ithout danger, unlefs they are .lhut up in the firongefr cages of wood or iron. ·such is the charaCter of thofe animals which are called cowardly by Mr. de P,tw and other authors, who were un- ~ble to difiingui.fh the fpccies of quadrupeds V.rith {potted ikins. It is however certain, that thofc authors il1ew themfelves as credulous of every thing they find written concerning the fizc, il:rcngth, and intrepidity of the royal tygcrs of the old continent, as they nrc obfiinate in denying f.'tith to what eye-witncffes fay of American tygers. Count de Buffon believes, upon the attc!l:ation of we do not know what author, that the royal tyger is from thirteen to fourteen feet in length, and five in height; that it will engage with three elephants, kill a buffaJoe, anti drag it wherever it p1cafes, and oth r fimilar ab(urdities, which ·can only gain belief from thofc who arc prejudiced in favour of the old continent. If fomc authors defcrving of i;1.ith il10uld relate of the American tygers a few of the particulas which are told of Ailatic tygers they ~ould be conGdcrpd .as idle cxa.ggemting boafl:ers (i). The account which Pliny(k) gives of the artifice of hunters in robbing the '(i) Tt is . fufllcicnt to obferve the little ct-..-:dit given by thcfr• ~uthors to the teOimony of Mr. Candaminc, notwithfl:llnding the c!"tecm in whi h they hclJ that le3 rued mathamari. Clan. (.<- ) .Nat, Hi!t. lib. viii. cap. 18. ' ' Q_q 2 tyger |