OCR Text |
Show 304- DISSERT. IV. '~...../"~ H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. fhy than the nightingale, and more common, as its _fpecies is one of the mofr numerous . lf we were difpofed to reafon 111 the manner of Mr. de Paw, we could, in order to demonfi:rate the benigni ty of the Amet·ican clime, add, that fome birds which are not valued in L u .. rope for their finging, fing much better in America. T~ H! fpa~Tows , fays Valdeccbro, an European author, which do not fing m Spam, arc in New pain better than caldt!rines (x). . · What we obferve of fi nging birds may be applted alfo to thofc which imitate the human voice ; for in Afia and Africa the fpccic• of parro ts arc neither fo many nor fo numerous as they are in Amen ca. But as we are di.fcourfing of birds, we will, before we end this fubj etl:, make an obvious rcfletl:i0n. There is not an American animal which draws fo much reproach upon it from our philofophers as the flo th, on accoun t of its aftonifhing indolence and inability of motion. But what would they fay if there was a bird of this nature? This would certainly be the mofl: irregular animal in the world, for fuch an inaCtivity or ilownefs is more prepofi:erous in a bird than a q uad- - ruped. But where is this bird? In the old continent, and .has been defcribed by count de Buflon ; who fays that the D ronte, a bu·d of the Eafl: I ndies, larger' than the fwan, is among birds what the floth is among quadrupeds : it appears, he fays, a turtle in the cloathing of a bird ; and nature in granting it thofe ufelefs ornaments, wings and tail , fecms to have intended to add embarraflinent to its weigh t, and irregularity of motion to the inaCtivity of its body, and to make its cumbrous largencfs fl:ill more affiieting, by putting it in remembrance that it is a bird. From what we have faid we cannot avoid concluding, that the fky of America is not niggardly, nor its climate unfavourable to the generation of animals ; that there has been no fcarcity of matter, nor has natu re made ufe of a different fcale of proportions in that region : that what count de Buffon, and Mr. de Paw have faid of the fmallnefs, of tile irregularity and d feCl:s of American quadrupeds is erroneous, or rather a feries of errors : and though it was true, it would be of no afliilance (.'-') In a work entitled Gobimto do las A ves, lib. v. cu p. 29. But we have already obfcrv· oed, that the Mexican fparrow, though rcfembling, is dill~rcnt from, the true fparrow . to 5 ,. H I S T Q, R Y o· F .. M E :X I C 0. to· pro~e the malignity of the climate of America, But we ihail now enquire whether they have dorie lefs wrong to the new world in what they' fay of the fu ppofed degeneracy of quadrupeds ttanfported there from Europe. . . , . S E C T. . II . Of the .Ahinia/1 tranjported from Europe to .America. A L L the animals tranfported from Europe to America, fuch aa: horfes, a-tfd , bolls, ih'eep, goats, hogs, and dogs, are, fay& count do Buffon, cdrrfiderablyfmttl!er there,tOOn they are in Europe, and that, without one jihg!~ exceptio1f. If we feek for the proof of fo general, or rather an univerfal 1afferrion, we ihall find no otliet in all the hifi:ory of that philofopher, than, that cdws, lheep, goats, hogs, and dogs are [mailer in Canada than they are in France. The European or Afiatic animals, fays· Mr. de Paw, that were tranfported to America imm('diately after its difcovery, have degenerated, their corpulence has diminia1ed, and they Have loft a portion of their infiinct and genius : the cartilages or fibres of their flefh have become more rigi<i and more grofs. Such is the general conclu'fiorl .of Mr. de Paw. Let 'us noW attend to the proofs. Firft, The flefh of oxen in the Hland of Hifpaniola is fo fibrous than it can hardly be eaten; fecohdly, the hogs in the ifhnd of Cubagua changed in a lhort time their forms to fuch a degree, that they could hardly be known again ; their nails grew fo much that they were half a palm ih lehgrlr. Thirdly, Sheep fuffered a great alteration in Barbadoes. F6ur'thly, Dogs t'ranfported fr6~ their own countries lofe their voice, and ceafe to, bark, . in the greater part of the regions of the new continent. Fifthly, The cold of Peru incapacitated camels carried there from Africa, in their organs of generation. Such are the arguments' which thofe philofophers ufe to afcertain the degeneracy of animals of the old continent, in th~ new world; arguments which, if they were true, would not be fufficient to prove fo univerfal a pofition : becaufe of what importance is if that the fletb <?f oxen is fo fibrous in the illand of Hifpaniola, if in all die other parts of America it is good, and ·' R r m 305 DISSERT. IV. ~ |