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Show - H I' S T 0 R Y ' 0 F .M E X ·I •.C 0. DISSERT. in many, particularly in Qll thofe of M~xico ~hid~ are fituat~d . o!1 IV. " ehe ,coaft of the Pacific· Ocean, equal to the I heft m Eui·ope, and '" poffibly better? What fignifies it that fhe~p h~ve. undergone fome change in Barbadoes, and other hot countnes, .1f, m the temperate countries of Mexico and South America they contmue the fame as they came there from Spain? What d<;>es it avail that hogs have become diffigured in Cubagua, a rriiferable little illand, deprived ?f water and every thing necell:uy for life, if in other par~sl qf Am~ qca, they hav.e acquired, as Mr. de Paw £1ys himfclf, an extraordi~ary corpulence aJld 'their 1 {lefl1 h~~ become fo improved, that the phyficJ.an r'th~re, pt,:e .. fcribe it to the f~ck ill preference to ~11! ~tper: •Il!ea~.- ~ ~f t11e ~ hog~r having.gr$Wn djsqgured, in .Cub~gua, it ~oe~. nQ~ prove .. t~af the 1~lime1 of. America is nO:t the mofl: fuitable to them, why fi:lOfJld the {beep having fuflered fom~ <;hange in BarbadQes, the .f;lelh pf OfeTl having. become ·more fibro1,1s in .f:Iifpaniola,, and foflle qu~drup,eds hav~~g, grown lefs in Canada, fery,e, to ,p ove.that the ~l4De of..J\merica fit. ge;-; neral is unfayburable to the generation ·of animal9, to, theiJ? corpulence and inftin~ ? . If fuch logic was to pe tolerated, we could a;dduce m1,1ch fironger arg~~ents againft the climate of the old con.tinent wit~<?~ making rufe qf any qther materials th~n thofe that are f~rr¥!he~ tR u~ PY. count de B~ffon ~.n l1is Nat ural Hiftory: , ·, Ca~els h~rre p.evfr ~llultiplied, as he fays, in Spjlin, although that clime of ~11 th~ ~limes of Eu~·ope is the leaft contrary to their nature. Oxen h~ve degenerated in Barbary, and in Iceland they have loft their horns. Shee_p, fays, c~unt de Buf .. fon. have degel'\eratcd in our c~untry from their firfl: ~?'ifie11;ce in it,;. and in all the hot, spur) tries of ~he old continent they ,chang their~ ol into hair. Goats have grown fmall in Guinea aQd other countries. In Lapland dogs ha~e become extremely fmall and d~formeq, and thofe of the temperate climes when tranfported into cold dimes ceafe to bark, and after the firft generation are hom with ftrait oars. From the ~ccounts of travellers it is cert~in that mafriffs, g;ey-hounds, and • ..,~ t I other breeds of dogs of Europe tranfported to Madagafcar, Calcutta,. Madeira, ~nd Malnbar, degenerate after the fecond or third genera .. tion, and that in exceffive hot countries, fuch as Guinea and Senega~JI this degeneration is more rapid ,; as in the fpace of three or fou~ years' they they lofe thetr hair, and their voice. Stags, in !non blinQJJ& ·~o.~,. J)) SP. -tries which ' are hot and. dry, fucll a'S .thofe' of Corfita an~ Bar- ~ dinia, have loft a half of their corpulence. '·1ft tQJ tpefe ind ,, (;~Iter accounts given us by count de Buffon we were to add thofe of many other authors, what examples lhould ~e rlo1t have of the degeneracy of aliliri1als in" the 1Ci>ld dmtitien.t',. more Jiumerous rfl.ild true :than t.hon of our philofophcrs? But that· we may expoic the exaggeration and fal-fity which' belong to their examples l~t us examine one by .9nc',the fpecies !of Afiatic.t' and 'Elilropean animals~ tt'a.hfport~ in~o- ~hd ~1'w wgrJq which hy them :ire1faid to .hav_e derlc'iJeratr-d'. 1 ·' l r • • 0 "{ 11 f'J, '' l I : JI, ' ,,; )( JI ). I I ·• ~" ..1 I. J , •• tr ;II' ·)\ ,,·~ 1 )A ' ,Jf' M ,,E 'I I I J • I I;') L S. I r, · ·' ' 'AM 0 N 0 all1 ' the quadrupeds tranfportcd to America, fays Mr. de· Paw, >the ·cam.ClS! ate iinquefrionab,ly thofe· whkh .have th t·iveJl ·t the }eafl:. · lh the beginning of the fixteenth cet•ltury fome of them wen~ trh'nfported froffi rAfl-ica to Perlt, wherert'he cold tlifablc.~l the org<\nS" neceflary ·for their production, , and they left no pofterity. Setting afide the chronological error into which he falls, as being immaterial to our purpofe f z), i£ it was cold that deil:royed th ~ (peci(ls qf c~mels in America, the fame thing would ' have happehed in th~ European northe1 n c6tlmt'ies, where the cold is beyond comparifon greater th~n I in any cou tty whatevet· of Peru. If cold was the .caufe of their ex-tirpation, let ·Mr. de Paw blame thofe who fettlet! thofe quadrup<.:ds in pl-aces ·unfui'table to their nature, and not Atnerica, wh$!rC th~re are. lands that are hot and dry, and proper for the fubiifl:ence of Camels. The fame experiment which was made in iPeru wi~h caq1ols~ was alfo made in Spain, and with the fame waht of .iuccefs; but frill there are no perfons who will doubt that the clime, of the latter i~ one of the mofi mild and temperate in Europe. Count de Buffon fays, that if proper precautions were taken, tbofe animals wo.uld fucceed not only in America but in Spain: and there is n0 doubt that they would profper vety well in New Gallicia. Befides, it is fidfc ( x) Hill. Nat. tom. xviii., ( y) Recherch. Philofoph. part. i. (z) Camels were not tmnfported to Peru in the beginning of the fixteenth centut·y, bccaufCJ th ;Lt country was not then difcovercd; but towards the middle of that century, as Herrera thews in his Dcc;~des, ; r , , Jr' 1 , 'lr ( :) R r 2. • ' .. I : J • ,, ..( •• • 1/ .I.! n r ') th 1\t ' |