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Show 338 DJSSERT. IV. '--'v--J H I S T 0 R Y , 0 F M E X I C. 0. of bread to enable them to fupport fo fevere a toil. The fame author (m) from whom M. de Paw got cl1e account of the two hundred thoufand AmericanP who died under the fatigue of carrying baggage, relates alfo all the above mentioned circumfl:ances. If that author therefore is to be credited in the lafl:, he is alfo to be credited in the firft. But a philofopher who vaunts the phyfical and moral qualities of the Europeans over thofe of the Americans, would have done better, we think, to have fupprdfed facrs fo opprobrious to the Europeans themfelves. It is true, that neither Europe in general, nor any nation of it in particular, can be blamed for the excefics into which fome individuals run, efpccially in countries fo di!l:ant from the metropolis, and when they act againfl: the cxprefs will and repeated orders of theirfovcreigns ; but! if the Americans were difpofcd to make ufe of M. de Paw's logic, they might from fuch premifcs deduce univerfal conclufions againfl: the old continent in the fame man~1er, as he is continually forming arguments againfi: the whole of the new world, from what has been obferved in fame particular people, or poffibly only in fome individmtls. He allows the Americans a great agility of body, and fwiftnefs in running ; bec:mfc they are accufl:omcd from childhood to this ex-rcife: neither then ought he to deny them firength; for, as it is. clear from their hifiory and from their paintings, that as foon as they, could walk, they were habituated to carry burdens, in which occupation they were to be employed all their lives ; in like manner no other nation ought to be more vigorous in carrying burdens, becaufe no other exerci!ed itf<::lf fo much as the Americans in carrying loads on their backs, on account of their want of beafl:s of burden (n), with which other nations were provided. If Mr. de Paw had feen, as we have, the enormous weights which the Americans fupport on their !boulders, htt would never have reproached them with feeblenefs.. But nothing demonfl:rates fo clearly the robufl:n.efs of the Americans. as thofe various and lafl:ing fatigues in which they are continually en,gaged. Mr. de Paw fays (o), that when the new, world was difco( m) Las Cafas. (11) Although the Peruvians had bcafts of bm'C!cn the"e were not "ucl td r 1 · {i • " '' 1 as cou ltlrve t 1em 1n Mtra n ·p ortin1g t·h ofe large Ooncs which were found Ill fomc of their b ')d' d · 1 r f 1 · . · llt tngs, an 111 t tOte o e:xtco : 1avmg no mac nnes enh~r for affiain"" tl1cm in that wo ·k · fl: b b 1 folcly by the ftr-ength of meA. ., I ' It mu ave ccn ( ona (11) Defence de Rccherchca, cap. :xii, vered, . ' II I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. vered, nothing was to be feen but thick wodds; and that at prefent there are fome lands cultivated, not by the t\m ~ ricans however, but hy the Africans and Europeans; and that the foil' in cultivation is to the foil which is uncultivated as two thou[and to two millions. Thcfe three affertions are precifely as many errors. To rtCerve, however, what belongs to the labours of the ancient Mexicans for another Difit:rtal'ion, and to fpeak only of latter times, it is crtain that !inoc the conqucfi: the Americans alone have been the people who have fupported all the fatigues of agriculture in all the vafl: countries of the continent of South America, and in the greater part of thofe of South America fubjeCt to the crown of Spain. No European is ever to be fcen em .. played in the labours of the field. The Moors, who, in comparifoi'l of the Americans, are very few in number in the kingdom of New Spain, are charged with the culture of the fugar-cane and tobucco, and the making of Cugar; but the foil defi:ined for the cultivation of thofe plants is not with refpctl: .to all the cultivated land of that country in the proportion of one to two thoufand. The Americans are the people who labour on the foil. They are the tillers, the fowers, the weeders, and the reapers of the wheat, of the maize, of the rice, of the beans, and other kinds of grain and pulfe, of the cacao, of the vanilla, of the cotton, of the indigo, and all other plants ufeful to the fuil:enance, the clothing, and commerce of thofe prbvinces; and without them fo little can be done, that in the year 1762, the harvefi: ·of wheat was aban'doned in many places on account of a fickncfs which prevailed and prevented the Indians from re-aping it. But this is not all ; the Americans are they who cut and tranfport all the neceffary timber from the woods; who cut, tranfport, and work the fi:ones; who make lime, plai11:er, and tiles; who conilruCt all the buildings of that kingdom, except a few places where none of them inhabit; who open and repair all the roads, who make the canals and iluices, and dean the cities. They work in many mines of gold, of filver, of copper, &c. they are the !hephenis, herdftnen, weavers, potters, bafk.et-makers, bakers, couriers, day-labourers, &c.; in a word, they are the perfons who bear all the burden of public labours. Thefe are ..the employments of the weak, dafl:ardly, and ufelefs Americans, while X x z . . the ' 339 DISSERT. v. '--V--..1 ' |