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Show 394 DIS ER'f. v.J. '--r-J • H I s T .'() R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. not lefs valuable, as may be known from the works of the ·hill:orians of Mexico. But where is the. wonder that fuch inventions were found among thofe civilized nations, while, among.ll: other people o~ America, lefs polilhed, arts of the moft fingu lar nature have been d1fcovered ? What art more wonderful, for example, than that of taming fea .. fiiJJ, and employing them to chace othet· hu·ger fiil1, as the inhabitants of the Antilles ufed to do. This art alone, of which Oviedo ( .r ), Gomara, and other authors make mention, would be fnfficient to. refute the charge of want of induftry among the Americans. S E C T. VI. Of the Languages if the Americans. u THE languages of Amer.i:ca, f.1ys M: de Paw, are fo limited, and: " fo fcarce of words, that it is impoffible to exprefs any metaphyfical " idea in them. In no one of thofe languages can they count above " the number three (t}. It is impoffible to tranfiate a book either in, to the languages of the Algonquines, or Paraguefe, or even· into " thofe of Mexico or Peru, on account of their not having fufficient " plenty of proper terms·. to exprefs. general ideas." Whoever reads thofe dogmatical decifions of M. de Paw, will be· perfuaded, undoubtedly, that he determ'i.nes after having travelled through an America, after having had commerce with all thefe nations, and after having examined all their languages ? But it .is not fo. M. de Paw, without moving from his clofet at Berlin, knows the things of America better than the Americans themfelves, and in the knowledge of their different languages even excels thofe who fpeak them. We have learned the . Mexican, and have heard it fpoken by the Mexicans for many yefl.rS; (J) Oviedo Stor. Gcner. e Nat. lib. xiii. cap. 10. Sommario della Stor. &c. cap. 8. Go. mara Storia Gener. cnp. 20. The fpecics of fifh which the Indians trained to chace larbre fiih, as they train hawks in Europe, to chace other birds wna rather fmnll, called hy them Guaica11, and by the Spaniards Revtrjo. Oviedo explains the manner in which they mac.le ufe of the filh to chace others. .<!) In the fit me fctlion i •. of th~ sth part of the Recherches Philofophiques, in which l~e :aRums, that no languuge of Amcnca had terms to count more thaq three he fays the Mex1• rans could conut as high ns ten. , ' but •' • . . H I S T 0 R Y 0 F' M E X I C 0. but never knew that it was deficient in numerical terms, ' nnd wo•·ds lignifying univerfal ideas, until M. de Paw gave us that information. We know that the Mexicans gave the name of Centzontli (four hundred), or rather that of Centzontlatale (h.e who has four hundred words), to that bird which is fo renowned for its fweetnefs and matchlefs variety of fong. We know befides that the Mexicans anciently counted by Xi~ui'pilli, and the nuts of the cacao, in their commerce, and in numbering their troops of war; that Xqit;ipilli wa:s eight thoufund; fo that when they faid that an army confiiled of forty thoufand, they expreifed that it ·had five Xiquipilli. We know laftly, that the Mexicans had numeral words' to exprefs as many thoufands, or millions, as they pleafed; but M. de Paw knows the direct contrary, and there is not a doubt but he knows better than us; becaufe we had the misfortune to be born under a clime lefs f.wourable to the' operations of the intefleCl:. Neverthelcfs, we iliall fubjoin, to fatisfy the curiofity of our readers, the feries of numerical terms which the Mexicans have always employed (u). It will appear thence, that thofe who had not, according · · (u) Numer:al Tcrme of the Mexican Language. Ce r. Nahui 4· Chicome. 7• Ome ,, Mccuilli 5· Chicuei i ·. Jei 3• Chicuace 6. Chiucnahui 9• Matlachtli Chaxtolli to JO. With thefc terms dii'erently combiued together with thefe three following, 'PohNalii or Poal/i 20, lf'zontli 4001 and X i'Juipilli 8ooo, they exprefa any quantity, thus: Cern poalli 20 Nauhpoalli . So Ompoalli 40 Ma.cmlpoalh . 100 Epoalli 6o Clucuaccmpoalh 1 : C', &c. Matlacpo:alli ten timea zo .:oo Caxtolpoalli fifteen time! 10 300 Thus they proceed until they come to 400. • Centzontli 400 I Naeh;zonth. Ontzonrli 8oo M~cutlzontlt . Etzontli 1 :oo Ch1cuacentzonth Murlaczontli ten times 400 Caltoltzontli fifteen times 4 00 Thus they go on to iooo. Cc-xiquipilli Onxiquipilli Exiquipilli Mntlacxiquipi lli ten times Sooo 8-oo 16ooo I N auhxiquipilli Macuilxiquipilli Chic uacen:~:i'l ui pilli Caxtolxiqu ipi lli fifteen times llooo " Cempoalxiq ui pilli twenty times Sooo E e c 2 2000 · a4.oo, &c. 4000 6ooo J2,000 4o,ooo 48,ooo, &c. Ro,doo I ZO,OOO 16o,ooo Ompo:tl· 195 ~ISSERT .. VI. ~ |