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Show 424 DJ'SSERT. Vll, \..--v--J ' H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0~ which is direCtly falfe, and contrary to the accounts of authors. Where has M. de Paw read that it was nece!fary to tranfport people from the _Lucayos to people Mexico~ We defy him to produce a tingle author who fays fo; we know rather the contrary from many writers. Vve know from Herrera and others, that from 149 3, when the Spaniards eftablHhed themfelves in Dominica, to 1496, 'rhe third part of the inhabitants of that large ifiand perilhed in war, and through other diftre( fes. In I 507, there did not remain more than the tenth part of the Indians which were in 1493, according to Las Cafas, an eye-witnefs; and from that time the population of that ifland diminiG1ed to fuch a degree, that in I 540, there hardly remained two hunored Indians; on which account, from the beginning of the fifteenth century, the Spaniards began to tranfport thoufands of Itidians from the L~ cayos, to recruit the population of Hifpaniola; but thofe having likewife died, they beg~n before the conqueil: of Mexico to carry people from Terra Firma, a11d other countries of the continent of America, according as they difcovered them. It is known from a letter written to the council of the Indies by the firft bHhop of Mexico, fent by Las Cafas to the emperor Charles V. that the cruel governor of Panuco, Nugno Guzman, fent from thence twenty-eight vefiC~ls loaded with Indian flaves to be fold in the iOands : fo that it is far from being true, that the Spaniards carried people from the ifiands to inhabit the continent of North America; that on the contrary they carried people from the continent to inhabit the ifles, which the above authors expreHly relate. It is true, that after the conquefi: of Mexico, flaves were imported there from Africa , not becaufc .there was any want of pec.~pl<.!; but becaufc the Spaniarqs required them to fervc in the making of fugnr, and to work in the mines, to which they could not com pel the Americans, on account of the laws then recently publiOiled; jt is, therefore falfe, ' and contrary to the depofition of thofe above mentioned au ... thor~, that Mexico was depopulated three years after the conq uefi: ; or that it was neceffary te> bring people .there from the Lucayos and Africa to recruit its inhabitants. We are rather certain, that fome colonies were fent a few years after the conqueft, from the countrjes fubjeCl: to the king of Mexico, and the republic of Tlafcala, to people Qther lands, namely, Zacatecas, Snis, Potofi, Saltillo, · &c. &c. 8 13ltt H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. But let us fee what thofe ancient writers fay in particular. of the population of Mexico. We do not know that any one of them has had the boldnefs to exprcfs the number of the inhabit<mts of Mexico; whether it did or did not contain thirty millions, could have been known from the kings of Mexico and their miuifters; and although the Spaniards might have informed themfelvc.:s from them of this particular, we do not find that any one of them bas done fo. That which f~ver:1l of them affirm is, that among the feudatories of the king of Mexico were thirty who had each about an hundred thoufand fubjetl:s, and other three thouf.·111d lords who had a fmaller number of ·vafTals. Laurentius Surius affirms (/) that this is certain fr<i>m records which were in the r yal archives of the emperor 'hades V. Cortes, in his fidl: letter to that emperor, fpeaks thus: " The multitude of inhabitan ts in thofe countries is " fo great, that there is not a foot of foil left uncultivated; but notwith" fhmding there are many who, for want of bread, go begging througn " the fheets and markets." B. Dia~, the anonymous conqueror, Motolinia, and other cyc-witneifes, give us fimilar ideas of the population of Mexico. To come to the particular countries of Anahuac, we are . certain, from the depofitions of the above mentioned, and almo!l: all the ancient authors, of the gr..,at population of the .Mexican vale, of the countries of the Otomies, of the Malatzincas, Tlahuicas, Cohuixcas, Miztecas, Zapotecas, and uitlatecas; of the province of Coatzacualco; of the kingdoms of Acolhuacan, and Michuacan, and the ftates of Tlafcala, Cholula, Huexotzinco, &c. . The vale of Mexico, although that a great part of it wots occupied hy the lakes, was at leafi: as well peoplecl as tbe moil: populous country of Europe. It contained forty confiderablc cities, which we have already named, and are mentioned likewi(e by the ancient writers. The other inhabited places of it were innumerab-le, th.e names of which we could alfo give, if we were not afrc1id of tiring our readers. The very fincere B. Di:1z, defcribing, in chap. viii. of his Hiftory, what he f.tw in his way through the vale towards the capital, fpeaks thus : " Whe11 " we beheld things fo wonderful we knew not what to f.ty, nor wheu ther the objeCts before onr eyes w.ere real ; we faw fo many great cities (/) Surius in Com m~nt lrio b1 vi r~rum in or be gelhn11n ab :111110 1500 :1d 15 68. "' II I i i " fituat<td IV OL. • 425 D!SSERT. VII. '--v---J |