2 INTRODUCTION. 



nated the opinion, that all, and each, were strikingly 

 inferior, both in sagacity and size, to those of the 

 ancient world. In proof of which it was asserted, 

 that America, throughout the whole extent of her 

 vast savannas, and interminable forests, sheltered no 

 one creature of such bulk as the elephant or camel. 

 But the reason of this is obvious; their services are 

 unnecessary. In the new world cold predominates. 

 The rigour of the frigid zone extends over half 

 those regions that should be temperate by reason of 

 their position; countries where the fig and grape 

 should ripen, are chilled with perpetual frost. New- 

 foundland, part of Nova Scotia, and Canada, lie in 

 the same parallel with the finest provinces of France, 

 yet how great the difference between them ! In one, 

 corn-fields and vineyards abound; in the other, the 

 ground is covered in many parts with deep snow, 

 and the great river St. Lawrence is frozen at a season 

 when the waters of the Thames and the Seine are 

 usually free from ice. The rein- deer, that useful 

 animal, from whom the natives of the arctic regions 

 derive the greatest benefit, and whose constitution 

 supports and even requires the most intense cold, 

 abounds in Canada, though unable to exist in any 

 country to the south of the Baltic. The same com- 

 parison holds good between the Esquimaux part of 

 Labrador, the countries south of Hudson's Bay, and 

 Great Britain; the last is highly cultivated, and en- 

 riched with flocks and herds, but in the former the 

 cold is so intense, that even European industry has 

 not availed to ameliorate the soil. As we advance 

 towards those portions of America, which are simi- 

 larly situated with many African and Asiatic pro- 



