XVI 



hate vritten upon it ; for, although he frequently 

 mentions Frazier and Ulloa^ he cites their opi- 

 nions only as far as they tend to confirm his 

 theory. Both those authors speak of ChiU as 

 very fertile^ but M. de Pauw has not thought 

 proper to insert those passages,, but only observes, 

 in general terms, that wheat cannot be raised ex- 

 cept in some of the North American provinces. 



Led away by inferences drawn from an ideal 

 system of his own invention, he has carried his 

 visionary notions so far that his work partakes 

 more of the nature of a romance than a philoso- 

 phical disquisition. It is sufficient for his pur- 

 pose to find, in the vast extent of America, some 

 small district or unimportant island labouring 

 under the disadvantages of an unfavourable cli- 

 mate or unproductive soil, to attribute these cir- 

 cumstances as general to all the provinces of that 

 country. A wretched tribe of the most obscure 

 savages serves as his model of character for all 

 the Americans. Such is the logic of M, de 

 Pauw : It would be an endless task Avere I to en- 

 deavour to confute the numerous erroneous opi- 

 nions that he has advanced respecting America ; 

 upon that subject he has deduced his conclusions 

 from the most unfounded premises, and employed 

 a mode of reasoning that might, with equal pro- 

 priety, be applied to the prejudice of any other 

 portion of the globe ; a proceeding that can 

 be justified neither by reason nor philosophy. In 



