4-02 iiisToiiv OF 



tlie beaver, are known to the iiiliahitants us well of North 

 America as of Russia •, while most of the various kinds to the 

 southward, in both continents, bear no resemblance to each 

 other. Upon the whole, such as peculiarly belong to the new 

 continent are without any marks of the quadruped perfection. 

 They are almost wholly destitute of the power of defence , they 

 liave neither formidable teeth, horns, or tail ; their figure is awk- 

 ward, and their limbs ill proportioned. Some among them, 

 such as the ant-bear and the sloth, appear so miserably formed, 

 as scarcely to have the power of moving and eating. They, 

 seemingly, drag out a miserable and languid existence in the 

 most desert solitude ; and would quickly have been destroyed in 

 a country where there were inhabitaiits, or powerful beasts to 

 oppose them. 



But if the quadrupeds of the new continent be less, they are 

 found in much greater abundance ; for it is a rule that obtains 

 through nature, that the smallest animals multiply the fastest. 

 The goat, imported from Europe to South America, soon be- 

 gins to degenerate ; but as its grows less it becomes more proli- 

 fic ; and, instead of one kid at a time, or two at the most, it ge- 

 rally produces five, and sometimes niore. What there is in the 

 food, or the climate, that produces this change, we have not been 

 able to learn ; we might be apt to asci-ibe it to the heat, but that 

 on the African coast, where it is still hotter, this rule does not 

 ol)tain ; for the goat, instead of degenerating there, seems rather 

 to improve. 



However, the rule is general among all quadrupeds, that those 

 ^^ liich are large and 'formidable ]iroduce but few at a time ; 

 nliiie such as are mean and contemptible are extremely prolific. 

 'Ihe lion, or tiger, have seldom abo\e two cubs at a litter ; while 

 the cat, that is of a similar nature, is usually seen to have fi\e 

 or six. In this manner the lower tribes become extremely 

 numerous ; and, but for this surprising fecundity, from their na- 

 tural weakness they would quickly be extirpated. The breed o ; 

 mice, for instance, would have long since been blotted from th o 

 earth, were the mouse as slow in production as the elephant. 

 But it has been wisely provided, that such animals as can make 

 but little resistance, should at least have a means of repairing 

 the destruction, which they must often suffer, by their quick re- 

 production ; that they should increase even among enemies, and 



