41 



of events, multiplied the number of idols, as 

 well as that of sculptured stones and historical 

 paintings. We must not however forget, that 

 several nations, which have acted a part on the 

 stage of the world, particularly the people of 

 central and eastern Asia, with whom the inha- 

 bitants of Mexico appear to be connected by 

 very near ties, exhibit this same contrast of so- 

 cial perfection and of infancy in the arts. We 

 might be tempted to apply to the inhabitants of 

 Tartary, and those of the mountains of Mexico, 

 what a great historian of antiquity* said of the 

 Arcadians : " The cold and gloomy climate of 

 Arcadia gives the inhabitants a harsh and aus- 

 tere aspect ; for it is natural that men, in their 

 manners, figure, complexion, and institutions, 

 should resemble their climate." But in propor- 

 tion as we examine the state of our species in 

 different regions, and accustom ourselves to com- 

 pare the physiognomy of countries with that of 

 the nations inhabiting them, we mistrust that 

 specious theory, which refers to the climate 

 alone what is owing to the concurrence of a 

 great number of moral and physical circum- 

 stances. 



Among the Mexicans, the ferocity of manners 

 sanctioned by a sanguinary worship, the tyranny 

 exercised by the princes and the priests, the chi- 



* Polyb., Hist. lib. IV, § 80 (ed. Casaub. 1609, p. 290, D). 



