356 CHARACTER OF THE INDIANS. 
native population of this country must necessarily 
consist of very heterogeneous elements. The num- 
ber of languages exceeds 20; and of these fourteen 
have tolerably complete grammars and dictionaries. 
Most of these tongues, so far from being only dialects 
of the same, as some authors have asserted, pre- 
sent as little affinity to each other as the Greek and 
the German. The variety spoken by the indigenous 
inhabitants of America forms a very striking con- 
trast with the small number used in Asia and 
Europe. The Aztec or Mexican is the most widely 
distributed. 
The Indians of New Spain bear a general resem- 
blance to those of Florida, Canada, Peru, and Bra- 
zil. They have the same dingy copper colour, 
straight and smooth hair, deficient beard, squat 
body, elongated and oblique eyes, prominent cheek- 
bones, and thick lips. But although the American 
tribes have thus a certain uniformity of character, 
they differ as much from each other as the numer- 
ous varieties of the European or Caucasian race. 
Those who live in this province have a more swar- 
thy complexion than the inhabitants of the warm- 
est parts of the South. They have also a much 
more abundant beard than the other tribes, and 
in the neighbourhood of the capital they even wear 
small moustaches. Pursuing a quiet and indolent 
life, and accustomed to uniform nourishment of a 
vegetable nature, they would no doubt attain a very 
great longevity were they not extremely addicted to 
drunkenness. They exist in a state of great moral 
degradation, being entirely destitute of religion, al- 
though they have exchanged their original rites for 
those of Catholicism. The men are grave, melan- 
