EPIDEMIC DISEASES. 



307 



affected with cutaneous eruptions, caused, as the 

 herdsmen said, by the contact of pustules sometimes 

 found on the udders. 



The frightful distemper called matlazahuatl, which 

 is peculiar to the Indian race, seldom appears more 

 than once in a century. It bears some resemblance 

 to the yellow fever or black vomiting, which, how- 

 ever, very seldom attacks the natives. The extent 

 of its ravages is not known with any degree of cer- 

 tainty, and it has not yet been submitted to medical 

 investigation. Torquedama asserts that in 1545 it 

 destroyed 800,000, and 2,000,000 in 1576 ; but these 

 estimates are considered by Humholdt as greatly 

 exaggerated. 



A third obstacle to the progress of population in 

 New-Spain is famine.. The American Indians, nat- 

 urally indolent, contented with the smallest quan- 

 tity of food on which life can be supported, and liv- 

 ing in a fine climate, merely cultivate as much maize, 

 potatoes, or wheat as is necessary for their own 

 maintenance, or at most for the additional consump- 

 tion of the adjacent towns and mines. The in- 

 habitants of Mexico have increased in a greater ra- 

 tio than the means of subsistence, and accordingly, 

 whenever the crops fall short of the demand, or are 

 damaged by drought or other local causes, famine 

 ensues. With want of food comes disease ; and 

 these visitations, which are of not unfrequent occur- 

 rence, are very destructive. 



The working of the mines has also contributed to 

 the depopulation of America. At the period of the 

 conquest many Indians perished from excessive toil, 

 and, as they were forced from their homes to dis- 

 tant places, they usually died without leaving pro- 

 geny. In New-Spain, however, such labour has 

 been free for many years. The number employed 

 in it does not exceed 28,000 or 30,000, and the mor- 

 tality among them is not much greater than in other 

 classes. 



