4 



The ardour, with which America had 

 been the object of investigation, diminished 

 from the beginning of the seventeeth cen- 

 tury. The Spanish colonies, which were 

 the only regions formerly inhabited by ci- 

 vilized nations, were shut against foreigners; 

 and recently, when the Abb6 Clavigero 

 published in Italy his ancient history of 

 Mexico, the facts, attested by a crowd of 

 ocular witnesses, often hostile to each 

 other, were regarded as extremely doubt- 

 ful. Some distinguished writers, more 

 struck with the contrasts than the harmony 

 of nature, have described the whole of 

 America as a marshy country, unfavour- 

 able to the increase of animals, and newly 

 inhabited by hordes as savage as the 

 people of the South Sea. In the histori- 

 cal researches respecting the Americans, 

 candid examination had given place to ab- 

 solute scepticism. The declamatory des- 

 criptions of Solis, and of some other wri- 

 ters, who had never quitted Europe, were 

 confounded with the simple but true nar- 



