166 



HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



That the foil of the old continent is barren, and (links ; 

 as in many countries of it there are prodigious multitudes 

 of monftrous infers, noxious reptiles, and vile animals, 

 as in the Philippine Ifles, in many of thofe of the Indian 

 archipelago, in feveral countries of the fouth of Afia, 

 in many of Africa, and even in fome of Europe. The 

 Philippine Ifles are infefted with enormous ants, and 

 monftrous butterflies ; Japan with fcorpions ; fouth of 

 Afia and Africa, with ferpents ; Egypt with afps ; Gui- 

 nea and Ethiopia, with armies of ants ; Holland with 

 field-rats ; Ukrania, with toads, as M. de Paw him- 

 felf affirms ( i ). In Italy, the Campagna di Roma (al- 

 though peopled for fo many ages), with vipers, Cala- 

 bria with tarantulas, the fhores of the Adriatic fea with 

 clouds of gnats ; and even in France, the population of 

 which is fo great and fo ancient, whofe lands are fo well 

 cultivated, and whofe climate is fo celebrated by the 

 French, there appeared, a few years ago, according to 

 Mr. Buflfon, a new fpecies of field mice, larger than the 

 common kind, called by him Surmulots, which have mul- 

 tiplied exceedingly, to the great damage of the fields. 

 Mr. Bazin, in his Compendium of the hiflory of In- 

 fers, numbers feventy-feven fpecies of bugs, which are 

 all found in Paris and its neighbourhood. That large 1 

 capital, as Mr. Bomare fays, fwarms with thofe difguft- 

 ful infe&s. It is true that there are places in America 

 where the multitude of infecls, and filthy vermin, make 

 life irkfome ; but we do not know that they have ar- 

 rived to fuch excefs of multiplication as to depopulate 

 any place, at leaft there cannot be fo many examples pro- 

 duced of this caufe of depopulation in the new as in the 

 old continent, which are attefted by Theophraftus, Var* 



ro, 



( i) Defenfe des Recherches PhiJofophiques, fur les Americains, chap. 13. 



1 



