HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



169 



pine ifles, fpeaks thus : " There are ferpents in thefe 

 " iflands of immoderate fize ; there is one called Ibitin, 

 " very long, which fufpending itfelf by the tail from 

 " the trunk of a tree, waits till ftags, bears, and alfo 

 " men pafs by, in order to attraft them with its breath, 

 " and devour them at once entirely from whence it 

 is evident, that this very ancient fable has been common 

 to both continents (n). 



Mr. de Paw would perhaps fay, that thefe monftrous 

 animals were formerly feen in the old continent when its 

 clime was not yet perfected. But when that which the 

 ancients wrote is compared with that which we know of 

 Alia and Africa at prefent, who is there that will not 

 perceive that the climate of thofe countries is at prefent, 

 for the moft part, what it was two thoufand years ago ; 

 that there is the fame heat, the fame drynefs or humid- 

 ity, the fame kind of plants, animals, and men, &c. 

 Belides, even in our days, various forts of monftrous 

 animals have been feen in thofe regions which infinitely 

 furpafs thofe analogous to them in the new world. In 

 what country of America could M. de Paw find ants 

 to equal thofe of the Philippine iflands, called Sulum, re- 

 fpe&ing which Hernandez (o) affirms, that they are fix 

 fingers broad in length, and one in breadth ? Who has 

 ever feen in America butterflies fo large as thofe of 

 Bourbon, Ternate, the Philippine ifles, and all the Indian 

 Archipelago? The largeft bat of America (native to 

 hot fhady countries) which is that called by BufFon vam- 

 piro, is, according to him, of the fize of a pigeon. La 

 Rougette, one of the fpecies of Afia, is as large as a 

 raven ; and the Rouffette, another fpecies of Afia, is as 



Vol. III. Z big 



(») See Bomare on the Minia of Africa, and the Reinberab of Ceylon. 

 («) Hern. Hift. Infeclor. N. Hifp. cap. 30. 



