HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



171 



With refpect to what Mr. de Paw has faid of the tri- 

 bute of lice in Mexico, in that, as well as in many other 

 things, he difcovers his ridiculous faith. It is true that 

 Cortes found bags of lice in the magazines of the palace 

 of king Axajacatl. It is alfo true, that Montezuma im- 

 pofed fuch a tribute, not on all his fubjects however, 

 but only on thofe who were beggars, not on account of 

 the extraordinary multitude of thofe infects, as Mr. de 

 Paw affirms, but becaufe Montezuma, who could not 

 fufFer idlenefs in his fubjects, refolved that that refera- 

 ble fet of people, who could not labour, fhouJd at leaft 

 be occupied in loufing themfelves (#). This was the 

 true reafon of fuch an extravagant tribute, as Torque- 

 mada, Betancourt, and other hiftorians relate, and no- 

 body ever before thought of that which Mr. de Paw 

 affirms merely becaufe it fuited his prepofterous fyftem. 

 Thofe difgufting infects poffibly abound as much in the 

 hair and clothes of American beggars, as of any poor 

 and uncleanly low people in the world ; but there is not 

 a doubt that if any fovereign of Europe was to exact 

 fuch tribute from the poor in his dominions, not only 

 bags but great vefTels might be filled with them. 



Laftly, to referve the examination of the proofs of 

 the bad climate of America, founded on the difeafes and 

 defects of the phyfical conftitution of the Americans to 

 another DifTertation, in which we will demonftrate the 

 errors and puerile prejudices of Mr. de Paw, let us at- 

 tend to what he fays on the excefs of cold in the coun- 

 tries of the new world with refpect to thofe of the old, 

 which are fituate at an equal diftance from the equator. 



" Comparing," 



(x) It is certain that Montezuma was extremely attentive to cleanlinefs, as 

 well as an enemy to idlenefs; it is therefore extremely probable that from both 

 thefe motives he was induced to impofe that extraordinary tribute. 



