206 



HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



thofe of Europe ; and the fame thing he fays of the Ame- 

 rican beaver : although he allowed no exception to his 

 principle, he flill admits thofe of the deer, lodra, bea- 

 vers, and fea-calves. If to thefe we add the tygers, the 

 lions without hair, and the flag, according to the tefti- 

 mony of Hernandez and Oviedo, we fhall find at lead 

 eight fpecies of quadrupeds common to both continents 

 which are larger of their kind in the new than they are in 

 the old world. To thofe above mentioned we ought al- 

 fo to add thofe quadrupeds which are equally large in 

 both continents ; as the latter as well as the former de- 

 monftrate the falfity of fuch a general principle. Her- 

 nandez affirms, that the Mexican wolf is of the fame fize 

 with the European. Count de BufFon fays, that there 

 is no difference between them, except that the Mexican 

 wolf has a finer ikin, and five toes in its fore feet, and 

 four in its hind feet. With refpecl: to bears, there are 

 at prefent many perfons in Europe who have feen the 

 bears of Mexico and thofe of the Alps. We do not be- 

 lieve that among all of thefe witneffes there will be found 

 one who has acknowledged that the European bears are 

 the larger of the two. For ourfelves at lead we can de- 

 clare, that all thofe we have feen in Mexico appeared to 

 be larger than thofe which we have feen in Italy (r ). 



It is therefore no juft afTertion that all the animals of 

 the new world are without exception fmaller than thofe 

 of the old. The count de BufFon fpoke at random when 

 he affirmed in another place that the animals were all 

 much fmaller, and that nature had in the new world made 



ufe 



(V) The count cle BufFon diftinguifhes the fpecies of black from that of brown 

 bears, and affirms that the black bears are not at all ferocious ; but the Mexican 

 bears, which are all black, are extremely fierce, as is notorious in Mexico, of 

 which alfo we can bear teftimony. 



