208 



HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



" their feet. This is remarkable in the tapir, the ant- 

 " killer, the llama of Margraf, in the floth, and the ca- 

 " beay. The oftriches, which in our continent have not 

 " more than two toes, united by a membrance, all have 

 " four in America, and thofe feparated." 



Such a mode of reafoning is rather a cenfure of the 

 conduct of Providence than of the clime of America, and 

 not unlike the fceptical opinions attributed to king Don 

 Alphonfo the Wife, refpe&ing the difpofition of the hea- 

 venly bodies. If the firft individuals of thofe animals 

 came not fo from the hand of the Creator, but the clime 

 of America has been the caufe of their fuppofed irregu- 

 larity, whenever thofe animals fliould be tranfported to 

 Europe their forms would grow perfect, and their dif- 

 pofition and inftincl: alfo ; at leafl after ten or twelve 

 generations thofe miferable animals which the malignant 

 clime of America has deprived of their tails, their horns, 

 and their tuiks, would recover them under a more be- 

 nignant clime. No, thofe philofophers would fay, be- 

 caufeit is not fo eafy to recover from nature what is loft, 

 as to lofe what (he has given ; fo that although thofe 

 poor animals would not in the old continent recover their 

 tails, their tu/ks, or their horns, ftill it muft be allowed 

 that the climate of America has been the caufe of their 

 lofing them. Be it fo. At prefent,- however, we fhall 

 not treat of irregularities which confift in any deficiency 

 but of thofe where there is an excefs of matter. We 

 allude at prefent to the oftriches, which, according to 

 Mr. de Paw have from a vice of nature, two ex- 

 traordinary 



(x^ Mr. de Paw is deceived with regard to the number of toes of the of- 

 trich of America, for it has no more than three ; although in the hinder part 

 of its feet it has a round and callous fwelling which ferves in place of a talon, 

 and by the vulgar is thought to be a toe. 



