HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



217 



horns, the dogs and hogs their teeth, and the cats their 

 nails, as all thofe who have feen and compared them with 

 thofe of Europe can teftify. If the clime of America 

 was fo deftru&ive to the teeth and horns of animals, a 

 number of them would have been loft, at lead by the 

 pofterity of thofe quadrupeds of Europe, which were 

 tranfported there almoft three centuries ago, and much 

 more the generations of wolves, bears, and other fimi- 

 lar quadrupeds, which palTed there from Afia, perhaps 

 in the firft century after the deluge. If, on the contra- 

 ry, the temperate zone of Europe is more propitious to 

 the teeth of animals than the torrid zone of the new 

 world, why did nature give to the latter, and not to the 

 former, the tapir and crocodile, which in number, fize, 

 and fharpnefs of their teeth, exceed all the quadrupeds 

 and reptiles of Europe ? 



Laftly, if there are fome animals in America without 

 horns, without teeth (g), and without tails, it is not 

 owing to the climate or niggard fky of America, or any 

 imaginary combination of the elements, but becaufe the 

 Creator, whofe works and whofe counfels we ftiould hum- 

 bly revere, chofe it fo, that fuch variety might ferve to 

 embellifti the univerfe, and make his wifdom and his 

 power more conlpicuous. What gives beauty to fome 

 animals would render others deformed. It is perfection 

 in a horfe to have a large tail, in the ftag to have a fmall 

 one, and in the Pongo to have none at all. 



Vol. III. F f With 



(g) Among all the quadrupeds of the new world, the ant-killers alone are 

 deftitute of teeth, like the Pangolino and Tatagino of the Eaft- Indies, which qua- 

 drupeds are covered with fcales inftead of hair. All thofe quadrupeds which 

 feed on nothing but ants have nooccafion for teeth ; but they are furnilhed by 

 the Creator with a long tongue, with which they can dexteroufly lick up the 

 ants and fwallow them. 



