218 



HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



With refpect to what our philofophers fay of the ugli- 

 licfs of the animals of America, it is true, that among fo 

 many, there are fome whofe forms do not correfpond with 

 the ideas which we entertain of the beauty of beafts ; 

 but who has aflured us, that our ideas are juft:, and not 

 imperfect, and occafioned by the narrownefs of our 

 minds ? And how many animals could we not find in the 

 old continent {till worfe formed than any beaft of Ame- 

 rica ? What quadruped is there in America which can 

 be compared, in the deformity and difproportion of its 

 limbs with the elephant, called by the count de Buf- 

 fon a monster of matter (&) ? Its vaft mafs of flem, higher 

 than it is long, its digudful ikin wichout hair and furrow- 

 ed with wrinkles ; its enormous trunk inftead of a nofe ; 

 its long teeth placed without its mod hideous mouth, 

 and turned upwards, contrary to what is obferved in 

 other animals, in order to increafe the deformity of its 

 face ; its vaft polygonous ears ; its thick, crooked, and 

 proportionably fmall legs ; its unformed feet, with toes 

 fcarcely diflinguimed ; and laftly, its diminutive eyes and 

 ridiculoufly fmall tail to a body fo immenfe, are all cir- 

 cumftances which render the elephant a mod irregular 

 quadruped. We challenge our philofophers to find in 

 the new world an animal more difproportioned, or whofe 

 form is more ungraceful. Similar reflections arife from 

 viewing the camel, the Macaco, of which count de Buf- 

 fon fays that it is hideoufly deformed, and more fo than all 

 other animals of the old continent ; we dare not, how- 

 ever, 



(P En confiderant cet animal, (fays Bomare of the elephant" 1 relativement 

 a l'idee, qui nous avons de la jufteffe des proportions, il femble mal-proportionc 

 a caufe de fon corps gros et court, des fes jambres roides et mal-formees, des fes 

 pieds ronds et tortus, de fa tete groffe, de fes petits yeux et des fes grandes 

 oreilles; on pourroit dire aufli que l'habit dont il eft couvert eft encore plus 

 nial taille et plus mal fait Sa trompe, fes defenfes, fes pieds le rendent aufli 

 extraordinaire que la grandeur de fa taille. 



