228 



HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



SECT. II. 



Of the Animals tranfported from Europe to America* 



ALL the animals tranfported from Europe to Ameri- 

 ca, fucb as horfes, afTes, bulls, meep, goats, hogs, and 

 dogs, are, fays count de BurTon, confiderably fmaller there 

 than they are in Europe, and that, without one fingle ex- 

 ception. If we feek for the proof of fo general, or rather 

 an univerfal afTertion, we ihall find no other in all the hif- 

 tory of that philofopher, than, that cows, ibeep, goats, 

 hogs, and dogs are fmaller in Canada than they are in 

 France. The European or Afiatic animals, fays Mr. de 

 Paw, that were tranfported to America immediately af- 

 ter its difcovery, have degenerated, their corpulence has 

 diminimed, and they have loh 1 a portion of their inftincl: 

 and genius : the cartilages or fibres of their flefh have 

 become more rigid and more grofs. Such is the gene- 

 ral conclufion of Mr. de Paw. Let us now attend to 

 the proofs. Firft, The flefti of oxen in the ifland of 

 Hifpaniola is fo fibrous that it can hardly be eaten ; fe- 

 condly, the hogs in the ifland of Cubagua changed in a 

 fliort time their forms to fuch a degree, that they could 

 hardly be known again ; their nails grew fo much that 

 they were half a palm in length. Thirdly, Sheep fuf- 

 fered a great alteration in Barbadoes. Fourthly, Dogs 

 tranfported from their own countries lofe their voice, 

 and ceafe to bark, in the greater part of the regions of 

 the new continent. Fifthly, The cold of Peru incapa- 

 citated camels carried there from Africa, in their organs 

 of generation. Such are the arguments which thofe 

 philofophers ufe to afcertain the degeneracy of animals 

 of the old continent, in the new world ; arguments 



which, 



