234 



HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



rica has fliortened their bodies, and there is a fcarcity of 

 matter there ; on the contrary, they ought to confefs 

 that their information and intelligence is falfe, their ob- 

 fervations ill founded, and their fyftem vifionary and chi- 

 merical : but that they may underftand why we ought 

 not to truft to their knowledge, G. Oviedo, who was 

 one of the firft peoplers of the ifland of Hifpaniola, and 

 fojourned there fome years, difcouriing of the oxen of 

 that ifland, the fleih of which, Mr. de Paw fays cannot 

 be eaten becaufe it is fo fibrous, fays that the " herds 

 " there are more numerous, and more beautiful, than 

 " any in Spain ; and as the air in thofe regions is mild 

 " and never cold, the oxen never become meagre, nor 

 " is their flefh ever of a bad tafte." Count de BufFon 

 affirms that cold countries are more favourable than hot 

 to oxen ; but this is not the cafe in New Spain : as al- 

 though the oxen of cold and temperate countries may be 

 excellent, yet the oxen of warm countries are better. 

 The fledi of thefe animals in maritime lands is fo admired, 

 that it is fent to the capital by way of prefent from places 

 at two and three hundred miles diftance. 



SHEEP. 



COUNT de BufFon confefTes (e) that flieep have not 

 fucceeded fo well in the hot as in the cold countries of 

 the new continent j but he adds, that although they have 

 multiplied confiderably, they are, notwithstanding, more 

 meagre, and their flefh is lefs juicy, and lefs tender than it 

 is in Europe, from which it appears that he has not been 

 well informed. In the hot countries of the new world 



fheep 



(<?) Hift. Nat. torn, xcvii. 



