HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



237 



arc as large as thofe of Europe ; and in the ifland of Cu- 

 ba there is a breed of hogs twice as large as thofe of Eu- 

 rope ; which all who have been in thofe countries muft 

 have witnefled. Our philofophers may, if they pleafe, 

 have information from many European authors, who have 

 feen the hogs of Toluca, of Angelopoli in New Spain, 

 of Carthagena, of Cuba, &c. refpe&ing their exceffive 

 multiplication, and the excellence of their flefli 



OF HORSES AND MULES. 



OF all the reflexions thrown out by the count de 

 Buffbn and Mr. de Paw againft the animals of the new 

 continent, there is no inftance where they have done 

 ftronger injuftice to America, and to truth, than in the 

 fuppofed degeneracy of horfes there. Of them Acofta 

 fays (£), " that in many countries of America, or in the 

 " greater part, they have profpered and profper well, 

 " and fome breeds are as good as the beffc of Spain, not 

 " only for the courfe and for parade, but alfo for jour- 

 " neys and labour." A teftimony of this kind from a 

 European fo critical, fo impartial, and fo well verfed in 

 the things of America and Europe, is of more weight 

 than all the declamations of thefe philofophers againft 

 the new world. The lieutenant general D. Antonio 



Ulloa 



(») It will fuffice to read what Acofta has written in lib. iv. cap. 38. of his 

 Hiftory. " It is certain," fays he, " that hogs have multiplied abundantly 

 " through all America. Their flefli is eat frefii in many places, and efteemed very 

 H wholefome, and as much fo as that of the flieep ; namely in Carthagena. ... In 

 " fome places they are fattened with corn, and become extremely fat. In others 

 " they make excellent lard and bacon of them, namely in Toluca of New Spain, 

 " and in Paria." The count de Buffon in the fame volume xviii. in which he 

 clalTes the hog among the animals which have degenerated in America, fays 

 pofitively, that the hogs tranfported to America have thriven there well, 

 (i) Hill. Nat. y Mor. lib. iv. cap. 33. 



