108 



HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



them the utmofl: labour to acquire. The negleft of felf- 

 ifli intereft, together with the diflike which they bear 

 to their rulers, and confequently their averfion to the 

 talks impofed by them, feem to have been the only 

 grounds of that much exaggerated indolence with which 

 the Americans have been charged (j); and after all, 

 there is no fet of people in that country who labour 

 more, nor whofe labours are more ufeful or more necef- 

 fary (/). 



The refpcdi paid by children to their parents, and by 

 the young to the old, among thofe people, feem to be 

 feelings that are born with them. Parents are very fond 

 of their children ; but the affeftion which hufbands bear 

 to their wives, is certainly lefs than that borne by the 

 wives to their hufbands ; and it is very common for the 

 men to love their neighbours wives better than their 

 own. 



Courage and cowardice feem alternately fo to afFe£i: 

 their minds, that it is often difEcult to determine whe- 

 ther the one or the other predominates. They meet 

 dangers with intrepidity when they proceed from natu- 

 ral caufes, but they are eafily terrified by the flern look 

 of a Spaniard. That ftupid indifference about death 

 and eternity, which many authors have thought inhe- 

 rent in the charadler of every American, is peculiar only 

 to thofe who are yet fo rude and uninformed as to have 

 no idea of a future flate. 



Their fmgular attachment to the external ceremonies 

 of religion is very apt to degenerate into fuperftition, as 



happens 



(j) What we obferve upon the fubje^ft of American indolence is not meant 

 to apply to the favage nations in other parts of the new world. 



(i) In our Diflertations we lhall give an account of the works in which the 

 Mexicans are employed. Monfign. Palafox ufed to fay, that if ever the Indi- 

 ans failed them, the Spaniards would find the Indies fail alfo. 'i 



