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fettered in their meafures by the government of the mo¬ 
ther-country ; which, like our Eaft-India Company, wifhed 
to rule in detail provinces at the diftance of half the globe. 
An adminiftration fo imperfectly inftrudted, naturally 
lends a willing ear to thofe interefted perfons who allege 
that, were greater liberty granted to the Indians, the 
whites would have every thing to fear from their vindic¬ 
tive fpirit. Of the whites in New Spain, nine-tenths are 
Creoles, and fcarcely a tenth part native Europeans. 
The aboriginal unmixed Indians of New Spain bear a 
general refemblance to thofe who inhabit Canada, Florida, 
Peru, and Brafil. They have the fame fwarthy and cop¬ 
per colour, flat and fmooth hair, fmall beard, fquat body, 
long eye, with the corner directed upwards towards the 
temples, prominent cheek-bones, thick lips, and an ex- 
preflion of gentlenefs in the mouth, ftrongly contrafted 
with a gloomy and fevere look. But they have a more 
fwarthy complexion than the inhabitants of the warmeft 
climates of South America : a faff fo much the more re¬ 
markable, as in the race of Caucafus, which may be alfo 
called the European Arab race, the people of the fouth 
have not fo fair a flcin as thofe of the north. Though 
many of the Aflatic nations who inundated Europe in 
the iixth century had a very dark complexion, it ap¬ 
pears, however, that the (hades of colour obfervable among 
the white race are lefs owing to their origin or mixture 
than to the local influence of the climate. This influence 
appears to have fcarcely any effedt on the Americans and 
negroes. We every-where perceive that the colour of the 
American depends very little on the local pofition in 
which we fee him. The Mexicans are more (warthy than 
the Indians of Quito and New Grenada, who inhabit a 
climate completely analogous ; and we even fee that the 
tribes difperl'ed to the north of the Rio Gila are lefs brown 
than thofe in the neighbourhood of the kingdom of Gua- 
timala. This deep colour continues to the coaft neareft 
to Alia. The Mexicans, particularly thofe of the Aztec 
and Otomite race, have more beard t' an any other In¬ 
dians of South America. Aimoft all the Indians in the 
neighbourhood of the capital wear fmall muftachios ; and 
this is even a mark of the tributary caft. Thefe mufta¬ 
chios, which modern travellers have alfo found among 
the inhabitants of the north-weft coaft of America, are 
fo much the more curious, as celebrated naturalifts have 
left the queftion undetermined, whether the Americans 
have naturally no beard and no hair on the reft of their 
bodies, or whether they pluck them carefully out. With¬ 
out entering here into phyfiological details, we can affirm 
that the Indians who inhabit the torrid zone of South 
America have generally lome beard; and that this beard 
increafes when they (have themfelves. But many indivi¬ 
duals are born entirely without beard or hair on their 
bodies. However, this apparent want of beard is by no 
means peculiar to the American race ; for many hordes of 
Eaftern Afla, and efpecially feveral tribes of African 
negroes, have fo little beard, that we (hould be aimoft 
tempted to deny entirely its exiftence. The negroes of 
Congo and the Caribs, two eminently robuft races, and 
frequently of a coloflal ftature, prove that to look upon 
a beardlefs-chin as a fign of the degeneration and phy- 
(ical weaknefs of the human fpecies is a mere phyiiologi- 
cal dream. 
The Mexicans have preferved a particular relith for 
painting, and for the art of carving in wood or (long. 
We are aftoniihed at what they are able to execute with 
a bad knife on the harcicft wood. They have preferved 
the iiime tafte for flowers which Cortes found in his time. 
A nofegay was the moft valuable treat which could be 
made to the ambalfadors who vifited the court of Monte¬ 
zuma. The tafte for flowers undoubtedly indicates a re- 
lifli for the beautiful; and we are aftoniflied at finding it 
in a nation in which a fanguinary worfhip and the fre¬ 
quency of human facrifices appeared to have extinguifhed 
whatever related to the fenflbility of the foul, and kindnefs 
of affedtion. In the great market-place of Mexico the na- 
I c o. 
tive fells no peaches, aor anaafls, nor roots-, nor pulque 
(the fermented juice of the agave), without having his 
(hop ornamented with flowers, which are every day re¬ 
newed. He appears feated in an intrenchment of verdure-. 
A hedge of a yard in height, formed of frefti herbs, par¬ 
ticularly of gramina with delicate leaves, furrounds like 
a femicircular wall the fruits offered to public fale. The 
bottom, of a fmooth green, is divided by garlands oF 
flowers which run parallel to one another. Small nofe- 
gays placed (ymmetrically between the feftoons give this 
inclofure the appearance of a carpet ftrewn with flowers.. 
In making a comparifon between Mexico and the other 
divifions of the Spanifli empire in America, we are in¬ 
duced to aflign to Mexico by far the firft rank in political 
importance. Its pofition is favourable for commerce both 
with Europe and with Afla; its population, though (till 
in infancy, greatly exceeds that of the countries to the 
fouthward ; and, however inferior it may be to the United 
States in the rapidity of its advancement to political gran¬ 
deur, it is fuperior in one point of no fmall importance to 
• national tranquillity, we mean, an exemption from a mul¬ 
titude of (lave-labourers. The whole number of thefe in 
New Spain falls (liort of ten thouland, while in the United 
States they exceed a million. On the other hand, it mult 
be acknowledged that the mixed charadter of the popula¬ 
tion of New Spain is, with a view to eventual difeord in 
the ftate, a difadvantage of very lerious confideration. 
With regard to the pofition of its metallic treafures, 
Mexico is much more favourably circumftanced than 
Peru. In the latter, the moft confiderable mines, as thofe 
of Potofi, Pafco, and Chota, are elevated aimoft as high 
as the region of perpetual fnow ; and, in w-orking them, 
men, provifions, and cattle, muft all be brought from a> 
diftance. Habitations fituated in diftridfs in which water 
is fubjedt to be frozen throughout all the year, and trees 
never vegetate, are ill calculated to attradl inhabitants 
from more favoured regions; but in Mexico, the richeft 
(earns of fllver are found in moderate elevations, and are 
confequently furrounded with cultivated fields, towns, 
and villages. In addition to all thefe advantages, the 
central pofition of Mexico admits the conveyance of a 
difpatch to Europe in the (hort fpace of five weeks, and, 
in an oppofite diredlion, to the Philippine Iflands, in near¬ 
ly the lame time. The population of New Spain appears 
to be rapidly on the increafe. Indeed, with fo fertile a 
foil and fo falubrious a climate, the ratio of augmentation 
would be (till quicker, were it not for the ravages of the 
fmall-pox ; which, though fuppreffed during certain pe¬ 
riods, frequently broke out with fatal violence; and it is 
only during the prefent age that its deftrudtive progrefs 
has been ftayed by the adoption of the pradtice of inocu¬ 
lation. The introdudlion of vaccination took place dur¬ 
ing M. de Humboldt’s refidence in New Spain ; and this 
blefling, great as it is in Europe, is ftill more highly to be 
prized in the torrid zone, among a race of men whole 
phyflcal conftitutionfeems adverfe to cutaneous eruption. 
The Indian population received in former ages fevere 
(hocks from the prevalence of the viatlazahiatl, or black 
vomit, a difeafe which by Spanifli authors is called a 
plague, and in rapidity of contagion bears fome refem¬ 
blance to that malady. It is peculiar to the Indian race, 
and never attacks white people, whether Europeans or de- 
fcendants from the natives : its lymptoms are not accu¬ 
rately known, nearly a century having elapfed fince the 
appearance of the laft epidemic. The chief obftacle, how¬ 
ever, to the progrefs of population in New Spain, is the 
occalional occurrence of famine ; a vifitation which we 
fliould fcarcely expedt in fo fertile.a region, but which 
derives exiftence, notwithftanding, from the indolent ha¬ 
bits of the Indians. Like the natives of Hindooftan, they 
are contented with the (mailed quantify of aliment on 
which life can be fupported ; and fcarcely extend their 
cultivation, whether of maize, potatoes, or wheat, farther 
than it is necefihry for prefent confumption. A confider¬ 
able number of hands, employed in the mines and in the 
tranfport 
