"The refult of this view is, that of 26 quadrupeds common to both countries, feven are faid to be larger in America, feven of equal fize, and 12 not fufficiently examined. So that the firft table impeaches the firft member of the affertion, that of the Animals common to both countries the American are fmalleft, "Et cela fans aucune exception." It fhows it not juft, in all the latitude in which its author has advanced it, and probably not to fuch a degree as to found a diftinction between the wo countries. "Proceeding to the second table, which arranges the animals found in one of the two countries only, M. de Buffon obferves, that the taphir, the elephant of America, is but of the fize of a small cow. To preferve our comparison, Mr. Jefferfon ftates the wild boar, the elephant of Eurepe, as little more than half that fize. He has made an elk with round or cylindrical horns, an animal of America, and peculiar to it; because he has feen many of them himself, and more of their horns; and because, from the best information, it is certain that in Virginia this kind of elk has abounded much, and still exists in fmaller numbers. He makes the American hare or rabbit peculiar, believing it to be different from both the European animals of thofe denominations, and calling it therefore by its Algonouin name Whabus, to keep it diftinct from these. Kalm is of the fame opinion. The fquirrels are denominated from a knowledge derived from daily fight of them, becaufe with that the European appellations and defcriptions feem irreconcileable. These are the only inftances in which Mr. Jefferfon departs from the authority of M. de Buffon in the conftruction of this table; whom he takes for his ground-work, because he thinks him the best informed of any naturalist who has ever written. The refult is, that there are 18 quadrupeds peculiar to Europe; more than four times as many, to wit 74, peculiar to America; that the first of thefe 74, the tapir, the largest of the animals peculiar to America, weighs more than the whole column of Europeans; and confequently this fecond table difproves the fecond member of the affertion, "that the animals peculiar to the New World are on a smaller fcale, fo far as that affertion relied on European animals for fupport: and it is in full oppofition to the theory which makes the animal volume to depend on the circumftances of heat and moisture. "The third table comprehends thofe quadrupeds only which are domeftic in both countries. That fome of thefe, in fome parts of America, have become less than their original ftock, is doubtlefs true; and the reafon is very obvious. In a thinly people country, the fpontaneous productions of the forests and waste fields are fufficient to support indifferently the domeftic animals of the farmer, with a very little aid from him in in the fevereft and fcarceft season. He therefore finds it more convenient to receive them from the hand of Nature in that indifferent ftate, than to keep up their fize by a care and nourishment which would coft him much labour. If, on this low fare, these animals dwindle, it is no more than they do in those parts of Europe where the poverty of the foil, or poverty of the owner, reduces them to the fame scanty fubfiftence. It is the uniform effect of one and the fame caufe, whether acting on this or that fide of the globe. It would be erring, therefore, against that rule of philofophy, which teaches us to afcribe like effects to like caufes, should we impute this diminution of fize in America to any imbecillity or want of uniformity in the operations of nature. It may be affirmed with truth, that in thofe countries, and with thofe individuals of America, where neceffity or curiofity has produced equal attention as in Europe to the nourishment of animals, the horses, cattle, fheep, and hogs of the one continent are as large as those of the other. There are particular inftances, well attefted, where individuals of America have imported good breeders from England, and have improved their fize by care in the course of fome years. And the weights actually known and ftated in the third table, will fuffice to fhow, that we may conclude, on probable grounds, that, with equal food and care, the climate of America will preferve the races of domestic animals as large as the European stock from which they are derived; and confequently that the third member of Monf. de Buffon's affertion, that the domeftic animals are fubject to degeneration from the climate of America, is as probably wrong as the first and fecond were certainly fo. That the laft part of it is erroneous, which affirms, that the fpecies of American quadrupeds are comparatively few, is evident from the tables taken altogether; to which may be added the proof adduced by the Abbe Clavigero. According to Buffon's lateft calculation, in his Epoches de la Nature, there are 300 fpecies of quadrupeds; and America, though it does not make more than a third part of the globe, contains, according to Clavigero, almost one half of the different species of its animals. Of the human inhabitants of America, to whom the fame hypothefis of degeneracy is extended, M. Buffon gives the following defcription: "Though the American favage be nearly of the fame stature with men in polished focieties; yet this is not a fufficient exception to the general contraction of animated Nature throughout the whole continent. In the favage, the organs of generation are small and feeble. He has no hair, no beard, no ardour for the female. Though nimbler than the European, because more accustomed to running, his ftrength is not fo great, No. III. $ His His fenfations are lefs acute and yet he is more timid and cowardly. He has no vivacity, no activity of mind. The activity of his body is not fo much an exercife of fpontaneous motion, as a neceffary action produced by want. Destroy his appetite for victuals and drink, and you will at once annihilate the active principle of all his movements: He remains in ftupid repose, on his limbs or couch, for whole days. It is eafy to discover the cause of the scattered life of savages, and of their eftrangement from fociety. They have been refufed the most precious fpark of Nature's fire: They have no ardour for women, and, of course, no love to mankind. Unacquainted with the moft lively and moft tender of all attachments, their other fenfations of this nature are cold and languid. Their love to parents and children are extremely weak. The bonds of the most intimate of all focieties, that of the fame family, are feeble; and one family has no attachment to another. Hence no union, no republic, no focial ftate, can take place among them. caufe of love gives rife to the morality of their manners. is frozen, their fociety cold, and their empire cruel. their females as fervants deftined to labour, or as beasts of burden, whom they load unmercifully with the produce of their hunting, and oblige, without pity or gratitude, to perform labours which often exceed their ftrength. They have few children, and pay little attention to them. Every thing must be referred to the first caufe: They are indifferent, because they are weak; and this indifference to the fex is the original stain which disgraces Nature, prevents her from expanding, and, by deftroying the germs of life, cuts the root of fociety. Hence man makes no exception to what has been advanced. Nature by denying him the faculty of love, has abused and contracted him more than any other animal." The phyfical Their heart They regard A humilating picture indeed! but than which, Mr. Jefferfon affures us, never was one more unlike the original. M. Buffon grants, that their ftature is the fame as that of the men of Europe; and he might have admitted, that the Iroquois were larger, and the Lenopi or Delawares taller, than people in Europe generally are: But he fays their organs of generation are fmaller and weaker than thofe of Europeans; which is not a fact. And as to their want of beard, this error has been already noticed. "They have no ardour for their female."-It is true, that they do not indulge those exceffes, nor discover that fondnefs, which are cuftomary in Europe; but this is not owing to a defect in nature, but to Their foul is wholly bent upon war. This is what procures them glory among the men, and makes them the admiration of the manners. women. women. To this they are educated from their earliest youth. When they purfue game with ardour, when they bear the fatigues of the chace, when they fuftain and fuffer patiently hunger and cold, it is not fo much for the fake of the game they purfue, as to convince their parents and the council of the nation, that they are fit to be inrolled in the number of the warriors. The fongs of the women, the dance of the warriors, the fage counfel of the chiefs, the tales of the old, the triumphal entry of the warriors returning with fuccefs from battle, and the refpect paid to thofe who diftinguish themfelves in battle, and in fubduing their enemies, in fhort, every thing they fee or hear, tends to inspire them with an ardent defire for military fame. If a young man were to discover a fondness for women before he has been to war, he would become the contempt of the men, and the scorn and ridicule of the women or were he to indulge himself with a captive taken in war, and much more were he to offer violence in order to gratify his luft, he would incur indelible difgrace. The feeming frigidity of the men, therefore, is the effect of manners, and not a defect of nature. They are neither more defective in ardour, nor more impotent with the female, than are the whites reduced to the fame diet and exercise. "They raise few children."-They indeed raise fewer children than we do; the causes of which are to be found, not in a difference of nature, but of circumftance. The women very frequently attending the men in their parties of war and of hunting, child-bearing becomes extremely inconvenient to them. It is faid, therefore, that they have learned the practice of procuring abortion by the use of fome vegetable ; and that it even extends to prevent conception for a confiderable time after. During these parties they are exposed to numerous hazards, to exceffive exertions, to the greatest extremities of hunger. Even at their homes, the nation depends for food, through a certain part of every year, on the gleanings of the foreft; that is, they experience a famine once in every year. With all animals, if the female be badly fed, or not fed at all, her young perish; and if both male and female be reduced to like want, generation becomes lefs active, lefs productive. To the obftacles, then, of want and hazard, which Nature has oppofed to the multiplication of wild animals, for the purpose of reftraining their numbers within certain bounds, thofe of labour and voluntary abortion are added with the Indian. No wonder, then, if they multiply lefs than we do. Where food is regularly fupplied, a fingle farm will show more of cattle than a whole country of forefts can of buffaloes. The fame Indian women, when married to white traders, who feed them and their children |