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worlds, though its cultivation is extended to almost all countries, was indigenous to North America alone. Indian corn, millet, cocoa, vanilla, pimento, copaiba, jalap, sassafras, nux vomica, and many other drugs and medicines important in the arts and pharmacy, are all American. The coccus cochinilifer, which produces the cochineal of commerce, is peculiar to Mexico. These all grow wild, in a state of nature, or are cultivated for the convenience of collection, and have been a great source of wealth to the country.

The forests and fields of North America, however, have been enriched by contributions from the old world, and many plants, hitherto unknown to American soil, have, since Europeans settled in the country, been introduced and become valuable adjuncts to her already varied products. At the head of these may be placed wheat, barley, oats and rice, all of which find a congenial soil and succeed to perfection. The sugar cane, originally from the East Indies or Madeira, and the coffee plant, have become staple products; and oranges, lemons, peaches and most descriptions of fruit trees, are of eastern origin. American apples, though now superior to the apples of England, are derived from trees carried from that country; and the vine, the cultivation of which has of late years been much attended to, seems to flourish in many parts of the country almost as well as in its native soil in Western Europe.

The ZOOLOGY OF NORTH AMERICA, though as yet but little known, presents a vast catalogue of the different families of animated nature. The animals differ in many important respects from those of Europe, and of the useful kinds there are singularly few. Neither the horse, the ox, nor the hog were found on the American continent when discovered, and the want of them must, no doubt, have been a considerable obstacle to the advancement of the natives in the career of civilization. The elephant and camel were also unknown to America, and in fact the aborigines appear to have had no substitute for these essentially valuable animals. The Bison, or American ox, (Bos Americanus,) the largest native quadruped of the New World, is principally found on the vast western prairies. It is rarely, if ever, seen east of the Mississippi, and it has never been found on the Atlantic plain. The Bos Moschatus, or musk ox, is found only in the most northerly parts of America, to the west of Hudson's Bay, from 60° to 73° north latitude. Its horns, which cover all its forehead, are often of great weight. The Rocky Mountain goat, remarkable for the fineness of its wool, inhabits the Rocky Mountains from Mexico to the extremity of the range. Several species of deer are also found in various parts. The rein-deer is the most northern ruminating animal, being found in Greenland and the most northerly of the Arctic Islands, and on the west coast it descends as far as the Columbia River.

The canine race of North America is of several species, some of which are peculiar to the New World. The physiognomy of the American wolf, when contrasted with that of Europe, is very distinct. There is a great variety of foxes. The fur of the canis lagopus, or Arctic fox, and of some other varieties of the same genus, is of considerable value. The best known variety of the American dog is the canis familiaris, found in Newfoundland. This animal is now common, from the northern settlements of Canada to the shores of Florida, and has become deservedly a great favorite. It is strong and active, has long and fine glossy hair, a curved, bushy tail, and webbed toes, by means of which it swims admirably well. The color of the back and sides is generally black, with a white belly and legs,

and frequently a white spot at the tip of its tail. It is naturally fitted, by its thick covering of hair, for a cold climate, and is more active and in better health in this country in winter than in summer.

The beaver, (castor,) is more abundant, perhaps, in the north-western parts of North America, than in any other part of the globe. But the great demand for and high price of its fur, has led to a great diminution of its numbers, and to its nearly total extinction in the more accessible parts of the country; and its entire extermination at a no very distant day may be calculated upon, if means are not taken for its preservation and increase.

North America has but few beasts of prey. The felis discolor, or puma, is found on both the northern and southern continents; though denominated the American lion, it is neither so large nor fierce as the jaguar. A number of bears, some of them of the largest and most formidable description, are found in Arctic America, two of which are peculiar to those inhospitable regions.

Tropical America has a great variety of apes and monkeys, but none of them approach so nearly to the human form as the ourang-outang or chimpanzee; and none of them have the ferocity of the baboon. Many, however, have prehensile tails, endowed with so great delicacy of touch, that they have been compared to the trunk of the elephant. This fits them admirably for travelling from tree to tree, and sporting in the vast forests which they inhabit.

Portions of North America are infested by a great variety of reptiles. The rattle-snake is as common as its bite is dangerous, but there are many others whose attacks are little less venomous. The true boa-constrictor is found of enormous size in the marshes and swamps of tropical America. Centipedes, sometimes a yard in length, enormous spiders, scorpions, &c., are also found in these regions.

Among the insects of North America are many of large size and beautiful colors; the butterflies are truly gorgeous, and the bug-tribe as varied as extensive. No country in the world presents such a field for the entomologist or amateur collector. The mosquito, in the middle and southern regions, is a prolific and most annoying creature, and in some places in Mexico and Central America is in such numbers and so vicious, as to render whole districts uninhabitable. According to Humboldt, white ants and termites are even more destructive here than their congeners in the old world.

The birds of North America are exceedingly numerous, and are at the present day as fully known to Europe as to Americans themselves, through the labors of the indefatigable Audubon, whose works on natural history have a world-wide celebrity. The birds of prey are of a great number of species, including eagles, vultures, hawks, falcons, owls, &c. The whiteheaded or bald eagle is well-known as the national emblem of the United States. The vultures are the great Californian vulture, the black vulture, and the turkey-buzzard; the latter is well-known and numerous in the Southern United States, where, maugre their filthy habits, they are protected by law as useful denizens, being of great benefit in consuming decaying animal matter, which would otherwise pollute the atmosphere, and render a locality offensive and dangerous to the health of the people. The wild turkey of America is a noble bird, of brilliant, blackish plumage; and of this bird Dr. Franklin has observed: "It would have been a much fitter emblem for our country than the white-headed eagle, a lazy, cowardly, tyrannical bird, living on the labors of others, and more suited to represent an imperial despotic government than

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the Republic of America." The duck tribe is very numerous. backs are peculiar to America, and are esteemed a great luxury by the gourmand; they are found mostly on Chesapeake Bay and the neighboring rivers. But the most characteristic of American birds is the hummingbird, remarkable alike for its small size and the brilliant metallic lustre of its plumage; it is found south of the 45th parallel, but is more numerous towards the southern coasts. Vast flights of pigeons, in their periodical migrations, frequently darken the sun, and often require, such is their countless number, four or five days in passing over one particular spot. Their course is marked by millions of those who have fallen from exhaustion or pressure, and the ground for miles is frequently covered with such as have perished. Of the game species there are partridges, grouse, pheasants, &c.; in general, however, these are dist.nct in species to those of Europe. The mocking-bird, the blue-jay and whip-poor-will, are all peculiar to America. Robins of large size, sparrows, and the smaller birds, are everywhere in great numbers. The American robin is four times the size of that of Europe.

The waters of North America swarm with a great variety of the finny tribes. The cod, the mackerel, the shad, &c., are delicious, and very abundant on the coast and in the great rivers. The lakes produce enormous sized pike, pickerel and other fresh water fish, and the salmon inhabits the rivers in the north and the Columbia River on the western coast. fish are nowhere so abundant as here.

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The cetaceous family inhabit the more northerly seas; the most useful and remarkable, are the common and spermaceti whales and the narwhale. The common seal is abundant on all the coasts and islands of America, but it is more common in the high latitudes than elsewhere, and is of essential use to the Esquimaux and other original tribes, furnishing them with almost all the necessaries of life, both as regards clothing and food.

Nothing, however, is so worthy of remark in relation to the zoology of North America, as the wonderful increase of horses and cattle, brought by the first settlers from Europe. Had we not been fully aware of all the circumstances in regard to their immigration, it would certainly have been supposed that they were indigenous to America, and that it in fact was their native country. They here rove about in immense herds in a state of pristine freedom; and so numerous have they become, that the slaughter of oxen, not for the carcass, but merely for the hide, is the principal business of several extensive districts. In consequence of the extraordinary increase of horses, the mode of existence of the natives, especially in California, has been wholly changed; they have become expert horsemen, and pass considerable part of their time on horseback, approaching in this respect the Tartars and Arabs of the old world. Sheep, however, have not succeeded so well in America as cattle and horses, and their wool, in most parts, is of an inferior quality to that of the European stock, and the mutton ranker in flavor.

THE ABORIGINES OR NATIVE INDIANS are a distinct race, differing altogether in physical form, in language, and, perhaps, in intellectual character, from every other variety of the human race. Probably, however, the general agreement which exists among themselves, is even more remarkable than their disagreement from other races. The Red men, as the Americans call themselves, in contra-distinction to the Whites of Europe and the Blacks of Africa, exhibit surprisingly little difference, although extending over 700

on the north side, and 54° on the south side of the equator. Heat or cold, drought or moisture, elevation or depression of surface, have certainly no effect in the production, even in the smallest variations, occasionally discoverable among them. "The Indians of New-Spain," says Humboldt, "bear a close resemblance to those who inhabit Canada, Florida, Peru and Brazil: over 1,500,000 square leagues, from Cape Horn to the St. Lawrence and Behring's Straits, we are struck at the first glance with the general resemblance in the features of the inhabitants. We think we perceive them all to be descended from the same stock, notwithstanding the prodigious diversity of their languages. In the portrait, drawn by Volney, of the Canadian Indians, we recognize the tribes scattered over the savannahs of the Apure and the Carony. The same style of feature exists in both Americas."

- The general physical conformation of the American Indian may be briefly summed up. Their skin is dark, having more or less of a red tinge, usually called copper-colored, but thought to be more correctly characterized by that of cinnamon; the hair of the head is black, coarse, lank, shining, long, but not very abundant, and the hair on the other parts of the body is very deficient. The beard is seldom altogether wanting, but it is so uniformly scanty, as often to present the appearance of its being so. The forehead is long, and the eyes are deep sunk, small and black. The face is broad across the cheeks, which are round and prominent; nose well raised and round at the apex; the mouth is large and the lips black; the chest high, thighs massy, legs arched, feet large, hands and wrists small. The height is nearly the mean European stature, but the body is usually more squat and thickset. The countenance is hard-favored and the look stern, yet, with a certain sweetness in the expression of the mouth, which contrasts strongly with the rest of the features. It will appear from this statement, that the races which the American most nearly resembles, are the Mongul, Malayan and IndoChinese. The features of the face, are, however, more amply chiselled than in any of these; the frontal bones are more flattened than in any of them, and the stature is greater than it is, at least, in the Malayan race. Although in the tropical regions of America there are no black men, as in Asia and Africa, nor in the temperate regions any whites, as in Europe, still varieties do exist in an inferior degree, which may be compared to those which exist among Europeans and among negroes. The most striking of these are found in the short, squat and tallow-colored Esquimaux, about the polar regions of the north, and the tall Patagonians in the extreme south of the southern continent. The first of these differ in no respect, as far as physical form is concerned, from the people of the same name in Asia and Europe. In point of height, the several Indian nations differ materially even on the same continent and upon the whole, it may be remarked, that the American race exhibits a wider difference in stature than any other family of mankind, while this difference, at the same time, would not seem to be productive of any essential variation in either physical or intellectual capacity. In point of color, there is no material difference, except in shade. The probability is, after all, the number of races of men in America is at least as great as in any other part of the world, but still, throughout the whole, the contour of a distinct family is perceptible, and the same features are alike recognized from the north to the south, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.

The intellectual faculties of this great family are decidedly inferior. They are not only averse to the restraints of education, but are incapable of abstract reasoning. Their minds seize on simple truths, but reject all investigation.

and analysis. Their long proximity to Europeans has caused little change in their mode of thinking or in their manner of life, and their social condition is consequently not far removed from the primitive barbarism in which they existed on the first visits of civilized man. They have made few improvements in the construction of their houses or boats; their inventive and imitative faculties appear to be very humble, nor have they the smallest taste for the arts and sciences. One of the most prominent of their mental defects, is the difficulty with which they comprehend the relation of numbers, and to this defect is to be attributed many of their disputes with the Europeans who have purchased their lands.

With respect to the American languages, it may be sufficient to state, that they exhibit resemblances not less remarkable than those which we have noticed in the physical and mental characteristics of the people. All nations have languages which possess a common distinctive character, but still apparently differing from all those of the old world with which we are acquainted. This resemblance is not of an indefinite kind, but consists, generally, in the peculiar modes of conjugating verbs by the insertion of syllables, which gave rise to the remark of Lavater, that this wonderful uniformity "favors in a singular manner the supposition of a primitive people, which formed the common stock of the American indigenous nations." History and physical science, however, have hitherto completely failed to throw any light upon the origin of the North American Indians; and it is needless to repeat the numerous hypothesis and conjectures which have been hazarded. On this subject, the work, " The Origin of the North American Indians, by John Mackintosh," is very concise, and as a book of great value and interest, it is highly recommended to the reader's perusal. The whole number of pure Indians in North America may be set down at about 7,000,000, of which the greater part inhabit Mexico and Central America. The numbers in the British Possessions and the United States are comparatively few.

The several principal nations inhabiting North America, and all speaking a different language, are as follows:

In Central America:-The Changuenes; the Taukas; the Mosquitoes, and the Poyais, &c.

In Yucatan:-The Chols or Choles; the Lacaudones and the MayaQuiche family, consisting of the Mayas or Yucatans, the Mames or Pacomams, the Quiches, Kachiqueles and Kachis, &c.

In Mexico:-The Chapanegues, in Chiapa; the Mixteques and Zapoteques, in Oaxaca; the Totomaques, in Vera Cruz and Puebla; the Mexicans or Aztecs; the Othoms; the Tarasques, in Mechoacan; the Tarahumara, in Durango; the Yaquis, in Sonora; the Moquis; and the Apaches, of which there are numerous tribes.

In the United States :-The Panis-Arrapahoes family, comprising a number of subdivisions, which inhabit the country drained by the Platte; the Columbian family, which possess the valley of the Columbia River; the Sioux-Osage family; the Mobile-Natchez family; the Mohawk, Huron or Iroquois family; the Lenappe family; and innumerable tribes belonging to these great families, which will be further noticed elsewhere.

In the British and other Northern regions :—The Wakash or Nootka: the Kalriche family, and the several nations of the Esquimaux.

The CAUCASIAN OR WHITE RACES, who have settled in America, belong chiefly to the nations of Western Europe. The Spaniards colonized Mexico and Florida; the English colonized the Eastern portions of North

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