Animalia of Mexican America, North America
The interpretation that the Spanish physician, humanist, and translator makes of the books of Pliny the Elder results in a text with its own original content due to the information that he adds to the fauna already identified by the Latin writer. Owing to the testimonial section on American nature as compared with the European reality. Thus, from North America, specifically the part named Mexican Peninsula by Gerónimo de Huerta,
1 Previously known by its divisions into the Kingdom of New Vizcaya, the Kingdom of New Galicia, the Kingdom of New Spain; the Government of Coahuila, the New Kingdom of León, the Government and Captaincy of Yucatán, and the Kingdom of Guatemala. various animals come, some from the Northwest of America, others even from the controversial Estotilant. This last region is located on the maps of the time in New France, and the Spanish translator sees it as one of the thirty-seven islands in the Gulf of Canada (
HN 1624: 232). In this respect, the “nuevo continente,” according to the
Relaciones universales del mundo of 1595, “se divide en dos espaciosisimas y grandes peninsulas, juntadas con un Ismo. De las cuales, a la vna podremos con razon llamar Septentrional,
2 Septentrional derives from septentrión and, therefore, refers to the north, the opposite of meridional, that is, that which belongs to the south or the middle (in the middle). y a la otra del medio dia” (Botero 1603: 135).
Thus, as Botero Benes says in the translation by Diego de Aguilar (1603), “la parte que mira al Oriente, se diuide en tres grandisimas prouincias que son la Stotilante, el Labrador, y la Norumbega. Stotilante llaman a la tierra mas Septemtrional que se a conocido [y] es tierra frigidisima” (1603: 136). Returning to the translation in question, in this frigid region – to the existence of which maps and writings of the time attest – “tienen vnos perros semejantes a lobos, de los quales se sirven para tirar las carretas en que andan sobre el yelo” (
HN 1624: 233). In this description, the dogs are generally those that come from the Arctic breed and are found in the colder zones of America, especially Alaska and Canada. The canine described as a wolf would probably be the Canadian Eskimo dog, whose ancestors are usually recognized as the oldest in North America, in fact, being domesticated by Indigenous peoples; and due to their athletic build and thick fur, they pulled sleds even before the Alaskan Husky.
Likewise, the humped cow, “vna generacion de vacas tan grandes como caballos con vna giba en el lomo como camellos” appears in the pages of the translation of the
Natural History (
HN 1624: 234). Geronimo de Huerta says that these bison bulls live in Florida and New Mexico and describes them as follows: “[son] vacas semejantes en el tamaño y color a las nuestras, mas disformes y espantosas. Tienen los cuernos pequeños, y vna gran giba en el lomo, y de medio cuerpo adelante muy largo pelo, y mayor y mas espeso en la frente, cuello, y brazos […]” (
HN 1624: 236).
3 It also locates the humped cow in the territories that were known as Iucatan and Reyno de Quiuira. Once again with the humped cow, as with each of the aforementioned animals, the territories previously unknown to Europeans presuppose a continuous encounter with new and real wonders. Gerónimo de Huerta does not limit himself to translating and giving an exact account of Pliny’s
Natural History, he also expands on it through annotations that, although they are subordinate to the main text, provide information about the American continent and its fauna. He highlights the geographical location to which they belong and their physical descriptions, and even emphasizes the specific questions with which he, like the Roman writer, intends to take on the natural world.
4 The natives of the Kingdom of Quivira, supposed to be somewhere in northern Mexico, used the hides of the cow to make houses, ropes, and clothing; the bones for the points of weapons; the nerves for thread; the horns for vessels; the dung for fire ( HN 1624:236)..With the preceding in mind, it should not be forgotten that writers from New Spain still possess active remnants of the worldview of other times and just as in the medieval perspective, “monsters are an integral part of creation; they figure among the exuberant population of the universe” and are relevant in the search for wonders and the exploration of the world by travelers (Kappler 1986: 17). Although our translator was not a traveler, nor did he have personal experience of what he was writing about, it was normal to make use of bibliographical sources to describe with greater precision the characteristics of what was unknown to the known world.
5 Some of them are the Sumario de la natural historia de las Indias by the Spanish writer Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés (1526); De las relaciones universales del mundo de Botero Benes Ivan, originally published in 1599 and translated by Diego de Aguilar in 1603 and printed in Valladolid; Las Singularidades de la Francia Antártica, Cosmografía Universal (1575) by the French Franciscan Friar Thevet (1557–8), among others. In these texts, as in the translation by Gerónimo de Huerta, it is common to find in the geographical and periplus accounts enumerations of the native fauna to inform readers of what was in the recently discovered parts of the world. In that sense, entrance into the American territories also constituted an encounter with animals, some of them considered strange or monstrous sightings. It should be noted that Book VI of
Natural History, in Pliny’s original text, includes the description of the East as a field of geographical study; therefore, it encompasses data on physical geography, human geography, and political organization. Gerónimo de Huerta would do likewise when he wrote about America, following the same content, even including news of animal geography and registering those animals that appeared to be similar to European ones with those that were not. He added several animals in each territory, lingering on those that inspired the most amazement. In this regard, he says that the Peruvian region, specifically Cartagena, is a place of crabs, cicadas, crickets, and lobsters, but it is also home to species so rare that they look like pigs without tails, cows with large ears or similar to lizards and the controversial Succarathe. From Brazil, the armadillo, the sloth, the honey bear, and the tapir stand out. From the Mexican or northern area, specifically in Estotilant, the writer is drawn to dogs with a lupine appearance. In Norumbega, deer, hares, and rabbits are also common; however, it is the tlaquacos that interest the translator, as well as the strange, humped cows of Florida.