Compendium of the Natural and Civil History of Chile

XV

...nor how should I fail the truth simply to avoid exposing myself to the sarcasms and indecent mockery with which Pauw Cornelius de Pauw (1739–1799) was a Dutch philosopher famous for his "degeneration theory," which argued that the environment of the Americas made all life there weaker than in Europe. attacks all those who oppose his strange ideas? I have seen, and I have observed with the utmost attention, all that I write; and not satisfied with my own opinion, I have consulted the most impartial and esteemed writers who have recognized these same things. These authors, being in total agreement with my own observations, serve as so many undeniable supports for everything I state.

Pauw has not only seen nothing of what he writes and spreads, but he has not even wished to see it in the authors he claims to have read to compose his work; for despite the fact that Frézier Amédée-François Frézier (1682–1773) was a French military engineer who published detailed accounts of his travels to the coasts of Chile and Peru. and Ulloa Antonio de Ulloa (1716–1795) was a Spanish scientist and naval officer who co-authored "Relación histórica del viaje a la América Meridional," a key scientific text on South America., whom he cites frequently whenever it suits his purpose, speak of the marvelous fertility with which grain yields its fruit in the Kingdom of Chile, he dares to claim before the whole world that wheat wheat: while not native to the Americas, wheat became a primary export of colonial Chile due to the Mediterranean climate, contrary to Pauw's claims of limited growth. grows only in a few corners of northern America.