_America and Tartary._--
"Un jésuite rencontra en Tartarie une femme huronne qu'il avoit connue
au Canada: il conclut de cette étrange aventure, que le continent de
l'Amérique se rapproche au nord-ouest du continent de l'Asie, et il
devina ainsi l'existence du détroit qui, longtemps après, a fait la
gloire de Bering et de Cook."--Chateaubriand, _Génie du Christianisme_,
Partie 4., Livre 4., Chap. 1.
Yet, with all deference to the edifying letters of this missionary jesuit,
it is difficult to make such distant ends meet. It almost requires a copula
like that of the fool, who, to reconcile his lord's assertion that he had
with a single bullet shot a deer in the ear and the hind foot, explained
that the deer was scratching his ear at the time with his foot.
Subjoined is one more _proof_ of the communication which once existed
between America and the Old World:
Colomb disoit même avoir vu les restes des fourneaux de Salomon dans
les mines de Cibao."--Chateaubriand, _Génie, Notes, &c_.