"
"Friend hunter, or trapper," returned the naturalist, clearing his
throat in some intellectual confusion at the vigorous attack of his
companion, "your deductions, if admitted by the world, would sadly
circumscribe the efforts of reason, and much abridge the boundaries of
knowledge."
"So much the better--so much the better; for I have always found that
a conceited man never knows content. All things prove it. Why have we
not the wings of the pigeon, the eyes of the eagle, and the legs of
the moose, if it had been intended that man should be equal to all his
wishes?"
"There are certain physical defects, venerable trapper, in which I am
always ready to admit great and happy alterations might be suggested.
For example, in my own order of Phalangacru--"
"Cruel enough would be the order, that should come from miserable
hands like thine! A touch from such a finger would destroy the mocking
deformity of a monkey! Go, go; human folly is not needed to fill up
the great design of God. There is no stature, no beauty, no
proportions, nor any colours in which man himself can well be
fashioned, that is not already done to his hands.
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