BELIEF IN EVIDENCE. 



he would believe you all the more readily ; because 

 he would of course have heard of, and perhaps also 

 seen in a specimen or a figure, the Ornithorhyn- 

 cus Paradoxus, which is found in some of the 

 pools of New Holland; and which, to external ap- 

 pearance, has the bill of a duck, the body of an 

 otter, the feet of a turtle or water tortoise, and the 

 spurs of a cock. 



That creature actually seems to combine the 

 properties of quadruped, bird, and reptile; and, 

 therefore, to one who did not see farther than the 

 surface, the knowledge of its existence would tend 

 to confirm the man's belief in your story of the 

 winged antelopes. 



But suppose again, that a third party whom the 

 credulous man had known less intimately than he 

 had known you, or who had " hoaxed" him on a 

 former occasion, were to ridicule the notion of the 

 four legs and the feathered wings ; and even to 

 say that these two sets of extremities were quite 

 incompatible with each other, that would still con- 

 firm rather than shake the man's belief. Thus it is 



