ABSTRACT
This chapter proposes to present in a condensed form an examination of the whole subject as it appeared in 1864 to M. Gustave d'Eichthal, a scholar well known for his learning and enthusiasm in Greek literature and other subjects. The Chinese scholar Klaproth attempted to refute Deguignes, but employed arguments which a more recent writer, D'Eichthal, with the aid of far more extended and accurate information, has in turn refuted. It is true, as D'Eichthal remarks that by proceeding in the style Klaproth put himself, in the most arbitrary manner, in direct opposition to the very letter of his text, which says nothing at all about sailing up and down and coasting around islands. The details are naturally very imperfect, and Behring's Island is the only one given of the Aleutians. The chain of the Aleutian Isles and the promontory of Aliaska form, as it were, a barrier which excludes Polar influences.
