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INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS r

OR,

EVIDENCE THAT HWUI SHlN

AND

A PARTY OF BUDDHIST MONKS FROM AFGHANISTAN

gisrofrmb Jmerita

IN THE FIFTH CENTURY, A. D.

EDWARD P. VINING.

" If Buddhist priests were really the first men who, -within the scope of written
history and authentic annals, went from the Old World to the New, it will sooner or
later be proved. Nothing can escape history that belongs to it." — LELAND.

NEW YORK:
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY,

1, 3, AND 5 BOND STEEET.
1885.

£.109

COPYBIGHT, 1885,

BY EDWARD P. VINING.

HUBERT HOWE BANCROFT,

AS A TOKEN OF APPRECIATION
OF

THE CONSCIENTIOUS LABOUR BESTOWED UPON HIS
"NATIVE RACES OF THE PACIFIC STATES,"

AND THE OTHER VOLUMES OF HIS
HISTORIES OF THE PACIFIC STATES OF NORTH AMERICA,

THIS WORK IS
RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED.

vi PREFACE.

to explain are far outweighed by the evidence presented by
the numerous details of the account which are proved to be
true. The explanations suggested as to some doubtful points
might seem more plausible if they were confined to that eluci
dation of the difficulty which, upon the whole, appears to be
its most probable solution. I have preferred, however, to
note all possible explanations that have suggested themselves
to me, believing that in some cases the truth which further
investigation will reveal may possibly lie in some interpre
tation which now seems improbable.

Errors will undoubtedly be found in this work, but I have
hoped to excite sufficient interest in the question under ex
amination to induce more competent scholars to bring the
truth to light regarding those points as to which I have
failed. I am confident, however, that, after the elimination of
all errors, it will be found that the great mass of evidence that
is presented that America was discovered in the fifth century
of the Christian era remains practically untouched ; and that
as a whole the work will be much easier to ignore than to
answer by those who may differ from its conclusions.

All attempts to establish a truth which has not been gener
ally received are met by the difficulty that it is almost impos
sible to interest in the subject those who have formerly paid
no attention to it, and that those who have studied it are
strongly tempted by a natural regard for their own self-com
placency to deny that there is anything more in the subject
than they have been able to perceive for themselves. I, there
fore, can not hope that my views will immediately meet with
general acceptance; but that their truth will ultimately be
recognized, I can not doubt.

Some quotations have been made at second-hand, and from
authorities which I would not have given if I had had easy
access to a better library than my own ; and some books which
I desired to consult I have not been able to obtain. Due al
lowance should be made for these facts.

It is proper that I should express my thanks for the kind
responses which I have received to my applications for assist
ance and information from many to whom I was unknown,

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

PAGB

INTRODUCTORY . .. . . . . ; . .1

The birth of Buddha — His titles — His character — His religious belief — His
universal charity — His life as a hermit — The discovery which he imag
ined that he had made — Desire that all should share its benefits — His

..^command to evangelize the world — The compliance of his disciples —
The dispersion from India — Countries visited — Traces of the religion in
Europe — Also throughout Asia — And in Alaska — The wanderings of
Buddhist priests — Few records preserved — Ease of journey from Asia
to America — The Gulf-Stream of the Pacific — Shipwrecks on the Kurile
and Aleutian Islands — Records of journeys of Buddhist priests — Their
reliability and value — A Chinese record of a visit to an Eastern country
— Reasons for crediting the account — Object of this work — Previous dis
cussions of the subject — Plan of this work — The discovery made by de
Guignes — Humboldt's views — Klaproth's dissent — The Chevalier de Par-
avey's essays — Neumann's monograph — Leland's translation and com
ments — Articles by MM. Perez, Vivien de Saint-Martin, d'Eichthal, Bras-
seur de Bourbourg, Godron, Jones, Brown, Simson, Bretschneider, Adam,
d'Hervey de Saint-Denys, Lobscheid, Channing M. Williams, and S.
Wells Williams.

CHAPTER II.

DE GUIGNES'S DISCOVERY . . . . . .18

Chinese voyages — Knowledge of foreign lands — Work of Li-yen, a Chinese v^
historian — The country of Fu-sang — The length of^the li— Wen-shin —
Its identification with Jesso — Ta-han — Its identification with Kamtchatka
—The route to Ta-han by land— The country of the Ko-li-han— The She-
goei — The Yu-che — Description of Kamtchatka — The land of Lieu-kuci
— The description of Fu-sang — No other knowledge of the country — The
Pacific coast of North America — A Japanese map— The Kingdom of
Women — Its description — Shipwreck of a Chinese vessel — American
traditions — Civilization of American tribes on the Pacific coast— The
Mexicans — Horses — Cattle — The fu-sang tree — Mexican writing — Man
ner in which America was peopled-^Similarity of customs in Asia and
AmericaV—Resemblances in the people — Charlevoix's story — Natives
floated upon cakes of ice — The kingdom of Chang- jin — Voyages of
other nations — The Arabs — Exploration of the Atlantic — The Canaries
—Story of their king — The Cape Verd Islands — Conclusion.
B

x CONTENTS.

CHAPTER III.

PAGE

KLAPBOTH'S DISSENT .

Title of de Guignes's article incorrect— Translation of the account of Fu-sang

Vines and horses not found in America— Route to Japan — Length of

the li Identification of Wen-shin with Jesso — Ta-han identified with

""""""Taraikai or Saghalien— The route to Ta-han by land— The Shy-wei—
Lieu-kuei — Fu-sang south of Ta-han instead of c^i— Fu-sang an ancient
name of Japan— Analysis of name " Fu-sang "—The paper mulberry-
Metals— The introduction of Buddhism— Fantastic tales.

CHAPTER IV.

DE PARAVEY'S SUPPORT . . . . , . 49

America visited by Scandinavians— American tribes emigrants from Asia —
Ancient Chinese maps — Researches antedating those of Klaproth — Let
ter of Pere Gaubil — Ta-han — Licu-kud — Identification of these with
Kamtchatka — Size of Fu-sang — Views of M. Dumont d'Urville — Length
of the li — America lies at the distance and in the direction indicated —
The Meropide of Elien — The Hyperboreans — The monuments of Guate
mala and Yucatan — The Shan-hai-Tcing — Identification of the fu-sang
tree with the metl or maguey — The Japanese Encyclopaedia says Japan
is not Fu-sang — The banana or pisang tree may have been the tree called
fu-sang — Grapes in America — Milk in America — The bisons of America
— Llamas — Horses — Wooden cabins — The ten-year cycle — The titles of
the king and nobles — The worship of images — Resemblance of pyramids
of America to those of the Buddhists — An image of Buddha— The
spread of the Buddhist religion — History of the Chichimecas — Resem
blance of Japanese to Mexicans — Analogies of Asiatic and American
civilizations pointed out by Humboldt — Credit due de Guignes — Appen
dix — Ma Titian-tin's account — The fu-sang said to be the prickly poppy
of Mexico — Laws punishing a criminal's family have existed in China —
Chinese cycle of sixty years existed in India — Cattle harnessed to carts
— The grapes of Fu-sang wild, not cultivated — Another Chinese custom
in Fu-sang — The route to Ta-han — The route to Japan very indirect —
Priests called lamas both in Mexico and Tartary.

CHAPTER V.
DE PARAVEY'S NEW PROOFS . . .

De Paravey's researches preceded those of Neumann and d'Eichthal— Con
nection between the Malay and American languages — Fu-sang located near
San Francisco — Chinese picture of a native of Fu-sang — Spotted deer —
Cattle-horns in Mexico— Horses— Nations of Northern Asia— Appendix
^. A — Buddhist monuments in America— A figure of Buddha in Yucatan —
^ The worship of Siva — The explorations of Dupaix — Foot-print in the
rocks — The cause of eclipses— Pyramids — Appendix B — A Buddhist
sanctuary near the Colorado River— The name Quatu-zaca— The Mexi
cans emigrants from the north — Appendix 'C — An engraving of a native
of Fu-mng— The natives of Oregon— The deer of America— Connection
of American and Asiatic tribes — Pearl-fishing — The cochineal insect and
the nopal — The people of Cophene — American place-names which ap
pear to contain the name Sakya.

CONTENTS. xi

CHAPTER VI.

PAGl

NEUMANN'S MONOGRAPH . . . . . .78

The knowledge of foreign nations possessed by the Chinese — Their precepts

— The journey of Lao-tse — Embassies and spies — Knowledge derived
from foreign visitors — Its preservation in Chinese records — The introduc
tion of Buddhism — Its command to extend its doctrines to all nations —
Chinese system of geography and ethnology — The unity of the Tartars
and Red-skins — American languages — The Tunguses, or Eastern Barba
rians — The Pc-ti, or Northern Barbarians — The Ainos^ or Jebis, and the
Negritos — The Wen-shin, or Pictured-people — Embassies between China
and Japan — The Country of Dwarfs — The Chinese " Book of Mountains
and Seas " — Information given by a Japanese embassador — Kamtchatka,
the Tchuktchi, and the Aleuts — Lieu-kuei — The length of the H — Licu-
kuei, a peninsula — The land of the Jc-tshay — The natives of Kamtchat-
ia — Their dwellings — Their clothing — The climate — The animals of the
country — The customs of the people — The country of the Wen-shin identi
fied with the Aleutian Islands — Ta-han, or Alaska — The kingdom of Fu-

^_*/pff nin^Jts inhabitantSj^Ihfi Amaggn^ — Fu-sang identified" with the
western portion of America called Mexico — The fu-sang tree — Only one
voyage made — Chinese accounts of Fu-sang — The distance from Ta-han,
or Alaska, indicates that Fu-sang is Mexico— The oldest history of
America — Successive tribes — The ruins of Mitla and Palenque — Some
thing of earlier races to be learned from the condition of the Aztecs —
Pyramidical monuments — If Buddhism existed in America, it was an im
pure form — The myth of Huitzilopochtli — Thefu-sang, the maguey, or
Agave Americana — Connection between the flora of America and that of
Asia — Metals and money — Laws and customs of the Aztecs — Domestic
animals — Horses — Oxen — Stag-horns — Chinese and Japanese in the
Hawaiian group and in Northwestern America — Shipwrecks upon the
American coast — The voyages of the Japanese.

CHAPTER VII.
THE ARGUMENTS OF MM. PEREZ AND GODKON . . .104

Knowledge of America possessed by the Chinese— The Country of Women

— Other travelers relate incredible stories — Klaproth's argument — The
account contained in the Japanese Encyclopaedia — Note denying that.
Fu-sang is Japan — Weakness of Klaproth's argument — Identity of names
of cities in Asia and America — American languages — Resemblance of
the Tartars to the Aborigines of America — Similitude of customs — A
Buddhist mission to America in the fifth century — The Chinese able to
measure distances, and possessed of the compass — The musk-oxen and
bisons of America — Horses — Names of European animals misapplied to
American animals — The "horse-deer" of America — Vines — The diffi
culty in identifying the fu-sang tree — Iron and copper in America and
Japan.

CHAPTER VIII.

D'EICHTHAL'S "STUDY" . . . • 119

their country — De Guignes's map — The ease of a voyage Irom Asia t<

xii CONTENTS.

PAGE

America— The warm current of the Pacific Ocean— The Aleutian Islands
—Voyages of the natives— The civilization of New Mexico— A white
population— Cophene— Buddhism— Ho\v it is modified and propagated—
Its absorption of the doctrines of other religions— Its proselytism— Its
religious communities— The route from Cophene to Fu-sang— A. Bud
dhist sanctuary at Palenque— Description of Stephens— An image of
Buddha— The lion-headed couch— The winged globe— The aureola about

the figure Decadence in art — The altars upon which flowers and fruits

are offered — Reply to observations of M. Vivien de Saint-Martin — The
two routes to Ta-han— That country located near the mouth of the
Amoor River — Traces of Buddhism in that neighbourhood — Ease of
voyage to the Aleutian islands— Klaproth's theory untenable — No other
hypothesis remaining than that Fu-sang must be sought in America.

CHAPTER IX.
COINCIDENCES NOTED BY HUMBOLDT, LOBSCHEID, AND PEESOOTT . 142

Extracts from the " Views of the Cordilleras "—Similarity of Asiatic and
American civilizations — The struggles of the Brahmans and Buddhists —
The divisions of the great cycles — The Mexicans designated the days of
their months by the names of the zodiacal signs used in Eastern Asia —
Cipactli and Capricornus — Table of resemblances — The tiger and monkey *
found only in southern countries — The Aztec migration from the north
— Resemblance between certain Mexican and Tartarian words — The
cutting-stones of jhe Aztecs— The sign Ollin and the foot-prints of Vish-
• — nTT^E%eTtrDf^r^TxTm:e~oT%Several nations— Changes resulting from
changed circumstances and lapse of time — Analogies in religious cus
toms — Analogy in the fables regarding the destructions of the universe
— Lobscheid's reasons for thinking the American Indians to be one race
with the Japanese and Eastern Asiatics — Similarity of customs — Tiles
, — Anchors — The route from Asia to America — Shipwrecks of fishing-
boats — Head-dresses — Languages — Religion — Customs — Marriage sol
emnized by tying the garments together — Extracts from Prescott's " His
tory of the Conquest of Mexico " — Analogies in traditions and religious
usages — Disposal of the bodies of the dead — The analogies of science —
The calendar — General conclusions.

CHAPTER X.
SHORTER ESSAYS . . . . ... . 161

i " Where was Fu-sang? "—by the Rev. Nathan Brown, D. D.— Difficulties at
tending a decision— Horses — Grapes — Reason for thinking Fu-sang more

I distant than Japan— Length of the ft— Distances of the route — Difficul
ties attending Klaproth's theory— The military expeditions of the Japa
nese — The introduction of the Buddhist religion — The Hans — Great
Han — Identification of the fu-sang tree with the bread-fruit tree — Con
clusion — Remarks of the Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg — The paper and
books of the Mexicans and Central Americans— Civilization of New
Mexico — Chinese boats — Animals— Mr. LclandVFusang" — An earlier
article— Who discovered America ?— J. Hanlay's essay — The fu-sang tree
identified with the maguey— Metals — Resemblance in religion and cus
toms—Also in features — Language — Civilization on Pacific coast — Letter
of Mr. Th. Simson — The Mexican aloe— The fu-sang tree — Japan —
Letter of E. Bretschneider, M. D. — Accounts of Fu-sang by the Chinese
poets—" The Kingdom of Women "—Verdict of Father Hyacinth— The
distance — Horses and deer— The fit-sang tree— The fung-tree — The pa-

CONTENTS. xiii

per mulberry— Metals— " The Kingdom of Women " and Salt Lake City— **
Fu-sang not Japan — Ta-han in Siberia — Envoys from Fu-sang — Contra
dictory fancies — Mr. Leland's criticism— Letter of Pere Gaubil— Unre
liability of Chinese texts — The peopling of Japan — Chinese knowledge of
surrounding countries — Remarks of liumboldt — Letter of the Rt. Rev.

Channing M. Williams — The Chinese " Classic of Mountains and Seas "

Fabulous stories — Translation of extracts therefrom — Remarks of M.
Leon de Rosny — Passage from Asia to America — The distance — Char
acter of the Esquimaux — An article from a newspaper of British Colum
bia — Discovery of Chinese coins in the bank of a creek— Evidence that
they had been buried for a long time.

CHAPTER XI.
REMARKS OF MM. VIVIEN DE SAINT-MARTIN AND LTTCIEN ADAM . 185

"An Old Story Set Afloat" — The route to Fu-sang— Identity of the Ainos
with the Wen-shin — Ta-han near the mouths of the Amoor River — Route
of Buddhist missionaries to the Amoor — Civilization of Buddhist origin
— Pillars with Buddhist inscriptions — Necessity of accurate translation
— Twenty thousand li signify only a very great distance — The fu-sang
tree — Warlike habits — Lack of draught animals — Civilization of Mexico
— Difficulty of the voyage — Conclusion — Remarks of M. Adam — Chinese
acquainted with America — Ease of the journey — Travels of Buddhist
monks — Points characteristic of American civilization — Ten-year cycle —
The fu-sang tree — The fung tree — The hibiscus — The Dryanda cordata
— The maguey, or agave — Zoological objections — Punishments — Slave
children — Absurdities — Legend of Quetzalcoatl — He came from the East
— The legend a myth — Colleges of priests — Practice of confession — The
alleged figure of Buddha — The elephant's head — Lack of tusks — America
for the Americans — Theory that ffwui Shan repeated the stories of_£h4- — -
nese sailors — Remarks of M. de HelRaltTand Professor Joly.

CHAPTER XII.

D'HERYEY'S NOTES *. . . . .204

Bibliography — The name of the priest — The city of King-chcu — Ta-han—
Lieu-kuci, a peninsula — Earlier knowledge of Fu-sang — The construction
of the dwellings — The lack of arms and armour— The punishment of
criminals— The titles of the nobles— The title Tui-ht found in Corea— The
colours of the king's garments — The cycle of ten years — Peruvian his
tory — The long cattle-horns — The food prepared from milk — The red
pears — Grapes — The worship of images of spirits of the dead — Its ex
istence in China— Cophene— The "Kingdom of Women"— The legumes
used as food — Wen-shin — The punishment of criminals — The name Ta-
han — The country identified with Kamtchatka — Two countries of that
name — One lying north of China, and one lying east — Unwarlike nature
of the people.

CHAPTER XIII.

D'HERVEY'S APPENDIX. . . . • '"

xiv CONTENTS.

PAGE

raging— The delay in obtaining an imperial audience — The " History of
the Four Lords of the Liang Dynasty "—An envoy from Fu-sang— The
presents offered by him— Yellow silk— A semi-transparent mirror— This
envoy was Hod Shin— The stories told by Yu-kie— The silk found upon
the fu-sang tree— The palace of the king— The Kingdom of Women—
Serpent-husbands— The Smoking Mountain — The Black Valley — The ani
mals of the country — The amusement of the courtiers — The poem Tong-
king-fu — The route to Fu-sang — Fu-sang east of Japan — Lieu-kaei —
The direction of the route.

CHAPTER XIV.
PROFESSOR WILLIAMS'S ARGUMENT . . . . . 230

" Notices of Fu-sang and other Countries lying East of China "—The ori
gin of American tribes — The work of H. H. Bancroft— Mr. Leland's book
— Ma Twan-lin — His " Antiquarian Researches " — Hwui-shin's story —
Cophene — No later accounts of Fu-sang — The titles of the nobility — The
ten-year cycle — Red pears — The fu-sang tree — No mention of pulque —
Brocade— Fables — Account of the Shih Chau Ki — The article of the
Marquis d'Hervey de Saint-Denys — Criticisms thereon — Pang-lai — The
distance of Japan and Fu-sang — The name Fu-sang sometimes applied
to Japan — Mention of the fu-sang tree in a Chinese geography — Expedi
tions sent to search for Fu-sang — Comparison with Swift's " Voyage to
Laputa " — The Kingdom of Women — Mention by Maundevile and Marco
Polo of a land of Amazons — The country of Wan Shan — Tattooing — Its
existence among the Esquimaux — Quicksilver — Two kingdoms of Ta Han
— Lieu-kuci and the Lewchew Islands.

CHAPTER XT.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION. — NATURE OF THE CHINESE LANGUAGE . 249

Fu-sang wood — Nie-yao-kiun-ti—The Warm Spring Valley — The Shin I
King — The kingdom Hi-ho-koue — The astronomer Hi-ho — The story of
a Corean — An island of women — Pung-lai — An expedition to explore
it — The colonization of Japan — Lang Yuen — The Kwun-lun Mountains
— A statue of a native of Fu-sang — A poem to his memory — The tree of
stone— Varying translations— The peculiarities of the Chinese language
— The brevity and conciseness of the written language — Its lack of
clearness — The meaning of groups of characters, or compounds — Proper
names— No punctuation — Difficulty of translating correctly — Preparation
of M. Julien — Illustrations of mistakes.

CHAPTER XVI.
THE DESCRIPTION OF FU-SANG. . . . . 260

The Chinese authorities— Variations in the texts — The Chinese text — A
literal translation— Parallel translations of eight authors— 'Hie date of
— Hjaii^SMn's arrival in China— The location of Fu-sang— The fu-sang
trees— The derivation of the name of the country— The leaves of the
fu-sang tree— Its first sprouts— Red pears — Thread and cloth — Dwell
ings—Literary characters— Paper— Lack of arms— The two places of

confinement — The difference between them — The pardon of criminals

Marriages of the prisoners— Slave-children— The punishment of a crimi
nal of high rank— The great assembly— Suffocation in ashes— Punish
ment of his family—Titles of the king and nobles— Musicians— The
king s garments— The changing of their colour— A ten-year cycle— Lon^

CONTEXTS. xv

cattle-horns — Their great size — Horse-carts, cattle-carts, and deer-carts—
Domesticated deer — Koumiss — The red pears preserved throughout the
year — TO-P'U-T'AOCS — The lack of iron — Abundance of copper — Gold
and silver not valued — Barter in their markets — Courtship — The cabin
of the suitor — The sweeping and watering of the path — The ceremonies
of marriage — Mourning customs — The worship of images of the dead
— The succession to the throne — A visit from a party of Buddhist mis
sionaries — Their labours and success.

CHAPTER XYII.

THE KINGDOM OF WOMEN, THE LAND OF "MASKED BODIES," AND-

THE GEEAT HAN COUNTBY . . . . . 301

The accounts of all these countries derived from the same source — The
Chinese text— The location of the Kingdom of Women — Its inhabitants ™
— Tfreir long locks — Their migrations — Birth of their young — Nursing
the young — The acre at which they walk — Their timidity — Their devotion
to their mates — The salt-plant — Its peculiarities — A shipwreck — The
women — A tribe whose language could not be understood — Men with
puppies' heads — Their food, clothing, and dwellings — The land of
" Marked Bodies " — Its location — Tattooing with three lines — The char
acter of the people — Lack of fortifications — The king's residence —
Water-silver — No money used — The Country of Great Han — Its location
— Lack of weapons — Its people.

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE LENGTH OF THE Li. — THE NAME "GEEAT HAN" . . 328

The direction from Japan in which Fu-sang lay — Variations in standards
of measure — The Chinese li about one diird of a mile in length — The
greater length of thcTjapanese li — Possibility of still another standard
in Corea — Communication between Corea and Japan and between Corea
and China — Chinese knowledge of the route to Japan derived from
Corean sources — Fu-sang farther from " Great Han " than Japan is —
Distances stated with at least approximate accuracy — The country of
"Marked Bodies" identified as the Aleutian Islands — Allowances for
changes and misunderstandings — Caesar's account of the inhabitants of
Britain — Maundevile's repetition of the story — " Great Han " identified
as Alaska — Land found in the regions indicated by Hwui Sh5n — Mean
ing of the character "Han" — Nature of the Chinese characters — The
manner in which they are compounded of two parts — Some characters
in which the meaning is affected by that of both parts— Application of
the character " Han " to a swirling stream and to the Milky Way —
Hence its possible meaning of " dashing water " — Meaning of the name
"Alaska" — The breakers of the Aleutian Islands — The population — A
philological myth — The hypotheses upon one of which Hwui Shan's
story must be explained— the explanation should be consistent.

CHAPTER XIX.

THE CUSTOMS OF THE LAND OF "MAEKED BODIES," AND OF GEEAT
HAN ...

xvi CONTENTS.

PAGE

in America— The marks a sign of the position of their bearer— The
merry nature of the people— Their feasts and dances— Their hospitality

Hospitality of the American Indians — The Iroquois — The Esquimaux

The Aleutians — Absence of fortifications — The chiefs — The decora
tion of their dwellings — The Haidah Indians — Other Indian tribes from
British Columbia to Alaska — Esquimaux fondness for ornamentation —
Ditches — The dwellings of the people — Water-silver — Proof that ice is
meant— Quicksilver — No country ever had ditches filled with quicksilver
— The traffic by means of precious gems — No money used— Value of
amber — The peaceful nature of the people — The punishment of crime —
Summary of facts mentioned by Hwui Shan — Application of the doctrine
of chances — The two countries bearing the name of Great Han.

CHAPTER XX.
THE COUNTRY LYING IN THE REGION INDICATED BY Hwui SHAN . 360

The direction from China, Japan, and Great Han in which Fu-sang lay —
The trend of the American Pacific coast — The distortion of the com
mon maps — Mexico lies in the region indicated — The nations inhabiting
Mexico in the fifth century — Their language — Traces of their beliefs and
customs existing one thousand years later — Aztec traditions — The Tol-
tecs — Their character — Their civilization — The time of their dispersion
— Their language — The Pacific coast — The evidence of place-names — The *Y*
Aztec language — Limits of the Mexican empire — The name of the coun
try—The city of Tenochtitlan — The application of the name " Mexico "
— First applied to the country — Early maps— Late application of the
name to the city — Pronunciation of the word — Similar names throughout
the country — Meaning of the syllable " co " — Varying explanations —
Real meaning of the term — " The Place of the Century-plant " — Meaning
of the syllable " ME " — Meaning of the syllable " xi " — Its meaning in
other compounds — Other abbreviations — Appropriateness of the designa
tion—The god Mexitli — Proof that he was the god of the century-plant
— Reason that the Spaniards were misled as to the meaning of " Mexico."

CHAPTER XXI.
THE FU-SANG TREE AND THE RED PEARS . . . 382

Connection between the name of the country and that of the " tree "—Ap
plication to smaller plants of the Chinese character translated "tree" —
Application of the term " tree " to the century-plant— Description of the

•"y SE& maguey, agave, aloe, oiicentury-plant— The leaves of the fu-sang—

Disagreement oFditterent texts— The t'ung tree— Evidence of corruption
in the text— Conjecture as to original reading— Similarity of the young
sprouts to those of the bamboo— Their edibility— Thread and cloth from
the fiber of the plant— The finer fabric made from it— Variation in the
—Manufacture of paper— The red pear— The prickly-pear— Resem
blance of the century-plant to the cacti— Preserves made from the prickly-
pears— Confusion in the Mexican language between milk and the sap of
the century-plant-The Chinese "lo," or koumiss-The liquor made
tronOhe sap i of thft century-plant— Its resemblance to koumiss— Indians
lever use milk— Confusion in other Indian languages between sap and
m'lk-^ ?amn" tbm name fu-sang-Variations in the characters with
which it is written— The spontaneous reproduction of the century-plant
-The decomposition of the character « sang "-The tree of the fergT
wme-jar— The tree having a great cloud of blossoms— Blooming but
once in a thousand years-The Chinese name of the prickly-plar—
Kitel s definition of the term "fu-sang "—Professor Gray's statement

CONTENTS. xvii

CHAPTER XXII.

PACK

THE LANGUAGE OF FU-SANG .... . 403

the king — Montezuma's title — Title of the noblemen of the first rank

The Mexican Tecuhtli, or Teule— The Petty TUI-LU— The NAH-TO-SHA, or
Tlatoque — The title lower than that of Tecuhtli — Its meaning — Tran
scription of foreign words by characters indicating both the meaning
and the sound — TO-P'U-TA'OCS, or tomatoes — The grape-vine— The tree of
stone — A Mexican pun — Danger of being misled by accidental or fancied
resemblance.

CHAPTER XXIII.
THE PEOULIAEITIES OF THE COUNTRY . . . . .418

The construction of the dwellings — Adobe walls — The " Casas Grandes " —
Houses of planks — Lack of armour — Absence of fortifications — Literary
characters — The pomp which surrounded the Aztec monarch — Musical
instruments — The evanescence of Montezuma's pomp — Rulers accom
panied by musical instruments — Tangaxoan — The king of Guatemala —
The king of Quiche — Homage to the Spaniards and to the Spanish priests
— The long cattle-horns — The Chinese measure called a HUH — Animals
of the New World erroneously designated by the names of those of the
Old World — Bisons — Their range — An extinct species — Its gigantic
horns — The horns of the Rocky Mountain sheep — Use of horns by the
Indians — Herds of tame deer — The lack of iron — The use of copper —
Gold and silver not valued — Their markets — Barter — Customs attending
courtship — Sprinkling and sweeping the ground as an act of homage —
The customs of the Apaches — The fastened horse — The Coco-Maricopas
— Serenades — Huts built in front of those of the parents — The length
of the " year " — The punishment of criminals of high rank — The sweat-
house, or estufa — Indian councils — Severe punishment of men of distinc
tion — Custom in Darien — Punishment witnessed by Cortez — Smothering
in ashes.

CHAPTER XXIV.
THE NARRATOR OF THE STORY . . • 439

The condition of China at the time — The reign of a Buddhist emperor —
The bhikshus, or mendicant priests — Their duties — Rules for their con
duct — The name Hwui ShSn — Frequency with which the name Hwui
occurs— Meaning of the characters— The nationality of Hwui Shan—
Cophene — Struggle between Brahmanism and Buddhism — The route
from India to China — The command that at least three should go to-

"" gether when traveling — Persecution in China in the year 458— The
journey to America by water — Ease of the trip— Probability that Ilwui
Shan was but slightly acquainted with the Chinese language— Yu Kie's
criticism of Hwui Shan's statements — Causes of errors — Use of the term
"water-silver" — Accounts given by first explorers seldom ^free from
error — Absurdities narrated by other Chinese travelers — Pliny— Hero
dotus — Marco Polo — Maundevile — Caesar — The unicorn — Elks without
joints in their legs— The Icelandic account of Vinland— Difficulties in

xviii CONTENTS.

PAGE

the account — The Unipeds — The Zeno brothers — Ignorance of geography
in the fifteenth century — Marvelous tales of early explorers — Allowances
to be made — Hwui Shkn entitled to equal charity.

CHAPTER XXV.
THE INTRODUCTION OF ASIATIC CIVILIZATION . . ' . .456

The former ignorance of the people — The introduction of Buddhism — The
changes of a thousand years — The two places of confinement — Meaning
of the character FAH — two species of prisons — One for those sentenced
to death — The other for minor criminals — The Mexican Hades — The
future abode of the Aztec hero — The sojourn but temporary — The dark
and dismal " Place of the Dead," in the north — Confinement here eternal
— The slave children — Treatment of illegitimate children and of orphans
— Age at which children were taken to the temple — Boys at seven years
of age — Girls at eight — Chinese custom of calling children a year older
than they would be considered by us — The punishment of the family of a
criminal — Mourning customs — Fasts — Funerals — Images of the deceased
— Reverence of these images and offerings to them — The custom in
China — The absence of mourning-garments — The king not fully crowned
until some time after his accession to the throne.

CHAPTER XXVI.
THE INTRODUCTION OF ASIATIC CIVILIZATION. — (Concluded.) . 470

The colour of the king's garments — Colours in Asia — Green and blue con
founded — The dyes used by the Mexicans — Changes of the king's gar
ments — Dresses of different colours for different occasions — Various
species of mantles worn — Changes because of superstitious ideas — Length
of the " year " — Divisions of the day — The marriage ceremonies — Chinese
customs— Mexican customs attributed to Quetzalcoatl — Mexican weddings
— The horse-carts, cattle-carts, and deer-carts — Difficulties of this passage
— Explanations suggested — The introduction of the horse into America —
Extinct species of horses in America— Indian traditions — Name may
have been applied to some other animal — Mirage — The Buddhist descrip
tion of the " three carts " or " three vehicles."

CHAPTER XXVII.
THE COUNTRY OF WOMEN AND ITS INHABITANTS . „ . 487

Stories of Amazons— Account of Ptolemy— That of Maundevile— Marco
K Polo— The Arabs— The Chinese— Similar stories in America— Explana
tions of these accounts—4' Cihuatlan," the Place of Women— The account
given by Cortez— Nuno de Guzman— The expedition to Cihuatlan— The
monkeys of Southern Mexico— Their resemblance to human beings-
Stones of pygmies— Classical tales— Pliny's account— That of Maunde
vile— fhe worship of Hanuman in India— Chinese stories— The Wran^-
hng People— The Eloquent Nation— The Long-armed People— « Chu-iu!»
or the Land of Pygmies— Pygmies in America-Mexican monkeys— Their
ig locks, queues, or tails— Their migration— Their bickering or chatter-
-Their ruttmg-season-The period of gestation-The beginning of
the year m China Tartary, and Mexico-The absence of breads-Nurs
ing children over the shoulder—Young monkeys carried on their mothers'

-£ rT A°ng +a\- V1? back °f the head-A different translation sug-
l~-£p. ^SE thmy can walk~That at which they become fully
grown— Their timidity— Their devotion to their mates

CONTENTS. xix

CHAPTER XXVIII.

PAGE

THE COUNTRY OF WOMEN AND ITS INHABITANTS.— (Concluded.} . 505

The habit of standing erect — The colour of the inhabitants — Albinos

Aztlan, " the White Land " — The mountain Iztaccihuatl, or " the White
Woman" — The Iztauhyatl, or "salt-plant" — The salt of the Mexicans
and Chinese — References of Sahagun to the Iztauhyatl — An erroneous
identification — References to it by Hernandez — The salt- weed — The sage
brush — The characteristic vegetation of Mexico — Food of the monkeys —
Cattle and game fattened upon the white sage — Its value in Asia— The
Mexican rainy season — The preceding month of " hard times" — Difficulty
of obtaining food at this season — Animals coming to lowlands in the
spring to feed upon the early vegetation — A sweet variety of sage —
The use of an herb to sweeten meat — Chinese description of monkeys —
An Aztec pun — Shipwreck of a Chinese fishing-boat — Corean fishing-
boats — Japanese vessels wrecked on the American coast — The laud
reached thought to be that mentioned by Hwui Sh2n — The women of
the country — The language that could not be understood — Heads like
those of puppies — The Cynocephali — Their voices — Barking Indians —
Their food — Their clothing — Their dwellings — The doorways.

CHAPTER XXIX.
Yu KIE'S STATEMENTS REGARDING FU-SANG . . . .519

The envoy from the kingdom of Fu-sang — The commission of Yu Kie —
Hwui Shan the envoy mentioned — Yu Kie's story — The presents given
to the emperor — The custom of offering tribute — The yellow silk — The
term applied to vegetable fibers — Sisal hemp — Its strength — Probability
that the agave fiber would be brought home by a traveler — The semi-
transparent mirror — Mexican obsidian mirrors — Nature of obsidian —
The " Palace of the Sun " — The Chinese zodiac — Their horary cycle —
Concave and convex mirrors — Obsidian mirrors peculiar to Mexico — The
silk taken from the agave — Lack of cocoons — The seeds of the century-
plant carried to Corea — The use of agave leaves as fuel — The ashes
used for obtaining lye — The agave fiber steeped in an alkaline solution —
The feast of Huitzilopochtli — Intercourse between Corea and China — The
Corean records — Possibility that further information may be found in
them — The palace of the king — The glitter of obsidian in the morning
light — The Country of Women again — Serpent husbands — The expedi
tion of Nuno de Guzman — The Smoking Mountain — Volcanoes — Hairy
worms — The "nopal de la tierra "— The fire-trees— The fire-rats — The
Black Valley— The Snowy Range— Huitzilopochtli— The intoxicating liq
uor— The "Sea of Varnish"— Petroleum— Mineral springs— Hot springs
— The extent of the land — Animals— Winged men — Birds that bear hu
man beings.

CHAPTER XXX.
MEXICAN TRADITIONS . . . • • • • ^36

xx CONTENTS.

PAGE

Another account— Customs introduced— Religious penances— The founda
tion of monasteries and nunneries— Belief that he was a Buddhist priest
— Brahmanism and Buddhism — The worship of Siva — The religion of

Nepal The goddess Kali — The worship of Mictlancihuatl — QuetzalcoatPs

horror of bloodshed — The arts he taught — The calendar — His promise
to return— His vow to drink no intoxicating liquor— His temptation and
fall — His sorrow — Etymology of his name — Its true meaning not " the
Plumed Serpent," but "the Revered Visitor" — Term applied to the
priests of Nepal— The Mexican " Cihuacoatl " — The arrival of Quetzal-
coatl from the east — Possible explanations — The crosses on his mantle
— Explanation of occurrence of crosses in Yucatan — Intercourse with
the West Indian Islands — The god Hurakan — Oracles and prophecies —
Veneration of the cross in ancient times— Its occurrence in India and
Egypt — Its use in Asia as a symbol of peace — The patchwork cloaks of
the Buddhist priests — Buddha's commands — The mark of a foot-print
in the rocks — Occurrence of such foot-prints in America and Asia —
Veneration shown them.

CHAPTER XXXI.
VARIOUS AMERICAN TRADITIONS. — BUDDHISM . . . ' .- 555

White and bearded men wearing long robes — The great numbers of coun
tries in which such traditions exist — Non-intercourse between them —
Traditions of Yucatan — Zamna and Cukulcan — The introduction of the
alphabet — Attendants — The name Cukulcan — The three brothers of
Chichen Itza — The buildings erected — The teachings of Cukulcan — His
departure — The survival of his doctrines — Votan — His long-robed attend
ants — Resemblance of name " Votan " to Asiatic perversions of " Gau
tama" — The time of these visits — The "katuns" of Yucatan — South
American traditions— The Muyscas — Their civilization — The arrival of a
white stranger — His names — The arts he taught — His doctrines — The
veneration of the people for him — Resemblance of his names to Buddhist
titles— A Pachcheko — The Updsakas — The Chinese Ho Shang— Tradition
of the Guaranis — Tamoi, Tamu, Tume, or Zume — His teachings — The
impress of his foot-prints — The tradition in Paraguay — His promise to
return — Adventure of the fathers de Montoya and de Mendoza — The
Brazilian tradition — The great road — Foot-prints — Another tradition —
The story in Chili — Tonapa in Peru — His appearance — His mildness —
His teachings— His departure— Viracocha — The pyramids of Peru — Con,
or Contice — The Buddhist decalogue — Avoidance of women — Buddhist
practices— The dress of the priests — Hats not worn by the Indians —
Resemblance of teachings of the American culture-heroes to those of the
Roman Catholics— Resemblances between Buddhism and Roman Catholi
cism — Their monasteries — Their doctrines — The costume of the Grand
Lama — Belief in an early mixture of Christianity and Buddhism— A Cen
tral American image — The calendar — The arts practiced by Buddhist
priests — The art of casting metals — Sculptured vases.

CHAPTER XXXII.

EELIGIOTJS CUSTOMS AND BELIEFS . . . . . 574

The incongruity of the religious system of the Aztecs— The Toltecs— Con
tentions between rival sects— Monasteries— The " Tlamacazqui " The

herb-eaters— Their asceticism— The monastery and nunnery attached to
the chief temple of the city of Mexico— The duties of the devotees— The
clothing— The discipline— The differences in rank— Other ascetics— Pro
bation of candidates— Vows not for life— Married priests— The monas-

CONTENTS. ^

tery of the Totonacas — The pontiff of Mixteca — The title " Taysacaa "

Auricular confession — The practice of bearing a calabash — The dress of
the priests — Continence — Prayers — Fasting — The early disciples of Sakya
Muni — The Buddhist monasteries — Candidates for the priesthood — Edu
cation of children — Food and clothing — Penances — Nunneries — Life of
the inmates — Punishment of incontinence — Time for meals — Clothing of
idols — Absence of vital points of Christian doctrine — Marriage of the
priests — Vegetarianism — Failure of the Buddhists to strictly comply with
the tenets of their religion — The eating of flesh — A curious anomaly in
Buddha's teachings — Religious terms — The name Sakya — Its occurrence
in Mexico — Otosis — Gautama — Guatemala — Quauhtemo-tzin — Tlama and
lama — Teotl and Deva — Refutation of a negative argument — Religious
tenets — The road to the abode of the dead — The divisions of the abode
of the dead — Transmigration — Yearly feast for the souls of the dead —
The tablet at Palenque — The lion-headed couch— Seated figures— An
image of Quetzalcoatl — The story of Camaxtli — Preservation of his
blonde hair.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

THE PYRAMIDS, IDOLS, AND ARTS OF MEXICO .... 597

Temples built upon truncated pyramids — Mounds antedating Aztec occupa
tion — Speculations as to the date of their erection — The Place of the
House of Flowers — The monuments of San Juan Teotihuacan — Their size
— Their construction — Mexican "teocallis" — Their proportions — Re
semblances to the pyramids of India — Pyramids found wherever Bud
dhism prevails — The tumulus or tope — Its occurrence at Nineveh, in
China, and Ceylon — Resemblances noticed by several authors — The tem
ple of Boro-Budor in Java — The palace at Palenque — Dome-shaped
edifices — The dome at Chichen — The construction of the pyramids — The
layer of stone or brick — The layer of plaster — The false arch— Decora
tive paintings — The priests the artists — The ornament upon the breast —
The name Chaacmol — Cornices — Friezes — Representation of curved
swords — An elephant's head as a head-dress — Other ornaments in shape
of an elephant's trunk — The elephant the symbol of Buddha — The tapir
— Remains of the elephant or mastodon in America — Their possible con
temporaneity with man — Pipes carved in the shape of elephants — Their
discovery — An inscribed tablet — The elephant-mound of Wisconsin — A
Chippewa tradition — Ganesa — Teoyaomiqui — Their resemblance — The
conception of Huitzilopochtli — The story of Cuaxolotl — Tezcatlipoca —
The mirror held by him — Similar idols in Asia — The imprint of the hand
— The cataclysms by which the human race has been destroyed — The
cardinal points — Their connection with certain colours — The temples of
Thibet — The palace of Quetzalcoatl — A small green stone buried with
the dead — Sweeping the path before the monarch — The use of garments
and dishes but once — The breech-cloth — Quilted armour — Suspension-
bridges — Books — Marriage ceremonies and customs — Tying the gar
ments together — Postponement of the consummation of marriage — Po
lygamy — Children carried on the hip — Children's toys — The cakes used
as food — A game — Practices of many Asiatic countries — Milk not used
— Authors led to believe in a connection between Asiatic and Mexican
civilization — Differences between the Mexicans and other American tribes
— Erroneous criticism.

CHAPTER XXXIV.
THE HISTORY OF JAPAN , . . • • • 623

Records reaching back nominally to 660 B. c.— Gaps in the history— Great
age of sovereigns — A giant — Absence of exact dates — The introduction

xxii CONTENTS.

PAGE

of writing — Manufacture of paper — Chinese records of embassies — Men
tion of a Japanese sovereign whose name does not appear in the Japa
nese annals — Translation of extracts from the Japanese history — Inter
course with Corea and China — Embassies — Wars — Introduction of Bud
dhism — Titles of nobility — Copper, silver, and gold — Intercourse of Corea
with Japan and China — The Chinese account of Japan — The route from
China to Japan — The distance — Cattle and horses not raised — Tattooing
— Clothing — Cities — Polygamy — Laws — Burial of the dead — The " Chi-
shuai " — An envoy — A later embassy — A Japanese princess — The king
dom of Kiu-nu ; that of Chu-ju — The Eastern Fish-People — A Chinese
expedition to seek for P'ung-lai — Tan-cheu — Route to Japan — The divis
ions of Japan — Titles of the officers — Embassies — Tattooing — Absence
of writing — Mourning-garments — Buddhism — Route to Japan — Discovery
of gold, silver, iron ore, and copper — The Country of Women — Reasons
why Fu-sang can not have been situated in Japan — Consideration of
other theories — Proof that Hwui Shan had visited some unknown land —
Had the Chinese any earlier knowledge of America ? — The Shan Hai King.

CHAPTER XXXV.
THE CHINESE " CLASSIC OF MOUNTAINS AND SEAS " . . . 643

Preface— SUH-CHU Mountain— The Mountain of Creeping Plants — Aspen
Mountain — Hairy birds — The Foreign Range — KAN fish — KU-MAO, KAO-
SHI, Lofty, Wolf, Lone, Bald, and Bamboo Mountains — K'UNG-SANG,
TS'AO-CHI, YIH-KAO, and Bean Mountains — An excessively high peak —
TU-FU, KANG, LU-K'I — KU-SHE, Green Jade-stone, WEI-SHI, KIT-FUNG,
FU-LI, and YIN Mountains — SHI-HU, K'I, CHU-KEU, Middle Fu, HU-SHE,
MANG-TSZ', K'I-CHUNG, MEI-YU, and WD-KAO Mountains — The Fu-tree (or
FU-SANG)— North HAO, MAO, Eastern SHI, NU-CHING, K'IN, TSZ'-TUNG,
YEN, and T'AI Mountains — The CHA Hill — The Great Men's Country —
SHE-PI'S body— The Country of Refined Gentlemen— HUNG-HUNG— The
Valley of the Manifestation of the Dawn — The Green Hills Country — The
journey of SHU-HAI— The Black-Teeth Country— The Warm Springs Ra
vine— FU-SANG— The Place where the Ten Suns bathe— An account of
the Ten Suns— Yu-sm's concubine— The Black-Hip Country— The Hairy
People's Country— A boat upon the sea-shore— The Distressed People's
Country— K'KU-WANG— A great valley— SHAO-HAO— PI-MU-TI Hill— Place
where the Sun and Moon rise— The Great Men's Country— Giants and
dwarfs— The Great People's Market— The Little People— KUEH Mount
ain—The Country of Plants— HOH-HU Mountain— The Mountain of the
astern Pass— The Mountain of the Bright Star— The White People's
Country— The Green Hills Country— The Nation of Courteous Vassals—
1 he Black-Teeth Country— Summer Island— The KAI-YU Country— CHEH-
TAN and the Place of the Rising of the Sun— YU-KWOH— Qualdno- Mount
ain— The Black-Hip Country— The Needy Tribe— King HAI— NU-CHEU—
YEH-YAO-KIUN-TI Mountain— The Fu-tree — Warm Springs Valley—
I-TiEN-su-MAN Mountain — The YING Dragon— The Mountain of the
1 lowing Waves.

CHAPTER XXXVI.
COMMENTS UPON THE "CLASSIC OF MOUNTAINS AND SEAS" . . 669

T1ionsld rrof^1?^7 °f -the ™rld-Article by M. Bazin, Sr.-Its divis-

.roups of mountams-Taoists of the fourth century-The spirits

bonT Th v e*rth-?XtraVagancies of the work-First mention of the

or co7™ntedamiTar D'?COUrsQcs of Confucius-Thought to be apocryphal

- Tseu-hia — Sse-ma-ts'ien — Sse-ma-ching — Chao-shi —

CONTENTS. xxiii

Wang-chong — Tso-sse — The " Book of Waters " — Chang-hoa — Consider- **
ation of the western and southern kingdoms — Summaries of the geogra
phy of Tu-yu — Lo-pi — Kia-ching-shi— Cheu-pang— Tsu-tse-yu — The En
cyclopaedia of Tu-yeu — Conclusion of M. Bazin — The imperial academy
of the Han-lin — The Shan Hai King read as a romance or pastime —
Particularly by young men — Opinions of commentators — Notes — Gaps
or omissions — The "Bamboo Books" — Length of the work — Xo transla
tion heretofore made — M. Burnouf's intention to translate it — Change
of opinion among scholars as to its value — Monsters mentioned by other
writers — Tacitus — Men clothed in skins — A river with eight mouths —
The compass — The T'ien Wu : Lord of the Water — Seals, sea-lions, and
sea-otters — The Islands of the Flowing Stream — Cuttle-fish— Birds with
hairy legs — Serpents as ear-ornaments — The Shan Hai King a compila
tion of a number of distinct accounts — Regions mentioned twice or more
— Description of Japan — The genii who once ruled the earth — The state
of civilization — Tigers and bears — A poisonous insect — The Ravine of
the Manifestation of the Dawn — The Hairy People — Fu-sang and the
Black-Teeth Country — The Malay custom of blackening the teeth — The
Philippine or Luzon Islands — The banana or plantain (pisany) — The
"ten suns."

CHAPTER XXXVII.
BECAPITULATIOX . . . . ... . 684

Summary of reasons for thinking that Hwui ShSn visited Mexico— The com
mand of Buddha — The ease of the journey — The " silk " and mirror
brought back by him — The belief of his contemporaries — Fu-sang must
have been in Japan or America, and was not in Japan — Hwui Shan's
story paralleled with accounts of the countries by other authors — The
Country of Marked Bodies — Great Han — Fu-sang — The Country of Wom
en — Summary of facts mentioned by Hwui Sh&n — The transparent
mirror could not have been obtained elsewhere than in Mexico — The
Mexican tradition of Hwui Sh&n's visit — Coincidences between Asiatic
and American civilizations — Pyramids — Architecture — Arts — Religious
structures — Religious customs and beliefs — Idols — Marriage ceremonies
— Dress — Food — Books — Games — The working of metals — Suspension-
bridges — The calendar — Civilized nations of America all upon the Pacific
coast — Allowances to be made — Errors of first explorers — Hwui Shan
not a Chinaman — Errors of manuscripts — Changes in language— Changes
in customs — Our imperfect knowledge of Mexican civilization — The ar
gument stronger than its weakest parts — Conclusion.

APPENDIX.
LIST OF AUTHORITIES AND KEFERENCES . . • • 711

INDEX . .... 741

2 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

mentioned in history either under his family name of Gautama,
or under the appellation of Buddha, "the Enlightened"; or,
from the fact that he was of the race called Sakya, he is re
ferred to as Sakya-muni, "the hermit of the Sakyas."

This prince, although handsome, strong, and heroic— sur
rounded by pleasures and tempted by the most brilliant worldly
prospects1278 — took little part in the sports of his mates, and
used frequently to retire by himself into solitude, where he
seemed lost in meditation.1890 Educated in the belief that death
was immediately followed by a new birth, and that all living
creatures were chained to a never-ending series of transmigra
tions, he, as he grew in age, was more and more oppressed by
the conviction that all is vanity, and that a man hath no profit
of all his labour which he taketh under the sun. Possessed of
wealth and power, and lacking no earthly good, but saddened
by the knowledge that age must follow youth, and that death
would soon put an end to all his possessions ; and believing that
he must then commence a new life which death would again
end, and that so for all eternity he must struggle on, being able
to retain for but a moment all that seemed good to his eyes, and
then being compelled to abandon it — the prospect thus stretch
ing out before him so appalled him that he finally determined to
devote his life to the endeavour to find some escape from this
eternal series of deaths.

It was not for himself alone that he desired to find this relief,
but for his dearly loved wife and infant child as well ; and, fur
thermore, his heart was filled with an anxious yearning to be the
saviour of mankind, no matter what the cost to himself might be.

Born at a time when tyranny and the oppression of the law
of castes had become as intolerable in the civil world of India as
the dogma of eternal metempsychoses had become in its relig
ion ; 1879 when woman was looked upon, as she still is in Oriental
countries, as but the plaything of the stronger sex ; when
throughout the world the citizens of each petty nation consid
ered all other tribes as barbarians or wild beasts — he, being the
first of the human race 1882 to rise above the accidents of fate,
looked upon all mankind as his brothers and sisters, and would
fain save them all from the woe of the innumerable deaths that
awaited them. High and low, bond and free, rich and poor,
male and female, old and young, countrymen and foreigners,

INTRODUCTORY. 3

for all he felt the same tender pity, and no living creature was
so mean as to be beneath his all-embracing love and sympathy.

Filled with this anxious devotion, he stole softly away from
his home by night, and adopted the life of a Brahmanical her- \
mit. For years he tortured himself, often fasting until life was »
almost extinct ; striving, vainly, but with an inextinguishable
desire, to find the path which led away from eternal misery.
Finally, light, as he believed, dawned upon him. Misery was
merely the result of unsatisfied desire. If all desire could be
extinguished, unhappiness would perish with it.

By sitting in a state of inward contemplation, it was possible
to arrive at a condition of mind when, for a time, all surrounding
objects would fade awray and be forgotten. In this state of
ecstasy, neither hunger nor cold nor any bodily want could be
the source of discomfort, for the mind would be so fixed upon
its meditation that it would not know that these existed. Be
yond this state, however, another condition could be reached, in
which, after attaining to a forgetfulness of everything but self-
existence, the abstraction would become so great that even the
consciousness of self-existence would be lost. From this state of
entire unconsciousness, a state neither of existence nor of non-
existence, there would be no awakening forever. The dreary
round of transmigrations would be forever over with ; the
dreamless sleep would never end.

It was only after continual striving through myriads of ex
istences that this end could be reached, but he who set out upon
the path to Nirvana would never turn back ; and ultimately the
extinction of consciousness, which was held to be the supreme
good, would be attained.

There was only one thing of such importance that even the
state of quiescence and meditation, which was the foretaste of
the final beatitude, could be abandoned for it, and that was the
desire to preach the glad tidings to others, that they too might
set out upon the happy path. The love of one's neighbours was
recognized as the most sacred law, and it was to be only by the
exercise of this virtue that it should be possible to reach the
rank of the perfect Buddha.1885 As he himself had come for self-
sacrifice, and only by surrendering himself had learned how the
world might be saved, so all who desired to follow him must
tread in these footprints. Charity and love must extinguish all

4 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

egotism in the heart, and so fill the possessor with a spirit of
devotion that he would surrender himself utterly, and forget
everything personal, his own existence even, in order to save
others.1896

In the Chinese liturgy there is recorded a vow of the Bod-
hisattva Kwan Yin— the Great Compassionate Heart, or Mercy—
which is characteristic of this religion : * " Never will I seek or
receive private, individual salvation ; never enter final peace
alone, but forever and everywhere will I live and strive for the
universal redemption of every creature throughout all worlds.
Until all are delivered, never will I leave the world of sin, sor
row, and struggle, but will remain where I am." im

Buddha declared that the good news was for all the world ;
and his disciples were commanded to hasten to preach it to every
creature. " Let us part with each other," the legend reports him
as saying, " and proceed in various and opposite directions. Go
ye now and preach the most excellent law, expounding every
point thereof, and unfolding it with care. Explain the begin
ning and middle and end of the law to all men without excep
tion"1*91 "Since the doctrine which I proclaim is altogether
pure, it makes no distinction between high and low, rich and
poor. Like water it is, which washes and purifies all alike.
It is like the sky, for it has room for all ; men, women, boys,
girls, rich and poor." 1892

This command was faithfully obeyed by his disciples. Max
Milller states 196° that at a very early period a proselytizing
spirit awoke among the disciples of the Indian reformer — an ele
ment entirely new in the history of ancient religions. No Jew,
no Greek, no Roman, no Brahman, ever thought of converting
people to his own national form of worship. Religion was
looked upon as private or national property. It was to be
guarded against strangers. Here lay the secret of Buddha's
success. He addressed himself to castes and outcasts. He
promised salvation to all ; and he commanded his disciples to
preach his doctrine in all places and to all men. A sense of
duty, extending from the narrow limits -of the house, the vil
lage, and the country, to the widest circle of mankind, a feel
ing of sympathy and brotherhood toward all men — the idea,
in fact, of humanity— were first pronounced by Buddha. In the
* See Bell's " Catena," pp. 4C5, 406, and 409.

INTRODUCTORY. 5

third Buddhist council, the acts of which have been preserved
to us in the " Mahavanso," we hear of missionaries being sent to
the chief countries beyond India.

Some centuries after the days of Buddha, upon the death of
Asoka, a powerful king of India, who had been an ardent devo
tee of the Buddhist faith, his immense empire was dismem
bered,1883 and, profiting by this opportunity, the Brahmans raised
their heads, stirred up the smouldering hatred in the hearts of
the castes that were formerly privileged, and by such aid recon
quered the land which they had lost, and commenced a war of
bloody persecution against Buddhism, which resulted in the
complete expulsion of that sect from Central India. Ceylon,
Burmah, Siam, and Gamboge gave them asylum. Some of the
proscribed sect went even to the distant islands and founded a
church in Java, which, judging from the ruins that still remain,
must at one time have flourished. Others went to the north,
were arrested by the deserts of Persia, and, after halting in
Nepal, crossed the mountains, and carried their religion and
their arts into China, whence they soon passed into Japan and
Thibet.

This religion was introduced into China about A. D. 66,251J
and reached Corea in the year 372. 1964 There is no part of
Northern Asia to which it did not make its way. There is
reason to believe that its missionaries penetrated into Europe.
Mr. Leland mentions a Buddhistic image1717 discovered in an
excavation in London, at a depth of fifteen feet, nine feet of
which consisted of loose soil or debris of a recent character, but
the remaining six feet were hard, solid earth, of a character
which indicated a probability that the image might have been
left a thousand years or more ago where it was found. Profes
sor Holmboe has written a work 1555 in which strong grounds are
adduced for believing that Buddhist devotees reached Norway,
or at least that part of Europe which was then occupied by the
ancestors of the Norwegians of to-day. Professor Max Miiller 195'
refers to the existence of Buddhism in Russia and Sweden, as
well as in Siberia, and throughout the north of Asia, and says
that a trace of the influence of Buddhism among the Kudic
races, the Finns, Lapps, etc., is found in the name of their
priests and sorcerers, the Shamans — " Shaman " being supposed
to be a corruption of ^ramana, the name of Buddha, and of

6 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

Buddhist priests in general. The suppression of the "r" is
probably owing to the influence of the Pali, which shows a great
delicacy,851 or, if the term is preferred, an extreme poverty, in
the combinations of two or more consonants, and which always
drops the letter " r " when it follows an initial consonant of a
Sanskrit word.862 Thus, for instance,1897 the Sanskrit words
"prakrama" and "pratikrama" became in Pali "pakkama" and
" parikkama."

It is a singular fact that this word " Shaman," applied to a
priest or magician, is found, not only throughout nearly every
part of Asia, but that it passed over into America so long ago
as to become so thoroughly incorporated into the Yakut lan
guage of Alaska, that it and its derivatives were thought by Dall
to have belonged originally to that language,1167 and he claims
that those authors who have thought it to be an (East) Indian
word are mistaken. The religious ideas of some of the tribes of
Alaska strongly point to an earlier knowledge of some more or
less impure form of Asiatic Buddhism, and thus indicate that
the word was really borrowed from the disciples of that faith,
and is not a mere case of accidental resemblance in sound and
meaning. Pinart2045 says that the belief in metempsychosis is
generally spread abroad among the Koloches ; they believe that
the individual never really dies, and that apparent death is but
a momentary dissolution, the man being reborn in another form:
sometimes in the body of a human being, and sometimes in that
of certain animals, such as the bear, the otter, or the wolf ; of
certain birds, such as the crow or the goshawk ; and of certain
marine animals, but principally the cachalot. Veniaminoff, in
his great work, commits an error in saying that the Koloches do
not believe in any other form of metempsychosis than a change
into the body of another human being. This purely human
metempsychosis is not exclusive, although it predominates.

Pinart also states that 2042 the primitive religion of the Ka-
niagmioutes and the western Esquimaux in general appears to
present an order of ideas much superior to those of the Koloches,
or other American tribes. This religion, if the conjecture may be
permitted, is the remains of a religious system now lost, but in
dicating a very elevated order of ideas. . . . They divided the
heaven into five regions, superposed one upon another. . . . We
find in these different heavens, as we rise from one to another.

INTRODUCTORY. 7

successive transformations and purifications. Each individual,
if he lives an honourable life and conforms to their religious ideas,
can rise to the highest of these heavens by means of these dif
ferent transformations. Every individual, in their belief, dies
and returns to life five times, and it is only after having died
for the fifth time that he quits the earth forever and passes into
another existence.

It can not be denied that these dogmas are strikingly analo
gous to those of the Buddhist faith, and, when added to other
reasons for believing that this religion may have been preached
in Alaska, the existence of these religious ideas, and of the Bud
dhist designation for a priest, furnishes reasonable grounds for
at least entertaining the question whether there was not some
early communication of the Buddhists of Asia with America.

Even at the present day, the Buddhist priests, or lamas, of
Central Asia, are divided into three classes, comprising not
only2093 the religious, who devote themselves to study and ab
straction, and become teachers and eventually saints, and the
domestic, who live in families or attach themselves to tribes
and localities, but also the itinerant, who are always moving
from convent to convent, and traveling for travel's sake, often
without aim, not knowing at alt where they are going. Prin-
sep says that there is no country that some of these have not
visited, and that when they have a religious or partisan feeling
they must be the best spies in the world.

Hue also speaks1566 of those lamas who live neither in lama
series nor at home with their families, but spend their time
vagabondizing about like birds of passage, traveling all over
their own and the adjacent countries, and subsisting upon the
rude hospitality which, in lamasery and in tent, they are sure
to receive, throughout their wandering way. They take their
way, no matter whither, by this path or that, east or west,
north or south, as their fancy or a smoother turf suggests, and
lounge tranquilly on, sure at least, if no other shelter presents
itself by-and-by, of the shelter of the cover, as they express it,
of that great tent, the world ; and sure, moreover, having no
destination before them, never to lose their way.

The wandering lamas visit all the countries readily accessi
ble to them — China, Mantchooria, the Khalkhas, the various
kingdoms of Southern Mongolia, the Ouriaughai, the Koukou-

g AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

noor, the northern and southern slopes of the Celestial Mount
ains, Thibet, India, and sometimes even Turkestan. There is
no stream which they have not crossed, no mountains they have
not climbed.

It should be remembered that the journeys of these wander
ing priests have been going on for more than two thousand
years, and that, so far as known, no records of them have been
preserved, except those which have been kept in China, and
which will be mentioned a little farther on. Hence it is impos
sible to define the limits which they may have reached ; but, if
it is shown that the journey to America, from some of the regions
(such as that at the mouth of the Amoor River), which it is well
known that they did reach, is neither longer nor more difficult
than many of the journeys that they undertook, this fact will
give reasonable ground for the conjecture that they may, in
some one or more instances, have even extended their wanderings
as far as to the American Continent.

Mr. Leland, in his book, entitled "Fusang,"1715 embodies
a long letter from Colonel Barclay Kennon, formerly of the
United States North Pacific Surveying Expedition, in which the
ease of the voyage from Northern Asia to Northern America is
fully described. It is hardly necessary to quote additional au
thorities, for the fact mentioned by Mr. Bancroft,103 that on the
shore of Behring's Strait the natives have constant commercial
intercourse with Asia, crossing easily in their boats ; but the
facts mentioned by Captain Cochrane,1086 that two natives of a
nation on the American Continent, called the Kargaules, were
present at a fair held at Nishney Kolymsk, a town situated in
Asia, on an island in the Kolyma River, and that large armies
of mice1087 occasionally migrate from Asia to America, or in
the other direction, make it evident that there is no great diffi
culty in the passage.

Lewis H. Morgan calls attention to the fact that mi the Ja
panese Islands sustain a peculiar physical relation to the north
west coast of the United States. A chain of small islands—
the Kurilian— breaks the distance which separates Japan from
the peninsula of Kamtchatka ; and thence the Aleutian chain
of islands stretches across to the peninsula of Alaska upon
the American Continent, forming the boundary between the
•North Pacific and Behring's Sea. These islands, the peaks of a

INTRODUCTORY. 9

submarine mountain-chain, are thickly studded together within
a continuous belt, and are in substantial communication with
each other, from the extreme point of Alaska to the Island of
Kyska, by means of the ordinary native boat in use among the
Aleutian islanders. From the latter to Attou Island the greatest
distance from island to island is less than one hundred miles.
Between Attou Island and the coast of Kamtchatka there are
but two islands, Copper and Behring's, between which and
Attou the greatest distance occurs, a distance of about two hun
dred miles ; while from Behring's Island to the mainland of Asia
it is less than one hundred miles. These geographical features
alone would seem to render possible a migration in the primitive
and fishermen ages from one continent to the other. But, su-
peradded to these, is the great thermal ocean-current, analogous
to the Atlantic Gulf-Stream, which, commencing in the equato
rial regions near the Asiatic Continent, flows northward along
the Japan and Kurilian Islands, and then, bearing eastward, di
vides itself into two streams. One of these, following the main
direction of the Asiatic coast, passes through the Straits of
Behring and enters the Arctic Ocean ; while the other, and the
principal current, flowing eastward, and skirting the southern
shores of the Aleutian Islands, reaches the northwest coast of
America, whence it flows southward along the shores of Oregon
and California, where it finally disappears. This current, or
thermal river in the midst of the ocean, would constantly tend,
by the mere accidents of the sea, to throw Asiatics from Japan
and Kamtchatka upon the Aleutian Islands, from which their
gradual progress eastward to America would become assured.
It is common at the present time to find trunks of camphor- wood
trees, from the coasts of China and Japan, upon the shores of the
Island of Unalaska, one of the easternmost of the Aleutian
chain, carried thither by this ocean current. It also explains
the agency by which a disabled Japanese junk with its crew was
borne directly to the shores of California but a few years since.
Another remarkable effect produced by this warm ocean-current
is the temperate climate which it bestows upon this chain of
islands and upon the northwest coast of America. These con
siderations assure us of a second possible route of communica
tion, besides the Straits of Behring, between the Asiatic and
American continents.

10 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

The " Histoire de Kamtchatka " 1638 mentions a report that a
Japanese vessel was wrecked upon Kituy, one of the Kurile
Islands; and M. Pinart2038 states that a number of Japanese
junks, borne by the currents, and probably by the great Ja
panese current, the Kuro-siwo, or " Black Stream," have been
shipwrecked upon the Aleutian Islands— one such case having
occurred in 1871 : thus showing that if a boat were merely
allowed to drift with the current along the eastern shore of
Asia, it would pass by the way of the Kurile and Aleutian Isl
ands, and, if not stopped by these, would soon drift to the
American coast.

It has already been mentioned that records have been pre
served in China of a number of journeys made by the devo
tees of the Buddhist religion. The "Encyclopaedia Britanni-
ca"1 !11 gives the following list of clerical travelers, the accounts
of which are now known to us, and adds : " The importance of
these writings, as throwing Tight on the geography and history
of India and adjoining countries, during a very dark period, is
great."

Shi Tao-an (died A. D. 385) wrote a work on his travels to the
" western lands " (an expression applying often to India), which
is supposed to be lost.

Fa Hian traveled to India in 399, and returned by sea in 414.

Hwai Seng and .Sung Yun, monks, traveled to India to col
lect books and relics, 518-521.

Hwen Tsang left China for India in 629, and returned in 645.

To which should be added :

" The Itinerary of Fifty-six Religious Travelers," compiled
and published under imperial authority, 730 ; and

" The Itinerary of Khi Nie," who traveled (964-976) at the
head of a large body of monks to collect books, etc. Neither of
the last two has been translated.

The Rev. Mr. Edkins1271 says that both Fa Hian and Hwen
Tsang will be admitted by every candid reader to deserve the
reputation for patience in observation, perseverance in travel,
and earnestness in religious faith, which they have gained by
the journals and translations they left behind them.

It should not be forgotten that these men were influenced by
the same motives which actuate our Christian missionaries of
recent times. They went, seeking not for glory or riches for

INTRODUCTORY. n

themselves, but either to preach their faith, in accordance with
Buddha's command, in countries in which it was not known, or
to meet their brethren in foreign lands, or that they themselves
might obtain more complete information as to the details of the
teachings of their master than they could find in their own
country. Hence it may fairly be claimed that the accounts of
these men, wTho braved all dangers from a devotion to their re
ligious duty, are entitled to far more than the ordinary degree
of credit, and that their statements should be very carefully
weighed before we undertake to reject them or to brand their
authors as romancers. We can well afford the same degree of
charity toward them that was shown by Sir John Maundevile 1836
in darker days than our own :

" And alle be it that theyse folk han not the Articles of cure
Fythe, as wree han, natheles for hire gode Fey the naturelle, and
for hire gode entent, I trowe fulle, that God lovethe hem, and
that God take hire Servyse to gree, right as he did of Job, that
was a Paynem, and held him for his trewe Servaunt. And there
fore alle be it that there ben many dy verse Lawes in the World, yit
I trowe, that God lovethe alweys hem that loven him, and serven
him mekely in trouthe ; and namely, hem that dispysen the veyn
Glorie of this World ; as this folk don, and as Job did also :
And therf ore seye I of this folk, that ben so trewe and so f eythe-
f ulle, that God lovethe hem."

With this prelude, as to the motives which have led the fol
lowers of Buddha to undertake numerous, difficult, and hazardous
journeys to countries previously unknown, and as to the degree
of credence to which their accounts are, as a rule, entitled, we
come to the object of this book.

There is, among the records of China, an account of a Bud- vf
dhist priest, who, in the year 499 A. D., reached China, and stated /
that he had returned from a trip to a country lying an immense
distance east. In the case of the other travelers to whom we ,
have referred, the accounts which we possess of their journeys
were either written by themselves or their followers ; but, in the i
case of Hwui Shan, the interest excited in his story was so great yKw
that the imperial historiographer, whose duty it was to record
the principal events of the time2417 (each dynasty having its
official chronicle concerning the physical and political features
of China and the neighbouring countries1306), entered upon his

12 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

official records a digest of the information obtained from this
traveler as to the country which he had visited. It is this offi
cial record, or rather a copy of it, contained in the writings of
Ma Twan-lin, one of the most celebrated scholars that the Chi
nese Empire ever knew, which is discussed in this work.

It is certainly no more than reasonable to start with the pre
sumption that the account may be true, and that the story should
not be rejected as false because of any slight difficulties, which
further investigation might remove.

All the reasons which lead us to accept the accounts of other
Buddhist missionaries apply with equal force to this record, and
we have, in addition, the fact that Hwui Shan succeeded in
convincing the Chinese Emperor, and the scholars by whom he
was surrounded, of the truth of his tale, and that he also ob
tained the belief of the people of China and of all Eastern Asia
so thoroughly that even now, after the lapse of some fourteen
centuries, there is scarcely a man in China, Japan, or Corea, who
does not have at least some slight knowledge of the account of
the marvelous land of Fusang that was visited by him. The
fact that he obtained such universal credence is certainly one of
some weight. An impostor would not be likely to be so suc
cessful. Among those whom Hwui Shan convinced were many
c.areful scholars and bright, intelligent men, who knew well how
to weigh and sift evidence, and who would have found the flaw
in his story if one had existed.

It is the object of this book to show that the land visited by
Hwui Shan was Mexico, and that his account, in nearly all its
*. details, as to the route, the direction, the distance, the plants of
the country, the people, their manners, customs, etc., is true of
Mexico, and^f^n^other country in the world ; such a multitude
of singular facts being named, that it is inconceivable that such
a story could have been told in any other way than as the result
of an actual visit to that country. It is true that there are a few
difficulties to be surmounted ; but the author believes that he has
succeeded in removing a number upon which some of his prede
cessors have stumbled, and that the few that remain can not
outweigh the immense volume of evidence that is presented as
to the general truth of the account.

After giving translations of all that is known to have been
written in French or German upon the subject, and also includ-

INTRODUCTORY.

ing a full statement of substantially all that has been written
about it in English (with the exception of Mr. Leland's book —
which the reader is recommended to obtain, if he has failed so
far to do so, and if he finds the subject at all interesting), the
original Chinese account will be given, with copies of the several
translations that have heretofore been made, and with a new
translation by the present author. Each statement made by
Hwui Shan will then be carefully examined in connection with
the histories of Mexico, to see whether the statement was or was
not true of that country prior to the time of its conquest by the
Spaniards.

After a full discussion of his account, the histories of Mexico
and other parts of America will be examined to determine, if
possible, whether any traditions as to his visit, or any results of
his teachings, still lingered in the country at the time when the
Spaniards, more than a thousand years later, entered it, and
whether any such coincidences were found in the civilization of
these two regions of the world, in their customs, religious be
liefs, arts, architecture, etc., as to lead to a reasonable presump
tion that they may have had an early connection with each
other. As it has been claimed that the country visited by Hwui
Shan may have been located in some part of Japan, its history
will also be reviewed for the same purpose. The book will con
clude with a consideration of the question as to whether the
Chinese had any earlier knowledge of America, or any further
information regarding it than that which was given them by
Hwui Shan.

The first detailed information which was given to European
scholars, as to the existence of this account among the Chinese
records, was afforded them in an article published by M. de
Guignes, in the " Literary Memoirs extracted from the Registers
of the Royal Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres," Vol.
XXVIII, published in Paris in 1761, and entitled "Investigation
of the Navigations of the Chinese to the Coast of America, and
as to Some Tribes situated at the Eastern Extremity of Asia"; 14:
a translation of which article is given in the following chapter.

It would appear, however, that de Guignes must have given
some earlier account of his discovery of this relation, among the
Chinese books which he had read in preparing for his great
work upon the " General History of the Huns, the Turks, the

14; AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

Mongolians, and other Western Tartars," as (unless there is an
error in the date) we find a letter written by the Pere Gaubil1409
to M. de 1'Isle, dated at Pekin, August 28, 1752, in which he
mentions M. de Guignes's discovery of this account, but states
his disbelief of the reliability of the Chinese works from which
his translations were made. An extract from this letter is given
in Chapter X.

V Philippe Buache,1543 in a work entitled "Considerations Geo-
graphiques et Physiques sur les Nouvelles Descouvertes au Nord
de la Grande Mer," published at Paris in 1753, in which he cor
rectly advanced the opinion of the existence of the Strait of
Anian (since called Behring's Strait), evidently borrowed from
de Guignes, when he stated that in the year 458 a colony of Chi
nese was established on the coast of California, in a region called
Fusang, which he placed at about 55° north latitude. Her-'
vas,1543 in commenting upon this statement, says that this colony
has not been found, and that it is certain that none of the lan
guages which are spoken along that coast, between the forty-
ninth and sixty-fourth degrees (a number of the words of which
are to be found in the account of Cook's third voyage), have
any close connection with the Chinese language.

Alexander von Humboldt, in his "Views of the Cordille
ras,"1 '2 mentions a number of surprising coincidences be
tween the Asiatic and Mexican civilizations, of such a nature
and of such importance as to lead him to the conclusion that
there must have been an early communication between these
two regions of the world ; but he makes no reference in this
work to the history brought to light by de Guignes ; and in his
"Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain" he says1607
that, according to the learned researches of Father Gaubil, it ap
pears doubtful whether the Chinese ever visited the western
coast of America at the time stated by de Guignes.

^ No further attention seems to have been paid to the subject
until the year 1831, when M. J. Klaproth published, in Vol.
LI of the "New Annals of Voyages," an article entitled "Re
searches regarding the Country of Fusang, mentioned in Chi
nese Books, and erroneously supposed to be a Part of Amer
ica,"1 47 in which he took the ground that the country mentioned
Chinese account was probably located in some part of
Japan. A translation of this article is given in Chapter III.

INTRODUCTORY. ,~

For some reason, which it seems difficult to explain, Klap-
roth's assertions and assumptions (for of argument there is but
little, and that is partly based upon mistaken premises) seem to
have been generally accepted as a settlement of the question. «

This did not deter the Chevaliejxdfi^a£avey, however, from ^T
publishing2015 two pamphlets,2017 one in 1844 and the other at a
somewhat later date, in which he argued that the country of
Fusang should be looked for in America, and not in Japan.
Translations of these pamphlets are given in Chapters IV and V.
De Paravey also published two other essays,2011 in which he at
tempted to prove that the natives of Bogota must have derived
from Asiatic sources such partial civilization as they possessed.2012 /

The next to discuss the subject was Professor Karl Friedrich K
Neumann, who published his views in the " Zeitschrift fur
Allgemeine Erdkunde," Vol. XVI of the new series,1966 under
the title of " Eastern Asia and Western America, according to
Chinese Authorities of the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Centuries."
Mr. Leland published a translation of this opuscule in his book,
entitled " Fusang," and a translation is also given in the present
volume, Chapter VI.

Since that time, articles upon the subject have followed each
other so thick and fast that it is difficult to give a complete list
of them. I

In 1850 Mr.J^la»d 172° published a resume of the arguments W
upon this subject, in the New York " Knickerbocker Maga- '
zine " ; and in 1862 this was republished, with additions, in the
New York " Continental Magazine." In 1875 Mr. Leland pub
lished a much fuller work, entitled " Fusang, or the Discovery
of America by Chinese Buddhist Priests in the Fifth Century."
This treats the subject at much greater length than any other
work, and hence it is impossible for the present author to do
more than refer to it ; but it adxlucesjnuch new and valuable
evidence as to the true location of Fusang, and well merits care
ful perusal.

In 1862 M. Jose Jkcez2026 published a "Memoir upon the Re
lations of the Americans in Former Times with the Nations of
Europe, Asia, and Africa," one section of which related to the
knowledge of America possessed by the Chinese.

In 18651277M. Gustave d'Eichthal published a "Study con- r\

cerning the Buddhistic Origin of American Civilization." n

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

In the same year M. Vivien de Saint-Martin,2458 in a chapter
of his " Geographical Annual " for that year, entitled " An Old
Story Set Afloat," combated the idea that the Chinese had any
early knowledge of America.

In 1866 the Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg, in the work en
titled "Ancient Monuments of Mexico,"763 argued against the
views of the author of the " Geographical Annual."

In 1868 Dr. A. Godron, President of the Academy of Sci
ences at Nancy, published, in the " Annals of Voyages of Geog
raphy, History, and Archaeology,"1411 an article entitled "A
Buddhist Mission to America in the Fifth Century of the Chris
tian Era."

According to the "American Philological Magazine" for
August, 1869, the Rev. N. W. Jones published in his " Indian
Bulletin " an able argument to show that the Chinese Fusang
was America.

In the same number of the " American Philological Maga
zine " there appeared an article 85° upon the subject, by the Rev.
Nathan Brown, under the heading, " Where was Fusang ? "

In May, 1869, a letter upon the subject from Mr. Theos.
Simson 1719 was published in the " Notes and Queries for China
and Japan"; and in October, 1870, a letter by E. Bretschneider,
Esq., M. D.j"4 was published in the " Chinese Recorder and Mis
sionary Journal." Both of these letters were copied by Mr. Le-
land in his work.

At the first session of the International Congress of Ameri
canists, held at Nancy in 1875, M. Lucien Adam read an argu
ment against the identification of Fusang with America.

These various articles, some of them more or less condensed,
are, with the exception of the argument by the Rev. N. W.
Jones (of which I have been unable to find a copy), given in
Chapters VII to XI of this work.

In 1876 M. the Marquis d'Hervey de Saint-Denys published
a " Memoir regarding the Country known to the Ancient Chi
nese by the Name of Fusang " ; 1544 but as his views, and the
exceedingly valuable new material that he presents, are given
more fully in his notes to his translation of Ma Twan-lin's work,
entitled " Ethnography of Foreign Nations," and as, moreover,
much of the " Memoir " is quoted by Professor Williams in his
comments upon it, it has not seemed necessary to copy the " Me-

INTRODUCTORY. 17

moir" in this work. The substance of the notes upon the
" Ethnography " is, however, given in Chapters XII and XIII.

Mr. Bancroft, in his "Native Races of the Pacific States,"404
gives Klaproth's translation of the story of Fusang, and com
ments briefly upon it.

Professor S. Wells Williams presented to the American Ori- /
ental Society, on October 25, 1880, an article entitled "Notices '
of Fusang and Other Countries lying East of China," in which
he urges some new grounds for adopting the conclusion of Klap-
roth that Fusang should be decided to have been located in
Japan. This article, slightly condensed, is copied in Chapter
XIV.

The last article on the subject is contained in the " Maga
zine of American History," for April, 1883, in which there is
given a letter from the Rt. Rev. Channing M. Williams, refer
ring to the accounts of Fusang contained in the Shan Hal King,
the Chinese classic of lands and seas. This will be found in
Chapter X ; and a translation of all that portion of the Shan
ffai King which relates to Eastern regions will be found in
Chapter XXXY.

An extract from the Introduction to the " Grammar of the
Chinese Language," by the Rev. W. Lobscheid, 1759 in which
many singular coincidences are mentioned between the civiliza
tions of Mexico and China ; and some extracts from Mr. Pres-
cott's " History of the Conquest of Mexico," in which he ex
presses his conviction of a connection between the civilizations
of the two countries, are also given (in Chapter IX), as having a
bearing upon the subject.

CHAPTER II.

DE GUIGNES'S DISCOVERT.

Chinese voyages-Knowledge of foreign lands-Work of Li-yen, a Chinese histo
rian—The country of Fu-sang— The length of the li- Wen-shin— Its identifi
cation with Jesso— Ta-han— Its identification with Kamtchatka— The route to
Ta-han by land— The country of the Ko-li-han— The She-goei— The Yu-che—
Description of Kamtchatka— The land of Lieu-kuci— The description of Fu-
sang— No other knowledge of the country— The Pacific coast of North America
—A Japanese map— The Kingdom of Women— Its description— Shipwreck
of a Chinese vessel— American traditions— Civilization of American tribes
on the Pacific coast— The Mexicans— Horses— Cattle— The fu-sang tree-
Mexican writing — Manner in which America was peopled — Similarity of cus
toms in Asia and America— Resemblances in the people— Charlevoix's story
—Natives floated upon cakes of ice— The kingdom of Chang-jin— Voyages of
other nations — The Arabs — Exploration of the Atlantic — The Canaries —
Story of their king — The Cape Verd Islands — Conclusion.

Investigation of the Navigations of the Chinese to the Coast of
America, and as to some Tribes situated at the Eastern Ex
tremity of Asia — by M. de Gruignes.ul5

THE Chinese have not always been confined within the bound
aries which Nature appears to have established to the country
in which they dwell ; they have often crossed the deserts and
the mountains which shut them in on their northern side, and
sailed the Indian and Japanese seas which bound their kingdom on
the east and the south. The principal object of these voyages has
been, either commerce with foreign nations, or the intention to
extend the limits of their empire. In these voyages observations
have been made that are important, as well in regard to history
as to geography. Several of their generals have rectified the
maps of the countries which they reconnoitered, and their histo
rians have reported some details as to routes, bearings, and dis
tances, which can be made useful.

In the enumeration of all the different foreign nations that

DE GUIGNES'S DISCOVERY. ^9

the Chinese have known, it appears that some of them must
have been situated easterly from Tartary and Japan, in a region
which was included within the limits of the American Continent.

A knowledge of this region of the world could have been
obtained only by means of a cruise that is very remarkable and
unusually daring for the* Chinese — who have always been con
sidered as but mediocre sailors, hardly capable of undertaking
long voyages, and whose vessels are constructed of so little
strength as to be poorly adapted to resisting the hardships of a
sail over a distance so great as that from China to Mexico.
These voyages have appeared to me to be so important, and to
have so intimate a relation with the history of the tribes of
America, as to induce me to devote myself to collecting and
placing in order all that could contribute to their elucidation.

I intend this memoir to establish the voyages of the Chi
nese to Jesso, to Kamtchatka, and to that part of America which
is situated opposite the easternmost coast of Asia. I dare flatter
myself that these researches will be the more favourably received,
inasmuch as they are novel, and rest wholly upon authentic facts,
and not upon conjectures, such as those which we find in the
works of Grotius, Delaet, and other writers who have investi
gated the origin of the American tribes. It is surprising to see v
that Chinese vessels made the voyage to America many centuries
before Christopher Columbus — that is to say, more than twelve
hundred years ago. This date, anterior to the origin and the es
tablishment of the Mexican Empire, leads us to inquire whence
these nations, and some other nations of America, received that
degree of civilization which distinguishes them from the barbar
ous tribes of the continent.

Li-yen, a Chinese historian, who lived at the commencement
of the seventh century, speaks of a country called Fit-sang, more
than forty thousand li distant from China, toward the east. He
says that, in order to reach it, one should set forth from the coast
of the province of Leao-tong, situated to the north of Pe-ltin,
and that, after having traveled twelve thousand li, one reaches
Japan ; that from that country, toward the north, after a voy
age of seven thousand li, the country of Wen-shin is attained ;
that at a distance of five thousand li eastwardly from the last
the country of Ta-han is found, from which Fit-sang may be
reached, which is at a distance of twenty thousand li from Ta-

20 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

han. Of all these countries we know no others than Leao-tong,
a northerly province of China, the point of embarkation, and
Japan, which was the principal halting-place for the Chinese
vessels. The three other places at which they arrived in suc
cession are Wen-shin, Ta-han, and Fu-sang. I shall show that
the first must be understood as Jesso; and the second as Kam-
tchatka, and that the third must be a country situated near Cali
fornia. But before examining this route particularly, I wish to
give an idea of the li which the Chinese geographers employed
as the standard for measuring the distance between these places.
It is very difficult to determine the true length of this measure.
To-day, two hundred and fifty li make a geographical degree,
which gives ten li to each French league of about three English
miles. But the length of the li, like that of the French league,
has varied under the different imperial dynasties and in the dif
ferent provinces of the empire. Pere Gaubil, who has made able
researches concerning the astronomy of the Chinese, does not
dare to attempt to prove the true length of this measure. He
informs us that the majority of the scholars of the reign of the
Han dynasty maintained that a thousand li, measured from the
south to the north, gave a difference of an inch in the length of
the shadow of an eight-foot hand of a sun-dial, when measured
at noon. The scholars of later days have believed this deter
mination to be wrong, because they have been guided in their
judgment by the measure of the li in use in the times in which
they lived. If we cast our eyes upon the li adopted by the
astronomers of the Liang dynasty, which flourished at the com
mencement of the sixth century, we find a material difference,
since two hundred and fifty li, measured from the north to the
south, give a similar difference in the length of the shadow. In
order to judge of the distance of the countries by the statement
as to the number of li between them, it is therefore necossary to
know the length of the li at the time of the author. We may
be assured that he has considered the length of this measure, and
has given the distances with precision. The difficulty in deter
mining the length of the li may be avoided by considering the
report of the same author regarding two places that are well
known. The distance which is reported from the shore of Leao-
tong to the island of Tui-ma-tao is seven thousand li. In con
formity with the length of the li established by this distance,

DE GUIGNES'S DISCOVERY. 21

the twelve thousand U from. Leao-tong to Japan terminate at
about the center of the island, near Meaco, which is the capital,
and which then bore the name of Shan-ching, or the City of the
Mountain. Wen-shin, which is found seven thousand li from
Japan toward the northeast, can not be anything else than
Jesso, situated to the northeast of Japan, and at which the seven
thousand li terminate. A Chinese historian, who has given us a
very curious memoir concerning Japan, has furnished us with
additional proofs. In speaking of the limits of this empire, he
says that to the northeast of the mountains which bound Japan
is placed the kingdom of the Mao-jin, or of hairy men, and be
yond them that of Wen-shin, or the country of painted bodies,
about seven thousand U from Japan. The first are the inhab
itants of Matsumai; the latter are their neighbours on the north,
the people of Jesso, which, as a consequence, must be Wen-shin.
This country, according to the Chinese historian, was made
known about 510 or 520 A. D., its inhabitants having figures
similar to those of animals. They traced different lines upon
their faces, the form of which served to distinguish the chief
men of the nation from the common people. They exposed
their condemned criminals to wild beasts, and they deemed those
innocent from whom the animals took flight. Their towns or
villages were unwalled. The dwelling of the king was orna
mented with precious things. They added, again, that a ditch
might be seen there which appeared to be filled with quicksilver,
and that this matter, esteemed in commerce, became liquid and
flowing when it had imbibed water from the rain. It was, for
the rest, a fertile country, where all that is necessary to sustain
life might be found in abundance.

This description agrees with what we read in the accounts of
those who have explored the island of Jesso. The Japanese, who
were formerly sent there by an emperor of Japan, found hairy
men there who wore their beards in the manner of the Chinese,
but who were so rude and brutish that they would not receive any
instruction. When the Hollanders discovered Jesso, in 1 643, the
same barbarians were living there that had been described by the
Chinese and Japanese, and their country appeared to abound in
mines of silver. But that which agrees the most remarkably
with the account of the Chinese is, that the Hollanders found
there a mineral earth which glistened in the sun as if it consisted

22 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

of silver. This earth, mixed with a very friable sand, they found
where water had been placed. It is this which the Chinese had
taken for quicksilver. These proofs, and the situation of Wen-
shin, and its distance from Japan according to the Chinese
writers, do not permit us to doubt that it must be the island of
Jesso. At a distance of five thousand li from this country, toward
the east, the ancient Chinese navigators found Ta-han. They
declared that the inhabitants of this country had no military
weapons ; that their customs were essentially the same as those of
the people of Wen-shin, but that they had a different language.
At almost exactly the distance of five thousand li, indicated
by the Chinese, we find upon our maps the southern coast of an
island which Don Jean de Gama discovered when going from
Mexico to China. Because of the agreement as to distance, I at
first believed that this coast was that of Ta-han y but the details
of the route which was taken to reach that country by land, a
route which can not be reconciled with the island of Gama, which
is said to be separated from Asia, has compelled me to seek else
where for the true location of the country, and to place it in the
easternmost part of Asia. The statements of our navigators who
have sailed these seas have contributed not a little to confirm me
in this opinion. They have remarked that, in the route from
China to California, they usually took the wind carrying them
to the north of Japan and into the sea of Jesso, from which they
sailed to the east, but that at the Strait of Uries the current car
ried them rapidly toward the north. Thus the Chinese, for the
purpose of keeping close to the coast, have entered into the Strait
of Uries, beyond which they have found a number of islands
which extend as far as the southernmost point of Kamtchatka,
where the five thousand li, the distance between' Jesso and Ta-
han, also terminate ; that is to say, they have reached the port of
Avatcha, at which the Russians recently embarked, to attempt
the discovery of the western coast of America, and whence they
have taken the route of Captain Spanberg, who was commis
sioned by the Russian empress, in 1739, to reconnoitre the coast
of Japan. But, in order to leave no doubt as to this point,
I believe that we should be able to show by the route indi
cated by the Chinese author that Ta-han is more to the north
than the place discovered by Gama, and that it forms a part of
Siberia,

DE GUIGNES'S DISCOVERY. 23

I shall not examine in full detail all the Tartarian tribes men
tioned by the Chinese historian, but shall confine myself to
speaking only of those that are situated in the easternmost part
of Asia, and shall devote myself to relating the customs of the
inhabitants, so that they may be compared with those of the
nations whom I place in America, and that it may be conclu
sively shown, by the differences which are found, that these last
can not be placed in Kamtchatka. Moreover, this circumstantial
account has seemed very interesting to me, because of the infor
mation that it gives in regard to the condition of Eastern Siberia.

The Chinese travelers, who desired to reach the country of
Ta-han, set forth from a city situated to the north of the river
Hoang-lio toward the country of the Tartar Ortous. This city,
which the Chinese called Ckung-sheu-kiang-ching, must be the
same as that which now bears the name of Piljotaihotun. The
great desert of Shamo was then passed, and Caracorum was
reached, which was the principal encampment of the Iloei-ke^
important Tartarian tribes, from which they came into the coun
try of the Ko-li-han and of the Tu-po, situated to the south of
a large lake, upon the frozen surface of which the travelers were
obliged to cross. To the north of this lake, great mountains
were found, and a country where the sun, says one, is not above
the horizon longer than the length of time that it takes to cook a
breast of mutton. This is the singular expression of which the
Chinese author makes use to describe a country situated very
far to the north. The Tu-po, neighbours of the I£o-li~han, have
their dwelling-places upon the south of the same lake. These
people, who do not distinguish the different seasons of the year,
shut themselves up in cabins made of interlaced brush- wood,
where they live upon fish and birds and other animals which are
found in their country, and upon roots. They neglect to feed
herds, and do not apply themselves at all to the cultivation of the
earth. The richest among them clothe themselves in the skins
of sables and of reindeers, others being clad in birds'-feathers.
They attach their dead to the branches of trees. They thus leave
them to be devoured by wild beasts, or to fall from putrefaction,
which is a practice also found among the Tunguses who live in
the same country.

Another Chinese historian informs us as to where we may
look for the true abode of the Eb-li-han, which appears to us Ux

2± AN" INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

be the same as the country of the ICerkis or Kergis. He men
tions the rivers Obi and Angara under the names of 0-pu and
Gang-ko-la. We must conclude from this that the lake placed
to the north of the Ko-li-han is the famous Lake Baikal, which
those who come from Russia, or from Siberia, to China, are
obliged to cross upon the ice when they arrive there in winter.
The Chinese employed eight days in crossing it. Less time is
taken at present ; but it is still as dangerous as ever, because of
the force of the winds and the abundance of snow. It follows
from this account that the country of Ko-li-han is that of the
KerJcis, a warlike people, who lived among the mountains, and
who have been regarded as the ancestors of the Circassians, who,
among themselves, call themselves l&rkez, and who live to the
north of Georgia, where they have finally penetrated. The an
cient country of the Kerkis is situated in the provinces which
we now call Selinginskoy and Irkutskoy, between the Obi and
the Selinga. This is what it was necessary to determine in
order to arrive at an exact knowledge of the route which led to
Ta-han. Upon leaving the country of the Ko-li-han, one comes
into that of the She-goei. These people are situated to the east
of Lake Baikal and of the country of the KerJcis, upon the north
ern bank of the river Amoor. From the detailed description
which has been preserved for us by the Chinese historians, it
may be seen that these barbarians extended in the north of Siberia
along the Lena River up to the neighbourhood of the sixtieth
degree. This important tribe was divided into five principal
hordes, which appeared as so many different nations. The first,
called Nan She-goei, that is to say, Southern She-goei, were situ
ated to the north of the Tartarian Niu-che and Khi-tans, in the
vicinity of the river Amoor, in a country marshy, cold, and ster
ile, where no sheep were raised, and where but few horses were
found, but which produced swine and cattle in great numbers,
and even a greater number of wild beasts, from which the in
habitants protected themselves with difficulty. The barbarians
were clothed in hog-skins, and at the summer solstice they re
tired into the midst of the mountains. They had wagons cov
ered with felt, such as are used by the Turks, which were drawn
by cattle. They built their cabins of wood, with some reeds.
Their writing was by means of small pieces of wood, and the
manner in which they disposed them expressed their different

DE GUIGNES'S DISCOVERY. 25

ideas. He who wished to marry, commenced by carrying
away the destined bride by force, and afterward sent a present
of cattle or horses to her parents. After the death of her hus
band, the laws of the country compelled the woman to pass the
remainder of her life in widowhood, and the family continued
the mourning for three years, as is the custom among the Chi
nese. The corpses of the dead were placed upon piles of wood
and abandoned. The other branches of the same nation con
sisted of the She-goei of the north (which were called Po She-
goei) and the Great She-goei. They were clothed in fish-skins,
and had no other industry than fishing and hunting sables, and
during the winters they retired into caverns. At the north of
the last there lived another nation, whose excursions carried
them to the Arctic Ocean.

This is the account given by the Chinese historians of the
ancient inhabitants of the north of Asia, across whose country
those who wished to go to Ta-han were obliged to pass. In fact,
after having left the country of the She-goei and traveling east
ward for five days, the Yu-che are found, a people who derive
their origin from the She-goei ; from there, after ten days' jour
ney toward the north, the country of Ta-han is reached, which
is the terminus of the route which I have undertaken to exam
ine. Ta-han may be reached by sea also, as I have shown above,
and by setting sail from Jesso ; from which we must necessarily
conclude that the country of the Yu-che, which makes part of
Siberia, is situated toward the river Ouda, which discharges
itself into the Sea of KamtchatJca, and that Ta-han, placed to the
north of the Yu-che, is the easternmost part of Siberia, and not
the island of Gama, which is entirely detached from the conti
nent, and is situated more to the south and nearer to Jesso.

This part of Siberia, called Kamtchatka, is the region which
the Japanese call OJcu-jesso, or Upper Jesso. They place it upon
their maps to the north of Jesso, and represent it as being twice
as large as China, and extending much farther to the east than
the eastern shore of Japan. This is the country which the Chi
nese have named Ta-han, which may signify " as large as China,"
a name which corresponds with the extent of the country and
to the idea which the Japanese have given us of it. But, ac
cording to the more detailed accounts given by the Russians,
the country is a tongue of land which extends from north to

26 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

south, from the Cape of Suetoi-noss as far as to the north of
Jesso, with which several writers have confounded it. It is a
part of Siberia which is separated from the rest by a gulf of the
Eastern Sea, which runs from the south to the north. Toward
the northern extremity it is inhabited by very savage tribes.
Those who live in the southern part are more civilized, and have
much in common with the Japanese, which has occasioned the
belief that they were originally colonists from that country. It
is probable that their commerce with the Chinese and Japanese,
who traded upon their coasts, has contributed to render them
more friendly and affable than those of the north, to whom these
two civilized nations penetrated but very rarely.

The southern part of Kamtchatka, or Ta-han, has also been
known to the Chinese by the name of Lieu-kuei. Formerly, the
Tartars who lived in the neighbourhood of the river Amoor
reached the country after five days' navigation toward the north.
The Chinese historian reports that this country is surrounded
by the sea upon three sides, that the people dwell along the
coast and in the neighbouring islands, and that they have their
dwellings in deep caverns and woody thickets. They make a
species of cloth from dog-hair. The skins of swine and reindeer
serve for their clothing during the winter, and fish-skins during
the summer. The weather of the country is cold, because of
the fogs and snows which they have in abundance. The rivers
are frozen over, and several lakes are found, supplying fish, which
the people salt in order to preserve them. They have no knowl
edge of the division of the seasons. They love to dance, and
wear their mourning-garments for three years. They have large
bows, and arrows pointed with bone or stone. In the year 640
A. D. the king of this country sent his sons to China.

These long details have been necessary to arrive at an exact
understanding of the situation of the country of Fti-sang, which
is the utmost limit of the navigations of the Chinese. The fol
lowing is the description of it which their historians have pre
served for us. It was given by a priest who went to China in
the year 499 A. D., in the reign of the T£i dynasty :

" The Kingdom of Fu-sang is situated twenty thousand li to
the east of the country of Ta-han. It is also east of China. It
produces a great number of a species of tree called fu-sang, from
which has come the name borne by the country. The leaves of

DE GUIGNES'S DISCOVERY.

ihefu-sang are similar to those of the tree which the Chinese call
fung. When they first appear, they resemble the shoots of the
reeds called bamboos, and the people of the country eat them. V
The fruit has the form of a pear, and inclines toward red in
colour ; from its bark they make cloth and other stuffs, with
which the people clothe themselves, and the boards which are
made from it are employed in the construction of their houses.
No walled cities are found there. The people have a species of
writing, and they love peace. Two prisons, one placed in the
south and the other in the north, are designed to confine their
criminals, with this difference, that the most guilty are placed in
the northern prison, and are afterward transferred into that of
the south if they obtain their pardon ; otherwise they are con
demned to remain all their lives in the first. They are per
mitted to marry, but their children are made slaves. When
criminals are found occupying one of the principal ranks in the
nation, the other chiefs assemble around them ; they place them
in a ditch, and hold a great feast in their presence. They are
then judged. Those who have merited death are buried alive
in ashes, and their posterity is punished according to the mag
nitude of the crime.

"The king bears the title of noble Y-chi ; the nobles of the
nation after him are the great and petty Tui-lu and the Na-
to-sha. The prince is preceded by drums and horns when he
goes abroad. He changes the colour of his garments every year.
The cattle of the country bear a considerable weight upon their
horns. They are harnessed to wagons. Horses and deer are
also employed for this purpose. The inhabitants feed hinds as
in China, and from them they obtain butter. A species of red
pear is found there, which is kept for a year without spoiling ;
also the iris, and peaches, and copper in great abundance. They
have no iron, and gold and silver are not valued. He who
wishes to marry, builds a house or cabin near that of the maid
whom he desires to wed, and takes care to sprinkle a certain
quantity of water upon the ground every day during the year ;
he finally marries the maid, if she wishes and consents ; other
wise he goes to seek his fortune elsewhere. The marriage cere
monies, for the most part, are similar to those which are prac
ticed in China. At the death of relatives, they fast a greater or
less number of days, according to the degree of relationship, and

28 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

during their prayers they expose the image of the deceased
person. They wear no mourning-garments, and the prince who
succeeds to his father takes no care regarding the government
for three years after his elevation. In former times the people
had no knowledge of the religion of Fo; but in the year 458 A. D.,
in the Sung dynasty, five priests of Samarcand went preaching
their doctrine in this country, and then the manners of the peo
ple were changed."

The historian from whom Ma Twan-lin has copied this rela
tion adds that there was no knowledge of the country of Fu-
sang before the year 458 A. D., and, up to the present time, I
have not seen any other than these two writers who speak of it
with full details. Some writers of dictionaries, who have also
made mention of it, content themselves by saying that it is situ
ated in the region where the sun rises.

This account informs us that Fa-sang is twenty thousand li
from Ta-han or Kamtchatka, a distance almost as great as that
from the shore of Leao-tong to Kamtchatka. So, in setting forth
from one of the ports of this last-named country, as that of
Avatcha, and sailing eastward for a distance of twenty thousand
li (which presents to us a great expanse of sea), the route termi
nates upon the westernmost coast of America, not far from the
spot where the Russians landed in 1741. In all this vast waste
of waters we do not find any land, not even an island, to which
the distance of twenty thousand li could be applied, and we can
not suppose that the Chinese had followed the coast of Asia and
landed upon its most easterly extremity, and there found the land
of Fu-sang. The excessive coldness of the weather which exists
in Kamtchatka and the neighbouring northern regions renders
them almost uninhabitable. The distance is far from sufficient,
and the unfortunate inhabitants appear to be given over to
barbarism, when their customs are compared with those of the
people of Fu-sang.

In vain we flatter ourselves that we know the western coast
of America perfectly ; we know nothing of the country situated
to the west and northwest of Canada. Our first geographers,
from conjectures, as to the foundation of which we are ignorant,
have prolonged the western shores of America so that they ap
proach Asia, supposing that they are not separated, otherwise than
by a strait to which they have given the name of Anian. Fran-

DE GUIGNES'S DISCOVERY.

9ois Gualle, who endeavours to prove the existence of this strait,
calls our attention to the changing of the currents and the waves,
and to the whales and other Arctic fish that are found in the north
ern part of the Pacific Ocean ; but, since the publication of M. de
PIsle's map of this part of the globe, we have learned the results
of the explorations of the Russians, who, without giving us the
contour of the coasts of America with precision, have made
known to us, in general, that the coast of California trends toward
the west and approaches quite near to that of Asia, leaving noth
ing between the two countries except a strait of small width, re
establishing the shape of the American Continent as it was given
by the earliest geographers, apparently from a knowledge more
exact than we have thought, and which has been lost to us.

The Japanese, who have also cultivated the arts, and naviga
tion in particular, appear not to have been ignorant of the situa
tion of the countries which lie to the north of their empire.
Kaempfer claimed to have seen in Japan a map, made by the
people of that country, upon which they represented Kamtchatka,
which extends farther east than Japan. Upon the eastern shore,
opposite to America, there is a gulf of a square form, in the mid
dle of which a small island is seen ; farther to the north a second
may be perceived, which appears to touch the two continents
with its two extremities. Upon a map which this celebrated
traveler brought to Europe, and which has passed into the collec
tion of the late M. Hans Sloan, along the eastern coast of Kam
chatka a strait is seen, and beyond it a large country which is
America. In the northern part of the strait is an island which
extends toward the two continents. M. Hans Sloan has wished
me to call attention to this curious map, and Mr. Birch, Secre
tary of the Royal Society of London, has sent me an exact copy
of it.

This map agrees quite closely with our old maps of America,
and with the new discoveries of the Russians. No island is seen
where M. de 1'Isle has placed the coast which the Russians have
discovered ; but, in the neighbourhood of this strait, America ap
pears to advance considerably, and to form a long tongue of land
which extends nearly to Asia. I am led to believe that this coast
must form part of the continent of America, from the fact that
M. de 1'Isle states that a large number of the inhabitants came
to meet the Russians with boats similar to those of the Green-

30 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

landers or Esquimaux, which indicates some relationship be
tween the people, and at the same time a connection of this land
with America. In this case it is readily seen that the Chinese
could reach Fu-sang much more easily than would otherwise be
possible, for they could follow the coasts almost all the way.

I think that I have given sufficient proof that, at a distance of
twenty thousand li from Kamtchatka, there is found a land where
Fa-sang may be placed ; that this land is that of the continent
of America, from which it results that Fu-sang is situated in this
continent. The Chinese historians speak also of a country a
thousand li farther east than Fu-sang. They call it the " King
dom of Women." But their account is filled with fables, similar
to those which our first explorers have related concerning newly
discovered countries.

"The inhabitants of this kingdom are white. They have
hairy bodies, and long locks that fall down to the ground. At
the second or third month the women come to bathe in a river,
and they become pregnant. They bear their young at the sixth
or seventh month. Instead of breasts, they have white locks at
the back of the head, from which there issues a liquor that serves
to nourish their children. It is said that, one hundred days after
their birth, the children are able to run about, and appear fully
grown when three or four years of age. The women take flight
at sight of a stranger, and they are very respectful toward their
husbands. These people feed upon a plant which has the taste
^ wnich f°r this reason bears the name of the
ves are similar to those of the plant which
the Chinese call Sie-hao, which is a species of absinthe."

It is easy to perceive from this tale that, as is the custom in
several places in the Indies, the women of the country nursed
their children over their shoulders, and the fable reported above
must have originated from this practice.

We also find in the same authors that, in the year 507 A. D.,
in the reign of the Liang dynasty, a Chinese vessel, which was
sailing the ocean, was driven by a tempest to an unknown island.
The women resembled those of China, but the men had a figure
and a voice like those of dogs. These people fed upon small
beans, and had clothing made of a species of linen cloth, and the
walls of their houses were constructed of earth built up in a cir
cular form. The Chinese could not understand their language.

DE GUIGNES'S DISCOVERY. 31

There is room for the belief that the beans that are mentioned
are grains of maize ; and the Chevalier de Tonti, in his accounts
of Louisiana, reports that the Taen9as, when speaking to their
king, have the custom of making a great howling, by means of
which they intend to show their respect and admiration for him.
A similar practice among the people of the last-mentioned island
may have led the Chinese to say that their voices resembled
those of dogs. *

We can not doubt at present that the Chinese had penetrated
very far into the ocean toward the south, sailing back and
forth across it, and that, in consequence, they had sufficient
boldness and experience in navigation to enable them to sail to
California direct. The examination of the route which they
took, and the distances which they have given, prove that they
went there in the year 458 A._p. In fact, we find some traces
of this commerce in our own accounts. George Home tells that,
at the west of the country of the Epiceriniens, neighbours of the
Hurons, there lived a people among -whom there arrived foreign
merchants who had no beards and who were carried by large
vessels. Francisco Yasquez de Coronado states also that, at Qui-
vira, vessels were found of which the sterns were gilded ; and
Pierre Melendez, in Acosta, speaks of the wrecks of Chinese
vessels seen upon the coast. It is also an unquestionable fact
that foreign merchants clothed in silk formerly came among the
Catualcans. All these accounts, added to those which we have
adduced, become so many proofs that the Chinese traded at the
north of California, near the country of Quivira. We may also
notice, as a necessary consequence of such commerce, that, of all
the American tribes, the most civilized are situated near the
coast which faces China. In the region of New Mexico there
are found tribes that have houses of several stories, with halls,
chambers, and bath-rooms. They are clothed in robes of cotton
and of skin ; but that which is most unusual among savages is, that
they have leather shoes and boots. Each village has its public
criers, who announce the orders of the king, and idols and tern-

* The Chinese geographers have also made mention of an island, called Kia-y,
which is situated to the east of Japan. In the year 659 some of these islanders
came to China with the Japanese. The Japanese map, which has been sent to
me by M. Sloan, places the island of Kia-y to the east of Japan and of Jesso, in
the midst of twelve other smaller islands.

32 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

pies are seen everywhere. Baron de la Hontan speaks also of
the Morambecs, who lived in walled cities situated near a great
salt lake, and made woolen cloth, copper hatchets, and various
other manufactures. Some writers have maintained that the
civilized people situated to the north are the remnants of the
Mexicans who took flight at the time when Hernando Cortez
penetrated into Mexico, and who fled to the north and founded
several considerable kingdoms, among others that of Quivira.
Although this conjecture appears not to be devoid of some
foundation, we read, nevertheless, in Acosta, that the Mexicans
themselves, a long time before the Spanish invasion, came to
Mexico from the north, which leads me to believe that the Chi
nese who landed in northern America had contributed to their
civilization. The foundation of the Mexican Empire does not
date back of the year 820 A. D., a time several centuries later
than the navigations of the Chinese, of which the first occurred
in 458. The people who inhabited Mexico before 820, and who
bore the 'name of Chichimecas, were savages, who retired into
the mountains, where they lived without laws, without religion,
and without a prince to govern them. About the year 820 the
Nahuatalcas, a wise and civilized nation, came to Mexico, from
which they drove the inhabitants, and there founded the power
ful empire which the Spaniards destroyed. The Nahuatalcas
did not bring from the north the custom of sacrificing human
victims. These barbarous sacrifices were not instituted until
after their arrival in Mexico, and upon the occasion of a circum
stance which is related in full by Acosta.

Before terminating this essay, it is necessary to make some
remarks regarding the description of the country of Fu-sang, and
to reply to some objections that may be raised, particularly as to
the occurrence of horses, which have not been found in an^-part
of America. The great advantages which are derived from the
possession of these animals would appear to be sufficient to in
sure their preservation. We observe upon this subject that all
nations do not seem to have been equally persuaded of their use
fulness. Tartary, which is filled with horses, is near to Siberia,
where, in several places, they have not been found at all, and
where the dog or the reindeer is used instead. Nevertheless,
horses could have been taken to these places — no difficulty, such
as that of crossing the sea, preventing their transportation — and

DE GUIGNES'S DISCOVERY. 33

these tribes have known of them among their neighbours without
having made use of them. Possibly the Chinese vessels formerly
carried a few of them to America, and some tribes then used
them. But it is well known to what a point the savages of Amer
ica carried their cruelty toward conquered tribes. Their wars
caused frequent migrations and the complete annihilation of
several nations, and consequently the destruction of the usages
which these exterminated tribes may have received by means
of commerce. Finally, no one undertakes to guarantee all that
is contained in the relations of Marco Polo, of Plan Carpin, and
of Rubruquis. These ancient travelers have sometimes wan
dered from the truth ; and yet we can not, merely upon this ac
count, sweepingly condemn all of their statements. The Chinese
traveler may have allowed himself to be deceived by something
that he saw, and may have applied the name of horses to certain
animals of the country of Quivira and of Cibola, which resembled
them in size, and which the Spaniards have called sheep, on ac
count of the wool that they bear.* In the same way we have
given the names of European animals to several animals of
America, notwithstanding the fact that they are of a different
species. In regard to the cattle mentioned in the account : since
we have discovered the country of Quivira, Hudson's Bay, and
the Mississippi, a species of cattle has been found with large
horns, so that no difficulty remains regarding this point, and we
may conclude that the Chinese navigators landed to the north
of California, where they found these animals.

A more exact description of the tree called fu-sang would
contribute toward enabling us to determine the region more
definitely. All that is said of it agrees rather with some tree of
America than with any that occurs in the frozen land of Kam-
tchatka; and the uses that are made of it, such as the manufact
ure of the stuffs, the cloth, and the paper spoken of in the^
account, appear to indicate a civilized people inhabiting a tem
perate country, such as that in the neighbourhood of Calif ornia^
rather than a country like Kamtchatka, the inhabitants oT which
retire into caverns, and are clothed in skins, and are too barbar
ous to make cloth or paper, or to have letters or true literary
characters for the expression of their ideas — a thing unknown

* " These animals," says Acosta, " are of as great use to the Indians aa asses
are among us, and are used to carry heavy burdens."
3

34 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

even to several nations in the southern part of Kamtchatka,
who, as we have previously observed, are, from their southerly
location, much nearer to China than Fu-sang can be supposed
to be, if we locate it in the northern part of Kamtchatka, or any
where upon the northeastern coast of Asia ; in America, on the
contrary, and particularly among the Mexicans, there is found a
species of writing which consists not of alphabetical characters,
but hieroglyphic characters or representations of ideas, such as
the oldest characters of China were.

Be it as it may, it is not my design to produce a multitude
of conjectures as to the people of Fu-sang and as to the Ameri
cans. I confine myself to that which appears to me to be sol
idly confirmed. The Chinese penetrated to a country very far
from the shores of the Orient. I have examined the distances
stated by them, and the length of the standard of measure used
by them, and they have led me to the coast of California. I
have concluded from this that they have known America since
the year 458 A. D. In the countries near to the spot where they
landed were found the most civilized nations of America. I
have thought that they are indebted for their civilization to the
commerce which they have had with the Chinese.* This is all
that I proposed to establish in this essay.

It is now easy to perceive the manner in which America has
been peopled. There is much probability that several colonies
have passed to it from the north of Asia, in the place where the
two continents are the nearest together, and where a great island
that extends from the east to the west, and which appears to
unite them, renders the passage still easier. They may have
reached it either by means of the ice, which in these seas some
times lasts two or three years, as we have seen examples in our
own days, or by the help of the canoes in use among the Green-
landers and other northern barbarians living in the easternmost
part of Siberia.

A certain agreement in the manners and customs which are
found among the Tunguses and the Samoyedes with those of the
tribes of Hudson's Bay, of Mississippi, and of Louisiana, adds a

* George Home, 1, iv, c. 13, goes further. He affirms that the Mexicans are
a colony of Chinese who came into America in 1279 A. D. with their emperor
named Ti-pun, after the conquest of China by the Mongols. But this statement
is erroneous, since Ti-pun with his fleet was swallowed up by the waters.

DE GUIGNES'S DISCOVERY. 35

new force to these reflections. It is known that in general all
the nations of the same country are distinguished by peculiari
ties of countenance, and by an exterior, that proclaims their com
mon origin. Such are the Chinese, for example, who are easily
recognized among other nations. The nations of Europe have a
long and bushy beard, while that of the Chinese, the Tartars,
and the people of Siberia is but slight ; in which point they re
semble the Americans, from which it might be inferred that
these last came from Tartary. In examining the animals, we are
compelled to make the same reflection. Several are found in
America which are not met with elsewhere, except in the north
of Asia — as the hairy cattle, and the reindeer, so common in
Siberia and in the northern part of America.

A number of additional facts can also be stated which con
firm the ease of the passage. We extract them from Charlevoix,
who reports that Pere Grellon, after having laboured for some
time in the missions of New France, went from there to China,
and thence to Tartary, where he met a Huron woman whom
he had known in Canada. She had been captured in war, and
taken from one nation to another until she had reached Tartary.
Another Jesuit, upon returning from China, related also that a
Spanish woman from Florida, who met with the same misfortune,
after having passed through extremely cold regions was finally
met in Tartary.

However remarkable these accounts may be, it is neverthe
less not impossible to reconcile them with geography. The
women reached the shore of the sea that washes the western
coast of America, whence they first passed by canoes to the
island that is found in the strait, from which they landed upon
the continent of Asia, and finally, taking the route from Ta-han,
to which I have referred, they approached China.

There is room for the belief that this is one of the ways by
which America has been peopled ; but it is not at all likely
that it has been the only one on the side of the north. Some
among the writers who have investigated the origin of the
Americans have made some conjectures upon the subject which
seem not to be destitute of foundation. At the mouth of the
river Kolyma, in Siberia, is found a thickly peopled island, which
is often frequented by those who come to hunt for the fossil
ivory of the mammoth, which is more beautiful than that of the

36 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

elephant, and is used for making different objects. They arrive
there, with all their families, by crossing the ice, and it frequently
happens that, surprised by a thaw, they are carried away upon
large cakes of ice toward the opposite point of America, which
is not very far distant. That which seems to give more weight
to this conjecture is the fact that the Americans who inhabit this
country have the same physiognomy as the unfortunate island
ers, who, from too great a desire for gain, expose themselves to
the danger of thus being transported to a strange country. It can
not be doubted that floating ice has sometimes carried men, and,
even more frequently, animals, to neighbouring countries. Great
cakes of ice, detached from more southerly lands, have been seen
to arrive upon the coast of Iceland, laden with wood and with
animals, of which the Icelanders take so great advantage that
they neglect the interior of the island, and remain more willingly
upon the coast, in order to be on hand to profit by them. It is
in this manner that a number of ferocious animals have pene
trated into regions where men would never wish to have brought
them.

I conclude, from all these observations, that a part of Amer
ica has been peopled by the barbarians who inhabit the north of
Asia. Adding also that the commerce of the Chinese has not
only carried new inhabitants to them, but has also contributed
much to the civilization of the American people, and to give
them a knowledge of the, most useful arts. And if, upon the
evidence of the Japanese map, we place the kingdom of Chang-
jin to the south of the Strait of Magellan, it is certain in that
case that the Chinese and the Coreans have known the southern
part of America ; that their navigators have frequented it ; and
that by this means they have civilized the Peruvians, among
whom certain arts flourished, and who felt themselves not to be
barbarians in anything.

Other nations, less civilized than the Chinese, have also had
means for reaching America no less easily at the south. Those
who have populated the islands of Sumatra and Borneo, the
Moluccas, and the Philippines, are connected with the inhab
itants of India and of China ; they have been from island to
island in their canoes ; they have penetrated successively to New
Guinea, New Holland, and New Zealand, immense countries of
which we do not know the extent. In that way they have ap-

BE GUIGNES'S DISCOVERY. 37

preached the American Continent. Some of them may have
reached the islands which are found between the tenth and twen
tieth degrees of south latitude — islands so near to each other
that they form, as it were, a chain, which they could have fol
lowed. They have been peopled one after another, until those
most distant from their original starting-point, and the nearest to
America, have received their colonies.

Perhaps the same reasoning might be applied to some parts
of Europe. The British Islands, Norway, Iceland, and Green
land may have been the places of passage of American colonies,
and, as these regions became more thickly peopled, some of the
inhabitants would go to seek new and more distant habitations.
But without stopping here to make conjectures regarding the
navigation of the ancients, history furnishes us with a proof that
civilized nations have attempted to discover new lands to the
west of Europe, and to penetrate far into this vast sea. It is
true of the Arabs.

It is known that under the dynasty of the Ommiades these
tribes made the conquest of a part of Africa. Thence, under
the leadership of Tharic, they passed into Spain, which they re
duced to a province of their empire ; but after the Ommiades
had been destroyed in Syria, a prince of that house escaped the
general massacre made by the Abbassides, and fled to Spain,
where he was proclaimed caliph, and founded a powerful mon
archy, which was destroyed by other princes coming from Africa.
These possessed the greater part of Spain, until they were driven
out by the Christians. It was during the reign of the Arabs in
Spain that some of their sailors, setting sail from Lisbon, where
they then were masters, embarked upon the gloomy sea or West
ern Ocean, with the intention of penetrating as far as they could
toward the west, and of discovering the islands and lands which
existed there. But their enterprise did not meet with the suc
cess with which they flattered themselves. After eleven days of
navigation before a favourable wind, they found a thick sea,
which exhaled a bad odor, where they met a number of rocks,
and where the darkness commenced to make itself perceived.
They were not so bold as to penetrate any farther. Making sail
then to the south, they, after twelve days of navigation, ex
plored the Canaries, where they met a man who spoke Arabic.
They traveled about among the islands, and landed upon one,

38 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

where they were stopped by the islanders. Questioned by the
king of the country as to the object of their voyage, they an
swered him that their design had been to penetrate to the end of
the world. The king informed them that his father had ordered
some of his subjects to make the same attempt, but that, after
having sailed the sea for a month without discovering anything,
they had returned to the Canaries. These strange voyages of
the Arabs, and particularly that of the inhabitants of the Cana
ries, cause us to suspect that others of the islanders, equally
bold and more fortunate, may have reached America ; since they
had the courage to abandon themselves, with their vessels, to the
mercy of this vast sea, although they had no knowledge of the
compass, and, as we regard them, were but little skilled in the
art of navigation.

Other Arabs, and the people of Senegal, knew also at the
same time of the Cape Verd Islands. We have not found in
any writer that the Arabs penetrated any farther. Nevertheless,
they approached at least this near to the lands of America, and,
if they were not bold enough to sail directly to it, some of those
who sailed the sea may have been carried by the tempests to the
islands of the Azores, which are in the same degree of latitude,
where pieces of wood and dead bodies from America are often
found. It is this which gave birth to the belief of Christopher
Columbus that there must be, and were, lands near the Azores.

After this recital, we see that even the most barbarous people
have had sufficient skill in the art of navigation to reach very
distant islands, and, as a necessary consequence, to go even as far
as to America ; but it is not my intention to exhaust the subject.
We shall not be able to succeed in doing that until after we have
obtained an exact knowledge of all the globe, and have discov
ered all the southern lands. I must stop with having collected
the facts which are scattered in the Chinese geographies con
cerning the voyages of the Chinese in the South Sea and to
America, and with having made, in consequence, some reflections
concerning the passage of colonies to America.

CHAPTER III.

KLAPROTH'S DISSENT.

Title of de Guignes's article incorrect — Translation of the account of Fu-sang —
Vines and horses not found in America — Route to Japan — Length of the li
— Identification of Wen-shin with Jesso — Ta-han identified with Taraikai or
Saghalien— The route to Ta-han by land— The Shy-ivd — Li&i-kuei — Fv^sang
south of Ta-han instead of east — Fu-sang an ancient name of Japan — Analy
sis of name " Fu-sang " — The paper mulberry — Metals — The introduction of
Buddhism— Fantastic tales.

Researches regarding the Country of Fu-sang, mentioned in
Chinese Books, and erroneously supposed to be a Part of
America.— By J. Klaproth.™

THE celebrated de Guignes, having found in Chinese books
a description of a country situated a great distance to the east
of China, and thinking it probable that this country, called Fu-
sang, must be a part of America, set forth this opinion in an
essay read before the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres,
entitled " Investigation of the Navigations of the Chinese to the
Coast of America, and as to some Tribes situated at the Eastern
Extremity of Asia."

It should be first observed that this title is incorrect. Noth
ing is said in the Chinese original, which de Guignes had before
his eyes, concerning any voyage undertaken by the Chinese to
Fu-sang, but, as is shown farther on, it is simply a question of a
description of this country, given by a priest who was a native
of it, and who had come to China. This notice is found in that
part of the Great Annals of China * entitled Nan-szu, or " His-

* These are the Nan-eul-szu, or the "Twenty-two Historians," of which the
works form a collection of more than six hundred Chinese volumes, and which
should not be confounded with the annals entitled T'ung-kian-kang-mu, which
are known in Europe by the meager extracts which Pere Mailla has given in
twelve volumes, in 4°.

40 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

tory of the South." After the destruction of the dynasty of
Tain, in 420 A. D., China was overwhelmed with troubles, which
resulted in the establishment of two empires, one in the northern
provinces, the other in those of the south. The last was succes
sively governed, from 420 to 589 A. D., by the four dynasties of
Sung, Tsi, Liang, and Cfiin. The history of the two empires
was written by Li-yan-cheu, who lived about the commencement
of the seventh century. This is what he says about Fu-sang :

" In the first of the years yung-yuan, of the reign of Fe-ti, of
the dynasty of Tsi, a shaman (or Buddhist priest), called Hoei
Shin, arrived from the country of Fu - sang at King - cheu*
He related what follows : Fu-sang is twenty thousand li to the
east of the country of Ta-han, and equally to the east of China.
In this country there grow many trees called fu-sang,\ of which
the leaves resemble those of the fung (Bignonia tomentosa),
and the first shoots those of the bamboo. The people^ of the
country eat them. The fruit is red and of the shape of a pear.
The bark of this tree is prepared in the same way as that of
hemp, and cloth and clothing are made of it. Flowered stuffs
are also manufactured from it. Wooden planks are used for the
construction of their houses, for in this country there are no
cities and no walled habitations. The inhabitants have a species
of writing, and make paper from the bark of ilaefu-sang. They
have no weapons or armies, and do not make war. According
to the laws of the kingdom, there are a southern prison and a
northern prison. Those who have committed crimes that are
not very serious are sent to the southern prison, but great crimi
nals are shut up in the northern one. Those who may receive
pardon are sent to the first ; those, on the contrary, to whom
it can not be accorded are confined in the northern prison.];
The men and the women who are shut up in the latter are per
mitted to marry each other. The male children, born from
these unions, are sold as slaves at the age of eight years ; the

* King-clieu is a city of the first order, situated upon the left side of the
great Kiang, in the present province of Hu-pe.

\ Fu-sang in Chinese, or, according to the Japanese pronunciation, Fouls-sob,
is the shrub which we call " Hibiscus rosa Chirunsis"

t De Guignes has very badly translated this passage, as follows : " The most
guilty are placed in the northern prison and afterward transferred into that of
the south if they obtain their pardon ; otherwise they are condemned to remain
all their lives in the first."

KLAPROTH'S DISSENT. 41

girls at the age of nine years. The criminals who are confined
there never come forth alive. When a man of high rank com
mits a crime, the people assemble in great numbers. They sit
down face to face with the criminal, who is placed in a ditch,
and regale themselves with a banquet, and take leave of him as
of a dying man.* Then he is surrounded by ashes. For an
offense of little gravity the criminal alone is punished, but for a
great crime, the culprit, his sons, and grandsons are punished ;
finally, for the greatest offenses his descendants to the seventh
generation are included in the punishment. The name of the
king of the country is Y-k'i (or 7tt-k*t)J The nobles of the
first class are called Tui-lu ; those of the second, little Tui-lu ;
and those of the third, Na-tu-sha. When the king goes forth,
he is accompanied by drums and horns. He changes the color
of his garments at different epochs. In the years of the cycle
Ma and y \ they are blue ; in the years ping and ting, red ; in
the years ou and ki, yellow ; in the years keng and sin, white ;
finally, in those which have the characters jin and kuei, they
are black.

" The cattle have long horns, upon which burdens are loaded
which weigh as much, sometimes, as twenty ho (of one hundred
and twenty Chinese pounds). In this country they make use of
carts harnessed to cattle, horses, and deer. They rear deer there
as they raise cattle in China, and make cheese from the milk of
the females. || A species of red pear is found there, which is
preserved throughout the year. There are also many vines.4*

* Do Guignes translates the last words by " He is then judged."
f De Guignes has wrongly read " Y-chi."

\ The years 1, 11, 21, 31, 41, and 51 of the cycle of sixty years bear the char
acter Ida; the years 2, 12, 22, 32, 42, and 52 have the character y.

Ping, 3, 13, 23, 33, 43, and 53; ting, 4, 14, 24, 34, 44, and 54.

Ou, 5, 15, 25, 35, 45, and 55 ; Id, 6, 16, 26, 36, 46, and 56.

Kmg, 7, 17, 27, 37, 47, and 57 ; sin, 8, 18, 28, 38, 48, and 58.

Jin, 9, 19, 29, 39, 49, and 59 ; kuei, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60.

1 De Guignes translates : " The inhabitants feed hinds, as in China, and from
them they obtain butter."

* In the original, To-p'it-t'ao. De Guignes, having decomposed the wor<
p'u-t'ao, translates: "A great number of iris-plants and peaches are found
there." Nevertheless, the word p'u alone never means the iris ; it is the r

of rushes and other species of marshy reeds which are used for making ^mats.
T'ao is, in fact, the name of the peach, but the compound word p'u-t'ao, in
Chinese, signifies the vine. At present, it is written with other characters— u e.,

42 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

Iron is lacking, but copper is found. Gold and silver are not
esteemed. Commerce is free, and they do not baggie at all.

" Their practices regarding marriage are as follows : He who
desires to wed a girl establishes his cabin before her door ; he
sprinkles and sweeps the earth every morning and every night.
When he has practiced this formality for a year, if the maid
will not give her consent, he desists ; but, if she is pleased
with him, he marries her. The ceremonies of marriage are
nearly the same as in China. At the death of father or
mother they fast seven days. At that of a grandfather or
grandmother they refrain from eating for five days ; and only
for three days at the death of brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts,
and other relatives. The images of spirits are placed upon a
species of pedestal, and prayers are addressed to them morning
and evening.*

" The king does not occupy himself with the affairs of gov
ernment during the three years which follow his accession to
the throne.

" Formerly the religion of Buddha did not exist in this coun
try, but in the fourth of the years ta-ming, of the reign of
Jfiao-iou-tiy of the dynasty of Sung (458 A. D.), five pi-k'ieu,
or priests, of the country of Ki-pin (Cophene), came to Fu-sang,
and there spread abroad the law of Buddha. They carried with
them their books and sacred images and the ritual, and estab
lished monastic customs, f and so changed the manners of the
inhabitants."

^ ^, but Iffc yji is the ancient orthography of the times of Han, which pre
vailed until the tenth century of our era.

The vine is not a native of China, its seeds having been imported by the cele
brated General Chang K'ian, sent into the western country in the year 126 B. c.
He traveled through the Afghanistan of our days, and the northwestern part of
India, and returned to China after thirteen years' absence. The term p'u-t'ao is
not native to China, any more than the object which it designates. It is probably
the imperfect transcription of the Greek ptrpvs. The Japanese pronounce it
bou-do. They usually give to the vine the name of yebi-kadzoura, composed of
yebi, a sea craw-fish, and of kadzoura, a general name of climbing plants which
attach themselves to neighbouring trees.

* De Guignes translates : " During their prayers they expose the image of the de
funct person." The text speaks of shin, or genii, and not of the spirits of the dead.

f In the original, ^ }f{, ch'K-kia— that is to say, "to leave one's house or
family," or " to embrace a monastic life." DC Guignes has not translated this pass
age, with the exception of the beginning.

KLAPROTITS DISSENT. 43

The circumstance that vines and horses are found in the
country of Fu-sang is sufficient to prove that it could not be
any part of America, these two objects having been brought to
the continent by the Spaniards, after the discovery of Chris
topher Columbus in 1492. But other reasons, drawn from the
Chinese books, explicitly oppose the supposition that Fu-sang
should be identified with any part of the New World. We
have seen, from the account of the priest Hoei Shin, that Fa-
sang was twenty thousand li to the east of Ta-han. De Guignes
has erroneously taken this last country for Kamtchatka. He
bases this hypothesis upon another passage of the Nan-szu, in
which the author says that, in order to go to Ta-han, the traveler
sets out from the western shore of Corea,* coasts along this
peninsula, and, after having gone twelve thousand li, arrives
at Japan ; that from there, after a route of seven thousand li
toward the north,.he comes to the country of Wen-shin, and that,
five thousand li from the last, toward the east, the country of
Ta-han is found, from which Fu-sang is distant twenty thou
sand li.

In olden times the Chinese vessels which sailed to Japan
crossed the Strait of Corea, passed before the isles of Tsu-sima
(in Chinese, Tui-ma-tao), and landed in some port of the north
ern coast of the great island of Niphon. We must, therefore,
conclude that the distance mentioned in the route much exceeds
the reality. It should also be remembered that the ancient Chi
nese did not have any means of determining the length of their
journeys at sea. Even if we admit the maritime li of the fifth
century to have measured four hundred to the degree, the dis
tance of twelve thousand li of coasting between the mouth of
the Ta-t'ung-Jciang, in 38° 45' N. latitude, upon the western
coast of Corea, and the middle of the coast of Niphon, upon

* De Guignes translates the passage : " Sets out from the shore of the province
of Lcao-tong, situated to the north of Pckin." But, in the first place, this prov
ince is not to the north, but to the northeast of Pekin. Next, the Chinese text
says that they set forth from the district of Lo-lang, which is situated not in
Leao-tung, but in Corea, and of which the capital is the present city of P'ivg-
jang (in d'Auville's map, Ping-yang\ situated upon the northern bank of the
Ta-t 'wig-Hang, or P'ai-shue, a river of the province of P'ing-ngan, which, in
great part, in the time of the dynasty of Han, formed the district of Lo-lang.
P'ing-yang was the residence of K'i-isu, the first Chinese prince who was estab
lished in Corea, about the year 1122 before our era.

44 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

the Japanese Sea, is, nevertheless, more than twice too great ;
the distance between the two points, in coasting, is not more
than fifty-six hundred li, of four hundred to the degree. It,
therefore, results that the li of the Chinese route measure about
eight hundred and fifty to the degree.

The same account estimates the distance between the Ja
panese port and the country of Wen-shin as seven thousand li,
or a little more than eight degrees of latitude. This distance
conducts us, however, by following the contour of the coast of
the Japanese Sea, exactly to the northern part of Niphon and to
the southern point of the island of Jesso. The country of Wen-
shin, or " Tattooed People," is, in fact, found there ; for the
Ainos, who then occupied both the northern part of Japan and
the island of Jesso, have even to this day the custom of painting
the face and the body with different figures.

The distance from the country of Wen-shin to that of Ta-han
is, according to our account, five thousand li, or about six de
grees of latitude. This brings us exactly to the southern point
of the island of Taraikai, erroneously called Saghalien upon our
maps. The identity of this island with Ta-han is confirmed by
another account, which describes the route from the northern
part of China to the last-named country.

In the times of the T'ang dynasty the Chinese had estab
lished three fortified cities to the north of the northernmost
curve described by the Hoang-ho, which surrounded upon three
sides the present country of the Ordos, called for this reason
Ho-t'ao, or " Enveloped by the River." One of these cities, sit
uated between the two others, bore the name of Chung-sheu-
kiang-ch'ing, or "the Central City, which Protects the Sub
missive People." It does not now exist, but its site, -which can
be determined with precision, was in the country now occupied
by the Mongol tribe of Orat, upon the northern bank of the
Hoang-ho. To go by land to the country of Ta-han, the trav
eler set forth from this city, and traversed the desert of Gobi,
or Shamo, and arrived at the principal encampment of the Hoei-
hh'e, situated upon the left bank of the Orkhou, not far from its
sources, and the same place where the Mongolians afterward
constructed their first capital, Caracorum. From there he
reached the country of the Ko-li-han and of the Tu-p'o, sit
uated to the south of a great lake, upon the ice of which he

EXAPROTH'S DISSENT. 45

must cross in winter. We know from other indications that the
lake is that of Baikal. To the north of this lake, say the Chi
nese relations, high mountains are found, and a country where,
says one, the sun is not above the horizon longer than during
the little time that it takes to cook a breast of mutton. The
Tu-po, neighbours of the Ko-li-han, inhabit the country to the
south of the lake. Another historian informs us what is the
true abode of the l£b-H-han, and we know that this country is
the same as the ancient country of Kirkis, or Kerghiz, situated
between the 0-pu (the Obi) and the Ang-Jco-la (the Angara).
Upon leaving the country of the Ko-li-lian, and traveling to the
east, we enter into that of the Shy-wei.

The Shy-wei include a great number of tribes that do not
appear to belong to the same nation, for the Chinese accounts
mention several who speak a different language from that which
the others use. Nevertheless, the greater part of the Shy-wei
are of the same origin as the Khi-tan and speak their idiom,
which is identical with that of the Mo-ho ; the latter are, to all
appearances, the Mongols. The others belong to the Tunguse
race. The most southerly Shy-wei live in the vicinity of the
river Nou, an affluent upon the right of the upper Amoor. After
having left the country of the Shy-wei^ who live to the east of
the Ko-li-han and of Lake Baikal, and marching for fifteen days
to the east, we find the Shy-wei called ;§ JD, Ju-cfie, who
are probably the same people that other Chinese authors call
jit id) Ju-che — that is to say, the Djourdje, ancestors of the
present Mantchoos. From there we advance for ten days
toward the north, and enter into Ta-han, surrounded by the sea
upon three sides.

This country, called also Lieu-kiiei, therefore can not be
other than the island of Taraikai, as we have already ascertained
by following the route by sea laid down by Li-yan-sheu. De
Guignes has wished to consider Kamtchatka as Ta-han ; but it is
impossible to reach Kamtchatka from the eastern bank of Lake
Baikal within thirty days, this time being barely sufficient to go
across a country where there are no roads, from the eastern point
of Lake Baikal, by way of the country of the Mantchoos and
along the Amoor, to the great island of Taraikai, situated before
the mouth of that river.

The identity of Ta-han and the island of Taraikai, once

46 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

demonstrated, prevents all further search for the country of Fu-
sang in America. We have seen that the navigators, who went
from the eastern coast of Corea to Ta-han, traveled at first
twelve thousand, then seven thousand, and again five thousand
li, or in all twenty-four thousand li (or, according to our calcula
tion, twenty-nine and a half degrees of latitude), in order to reach
that country. Fu-sang was twenty thousand li (or twenty-three
and a half degrees) to the east of Ta-han or Taraikai, and so
nearer h'y four thousand li than the latter country was to the
eastern coast of Corea. If we adopt the letter of the relation,
and seek for Fu-sang to the east of Ta-han, we fall into the great
ocean, for the opposite coast of America in the same latitude is
not less than four times as distant.

We must therefore reject the entire tale as to Fu-sang as
fabulous, or else find a means of reconciling it with the truth.
This may be found by supposing the indication of the direction
•as toward the east to be incorrect. Now, the route by sea which
conducts us to Taraikai indicates this as being the constant di
rection ; whereas the traveler at first goes to the south to double
Corea, then, upon entering the Japanese Sea, he directs his course
to the northeast, and finally changes this course for one more
northerly, in order to follow the channel of Tartary to a point
south of Taraikai. We may therefore presume that one sets sail
from that country, and that at first one goes directly east, in order
to pass the Strait of Perouse, by skirting the northern coast of Jes-
so, but that, upon arriving at the eastern point of this island, the
course turns to the south and leads us to the southeastern part
of Japan, which was the country called Fa-sang. In fact, one of
the ancient names of this empire is Fu-sang (Hibiscus rosa Chi-
nensis), and the Japanese books say that it was applied to their
country because of its beauty.

If we analyze the two syllables which compose the word "fu-
sang," we find that the first, Jfe/w, signifies "to help, to be use
ful," and that the second, |j|, sang, designates the mulberry. The
word therefore signifies, the useful mulberry. This circumstance
leads me to think that there is some mistake in the Chinese ac
count preserved in the JVan-szu, and that it confounds the hibis
cus, or the " Rose of China," with the paper-mulberry (Morus
papyrifera), for the description of the tree in question applies
rather to this last than to the hibiscus ; in fact, the bark of the

KLAPROTH'S DISSENT. 47

paper-mulberry furnishes to the Japanese all the productions
which the Chinese account attributes to the true fa-sang. The
bark is employed to make paper, stuffs, clothing, cordage, wicks,
and several other useful things.

Among the other productions of Fu-sang, as we have already
remarked, the vine and the horse did not exist in America before
the arrival of the Europeans, but they are found in Japan. The
copper of this country is celebrated as an important article of
export. Iron is, even now, rare in Japan, and consequently more
valued than copper. According to mythological traditions, horses
and cattle were produced from the eyes of the spirit Ouke-motsi-
no-kamiy and the other domestic animals issued from his mouth.
As to the vine, it appears that that is older in Japan than in
China, where it was not introduced until the second century be
fore our era ; for, according to the Japanese traditions, grapes
were produced from a tress of black hair thrown down by Iza-
naki-no-mikote, the last of the seven celestial spirits that reigned
in the country.

The single difficulty which remains is that which concerns
the introduction of Buddhism. According to the Japanese
annals, this religion was not diffused throughout the empire until
552, the date that it was carried from Fiak-sai, or Pe-tsi, a
kingdom situated in Corea, to the court of the Dairi. Never
theless, as this belief had been introduced in 372 into the king
dom QiKao-li, or Ko-rai, and in 384 into Fiak-sai, and the Japan
ese had had intercourse with the two countries for a long time,
it is not at all improbable that Buddhism had found disciples in
Japan before the way into the palace of the Dairi was opened to it.

Finally, I will call attention to the fact that the country of
Fu-sang has furnished the Chinese poets with innumerable op
portunities for giving fantastic descriptions of its marvels. The
authors of the Shan Hai King * and the Li-sao,\ as well as
Hwai-nan-tz, I Li T'ai-pi, \\ and other writers of the same kind,

* The Shan Hai King, the Chinese " Classic of Lands and Seas," is described
in chapter xxxvi of this work.

f The Li-sao is a celebrated poem written by Kiu Yuen in the third century u. c.

\ Hivai-nan-tz is one of ten eminent writers of antiquity, who are associated
together under the designation -of the " Ten Philosophers." He was the grandson
of JTau-ti, of the Han dynasty, B. c. 189. He wrote upon the origin of things.

1 Li T'ai-pi is one of the most popular of the Chinese poets. He lived during
the reign of the T'ang dynasty.

48 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

have used them freely. According to them, the sun rises in the
valley of Yang-Jcu, and makes his toilet at Fu-sang, where there
are mulberries several thousand fathoms high ; the people eat the
fruit, which gives to their bodies the colour of gold, and endows
them with the power to fly in the air. In an equally fabulous
notice of Fu-sang, which dates from the time of the Liang dy
nasty, there is a statement that the silk- worms of the country
are six feet long and seven inches in breadth ; they are of the
colour of gold, and lay eggs of the size of swallows' eggs. I spare
the reader the rest of these fables.

CHAPTER IV.

DE PARAYEY'S SUPPORT.

America visited by Scandinavians — American tribes emigrants from Asia An-

cient Chinese maps — Researches antedating those of Klaproth — Letter of
Pere Gaubil — Ta-han — Lieu-kuei — Identification of these with Kamtchat-
ka — Size of Fu-sang — Views of M. Dumont d'Urville— Length of the li —
America lies at the distance and in the direction indicated — The Meropide ;

of Elien — The Hyperboreans — The monuments of Guatemala and Yucatan

The Shan-hai-king — Identification of the fu-sang tree with the metl or ma-,
guey — The Japanese Encyclopaedia says Japan is not Fit-sang — The banana or
pisang tree may have been the tree called fu-sang — Grapes in America —
Milk in America— The bisons of America — Llamas — Horses — Wooden cabins
—The ten-year cycle— The titles of the king and nobles— The worship of
images — Resemblance of pyramids of America to those of the Buddhists—
An image of Buddha— The spread of the Buddhist religion— History of the
Chichimecas — Resemblance of Japanese to Mexicans — Analogies of Asiatic
and American civilizations pointed out by Humboldt — Credit due de Guignea
— Appendix — Ha Twan-lin's account — The pi-sang said to be the prickly
poppy of Mexico— Laws punishing a criminal's family have existed in China —
Chinese cycle of sixty years existed in India— Cattle harnessed to carts — The
grapes of Fu-sang wild, not cultivated — Another Chinese custom in Fu-sang
— The route to Ta-han — The route to. Japan very indirect — Priests called
lamas both in Mexico and Tartary.

America under the Name of the Country of Fu-sang— by
M. de Paravey.™*

THE scholars of Iceland and Denmark have shown that the
Scandinavians, long before Columbus, visited the northeastern
portion of America, and there found wild vines and grapes ; .
and that they even penetrated to the south as far as to what is
now known as Brazil. Before these modern researches, the il
lustrious Buffon, in his " Discours sur les Varietes de TEspece
Humaine," took the ground, as M. de Humboldt has also recent
ly done, that the tribes of Northwestern America, and even oi
4

50 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

Mexico, had come from Tartary and Central Asia ; and, relying
upon the new discoveries of the Russians, he traced the route
followed by the Asiatics, holding that they reached the north
western portion of California by way of Kamtchatka and the
chain of the Aleutian Islands. Upon his side, M. de Guignes,
examining the books of China, and by them throwing a light
upon the origin of all European nations, found among them a
very remarkable memoir regarding the country of Fu-sang, or the
country of the Extreme East. He availed himself of the light
thrown by the Russians and the latest geographers upon the
extreme northeastern countries of Asia, and, in his scholarly
work, he proved, as far as it was then possible to do so, that the
country of Fu-sang, known in the year 458 A. D., rich in gold,
silver, and copper, but destitute of iron, could be nothing else
than America.

All the maps, rough and purposely altered as to the size of
foreign countries, that we have been able to find in the books or
collections relating to China, and anterior in date to the exact
maps of the Celestial Empire, which were finally made by the
aid of the corrections of the missionaries at Pekin, show, in fact,
to the east and northeast of China, beyond Japan, marked under
one of its names, Ji 0 , pen ^ (" Origin of the Sun "), a con
fused mass of countries, delineated as small islands, undoubtedly
because they were reached by sea ; and among these countries,
of which the size is purposely reduced, is marked the cele
brated country of Fu-sang, a country of which many fables
have been related in China, but which, in the account translated
by M. de Guignes, is presented in a light so entirely natural that
it can not be considered otherwise than as one of the countries of
America, even if it is not, as we think possible, intended for the
entire Continent of America.

We had not known of the old Chinese maps, drawn up so as
to present Europe and all of Asia, outside of China, as very small
countries, until our visit to Oxford in 1830. We then copied
them at the Bodleian Library, and our scholarly friend, Sir
George Stanton, afterward gave us one of these imperfect maps.

Upon returning to London, we there sought and found the
Chinese text of the account translated by M. de Guignes ; for
the works in which it is found are monopolized at Paris by cer
tain students of Chinese. We copied this text, and showed it to

DE PARAVEY'S SUPPORT. 51

Mr. Huttman, then secretary of the English Asiatic Society. He
recognized in it, as we did, a description of America, or of one
of its parts, and, in the surprise which he felt, he communicated,
probably, with M. Klaproth regarding our researches, for we were
at London again when this Prussian scholar published, in the
"Nouvelles Annales des Voyages," in the year 1831, a pretended
refutation of the memoir of M. de Guignes, a refutation which
he addressed to us, together with a letter of equal length, which
we may some day publish. Neither this letter nor this printed
article changed our convictions as to the justice of the views
of the learned M. de Guignes. We declared them to M. Klap
roth, and, as he himself undoubtedly felt the feebleness of the
arguments by which he had endeavoured to prove that this ac
count of Fu-sang should be understood to refer to Japan, he
afterward, on this account, as we suppose, wishing to convert
M. von Humboldt to his false ideas, caused the insertion, in
Vol. X of the " Nouveau Journal Asiatique de Paris," of the
letters of the late Pere Gaubil, in which this learned mis
sionary, without disputing this story, discusses the ideas of M.
de Guignes, and, not knowing anything then of the maps of
which we have spoken, appears to be unwilling to admit that
America, under the name of Fa-sang, or under any other name,
had been really known to the Buddhists or shamans of High
Asia since the year 458 A. D.

Since that time, however, we have endeavoured to prove, by
an exact calculation of the distance in lit given in this account,
translated from the Great Annals of China, regarding the country
of Fu-sang, and by discussing the route traveled to reach it, that
this country, even following the views of M. Klaproth and of
Father Gaubil, concerning the Chinese names given to the coun
try so distant from Kamtchatka, could not be found elsewhere
than in America.

According to the shaman or Buddhist monk who made Fu-
sang known to the Chinese in the year 499 of our era, this coun
try was at the same time to the east of China, and equally to the
east of a semi-civilized land known in the Chinese books by
the name of the country of Ta ;fc, Han g|, or of the " Great
Hans," a name applied first to the Chinese dynasty of the Hans,
founded in 206 B. c., after that of the Tsin.

But, according to the Chinese accounts regarding this coun-

52 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

try of Ta-han— which could be reached either by sea, by setting
out from Japan and sailing to the northeast, or by land, by set
ting forth from the sharp bend toward the north which is made
by the great river Hoang-ho, into the country of the Mongols,
and passing to the south of Lake Baikal, and then, going the
same distance to the northeast— this country, very distant from
China, could not be any other than Kamtchatka, also called the
country of Lieu-kuei, or "Place of Exile" (lieu, $£) "of the
Vicious" (kuei, &), in other Chinese geographies.

Father Gaubil, in these same letters, published by M. Klap-
roth, admits this to be the country of Lieu-kuei, for it is said
that the fact that this country is surrounded by the sea upon
three sides, as Kamtchatka is, and the distance at which it is
placed in the geography of the Tang dynasty, also published by
this learned missionary, both agree in confining the land of
Lieu-kuei to this extreme point of northeastern Asia. It
should also be noticed that M. Klaproth himself, in the memoir
which we refute, when discussing the position of the country of
Ta-han, declares that this land has also been called the country
of Lieu-lcuei ; and since, according to Father Gaubil, this
place is Kamtchatka, the country of Ta-han must answer to the
southern portion of Kamtchatka, and not to the great island of
Saghalien or Taraikai, which is found at the east of Tartary,
opposite the mouth of the Yellow River, the island in which M.
Klaproth attempts to place it in his " Researches regarding Fu-
sang"

It is, also, in Kamtchatka that the celebrated M. de Guignes
places the country of Ta-han, which the Chinese books, such as
the Pian-y-tien, the great " Geography of Foreign Nations," a
valuable work, of which a copy is possessed by the Royal Li
brary at Paris, represent as inhabited by barbarous men of great
stature, and with hair very long and in wild disorder.

And when the shaman Hoei Shin, coming from the country
of Fii-sang to China, and landing at Klng-cheu, in the prov
ince of Hu-pe, upon the left bank of the great river Kiang,
said that "Fu-sang is at the same time to the east of China and
to the east of the country of Ta-han" or of Kamtchatka, it is evi
dent that he indicated a very great extension of this country of
Fu-sang, from north to south ; since Kamtchatka, even in its
niost southerly part, is very distant to the northeast from China,

DE PARAVEY'S SUPPORT. 53

even from its northern boundary, and still farther from the river
Kiang; he speaks, therefore, not of an island; not even of one
as large as Japan; but of a continent of great extent, such as
North America.

So, when we had communicated the memoir of M. de Guignes,
and its pretended refutation by M. Klaproth, to the celebrated
navigator M. Dumont d'Urville, whose unfortunate loss science
still deplores, this scholar, who, before his last voyage, had, in
accordance with our advice, commenced the study of the geo
graphical books preserved in China, could not restrain a smile of
pity upon seeing that M. Klaproth had, by main strength, at
tempted to change this vast continent into a simple province of
Japan, a country which he himself points out under its true
name, in another passage of the Great Annals cited by M. de
Guignes, and where the route is described leading by sea from
Corea to the country of Ta-han. In order to reach that region,
the route touches the country of TFb, or of Japan, which was
already well known to the Chinese in all its parts. The route,
continuing toward the north, touches at the country of Wen-shin
(the island of Saghalien) ; then turning to the east, Ta-han or
Kamtchatka is reached, otherwise called Lieu-kuei. It is evi
dent that no other land than North America, east of Asia, is suf
ficiently large to be at the same time to the east of Central China
and of Kamtchatka : this was not plainly said by M. de Guignes,
but he evidently perceived it, and the distance also at which
Fu-sang is placed from the country of Ta-han or Kamtchatka,
in the account of the shaman, completes the demonstration.

In fact, he stated this distance of Fu-sang easterly from Ta-
han at twenty thousand U, and, as the length of the li has fre
quently been changed in China, M. Klaproth tries, by supposing
the length to be very small, to make this distance reach only as
far as Japan ! But, as the direction toward the east still incom
modes him and causes him to fall into the ocean, because of the
admission which he makes that Ta-han must be the island of
Saghalien, he without further ceremony changes this direction
and turns it around toward the south ; and in this way, by add
ing one false supposition to another, he arrives at the conclusion
that the southeastern part of Japan is this country of Fu-sang;
again assuming that this country had been but recently discov
ered by the Chinese.

54. AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

But Father Gaubil, upon whom he otherwise relies, could un
deceive him and set him right as to the real length of the li. In
his "Histoire de la Dynastie des Tang," a dynasty that reigned
shortly after the epoch when the accounts of Ta-han and of Fu-
sang were inserted in the Great Annals, he said that "fifteen
thousand li are reckoned as the distance between Persia and the
city of Sy-ngan-fu," then the capital of China (see "Memoires
concernant les Chinois," Vol. XV, p. 450). Persia is designated
in these books as the kingdom of Po-sse, and its capital was
formerly near Passa-garde and Shiraz or Persepolis.

Now, toward the northeast, the geographies of the Tang dy
nasty reckon fifteen thousand li also as the distance from Sy-
ngan-fu to the country of Lieu-kuei (ib., Vol. XV, p. 453) —
which, according to M. Klaproth, is the same as the country of
Ta-han— & country surrounded by the sea upon three sides, and
which Father Gaubil asserts, as we have said, to be Kamtchatka.
If, therefore, we set a pair of compasses upon a terrestrial
globe, placing the points upon Sy-ngan-fu, then the capital of
China, and Shiraz or Persepolis, the capital of Po-sse (or Persia),
and then, keeping one point upon the first-named city, swing the
other around to the northeast, it will be found to reach to the
southern part of the land of Kamtchatka, thus proving the accu
racy of the stated distances.

The length of the li during this epoch is therefore fixed ;
hence, one third of the above-named distance represents five
thousand li, and, adding this to the length of the fifteen thousand
li above described, the distance of twenty thousand li, which the
account of the shaman affirms as extending toward the east from
the country of Ta-han to that of Fu-sang, from which he had
come, can be reckoned with great accuracy.

If, then, with the compasses we lay out upon the globe this
distance of twenty thousand li, setting one point upon the south
ern end of Kamtchatka (which answers to the country of Lieu-
Jtuei or of Ta-han), and swinging the other point toward the
east, we should, if Fu-sang is America, reach at least the western
coast of this new continent, a coast which, although long known
to the Asiatics, has, by a sort of fatality, been the last to be ex
plored by Europeans. Now, in fact, this is just where the point
of the compasses will reach, and this confirms both the conject
ures of Buffon and the assertions made by M. de Guignes, based

DE PAPvAVEY'S SUPPORT. 55

upon the very incorrect maps which were all that could then be
obtained ; for the arm of the compasses thus reaches to a point
north of the mouth of the Columbia River, not far from Califor
nia.*

This scholar could not then arrive at the same precision that
is possible for us, since, we repeat, the exact outlines of the
northwest coast of America near the Aleutian Islands, and even
those of the country of Kamtchatka, had not, in his days, been
fully established ; but his merit was on that account even the
greater, in being the first to recognize the true value of the li at
that epoch, and to find, in the geographies of China, which had
been so rarely consulted by European scholars, countries so un
known to us as Kamtchatka, and the vast American Continent;
known from ancient times by the wandering tribes of Central
Asia, but which have only recently been made known to us, by
the admirable and persevering efforts of an illustrious genius.

By the aid of the same books preserved in China, and which,
unfortunately for Europeans, have not been translated, although
we have possessed them for more than a century, we can show
that the Meroplde of Ellen is North America ; for the invasion
of the country of the Hyperboreans, of which this author speaks,
can not have taken place elsewhere than from North America
into Kamtchatka, and extending as far as to the banks of the
great Amoor River, a region in which, according to the old
Chinese books, there lived a multitude of tribes of which the
names are scarcely known in Europe to this day, although very
curious and all significant.

From the most ancient times, having undoubtedly received
colonies from Greece and Syria, these happy Hyperboreans sent
to the temple of Apollo at Delos sheaves of the grain which
they harvested.

Herodotus and Pausanias name to us the nations which passed
these offerings from hand to hand to Greece, and when to what
we have said are added the accounts of the same nations which
are given in the Chinese books, we can not avoid the conviction
that the true land of the Hyperboreans — that is to say, of the
tribes of the northeast — can not be situated elsewhere than
upon the Amoor River, and in the neighbourhood of Corea,

* In his later essay M. de Paravey corrects this statement, and names San
Francisco as the point that is reached.— E. P. V.

56 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

countries having an alphabet, and very anciently civilized or
colonized.

Through the Hyperboreans, in connection with the ferocious
tribes of North America, tribes which Elien described under the
name of Ud%ipog, or " Warriors," the Greeks of ancient times,
who had carried the culture of the cereals to the banks of the
Amoor, therefore obtained some knowledge concerning Fa-sang,
or the Eastern World, that vast continent which, explored from
the western side by the Phoenicians of Egypt, and afterward by
the Carthagenians, received the name of Atlantis.

The flowery imagination of the Asiatics embroidered with
fables these accounts of a world so distant, and which could only
be reached by incurring very great dangers ; but the curious
monuments of Palenque in Guatemala, and those not less impor
tant which M. de Waldeck sketched in Yucatan, demonstrate
positively the ancient relations between Central Asia, India, and
Europe, and America, or Meropide, the true land of Fu-sang.

The Shan-hai-Jcing, an old mythological geography of Chi
na, the Li-sao, and other Chinese books, relate fables also regard
ing the valley of Tang-Jcu, or of the Hot Springs, from which
the sun appears to issue ; it rises then in the country of Fa-sang,
where the mulberries grow to a prodigious height. It is said
that the people of Fu-sang eat the fruit of these mulberries in
order to become immortal, that they can fly in the air, and that
the silk-worms of these trees, enormous also, inclose themselves
in cocoons of monstrous size.

All these fables are founded upon the name sang, |p:, of the
mulberry, which enters into " Fu,-sang" the Chinese name of
America ; and this can be explained from an examination of the
Mythriac monuments, sculptures of Eastern Asia, in which there
may always be observed upon the right the sun rising behind a
tree such as the mulberry. This is nothing else, in fact, than the
representation of the hieroglyphic character preserved in China
to express the East, a character which is pronounced tong, jf[,
and which is formed by drawing the symbol of the sun, Q ji, be
hind that of a tree, fa mo ; the sun in rising showing its disk, in
fact, behind the trees.

Tacitus, in his " Germanicus," relates fables, also, in regard to
the country where the sun sets, in explaining the sparkling
when its fires penetrate the ocean ; but his admirable work has

DE PARAVEY'S SUPPORT. 57

been none the less constantly read and consulted since his time,
and these marvelous tales have not caused the denial of the
existence of the region of which he speaks.

But the account of the shaman Hoei Skin regarding Fu-sang
offers none of these fables ; and, if it places a tree of this name
in America, it describes it as a plant having red fruit in the
form of a pear, a shrub, of which the young shoots are eaten ;
and of which the bark is prepared like that of hemp, of which
cloth, clothing, and even paper are made : for the inhabitants
of this country had a method of writing, says this account, and,
in fact, books and a species of writing are found in America, in
Mexico, and elsewhere.

In the Chinese botanical books the name of fu-sang, which
may be translated as "the serviceable, useful mulberry" (these
adjectives conveying the meaning of "fu"), is given now to the
Jcetime, or hibiscus rosa sinensis, a plant brought from Persia to
China, as we learn from Father Cabot, and which has been
grafted upon the mulberry.

But M. Klaproth, by some mistake, has been led to see in
this plant the paper-mulberry, of which, in fact, cloth and cloth
ing are also made ; while others find in it the metl or maguey of
Mexico, but badly described ; for this plant also gives cloth and
paper, it furnishes a sort of wine and food, and is pre-eminently
useful.

In truth, this name Fu-8ang expresses only the name of the
Extreme East, for in the ancient hieroglyphic geography the Cen
tral Kingdom is called, as it now is in China, Chong-hoa, or
"the Central Flower," and the four cardinal countries have the
name of the Sse-fu, or " the Four Auxiliary Countries," composed
of the four principal petals of the nelumbo, the mystic flower,
the flower of the middle, the sacred lotus, type of ancient Egypt
and of the earth, par excellence.

India offers this geographical symbol to us again, and the
ancient Chinese maps call the countries of the north, Fu-yu ;
those of the south, Fti-nan / those of the west, Fu-lin (that is to
say, the Ta-tsin, the Roman Empire) ; and, finally, those of the
east, Fu-sang. Now, to the east of China there is no other ex
tensive land than America ; and, if Jeipan lias ever been also
given this name of Fu-sang, it is because it is to the east of
China ; but the Japanese Encyclopaedia, which should have been

58 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

consulted by M. Klaproth, who attempted to support his opinion
by this name erroneously applied to this country, says that it is
not the true country of Fu-sang.

The banana, the pi-sang tree of the Malays, may also be
one of the trees called fu-sang, for these trees, as well as the
flowers of the nelumbo, or rose-lotus of Egypt, where the young
Horus is seen to spring— that is to say, where the sun is born,
are types of the East, All this, we repeat, is merely a natural
series of symbols employed in the ancient and hieroglyphic
geography, which is too little studied.

The account translated by M. de Guignes also places many
pu-tao, or grapes, in the country of Fu-sang. M. de Guignes
translated the two characters separately, understanding pu to
mean the iris, and tao the peach. M. Klaproth has properly
rectified this, but with singular thoughtlessness he forgets that
the forests of North America abound in several species of
wild vines, and that the Scandinavians placed the country of
Vin-land (the Land of Vines) in the northeastern part of the
continent. He therefore denies the existence of the vine in
America, and, relying especially upon this passage, he concludes
that Fu-sang must be Japan, where the vine, as he says, had
existed for a long time, although in China it had not been intro
duced from Western Asia until the year 126 before our era. It
can therefore be seen how feeble his attempted refutation of M.
de Guignes is, even when the last is mistaken ; and his memoir,
as a whole, offers no more forcible arguments.

When the shaman said that iron was lacking in Fu-sang, but
that copper was found, and that gold and silver were not valued
(because of their abundance, no doubt), he repeats what Plato
said of Atlantis, and what has been reiterated in all accounts
regarding America ; a celebrated river of the northern part of
this continent bears the name of the Coppermine River, and
copper is also very abundant in Peru.

It is also stated that the inhabitants of Fu-sang raised herds of
deer and made cheese from the milk of the hinds; and in the Chi
nese and Japanese Encyclopaedias, as also in the Pian-y-tien,
when the figure of an inhabitant of Fu-sang is given, he is drawn,
in fact, as engaged in milking a hind having small round spots,
and in the two Encyclopaedias this is given as forming the char
acteristic peculiarity of this country of Fu-sang. Philostratus, in

DE PAKAVEY'S SUPPORT.

his " Life of Apollonius," mentioned tribes in India who raised
hinds for their milk, and the thing is not so common as to fail
to be remarked, but herds of hinds have also been found in
America in our days ; for Valmont de Bomare, in the article
entitled " Deer," says : " The Americans have herds of deer
and of hinds running in the woods throughout the day and at
night re-entering their stables. Several tribes of America have
no other milk," he adds, " than that obtained from their hinds,
and of which they also make cheese."

It appears, therefore, that he translates by these words what
JEToei Shin said in 499 A. D. concerning the nations of Fa-sang •
and in calling attention to the fact that this usage formerly ex
isted in India, it was not without design, for the same shaman
affirms that the religion of Buddha (an Indian religion) had been
carried to the country of Fin-sang, in the year 458 of our era, by
five monks of Ky-pin> or of Cophene, an Indian country. He
says that the tribes, from that time converted by them, had nei
ther military weapons nor troops, and, like the Argippeans (of
whom Herodotus speaks), that they did not make war ; he adds,
finally, that they had a species of writing and worshiped images
— that is to say, that they were true Buddhists.

That which is said regarding the cattle with long horns that
carried heavy burdens upon their heads, and of carts to which
horses, cattle, and deer were harnessed, offers, as it appears, the
only difficulty ; but the bisons with manes and with enormous
heads, found in North America, may have been the cause of this
eiToneous statement, and, but for the evasion of the description,
the Chinese name Ma, which is applied to horses, asses, and
camels, and which forms the radical of useful animals of this
nature, might be given, even although it were wrongfully, to
the llamas and alpacas already domesticated perhaps in South
America, which also was included in Fa-sang.

It may be possible, moreover, that horses had been introduced
before this epoch into Northwestern America, which is hardly
known even in our days, and where tribes are mentioned which
use them ; and where teams of reindeers, like those of Kam-
tchatka, may also be seen. It is true that it has been supposed
that these horses are descended from those brought to Mexico
by the Spaniards ; but this has not been proved : and even if we
suppose them to be of European origin, an epidemic or a de-

GO AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

str active war may, since the fifth century, have destroyed the
domesticated horses brought to Fu-sang by the Tartars and the
Buddhists of Asia.

The people of Fa-sang had no other habitations than villages
of wooden cabins, such as have been found near the Columbia
River, to the northwest of California ; and, to obtain a wife,
the young men of the country were obliged to serve their be
trothed for an entire year. Now (in the "Collection of The-
venot"), this is precisely what Palafox says of the American
Indians, whose manners he describes ; and this custom also ex
ists in the extreme northeastern countries of Asia, countries
from which America may be reached, as we have said.

Other details of their customs seem to be borrowed from the
Chinese civilization, especially the cycle of ten years, or perhaps
even of sixty years — as M. de Humboldt has in fact described
among the Muyscas of the plateau of Bogota, in South America,
the usage of the cycle of sixty years and of institutions analogous
to those of the Buddhism of Japan. The cycle of Fa-sang ', bear
ing the names of the ten Chinese Kans, served to mark the suc
cessive colours of the king's garments, colours which were changed
every two years, just as is prescribed for the Emperor of China
by the chapter yue-ling of the Lil-ki, or "Sacred Book of Rites."

But the so-called Chinese cycles, which gave their alphabets
to the most ancient nations of Syria, Phoenicia, and India, as well
as to those of Greece, as we have elsewhere shown (see our " Es
say upon the Common and Hieroglyphic Origin of the Figures
and of the Letters," Paris, 1826; and the article, entitled " Japan
ese Origin of the Muyscas," in the " Annales de Philosophie
Chretienne," Vol. X, page 8, where the figures of the cycles may
be found), may have been carried to Fu-sang quite as well from
Central Asia, or from India, as from China, as they were never
unknown to the Buddhists or shamans.

We might also discuss the sound of the titles given to the
king and nobility of the country of Fu-sang / but these discus
sions would carry us too far, and we will merely call attention
to the fact that the title of the king was I-ky, a sound which
seems connected with the name of the Jfic-sos, the pastoral
kings of Egypt who came from Asia, and the last syllable with
Ric, the name of the Gothic kings, who also came from the
north of Asia ; and possibly also with that of Cacique* the title

DE PARAVEY'S SUPPORT. Cl

of the chiefs of the islands of America, and with that of the
Arikis, or kings of the islands of Oceanica.

We will therefore confine ourselves to discussing the conclu
sion of this account of Fit-sang.

" Formerly," says Hoei Shin, " the religion of Buddha did
not exist in this country ; but in the Song dynasty (in 458 A. D.
— a precise date here), five Pi-kieu, or priests of the country
of Ky-pin (a country in which Father Gaubil sees Samarcand,
and M. de Remusat sees the ancient Cophene, near India), came
to Fu-sang, carrying with them their books and sacred images,
and their ritual, and established monastic customs, and so
changed the manners of the inhabitants."

Accordingly, Hoei Shin, a shaman himself, who came to
China in 499, forty-eight years after this conversion of the peo
ple of Fu-sang, declared that then the people of that country
worshiped the images of spirits at morning and night and did
not wage war.

It is said that proselytism is one of the duties of the Bud
dhist priests and monks. It is therefore not surprising to see
them set forth from Central Asia, and cross the seas and the
most dangerous countries, in order to convert the savage tribes
of America, a country already well known to them and to the
Arabs and Persians of Samarcand.

This can no longer be considered doubtful, since M. de Wai-
deck has sketched an old temple or monastery of Yucatan, a
large square inclosure accompanied by pyramids analogous to
those of the Buddhists of Pegu, Ava, Siam, and the Indian Ar
chipelago, and which can be studied in all their details.

A multitude of niches, in which the figure of the celebrated
god Buddha sits with crossed-legs, exist in Java, all around the
ancient temple of Boru Buddha ; and upon examination of the
temple of Yucatan, of which M. de Waldeck has published
beautiful drawings, we find there the same niches in which sits
the same god Buddha, and also find other figures of East Indian
origin, such as the frightful head of Siva, a flattened and de
formed head which surmounts each of these niches.

We can not affirm, however, that these temples of Yucatan
were as old as the account of Fa-sang, as we have no description
of other buildings in this country than wooden cabins ; but, per
secuted by the Brahmans of India, the Buddhists may have been

02 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

compelled, at several different times, to seek an asylum in Fa-
sang, or America, and possibly even went to Bogota and as far
as to Peru, where the manners of the people have been found to
be so gentle and so analogous to those of the Buddhists.

In the same manner they civilized the wild tribes of the In
dian Archipelago, and of the countries between India and China,
and built temples and pyramids such as those of which we find
the remains, as in Java, or those which are still standing and
venerated, as in Pegu and Siam.

China received the Buddhist religion soon after the com
mencement of the Christian era, under Ming-ti, of the Han dy
nasty ; Corea in the year 372 A. D. ; Fa-sang -, as we have said,
in the year 458 ; and Japan, finally, not until 552, when the Japa
nese received it from Corea and from the kingdom of JPe-tsi, a
land situated in the neighbourhood of the Amoor River and of
Corea, and an ancient center of civilization.

It is from Corea, say the Chinese books, that the country of
Ta-lian can be reached, from which, sailing to the east, one ar
rives at America — that is to say, at Fa-sang. On the voyage one
touches at Japan, and, without doubt, sails along its shores in
order to reach the island of Saghalien upon the north, from
which the route turns to the east toward Kamtchatka or
Ta-han.

But in the curious " History of the Chichimecas," published
in the collection of M. Ternaux, Ixtlilxochitl, the author, a na
tive American, says that the Toltecs came by sea from Japan
to America, landing upon the northwest coast, and in a country
having a red soil, such as that near the Gila River, where also
an ancient monument is mentioned, called the House of Motecu-
zuma.

He had seen in Mexico the Japanese sent to Rome by the
missionaries ; and in these modern Japanese he recognized the
features and the costume of the Toltecs of whom he spoke ;
now he fixed their migration in the fifth century of our era.
He is therefore found to be in perfect accord with the Chinese
accounts, concerning the different voyages to America ; for Ja
pan, as we have already said, is situated upon the route by sea
from Corea to the country of Ta-han, the southern part of
Kamtchatka, situated in a high latitude, and where, as it is said,
the prevailing winds are from the west and the northwest, so

DE PARAVEY'S SUPPORT.

that they would naturally carry a vessel toward Fu-sang, or
North America, a country situated to the east.

The Buddhistic monuments of Yucatan ; the history that
has been preserved of the migration of the Toltecs from Japan
to America ; the Chinese accounts of the country of Ta-han,
and of the vast country of Fu-sang, which were given by the
Buddhists who left this country of America, and arrived at
China by way of Japan : all are therefore in perfect accord.
This passage, ly way of Japan, explains, moreover, how, as
we showed in 1835, in an article entitled " Dissertation sur les
Muyscas," inserted in the " Annales de Philosophic Chretienne,"
cited above, and also published separately, at Paris, under the
title " Memoire sur 1'Origine Japanoise des Peuples du Plateau
de Bogota," the numerals and many words of the language of
the Muyscas, a tribe living upon the plains of Bogota, are found
also in the present language of the Japanese.

Just as the Scandinavians, at a much later date, descended
from the northeastern coast of the New World, and from Vinland,
where they established a settlement, as far as to Brazil in South
America, where their monuments have been found, so, a thousand
years before the Spaniards, but landing upon the northwestern
coast, the Buddhists of India (then persecuted by the Brahmans),
the colonies of Japan and of the nations living upon the banks of
the Amoor (the ancient country of the Hyperboreans), may have
penetrated to Mexico, to Yucatan, to the country of Guatemala
and to Palenque, to the kingdom of Cundinamarca, and finally
to the rich and civilized kingdom of Peru. The celebrated M.
von Humboldt has very well shown the connection of race, of
civilization, and of cycles, manners and usages, which unites the
tribes of these last countries to those of Tartary and of Asia ;
but, by following Father Gaubil (to whom America was but little
known) and M. Klaproth, in denying the identity of America
with Fu-sang, he deprived himself of the most powerful argu
ments in support of his views, and could not fix any precise date
for these migrations.

We hope that, if he reads this short memoir, he will render
more justice to the truth of the discoveries of the celebrated M.
de Guignes, the profound sinologue from whose works M. Klap
roth drew a great part of his learning, and which, upon that ac
count, the latter should not so greatly traduce.

64. AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

We have wished, in this brief extract from our researches
regarding America, to render justice to this learned and mod
est author of the " History of the Huns." As he was, so are
we, oppressed by contemptible coteries ; but we hope that some
day more justice may be shown to the researches which have oc
cupied our best years.

CHEVALIER DE PARAVEY.
August, 1843.

APPENDIX

Gives M. Klaprottis article as far as the end of the translation of the
Chinese account of Fu-sang ; and M. de Paravey adds the following
additional notes :

1. The celebrated Ma Twan-lin, so esteemed by M. Remusat, has also
given this account (of Fu-sang} in his Wen-hien-tong-lcao, with some
variations in the readings ; and it is this which has been translated by M.
de Guignes. It is also repeated in the celebrated Chinese Encyclopaedia,
entitled Yuen-lden-tui-han, in which we found it in London in 1830,
and in the Pian-y-tien, or " Geography of Foreign Nations " ; and copies
of all these highly esteemed works exist in Paris.

2. M. de Paravey, in regard to the characters Jfc |jj| (Fu-sang), has
observed that Father Goncalves, in his highly esteemed Portuguese-
Chinese Dictionary, translated the name Fu-sang by Papula cornuda, the
argemone, or prickly-poppy of Mexico. This learned missionary, there
fore, considered it a plant or shrub of America ; and this single definition
may be considered as proving that the country of Fu-sang corresponds to
some part of Mexico.

3. The laws of Fu-sang, which punish the children and descendants
of a great criminal, have existed in China from time immemorial, and also
in the countries of Asia which are tributary to China.

4. M. Klaproth recognizes the existence in Fu-sang of the Chinese
cycle of sixty years ; but the researches of Father Souciet show that it
existed also in India, and, in the "Journal Asiatique," of Paris, M. de
Paravey has shown that it commenced in India and in China in precisely
the same year. The Buddhists of India, or of the northern part of Cen
tral Asia, may therefore have carried it to the country of Fu-sang, in
America, and to Mexico.

5. In India, it is said, there are cattle which are harnessed to carts ; and
in Kamtchatka there are reindeer, a species of stag, which draw sledges.

6. In the text, M. Klaproth, in spite of all that he says in his foot-

DE PARAVEY'S SUPPORT. 65

note, should, as we have stated in oar memoir, translate the words »M.
tao (which he writes phou-thao) by "grapes," and not by the word
" vines," which, among us, conveys the idea of culture. The woods of
North America, in its northern and northwestern parts, abound in wild
grapes, as the shaman says ; but cultivated vines were not found in Amer
ica, and the text, in fact, does not say that they were.

7. The custom which required the king not to occupy himself with
state affairs during the first three years of his reign was also an ancient
custom in China and in Indo-China.

8. In support of his ideas, M. de Guignes has translated another pass
age of the Nan-szu, which gives the route by sea from Corea to the
country of Ta-Tian. M. Klaproth also translates this passage, which gives
the distance from Ping-yang, the ancient capital of Corea, to Japan as
12,000 li; from that country to the land of the Wen-shin as 7,000 li;
and from the last-named region to the country of Ta-han, 5,000 li.

In applying to this route by sea the same scale (as to the length of
the li) which is found from the stated distance between Persepolis and
Sy-ngan-fu, M. de Paravey found in fact that the distance between the
mouths of the Amoor River, or the end of the island of Saghalien (which
was the country of Wen-shin), and the southern part of Kamtchatka, or
the land of Ta-Jian, is by this route 5,000 li; and he also found 7,000 li
to be the distance between Yedo, the capital of Japan, and the mouths of
the Amoor River.

The description of the route is therefore exact in these two parts ; and
if it first states 12,000 li as the distance by sea between Japan and the
capital of Corea, situated upon its west coast (which is evidently too
great a distance), it is because the route to Japan first led to the Lieu-
Ueu Islands, which are in fact situated 5,000 li from Japan and 7,000
from Corea : either this detour must be allowed, or else the length of the
li must be regarded as very small; but Ta-han is none the less in Kam
tchatka. And in all the hypotheses it is impossible that Japan, here de
scribed by its own name, and a country perfectly well known, could have
contained Fu-sang, as M. Klaproth wishes to prove.

9. A single word, when it is well chosen, amounts sometimes to a
demonstration. In the Dictionary of the Language of Mexico, by the Pere
Molina, a dictionary of which a copy is preserved in the British Museum
at London, we have found that the word lama, or tlama, expresses the
title of the " medicine-men " among the Mexicans ; and no one is ignorant
that in Thibet and Tartary the lamas, or Buddhist priests, are at the
same time the physicians of these countries (so little known) through
which lay the route from India to Fu-sang.

CHEVALIER DE PAEAVEY.
March 7, 1844.
5

CHAPTER V.
DE PARAVEY'S NEW PROOFS.

De Paravey's researches preceded those of Neumann and d'Eichthal— Connection
between the Malay and American languages— Fu-sang located near San Fran
cisco Chinese picture of a native of Fu-sang — Spotted deer — Cattle-horns in

Mexico— Horses — Nations of Northern Asia — Appendix A — Buddhist monu
ments in America— A figure of Buddha in Yucatan— The worship of Siva—
The explorations of Dupaix— Foot-print in the rocks— The cause of eclipses
— Pyramids — Appendix B — A Buddhist sanctuary near the Colorado River —
The name Quatu-zaca — The Mexicans emigrants from the north — Appendix
C— An engraving of a native of Fu-sang— The natives of Oregon— The deer
of America — Connection of American and Asiatic tribes — Pearl-fishing — The
cochineal insect and the nopal— The people of Cophene— American place-
names which appear to contain the name Sakya.

New Proofs that the Country of Fu-sang mentioned in the Chi
nese Books is America.

To the Proprietor of the "Annales de Philosophie Chretienne " :
SIR : Until we have in France a minister who realizes the
great importance of Persia, India, and China, and who will
properly organize that Asiatic Society of which I, with Messrs,
de Sacy and de Chezy, was among the founders ; until sufficient
funds are given to the society to secure for it a building of its own
and a librarian ; and until it is given as its president a man who,
like Lord Aukland, Director of the Asiatic Society of London,
is able by his wealth and influence to unite and utilize all the
educated Orientalists who now, divided among themselves, exist
in Paris and in France — I shall take pleasure in contributing to
your journal, because it is not submissive to any commission
or any coterie, as has been well shown during the seventeen
years of its existence, and as is shown, again, by its publication
of my various essays, very imperfect, as I well know, but which,
.as a whole, will some day form a mass of facts as novel as posi-

DE PARAVEY'S NEW PROOFS. 57

tive. With your sound judgment you have appreciated the
force of my " Description of the Origin of the Letters," of which
the " Journal Asiatique," of Paris, has never had a single word
to say, but which the celebrated Dr. Young approved and upon
which M. Princeps is engaged.

In 1844 you published my " Dissertation upon American
Fu-sang." You have also carefully criticised the articles re
garding the East which M. Mohl has been giving for some
years past in the "Journal Asiatique," and I thank you for
having called attention, in a note to the article of 1845, to
the fact that I had also discussed the delicate and important
question regarding the location of the celebrated country of
Fu-sang. M. Walcknaer has told me that M. Remusat trans
lated the Chinese texts regarding Fu-sang for him. I do not
know whether or not M. Walcknaer, that erudite geographer,
has expressed any opinion upon the subject ; neither do I know
what the learned Viscount of Santarem thinks about it : but that
which I do know, and which I ask you to publish, is that M.
Neumann, quoted by M. Mohl, did not publish his dissertation
at Munich in 1845 until after having seen me at London in
1830-'31, upon his return from China, and after having learned
from Mr. Huttman, then Secretary of the Asiatic Society of Lon
don, that I was engaged upon an extensive work upon this
account of Fu-sang, of which I had found the Chinese text in
England, the copy at Paris being taken by M. Klaproth.

It is the same regarding M. d'Eichthal, quoted by M. Mohl.
At the Asiatic Society (September, 1840) and at the Geographi
cal Society also, in the same year, M. d'Eichthal heard a note
which I read regarding this country, and saw the transcript
which I presented of the figures of Buddha and of Siva, first
recognized by me in the beautiful work of M. de Waldeck upon
the ruins of Uxmal in Yucatan. You yourself then saw the dif
ferent drawings and designs, and M. Burnouf, Jr., recognized,
like me and after me, the figures of Buddha and of Siva.

How could M. Mohl have been ignorant of these facts, so well
known at that time ? How could he have given M. d'Eichthal
the credit without mentioning me ? I do not know. Neither
could I have known of the memoir of M. d'Eichthal or the dis
sertation of M. Neumann, which date only from 1845, while my
articles were published in your journal in 1843 and 1844, and I

68 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

am the first to pray you, sir, to translate or criticise their argu
ments ; for the subject is, as I repeat, very important.

Bernardin de Saint Pierre, in his " Harmonies de la Nature,"
had already indicated the migrations toward the east of the
nations of India and of Oceanica, arriving thus at America to
the north of Peru ; and M. the Admiral de Rossel, the celebrated
navigator and courteous and loyal scholar, has mentioned the
Sandwich Islands as the ancient half-way port between India,
China, and America, a theory which is renewed in this day.

M. de Saint Pierre, in his " £tudes de la Nature " (Eleventh
Study, and Note 49, edition of 1836, first volume), has spoken also
of numerous points of connection found by a very old author
between the Malays and the Peruvians ; and my numerous ex
tracts from the " Dictionary of the Quichua Language of Peru,"
a dictionary of which a copy is preserved in the Royal Library
at Paris, have confirmed these points of connection with the Ma
lay spoken at Java. M. d'Eichthal has therefore entered upon a
good road ; but I have the priority, and M. de Avezac, to whom
I have often spoken of these matters, may have conversed with
him also and described to him my studies.

You speak here of my " Dissertation upon Fu-sang," which,
before it was printed, was the inciting cause of M. Klaproth's
article in 1831, as I have shown in my memoir. Permit me, sir,
to correct that dissertation by some new and very important
notes. I said that the ships of Kamtchatka, constructed in that
place by the Buddhists, who came there from Cabul, carried
them to America near the mouth of the Columbia ; but I wrote
then far from my books and without a terrestrial globe, and I
therefore examined the matter again in 1844, and found that I
had placed the point of their arrival a little too far north.

The beautiful work of M. Duflot de Mofras upon Oregon
(Paris, 1844), a work which I have read and analyzed, conducts
me to the excellent port of San Francisco, to the south of the
Columbia River, as the point of arrival of the Indian Buddhists
of Cabul.

According to the scale of 15,000 li, reckoned by the Chinese
between Persia and the city of Sy-ngan-fu, and also reckoned
between this city and the southern point of Kamtchatka or of
Ta-han, the distance of 20,000 li between Kamtchatka and Fu-
sang, measured upon a terrestrial globe, reaches precisely to this

DE PARAVEY'S NEW PROOFS. (59

point ; and M. de Mofras says that the northwestern winds which
prevail at San Francisco during a great part of the year would
bring one there easily from the northeastern coast of Asia.

There, ships enter without difficulty, while the bar at the
mouth of the Columbia is very difficult to cross, at least for
large vessels. Still, this natural entrance to the beautiful coun
try of Oregon may also have been known of old.

In the figure of the half - clothed, half -civilized American
of Fu-sang, which is given in the " Pian-y-tien" and also in
the Chinese Encyclopaedia, this native is seen milking a young
hind with white spots, and her fawn is equally spotted. I
sought in vain for any account of this kind of spotted deer in
America, until, upon re-reading M. von Humboldt's works, I
noticed that the Cervus Mexicanus of Linnaeus is spotted like
our European roe-deer, and that the spots are particularly notice
able while the animal is young. This species of deer is found in
America, and in Mexico in particular, in immense numbers, says
M. von Humboldt, as well as a large deer similar to ours, and
often entirely white ; a deer which is found in the Andes, where
it also runs in herds. These last, therefore, recall the white and
tame hinds which are milked by the Indians of the Himalaya,
as we are told by Philostratus in his "Life of Apollonius of
Tyane," for these people, being Buddhists, deprive themselves of
meat, and live upon fruits and dishes made from milk.

The account of Fu-sang speaks also of cattle with very long
horns, that are domesticated by the natives of that country.
Now, M. von Humboldt says that the bisons of Canada are
often broken to the yoke and that they breed with our Euro
pean cattle.

These bisons weigh as much as two thousand pounds or
more, but their horns are small ; whereas he says that cattle-
horns of a monstrous size have been found in ruined monuments
near Cuernavaca, in the southwestern part of Mexico. He refers
these horns to the musk-ox of the extreme north of America ;
but M. de Castelnau, in his courageous exploration near the
Amazon and in Paraguay, found cattle with very long horns,
besides another species with small horns, which ran with them
in the same plains.

The account of Fii-sang is therefore confirmed upon this point ;
but there is certainly some error in the text when it is said that

70 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

upon these long horns the cattle carried a weight of twenty ho
(the Chinese " ho " being a weight of one hundred and twenty
pounds) — that is to say, a total weight of twenty-four hundred
pounds ! It should be said that they weighed, per head, at least
twenty-four hundred pounds, and not that this enormous burden
was placed upon their horns ; that would be impossible.

The horses mentioned in this account seem alone to have
been lacking in America ; but the Patagonians, true Tartars, are
always on horseback, and there is nothing to prove that they had
not preserved among them some descendants of the horses which
the bonzes of India brought to Mt-sang, and which the boats of
Kamtchatka had perhaps taken from Tartary.

I will give you some day an article about the tribes of the
extreme north of Asia, having large boats and very short nights
during summer.

A hundred times wiser than M. Klaproth, M. de Guignes, Sr.,
in his memoir regarding Fu-sang, by a few words referred to
this nation with large boats, and of whom the name Ku-tu-moei
— that is to say, " Having the Nights very short in Summer " —
indicates the position to be near the Arctic circle.

There is an account of this nation in the work of Ma Twan-
lin, entitled " Wen-hien-tong-kao" and I have extracted what
he says upon the subject.

I have shown elsewhere that the passage from Europe to
America by the way of Northern Siberia must then have been
practicable, this sea being gradually filled up with the detritus
of great rivers which fall into it, and in this way it freezes more
and more each year, for it is known that deep seas do not freeze.
All these facts open new and important questions, and your use
ful and weighty journal may well treat them.

Accept, etc., CHEVALIER DE PARA VET.

SAINT GERMAIN, April 24, 1847.

DE PARAVEY'S NEW PROOFS. fj

APPENDIX A.

IN EEGAED TO THE MEMOIR OF M. D'EICHTHAL MENTIONED BY M. MOHL.

Proof given in 1840 of the Introduction of the Worship of Buddha into
America ly Means of the East Indians of Cabul.

To the President of the Academy of Sciences :

DID certain bonzes of India, setting forth from Central Asia, in the
year 458 of oar era, go to America by the way of Kamtchatka and the
northwestern part of the New World, in order to convert the nations that
lived there, and of which the existence has been known ever since?

This is what is affirmed by the learned M. de Guignes, Sr., in the
"Memoires de F Academic des Inscriptions," where he has given a trans
lation of the account of the voyage of these East Indian bonzes, taken
from the Great Annals of China.

This has been since denied by M. Klaproth and M. von Humboldt, who
base their opinion upon some doubts expressed by the scholarly Father
Gaubil, who had not sufficiently studied the question. I desire to state
my reasons for answering this question in the affirmative. I have no
doubt upon the subject, since discussing it with the learned Admiral M.
de Rossel, and exhaustively studying the memoir of M. de Guignes con
cerning the navigations of the Chinese to the celebrated eastern land
which they called the country of Fu-sang, and which they placed some
two thousand leagues to the east of the shores of their empire and of
Tartary. But as neither my mere assertions nor those of others should
receive any more favourable consideration than has been given to the ex
cellent work of M. de Guignes, Sr., and as the Academy of Sciences wishes
facts rather than words, I will call attention to the monuments of a portion
of Central America, hitherto almost unknown, at least in regard to its an
tiquities ; monuments to which I have already called the attention of the
Asiatic Society of Paris, of M. Burnouf, Jr., and of M. the Chevalier Jaubert,
and which they have agreed with me in recognizing as purely Buddhistic.

M. the Baron van der Cappelen, living near Utrecht, Holland, has
shown me large drawings of the temple of Boro-Boudor in Java, brought
from India by him. This ancient temple is circular, and is ornamented
with thousands of small, beautiful niches, in which the figure of the cele
brated Indian god Buddha sits cross-legged, each niche being surmounted
by the monstrous and deformed head of Siva.

I could show the same idols in ancient Egypt, and at Axum, in Abys
sinia ; but, in looking over the beautiful work of M. Waldeck, the skillful
artist and distinguished disciple of David, who was sent to Yucatan by the
generous and unfortunate Lord Kingsborough, I was surprised to see upon
the sketch of the southern facade of the vast square palace of the ruins of
Uxmal, near Merida, eight niches of the Indian Buddha, figured seated

as n

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

Java, in the East Indies, and with the face decorated with coarse rays
surrounding it, and to see in addition a monstrous and flattened human
head surmounting the square niche and the cabin or house in which this
Indian Buddha is seated.

The resemblance of this Buddha of Yucatan with the figure of the
Buddha of Java, published in "Crawfurd's Indian Archipelago" (vol. ii,
p. 206), is such that M. Burnouf at first believed my sketches of the
ancient palace of Uxmal in Yucatan, sketches copied from Plate xvii of
M. Waldeck's, to be of purely East Indian and Siamese origin, and not
American.

M. Burnouf knew that the worship of the monstrous Siva accompanied,
even in Siam and Nepal, the gentler worship of Buddha, and that their
images are often coupled, as in the temple of Boro-Boudor, in ancient
Java, in the Indian Archipelago, and as in particular Typhon and the
young Horus were coupled in ancient Egypt.

We find again, in the center of America, the same two figures, also
coupled, exactly copied, and, to the number of eight, ornamenting the
southern facade of an Oriental temple ; thus, as it seems to me, clearly
demonstrating the truth of the account of the voyage to Fu-sang, in
the year 458 A. D., translated from the Chinese by M. de Guignes, and
attributed to five Buddhists who set forth from Ky-pin or Cophene — that
is to say, from the country of Cabul in India.

In the "Annales de Philosophie Chretienne," vol. xii, p. 441, where an
analysis is given of the "Antiquites du Mexique," by Dupaix, the ex
plorations are mentioned which he made at Zachilla, the capital of the
ancient kingdom of the Zapotecs, where he found upon a rock the imprint
of a gigantic foot, an imprint in which M. de Paravey sees an imitation
of that which is worshiped upon Adam's Peak in Ceylon, and of which
the nations of Ava and Pe"gu, of the Buddhist religion, have also similar
imitations; in addition, Colonel Dupaix also found in this place an idol,
seated, the hands crossed upon the breast, and which can be nothing else
than one of the figures of Sakya, or Buddha.

There, according to the " Journey of the Shamans," since translated by
M. Re"musat, was the country of Buddhism, and of the monstrous idola
tries of India ; deplorable alterations from the pure worship founded in
Indo-Persia by Shem, in whom we see the celebrated ffeu-tsi of the Chi
nese.

There we hear of the two imaginary planets Ragu and Cet u, the head
and tail of the dragon, the nodes of the moon, the cause of eclipses,
and the place of the conjunctions ; and these planets are drawn at full
length upon the western facade of the palace of Uxmal in Yucatan, being
interlaced so as to form knots or nodes, and having feathers instead of
scales, thus showing that they are intended for aerial beings. All this
points to an ancient hieroglyphic astronomy, in which the spirals of the

DE PARA VET'S NEW PROOFS. 73

sun, in its apparent course from one tropic to the other, are symbolized
by a dragon or a vast boa-constrictor, a thing quite natural as an image.

So, in Chinese, or ancient Babylonian, an eclipse of the sun is written
by a picture of the sun eaten by a dragon, or serpent, and an eclipse
of the moon by the figure of the moon eaten by a dragon. In Chinese
ji 0, chi fji, is an eclipse of the sun, and yue ^, chi f£, an eclipse of
the moon ; these phrases being used to convey the idea that the heavenly
bodies are swallowed little by little— Chi, ^ ("Diet. Chin.," No. 9505),
the phonetic, means "to eat," and when this is united with the radi
cal chong, &, that of the serpent, the two together signify " to eat little
by little as the boas swallow their food." Notwithstanding the fact that
the art of calculating eclipses is known in China, the common people
believe only in making a noise to frighten this imaginary dragon, this
feathered or aerial boa.

To find the picture at full length of these Chinese and East Indian
superstitions, at Uxmal in Yucatan, and to see every evidence of a dupli
cation in America of the Buddha of Java — an island which also contains
at Suku a tcocalli, or ancient pyramidal temple, similar to that of Uxmal
in America, drawn by M. Waldeck (see his " Voyage au Yucatan ") — have
appeared to me to be important and decisive facts. I hope that they, when
brought to general notice by publication in the Society's Transactions, will
attract the attention of educated Americans, and show them that their
country and its ruins are worthy of more careful study than they have as
yet received, and that they will lead to other explorations than those hith
erto made, which have been but little better than nothing.

To defend the learned author of the " History of the Huns," relying
here upon the wise geographer Buache, against the ill-founded objections
of M. Klaproth, has also appeared to me to be very important, and I do
not believe that any one can now deny the voyages of the Indo-Tartars
to America, and that nearly one thousand years before Columbus.

I could give further proofs of the connection of Uxmal, Palenque, and
Tulha with India, but fear to trespass too greatly upon your space.

CHEVALIEB DE PARAVE?.

PARIS, July SO, 1840.

APPENDIX B

TO OUR LETTER TO THE ACADEMY.

New Proofs of the Introduction of the Worship of Buddha into America, or
into the Country of Fa-sang. Which was the First Country converted
to this Religion in the New World?

ONE of the countries of America which was first converted by the
shamans of Cabul, arriving from the southern point of Karatchatka at

74: AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

the excellent port of San Francisco, in California, to the north of Monte
rey, must evidently have been the country upon the banks of the Colorado
River, a large river which flows through these same regions from the
north to the south and falls into the northern end of the Gulf of California.
Now, in the useful translations of the Spanish authors made by M. Ter-
naux-Compans, we find that Castatteda placed near the Colorado River, in
a small island, a sanctuary of Lamaisra, or of Buddhism. He mentions a
divine personage living in a small house near a lake upon this island, and
called, as he says, " Quatu-zaca," who was reputed never to eat.

Maize, deer-skin mantles, and cloth made of feathers were offered to
him in great quantities; and in the same place (which proves a coloniza
tion) they also made many little bells of copper.

Even the name of this deified lama, or of this idol Quatu-zaca, contains
the Tartar and East Indian name u Xaca," written SM-Tcia in Chinese, and
" Sakya " in Sanscrit, the name of the celebrated god Buddha ; a remark
which we are the first to make, and " Quatu " may indicate his origin as
of " Cathay." *

Castaiieda adds that the nations of these countries were very peace
able and gentle, never waged war, and (abstaining from flesh) lived solely
upon three or four kinds of very good fruits.

It is therefore impossible to fail to see here an ancient colony of Bud
dhists, or of lamas, a colony which in turn pushed its branches into Mex
ico, Yucatan, Bogota, and even to Peru, a country of very civilized customs.

The Mexicans, frightfully cruel in their recent idolatries, are, as is
known, emigrants from the northeast of Asia and from the northwestern
part of America, but much more recent; and before their arrival in
these beautiful countries it is to be believed, as is stated in the account
of Fu-sang, that the gentle and fraternal religion of the Buddhists, the
remnants of the race of Shem, reigned there exclusively.

Even the title of the shamans, who came there in 458, is derived from
the Sanscrit "sramawa," which signifies "peaceful," M. Pauthier tells us;
and this name is afterward found again in Mexico, where M. Ternaux-
Compans (Mexican Vocabulary, in his translation of the old Spanish authors)
gives Amanam as the name of the priests and the diviners, a word which
evidently may at first have been pronounced Chamanani, Samanani,
Shamaneans. CHEVALIER DE PAEAVET.

SAINT GERMAIN, April 26, 1847.

*The name "Cathay" was, however, used AS a name of the Kingdom of
China,1790 or of its northern portion, and not of In ,ia.1801 E. P. V.

DE PARAVEY'S NEW PROOFS. 75

APPENDIX C.

IN EEGAED TO THE FIGURE OF A NATIVE OF FU-SANG FOUND IX CHINESE
BOOKS, AND NOW PUBLISHED FOR THE FIRST TIME.

To what Country of America can the almost Nude Man, which the Chi
nese Books picture as an Inhabitant of Fu-sang, have belonged?

As may be seen by the engraving,* the Chinese supposed that the men
who inhabited the country of Fu-sang were almost naked. Now, it may
be said that the inhabitants of North America are fully clothed. This is
true of the greater part of the country ; but in the " Voyage to tbe Mouth
of the Columbia River " of Lewis & Clark (page 302, and also page 507),
at latitude 46° 18' north, these explorers found the Chinook Indians, and
in a village upon the Island of Deer, they found women who, instead of
short petticoats, had a simple truss about the loins, or a narrow skin cov
ering this part of their bodies.

They say (page 286) that the Indians living near the Columbia River,
owing to the mildness of the climate, always have the legs and feet bare,
even in winter; and never wear more than small robes, even in cold
weather ; or skin aprons and a kind of cloak upon the shoulders (page
310). The moccasins for the feet and legs are not used, except in Canada
and near Hudson's Bay, where the climate is much colder.

So the man of Fu-sang, shown as almost nude in the old drawing from
the Pian-y-tien and the Chinese Cyclopaedia, must have lived near the
Columbia River in the neighbourhood of California, a rich and beautiful
country of a very mild and temperate climate, the country of Oregon,
regarding which, Spain, England, and the United States are now dis
puting.

In addition, if we open the " Exploration de TOregon et de la Cali
fornia," published in 1844 by M. Duflot de Mofras (vol. ii, page 250), we
see, in fact, that these Indians therein described have only the loins or the
middle of the body covered ; and this exactly as in the plate of the na
tive of Fu-sang, a plate reproduced since the year 499 of our era in all the
foreign geographies published in China and Japan.

Everything, therefore, justifies my conjectures. As to the spotted hind
and its fawn, we have cited M. von Humboldt in regard to the Cervus Mex-
icanus of Linnseus. And we point out, in this connection also, in order to
show that the natives know how to keep them in herds and tame them,
the " Voyage en Amerique " by M. de Chateaubriand (in 8vo, vol. i, page

* It has not been thought advisable to give a copy of the engraving, to which
reference is made, as there is no reason for believing it to be anything more than
a sketch made from the fancy of the Chinese artist. — E. P. V.

76 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

130), where he speaks of the hinds of Canada, a charming sort of hornless
reindeer, which they tamed there, he tells us.

CHEVALIEE DE PAEAVEY.

(Extract from No. 90 (June, 1847) of the " Annales de Philosophic
Chretienne.")

EEFCTATION OF THE OPINION EXPEESSED BY M. JOMAED THAT THE NATIONS
OF AMEEICA NEVEE HAD ANY CONNECTION WITH THOSE OF ASIA.

(Extract from the number of May, 1849, of the "Annales de Philosophic

Chretienne.r)

THE essay opens with a statement of the importance of geographical
study, in assisting to open up commerce with foreign nations ; disputes
the unchristian idea that the people of America can have been Autoch
thones; gives a resume of former arguments regarding Fu-sang ; and adds
the following new matter :

In addition to the Phoenician and East Indian art of dyeing purple with
the murex, and the art of fishing for pearls, which is found near Panama,
in the countries of Guaxaca and of Chacahua in America, there also exists
another art, purely East Indian, which of itself demonstrates the arrival
of the Buddhists of Cabul in America, named by them the country of the
Extreme East— that is to say in Chinese, the country of Fu-sang. This art
is that of using the cochineal insect of the nopal plant, an art equally found
at Guaxaca, and which produces the wealth of this central country of
America.

In 1795, at Madras in India, Major Anderson showed, in a special essay,
that the cochineal insect and the nopal plant upon which it lives are found
in India and toward the countries of Lahore and Cabul ; and he thought
that from these they must have been imported into America, into the
country of Honduras near Mexico ; but he does not show how.*

* The substance of the article that is referred to 103 is, that cochineal insects
were brought from Rio Janeiro to Calcutta, and that, when they reached the latter
place, the nopal plants upon which they lived were so nearly dead that none of
them could be revived. The insects were therefore tried upon all the varieties of
nopal that could be obtained, including a variety from the Cape of Good Hope, one
from Mauritius, and a number of others, but could not live upon any of them, with
the exception of a variety found growing in Bengal, which had a flower exactly
similar to that of the nopal upon which the insects grew in America, and which
seemed to be the same plant. Upon this the insects thrived.

W. Roxburgh says this variety " seems to be a native of Bengal ; at least it has
been long known."

James Anderson says " it is common over all the Carnatic " ; and he again
speaks of it as " common and indigenous," and also says " it is common as far

DE PARAVEY'S NEW PROOFS. 77

Now, the account of Fu-sang attributes precisely to these East Indians
of Ky-pin, or of Cabulistan, the civilization of America, which must hare
preceded the ferocious and sanguinary religion of the Tartars of Mexico.

These peaceful and Buddhistic Indians occupied themselves with com
merce and useful arts. Having known in their own country how to
utilize the precious lac insect as well as that of the nopal, and finding the
nopal in Mexico, they must have also carried there the insect which lives
upon it, or, if it existed there, they made use of it as a means of preparing
cochineal, an art that is purely East Indian and Asiatic.

Merely the names of Guaxaca, Chacahua, Zachita, and Zacapa, found
in Honduras and Guatemala, demonstrate the presence of these Buddhists
in these countries, since " Xaca " and " Sakya," or " Shi-Tcia," are the
well-known Asiatic names of the celebrated divinity Fo, or the Indian
Buddha, a god. represented as seated with crossed legs, the figure of which,
drawn at Uxmal in Yucatan without recognition, by M. de "Waldeck, the
artist sent by the late Lord Kingsborough, has been first brought into
notice by us.

The character shi, lp£, of the name " Shi-lsia," or " Sakya," signifies
"to release, to dismiss, to pardon"; and the character Icia, SJ|J, "to sit
with the legs crossed," exactly as the figure found at Uxmal by M. "Wai-
deck is seated. CHEVALIER DE PAEAVEY.

north as Nepal, where they say an insect lives on it with which they dye red."
There is no proof, however, that this was the cochineal insect.

At this time different varieties of the cactus had been introduced from
America into almost all parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and had long been com
mon in many districts. There is nothing to show that the nopal, then found in
Bengal, had not been introduced from America some time during the three centuries
elapsing between the discovery of America and the date referred to in the article.
And there is one fact, which seems to render it almost certain that the plant had
been introduced from Mexico, and at a comparatively recent date, as it is stated
that " the Bengalese call their cactus * neeg-penny,' or ' nag-penny.' " It is evident
that this is a corruption of the Mexican term "nopalli," or "nochpalli"; and if the
plant had been introduced in Hwui SMrfs time, thirteen centuries before, the name
would probably have changed more than this during that length of time. There
is really no reason to believe that the plant had been introduced into India before
the discovery of America by Columbus. By the end of the eighteenth century the
prickly pear, or Indian fig, had become wild in India, just as it had in many other
countries where it is known that it was carried early in the sixteenth century.
It seems to have been widely distributed, not only for its fruit, but as a curiosity,
and as it throve well in nearly all tropical lands, it soon grew wild and spread it-
self over the country. — E. P. V.

CHAPTER VI.

The knowledge of foreign nations possessed by the Chinese— Their precepts — The
journey of Lao-tse — Embassies and spies — Knowledge derived from foreign
visitors — Its preservation in Chinese records — The introduction of Buddhism
— Its command to extend its doctrines to all nations — Chinese system of ge
ography and ethnology — The unity of the Tartars and Red-skins — American
languages — The Tunguses, or Eastern Barbarians — The Pe-ti, or Northern Bar
barians — The Ainos, or Jebis, and the Negritos — The Wen-shin, or Pictured-
people — Embassies between China and Japan — The Country of Dwarfs — The
Chinese " Book of Mountains and Seas " — Information given by a Japanese
embassador — Kamtchatka, the Tchuktchi, and the Aleuts — Lieu-kuei — The
length of the li — Lieu-kuei, a peninsula — The land of the Je-tshay — The na
tives of Kamtchatka— Their dwellings— Their clothing— The climate— The
animals of the country — The customs of the people — The country of the Wen-
shin identified with the Aleutian Islands — Ta-han, or Alaska — The kingdom
of Fu-sang and its inhabitants — The Amazons — Fu-sang identified with the
western portion of America called Mexico — The fu-sang tree — Only one voy
age made — Chinese accounts of Fu-sang — The distance from Ta-han, or Alas
ka, indicates that Fu-sang is Mexico — The oldest history of America — Suc
cessive tribes — The ruins of Mitla and Palenque — Something of earlier races
to be learned from the condition of the Aztecs — Pyramidical monuments — If
Buddhism existed in America, it was an impure form — The myth of Huitzilo-
pochtli — The/w-saw#,the maguey, or Agave Americana — Connection between
the flora of America and that of Asia — Metals and money — Laws and customs
of the Aztecs — Domestic animals — Horses — Oxen — Stag-horns — Chinese and
Japanese in the Hawaiian group and in Northwestern America — Shipwrecks
upon the American coast — The voyages of the Japanese.

Eastern Asia and Western America, according to Chinese Au
thorities of the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Centuries — by Karl
Friedrich

1. THE KNOWLEDGE OF FOREIGN NATIONS POSSESSED BY
THE CHINESE.— As, in the eyes of the Chinese, the " Middle
Kingdom " was the most cultured upon earth, its precepts re-

NEUMANN'S MONOGRAPH. 79

quired that it should not only preserve its customs and laws as
handed down from former generations, but that it should extend
these customs and laws abroad beyond the limits of the country.
It was added that this extension of knowledge should not be
brought about by the art of persuasion of any missionaries, or by
the compulsive force of armed troops. A true renovation could
only take place, as in the case of every other healthy organic
growth, when the pressure was from within outward ; when the
surrounding barbarians, irresistibly attracted by the virtue and
majesty of the Sons of Heaven, and ashamed of their barbarism,
should voluntarily obey the image of the Heavenly Father and
become men.

A people actuated by such a spirit would undertake no voy
ages of discovery, and would carry on no wars of conquest ; and
during the history of this Oriental land, covering a period of four
thousand years, no single prominent man is named who journeyed
into foreign lands in order to improve himself or others. The
journey of Lao-tse to the West, from which he neither returned
nor wished to return, appears to have been a myth, designed to
connect his teaching regarding the " Primitive and Infinite Wis
dom " with the western " Mountain of the Gods " or with Bud
dhism. The campaigns which were undertaken beyond the
limits which nature has set to the Chinese empire were merely
the result of efforts at self-preservation. In Central as in East
ern Asia, in Thibet as on the Irawaddy, it is necessary to take
precautions against dangers and disasters which might ultimately
threaten the liberty of the nation. As is not infrequently the case,
in Europe as well as in Asia, it becomes necessary to send embas
sies and spies into surrounding regions in order to obtain infor
mation as to their situation and condition, as well as to the cir
cumstances and intentions of the inhabitants, of a nature which
might prove of service in military expeditions and negotiations
with the enemies of the empire. Moreover, the glorious and for
tunate " Middle Kingdom " allured not only barbarians eager for
spoils, but also merchants eager for gain, since several articles,
such as silk, tea, and genuine rhubarb, were found only here.
The Chinese government, like its people, has been controlled by
the precepts of its sages, and has at all times received strangers
humanely and courteously, as long at least as they yielded un
conditional obedience, or otherwise showed submission and fear ;

80 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

and, according to Oriental custom, their gifts were repaid by
others more valuable. All these discoveries, and all the informa
tion obtained in their different peaceable or warlike methods,
whether relating to the neigbouring nations or to those dwelling
in the most distant parts of the earth, were noted in the last divis
ion of the Annual Registers of Chinese history, of which, from
our point of view, they constitute the most valuable portion.

The arrogance and vanity of the Chinese people were part
ly eradicated, however, by means of the introduction of Bud
dhism, and its gradual conquest of the countries of Eastern Asia.
He Who believed in the divine mission of the Son of the King of
Kapilapura must recognize every human being as his equal and
brother ; yes, must strive — for the ancient religion of Buddha,
as in the case of many others of its dogmas and customs, agreed
with the more youthful religion of Christianity in this point also
— to extend the gospel of redemption to all nations upon the face
of the earth ; and, for this purpose, following the example of the
divine-man, must be ready to take upon himself all conceivable
sufferings and labours. We therefore find a number of Bud
dhist monks and priests going forth from Central Asia and
China, from Japan and Corea, to known and unknown regions,
either for the purpose of obtaining information as to their dis
tant brothers in the faith or to preach the doctrine of the Holy
Trinity to unbelievers. The accounts of these missionaries'
travels, of which we possess several, viewed from a geographical
and ethnological standpoint, are among the most important and
instructive works of the entire body of Chinese literature. From
them is derived the greatest part of the information which we
shall give regarding Northeastern Asia and the countries of the
western coast of America; information which has descended from
centuries that until now have been concealed from view by dark
est night.

2. THEIR SYSTEM OF GEOGRAPHY AND ETHNOLOGY. — Arro
gance and vanity are the basis whereupon the Chinese built
most of their peculiar system of geography and ethnology.
Around the " Central Flower," so they were taught by their
sages, dwelt rude, uncouth nations, which in reality were but
animals, although they had the form and figure of the human
race. Because of this assumed animal nature, the inhabitants
of the " Central Flower " gave them nicknames of all kinds :

NEUMANN'S MONOGRAPH. 81

dogs, swine, demons, and barbarians, were the distinguishing
names which they gave to foreigners dwelling in the four cardi
nal directions ; to the east, west, north, and south. The few
western investigators and historians, who have thought it worth
the trouble to devote their attention to the fallow field of the
history of Eastern and Central Asia, have unquestionably fol
lowed the ethnographical system resting upon these limited geo
graphical elements. It therefore sometimes happens that races
are represented as belonging to the same family, which in fact
have no connection, and sometimes one and the same nation is
divided up among different families ; this occurring especially
among the numerous and widely extended family of the Tartars.
3. THE UNITY OF THE TARTARS AND RED-SKINS. — The Tun-
guses and Mongolians and a great portion of the Turks origi
nally formed (according to the important indications of their
bodily figure, as well as the elements of their languages) a single
family of nations, really connected with the Esquimaux (the
Skraelings or dwarfs of the Norsemen) as well as with the races
and tribes of the New World. This is the solid, irrefutable re
sult of the latest researches in the fields of comparative anatomy
and physiology, as well as in those of comparative philology and
history. All researches point in the end to their unity. The Red
skins have all the different peculiarities which can remind us of
their neighbours on the other side of Behring's Strait. They have
a four-cornered or round head, high cheek-bones, heavy jaws,
large four-cornered eye-sockets, and a low, retreating forehead.
The skulls of the oldest Peruvian graves show the same pecul
iarities as the heads of the nomadic Indians of Oregon and
California ; and Gallatin, in his researches in the field in which
he stands alone, has shown * that the American languages as a
whole have such a similarity that, however different their vo
cabularies may be, they all point back to a common origin. All
researches regarding the manner in which America was peopled
lead to the same final conclusion. Since the earth has been in
habited, these natives have dwelt in the neighbouring regions of
Asia and America. The rude masses have in the course of cen
turies, by means of different processes of civilization, been sepa
rated into different races and nations, each of a peculiar physi
cal type — a consequence of the higher mental tendencies — and
* Baer, in the " Beitrage zur Kentnisa des Russischen Reiches," vol. i, p. 279.

82 Atf INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

numerous languages have grown up; yet they still bear sufficient
tokens of their original unity, in their physical peculiarities, as
well as in their languages, their customs, and their habits. This
unity is shown by their genealogy (the oldest historical system
of all nations which know only a single original ancestor), which
leads the Turks, Mongols, and Tunguses back to the same ori
gin.* Among the Tartarian hordes we find a relationship simi
lar to that which existed between the different German races.
The Ostrogoths and Visigoths, the Ostphalians and Westpha-
lians, the men of the north and men of the south, belonged in
their essential nature to one and the same Teutonic family, not
withstanding the differences in their culture and their destiny.

4. THE TUNGUSES, THE EASTERN BARBARIANS. — All the nu
merous Tartaric tribes which wandered about, or dwelt north
easterly from the Middle Kingdom, were called by the civilized
southern people Tong-hu, "Eastern Red-men, or Barbarians,"
from which term our word " Tunguse " has sprung, which has
since been applied to the people of a much smaller section of
country. Among the Tong-hu the Mongolians were prominent,
many centuries before Chinggis Chakan, distinguished by the
slightly different names of Wog or Mog, and divided into seven
tribes, whose abodes stretched from the Corean Peninsula high
up into the North, across the Amoor River, and to the Eastern
Ocean — that is to say, to the Gulf of Anadir, or to Behring's
Strait. The nomadic races, called Pe-ti, or " Northern Barbari
ans," dwelt more directly north ; and many tribes were sometimes
described as belonging to the Tunguses, and sometimes to the
Pe-ti. In one way and another the Chinese obtained an aston
ishingly accurate knowledge of the northeastern coast of the
Asiatic Continent, which, as is shown by their observations in
astronomy and natural history, extended to the sixty-fifth degree
of latitude, and even to the Arctic Ocean. f Among other ac
counts, they tell of a country, inhabited by a small tribe, called
Kolihan, or Chorhan, which during the latter half of the seventh
century sent several embassies to the court at Singan. This
country lay on the North Sea, far from the " Middle Kingdom,"

* The " Shajrat ul Atrak," or Genealogical Tree of the Turks and Tartars,
translated by Colonel Miles, London, 1838. Tung, or Tungus, is here (p. 25) rep
resented as a son of Turk.

f Gaubil, "Observations Mathematiques," Paris, 1732, vol. ii, p. 110.

NEUMANN'S MONOGRAPH. 83

and beyond, still farther north, and on the other side of this sea,
the days were sometimes so long and the nights so short that
the sun sank and rose again before a breast of mutton could be
roasted.* The Chinese were well acquainted with the customs
of these hordes, which completely resembled those of the present
Tchuktchi, the Koljushes, f and other families of Northeast
ern Asia and Northwestern America. "These barbarians," they
say, " have neither oxen, sheep, nor other domestic animals ; but,
as some compensation for the lack of these animals, they make use
of deer, which are very numerous." The deer spoken of are un
doubtedly reindeer, which have also been described by European
voyagers as resembling the common deer.J " Of agriculture these
petty tribes know nothing. They support themselves by hunt
ing and fishing, and upon the root of a plant that is found there
in great abundance. Their dwellings are built of brush-wood
and pieces of larger wood, and their clothing is made of birds'-
feathers and the skins of wild animals. Their dead are laid in
coffins, which are hung on trees growing in the mountain ranges.
They know nothing of any division of the year into different
seasons." *

The Chinese were also as well acquainted with the tribes
which dwelt directly east as with these northern nations.

5. THE Amos, OR JEBIS, AND THE NEGRITOS. — Even as early
as the reign of the Cheu dynasty, in the times of David and
Solomon, the limits of Chinese civilization reached to the Pacific
Ocean. The numerous neighbouring groups of islands were known
in the kingdom and visited for the purpose of trading. Their
inhabitants sent embassies to the court, which offered all kinds
of presents, that are described in full in the Shu-king, or Chinese
Book of Annals. Moreover, it often happened, and still happens,
that China sent forth a part of its overflowing or discontented
population to those islands which were either sparsely settled,

* " Ma Twan-lin? Book 348, p. 6.

f " Koljushi," or " Koljuki," is the name of the pegs which these barbarians
wear in their under lip, and from these they originally derived their name. The
Russians who govern this land afterward called them " Galoches " (from that
word of the French language), the name being at first applied only in jest. In
the course of time, however, this word superseded the earlier name " Koljukes,"
so that they are now universally called " Kaloshes."

t Forster, " Schifffahrten im Norden," Frankfort, 1784, p. 338.

* "Jfa Twan-lin," Book 344, p. 18.

84 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

or, in some cases, entirely uninhabited, colonies having thus been
sent to Japan, to Lieu-Tcuei, and to Tai-wan or Formosa, of which
fact we possess explicit historical testimony. The family of the
Ainos, or Jebis, stretching from Japan to Kamtchatka, over the
Kurile and the Aleutian Islands and far away into the North,
where it meets the allied family of the Esquimaux, must have
appeared especially remarkable to these Chinese-Mongolian colo
nists and traders (who themselves possessed but scanty beards)
on account of the strong growth of hair with which the bodies
of these Ainos were covered. On this account they were called
Mao-jin (or, according to the Japanese pronunciation of the
Chinese characters, Mo-sin), meaning " Hairy-people " ; or, from
the numerous sea-crabs which the ocean in these regions throws
up upon the beach,* Hia-i (or, according to the Japanese pro
nunciation, Jesso)— that is to say, " Crab-barbarians." Moreover,
because the Ainos, like the inhabitants of the South Sea Islands,
and other barbarians, have the custom of tattooing themselves
with all kinds of figures, they were also called Wen-shin, or
" Pictured-people." In the course of time still other names were
applied to them ; but he who is governed by a knowledge of the
nature of these regions and their inhabitants, immediately recog
nizes that the different descriptions and accounts all relate to the
same family of the Ainos. We are indebted to the repeated em
bassies, which in earlier times went back and forth between China
and Japan, for a great part of the information contained in the
Annual Registers of the " Middle Kingdom " regarding the north
easterly and southeasterly islands and tribes, and, although much
that is fabulous is undoubtedly contained in their accounts, still
even their most incredible tales may contain some element of
truth. So in the Chu-shu, or "Dwarfs," dwelling far distant
from Japan in a southerly direction, having black bodies, naked
and ugly, who murder and eat strangers, we immediately recog
nize the inhabitants of New Guinea or Papua.f The Ainos are
first mentioned by the name of " the Hairy-people," in the Chi
nese " Book of Mountains and Seas," a work dating from the
third or second century before our era, and richly adorned with
wonderful tales. It says that they live in the Eastern Sea, and

* " Beschreibung der Kurilischen und Aleutischen laseln," translated from the
Russian into German, Ulm, 1792, p. 16.
f " MaTwan-lin," Book 327, p. 37.

NEUMANN'S MONOGRAPH. 35

have hair growing over their entire body. * Several of these
people accompanied a Japanese embassy to the " Middle King
dom " in the year 659 A. D. In the Annual Register of the Tang
dynasty they are called " Crab-barbarians," and the following
observation is added : " They had long beards and lived north
easterly from Japan " ; they presented arrows, bows, and deer
skins, as the chronicle states, as offerings to the throne.f

These were inhabitants of Jesso, which island had shortly be
fore (in 658 A. D.) been conquered by the Japanese and made
tributary to them. The questions of the " Son of Heaven " of
the Tang dynasty and the answers of the Japanese embassador
are given as follows :

The Ruler of the Tang Dynasty.— Does the celestial auto
crat enjoy continual peace ?

The Ambassador. — Heaven and earth unite their gifts, and
constant peace results.

The Ruler of the Tang Dynasty. — Are the officers of the
kingdom well selected ?

The Embassador. — The grace of the Heavenly Ruler is be
stowed upon them and they remain well.

The Ruler of the Tang Dynasty. — Does internal peace pre
vail ?

The Embassador. — The government stands in accord with
heaven and earth — the people have no cause for complaint.

The Ruler of the Tang Dynasty. — Where does this land of
Jesso lie ?

The Embassador. — To the northeast.

The Ruler of the Tang Dynasty. — How many kinds of " Crab-
barbarians " are there ?

The Embassador. — Three : the most distant we call Tsugaru
(after which the Strait of Sangar, between Japan and Jesso, is
named) ; the nearest Ara, and the next Niki. The men here

* The Shan-hai-kiny, quoted in the " Histoire des Trois Royaumes," translated
by Titsingh, Paris, 1832, p. 213. Klaproth has, in accordance with his well-known
deceptive manner, attempted to pass off this translation as his own.

\ Tang-shu, or " Annual Register of the Tang Dynasty," Book 220, p. 98.
" Ma Twan-lin," Book 326, p. 23, where the account, as usual, is mutilated. Ti
tsingh, " Annales des Empereurs du Japan," Paris, 1834, p. 52. There is an agree-
ment between the Chinese and Japanese Annual Registers upon this subject, that
is worthy of notice.

86 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

with us belong to these last. They come annually with their
tribute to the court of our kingdom.

The Ruler of the Tang Dynasty.— Does this land produce
grain ?

The Embassador. — No ; the inhabitants live upon flesh.

The Ruler of the Tang Dynasty. — Have they houses ?

The Embassador. — No ; they dwell in the mountain ranges
among the trunks of trees.*

Since this time in the seventh century, several military expe
ditions have been undertaken against these neighbouring " North
ern Barbarians," by the adjoining civilized kingdom, which have
generally resulted successfully. The inhabitants of Jesso, how
ever, usually rose again after a short time, drove the Japanese
garrison out of the land, and surrendered themselves anew to
the wild freedom that was enjoyed by other members of the
same family upon the neighbouring islands. Even now, as we
learn from different sources, the Japanese rule over only a small
part of this island so rich in gold mines.

Jesso easily leads to an acquaintance with Kamtchatka, which
happened to be also fully described for us at the same time, as
is shown by the following account :

6. KAMTCHATKA, THE TCHUKTCHI, AND THE ALEUTS. —
Lieu-kuei, or Ling-goei, as the Kamtchatdales of the present
day still call their fellow-countrymen on the Penshinish Bay,f
is described in the Annual Registers of the "Middle King
dom " as fifteen thousand Chinese miles distant from the capital ;
this standard of distance (the H9 or Chinese mile), according to
the renowned astronomer T-han, was, in the time of the Tang
* Nippon-ki — that is to say, " The Annual Registers of Japan," from 661 B. c.
to 696 A. D., which were completed in the year 720. They embrace thirty volumes
in 8vo. The portion translated by Hoffman is found in the 26th vol., p. 9, or
vol. viii, p. 130, of Siebold's "Japanese Archives."

f Steller, " Beschreibung von dem Lande Kamtschatka," Leipzig, 1734, p. 3.
The words between quotation-marks are translated literally from the Annual
Registers of the Tang dynasty (Tang-shu, Book 220, p. 19). The remainder
is explanatory, and is mostly added from Steller. The Annual Registers of the
Tang dynasty have also been compared with the article of Ma Twan-lin (Book 347,
p. 6), which indeed seems to have been borrowed from the Tang-shu, but it
is arranged in better order, and also contains much original matter, on which
account I have used it as the basis of my work. The compiler of the Encyclopae
dia of Kang-hi ( Yuen-kien-lui-han) contented himself (Book 241, p. 19), as in
many other places, with transcribing from Ma Twan-lin.

NEUMANN'S MONOGRAPH. 37

dynasty, contained about 338 times in one of our geographical
degrees.

Now, Si-ngan, the Chinese capital during the reign of the
Tang dynasty, is in the district of Shan-si, 34° 15' 34' north
latitude and 106° 34' 0* east longitude from Paris.

Peter and Paul's Haven in Kamtchatka is situated in 53° 0'
59" north latitude and 153° 19' 56" east longitude from Paris.

The distance between these two points wonderfully confirms
the accounts of the Chinese Annual Registers, and leaves no
room for doubt as to the identity of Kamtchatka with Lieu-
kuei, for we may well be satisfied when such rough estimates,
which may have been made by semi-barbarous sailors or by the
barbarous inhabitants, come, in so great a distance, within two
or three degrees of astronomical results.

" This land lies in a northeasterly direction from the * Black
River,' or the ' Black-dragon River ' (the Amoor) and the coun
try of the Mo-ko, from which it is reached by a sailing-voyage of
fifteen days' duration, which is the time usually occupied by the
Mo-ko upon the voyage." As has already been indicated, these
Mo-ko are the Mongolians, who in former centuries, and even up
to the times of the Tang dynasty, extended from Corea, on
the south, to the farther side of the Amoor River, on the
north ; the western boundary of the country which they inhab
ited being unknown. In the east, as is expressly declared in our
authorities, they roamed as far as to the ocean — i. e., to the Paci
fic Ocean — from the coast of which they could easily cross to the
islands of the Pacific and to the continent of America. That
this really happened, is indicated by the physical resemblance
between the inhabitants of the two countries and the relation
ship between the Mongolian languages and the idioms of several
tribes of American Indians. The distance from Ochotsk to the
peninsula lying opposite is only about one hundred and fifty
German miles, and the natives of this region are in fact accus
tomed to making this journey by water in from ten to fourteen
days.

" Lieu-kuei lies northerly from the Northern Sea, by which
it is surrounded upon three sides. On the north the peninsula is
bounded by the land of the Je-tshay, or Tchuktchi,* of which

* In the " Tang-shu " there is a typographical error. Instead of Pe-hai, " the
North Sea," the name is given as Shao-hai, " the Little Sea." The proper read-

83 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

the limits are not clearly defined. From Kamtchatka to Je-
tshay is a month's journey, and beyond it is an unknown land,
from which no embassy ever came to the * Middle Kingdom.'
Neither fortified places nor walled cities are found in this land ;
the people live scattered about upon the islands of the sea, and
upon the banks along the rivers and the sea, of which they salt
and preserve the fish."

Steller also assures us that the dwellings of the Italmen —
i. e., the natives of Kamtchatka — are found along the rivers, on
the inner sea, and at the mouths of small rivers, especially in
such of these places as are provided with trees and bushes. Fish
are found in incredible numbers, and salmon are especially numer
ous ; they are prepared in many ways, but chiefly by salting,* so
as to serve for food both for man and beast throughout the long
winters. The races living still farther north live also, almost
exclusively, upon fish, from which fact they have received the
name " Eskimantik," or "Eskimo," that is to say, "Raw-fish
eaters ."f

" Their dwellings consist of pits, which they dig quite deep
in the earth, and then wall up with thick, unhewn wooden
planks." These serve only as their winter residences, their sum
mer residences being set upon posts, like our pigeon-houses.
The Italmen dig the earth out from three to five feet deep,
making an excavation in the shape of a long rectangular paral
lelogram, and as large as may be required to accommodate their
families. They throw the excavated earth all around the bor
ders of the pit in a pile two feet broad. Then they prepare
willow stakes five or six feet long, and drive them into the
ground close together along the wall of the pit, so that they
reach to the same height as the earthen wall. Between these
stakes and the earth they place dry straw, so that the earth may
not fall through and by immediate contact with the articles con
tained in the dwelling cause them to become mouldy or rusty,
ing is found in the two Encyclopaedias already named. Je-tshay-kuo, which here
means " the Land of the Je-tshay," is also named only in the two Encyclopaedias.
The arrogant Chinese love to write the names of foreign nations with characters
which are insulting and abusive in their meanings. The name Lieu-kud is there
fore written with characters meaning " the Dysenteric Devils," and Jc-tshay with
characters meaning " the Devil's Attendants."

* Steller, pp. 169, 210, 211.

f Mithridates, iii, 3-425.

NEUMANN'S MONOGRAPH. 39

In the middle of the pit they make the fire-place, between
four slender piles, which are fastened above at one side of the
entrance, which is near the fire-place, and serves also as a chim
ney through which the smoke escapes. Opposite the fire-place
they make a channel in the ground from eight feet to two fath
oms long (the size and length being dependent upon the size of
the dwelling), which extends outside of the house, which is
opened when a fire is kindled and closed when the fire is allowed
to go out. This air-opening is made in any side of the dwelling
without regard to the cardinal points, care being only taken that
it should always open toward the river near which the house is
placed. The wind can usually find free entrance, but, when
it comes in too strongly, they place a cover over the air- opening
as a protection against it. When it is desired to enter the dwell
ing, it is necessary to go in through the opening in the roof,
which serves as a chimney, and descend a ladder or a tree-trunk,
in which notches in which to place the feet have been hewed.
Diificult as this is to. a European, especially when a fire is burn
ing and there seems danger of stifling from the smoke, it seems
a very easy matter to the Italmen. The little children usually
creep through the air-channel, which also serves as a cupboard
in which the cooking and table utensils are stored. Internally,
the dwelling is divided into squares by wooden beams, so that
each of the inhabitants has his own particular sleeping-place
and private room.

" On account of the frequent fogs and heavy snows, the cli
mate is very raw and cold. The people are all clothed in the
hides of the animals which they kill by hunting ; but they also
prepare a species of cloth, from dogs' hair and various kinds of
grasses, which is also used for clothing. In the winter the skins
of swine and reindeer are used as clothing, and in the summer
the skins of fishes. They have great numbers of dogs."

We now know that a remarkable difference is found in the
climate of different portions of Kamtchatka. Districts that lie
only a short distance from each other have very different weather
at the same season of the year. The southern portion of the
peninsula is, in general, on account of the proximity of the sea,
very cloudy and damp, and is, for a great portion of the time,
subject to fearfully tempestuous winds. The farther we ascend
to the north, toward the Penshinish Bay, the gentler are the

90 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

winds in winter, and the smaller is the amount of rain that falls
during the summer. There is no part of the world, however,
in which rains are heavier or more frequent than in Kamtchatka,
and deeper snow is nowhere found than occurs upon this penin
sula between the 51st and 54th degrees of north latitude. On
this account the inhabitants need their warm clothing of seal
skins and reindeer hides. The skins of dogs, marmots, and
sables are also prepared for this use. The women split dry net
tle-stalks and other grasses, and labouriously spin a yarn from
them, which is made up into a species of linen cloth, and like
wise serves as the material for different articles of clothing.
Reindeer, black bear, wolves, foxes, and other wild quadrupeds
are found in great numbers, and are caught in many ways, some
of them extremely ingenious, of which the Chinese have also
heard. Dogs are the only domestic animals, and these are upon
many accounts almost indispensable to the people of Kamtchat
ka ; they are harnessed to sledges, and so serve as substitutes
for our horses and asses : and the dogs of this land are so strong
that they endure more than our beasts of burden. Their skins
and hair are made up into clothing, so that they also supply the
place of sheep (of which none are found in this country), and of
their wool. The statement, that swine are found in Kamtchatka,
is an error of the Chinese writer ; * they would, indeed, prosper
here, but in Steller's time none had been introduced into the
country. Up to the present day several of the Mantchoo tribes,
living farthest to the northeast, clothe themselves in fish-skins,
on which account the Chinese call them " Ju-pi " (Fish-skins).
They, like the Chedshen, belong to the Aleutian family.

" The people have no regulations or laws, and know nothing
of officers or of superiors in rank. If there is a robber in the
land, the people are all called together in order to judge him.
Nothing is known of the division and the succession of the four
seasons of the year. Their bows are about four feet long, and
their arrows like those of the * Middle Kingdom.' From bones
and stones they make a species of musical instrument. They
love to sing and dance. They lay their dead in large tree-
trunks, and mourn for them for three years, but without wear
ing any particular kind of mourning-garment. In the year 640,

* It is possible that this term is applied to some species of marine animal re
sembling the seal.— E. P. V.

NEUMANN'S MONOGRAPH. 91

during the time of the reign of the Second Son of Heaven of the
Tang dynasty, the first and last tribute-bringing embassy came
from the land of Lieu-kuei to the * Middle Kingdom.' "

Before the conquest of the country by the Russians, the Kam-
tchatdales lived in a kind of community, as is the case among
all wild tribes, as, for instance, among the early German tribes.
Each revenged for himself the injuries that were done to him,
and availed himself for this purpose of his weapons, which con
sisted of bows, arrows, and bone spears. In time of war they
chose a leader, whose authority ceased with the war. If any
thing was stolen and the thief was not discovered, the elders
called the people together and then exhorted each one of them
to give up the criminal. If he was not detected in this way, then
the magic arts of their shamans, or priests, were brought into
requisition to conjure death and ruin down upon the head of the
villain. The Italmen divided the solar year into two parts, call
ing one " summer " and the other " winter." The division into
days and weeks is quite unknown to the Kamtchatdales, and
most of them can not count beyond forty. They waste the
greater part of their time with music and dancing, and in tell
ing merry stories. Their songs and melodies, of which Steller
gives us several, seem charming and agreeable.

If, says this distinguished man (sacrificed in Russia), whom I
usually follow in the account of the customs and usages of the
Kamtchatdales, we compare the cantatos of the great Orlando
di Lasso, with which he charmed the King of France after the
Parisian's Carnival of Blood, with those of the Italmen, the lat
ter seem much the more agreeable of the two, many of these
arias being not merely one-part melodies, but being sung with an
alto also.

The Chinese account of the disposition of the corpses of the
dead, and of the three-years' mourning, is not well founded. At
least, at the time of the discovery of the country by the Rus
sians, nothing similar was found to exist. The sick, when they
seemed past recovery, were cast to the dogs while still living,
and any lamentation over the death of parents or other rela
tions very seldom occurred. It is possible, however, even if im
probable, that since the seventh century many a change and error
has been made in the Chinese records regarding this country.

The habitation of the Wen-shin, or " Pictured-people," must

92 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

be looked for to the east of Kamtchatka, and therefore in the
Aleutian Islands, if we accept the estimate in regard to their dis
tance from Japan.

" The land of the Wen-shin," it is said in the Annual Regis
ters of the Southern Dynasties,* "is distant from Japan in a
northeasterly direction about seven thousand Chinese miles," or
some twenty of our geographical degrees, a direction and dis
tance placing us in the midst of the group of the Aleutian
Islands. It is impossible to conceive how de Guignes can have
sought for these " Pictured-people " in Jesso, and imagined that
he found them there.

" The bodies of these people exhibit all kinds of figures, such
as those of animals and the like. They have three lines upon
the forehead ; the large and straight indicate the nobles, the
small and crooked the common people, of the nation."

It is well known that before their conversion to Christianity
the Aleuts not only tattooed different figures upon their bodies,
but they also bored through the cartilage of the nose and wore
a peg or pin stuck transversely through the opening, and upon
holidays hung glass beads upon this pin. The women in the
same way bored through the ear, all about the margin, and also
made incisions in the lower lip, in which they wore bone or stone
needles some two inches long.

7. TA-HAN", ALASKA. — In the times of the Liang dynasty, in
the first half of the sixth century of our era, the Chinese heard of
a land which lay five thousand of their miles easterly from the
country of the " Pictured-people " of the Aleutian Islands, and
named it " Ta-han," or "Great China." The direction and the
distance lead us to the great Peninsula of Alaska. The country
was apparently named " Great China " because some account of
the great continent which stretched out beyond the peninsula
had reached the "Middle Kingdom." So, for the same.reasons,
according to the Sagas, the Irish who, in earlier centuries, dis
covered America long before the days of Columbus, named the
newly-discovered regions " Great Ireland." \

* Nan-sse — i. e., " History of the Southern Dynasties," Book 79, p. 5. The
same article is also found in the Liang-shu, or " The Annual Registers of the
Liang Dynasty," Book 64, p. 19, and in Ma Tivan-lMs work, Book 327, p. 2.

f The Munich " Gel. Anzeiger," vol. viii, p. 636. This must have been the
country stretching from the two Carolinas to the southern point of Florida.

NEUMANN'S MONOGRAPH. 93

We are informed that the people of Ta-han upon the whole
resembled the " Pictured-people " in their customs and usages.
"The two nations, however, spoke quite different languages.
The people of Ta-han carried no weapons and knew nothing of
war and strife."

Beyond Ta-han, the Chinese learned, at the close of the fifth
century of our era, of the existence of a land which the elder
de Guignes has already located in the northwestern part of the
American Continent. The conjecture of this sagacious and schol
arly man is in its main points well founded, but we are now in
a position to clearly determine the particular country of America
to which the Chinese account referred. The zealous investiga
tions concerning the perished civilization of the New World, and
the traces of it which still exist, have led to results of which the
investigators of the eighteenth century could have had no knowl
edge. We will now give, first, a complete and literal transla
tion of the Chinese account regarding the distant eastern land,
and follow it with an explanation, as far as practicable, of its
various statements.

8-11. — THE KINGDOM OF FU-SANG AND ITS INHABITANTS. —
[Here follows a translation of the Chinese account, which is
given in full elsewhere, and which it therefore will not be neces
sary to quote here.]

12. THE AMAZONS. — The same Buddhist priest to whom we
owe the account of the land of Fu-sang tells also of a Kingdom
of Women. It lay about a thousand Chinese miles easterly from
Fu-sang, and was inhabited by white people with very hairy
bodies.* The whole account, however, contains so much that is
fabulous that it is not worth while to give it. It is none the
less remarkable, however, that, from the most ancient times, all
great civilized nations which have had written accounts that
have come down to us, speak of a kingdom of women which, the
farther that the northeastern portions of Asia became known
without finding any such kingdom, was always pushed back to a
greater distance, until finally these governing women were trans
planted into America. It is hardly necessary to say that such a
kingdom of women never existed. It is quite possible that here

* The account is found in the Nan-*se, Book 79, p. 6 ; IAang-»riu, Book 54,
p. 49, and copied from these, but with many corrections, in the Encyclopaedia of
Ma Twan-lin, Book 327, et seq.

94: AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

and there the women of many different races had separate dwell
ing-places, or perhaps lived apart upon an island, where they from
time to time received visits from the men. The Arabs likewise
tell of such an arrangement ; * but they placed their country of
women in quite another part of the world. The knowledge of
the Arabians and Persians of the northern and northeastern re
gions of the earth extended only as far as Japan. East of Japan,
Abulfeda expressly declares, the earth was believed to be unin
habited.

13. Fu-SANG, THE WESTERN PORTION OF AMERICA, CALLED

MEXICO. — What all these distant lands were called by their na
tive inhabitants we do not know, and, in fact, it is rarely that
the native names of foreign countries are known, even of those
which have been recently discovered. We only know that the
Chinese Buddhist missionaries gave to the country the name of
a tree which grew in great numbers both there and in Eastern
Asia,f or rather, perhaps, as seems probable, the new land was
covered with a plant similar to the Asiatic fu-sang, and to this
new plant the old name fu-sang was given, and this designation
was then applied to the country also, for it is one of the in
born dispositions of human nature to name a country after its
prominent productions which are rare elsewhere. So the Nor
mans, who discovered the northern coast of America, about five
hundred years after the era of these Buddhist priests, named
the country "Yinland," because of the great abundance of
wild grape-vines growing there. On account of the great dis
tance of Fu-sang, no more missionaries ever reached the country,
yet the Buddhists and the Chinese investigators interested in
antiquarian researches never allowed this land, which had been
once described with so many details, to be forgotten. Chinese
scholars have mentioned it frequently in their works, and have
even given it a place in their maps,J while the Buddhists, in
their uncritical, meditative way, never became weary of repeat
ing the old tales. The myth-loving geographers and poets also
availed themselves of this knowledge at a later period, and spun
the tale out in many fanciful ways, as was done by those of the
West in regard to Prester John. These strange and charming

* Edrisi, ii, p. 433, ed. Jaubert.

f Loureiro, "Flora Cochin-Chinensis," Berolini, 1793, ii, 510.

$ Fa-kiai-ngan-li-tu, \. e., " Sure Tables of Religion," i, 22.

NEUMANN'S MONOGRAPH. 95

pictures of the imagination, regarding the tree and the land of
Fit-sang, will, in the eyes of the earnest investigator, cause no
more doubt of the truth of the historical portion of the accounts,
than the rich collections of popular stories regarding Alexander
the Great and Charlemagne cause regarding the historical works
of Arrian and Eginhard.

The distance of the land from Ta-han, or Alaska, which, ac
cording to the estimate already given, amounts to fifty-seven or
fifty-eight degrees, brings us to the northwestern coast of Mex
ico, or New Spain, in the region of San Bias or the neighbouring
'districts. The other details of the Buddhist-Chinese account
also point to this region no less plainly, but before entering
upon an examination of the history of the Aztecs, it seems neces
sary to explain a difliculty which might otherwise destroy this
whole attempt to furnish proof as to the true situation of the
country.

14. THE OLDEST HISTORY OP AMERICA. — The account of
this Buddhist, goes back to times far antedating all the tra
ditions and historical records of the Aztecs, dubious as these
are, from the fact that they rest only upon the uncertain inter
pretation of their hieroglyphic records. One fact, however, is
certain amidst these otherwise uncertain tales as to the early his
tory of America. The barbarian races of conquerors that fol
lowed one another in this region, always journeying from the
north to the south, murdered, drove away, and enslaved the ear
lier inhabitants, and, in the course of time, formed new civil
and political institutions, modified by their own peculiarities,
but modeled upon those of the destroyed kingdom, and these, in
turn, were in the course of a few centuries again shattered by
other barbarians. These later bands of conquerors can no more
be considered as the first colonists in the New World than the
first colonists of Europe can be thought to be the tribes which
conquered the German and other races in the Old World.

15. THE RUINS OP MITLA AND PALENQUE.— The nameless
ruins which are designated by the names of the neighbouring
cities of Mitla and Palenque (the last-named city being situated
in the province of Tzendale, near the boundary-line between the
city of Ciudad Real and Yucatan) have been considered by en
thusiastic investigators to date back to a period several thousand
years before the Christian era. Enthusiasts have found here not

96 AN INGLOKIOUS COLUMBUS.

only the home of the most intellectual civilization of the New
World, but also the home of Buddhism.* The Toltecs — a name
that means "Architects" — appeared about the middle of the
seventh century. One of their literary productions, " The Divine
Book," had, according to an unconfirmed tradition, been pre
served up to the times of the Spaniards.f The Aztecs, on the
contrary, first came to Anahuac, or " the Land near the Water,"
during the reign of the Emperor Frederick II. J The savage
conquerors, as was the case with all races at the time of the great
migrations of the nations of Europe, were at first hostile to both
the existing religion and the native civilization. In the end,
however, when the necessity of having the state properly con
trolled was forced upon them, they could erect the new structure
only upon the existing ruins. This is as true in a figurative as
in a literal sense, and we can learn much of the condition of the
earlier races in this land by a consideration of the regulations,
customs, and usages of the Aztecs. The most learned historian
of New Spain, in harmony with the results of the most recent
researches, long ago recognized the original connection of the
numerous languages of Mexico, notwithstanding all their differ
ences in single points.*

The pyramidical, symbolical form of the wonderful monu
ments of ancient Mexico appears in truth to have some external
points of resemblance with the religious structures erected by
the Buddhists, and the pyramids of the old inhabitants of this
land served, like those of the Egyptians and Buddhists, as places
of interment ; but neither their architecture nor their ornamenta
tion, if we are to decide from the drawings of Mexican antiqui
ties, exhibit any East Indian symbol, unless their eight rings or
stories are considered as such. It is stated in a Buddhist legend
that the remains of Sakya, after his cremation, were collected in
eight metallic vessels and as many sacred buildings were erected
over these. || But if Buddhism ever reigned over Central Ameri-

" Antiquites Mexicaines," ii, p. 73 ; " Transactions of the American Anti
quarian Society," ii; Prescott, "History of the Conquest of Mexico," Paris, 1844,
"i, P- 253- f Prescott, i, 67.

\ The chronological estimates of the different historians do not agree with
one another. Those of the learned Clavigero appear to be always the most reliable,
however. Prescott, i, 11.

* Clavigero, "Storia Antica del Messico," i, 153.

i "Asiatic Researches," xvi, 316.

NEUMANN'S MONOGRAPH. 97

ca, it surely can not have been the pure religion of Sakya, as it
is found to-day in Nepal, Thibet, and other countries of' Asia,
but only a form of a religious belief founded upon the funda
mental principles of this doctrine, and changed to adapt it to
the earlier belief of the people of the New World ; for the mis
sionaries of Sakya might be called Jesuits, from the fact that
they, in order to obtain an easier entrance for their religion and
its dogmas, either built them up upon the previous customs and
usages of the country or cunningly mixed the two together.
The myth of the birth of the terrible Aztec god of war is per
haps a faded remnant of the East Indian religion which may
once have bloomed here. Huitzilopochtli, like Sakya, was begot
ten in a wonderful way : his mother saw a ball of glittering
feathers floating in the air, placed it in her bosom, became preg
nant, and bore her terrible son, who, at the time of his birth, had
a spear in his right hand, a shield in his left, and a waving tuft
of green feathers upon his head.* Juan de Grijalva, the nephew
of Valasquez, was so astonished at the superior civilization of
the main continent as compared with the islands, and particu
larly at the regularity of the buildings, that he, upon this
account, in 1518, gave to the Peninsula of Yucatan the name
of "New Spain," a name which soon obtained a much wider
extension.f

16. FU-SANG, MAGUEY, AGAVE AMERICANA. — It is known that
the flora of the northwestern regions of America is intimately
connected with that of China, Japan, and other lands in the east
ernmost region of the Orient. On this account it may be believed
that ihefu-sang tree was also found in America in earlier times,
and that from bad management it has since become extinct. The
tobacco-plant and Indian corn are in a similar way native both
to China and to the New World. J It appears much more prob
able, however, that the traveler, as has not unfrequently occurred
in other similar cases, when he saw in Mexico a new plant for
merly unknown to him, which was used there for many purposes
in a similar way to the uses made of t\iQfu-scung tree in Eastern
Asia, gave to it the name of the well-known Asiatic tree which
he thought to resemble it. The plant that I mean is the great

* Clavigero, ii, 19. f Prescott, i, 143.

\ Professor Neumann seems to have made this statement on insufficient au
thority.— E. P. V.
7

98 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

Mexican Aloe, the Agave Americana, called " Maguey " by the
natives, which, throwing up its pyramidical tuft of flowers
above the dark circle of its leaves, is found in such great abun
dance upon the plains of New Spain. From its crushed leaves
a firm paper is prepared, even up to the present time, as at the
time when the Aztec kingdom flourished, and the few hiero
glyphic manuscripts that have escaped the barbarity and fa
naticism of the Spaniards consist of this paper ; and of such
manuscripts the Buddhist missionary speaks. The flowing sap
is brewed into an intoxicating drink, which is still liked by the
people of the country. Its large, stiff leaves serve as firm roofs
for their low huts, and from the fibers are made all kinds of
thread, cordage, and rough cloth. When cooked, the roots form
a savoury species of food ; and the thorns are used as needles and
pins. This wonderful plant, therefore, offers not only food and
drink, but clothing and writing-materials, and, in fact, so satis
fies, to a certain degree, every want of the Mexicans, that many
who are acquainted with the land and its inhabitants are con
vinced that the maguey must be rooted out before the sloth and
indolence of the people — evils which prevent them from reach
ing a higher culture and civilization — can be checked.*

17. METALS AND MONEY. — The use of iron, although it is
found so abundantly in New Spain, was, as our traveler has
justly observed, not known. Copper and bronze were then used
instead in this country, as they were formerly used in other
regions of the earth. According to the account of Antonio de
Herrera, two varieties of copper were prepared, one hard and
the other soft — of which the first was used for hatchets, cutting-
instruments, and agricultural implements, and the other for
kettles and all kinds of household utensils. The inhabitants
also understood how to work silver, tin, and lead mines ; but
neither the silver nor the gold, which was found upon the sur
face of the earth or in the channels of the rivers, served as the
usual medium of exchange, and these metals were not especially
valued in the land. Pieces of tin, in the form of a hammer, and
packages of cacao containing a certain number of kernels, were
generally used as money. " Admirable money," exclaims Peter
Martyr, " which checks avarice ; since it can neither be long
kept nor safely buried." f

* Prescott, i, 63, 87. f Prescott, i, 92.

NEUMANN'S MONOGRAPH. 99

18. LAWS AND CUSTOMS OF THE AZTECS.— The laws of the
Aztecs were very strict ; but in the few fragments of them which
are contained in the hieroglyphic pictures that we have, we
find no trace of the regulations described as existing in the
land of Fu-sang. An hereditary nobility stood, however, at the
side of Montezuma, divided into several different ranks, con
cerning which the historians give contradictory accounts. Zu-
rita speaks of four ranks of chiefs, who paid no tribute and who
enjoyed other privileges. * . The customs of courtship and mar
riage resembled those which exist to-day in Kamtchatka. We
have no knowledge of the mourning ceremonies of the Aztecs,
except that their kings had particular palaces in which they
passed the time of mourning for their nearest relatives, f At the
festivities in honour of the gods, drums and trumpets were
sounded ; and this may also have been done by the attendants
of the king as to the representative of the divinity. J

The Aztecs reckoned time by a cycle of fifty-two years, and,
as is well known, knew very accurately the time of the revolu
tion of the earth about the sun. The ten-year cycle mentioned
in the Chinese account may have been a subdivision of that of
fifty-two years, or else may have been used as an independent
method of reckoning time, as is the case with the ten-year cycle
of the Chinese, who call the signs of the different years " stems."
It is remarkable that the Mongolians and Mantchoos designate
these " stems " by words indicating different colours, which fact
may possibly have some connection with the change of colour in
the garments of the prince of Fii-sang in the different years of
the cycle. * Among the Tartarian tribes the first two years of
the ten are called green and greenish, the next two red and
reddish, the two following yellow and yellowish, the next two
white and whitish, and, finally, the last two black and blackish.
It appears impossible, however, to bring this cycle of the Aztecs
into any connection with those of the Asiatic tribes, who usually
reckon time by periods of sixty years.

19. DOMESTIC ANIMALS.— The Aztecs have no draught ani
mals or beasts of burden, and it is well known that horses were
not found in any part of the New World, and the account of

* Prescott, i, 18. t Mithridates, iii, 3-33.

J Bernal Diaz, " Hist, de la Conquista," pp. 152, 153 ; Prescott, iii, 87, 97.
* Gaubil, " Observations Mathematiques," Paris, 1732, ii, 135.

100 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

the Chinese traveler certainly is not applicable to the later
Mexican monarchies. Two species of oxen with large horns
ranged in herds in the plains of the Rio del Norte before the
arrival of the Spaniards.* These may have been tamed by the
earlier inhabitants and used as domestic animals. Stags' horns
have also been found in the ruins of Mexican buildings, and
Montezuma showed the Spaniards enormous horns as curiosities.f
It is possible that in earlier times stags ranged farther south than
at present and that their range extended from Upper California
and other regions of North America, in which they are still
found in large herds, as far as to the regions of Central America.
An inhabitant of China would naturally think it very strange
to see butter made from the milk of the hinds, as milk is
rarely used in China even up to the present day. When the
inhabitants of Chu-san saw that the English sailors milked
goats, even grave, elderly men could not restrain their laughter
at the sight. Moreover, the Chinese traveler may have used the
character " ma " (or " horse ") to designate some animal resem
bling a horse ; for changes of this kind frequently occur in simi
lar accounts. In the same way the names of many animals of
the Old World have been applied to similar animals in the New
World which belong to quite different species. The eastern
limits of the Asiatic Continent are also the limits of the native
country of the horse ; and it furthermore appears that this ani
mal was first introduced into Japan from Corea in the third cen
tury of our era.J But no matter from what source the error in
regard to American horses may have come, the unprejudiced
and circumspect inquirer will not be induced merely upon this
account to declare the whole story regarding Fusang-Mexico to
be an idle tale. It appears to me that this description of the
countries upon the western coast of America, in the Annual
Register of the Chinese Empire, is at least as credible as the
account contained in the Icelandic Sagas of the discovery of the
eastern shores of the New World.

20. CHINESE AND JAPANESE IN THE HAWAIIAN GROUP AND IN

* Humboldt, " Neu-Spanien," iii, 138.

f Humboldt, " Neu-Spanicn," ii, 243.

$ Nippon-lei— -I e., " Annual Registers of the Kingdom of Japan." In the
entry for the year 284 it is said : " In this year norses were brought from Corea " ;
but it is not especially stated that they were the first in Japan.

NEUMANN'S MONOGRAPH. 101

NORTHWESTERN AMERICA. — In support of the theory of an early
communication of China and Japan with the islands between
Asia and America and with the western coast of this division of
the earth, even though such communication may have been only
accidental, a number of facts of modern date may be adduced.
Even if the Chinese and the Japanese, who, by virtue of their
knowledge of the compass since the earliest date of their his
tory, would find such a voyage not to be particularly difficult,
never intentionally undertook any voyages by sea to America,
yet it may have happened, as it still happens, that ships from
Eastern Asia, China, and Japan, as well as those of Russians
from Ochotsk and Kamtchatka,* were thrown upon the islands
and coast of the New World. The earliest Spanish travelers
and explorers heard of foreign merchants who had landed upon
the northwestern coast of America, and even claimed to have
seen fragments of a Chinese ship, f We also know that the
crew of a Japanese junk accidentally discovered a great conti
nent in the East, wintered there, and then safely returned home.
The Japanese stated that the land extended farther to the north
west.! They may have passed the winter in the neighbourhood
of California, and have discovered the coast farther north, to
gether with the Peninsula of Alaska.

A Japanese ship was wrecked, about the end of the year 1832,
upon Oahu, one of the Sandwich Islands, of which the Hawaiian
" Spectator " contained the following detailed account : " This
Japanese ship had nine men on board, who were carrying fish
to Jeddo from one of the southerly islands of the * Eastern King
dom.' A storm drove them into the open sea, where they drifted
about for ten or eleven months, until they finally (in December,
1832) landed in the port of Waiala, upon the island of Oahu.
The ship sank, but the men were saved and brought to Hono
lulu, where they remained for eighteen months, and then, in
accordance with their own desires, sailed for Kamtchatka, hop
ing to be able to slip quietly from this country into their native
land.'* For the terribly barbarous government of Japan, remem-

* An account of a Russian ship which was driven upon the coast of California
in 1761 may be found in the "Travels of Several Missionaries of the Society of
Jesus in America," Nuremberg, 1785, p. 337.

f Torquemada, u Mon. Ind.," iii, 7 ; Acosta, "Hist. Nat. Amer.," iii, 12.

\ Kaempfer, " Gcschichte von Japan," Lemgo, 1777, i, 82.

102 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

berino- even to this day the evil artifices of the Portuguese Jesuits,
and fearing the secret plots of the neighbouring Russians, prohib
ited even its own unfortunate shipwrecked subjects from re
turning to their native land. " When the people of Hawaii," so
continues the " Spectator," " saw these foreigners so closely re
sembling them in external form and in many customs and
usages, they were much astonished, and unanimously declared,
* There can l>e no farther room for doubt. We came from
Asia.' " *

Another instance of a Japanese ship in America and of the
former inconsiderate iron policy of the Japanese government is
as follows : During the winter of 1833-'34 a junk from Japan
suffered shipwreck upon the northwest coast of America in the
neighbourhood of Queen Charlotte's Island. The numerous
members of the crew, weakened by hunger, were, with the ex
ception of two persons, murdered by the natives. The Hudson's
Bay Company took charge of these unfortunate beings, and in
1834 sent them to England, from which country they were sent
on to Macao. This was considered as a fortunate occurrence, as
it was hoped that the government at Jeddo would show some
gratitude for this humane treatment of its subjects, and possibly
give up its policy of prohibiting the entry of foreigners into the
kingdom. The ship which it was intended should restore these
subjects to the rulers of the "Eastern Kingdom," and at the
same time extend the doctrines of the Christian religion to Japan
(for Carl Guetzlaff was on board), was received with cannon-
balls, and compelled to leave the coast of the inhospitable land,
with its intended good work unperformed.

All these different facts sufficiently prove that a voyage to
America and the neighbouring islands, on the part of some of
the people who shared in the Chinese civilization, can not have
been a very infrequent occurrence. And, upon the other side,
the inhabitants of these islands may, in their frail canoes, have
accidentally or intentionally landed from time to time upon the
Asiatic Continent. " It is wonderful," says the Jesuit Hierony-
mus d'Angelis, who in 1680 was the first European to visit

* " Hawaiian Spectator," i, 296, quoted in Belcher's " Voyage Round the
World," London, 1843, i, 304; Jarvis's "History of the Sandwich Islands," Lon
don, 1843, 27. According to a tradition of the people of the islands, several such
ships had been wrecked upon Hawaii before the arrival of the whites.

NEUMANN'S MONOGRAPH. 103

Jesso,* " how bold these people are, and how expert in naviga
tion. In their defective boats they undertake voyages occupy
ing from two to three months, and, however many may perish
at sea, new adventurers are always found to undertake the same
bold risks/'

Since the opening of Japan to other nations and its entrance
into the affairs of the world, the state of facts outlined above is
of course entirely changed. Voyages from Eastern Asia to
Western America and back are now of common, almost of daily,
occurrence. The large Japanese Embassy, which came to Wash
ington by the way of the Hawaiian Islands and California in
1860, is fully described in my " History of Eastern Asia," and
is still held in fresh remembrance, f

* P. Dan Bartolli, " Dell1 Historia della Compagnia di Giesu," Rome, 1640, T,
71. D'Angelis himself designed a map of Jesso.

f " Ost-Asiatische Geschichte, Tom Ersten Chinesischen Krieg bis ru den Ver-
tragen zu Peking " (1840-1860), yon Karl Friedrich Neumann, Leipzig, 1861,
335 pp.

CHAPTER VII.

THE ARGUMENTS OF MM. PEREZ AND GODRON.

Knowledge of America possessed by the Chinese— The Country of Women — Other
travelers relate incredible stories — Klaproth's argument — The account con
tained in the Japanese Encyclopaedia — Note denying that Fu-sang is Japan —
Weakness of Klaproth's argument — Identity of names of cities in Asia and
America — American languages — Resemblance of the Tartars to the Abo
rigines of America — Similitude of customs — A Buddhist mission to America
in the fifth century — The Chinese able to measure distances, and possessed of
the compass — The musk-oxen and bisons of America — Horses — Names of
European animals misapplied to American animals — The " horse-deer " of
America — Vines — The difficulty in identifying the fu-sang tree — Iron and
copper in America and Japan.

Memoir upon the Relations of the Americans in Former Times
with the Nations of Europe, Asia, and Africa — Section en
titled, "Knowledge possessed by the Chinese in the Fourth
Century of our Era" — by M. Jose Perez, D. M.m*

THE question as to whether or not the people of Eastern
Asia, at the time above named, had any communication with the
natives of any part of America, appears to be worthy of the
careful investigation of scholars. An unexpected discovery has
thrown light upon this subject ; and, following the authority of
some writers and the criticisms of others, it appears evident that
the New World was known in former times to the Chinese and
Japanese. Before engaging in a discussion regarding the authors
who have thought that the country of Fu-sang should be iden
tified with America, it is indispensable to place the steps of the
process by which their conclusion was reached under the eyes
of the reader, without taking part in the perversion of facts for
the benefit of any theory whatever, as has unfortunately been
done to the injury of the solution of the problem which now
occupies us.

THE ARGUMENT OF M. PEREZ. 105

It was in 1761 that de Guignes published his justly cele
brated memoir, in which, after identifying several nations of the
extreme East, mentioned by the Chinese accounts, and particu
larly that of Ta-han, which he placed, with reason, in the most
eastern part of Siberia, this learned Sinologue made known to
the astonished scientific world the Chinese descriptions of the
famous country of Fu-sang, in which he recognized a part of
North America. This continent, say the writers of the Celestial
Empire, is situated twenty thousand li to the east of the country
of Ta-han. The king bears the title of Y-chi, and the chiefs of
the nation beneath him are the great and petty Tui-lu and the
Na-to-sha. "The historian from whom Ma Twan-lin copies
this account," says de Guignes, " adds that the Chinese had no
knowledge of the country of Fa-sang before the year 458, and
to the present time I have seen no other than these two writers
who give any extended account of it. Some authors of diction
aries who mention it, merely say that it is situated in the region
where the sun rises." The situation of I\i-sang, clearly described
in the accounts, and the great distance which separates it from
China, to the east of which country it lies — a distance stated in
precise terms by the Chinese geographers — appear to positively
prove that this country can not be contained in Asia, even within
its utmost bounds. Moreover, the Chinese historians, as de
Guignes has remarked, also speak of another country a thousand
li farther east than Fu-sang, a country called " the Kingdom of
Women." The account which is given of it is, it is true, full of
fables ; but that merely proves that this last country marked one
of the extreme limits of their geographical knowledge, and that
it was a land of which they had but very imperfect accounts,
analogous to those which the travelers of the Middle Ages gave
regarding the eastern countries which they reached. Does not
even Marco Polo himself, whose intellectual superiority and the
value of whose geographical statements it is now the fashion to
exaggerate beyond all reason, relate to us the most incredible
stories regarding countries in which he lived ? . . .

The Chinese account of " the Kingdom of Women " is written
with no less intelligence and sincerity than the European works
of the Middle Ages of which we have spoken, and that which
appears to us to be fabulous might well seem true if it were better
explained. It is evident that the author did not intend to say

100 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

i -M

that it was the river of this country which caused the women's
pregnancy, but merely that the baths taken in its waters were
favourable to them when in that condition, which is moreover
proved by the following phrase, where it is said that they gave
birth to their young four months after having taken these baths ;
and as for the white locks which they had at the back of the
head, by which they nursed their children, the account is ex
plained very easily by a custom, common in India and elsewhere,
by which the women nurse their children over their shoulders.
Finally, de Guignes mentions, as an additional proof in support
of his theory, the shipwreck in 507 A. D. of a Chinese vessel
upon the shores of an unknown island situated at a great dis
tance in the Pacific Ocean. The women of this country resem
bled those of China, and the men made themselves understood
by barking, undoubtedly like the noise made by the Tse^as
in Louisiana in the presence of their king, in order to do him
honour.

From all these facts it appeared indisputable to the learned
Sinologue that the Chinese had penetrated very far into the Pa
cific Ocean, if they had not traveled over it, and that they had
sufficient boldness to go to California in the year 458 A. D. . . .

Klaproth, the famous Orientalist, having much learning, but
even more envy, did not wish that any one should have greater
credit than himself for Chinese scholarship, and thought it pos
sible to plunge de Guignes's celebrated discovery into forget-
fulness by stuffing it into a mattress of paradoxes quite filled
with wonderful statements. ... As to the great distance which
exists, according to the shaman's account, between this unknown
country and China, Klaproth takes a lesson from the trick of
decipherers who fail either to understand an entire inscription or
some of its words : he finds errors in the original document.

" The distances named in the accounts," says he, " much ex
ceed the truth " (that is to say, the hypothesis of the Prussian
Sinologue), " and the Chinese had no means of determining the
length of their cruises at sea." Finally, to make it impossible
to identify Fa-sang with any part of America, Klaproth con
ceives the ruse of finding a place upon the map for the country
of Wen-shin. After having consigned these unfortunate " Tat
tooed Men " to the island of Jesso, he writes, quite satisfied with
himself : " The identity of Ta-han and the island of Tarakai,

THE ARGUMENT OF M. PEREZ. 1Q7

once demonstrated, prevents all further search for the country
of Fu-sang in America." Then, viewing his fanciful argument
more and more complacently, he adds : " We must, therefore,
reject the entire tale as to Fu-sang as fabulous, or else find a
means of reconciling it with the truth. This may be found by
supposing the indication of the direction as toward the east to
be incorrect. We may, therefore, presume that one goes directly
east in order to pass the Strait of Perouse in skirting the north
ern coast of Jesso, but that upon arriving at the eastern point of
this island the course turns to the south and leads us to the
southeastern part of Japan, which was the country called Fu-
sang. It was, in fact, one of the ancient names of this empire."
We will soon consider the attention that should be given to all
this arguing, but will now return to the original source from
which proceeds all the information given to us regarding the
country in which we are interested. Several accounts of Fu-
sang are in existence, but they are evidently derived one from
another, and all have a common origin. Our limits do not per
mit us to reproduce those which have been successively trans
lated by de Guignes and Klaproth, but we will give here the
account of this country which is contained in the large and cele
brated Japanese Encyclopaedia, entitled Wci-kan-san-sai-dzou-ye
(vol. xiv), which M. de Rosny has kindly translated from the
original expressly for our work. This notice is merely an abridg
ment of the accounts formerly mentioned, but it possesses the
inestimable advantage over the latter, of making known to us
the clearly expressed opinion of the Japanese editor upon this
question. As it is with Japan that Klaproth identifies the coun
try of Fu-sang, this opinion can not fail to be of great weight in
the balance. The following is the translation of this notice :

Fou-s6 (in Chinese, Fu-sang). — The Encyclopaedia, entitled
San-sai-dzou-ye, says :

" The country of Fou-so is situated at the east of the coun
try of Tai-kan. According to the authority of the work en
titled Foung-tien, Fou-so is distant from the country of Tai-kan
in an easterly direction about 20,000 li. It is placed to the east
of the < Middle Kingdom ' (China). Many trees, called fou-s6-
mok (Hibiscus rosa Sinensis), are found there.* Their leaves

* In Japanese, " Sono-tsontsi-ni fou-so-mok ohosi." " In hanc terram fou-s6
(sic vocitatae) arbores multae sunt."

108 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

are similar to those of the to-tree ; when they are young they
are like bamboo-sprouts, and the natives eat them. Their fruits
are like pears, and are of a red colour. The fiber of the bark is
drawn out to make cloth from which clothing is made. Planks
made from the tree are employed to build their houses.

"In this country there are no cities. The natives have a
method of writing, and they make clothing (sic) from the bark
of the fou-so tree. They have no offensive weapons or defen
sive armour, and do not wage wars.

" They give to their king the name of UTi/ci-zin, that is to
say, ' the most honourable man.' When the latter walks abroad
he is accompanied with drums and trumpets. At different peri
ods of the year he changes the colour of his garments. In the
cyclic years kia and i they are blue ; in the years ping and ting
they are red, etc.

"The natives raise deer, as cattle are raised, and prepare
creamy dishes from the milk of the animals.

" In this country there is no iron, but there is copper. Gold
and silver are not valued. In the markets no duties are levied.
The rules for the observance of the marriage-ceremony are in
general the same as those of the l Middle Kingdom' (China). In
the second year of the period, called ta-ming (or ' great light '),
the year 458 of our era, under the reign of the emperor Hiao
Wu-ti* of the Sung dynasty, five bhikshus (mendicant priests) of
the country of Ki-pin^ in their travels reached Fou-s6, and com
menced to propagate Buddhism there." The editor of the Wa-
Jcan-san-sai-dzou-'ye adds the following comment :

" NOTE. — It is not now certainly known what to think re
garding the country of FOU-SO, which is said to be to the east of
China and also to the east of the country of Tai-kan. It is
therefore uncertain whether the country to which the bonzes of
the country of Ki-pin went, carrying the doctrine of Buddha,
is situated to the north or to the east of Japan. In any case,
it is wrong to think that the account refers to Japan, and the
statement that Fou-s6 may be another name of Japan is incor
rect." The Japanese author adds in a note : " Ki-pin is one
of the western countries (Si-yu). It is San-ma-cell-han" (Sa-
marcand).

* This prince of the Pch Sung, or Northern Sung dynasty, reigned from 454 to
465 A. D. The period ta-ming is comprised between the years 457 and 464.

THE ARGUMENT OF M. PEREZ. 1Q9

To this account, and as before to serve as the foundation
of our argument, we will add the translation which M. de
Rosny has also kindly made for us of the notices of the great
Japanese Encyclopaedia of the countries of Boun-zin and Tai-
kan.

BOUN-ZIN (in Chinese, Wen-shin). — The Encyclopedia, en
titled San-sai-dzou-ye, says : " The productions of the country of
Boun-zin (Men with Tattooed Bodies) are of very little value.
In the inns no food is found. The dwelling of the king is orna
mented with gold and gems. In the markets, traffic is carried
on by means of precious objects."

TAI-KAN (in Chinese, Ta-hari). — The Encyclopaedia, entitled
San-sai-dzou-ye, says : " In the country of Tai-kan there are
no armies, and war is not waged. The people are similar to
those of Boun-zin (the Men with Tattooed Bodies), but their
language is different.

" Some people say that the country of Tai-kan is situated to
the east of the country of Boun-zin^ at a distance of about five
thousand li"

Having laid these documents before our readers, we will now
attempt to discuss the arguments that have been urged against
the identification of the country of Fu-sang^ or Fou-so, with
America. First of all, we find, in the account translated by M.
de Rosny, a passage which completely annihilates the hypothesis,
otherwise so gratuitous as we see, of the Prussian scholar, ac
cording to which Fu-sang was one of the names of Japan. " In
any case," says the Japanese author of the great Encyclopae
dia, " it is wrong to think that the account refers to Japan, and
the statement that Fou-sd (or Fu-sang) may be another name of
Japan is incorrect." I will add that, after the statement of such
an authority, it hardly seems necessary to further refute the im
aginary system invented by Klaproth to compensate for the pov
erty of his cause, since M. de Rosny has been unable to find in
any of the Japanese-Chinese dictionaries of his excellent col
lection anything which can justify the statement made by the
German scholar, that Fu-sang is another name for Japan. Then,
if we admit that Fu-sang is the same as Japan, it is necessary to
find between this last country and China another country, Ta-
han, inhabited by savages with tattooed bodies and so slightly
advanced in knowledge as not to have arms of any nature—

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

which is expressly contradicted by our historical and geographi
cal knowledge.

It is also necessary to find to the east of Japan, and not
in America, another country, Niu-jin-Tcwoh, which one of the
most famous Chinese works, the Peu-tsao-kang-mouh, places to
the east of the country of Fa-sang, which is again impossible.
Then it is necessary to admit, as Klaproth wishes, that the author
of the description of Fa-sang must have been deceived as to the
distance of twenty thousand li which separated this remote coun
try from the lands known at this time ; as also that he must have
been mistaken when he said that Buddhism had been introduced
there in the year 458 A. D., since it did not reach Japan until a
century later ; he must also have been mistaken in his mention
of the tree which gave its name to Fa-sang, for, according to
Klaproth, "there is some error in the Chinese account, which
confounds the hibiscus (or the rose of China) with the paper-
mulberry, or Morus papyrifera" etc., etc.

Once admitting that in the place of the hypothesis, at least very
probable at first sight, so skillfully presented by M. de Guignes,
another hypothesis absolutely inadmissible is proposed to us, let
us consider the weight that should be given the objections of
Klaproth against the identification of Fa-sang with America.

We have seen that Klaproth thought that he had found a
serious objection in the grapes which the Chinese voyagers
found in Fa-sang • but this objection can not now be admitted.
By a singular oversight he forgets that the forests of North
America abound in wild vines of several species, and that the
Scandinavians had placed Vin-land, or the " Land of Wine," in
its northeastern part ; he thinks that Fa-sang may have been
Japan, where, he says, the vine has existed from times imme
morial, although the Chinese did not introduce it from Western
Asia until the year 126 before our era.

In addition to all that precedes, a multitude of petty particu
lars are also presented, which, by their significant number, suffice
to convince the most unwilling that America must have received
colonies from Asia. We will mention only a few of these par
ticulars, reserving the others to communicate hereafter to those
who are not persuaded that to discuss the matter further is but
to labour at demolishing open gates. We not only find in Amer
ica the grand distinctive traits of the nations of the extreme

THE ARGUMENT OF M. PEREZ.

Orient, but we see that at some remote epoch the Asiatics had
given to the cities of the New World the same names as the
cities of their mother country, as the Europeans did when they
gave to the western cities of the New World the names of New
York, New Orleans, New Brunswick (sic), etc. So the name
of the famous Japanese city of Ohosaka, to the west of the Pa
cific, has become Oaxaca, in Mexico, upon its eastern side. For
merly there were the same names of nations or of tribes, which
we find with the most striking resemblance upon the two sides
of the Pacific, as, for example, the Chan, a tribe living in the
neighbourhood of Palenque, of which the name signifies " Ser
pent." * The identical name being found again in Indo-China,f
in the country of the Nagas, " Serpents." Nachan, " the City of
the Serpents," in America, corresponds with the Cambodian
Nakhorchan " the City of Serpents." It is sufficient to add that,
in glancing over an old map of Mexico, the geographical names
of several different provinces are found, and among them names
which betray a Chinese origin at first sight, such as Mi-choa-kan,
Ko-li-man, Te-koua-na-pan, etc. The name which the Otomis
give to their language, " Hiang-hioung," is not less convincing,
and it is known that these Indians are included among the oldest
populations of Central America. Grammatical affinities, not less
remarkable, are established between different idioms of the Old
and the New World. In several languages, both of Greenland
and of Brazil, a special form of negative conjugation is found ;
and in the Moska and the Arawack the negation is interposed
between the root of the verb and its terminations, as is the case
in the Turkish and the other Tartarian dialects. In Guarani, in
Chiquito, and in Quichua, as in Tagala and Mantchoo, there
exists a pronoun of the first person plural, excluding those who
are addressed, and another which includes these last. The con
jugation of the languages of the plateau of Anahuac recalls in
most of its details the conjugations of the Basque and the Hun
garian verbs.

The type of the different Indian nations is astonishingly
similar to the Mongolian type. M. Ledyard, who has had the
advantage of studying the American race in the countries in

* See the Abbe Brasscur de Bourbourg's " Popol Vuh," p. civ.
f See the notice of these nations given by Yule, "Narrative of the Mission
sent to the Court of Ava in 1855."

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

which its members live, and who has also undertaken ethno
graphic researches in Siberia, was so much struck with this truth
that he wrote to Jefferson : " I shall never be able to inform you
how closely the Tartars resemble the aborigines of America, both
in a general way and circumstantially." * At the south the
Chiriquanos, a Peruvian tribe, present analogies not less strik
ing. " If I should see these Indians in Europe," said M. Temple,
in speaking of them, " with their coppery tint approaching sal-
lowness, with their long hair brilliantly black, and with their
lack of beard, I should assuredly take them for Chinese, such is
the close resemblance between these nations in their traits." f
Another traveler, John Bell, said there were no other tribes in
the world which had so striking a resemblance to one another as
that of the natives of Canada to the Tunguses.J Alex, von Hum-
boldt goes much further. He mentions a monument discovered
in Canada, nine hundred leagues from Montreal, upon which was
found an inscription in Tartarian characters.*

Similitude of customs, which may be supposed the result of
chance, but which may rather be the effect of another cause, are
not less striking. The form of the teo-calUy " the house of the
divinity," among the Mexicans, singularly resembles that of the
pagodas with steeples, of Barmany and of Siam ; and the relig
ious ceremonies which were practiced there are not less analogous
to the Brahmanic ceremonies than the figure of the Mexican god,
Quetzalcoatl, is to that of the Indian Buddha. In closing this part
of my memoir, I shall be contented to remind my readers of
the fact that numerous scholars have called attention to resem
blances between America and Asia, in the customs and institu
tions of the nations of the two continents, which an intelligent
critic can not mistake for those which are merely the effect of
chance.

Those who are interested in these questions may consult with
profit the writings of Garcia, Hugo, Grotius, Fischer, Acosta,
Brerewood, and Pennant, as well as many other erudite works bet
ter known, which it is therefore less necessary to mention here.

* Sparks's " Life of Ledyard," p. 66.

f Temple, "Travels in Peru," vol. ii, p. 184.

\ "Travels to Various Parts of Asia," 1T88, vol. i, p. 280. See also the
" Transactions of the American Ethnological Society," vol. i, 1845, p. 175.

* " Tableaux de la Nature," vol. i.

THE ARGUMENT OF M. GODRON.

A Buddhist Mission to America in the Fifth Century of the
Christian Era— by Dr. A. Godron, President of the Acad
emy of Sciences o

THE Europeans were certainly not the first navigators who
landed upon the American Continent after the commencement
of the Christian era. Before the voyage of Columbus to the
New World, before the visits of the Basques to Newfoundland,
even before the times, between the ninth and fourteenth centu
ries, when the Norwegians undertook their bold excursions to
America and established settlements there, the Asiatics certainly
had knowledge of this immense continent.

It is not my intention to discuss in this article all the proofs
which might be presented in support of this statement — to these
I will return hereafter ; but for the present I propose to examine
only the account of a visit of Buddhist missionaries to America,
which was made in the fifth century of the Christian era.

[Here follows a resume of the statements and arguments of
previous writers upon the subject. M. Godron continues :]

As to the point raised by M. Klaproth, that the Chinese did
not possess means of measuring the distances of their journeys
accurately and of determining their direction, it may be ob
served that we possess a document which disproves this asser
tion, and which is the more curious from the fact that it came
from Klaproth himself. It proves that the Chinese, even in the
times of remote antiquity, were no novices in the art of measur
ing distances and fixing their direction. Reference is made to
a letter upon the invention of the compass, which he addressed
to von Humboldt, and of which this celebrated traveler pub
lished extracts.*

Speaking of the voyages from China to India by the way of
the Bolor, which he had been discussing, Klaproth states that
the accounts of these journeys are worthy of the more confidence
from the fact that the compass had long been employed by the
Chinese. He adds that Sse-ma-tscian, a Chinese historian who
lived at the time of the destruction of the Bactrian Empire
by Mithradates, gives the following account : " The Emperor
TV-ing-wang, 1,110 years before the Christian era, gave a pres-
* Alex, von Humboldt, " Asie Centrale." Paris, 1843, in 8vo ; vol. i, Intro
duction, p. 40.

H4: AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

ent to the embassadors of Tong-Hng and Cochin-China. Tbey
feared tbat they would not be able to retrace the way back
to their country, and the emperor therefore gave them five
magnetic chariots which pointed to the south by means of the
movable arm of a small figure covered with a feather-robe."
Adding to these chariots an odometer, that is to say, a mechan
ism by which another small figure strikes a blow upon a drum
or bell each time that the chariot has passed over the distance of
a Chinese li, we then have an indication of the direction of the
road, and a means of measuring the distance passed over. " In
the third century of our era," adds Klaproth, " the Chinese ships
were steered upon the Indian Ocean according to the indications
of a magnetic needle. In order to avoid friction, and to give a
freer movement to the needle, it has been supposed that they al
lowed it to float upon water. This was the aquatic compass of
the Chinese and the magnetic fish of the ancient Indian pilots."

We, therefore, see that Klaproth was perfectly well informed
upon the subject, and may well feel surprised at his remarks in
regard to the voyages to Mi-sang. If the scientific honesty of
a scholar of his rank were not sheltered from all criticism, it
might readily be believed that he was forced to mislead the
Chinese navigators in order to prevent their arrival in America,
and to compel them to land in Japan.

But this consideration did not limit the criticisms which the
scholarly Prussian Orientalist made regarding the theories of de
Guignes. He picks to pieces the description which the Bud
dhist monk Hoei Shin gives of the country of Fu-sang. He finds
a new source of objection in the nomenclature of the animals
and vegetation described as existing in this country. Accord
ing to him, cattle and horses did not exist in America until they
were imported by the Spaniards. The vine and wheat were un
known before the conquest. He, therefore, arrives at the con
clusion that the description of Fu-sang is not applicable to
America. These new difficulties are not more serious than those
which have preceded.

No zoologist denies that two species of cattle were found
native in North America. One of these is the musk-ox (Bos
moschatos), which goes in small herds of twenty to thirty in
dividuals in the frigid regions which border upon the Arctic
circle, between the 60th and 73d degrees of north latitude,

THE ARGUMENT OF M. GODRON.

and which can not be referred to here. The other is the bison
(Bos Americanus), which goes in herds that are often ex
tremely numerous, which are found -in the temperate regions
of North America, and which in winter migrate farther south.
These cattle were certainly found in the region which the Chi
nese of the fifth century knew by the name of Fu-sang, and
which must correspond to New California. They also existed
in abundance in the sixteenth century in the kingdom of Cibola
and the country of Quivera. The first Spanish conquerors who
penetrated into this country called them vaccas, and these ani
mals were a precious and abundant resource for them.

One of these " conquistador es" P. de Castaneda de Nogera, de
scribed them in a manner which it is impossible to misunderstand.*

According to Gomara, there existed at the same time, in the
northwestern part of Mexico, a population whose principal wealth
consisted in domestic bisons.f

It is perfectly true that horses were imported into America
from Europe. If the Buddhist monks stated that they were
found in Fu-sang, it must have been because of the natural tend
ency of a man who arrives in a new country to assimilate the
animals which he finds there to those which he has seen in his
native land, and many examples of this tendency might easily be
cited. To confine ourselves to America, it is known that the in
vaders of the New World applied the names of European animals
to the animals found in America, being guided by the general
resemblance, which was often very remote, in the selection of
the particular name. Thus, they called the llamas "big sheep,"
because they were covered with wool ; the peccaries they called
"hogs," remarking, it is true, that they were smaller than our
hogs. Turkeys were in their eyes " hens," which were larger
than those of Spain. The Buddhist missionaries might have
even found sheep in the country of Fu-sang, if they had pene
trated farther into the mountains.

P. de Castaneda de Nogera saw animals near Chichilticale,
to which he applied this name.t He referred to a species of

* P. de Castaneda de Nogera, "Relation du Voyage de Cibola entrepres en
1540," in the collection of Ternaux-Compans. Paris, in 8vo ; vol. is (18
p. 237.

f Gomara, " Historia General de las Indias." Medina, 1558, in 8vo, chap, cc
See his work cited above, p. 54.

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

mountain-goat, the Musimon montanus, which is found in these
regions up to the present day.

But what zoological type existed upon the western coast of
North America to which the Buddhist missionaries gave the
name of the horse ? Was it not the same species of which the
Spaniards, during their expeditions into the same country, saw
such numerous individuals, which they called horse-deer ; animals
remarkable for their great height, and bearing large and branch
ing antlers ? * This appears extremely probable. These Spanish
adventurers were no more naturalists than the Buddhist monks
of whom we have spoken. The name was undoubtedly applied
to the elk, because it stands as high as a horse, and the female
is without horns. Even the males shed their horns every year,
and, when without these ornaments, they may easily have been
mistaken at a distance for horses. Moreover, the Spaniards
made a broad distinction between these " horse-deer " and the
common deer which they shot in the same part of America.

Several species of vines are indigenous to North America,
and they grow in a wild state. The Norwegians, in the year
1000, when exploring the eastern coast of the continent near the
forty-first degree, north latitude, gave the name of Yinland to
the country for this reason, f But this does not suffice to prove
that this plant existed also upon the western coast fifty-two de
grees of longitude farther west.

But the Spaniards observed vines in 1540 in the country of
Cibola and Quivera, notably among the Teyas and the Querechos.
They found the grapes of an agreeable flavor, and ate both them
and red plums. J

It is therefore no occasion for astonishment to learn that the
Buddhist missionaries saw vines in the country of Fa-sang.

The Spanish conquerors also found a cereal abundantly culti
vated by the natives in the same part of North America, and in
several of their accounts they give it the name of "wheat"

* L. Cabiera de Cordove, " Histoire de Phillippe II, Roi d'Espagne," in the col
lection of Ternaux-Compans, vol. x, p. 444.

f C. Christ. Rafn, " Metnoire sur la Decouverte de PAmerique au xe Siecle."
Copenhagen, 1845, in 4to, p. 13.

f P. de Castaneda de Nogera, in the work cited, vol. ix, pp. 125 and 278.
Juan Jaranello, " Relation du Voyage fait a la Nouvelle Terre par Vasquez de
Coronado," in the collection of Ternaux-Compans, vol. ix, p. 378.

THE ARGUMENT OF M. GODRON.

(trigo), and in others it is designated by the name of maize,
which has been preserved for it. Need we wonder that the Bud
dhist monks should have availed themselves of the name appli
cable to wheat to designate this precious cereal ? Do not the
French peasants even now call it Turkish wheat, or Roman
wheat?*

But what is that tree which is covered with red, pear-shaped
fruit, and which furnishes the natives with the raw material from
which their cloth is made ? Some authors have thought this to be
the Hibiscus rosa Sinensis ; others, the Broussonetia papyrifera.
We can not admit either of these views to be correct. The Hi
biscus rosa Sinensis is, as its name indicates, a native of China.
The Broussonttia grows in China and Japan and in the islands
of Polynesia, but not in America.

We do not know to what botanical species the tree men
tioned by the Chinese historian should be referred ; but the
failure to decide this question does not furnish the least ob
jection in regard to the geographical position of the country of
Fa-sang.

Iron was unknown in this last country, and in fact the natives
of North America were ignorant of the existence of this valuable
metal. It was certainly used in Japan before the fifth century ;
and this fact alone is sufficient to show that the country of
Fu-sang can not, as Klaproth wishes, be identified with the
great island of Japan. The Americans, on the contrary, were ac
quainted with the use of copper, and made tools from it before
the arrival of the Europeans. Native copper exists in several
countries of the New World, and it is found in great abundance
near Lake Superior, where it is still mined. Along the southern
shore of this lake, Mr. Knapp, Superintendent of the Minnesota
Mining Company, discovered in 1840 a great number of galleries
often from seven to nine meters in depth, and of an extent equal
to about the same number of kilometers. These excavations
were the work of the early indigenes, the proof of this assertion
having been found by clearing out the trenches. Very many
stone mallets and hammers were found, and also wooden shov*
els and a great quantity of pottery made without the aid of

* The account of Fu-sang says nothing about wheat. It seems probable that
Dr. Godron had in mind the wheat mentioned by the Northmen as foxmd in Yin-
land, and that, writing from memory, he confused the two accounts. — E. P. V.

118 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

the potter's wheel.* It may also be added that many very old
pines have grown upon the rubbish thrown out of these ancient
excavations. Mr. Foster counted three hundred and ninety-five
concentric rings upon the trunk of one of them which was cat
down. Moreover, the pines now living are surrounded by de
cayed trunks, the debris of preceding generations.!

We therefore see that all the difficulties raised by Klaproth
fall one after the other, and leave the views of the scholarly
French Sinologue, de Guignes, without serious objection. The
country which the Chinese of the fifth century designated by
the name of Fit-sang can therefore have been nothing else than
the American Continent, thus discovered by the Asiatics ten
centuries before Christopher Columbus.

* Lubbock, "North American Archaeology," French translation given in the
Revue Archeologique of 1865, p. 182.

f Lubbock, "Prehistoric Man," French translation. Paris, 1867, 8vo, p. 205.

CHAPTER VIII.

D'EICHTHAL'S " STUDY."

The Buddhistic origin of American civilization — The geographical relations between
Northeastern Asia and Northwestern America — The memoirs of de Guignes
and Klaproth — If Fu-sang was in Japan, there is no room for the " Coun
try of Women " — The Japanese deny that Fu-sang was in their country —
De Guignes's map — The ease of a voyage from Asia to America — The warm
current of the Pacific Ocean — The Aleutian Islands — Voyages of the natives
— The civilization of New Mexico — A white population — Cophene — Bud
dhism — How it is modified and propagated — Its absorption of the doctrines of
other religions — Its proselytism— Its religious communities — The route from
Cophene to Fu-sang — A Buddhist sanctuary at Palenque — Description of
Stephens — An image of Buddha — The lion-headed couch — The winged globe
— The aureola about the figure — Decadence in art — The altars upon which
flowers and fruits are offered — Reply to observations of M. Vivien de Saint
Martin — The two routes to Ta-han— That country located near the mouth
of the Amoor River — Traces of Buddhism in that neighbourhood — Ease of
voyage to the Aleutian islands — Klaproth's theory untenable — No other hy
pothesis remaining than that Fu-sang must be sought in America.

Study concerning the Buddhistic Origin of American Civili
zation — by M. Gustave crMchthaV™

CONDENSED TRANSLATION.

ARTICLE I. — The Geographical Relations between Northeast
ern Asia and Northwestern America. (From the " Revue Arche"-
ologique," of September 1, 1864.)

The memoir of de Guignes, " Upon the Voyages of the Chi
nese to the Coast of America and as to some Tribes situated
at the Eastern Extremity of Asia," does not in its title fully ex
press the thought which he entertained. The true problem
which he intended to examine was that of the existence of a
connection between the civilization of America and that of East
ern Asia ; and some, at least, of the most important elements for
its solution were in his hands. Upon the one side, the discover-

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

ies of Behring in 1728 and 1741 had confirmed the old Japanese
documents, and made known, at least in a general manner, the
geographical relations between the northern portions of Asia and
America ; upon the other side, the studies of de Guignes for his
history of the Mongols had made him acquainted with the an
cient Chinese histories, and in one of them he found the accoun*
upon which all his work is based.

Klaproth, in an equally celebrated memoir, has, as is well
known, sought to overthrow de Guignes's conclusion, and has
endeavoured to substitute another hypothesis. The publication
of this last memoir has had a deplorable result. By the weight
attached to his name the author has shaken, in the minds of
others, the solution indicated by de Guignes, and has turned them
aside from the truth; yet, nevertheless, viewed as an attempted
refutation, Klaproth's memoir may be said to be a valueless
work, and we shall presently show the incredible weakness of
the arguments which he opposes to those of his predecessor.
He produces no new documents, and does no more than to re
peat those already quoted by de Guignes, and in fact the only
merit that can be recognized in his work is that he often trans
lates them more accurately, and with the superiority given him
by the general progress in his times in the science of geography
and in acquaintance with the Chinese.

Klaproth, in the most arbitrary manner, places himself in op
position to the letter of his text by assuming that the statement
that Fu-sang is situated to the east of Ta-han is erroneous, and
placing it to the south instead ; but this is not the only objec
tion to his argument, for no one in Japan has ever been heard
to speak of it as Fu-sang; the details which are given by the
Chinese narrator regarding this country do not agree with Japan
in any respect, and among other circumstances there is one that is
mentioned which is quite decisive. The narrator not only places
Fu-sang twenty thousand li to the east of Ta-han, but he speaks
of a country, " the Kingdom of Women," which is found one
thousand li to the east of Fu-sang. Now, one thousand li to the
east of Japan there is nothing but the sea.

It should also be remembered that the Chinese, living so near
to Japan, and having communications with that country from
the most ancient times, have never dreamed of placing the coun
try of Fu-sang there. To them Fu-sang has become merely a

D'EICHTHAL'S "STUDY."

legendary country, of which fables are told that would never be
believed as to a neighbouring land, for the prestige of distance
and of novel circumstances is necessary to give rise to tales of
such a nature.

History is no more favourable than fable to Klaproth's opin
ion, for, as he 'himself admits, Buddhism was introduced into the
country of Fa-sang in the year 458 A. D., and was not introduced
into Japan, officially at least, until 552, about a century later.
How, then, can it be admitted that Fa-sang can be Japan, or
even any part of Japan ? . . .

With a species of divinatory instinct, or rather with extreme
good sense, de Guignes traced upon the map drawn by him the
probable route to America followed by those whom he calls
Chinese navigators ; the details are undoubtedly very imperfect ;
only one of the Aleutian Islands, the first Behring's Island, is
shown, and upon the other hand the peninsula of Alaska is im
moderately extended both in length and breadth ; there is also a
complete absence of exact determination of latitudes and longi
tudes ; nevertheless, the general outline of the coasts of Asia and
America is perfectly correct. All the discoveries and observa
tions since made have only served to confirm it.

We have three very important documents before us, i. e. :
" Statistische und ethnographische Nachrichten liber die Russi-
schen Besitzungen an der Nordwest-Kiiste von America," by
Rear- Admiral von Wrangell, St. Petersburg, 1839 ; an analysis
by F. Loewe, of the work of Pere Wenjaminow, upon "The
(Aleutian) Islands of the District of Unalaska," extracted from
the eighth number for 1842 of the periodical, entitled "Archiv
fur die wissenschaftliche Kunde von Russland"; and, finally, the
analysis in the "Revue des Deux Mondes," for April 1, 1858, of
the memoir of Maury regarding the ease of the passage between
the northeastern shores of Asia and the northwestern coast of
America. All these documents agree in demonstrating the ease
of this communication, and of establishing a settlement upon the
northwestern coast of America. The climate of all this region,
even in the highest latitudes, and up to the sixtieth degree, is
relatively very mild. The chain composed of the Aleutian
Islands and the peninsula of Alaska forms, as it were, a barrier
to arrest the polar influences. Moreover, the great warm current
of the Pacific Ocean, observed by modern navigators, raises the

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

temperature there very notably. From observations carefully
collected, it has been proved that the mean temperature of Sitka
is about 45° Fahrenheit, with, it is true, but very slight differ
ence between the summer and the winter ; even in winter the
sea is never solidly frozen, and, in a word, according to the
unanimous testimony of navigators, there is no other place in the
world where so great and sudden a change of climate is found
as is met in passing from Behring's Sea to the Pacific Ocean.

The Aleutian Islands, before their conquest by the Russians
(1760-1790), were inhabited by a numerous and prosperous pop
ulation. Amphibious and fur-bearing animals existed there in
immense numbers. The inhabitants had a tradition that they
were of Asiatic origin, and they transported themselves easily
from one island to another in their leather canoes, or baidares.

" The farther one goes north," says Maury, " the easier the
passage becomes, and the greater attraction the natives seem to
find in it. A pole serves them as a rudder ; a branch of a tree
provided with its limbs and foliage is set up in the air to serve
as a sail. The crew, which is usually composed of a man with
his wife and children, take the opportunity when the wind blows
gently toward the point which they wish to reach, and they may
be seen fearlessly sailing before the wind in the open sea at a
speed of four or five miles an hour." Langsdorff, in his " Voy
age around the World in the Years 1803-1807," speaks of canoes
made by the natives, which would hold as many as a dozen per
sons, and mentions the fact that they sailed in them from the
Island of Kodiak to Sitka.

All this, it is true, is proof only of navigation by the indi
genes either between Asia and America, or from one point to
another of the northwestern coast of America. We see nothing
of any question of navigation in these regions by the Chinese,
or even of a direct navigation by the Japanese between the two
Continents ; and although there are numerous instances, some of
them quite recent, in which Japanese junks have been driven by
tempests, or the ocean currents, upon the American coast, the
return is much more difficult, and there does not exist any trace
of a regular navigation between China or Japan and America in
ancient times. In this respect the title given by de Guignes to
his memoir, " Upon the Voyages of the Chinese to the Coast of
America," shows that the author wished to give a prudent vague-

D'EICHTHAL'S "STUDY." 123

ness to the title, but said perhaps too much. All the facts go to
show that the relations with America, of which de Guignes caught
a glimpse, can and must have existed ; but in the present state of
our knowledge * we must hold that they took place by means of
more modest navigators, who still had sufficient skill for so easy
a passage. . . .

The brief and judicious observations made by de Guignes,
regarding the state of civilization attained by the natives of the
region now known as New Mexico, have been fully confirmed
by the more perfect knowledge derived from old and new docu
ments regarding the region, and we now have unquestionable
proof of its high state of civilization, and, in some respects, of
its connection with the Chinese civilization before the conquest.
All historical documents, moreover, authorize us to place in this
country the point at which originated the civilization of the
American tribes found farther south. . . .

What is said regarding the existence of a white population
is confirmed by the observations of modern explorers,f and
finally what is said regarding the existence of two prisons in
the country may find its explanation in the belief as to future
punishments held by some Indian tribes, especially by the Man-
dans. J . . .

When de Guignes translated from the Chinese records the
statement that the religion of Fo was formerly unknown in the
land of Fu-sang, but that under the Sung dynasty five bonzes
from Samarcand carried their doctrine into this country and
changed the manners of the inhabitants, neither he nor any man
of that day suspected, either that the religion of Fo was any
thing more than the national religion of China, or that it was
identical with Buddhism, and the question does not seem to have
occurred to de Guignes as to how these so-called Chinese priests
can have come from Samarcand.

The country of Ki-pin, the ancient Cophene, corresponded
very closely with the country now called Bokhara, the land of
Samarcand. Samarcand, in fact, at the time spoken of, was one

* The species of suzerainty exercised by China over Kamtchatka is the only
proof given by de Guignes of the action of China in its neighbourhood.

f" Report on the Indian Tribes," by Lieutenant Whipple, p. 31 ; Catlin,
" Letters and Notes," etc., vol. i, p. 93.

\ Catlin, "Letters and Notes," etc., vol. i, p. 157.

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

of the great foci of Buddhism. Moreover, it is in the center of
Asia, in contact with Persia upon one side and Turkestan upon
the other, at the outlet of all the routes which lead from this
central region to the northern frontier of China, and to all the
northwestern part of Asia as far as to the coast of the Pacific
Ocean. . . .

At the time of Klaproth, the history of Buddhism, although
something was known of it, was far from complete. The great
works of Hodgson, of Tumour, and of Burnouf had not then
appeared. That of which de Guignes could not even have
thought, and which Klaproth himself could have accomplished
but very imperfectly, it is now possible to attempt with a hope
of success. By recapitulating all that we know now regard
ing the internal development and the distant propagation of
Buddhism, it will be easy to understand what may have been
the results of its propagation in America, and from this point of
view to judge the institutions and the monuments of American
civilization.

ARTICLE II. — Buddhism : How it is Modified and Propagated.
(November 1, 1864.)

This article shows that the spirit of good-will and charity
which animated the doctrines of the Buddhist religion dis
posed it to conciliation toward the foreign religions that sur
rounded it, when carried from India, the land of its birth, into
other countries, even when these other religions had but slight
affinity with it.

It never placed itself in open hostility to the world by which
it was surrounded, and in India respected the pantheon of the
gods that were worshiped there. Hostile as the spirit which
dictated the distinction of castes in India is to the ardent charity
which animated Buddhism, it accepted the distinction of castes
as an accomplished fact.

The fusion of Buddhism with the national religion, even with
that of the sects of India the most opposed to its nature, is a fact
established by the most authentic documents and by unquestion
able proofs. In principles, nothing can be more opposite to
Buddhism than the worship of Siva ; yet, notwithstanding this,
at the end of a few centuries we see an intimate union estab
lished between the two religions.

In Java, Buddhism is found mixed with Brahmanism, or with

D'EICHTHAL'S "STUDY." 125

the worship of Siva, and the union of Buddhism with Brahman-
ism is also found in Ceylon ; and the Buddhistic religion of Ja
pan shows a large mixture of other elements.

This series of facts shows what transformations Buddhism
underwent, even in very early times, by contact with the other
religions which it encountered. It also shows us the expansive
force by which it was animated, and which served to transport
it to a great distance from the place at which it originated.
Proselytism is an essential feature of Buddhism ; it is the con
sequence of the sentiments of good-will and universal charity
which it professed, and at the same time of the profound faith
which the word of the master inspired in his disciples. " If the
great saint Buddha formerly descended upon the earth," says
Hiuen-tsang, " it was that he might himself spread abroad the
blessed influences of his law — Buddha established his doctrine in
order that it might be spread abroad into all places. What man
is there who would wish to be the only one to drink of it ? I
can not forget the words of the sacred book, ' Whosoever has
hidden the law from men shall be struck with blindness in all
his transmigrations.' "

" The man who believes in the mission of Sakya-muni," says
M. Neumann, "is obliged to consider every man as an equal and
a brother, and must even strive to have the blessed news of re
demption carried to all the nations of the earth, and for this
purpose he should, following the example of the divine-man,
submit himself to all trials and all sufferings. This is why we
see a multitude of Buddhist monks and missionaries going from
Central Asia, China, Japan, and Corea, and traveling into all
parts of the world, known and unknown. It is to preach to un
believers the doctrine of the three jewels (i. e., Buddha, the Law,
and the Assembly), or to gather news of their co-religionists."

Buddhism rejected the mystery in which Brahmanism was en
veloped, and, proclaiming the superiority of moral works above
mere ritualistic practices,* its preachings opened its doctrines to
the acceptance of all mankind. Its disciples, both men and
women, after having in the earliest days shared a nomadic life,
were united in religious communities and convents, which were
governed by the eldest or the most honoured, f It recommended

* Burnouf s " Introduction H I'Histoire du Buddhisme," pp. 335 and 337.
f Burnouf, p. 214.

126 AN" mGLOKIOUS COLUMBUS.

penance as the means of progressive improvement ; it instituted
the confession ; * it prohibited bloody sacrifices.f

We can now understand both the truth and importance of
the statements made in the Chinese account : that five monks
went to Fu-sang, and there spread abroad the law of Buddha ;
that they carried with them their books, their sacred images, and
their ritual, and instituted monastic customs, and so changed the
manners of the inhabitants. A Buddhist mission could not be
better characterized. It should be remembered, however, that
the books and images carried by these missionaries of the fifth
century would undoubtedly contain quite as strong an infusion
of the elements of Brahmanism (and of the worship of Siva in
particular) as of the elements of Buddhism properly so called.
China and Japan seem also to have furnished their contingent,
and we in fact know that if this doctrine was first established in
Fu-sang by monks from Samarcand, the account which has been
transmitted to us is the work of a Chinese monk who had so
journed there himself. As to the indication of Samarcand, as the
country from which the mission departed, there is nothing that
should not seem to us to be perfectly authentic. Since the pub
lication of the journey of Hiuen-tsang, we know that the Buddh
ist propagandist, setting forth from the north of India, passed
Samarcand in order to reach, by way of Turkestan and the des
ert of Gobi, the northern frontiers of China.

Starting from this point, the Buddhist missionaries would
have nothing further to do than to turn toward the north, in
order to follow the route indicated by de Guignes, which, by
way of the Lake of Baikal and the Amoor River, would lead
them to the country of Ta-han. The remarkable Buddhist
monuments recently discovered near the mouth of the Amoor
River, although their date can not be precisely determined,
prove in any case that at a very ancient epoch this country was
frequented by the Buddhists.J;

From Ta-han, as stated in the Chinese account, these mis
sionaries reached Fu-sang.

AETICLE III.— Consideration of the Observations of Hum-
boldt upon the Relations between the Civilization of Asia and
America (January 1, 1865), and

* Burnouf, p. 300. f Burnouf, p. 339.

\ See C. de Sabin, " Le Fleuve Amoftr," Paris, 1861.

D'EICUTHAL'S " STUDY.'

127

AETICLE IV. — Upon the Presence of Buddhism among the
Red-skins (April 1, 1865), it seems unnecessary to translate ; as
Humboldt's arguments are fully given elsewhere, and as Article
IV relates mostly to the religious belief and practices of the
Mandan Indians.

ARTICLE V. — A Buddhist Sanctuary at Palenque (June 1
1865).

John Stephens, in his book, entitled " Incidents of Travel in
Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan," new edition, London,
1844, vol. ii, p. 318, makes the following statement :

" Within the walls of the palace of Palenque, at the east of
the interior tower, is another building with two corridors, one
richly decorated with pictures in stucco, and having in the center
an elliptical tablet. It is four feet long and three wide, of hard
stone, set in the wall. Around it are the remains of a rich stucco
border. The principal figure sits cross-legged on a couch orna
mented with two leopards' heads ; the attitude is easy, the
physiognomy the same as that of the other personages, and the
expression calm and benevolent. The figure wears around its
neck a necklace of pearls, to which is suspended a small medal
lion containing a face ; perhaps intended as an image of the sun.
Like every other subject of sculpture we had seen in the coun
try, the personage has ear-rings, bracelets on the wrists, and a
girdle round the loins. The head-dress differs from most of the
others at Palenque in that it wants the plume of feathers."

Stephens abstains from noting any analogy between this
image and any other known type ; but M. Lenoir, who, in his
"Parallel of the Ancient Mexican Monuments with those of the
Old World," referred to this figure, made the remark that its
graceful attitude is analogous with the pose which the East
Indians give to their god Buddha.* We shall be bolder than
M. Lenoir, and where he only suspected an analogy we shall not
fear to recognize a true identity.

In fact, the scene which we find under our eyes is frequently
found in the monuments of Buddhist worship. It may be ob
served, for instance, three times repeated, in the bas-reliefs of
the temple of Boro-Boudor in Java, which Crawfurd has inserted
in his work upon the Indian Archipelago. These picture one or
more worshipers presenting to Buddha, in accordance with the
* " Antiquites Mexicaines," vol. ii, p, 77.

128

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

precepts of his religion, offerings of flowers and of fruits. One

of these images in par
ticular, that repro
duced in Crawfurd's
plate xxii,* and copied
in the accompanying
cut, Fig. 1, offers a
striking resemblance
to our image of Pa-
lenque, which is copied
in Fig. 2. In each
we see a worshiper
offering to the divin
ity, before whom he
is kneeling, a flower,
which, in the case of
the Buddhist, is in-
contestably a lotus-
flower, and, in the case
of the American wor
shiper, either the same
flower or some other
of similar appearance
— possibly, as has been
suggested by M. the
Abbe Brasseur de
Bourbourg, a cacao-
tree flower. Here,
however, the flower is
not found, as in the
bas - relief of Boro-
Boudor, in the hand
of the worshiper, but
it rests upon a sort of
support which the

* Crawfurd's " History of
the Indian Archipelago," 3
vols. in 12rao. Edinburgh,
1820; vol. ii, plates xix,
xxii, and xxiii.

FIG. 1. — "Worshiper offering a flower to the image
of Buddha.

FIG. 2.— Bas-relief found at Palenque.

D'EICHTHAL'S "STUDY.'

129

worshiper presents to the divinity ; but this same disposition, or
one that is analogous, may be seen in Crawfurd's plate xix.
Moreover, this same flower is twice found upon the head of our
divinity, and is also frequently found associated with the figures
of the gods of Palenque. (See, among the rest, Stephens's " Cen
tral America," vol. ii, p. 316, plate No. 2.) The two lions, or
leopards, facing in opposite directions, upon which our divinity
is seated, recall the lions which, in the paintings of India, some
times support the seat of Buddha (and even sometimes of other
divinities), and of which an example is given in the image of
Buddha reproduced in Fig. 1.

But they also recall the figures of animals in pairs, facing in
opposite directions, which are found so often in th6 sculptures
and paintings of Asia. Such are notably the celebrated capi
tals of the columns of Persepolis, and of the temple of Delos,
formed of two horses ; and the group of the lion and the bull
placed back to back, attributed to Ardahnari ; finally, they
agree in every particular with the group of two crouching lions
— which, although brought from the island of Cyprus, are of
Assyrian type — which may be seen in the Museum of Napoleon
III, and of which an engraving is here given (Fig. 3).

Nevertheless, the resemblance of this last group with that
which serves as a seat for our Buddha is much less than that
which it presents to two other groups of lions or leopards, placed
back to back, one found at the base of a niche of the edifice
called the " House of the Nuns," at Uxmal,* the other discovered,
or more properly disinterred, by Stephens in the same city. A

FIG. 3.— Sculpture from the island of
Cyprus.

FI0. 4.— Sculpture found at Uxmal, Yu
catan.

* Catherwood, "Views of Ancient Monuments of Central America, Chiapas,
and Yucatan," plate xv.

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

picture of the latter is given in the "Incidents of Travel in
Yucatan," vol. i, p. 183, and we reproduce it in Fig. 4, p. 129,
in order that the reader may be able to appreciate its resemblance
to the Cyprian group.

Upon the plinth of the Cyprian group there is seen the image
of the winged globe, so frequently represented upon the pedi
ments and friezes of the temples of Egypt, Assyria, and Persia.
This emblem does not occur in the last-mentioned American
group, but an ornament, either identical or at least very similar,
may be seen above a door opening into the interior of a sanct
uary at Ocosingo, a city not very far distant from Palenque.

" In the back wall of the central chamber of this temple,"
says Stephens,* " was a doorway of the same size with that in

front, which led to an
apartment without any
partitions, but in the
center was an oblong in-
closure, eighteen feet by
eleven, which was mani
festly intended as the
FIG. 5.-Ornament above a door of a ruin at mogt important part of

Ocosmgo. A /

the edifice. The door

was choked up with ruins to within a few feet of the top, but
over it, and extending along, the whole front of the structure,
was a large stucco ornament, which at first impressed us most
forcibly by its striking resemblance to the winged globe over
the doors of Egyptian temples. Part of this ornament had
fallen down, and, striking the heap of rubbish underneath,
had rolled beyond the door of entrance. We endeavoured
to roll it back and restore it to its place, but it proved too heavy
for the strength of four men and a boy. The part which
remains is represented in the engraving, and differs in details
from the winged globe. The wings are reversed ; there is a
fragment of a circular ornament, which may have been intended
for a globe, but there are no remains of serpents entwining it."

Even at Palenque, above the door and upon the frieze of the
sanctuary of the edifice described by Stephens under the name
of " Casa No. 3," we see the two extremities of a similar orna
ment, the central part having been destroyed. Stephens has re-

* Stephens's " Central America," vol. ii, p. 259.

D'EICHTHAL'S "STUDY." 131

produced this ornament, or at least the two extremities which
still remain of it, without making it the object of any observa
tion in his text.*

At our first step into the study of the antiquities of Central
America, we, therefore, find again the same singularity which
struck us in the traditions relative to the Deluge. We see our
selves carried in one direction to Western Asia and the banks of
the Mediterranean, and in the other to India and Eastern Asia.
Between the two lies the land of Chaldea, and it is from this
intermediate point that traditions and rites, as well as civiliza
tion, have radiated.

"It is in Chaldea," says M. Alfred Maury,f "that civilization
arose for the first time upon our globe, or at least this country
was one of the first centers from which it was spread abroad into
neighbouring lands. It is therefore easy to conceive that a legend
existing in Chaldea may have been carried among the nations
who from all quarters resorted to this country."

Bearing in mind, again, that we have every reason to believe
Samarcand to have been the point of departure of the Buddhism
propagated in America, this circumstance makes it more easy to
conceive of the presence in the New World of Asiatic elements
borrowed even by Western Asia.

But the course of our work has brought us again into the
presence of very serious and difficult questions. We shall there
fore content ourselves with the presentation of the facts which
we have given, and conclude this article with a return to the
examination of the figure of Buddha at Palenque.

The oval in which the figure is inscribed, although it is true
it is a little larger, recalls that which envelopes the bust of
our Boro-Boudor (see Fig. 1, upon page 128), an oval which
in itself is nothing more than the aureola which at first -sur
rounded only the head of Buddha, but which was gradually
enlarged.

But there is another point of resemblance which, although it
relates to a simple detail only, is still more striking and decisive.
Stephens relates, as we have remarked, that the oval was origi
nally surrounded by a border in stucco, of which he saw only
the remains, and which he did not indicate in his design ; but

* Stephens's " Central America," vol. ii, p. 354.
f " Encyclopedic Moderne," t. xii, p. 71.

132 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

in the design of Castaiieda * this border is clearly shown, although
even then very dilapidated. It is after this model that, in our
copy of the design of Stephens, we have attempted to restore the
border in question, in part at least, and at the same time we
have restored a series of small ornaments, also given by Cas-
taneda, of which the form is somewhat crescent-shaped. These
ornaments have given rise to the most singular interpretations ;
but the same ornaments, similarly disposed, are found about the
aureola of the figure of an East Indian divinity which Raffles
has given in his " History of Java " (vol. ii), and which is re
produced below.

Moreover, if the origin and signification of this ornament is
sought, it will be found, from a study of the other figures given
by Raffles, that it grew from successive
transformations of the flames originally
drawn about the aureola of the divinities,
and of which an example is found in our
figure itself.

Such analogies as these, we believe,
can not be the effect of chance.

In order to explain them, it must be
admitted that the Buddhist artists who
came to America brought with them the
Fia. 6^-Aureola about the game collection of plans and designs, the
head of an East Indian
idol. same albums, if I may use the word, which

were found in the hands of the Buddhist

missionaries in the south of India and in the Indian Archipelago.
It is a supposition which is confirmed by all the analogies that
we know to exist between American and Asiatic art, and more
over it is a very natural supposition, fully justified by the his-
tory-of Buddhist propagandism, and without which the existence
of so marked a connection between American and Asiatic art
appears an insoluble problem.

It should, however, be borne in mind that, between the primi
tive types imported by the Buddhists and the different monuments
which we are examining, we should expect to find all the differences
produced by an inevitable decadence in art, as well as by the influ
ence of local causes and the aspect of novel natural surroundings.

* " Antiquites Mexicaines," vol. ii, plate xxvi ; and Kingsborough's " Antiqui*
ties of Mexico," vol. iv, part third, plate xx.

D'EICHTHAL'S " STUDY."

133

Below and in front of our bas-relief there was also found a
species of table, or bracket-shelf, which Castaiieda gives in his
design, but of which Stephens saw no more than the mark upon
the wall of the place where it had stood, which he reproduces
with dotted lines " after the model of similar tables existing in
other places." *

"Del Rio," says Mr. Squier, in his "Researches regarding
the Serpent Symbol in America," « describes this table as a large
flag-stone, six feet in length, f three feet four inches wide, and
seven inches thick, placed upon four legs like a table. These
legs were ornamented by figures in bas-relief. Along the tab
let against the wall there reached a sort of border similarly
sculptured.

Now, this is precisely the character of the Balang-ko of the
Hindoos, or the Then-balang of the Siamese — stones or altars of

FIG. 7.— Table or altar found at Palenque.

Buddha, upon which fruits and flowers were offered instead of
bloody sacrifices. These are found in the Siamese and Japanese
temples, as well as in all Buddhist temples generally. J

* "Central America," vol. ii, p. 318. " Antiques Mexicaines," vol. ii, plate
xxvi, Fig. 33.

f This length is in fact that which is indicated in the report of Del Rio (see
"Memoires de la Societe Geographique de Paris," vol. ii, p. 170) and in the Ger
man translation given by Minutoli, " Beschreibung einer alten Stadt," etc., Berlin,
1832. Nevertheless, this measure does not agree with that given by Stephens, and
by Del Rio himself, in the place cited for the length of the bas-relief— a measure
which, according to the engraving, should be equal to that of the tablet.

\ Squier, " The Serpent Symbol and the Worship of the Reciprocal Principles
of Nature in America," New York, 1851, p. 89. Squier himself refers to an arti
cle by Captain James Lowr " On Buddha and the Phrabat — Explanation of the

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

Quite recently an English journal, the " London Illustrated
News " (February 25, 1865, p. 193), has given, with an image of
Buddha, a specimen of a Buddhist altar, perfectly conformable
to the Mexican altar, of which an illustration is given in Fig. 7.
The presence of this altar, added to all the resemblances of detail
which we have pointed out in the bas-relief, seems to us to clear
ly prove the Buddhistic character of the Sanctuary of Palenque.
The figure which we have described is, to our knowledge, the
only one of the kind which exists at Palenque. Outside of this
city, and in all the other ruins of Central America, we do not
know of any other figure at all similar, unless it is a figure
which M. Waldeck has given in his " Voyage to Yucatan," and
which he says he saw repeated four times in that number of
niches of the southern f acade of the " House of the Nuns " at
Uxmal.

It is noticeable that this artist, who thought that he found
the imprint of Buddhism at Uxmal in a
number of details, perhaps indifferent,
seems not to have remarked the resem
blance of this figure drawn by him to the
reformer of India. He contents himself
with the statement that " upon the sill of
the niche which surmounts each door
there is placed a small seated figure"
FIG. 8.-Seated figure Qn thig occasion at least M. Waldeck
found in niches of ••/.•. -• A i •

a building at Uxmal. can not therefore be accused of taking

sides. Moreover, the southern fa9ade of

the " House of the Nuns," of which he speaks, has been drawn
again by Stephens in a general view of the site, and has since
been drawn by Catherwood.* The niches indicated above each

Symbols on a Prapatha or Impression of the Divine Foot," in the " Transac
tions of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland," vol. iii, p. 77.
I have verified the citation, and it is entirely correct. I fear, however, that there
may have been an error in the transcription of the Indian name given as Ealang-
ko or Tlien-balang. The word is unknown to all the Indian scholars whom I have
been able to consult. May there not have been a confusion with the stone Bin-
lang of the worshipers of Siva ? (See Coleman's " Mythology of the Hindus," p.
176.) I have not succeeded, however, in discovering the true name of these
altars. The authors who describe them merely mention them without stating the
name by which they are called.

* Stephens, " Yucatan," vol. i, p. 306. Catherwood, " Views of Ancient Monu-

D'EICHTHAL'S " STUDY."

135

door are perfectly distinguishable, although, by reason of the
distance from which the view is supposed to be taken, it is im
possible to distinguish whether any object is or is not contained
in them.*

Admitting as authentic, therefore, the image given by M.
Waldeck (and there is every reason for so doing), it is impossible
to fail to be struck by the analogy which it presents with the
representations of Buddha in general, but particularly with the
figure of Buddha sitting cross-legged, which is found placed and
repeated in an entirely similar manner in the four hundred niches
of the temple of Boro-Boudor at Java.f The characteristic posi
tion of the right arm is the same in both cases. The head-dress
is different, but we find an almost exactly similar head-dress
upon other figures of Buddha, or
upon the heads of other divinities.
It is a sort of fan which adorns
the head of the divine person
age, and which is formed by a ser
pent with several heads.J It is an
ordinary attribute of Vishnu.* It
is also found upon the head of
Hanouman, || upon that of Gane-
sa, A of Vira-Badhra, Q etc., and
finally upon that of Buddha him
self 4 A Buddha with this head
dress somewhat modified is sculpt
ured upon the wall of the temple of Indra-Saba at Ellora ; it has

ments in Central America^' plate viii. It is true that there are not merely four
of these niches visible upon the southern fa9ade, as stated in the account, but
eight. At the same time, however, it is also true that the fa9ade is divided into
two compartments, each containing four niches, and this fact may possibly explain
Waldeck's error.

* The part of this f a9ade photographed by M. de Charney contains only two
of the eight niches, and, even with the magnifying-glass, it is impossible to distin
guish any appearance of a statue in either of them. But the form of the niche
is exactly as given by Waldeck, and it is possible that the statues have been de
stroyed since the visit of that traveler.

f Crawfurd's " History of the Indian Archipelago," vol. ii, plate xxix.
\ Moor's " Hindu Pantheon," plate xxiv.

* Ibid., plate viii. II Ibid., plate xcii.
A Ibid., Frontispiece. 0 Ibid-> Plate xxvi- $ Ibid>> plate lxXV'

FIG. 9. — Figure of Buddha — from
a temple at Ellora.

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

been reproduced by Daniel,* and we give it in our Fig. 9 (page
135), that it may be compared with the figure at Uxmal.t

The existence of these niches, with their uniform statues,
often found in very great numbers in the walls of the terraces
which support the temples, is one of the common traits of the
religious architecture of the Indian Archipelago and of Central
America. We content ourselves here with merely pointing out
this analogy. "VVe shall return to the subject again when, after
our review of American history, we return to the examination
of the antiquities of Palenque.J

GUSTAVE D'EICHTHAL.

Supplement to the First Article. Reply to some Observations of
M. Vivien de Saint-Martin upon de Guignes's Memoir.

The first question which presents itself to us, in connection
with this work, is that of the geographical connections and the
ancient communications between Asia and America, which could
have permitted the passage of Buddhist missionaries to the New
World. We have said that it seems to us to be possible to reduce
this question to the analysis and development of de Guignes's
memoir upon the subject. In our first article we therefore took
up the examination of this memoir, and concluded by adopting

* " Oriental Scenery." Description of Ellora.

f Even the modification which is presented by the head-dress of the statue
at Uxmal seems to be an indication of its authenticity.

| Before terminating this article, we think it necessary to again call the atten
tion of our readers to another bas-relief which decorates the house designated by
Stephens as Casa No. 4. It is an unknown divinity, but one which has complete
ly the appearance and attitude of an East Indian divinity. M. Lenoir, in his
" Parallel of the Ancient Mexican Monuments with those of the Old World," was
the first to make the remark. " This bas-relief," says he, " represents a divinity
who offers, especially in his attitude, a great resemblance to the divinities of
India or Japan" ("Antiquites Mexicaines," vol. ii, p. 78); the figure itself is
found in the same volume, plate xxxiii, and also in the " Antiquities of Mexico "
of Lord Kingsborough, vol. iv, third part ; also in the " Memoircs de la Societe"
de Geographic," vol. ii, plate xvi. Unfortunately this bas-relief was, by 1840,
almost destroyed. Stephens saw only a fragment ("Central America," vol. ii, p.
S55). Compare this bas-relief with the figure of Parvati, given by Moor, "Hindu
Pantheon," plate v, figure 5 ; and with a statuette of Lakchmi which is to be seen
in the Imperial Library. A bas-relief discovered by Stephens at Chichen-Itza, in
Yucatan, is the only one among the American figures with which we are acquainted
that shows a similar attitude. (" Incidents of Travel in Yucatan," vol. ii, p. 292.)

D'EICHTHAI/S "STUDY." 137

the opinion expressed by de Guignes, that the Fu-sang of the
Chinese tradition can be nothing else than a portion of America.

An eminent geographer, M. Vivien de Saint-Martin, has com
bated this conclusion in a chapter of his " Annee Geographique "
(1865), entitled "Une Vieille Histoire remise & Flot " (i. e., An
Old Story Set Afloat).

There is always profit to be found in a work emanating from
M. Vivien de Saint-Martin, and we ourselves have found it in
this article ; but we persist none the less in the opinion which
we have expressed : we even think that the observations of M.
Vivien de Saint-Martin have only added a new force to our con
viction. The memoir of de Guignes is composed of two quite
distinct parts : one is the account of the country of Fu-sang,
written in the fifth century of our era by a Buddhist missionary
named Hod Shin, which de Guignes extracted from the history
of Li-yan-cheu • the other part is a commentary intended to
determine the geographical position of the country of Fu-sang.
In the first part, de Guignes is merely a translator ; in the sec
ond, he appears as a critic, and a critic of the first order.

His merit, as we formerly remarked (and upon this point
M. Vivien is in accord with us), is that, enabled by his vast
knowledge of Chinese literature, he discovered two itineraries —
one maritime, the other terrestrial ; both of which terminate at
the country of Ta-han, the point of Asia which, according to the
account, is nearest to the country of Fu-sang.

The meeting of the two routes at their northern extremity
proves that the country of Ta-han is necessarily situated at some
point upon the northeastern coast of Asia. De Guignes thinks
that this point is in Kamtchatka. M. Vivien de Saint-Martin
thinks that it should be sought upon the river Amoor, near the
point at which it empties into the Sea of Ochotsk, in the region
in which, as we have already said, Buddhist monuments in a
state of excellent preservation have been recently discovered.
We were instantly struck by the same thought as M. Vivien de
Saint-Martin, andr after a new examination of the question, we
declare that we are convinced of the correctness of this view.

In fact, even according to the description of the route trans
lated by de Guignes, we see that by traveling five clays to the
east, in the direction of the Amoor River, the Shy-wei Ju-che
are reached ; from there, after traveling five days to the north,

AN INGLOKIOUS COLUMBUS.

the country of Ta-han is reached, surrounded on three sides
by the sea. Now, below its junction with the Soungari-Oula,
and especially below its junction with the Oussori, the Amoor
turns directly to the north, and the country of Ta-han may
probably be located near its mouth. The circumstance that it
is surrounded on three sides by the sea, may be accounted for
by supposing that it is situated in some bend described by the
river. But de Guignes, who was but imperfectly acquainted
with the course of the Amoor and with the geography of this
region, has thought it necessary to go as far north as Kam-
tchatka to find a locality which corresponds with the descrip
tion of his itinerary.

We, therefore, very willingly make this concession to M.
Vivien de Saint-Martin, or, rather, we thank him for the recti
fication which he has led us to adopt. But this fact does not
prove that de Guignes's memoir should be considered any the
less worthy of interest, or that the solution of the question
which he proposes is any the less probable. But let M. Vivien
speak for himself :

" The few germs of rudimentary civilization, of which the
trace is found among the tribes of the Amoor, are of Buddhist
origin : they undoubtedly appertain to several different epochs,
but the oldest are connected with the missions of the sixth cent
ury and the three following centuries, which are mentioned in the
texts which de Guignes was the first to describe. This is a real
service, among many others, which the scholarly author of the
* History of the Huns' has rendered to science, and of which
his error as to the location of Ta-han does not at all dimmish
the merit." *

After calling attention to the Buddhist monuments discov
ered some ten years ago upon the lower bank of the Amoor
River, near the village designated as " Ghiliak of the Tower,"
M. Vivien continues thus :

" We, therefore, now have positive proof that the mission
aries of the religion of Buddha, or of Fo, as it is called by the
Chinese, not only carried shamanism into all of Central Asia,
but pressed to the east and descended the valley of the Amoor
River as far as to the shores of the Eastern Sea, at the same time
that other propagators of this pre-eminently proselyting religion

* " L'Ann^e Geographique," Paris, 1865, p. 258.

D'EICHTHAL'S "STUDY." 139

spread themselves by the maritime route into all the islands
contained within the boundaries of the sea inclosed between the
Japanese Archipelago and the coast of Mantchooria, designated
upon our maps as the Sea of Japan." *

Having traveled this distance, would the Buddhist mission
aries arrest their voyage here, or would they not rather, profiting
by the ease with which the chain of the Aleutian Islands would
enable them to pass from one continent to the other, press on
until they had penetrated to America ? A tradition, mentioned
by de Guignes, states that at an early epoch " the Tartars who
lived in the neighbourhood of the Amoor River were accustomed
from this point to reach the southern portion of Kamtchatka,
after five days' navigation toward the north."

This is the most direct route to reach the Aleutian Islands.
They could also reach them almost equally well by turning the
point of the island of Saghalien, or Taraikai, upon the south, and
coasting along the chain of the Kurile Islands. It is true that
we have no historical proof of navigation across what may be
called the Aleutian Sea, either by the Tartars or by the Bud
dhist missionaries. But the ease of this navigation is an incon
testable fact, and here, moreover, the tradition of Fu-sang is
found.

This tradition is not founded merely upon the unsustained
statement of an obscure missionary ; it is attested by a multi
tude of legendary beliefs, of which Klaproth himself has made
known to us the principal monuments. From that time the
question has been, " Where is this land of Fu-sang situated ? "
De Guignes founded his answer to this question upon the dis
tance of twenty thousand li, at which distance to the east from
Ta-han, Hoei Shin stated that this country was situated, and
thus arrived at the conclusion that Fu-sang must be found at
some point upon the American coast, probably in California.
As for us, we believe (and M. Vivien is of the same opinion)
that the round distance of twenty thousand li is purely emphatic,
and merely indicates that the distance is very great. But even
this interpretation does not at all weaken de Guignes's conclu
sion : " The Chinese," says this illustrious scholar, " have pene
trated into countries very distant toward the east. I have ex
amined their measures, and they have conducted me to the coast
* " L'Annee GSographique," p. 259.

140 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

of California. I have concluded from this that they have known
America since the year 458 A. D. In the countries near to those
where they landed we find the most civilized nations of America.
I have thought that they were indebted for their civilization to
the commerce which they have had with the Chinese. This is all
that I have sought to establish in this memoir." If, at the epoch
when de Guignes lived, this conclusion offered itself to him as
a probable hypothesis, how much stronger would he have con
sidered the proof if he had known, as we now know, both the
character of Buddhism, and its diffusion in the countries along
the coast of the Sea of Japan and near the mouth of the Amoor
River, and, in addition, the proofs, which we dare call incontest
able, of its presence in America.

It is, nevertheless, against this fortunate divination of an
illustrious scholar that M. Vivien de Saint-Martin now protests.
Undoubtedly he has shown that in the account of the shaman
Hoei Shin several particulars do not agree with America. We
may, therefore, conclude that Hoei Shin, not having any one
to check his account, and perhaps never having been himself in
Fu-sang (for the text is mute, or at least doubtful, as to this
point), may have, as to some points, consulted his imagination
rather than his recollection ; but making all concessions on
this account, there remain two important points in his story as
to which no doubt can be raised : the essentially Buddhistic
character of the customs of Fu-sang, and its situation at a
great distance to the east of the Kingdom of Ta-han and the
" Middle Kingdom." Now, from these two characters, Fu-sang
can not be located elsewhere than in America. M. Vivien de
Saint-Martin is not of this opinion. It is true that he does not
offer any conclusion that is well-founded ; he merely thinks that
the " supposition of Klaproth (who sees in Fu-sang a portion of
Japan) is, as has been said of it, the most probable." But the
supposition of Klaproth, as we have repeated time after time,
and as, moreover, M. Vivien himself acknowledges, has insur
mountable objections opposed to it : it places to the south of
Ta-han that which, according to the account, should be found at
the east, and it supposes the existence of a Buddhist kingdom in
Japan at an epoch when Buddhism was not known there. It
remains, therefore, to return to de Guignes's hypothesis, which,
moreover,, is now a hundred times more probable than it seemed

D'EICHTHAL'S "STUDY."

at the epoch when it was first produced by its illustrious author.
" Old stories," in spite of the displeasure of M. Vivien de Saint-
Martin, are good to revive when they are true old stories.

To the documents which we named in our second article, as
showing the association which has existed between Buddhism
and the Brahmanic religions, particularly the worship of Siva,
there should be added those given by Koeppen, in his history of
Buddhism in Thibet, " Die Lamaische Hierarchic und Kirche,"
vol. i, page 296 and following.

CHAPTER IX.

COINCIDENCES NOTED BY HUMBOLDT, LOBSCHEID, AND PEESCOTT.

Extracts from the " Views of the Cordilleras " — Similarity of Asiatic and Ameri
can civilizations— The struggles of the Brahmans and Buddhists — The divis
ions of the great cycles — The Mexicans designated the days of their months
by the names of the zodiacal signs used in Eastern Asia — Cipactli and
Capricornus — Table of resemblances — The tiger and monkey found only
in southern countries — The Aztec migration from the north — Resemblance
between certain Mexican and Tartarian words — The cutting-stones of the
Aztecs — The sign ollin and the foot-prints of Vishnu — Effects of a mixture of
several nations — Changes resulting from changed circumstances and lapse of
time — Analogies in religious customs — Analogy in the fables regarding the
destructions of the universe — Lobschcid's reasons for thinking the American
Indians to be one race with the Japanese and Eastern Asiatics — Similarity
of customs — Tiles — Anchors — The route from Asia to America — Shipwrecks
of fishing-boats — Head-dresses — Languages — Religion — Customs — Marriage
solemnized by tying the garments together — Extracts from Prescott's " History
of the Conquest of Mexico " — Analogies in traditions and religious usages —
Disposal of the bodies of the dead — The analogies of science — The calendar —
General conclusions.

Extracts from the " Views of the Cordilleras and Monuments of
the Indigenous Nations of America" — by Alexander von
Hurnboldt.

1579 JT jg a gurprjge t0 fin(^ toward the end of the fifteenth
century, in a world that we call " new," the ancient institutions,
the religious ideas, the forms of edifices which, in Asia, appear
to belong to the first dawn of civilization. It is true of the
characteristic traits of the nations, as of the interior structure of
the vegetation scattered upon the surface of the globe, that
everywhere they exhibit the imprint of a primitive type, in spite
of the differences which are produced by the nature of the cli
mates and of the soil, and by the combined influences of various
accidental causes. .

COINCIDENCES NOTED BY HUMBOLDT. 143

1580 If the languages offer but feeble proof of ancient commu
nication between the two worlds, this communication is indispu
tably shown in the cosmogonies, the monuments, the hieroglyphics,
and the institutions of the nations of America and Asia. . . .

IMS jf we reflect ever so little upon the epoch of the earliest
Toltec migrations, upon the monastic institutions, the symbols of
worship, the calendar, and the form of the monuments of Cholula,
Sogamozo, and Cuzco, we perceive that Quetzalcoatl, Bochica, and
Manco-Capac did not draw their code of laws from the north of
Europe. Everything appears to carry us to Eastern Asia, to the
nations that have been in contact with the Thibetans, the sha-
manistic Tartars, and the bearded Ainos of the islands of Jesso
and Saghalien. . . .

USB ^ prolonged struggle between two religious sects, the
Brahmans and the Buddhists, ended by the emigration of the
shamans of Thibet into Mongolia, China, and Japan. If any
of the tribes of the Tartarian race passed by the way of the
northwestern coast of America, and from there southerly and
easterly to the banks of the Gil a and those of the Missouri, as the
etymological researches of Yater in his work upon the peopling
of America appear to indicate, it would be less surprising to find,
among the semi-barbarous tribes of the new continent, idols and
architectural monuments, a hieroglyphic writing, an exact knowl
edge of the duration of the year and traditions concerning the
first condition of the world, which all recall the knowledge, the
arts, and the religious opinions of the Asiatic nations. ...

1592 We have seen that the Mexicans, the Japanese, the Thibe
tans, and several other nations of Central Asia, have followed
the same system in the division of the great cycles and in the
names of the years that compose them. It remains for us to
examine a fact which more directly concerns the history of the
migrations of the nations, and which appears to have hitherto
escaped the attention of scholars. I expect to be able to prove
that a great part of the names by which the Mexicans designated
the twenty days of their months are those of the signs of a
zodiac used, from the most remote antiquity, by the nations of
Eastern Asia. To make it evident that this assertion is less
hazardous than it appears at first sight, I will give in a single
table— first, the names of the Mexican hieroglyphs as they have
been transmitted to us by all the authors of the sixteenth cent-

144

AN INGLOKIOUS COLUMBUS.

ury ; second, the names of the twelve signs of the zodiac among
the Tartars, Thibetans, and Japanese ; third, the names of the
nakchatras, or lunar houses of the calendar of the Hindoos. I
dare flatter myself that those of my readers who will examine
this comparative table attentively will be interested in the dis
cussion into which we must enter regarding the first divisions of
the zodiac.

SIGNS OF THE ZODIAC.

Hindooi,

Mantchoo-

of the
Mexican Calendar.

Lunar Houses of
the Hindooi.

Greeks, and

Japanese.

Thibetan*.

Eastern Nations.

Aquarius.
Capricornus.
Sagittarius.

Singueri.
Ouker.
Pars.

Ne.
Ous.
Torra.

Tchip, rat, water.
Lang, ox.
Tah, tiger.

Atl, water. [ster.
Cipactli, marine mon-
Ocelotl, tiger.

(The mahara
is a marine

Scorpio.

Taoulai.

Ov.

To, hare.

Tochtli, hare.

monster.)

Libra.
Virgo.
Leo.
Cancer.

Lon.
Mogai.
Morin.
Koin.

Tats.
Mi.

Ouma.
Tsitsouse.

Broil, dragon.
Prow/, serpent.
7%a, horse.
Zon, goat.

Cohuatl, serpent.
Acatl, reed.
Tecpatl, flint (knife).
Ollin, path of the pun.

Serpent.
Eeed.
Kazor. [Vishnu
Foot-tracks of

Gemini.

Petchi.

Bar.

Prehou, monkey.

Ozomatli, monkey.

Monkey.

Taurus.

Tukia.

Torri.

Tcha, bird.

Quauhtli, bird.

Aries.
Pisces.

Nokai.
Gacai.

In.
Y.

£y, dog.
Pah, hog.

Itzcuintli, dog.
Calli, house.

A dog's tail.
House.

From the most ancient times, the people of Asia have known
two systems of dividing the ecliptic : one into twenty-seven or
twenty-eight houses, or lunar mansions, the other into twelve
parts. The opinion which has been advanced, that this last
method of division existed only among the Egyptians, is erro
neous. The oldest monuments of Indian literature, the works of
Kalidasa, and of Amarsinh, mention both the twelve signs of
the zodiac, and the twenty-seven " Companions of the Moon.'*
From our knowledge concerning the communications which oc
curred several thousand years before our era, between the nations
of Ethiopia, of Upper Egypt, and of Hindostan, we are justified
in dismissing the supposition that all that the Egyptians trans
mitted to the Grecian tribes appertained exclusively to them.

The division of the ecliptic into twenty-seven or twenty-eight
lunar houses, is probably more ancient than the division into
twelve parts, connected with the annual movement of the sun.
The phenomena which are repeated in the same order with every
revolution of the moon, attract the attention of mankind more
readily than changes of position, of which the cycle is com
pleted only in the space of a year. . . .

COINCIDENCES NOTED BY HUMBOLDT. 145

1593 Examining first the analogy which the names of the
Mexican days offer to the signs of the Thibetan, Chinese, Tar
tarian, and Mongolian zodiac, the analogy is found to be very
striking in the eight hieroglyphs called atl, cipactli, ocelotl,
tochtli, cohuatl, quauhtli, ozomatli, and itzcuintli. Atl, water, is
often indicated by a hieroglyph, of which the parallel lines and
undulations recall the sign which we employ to designate
Aquarius. The first tse, or catasterism, of the Chinese zodiac,
the rat (chit), is also frequently found represented by the figure
of water. At the time of the reign of the emperor Chuen-hiu,
there was a great deluge ; and the celestial sign hiuen-hiao,
which corresponds in position with our Aquarius, is the symbol
of his reign. So Pere Souciet observes, in his " Researches upon
the Cycles and the Zodiacs," that China and Europe agree in
representing, under different names, the sign which we call
Amphora, or Aquarius. Among the western people the water
which falls from the vase of the water-bearer forms another con
stellation (Hydor), to which the beautiful stars Fomahand and
Deneb Jcaitos belong, as is proved by several passages from
Aratus, Geminus, and Scholiaste de Germanicus.

Cipactli is a marine animal. This hieroglyph presents a strik
ing analogy with Capricornus, which the Hindoos and other
people of Asia call a marine monster. The Mexican sign indi
cates a fabulous animal, a cetacean armed with a horn. Gomara
and Torquemada call it espadarte, a name by which the Spaniards
designate the narwhal, of which the great tooth is known by the
name of the unicorn's horn. Boturini has mistaken this horn
for a harpoon, and erroneously translates cipactli by " serpent
armed with harpoons." As this sign does not represent a real
animal, it is very natural that its form should vary more than
those of the other signs. Sometimes the horn appears to be a
prolongation of the muzzle, as in the famous fish oxyrinque, rep
resented in the place of the southern fish beneath Capricornus
in some Indian planispheres ; in other cases the horn is lacking
entirely. Casting the eyes upon figures copied from very an
cient designs and reliefs, it is seen that Valades, Boturini, and
Clavigero have all erroneously represented the first hieroglyph
of the Mexican days as a shark, or a lizard. In the manuscript
of the Borgian Museum, the head of the cipactli resembles that
of a crocodile ; and this same name of crocodile is given, by Son-
10

' OF THt

UNIVERSITY

146 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

nerat, to the tenth sign of the Indian zodiac, which is our Capri-
cornus.

In addition, the idea of the marine animal cipactli is found
united in the Mexican mythology with the history of a man, who,
at the time of the destruction of the fourth sun, after having
floated upon the water for a long time, was saved, alone, by
attaining the top of the mountain of Colhuacan. We have else
where observed that the Noah of the Aztecs, who was usually
called " Coxcox," bore also the name of " Teo-cipactli," in which
the word "god" or " divine" is added to that of the sign cipactli.
In casting the eyes upon the zodiac of the Asiatic tribes, we find
that the Capricornus of the Hindoos is the fabulous fish mahara,
or souro, celebrated for its exploits, and represented from the
most remote antiquity as a marine monster with the head of a
gazelle.

As the people of India, as well as the Mexicans, often indi
cate the naJcchatras (lunar houses) and the laquenons (the
twelve signs of the zodiac) merely by the heads of the animals
which compose the lunar and solar zodiacs, it is not at all sur
prising that the western nations have transformed the mahara
into Capricornus (alyonepG)^), and that Aratus, Ptolemy, and the
Persian Kazwini have not given it even a fish's tail. An ani
mal which, after having lived in the water for a long time, takes
the form of a gazelle, and climbs the mountains, reminds the
people, of whom the restless imagination seizes upon the most
distant affinities, of the ancient traditions of Menu, of Noah, and
of the Deucalions celebrated among the Scythians and the Thes-
salians. It is true that, according to Germanicus, Deucalion,
who may be considered to resemble Coxcox, or Teo-cipactli of
the Mexican mythology, should be placed, not in the sign Capri
cornus, but in Aquarius, the sign which immediately follows it.
This circumstance, however, is not surprising, as it merely con
firms the ingenious view of M. Bailly regarding the ancient con
nection of the three signs, Pisces, Aquarius, and Capricornus or
the fish-gazelle.

Ocelotl, tiger, the jaguar (felis oncd) of the warm regions of
Mexico ; tochtli, hare ; ozomatli, she-monkey ; itzcuintli, dog ;
cohuatl, serpent ; quauhtli, bird, are the catasterisms which are
found under the same name in the Tartarian and Thibetan
zodiac. In Chinese astronomy the hare is not only the fourth

COINCIDENCES NOTED BY HUMBOLDT. 147

tse, or sign of the zodiac, but the moon, since the remote epoch of
the reign of Too, has been figured as a disk, in which a hare, sit
ting upon its hind feet, turns a stick in a vessel, as if making but
ter ; a puerile fancy which may have had its origin in the plains
of Tartary, where hares abound, and which are inhabited by pas
toral tribes. The Mexican monkey, ozomatli, corresponds to the
heu of the Chinese, thepetchi of the Mantchoos, and the prehou
of the Thibetans, three names which designate the same animal.
Procyon appears to be the monkey Hanuan, so known in the
Hindoo mythology, and the position of this star, placed upon the
same line with Gemini and the pole of the ecliptic, corresponds
very well with the place which the monkey occupies in the Tar
tar zodiac, between Cancer and Taurus. Monkeys are also found
in the heaven of the Arabs. They are the stars of the constella
tion Canis Major, called El-Jcurttd in the catalogue of Kazwini.
I enter into these details concerning the sign ozomatli because it
is a very important point, not only in the history of astronomy,
but also in that of the migrations of the tribes, to find an animal
of the torrid zone placed among the constellations of the Mon
golian, Mantchoo, Aztec, and Toltec tribes.

The sign itzcuintli, dog, corresponds with the last sign but one
of the Tartarian zodiac, the ky of the Thibetans, the nokai of
the Mantchoos, and the in of the Japanese. Pere Gaubil informs
us that the dog of the Tartarian zodiac is our sign Aries ; and it
is very remarkable that, according to le Gentil, although the
Hindoos were not acquainted with the series of signs which com
mences with the rat, Aries is sometimes replaced by a wild dog.
In the same way, among the Mexicans itzcuintli designates the
wild dog, for they call their domestic dog techichi. Mexico
formerly abounded with carnivorous quadrupeds which united
the qualities of the dog and the wolf, and which Hernandez
has described to us but imperfectly. The race of these animals,
known by the names of xoloitzcuintli, itzcuintepotzotli, and tepeitz-
cuintli, is probably not entirely extinct, but they have more likely
retired into the wildest and most remote forests ; for in the part
of the country which I have passed through I have never heard
a wild dog mentioned.

Le Gentil and Bailly have been misled in the opinion which
they have advanced that the word mdcha, which designates our
ram, signifies a wild dog. This Sanskrit word is the common

AN" INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

name of the ram, and it has been employed very poetically by an
Indian author who, describing the combat of two warriors, says
that " by their heads they were two mtchas (rams), by their
arms two elephants, by their feet two noble coursers."

The following table shows at one view the signs of the Tar
tarian zodiac and the names of the days of the Mexican calendar,
which are alike :

Zodiac of the Tartar-Mantchoos. Zodiac of the Mexicans.

Pars, tiger. Ocelotl, tiger.

Taoulai, hare. Tochtli, hare, rabbit.

Mogai, serpent. Cohuatl, serpent.

Petchi, monkey. Ozomatli, monkey.

Nokal, dog. Itzcuintli, dog.

Tufaa, bird, fowl. Quauhtli, bird, eagle.

Without connecting the hieroglyphs water (atl) and the
marine monster (cipactli), which offer a striking analogy with the
zodiacal signs of Aquarius and Capricornus, the six signs of the
Tartarian zodiac which are also found in the Mexican calendar
are sufficient to make it extremely probable that the nations of
the two continents have drawn their astronomical ideas from a
common source, and it is worthy of notice that the points of
resemblance upon which we insist are not derived from rude
pictures or allegories, susceptible of being interpreted in ac
cordance with any hypothesis that it is desired to sustain. If
we consult the works composed at the time of the conquest, by
Spanish authors, or by American Indians who were ignorant of
the existence of a Tartarian zodiac, it will be seen that in Mex
ico, from the seventh century until our era, the days have been
called "tiger," "dog," "monkey," "hare" or "rabbit," as,
throughout Eastern Asia, the years bear the same names among
the Thibetans, the Tartar-Mantchoos, the Mongols, the Calmucks,
the Chinese, the Japanese, the Coreans, and among the nations
of Tonquin and Cochin-China.

It is conceivable that nations which never had any connection
may have similarly divided the ecliptic into twenty-seven or
twenty-eight parts, and given to each lunar day the name of the
stars near which the moon is found to be placed in its progress
ive movement from west to east. It also appears very natural
that pastoral and hunting nations should designate the constel
lations and the lunar days by the names of the animals which

COINCIDENCES NOTED BY HUMBOLDT. 149

are the constant objects of their affections or their fears. The
heaven of the nomad tribes may be found to be peopled with
dogs, deer, bulls, and wolves, without furnishing sufficient ground
for the conclusion that the tribes have ever formerly made parts
of the same nation. Traits of resemblance which are purely acci
dental, or which arise from a similarity of circumstances or lo
cation, should not be confounded with those which are the results
of a common origin or of ancient communication.

But the Tartarian and Mexican zodiacs are not confined ex
clusively to animals found in the regions inhabited by these
nations now ; in both, the tiger and the monkey are also found.
The two animals are unknown upon the plateau of Eastern and
Central Asia, to which the great elevation gives a colder temper
ature than that which is found in the same latitude farther east.
The Thibetans, the Mongolians, the Mantchoos, and the Cal-
mucks have therefore received from a more southerly country the
zodiac which has, too exclusively, been called the Tartarian cycle.
The Toltecs, the Aztecs, the Tlascaltecs migrated from the north
toward the south ; we know of Aztec monuments as far north as
the banks of the Gila, between 33° and 34° north latitude, and
history informs us that the Toltecs came formerly from regions
still farther north. The colonists coming from Aztlan did not
arrive as barbarian tribes ; everything announces the remains of
an ancient civilization as existing among them.

The names given to the cities which they constructed were
the names of the places which their ancestors had inhabited ;
their laws, their annals, their chronology, the order of their sacri
fices, were modeled upon the knowledge which they had acquired
in their father-land. Now, the monkeys and the tigers, which
figure among the hieroglyphs of the days, and in the Mexican
traditions of the four ages, or destructions of the sun, do not live
in the northern part of New Spain, or on the northwestern coast
of America. As a consequence, the signs ozomatli and ocelotl ren
der it extremely probable that the zodiacs of the Toltecs, the
Aztecs, the Mongolians, the Thibetans, and many other nations,
which are now separated by a vast extent of country, originated
at the same point in the Old World.

The lunar houses of the Hindoos, in which we find also a
monkey, a serpent, a dog's tail, and the head of a gazelle, or of
a marine monster, offer still other signs, of which the names re-

150 AN INGLOEIOUS COLUMBUS.

call those of calli, acatl, tecpatl, and ollin of the Mexican calen
dar.

Indian Nakchatras. Mexican Signs.

Magha, house. Calli, house.

Venu, cane (reed). Acatl, cane (reed).

Critica, razor. Tecpatl, flint, stone knife.

Sravana, three foot-prints. Ollin, movement of the sun,

figured by three foot-prints.

We can not help noticing that the Aztec word calli has the
same signification as kuala or holla, among the Wogouls, who
live upon the banks of the Kama and the Irtish, as ail, the
Aztec word for water, and itels (river) recall the words atel,
atelch, etel or idel (river) in the languages of the Mongolian Tar
tars, the Tcheremissians, and the Tchuwassians. The denomina
tion of calli, house, also designates very well a lunar station or
inn (mendzil el kamar, in Arabian), a place of repose. So, also,
among the Indian nakchatras, in addition to the houses (magha
and punarvasu), we also find a bedstead and a couch.

The Mexican sign acatl, cane, is generally drawn as two reeds
tied together ; but the stone found in Mexico in 1790, and which
offers the hieroglyphs of the days, represents the sign acatl in a
very different manner. We recognize there a bundle of rushes,
or a sheaf of maize, contained in a vase. We recall, in this con
nection, the fact that, in the first period of thirteen days of the
year tochtli, the sign acatl is constantly accompanied by Cinteotl,
who is the goddess of maize, the Ceres of the Mexicans, the di
vinity who presides over agriculture. Among the western peo
ple, Ceres is placed in the fifth of the twelve signs. We also
find very ancient zodiacs in which a bundle of ears of grain fills
all the place which should be occupied by Ceres, Isis, Astre"e, or
Erigone, in the sign of the harvests and vintages. Thus we
find that, from a high antiquity, the same ideas, the same sym
bols, the same tendency to think physical phenomena dependent
upon the mysterious influence of the stars, existed among nations
the most widely separated from one another.

The Mexican hieroglyph tecpatl indicates a cutting-stone of
an oval form, elongated toward the two extremities, similar to
those which are used as knives, or which are attached to the
end of a pike. This sign recalls the critica, or cutting-knife,
of the lunar zodiac of the Hindoos. Upon the large stone (rep-

COINCIDENCES NOTED BY HUMBOLDT.

resented in a plate given in the original French edition), the
hieroglyph tecpatl is figured in a different manner from the form
ordinarily given to it. The stone is pierced in the center, and
the opening appears to be intended to receive the hand of the
warrior who uses this two-pointed weapon. It is known that
the Americans had a peculiar method of piercing the hardest
stones and of working them into shape by friction. I brought
from South America, and deposited in the Berlin Museum, an
obsidian ring, which had served for a young girl's bracelet, and
which formed a hollow cylinder of almost seven centimetres in
ternal diameter, and four centimetres height, and of which the
thickness is not more than three millimetres. It is difficult to
conceive how a vitreous and fragile mass can have been reduced
to so thin a band. Tecpatl, however, differed in other respects
from obsidian, a substance which the Mexicans called iztli. Un
der the name tecpatl, jade, hornblende, and flint were con
founded.

The sign ollin, or ollin tonatiuh, presided, in the beginning of
the cycle of fifty-two years, over the seventeenth day of the
first month. The explanation of this sign greatly embarrassed
the Spanish monks, who, destitute of the most elementary prin
ciples of astronomy, attempted to describe the Mexican calen
dar. The Indian authors translated ollin by movements of the
sun. When they found the number nahui (four) added, they
rendered nahui ollin by the words " the sun (tonatiuh) in its
four movements." The sign ollin is made in three ways : some
times like two interlaced ribbons, or rather like two parts of
the curved lines, which intersect and have three distinct folds
upon their summits ; sometimes, like the solar disk, inclosed by
four squares, which contained the hieroglyphs of the numbers one
(ce) and four (nahui) ; sometimes like three foot-prints. The
four squares, as we shall hereafter show, alluded to the famous
tradition of the four ages, or four destructions of the world,
which occurred upon the days four tiger (nahui ocelotl),four
wind (nahui ehecatl), four rain (nahui quiahuitl), and four
water (nahui atl), in the years one reed (ce acatl), one flint (ce
tecpatl), and ce calli, one house. The solstices, the equinoxes,
and the passages of the sun past the zenith of the city of
Tenochtitlan, correspond very nearly to these days. The repre
sentation of the sign ollin by three xocpalli, or foot-prints, such as

152 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

are often found in the manuscripts preserved in the Vatican and
in the Codex Borgianus, folio 47, n. 210, is remarkable from the
analogy which it offers in appearance with sravana, or "the
Three Foot-prints of Vishnu," one of the mansions of the lunar
zodiac of the Hindoos. In the Mexican calendar the three foot
prints indicate either the course of the sun in its passage to the
equator, and in its movement toward the two tropics, or the
three positions of the sun, in the zenith, upon the equator, and at
one of the solstices. It may be possible that the lunar zodiac
of the Hindoos contains some sign which, like that of Libra, re
lates to the course of the sun. We have seen that the zodiac of
twenty-eight signs may have been transformed, little by little,
into a zodiac of twelve mansions of the full moon, and that some
nakchatras may have changed, their name since the zodiac of
the full moon has, from a knowledge of the annual movement
of the sun, become a true solar zodiac. Krishna, the Apollo of
the Hindoos, is in fact nothing but Vishnu under the form of the
sun, who is adored more particularly under the name of the god
Surya. In spite of this analogy of ideas and of signs, we think
that the three foot-prints which indicate sravana,, the twenty-
third of the nakchatras, have only an accidental resemblance
with the three foot-tracks which represent the sign ottin. M. de
Chezy, who unites a profound knowledge of the Persian to that
of the Sanskrit, observes that the sravana of the Indian zodiac
alludes to a legend which is very celebrated among the Hindoos,
and which is recorded in most of their sacred books, particularly
in the Bhdgavat Pdrdnd. Vishnu, wishing to punish the pride
of a giant, who thought himself as powerful as the gods, present
ed himself before him in the form of a dwarf, and begged him to
give him in his vast empire the space which he could inclose by
three of his paces. The giant smilingly granted his request ; but
immediately the dwarf grew so prodigiously that with two paces
he measured the distance between the heavens and the earth.
As he demanded a place to set his foot for the third pace, the
giant recognized the god Vishnu, and prostrated himself before
him. This fact explains so well the figure of the naJcchatra named
sravana, that it seems difficult to admit that the sign can be
connected with that of ollin, as cipactli and the Mexican Noah,
Teo-cipactli, are connected with the constellation Capricornus
and with Deucalion, placed formerly in Aquarius.

COINCIDENCES NOTED BY HUMBOLDT. 153

We have thus developed the connection which exists between
the signs composing the different zodiacs of India, of Thibet, and
of Tartary and the hieroglyphs of the days and the years of the
Mexican calendar. We have found that among the proofs of
such connection the most striking and the most numerous are
those which are presented by the cycle of twelve animals, which
we have designated by the name of the Tartarian and Thibetan
zodiac. In terminating a discussion of which the results are so
important in regard to the history of the ancient communication
of the nations, it remains for us to examine the last zodiac more
closely, and to prove that in the system of Asiatic astronomy,
with which the Mexican astronomy appears to have had a com
mon origin, the twelve signs of the zodiac presided not only over
the months, but also over the years, the days, the hours, and even
the smallest divisions of the hours. . . .

1594 \vherever we observe at the same time several divisions
of the ecliptic which differ, not in the number of the signs, but
in their general names, as the tse, the tchi, and the celestial ani
mals of the Chinese, the Thibetans, and the Tartars, this multi
plicity of signs is probably due to a mixture of several nations,
which have been subjugated one by another. The effects of this
mixture, particularly of the influence exercised by the conquerors
upon the conquered, are especially manifest in the northeastern
part of Asia, in which the languages, in spite of the great num
ber of Mongolian and Tartarian roots which they contain, differ
so essentially among themselves, that they seem to be incapable
of any methodical classification. The greater the distance from
Thibet and Hindostan, the greater the difference in the type of
the civil institutions, in knowledge, and in culture. Now, if the
tribes of Eastern Siberia, among whom the dogmas of Buddhism
have evidently penetrated, show but feebly their connection
with the civilized nations of Eastern Asia, we need not be sur
prised that in the New Continent we find only a few points of
analogy in the traditions, in the chronology, and in the style of
the ancient monuments, while in other respects we discern a
great number of striking differences. When nations of Tartarian
or Mongolian origin, transplanted to foreign shores, mixed with
the hordes indigenous to America, and traced out painfully a
path toward civilization, their languages, their mythology, their
divisions of time, all took a character of individuality which

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

effaced, so to say, the primitive type of their national physiog
nomy. . . .

1597 Thibet and Mexico present very remarkable traits of
connection in their ecclesiastical hierarchy, in the number of
their religious fraternities, in the extreme austerity of their pen
ances, and in the order of the processions. It is impossible to
fail to be struck with these resemblances, when reading with
attention the account which Cortez gave to the Emperor Charles
the Fifth of his solemn entry into Cholula, which he called the
holy city of the Mexicans. . . .

1598 Of all the traits of analogy which have been observed
in the monuments, in the manners, and in the traditions of the
nations of Asia and America, the most striking is that which the
Mexican mythology presents in its fable regarding the system of
the universe, of its periodic destructions and regenerations.
This fable, which unites the idea of a renewal of matter sup
posed to be indestructible with the completion of great cycles,
and which attributes to space that which appears to appertain
only to time, goes back to the greatest antiquity. The sacred
books of the Hindoos, especially the Bhdgavat P&rdnd, speak
of the four ages and of the pralayas, or cataclysms, which at
different epochs have caused the destruction of the human spe
cies. A tradition of five ages, analogous to that of the Mexicans,
is found upon the plateau of Thibet. It is true that this astro
logical fable, which has become the basis of a system of cos
mogony, had its birth in Hindostan ; it is probable, also, that
from there it passed to the western nations by the way of Iran
and Chaldea. The resemblance between the Indian tradition of
the yugas and the Jcalpas, the cycles of the ancient inhabitants
of Etruria, and this series of exterminated generations, charac
terized by Hesiod under the emblem of four metals, should not
be forgotten.

The nations of Culhua, or of Mexico, says Gomara, who
wrote in the middle of the sixteenth century, believed, according
to their hieroglyphical paintings, that before the sun which now
shines upon them, there existed four others which were de
stroyed one after another. The "five suns " are as many ages in
which our species has been annihilated by inundations, by earth
quakes, by a universal conflagration, and by the effect of hurri
canes. After the destruction of the fourth sun, the world was

COINCIDENCES NOTED BY LOBSCHEID. 155

plunged into darkness for the space of twenty-five years. It was
in the middle of this profound night, ten years before the ap
pearance of the fifth sun, that the human race was re-created.

599 As it may cause surprise to find five ages, or suns, among
the Mexican tribes, while the Hindoos and the Greeks admit
only four, it is worthy of notice that the Mexican cosmogony
is in accord with that of the Thibetans, who also regard the
present age as the fifth. If we examine with care the beautiful
fragment of an earlier tradition, preserved by Hesiod, in which he
explains the Oriental system of the renewal of nature, it will be
seen that this author really counts five creations in four ages.
He divides the period of bronze into two parts, which make up
the third and fourth creations ; and it is surprising that so clear
a passage has sometimes been misinterpreted.

We are ignorant as to the number of ages referred to in the
Sibylline books ; but we think that the analogies which we indi
cate are not accidental, and that it is not without interest for the
philosophical history of man to see the same fables scattered
from Etruria to Thibet, and from there to the Cordilleras of
Mexico.

Extracts from the " Grammar of the Chinese Language" — by
the Hev. W. Lobscheid.

1756 AMERICAN INDIANS APPARENTLY ONE RACE WITH THE
JAPANESE AND EASTERN ASIATICS. — ... In passing across the Isth
mus of Panama, and in Mexico, I was struck with the similarity
of architecture between the Chinese and these people. Instead of
excavating mountains, instead of making expensive vaults, all the
principal edifices are erected on elevated ground. The tiles of the
roofs are concave and convex, just as we have them in China ;
the anchors of their boats are the same as we find them in Japan
and the north of China, i. e., with four hooks without a barb ;
and innumerable other manners, customs, and peculiarities of
civilization agree exactly with those of Eastern Asia, as in no
other country of the world.

We now come to inquire as to how these tribes could reach
America. During the summer months, when the sun did not set
for one whole month, the inhabitants of the extreme parts of
Northeastern Asia, either pressed by hostile tribes, or from an im
pulse of adventure, must have crossed over to the American Conti-

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

nent, where, either by hunting or fishing, they could easily sup
port themselves and provide for their wants during the coming
winter. Wave after wave of immigration is likely to have rolled
on ; and if only at long intervals a few returned to their native
place, that was sufficient to account for a knowledge of a large
Eastern Continent, floating among the Chinese, Japanese, and
other Asiatics.

The large fleets of fishing-boats about the coasts of Japan and
China are, we know, frequently overtaken by tremendous gales,
and either destroyed or carried eastward. We know of Japa
nese junks having been picked up beyond the Sandwich Islands,
and close to the shore of America, after an absence of more than
nine months. But much more. Large fleets of war-junks, some
times manned by as many as one hundred thousand men, have
left the coast of China and Japan, and have been scattered by the
northwest gales, and but few of these ever survived or returned.
It is not unlikely that these junks, being well provisioned,
have continued in their eastern course, until, within 28° north
latitude, they fell in with the trade-wind, which compelled them
to change their course, and carried them toward Mexico or Lower
California, where they laid the foundation of that kind of civiliza
tion which resembles so closely that of the Chinese and Japanese.
Look at the Chinese dress five or six centuries ago, and you have
the head-dress of the Mexicans ; look at the monstrous uniforms
and coats-of-mail, and at the head-dress of the Japanese women,
and you will be struck with their similarity to the Mexicans. As
all the kings, chiefs, and priests — in one word, all the creators of
that peculiar civilization — were destroyed by the Spaniards, we
need not wonder at the low ebb of education of the present race,
who are merely the children of peasants and the lower classes.
Were Chinese who speak the different dialects and well versed
in their own literature, and Japanese of education, well furnished
with ancient works, sent with scientific men to America, we
may rest assured, they would soon decipher the inscriptions now
fast going to ruin.

SUMMARY OF SIMILARITY OF THE AMERICAN INDIANS WITH THE
JAPANESE, CHINESE, AND NORTHERN ASIATICS. — I. LANGUAGE.
Monosyllabic, as spoken by the Otomi and other tribes. Hiero
glyphs, or ideographic characters, on the same principle as the

COINCIDENCES NOTED BY LOBSCHEID. 157

Chinese ; absence of the R among the tribes where the ideo
graphic characters are found ; prevalence of hissing sounds and
gutturals, and most words terminating in a vowel. 2. Poly
syllabic language of a syllabic character, representing, not sound,
but syllables, as in Japan. Japanese words detected in the Indian
language ; Japanese form of the possessive case ; prevalence of
the R, and the termination of every word in a vowel except
theN.

II. RELIGION. The most ancient religion of the Indians, now
forming the wandering tribes, is the belief in one Great Spirit,
whom they worship, like the Japanese their Sin (spirit), without
image. In both places, long, hortatory addresses are delivered to
the audience, and both exhibit profound reverence of that spirit,
and deep religious feelings. The polytheistic form of worship, as
found in Mexico, etc., is, according to accepted history, the most
modern one, and was, if we believe Chinese legends, introduced by
Buddhists and shaman priests, about the beginning of the sixth
century of our era, which nearly coincides with the commence
ment of the Toltecan history, which is put down at A. D. 596. The
dragon or serpent worship was very prevalent. That the Chi
nese dragon is nothing but a serpent, can be proved from the fact
that at this moment serpents are kept in temples as representa
tives of the ancient dragon. They resembled the Chinese and
(Buddhist) Japanese in their ideas of " the transmigration of the
soul ; in the monastic forms and discipline ; in their penances,
ablutions, alms-givings, and public festivals ; in the worship of
their household gods ; in the devotions of the priests to the study
of astrology and astronomy ; in the admission of virgin females
to the vows and rites of the cloister ; in the incense and chants
of their worship ; in their use of charms and amulets ; in some
of their forms of burning their dead, and the preservation of the
ashes in urns, and in the assumption of the right to educate the
youth." Among other superstitious notions is the one of a celes
tial dragon endeavouring to devour the sun during its eclipse,
and their fondness for the drum, gong, and rattle.

III. CUSTOMS. The dragon-standard ; banner-lances, as we
find them in Chinese Buddhist temples ; ensigns and banners
stuck in a ferula, fixed at the back of a warrior. A kind of her
aldry as we meet among the Japanese. Some of their nuptials
were symbolized by the ceremony of tying the garments of the

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

two contracting parties together. There was only one lawful
wife, though a plurality of concubines. I have already referred
to the similarity of dress, architecture, and anchors of ships.

Physiologically considered, there is not the slightest difference
between these tribes and those of Japan and China, and the tribes
among themselves differ no more from each other than the peo
ple of Europe of one and the same stock.

Extracts from the " History of the Conquest of Mexico "—by
William H. Prescott.

2083 An obvious analogy is found in cosmogonal traditions
and religious usages. The reader has already been made ac
quainted with the Aztec system of four great cycles, at the end of
each of which the world was destroyed, to be again regenerated.
The belief in these periodical convulsions of nature, through the
agency of some one or other of the elements, was familiar to
many countries in the Eastern Hemisphere ; and, though varying
in detail, the general resemblance of outline furnishes an argu
ment in favour of a common origin. The fanciful division of
time into four or five cycles or ages was found among the Hin
doos ("Asiatic Researches," vol. ii, mem. 7), the Thibetans
(Humboldt, " Vues des Cordilleres," p. 210), the Persians (Bailly,
" Traite de PAstronomie," Paris, 1787, tome i, discours prelimi-
naire), the Greeks (Hesiod, ""Epya KCU -H^epai," v, 108 et seq.),
and other people, doubtless. . . .

2084 " I have purposely omitted noticing the resemblance of re
ligious notions, for I do not see how it is possible to separate
from such views every influence of Christian ideas, if it be only
from an imperceptible confusion in the mind of the narrator."
(Quoted from Vater's " Mithridates," Berlin, 1812, Theil III,
Abtheil 3, p. 82, note.) . . .

15 These coincidences must be allowed to furnish an argu
ment in favour of some primitive communication with that great
brotherhood of nations on the Old Continent among whom simi
lar ideas have been so widely diffused. The probability of such
a communication, especially with Eastern Asia, is much strength
ened by the resemblance of sacerdotal institutions, and of some
religious rites — as those of marriage and the burial of the dead ;
by the practice of human sacrifices, and even of cannibalism —
traces of which are discernible in the Mongol races ; and, lastly,

COINCIDENCES NOTED BY PRESCOTT. 159

by a conformity of social usages and manners so striking that
the description of Montezuma's court may well pass for that of
the Grand Khan's, as depicted by Maundeville and Marco Polo.
It would occupy too much room to go into details in this mat
ter, without which, however, the strength of the argument can
not be felt, nor fully established. It has been done by others ;
and an occasional coincidence has been adverted to in the preced
ing chapters. . . .

2086 There are certain arbitrary peculiarities, which, when
found in different nations, reasonably suggest the idea of some
previous communication between them. Who can doubt the
existence of an affinity, or at least intercourse, between tribes
who had the same strange habit of burying the dead in a sitting
posture, as was practiced to some extent by most, if not all, of
the aborigines, from Canada to Patagonia ? The habit of burn
ing the dead, familiar to both Mongols and Aztecs, is, in itself,
but slender proof of a common origin. The body must be dis
posed of in some way ; and this, perhaps, is as natural as any
other. But, when to this is added the circumstance of collecting
the ashes in a vase, and depositing the single article of a precious
stone along with them, the coincidence is remarkable. Such
minute coincidences are not unfrequent ; while the accumulation
of those of a more general character, though individually of little
account, greatly strengthens the probability of a communication
with the East. . . .

2067 A proof of a higher kind is found in the analogies of
science. We have seen the peculiar chronological system of the
Aztecs — their method of distributing the years into cycles, and
of reckoning by means of periodical series, instead of numbers.
A similar process was used by the various Asiatic nations of the
Mongol family, from India to Japan. . . .

2088 It is scarcely possible to reconcile the knowledge of Oriental
science with the total ignorance of some of the most serviceable
and familiar arts, as the use of milk and iron, for example— arts
so simple, yet so important to domestic comfort, that, when once
acquired, they could hardly be lost. . . . Yet there have been
people considerably civilized, in Eastern Asia, who were almost
equally strangers to the use of milk. ... It is possible, more
over, that the migration may have been previous to the time
when iron was used by the Asiatic nation in question. . . . Such

160 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

is the explanation, unsatisfactory indeed, but the best that sug
gests itself, of this curious anomaly. . . .

2089 TI^ reader of the preceding pages may, perhaps, acquiesce
in the general conclusions — not startling by their novelty :

First, that the coincidences are sufficiently strong to authorize
a belief that the civilization of Anahuac was, in some degree, in
fluenced by that of Eastern Asia ; and, secondly, that the discrep
ancies are such as to carry back the communication to a very
remote period — so remote, that this foreign influence has been
too feeble to interfere materially with the growth of what may
be regarded, in its essential features, as a peculiar and indigenous
civilization.

CHAPTER X.

SHORTER ESSAYS.

" Where was Fu-sang ? " — by the Rev. Nathan Brown, D. D. — Difficulties attending
a decision— Horses — Grapes — Reason for thinking Fu-sang more distant than
Japan — Length of the li — Distances of the route — Difficulties attending
Klaproth's theory — The military expeditions of the Japanese — The introduc
tion of the Buddhist religion — The Hans — Great Han — Identification of the
fu-sang tree with the bread-fruit tree — Conclusion — Remarks of the Abbe
Brasseur de Bourbourg — The paper and books of the Mexicans and Central
Americans — Civilization of New Mexico — Chinese boats — Animals — Mr. Lc-
land's " Fusang" — An earlier article — Who discovered America ?— J. Hanlay's
essay — The fu-sang tree identified with the maguey — Metals — Resemblance
in religion and customs — Also in features — Language — Civilization on Pacific
coast — Letter of Mr. Th. Simson — The Mexican aloe— The fu-sang tree —
Japan — Letter of E. Bretschneider, M. D. — Accounts of Fu-sang by the
Chinese poets — "The Kingdom of Women" — Verdict of Father Ilyacinth —
The distance — Horses and deer — The fu-sang tree — The t'ung tree — The paper-
mulberry — Metals—" The Kingdom of Women " and Salt Lake City — Fu-sang
not Japan — Ta-han in Siberia — Envoys from Fu-sang — Contradictory fancies
— Mr. Leland's criticism — Letter of Fere Gaubil — Unreliability of Chinese
texts — The peopling of Japan — Chinese knowledge of surrounding countries —
Remarks of Humboldt — Letter of the Rt. Rev. Channing M. Williams — The
Chinese " Classic of Mountains and Seas " — Fabulous stories — Translation of
extracts therefrom — Remarks of M. Leon de Rosny — Passage from Asia to
America — The distance — Character of the Esquimaux — An article from a
newspaper of British Columbia — Discovery of Chinese coins in the bank of a
creek— Evidence that they had been buried for a long time.

" Where was Fu-sang f " — by the Rev. Nathan Brown, D. Z>.850

IT is not a little amusing to observe the regularity with which
the discovery of an ancient connection between China and Mex
ico annually goes the rounds of the newspapers.

The author of the discovery is generally stated to be Pro
fessor Karl Neumann, who has lit upon some old Chinese record
containing it ; but no dates are given for verifying the fact, and
no translation of the documents upon which he relies.
11

162 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

The following paragraph, from the first chapter of Riviero's
" Peruvian Antiquities," translated by Dr. Hawks, is somewhat
more definite. After speaking of various theories framed in ref
erence to the colonization of America, he says :

" But the hypothesis which in importance surpasses all these
is that of de Guignes, who, relying upon the chronicles of
China, attributes Peruvian civilization to emigration proceeding
from the i Celestial Empire,' or the East Indies. Recent inves
tigations would seem to confirm this opinion." . . .

Signer Riviero goes on to say there is " no doubt " that Que-
tzalcoatl, Bochica, Manco Capac, and other reformers of Central
America were Buddhist priests. Such random assertions are a
positive injury to archaeological science ; they destroy confidence,
not only in the author who makes them, but in antiquarian re
searches generally. The connection of the Mexican mythology
with Buddhism is a thing to be proved, not assumed as a matter
beyond doubt. Buddhism is the most gentle and inoffensive of
all the heathen religions ; it is as unlike to the bloody religion
of the Aztecs as it is to the cruel rites of the Brahmanical wor
shipers of Siva and Durga. If an idol is to be found in Yuca
tan combining these two opposite forms of worship, it is a
phenomenon well worth the study of the learned. But, before
attempting a solution of the enigma, we want certain proof that
such a combination exists. . . .

The difficulties presented ... are formidable, whether, with
Klaproth, we suppose that the Chinese account refers to Japan,
or with de Guignes, that it refers to America. The former
asserts that neither the vine nor horses were known in America
till after the time of Columbus, and that this circumstance alone
disproves the theory of de Guignes. But such a summary dis
posal of the question can not be admitted. The fossil remains
of this continent have not been sufficiently examined to decide
that the bones of the horse are not among them. But were this
point settled, it would still be very supposable that some other
animal might be intended by the word translated "horses." In
regard to the grape, M. Klaproth is certainly mistaken. New
England, as early as the year 1000, was called by the Norwe
gians Vinland, or " the Land of Vines," from the abundance of
grapes which they found there.

The narrative of Hoei Shin is classed by Klaproth with the

SHORTER ESSAYS.

163

stories and exaggerations of the Chinese poets, who make Bu
sang their land of fables, a country lying in the remote East,
where the sun rises and makes his toilet. . . .

Other passages say that beyond the Southeastern Ocean, be
tween the Kan-shui, or " Sweet Rivers," lies the kingdom of
Ghi-wa-kof, where lived the virgin Ghi-wa, or Ili-ho, who mar
ried the prince of Ghi-ica and gave birth to ten suns.

But these fables are rather against than in favour of M. Klap-
roth's theory ; for the poets would have been more likely to
select, as the scene of the marvelous, a remote and unknown
country rather than one so near as Japan. The life-like particu
larity of Hoei Shin's account evidently raises it out of the region
of fable, and compels us to regard it as a matter-of-fact descrip
tion of some existing country. But where is Ta-han? De Guig-
nes says this country is Kamtchatka ; Klaproth says it is Taraikai,
or Saghalien. . . .

The distance from the mouth of the Hoang-ho to the coast of
North America, by a direct eastern course, would be from 6,500
to 7,000 miles ; corresponding very well to 20,000 Chinese li, as at
present reckoned. But the question arises, whether Hoei Shin in
tends to say that Fit-sang is equally distant from China and from
Ta-han, or whether he means that Fa-sang is at the same dis
tance from Ta-han that Ta-han is from China. The latter sense
would require the translation to read : " Fu-sang is 20,000 li east of
the country of Ta-han, and it [meaning Ta-han] is equally distant
to the east of China." This would locate Ta-han on the road to
Fu-sang, instead of making Ta-han and China the basis of an
isosceles triangle, of which Fu-sang is the apex. It would render
the account more natural and consistent ; for if Fu-sang is in
an easterly direction from both the other countries, we must infer
that the three were nearly in a line.

If we adopt Li-yan-cheits statement of the route to Ta-han,
whether the latter be Saghalien or Kamtchatka, we must contract
our estimate of the U, and that will bring Fu-sang proportionately
nearer.

As navigation in those early times was generally along the
shore, with very little means of accurately measuring distances
by water, it will not perhaps be unreasonable to allow, on the
average, six nautical li to the mile, and then 20,000 K would
just be sufficient to land us in Oregon or California. From the

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

southern point of Kamtchatka to Alaska the distance is about
one thousand miles, and to Oregon as much farther ; so that of
the 20,000 li, or 3,300 miles, we would have a surplus of 1,300
miles to allow for the windings along the coast. The stages of
the voyage would then become : From Corea to the chief port in
Japan (making a very large allowance for winding course), 2,000
miles ; thence to Wen-shin (either in Jesso or Saghalien), 1,100
miles ; thence to Kamtchatka, 800 miles ; thence to Fu,-sang, a
long stretch of 3,300 miles.

Thus we see there is no insuperable objection to the theory
of de Guignes. On the contrary, the supposition of Klaproth,
that Fa-sang was the southern part of Japan, involves us in inex
tricable difficulties.

It makes Li-yan-cheu and Hoei Shin contradict each other :
one affirming that Japan is 12,000 li distant, the other that it is
20,000 ; one declaring that it is east of Ta-han, the other that it is
directly south. Klaproth endeavours to show that thefu-sang tree
is the mulberry, of which the Japanese make paper ; but it would
be very difficult to discover any resemblance between a mulberry-
plant and the shoot of a young bamboo. Nor would its fruit be
compared to a pear, which it does not at all resemble in form.
At the period in question, the beginning of the sixth century,
Japan was governed by the tyrant Burets Teno, who, according
to the imperial annals, sent some thousands of soldiers to destroy
a rival. Of course, it could not be said of such a people :that
" they had neither arms nor troops."

The northern and southern prisons, described by Hoei Shin,
find no confirmation in the Japanese annals. There is no evi
dence that the Japanese reared stags instead of cattle ; they were
not without iron, nor did they esteem gold and silver of no ac
count Finally, as Klaproth himself acknowledges, the Buddhist
religion was not introduced into Japan till the year 552, when it
was brought in from Corea ; consequently, the priest Hoei Shin
could not have spoken of it as the religion of the country in the
year 500.

But another supposition still remains. The Han were a peo
ple, rather than a country : Ta-han, the Great Han. The Hans
were among the oldest of the Chinese races ; they occupied the
northern part of the empire, overspread Corea, and ultimately
became masters of Japan. The Japanese historians trace back

SHORTER ESSAYS. 165

their line of emperors to Eu-kung, king of Chou, whose great-
grandson, Wu-wang, became emperor of China, 1122 B. c. The
kings of Chou were of the Han race. Gutzlaff says " the state of
Han [424 to 230 B. c.] was ruled by a line of kings who traced
their descent from the founders of the Chou dynasty." (" Chin.
Hist.," p. 202.) Klaproth gives us the testimony of Chinese
writers that Wu T'ai-pe, elder son of Ku-kung, prince of Chou,
founded the kingdom of WM, where his descendants reigned 659
years. Being conquered and driven out by the king of Yue,
they sailed for Japan, and became the founders of that empire :
" The children, the grandchildren, and the relatives of the last
king of Wuy put to sea, and became the Wo or Japanese." In
the third century of our era, these Han rulers of Japan took
possession of Corea, which, after the fall of the Han dynasty in
China, appears to have become the general rendezvous of the
Han races. The country was known as that of the San-han, or
San-kan, the " Three Hans" namely, the Ma-han, composed of
fifty-four tribes, the Shin-han, twelve tribes, and the Pian-han,
also twelve tribes. It is highly probable that Hoei Shin, in
speaking of the country of the Great Han, meant Japan, in dis
tinction from Corea, the common residence of the three principal
Han families.

It would seem, from the descriptions by other writers, of coast
wise and overland journeys to the Great Han, that this term was
also used for a more northerly region, either the northern part of
Japan (including Saghalien) or a portion of the continent. With
these accounts the narrative of Hoei Shin has no necessary con
nection. It is a strong argument in favour of a Southern Ta-han
as a point of departure for America, that it would make the
deviation from an eastern course far less than by the northern
route.

We must wait for a more perfect knowledge of the former
flora and fauna of America before we can identify, with any cer
tainty, the plants and animals mentioned by Hoei Shin. It has
been suggested that the maguey, or Mexican aloe, is the fu-sang ;
but we think a more substantial tree is indicated. In many re
spects the description would agree better with some tree of the
bread-fruit family, which includes the artocarpus, moms or mul
berry, maclura, and fig. Of the bread-fruit no less than fifty
varieties are enumerated as indigenous to the South Sea Islands,

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

and there is no reason why they should not have been abundant
in the tropical regions of the American coast.* Williams, in his
" Narrative of Missionary Enterprises," gives this description of
the most common variety :

" Among all the trees that adorn the islands of the Pacific,
the bread-fruit deserves the pre-eminence for its beauty and value.
It frequently grows fifty or sixty feet high, and has a trunk be
tween two and three feet in diameter. The leaves are broad and
sinuated, something similar in form to those of the fig-tree.
They are frequently eighteen inches in length, and of a dark-
green colour, with a glossy surface resembling that of the richest
evergreens. The fruit is oval, about six inches in diameter, and
of a light pea-green." Ellis adds that "it subsequently changes
to brown, and when fully ripe assumes a rich yellow tinge."

Williams continues : " The value of this wonderful tree ex
ceeds its beauty. It is everything to the natives — their house,
their food, their clothing. The trunk furnishes one of the best
kinds of timber they possess. It is the colour of mahogany, ex
ceedingly durable, and is used by the natives in building their
canoes and houses, and in the manufacture of the few articles of
furniture they formerly possessed. From the bark of the
branches they fabricate their clothing ; and, when the tree is
punctured, there exudes from it a mucilaginous fluid, resembling
thick cream, which hardens by exposure to the sun, and, when
boiled, answers all the purposes of English pitch. The fruit is,
to the South Sea Islander, the staff of life. It bears two crops
every season. Besides this, there are several varieties which
ripen at different periods, so that the natives have a supply
of this palatable and nutritious food during the greater part of
the year."

Our conclusion is this : That the narrative of Iloei Shin is en
titled to full credence ; that before the Anglo-Saxons invaded
England ,• before France became a nation ; a hundred years be
fore the birth of Mohammed, and more than fourteen hundred

* The bread-fruit tree, like its congener, the jack-tree of India, requires care
for its preservation, and its non-cultivation in a particular country at the present
time does not prove its non-existence a thousand years ago. Mr. Ellis (" Polynesian
Researches," chap, ii.) says the tree " is propagated by slips from the root " ; but
he expresses his fear that it will in a few years become scarce, as the indolent na
tives " are generally adverse to the planting of bread-fruit trees."

SHORTER ESSAYS. 167

years before the daring Columbus ventured upon unknown waters
in search of a new world, the Orientals were passing and repassing
the broad Pacific, from China to the American coast, either by
the shore line, where the current would aid in carrying them
around and down the Mexican coast, or by a direct route over
calmer seas, passing the Sandwich Islands and falling into the
Mexican current a little north of Peru ; that, previous to the
year 500, there was an empire on this continent which must
have rivaled China in civilization, laws, and good government ;
that its ruler was so powerful as to maintain his authority with
out the use of armies ; that the people had a written language ;
that they used, in their reckoning of time, the Chinese cycle of
sixty years ; that they had domestic animals, and used wheel
carriages ; that among the chief productions of the country was
a tree resembling or identical with the bread-fruit tree ; that the
Buddhist religion had been recently introduced, but had not
exterminated the more ancient idolatry, which consisted in the
worship of images representing spirits. These general facts we
consider established on as good authority as we could ask for —
that of a Buddhist priest, probably himself one of the mission
aries to whom reference is made.

Remarks of the Abbe J3rasseur de Bourbourg.™

Without undertaking to defend here the argument of M. de
Guignes regarding Fu-sang^ recently revived by M. Gustave
d'Eichthal by the article in which he ascribed the American
civilization to a Buddhist origin, an argument attacked by Klap-
roth and more lately by M. Vivien de Saint-Martin, we will,
since we are upon known ground, digress sufficiently to call at
tention to some errors in the article of the latter in the " Anne*e
Geographique." We shall not seek to prove that either the/w-
sang tree or any very similar tree existed in America ; but it is
certain that most of the books of the natives that have been pre
served to our times, without counting those of the collection of M.
Aubin, are made from the fibers of the bark of a tree from which
the Americans made a true paper. (See Gomara, " Conquista de
Mexico," t. i, p. 424 ; Landa, " Relacion de las Cosas de Yucatan,"
p. 44 ; Humboldt, « Vues des Cordilleres," t. ii, pp. 269, 304.) Such
are, among others, the "Dresden Manuscript," the manuscript
of the Imperial Library, called " Mexican Manuscript, No. 2," the

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

" Codex Trdano," etc., which, it may be observed, in passing, are
written in alphabetical characters. M. Vivien de Saint-Martin
in his article says that writing, properly so called, or alphabetical
writing, does not exist in America ; nevertheless, it was well known
in 1865 that alphabetical writing really existed, and nothing more
is necessary to prove this than the work of Landa, which the
scholarly geographer cites, two pages farther on, which, if not
sufficient to satisfy him of its existence, should at least have de
terred him from stating the contrary in a manner so absolute.

He adds that " it has never been stated that the miserable
savages of the northwest coast had a method of writing or made
paper." There may, however, have been other nations upon these
coasts at an earlier date who were in possession of these two arts ;
for it is known, says M. von Humboldt (" Vues des Cordilleres,"
t. ii, p. 96), that in the last century, " among the inhabitants of
Nutka, the Mexican month of twenty days was found in use,"
which conveys the idea of a state of civilization passably ad
vanced. The remains of gigantic edifices have also been found
from time to time in these quarters, certainly the works of a
people more advanced in civilization than the miserable savages
in question.

In spite of Klaproth's skillful refutation of the hypothesis
of de Guignes, it has been reproduced several times, says Alex
ander von Humboldt, by the pens of a number of estimable
scholars, who think that they have found in the Vinland of
Asiatic explorers more than one characteristic trait of America.

It is now unquestionably established, moreover, from the ac
counts of the first Spanish explorers, which have been studied
upon the spot by the Americans of our days, that the countries
situated in the center of the American Continent, and upon its
western coasts, from the banks of the Rio Gila to the copper
mines of Lake Superior, were formerly inhabited by tribes which
were scarcely inferior in civilization to those of Mexico proper.
They existed only in a state of decadence at the time of the
Spanish conquest, and the remains of this civilization are found
even now in the villages of houses of several stories in New
Mexico.

As to Chinese or Japanese voyages to the northwestern
coasts : from time to time their traces have been thought to be
found in the ports of California (Bradford, " American Antiq-

SHORTER ESSAYS. 169

uities," p. 233) ; and Gomara states that, at the time of the expe
ditions of Cortez and Alarcon in these regions, " they heard of
boats which had pelicans of gold and silver at the prow, which
were loaded with merchandise, and which they thought to come
from Cathay and China, because the sailors of these boats caused
it to be understood by signs that their voyage had taken thirty
days."

There also exists a well-known tradition, among the inhabit
ants of the Pacific coast of North America, that men of distant
nations came formerly from beyond the sea to trade at the prin
cipal ports of the coast (Bustamante, " Supplement to Book III of
the Work of Sahagun "). It is also known that the northern tribes
were much more peaceable than the Mexicans, and that in their
country there exist "plains covered with trees, among which
there are vines, mulberries, and rose-bushes." (See, in the collec
tion of Ternaux-Compans, Castaiieda's "Relation du Voyage
de Cibola en 1540," p. 126.)

They also possessed great numbers of dogs, which carried
their effects, and perhaps even the bison may have been used
as a draught animal and beast of burden ; and it is certain, at
least, that the chiefs of the country had quite large herds of tame
deer and domestic bisons (see letter written by the Adelantado
Soto, etc., in the " Collection of Narrations regarding Florida,"
edited by Ternaux-Compans, p. 47, and in the "Relation of
Biedma," p. 101) ; and, according to the accounts of various
authors, it is probable that they were used much as are our
domestic animals.

Gomara, in his "Hist. Gen. de las Indias," in several places
mentions the accounts of travelers of his days, and those of the
conquerors, who speak of numerous herds of domestic bisons ex
isting among the northern tribes, and which furnished them with
clothing, food, and drink. Humboldt and Prescott remark that
the drink must have been their blood, for the natives of these
countries appear to have this, in common with those of China
and Cochin-China, that they make no use of milk (" Tableau de
la Nature," trad. Galuski, Paris, 1863, p. 213). It is known
that other Indians in the northern part of the United States,
and in Canada, used certain large deers as draught animals for
their sledges, in the same way that, at the present day, elks are
used by the Indians of the country north of Canada.

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

M. de Saint-Martin says that, before the arrival of the Span
iards, neither draught animals nor beasts of burden were known
in America. What can he call the vicunas and llamas of
Peru, which are used as beasts of burden exactly as camels are
in Asia ? (See Cieya de Leon, " Cronica del Peru," cap. ex and cxi ;
and as for North America, consult Gomara, who was the chap
lain of Cortez.) " There are also great dogs, capable of fighting
with a bull, and which carry two arrobas weight (fifty pounds)
upon a sort of saddle when they go to the chase." (" Hist, de
las Indias," p. 289 ; see also Casteiiada, " Relation de Cibola,"
p. 190.)

In any case, before pronouncing so positively as to what is
known or not known regarding the Americans, it seems to us
to be prudent to wait ; for every day, it may be said, throws
some new light upon the diverse ancient civilizations of the
continent discovered by Columbus. The "Old Stories Set
Afloat " are not always as improbable as may be thought, and
M. Gustave d'Eichthal may be right in his reply to the scholarly
editor of the " Annee Geographique," that " old stories are good
things to revive when they are true old stories." . . .

94 The Abbe de Bourbourg says, in his introduction to the
" Popol-Yuh " : " It has been known to scholars for nearly a cen
tury that the Chinese were acquainted with the American Con
tinent in the fifth century of our era. . . . Readers, who may
desire to make comparisons between the Japanese description of
Fu-sang and some country in America, will find astonishing
analogies in the countries described by Castaneda and Fra Mar
cos de Niza in the province of Cibola." ... 91 Speaking of the
Mexican religion, he is constrained to say : " Asia appears to
have been the cradle of this religion, and of the social institu
tions which it consecrated."

The book, entitled " Fusang ; or, the Discovert/ of America
by Chinese Buddhist Priests in the Fifth Century? by Charles
G. Leland (l%mo, London, 1875).

This work opens with a memoir of Carl Friedrich Neumann.
This is followed by a translation of Professor Neumann's argu
ment regarding Fa-sang, which is succeeded by a chapter of
comments and suggestions by Mr. Leland. Then follows a chap
ter regarding the navigation of the North Pacific, and embody-

SHORTER ESSAYS.

ing a letter from Colonel Barclay Kennon, setting forth the
ease with which a voyage may be made from Asia to America,
by way of the Aleutian Islands, even in an open canoe, and
calling attention to the frequency with which this voyage is
made by the natives of those regions. Next come a chapter of
remarks upon Colonel Kennon's letter and a chapter detailing
the venturesome travels of other Buddhist priests. The affinities
of Asiatic and American languages are next considered, the pos
sible connection of the Mound-builders with the Mexicans is
then discussed, and attention is called to the wide distribution
of images of Buddha, The arguments of de Guignes, Klaproth,
and d'Eichthal are next reviewed. Then follow two letters from
Theos. Simson and E. Bretschneider respectively, with comments
by Mr. Leland. An appendix, describing the Ainos, and discus
sing the resemblance between the American Indians and the
tribes of Northeastern Asia, closes the work.

It should be remarked that this book is an amplification of
an article written by Mr. Leland, which appeared in the " Gen
tleman's Magazine " many years before, and Professor Williams
is, therefore, wrong in stating that Mr. Bancroft's digest of the
arguments upon the subject preceded Mr. Leland's argument.

As the article from which the following extracts are taken
was credited by the " Chinese Recorder " (from which it is here
copied) to the " Gentleman's Magazine," it is probably Mr. Le
land's early argument.

Who discovered America? Evidence that the New World was
knoicn to the Chinese fourteen hundred years ago. 171

. . . There are among the Chinese records, not merely vague
references to a country to the west of the Atlantic, but there is
also a circumstantial account of its discovery by the Chinese
long before Columbus was born.

A competent authority on such matters, J. Hanlay, the Chi
nese interpreter at San Francisco, has lately written an essay on
this subject, from which we gather the following startling state
ments, drawn from Chinese historians and geographers.

Fourteen hundred years ago, even, America had been discov
ered by the Chinese, and described by them. They stated that
land to be about twenty thousand Chinese miles distant from
China. About five hundred years after the birth of Christ,

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

Buddhist priests visited there, and brought back the news that
they had met with Buddhist idols and religious writings in the
country. Their descriptions, in many respects, resemble those
of the Spaniards a thousand years later. They called the coun
try "Ifa-sang" after a tree that grew there, whose leaves re
semble those of the bamboo, of whose bark the natives made
cloths and paper, and whose fruit they ate. These particulars
correspond exactly and remarkably with those given by the
American historian, Prescott, about the maguey-tree in Mexico.
He states that the Aztecs prepared a pulp for paper-making out
of the bark of this tree. Then, even its leaves were used for
thatching ; its fibers for making ropes ; its roots yielded a
nourishing food ; and its sap, by means of fermentation, was
made into an intoxicating drink. The accounts given by the
Chinese and Spaniards, although a thousand years apart, agree
in stating that the natives did not possess any iron, but only
copper ; that they made all their tools for working in stone and
metals out of a mixture of copper and tin ; and that they, in
comparison with the nations of Europe and Asia, thought but
little of the worth of silver and gold. The religious customs and
forms of worship presented the same characteristics to the Chi
nese fourteen hundred years ago as to the Spaniards four hun
dred years ago.

There is, moreover, a remarkable resemblance between the
religion of the Aztecs and the Buddhism of the Chinese, as well
as between the manners and customs of the Aztecs and those of
the people of China. There is also a great similarity between
the features of the Indian tribes of Middle and South America
and those of the Chinese, and, as Hanlay, the Chinese interpreter
of whom we spoke above, states, between the accent and most of
the monosyllabic words of the Chinese and Indian languages.

The writer gives a list of words which point to a close
relationship, and infers therefrom that there must have been
emigration from China to the continent at a most early period,
as the official accounts of the Buddhist priests fourteen hundred
years ago notice these things as existing even at that time. Per
haps now, old records may be recovered in China, which may
furnish full particulars of this question.

It is, at any rate, remarkable, and confirmative of the idea of
emigration from China to America at some remote period, that

SHORTER ESSAYS. 173

at the time of the discovery of America by the Spaniards, the
Indian tribes on the coast of the Pacific, opposite to China, for
the most part enjoyed a state of culture of ancient growth, while
the inhabitants of the Atlantic shore were found by the Euro
peans in a state of original barbarism. . . .

Letter of Theos. Simson.™*

" ( Buddhist Priests in America.' Under this heading,1719 a quer
ist in the last number of * Notes and Queries ' submits to inquiry
a statement of Professor Carl Neumann, of Munich, respecting
the supposed entry of Buddhist priests into the American Con
tinent some thirteen hundred years ago, and their passage into
the land of the Aztecs, which they called Fu-sang, ' after the
Chinese name of the American aloe.'

" Now, in the first place, this statement, if true, inf erentially
proves much more than it asserts ; the Mexican aloe is a native
of Mexico only, and it is manifest, therefore, that if these sup
posed Chinese travelers named the country after the Chinese
name of the Mexican aloe, that plant must have been well known
to them before the period of their visit to its native country ;
hence, we are carried further back, to a time when the Mexican
aloe must have been known in China, and we must allow a con
siderable period for it to have become so well known as to sug
gest to the travelers a name for a newly discovered — or, as it
must needs have been in this view, a rediscovered — country. This
consideration takes us back into the question of the original
peopling of the American Continent, to the age of stone or
bronze, perhaps, which is beyond the intended scope of the
querist's quotation.

"At the period 'when the land of Fu-sang is first mentioned
by historians,' China, exclusive of the neighbouring * barbarous
tribes,' over whom she held sway, was not so extensive as she is
at present, but comprised only what we now call the Northern
and Central Provinces. Does the Mexican aloe grow in that
part of the country at all ? I am inclined to think not, though
I can not speak positively upon the point. In Canton it is said
by the Chinese to have been introduced from the Philippine Isl
ands, and is called Spanish (or Philippine) hemp, its fibers being
sometimes employed in the manufacture of mosquito-nets.

"But the fu-sang (or, more correctly, the fu-sang free), as

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

described in Chinese botanical works, appears to be a malvaceous
plant ; at any rate, whatever it may be, it certainly is not the
Mexican aloe, or anything similar to it.

"The land of Fu-sang is described by Chinese authors as be
ing in the Eastern Sea, in the place where the sun rises. Consid
ering the geographical limits of China at the time referred to
(some thirteen hundred years ago), surely we need not look far
ther than Japan for a very probable identification of the Fu-sang
country according with this description, which indeed appears to
be embodied in the more modern name Jih-pen-kicoh, ' Japan,'
which is translatable as the ' Country of the Rising Sun.' It is
a matter of fact, too, that Buddhism was introduced into that
country some thirteen hundred years ago ; and this by no means
extraordinary event is a very much more probable version of
the incident referred to than the marvelous story given by Pro
fessor Neumann."

" Fa-sang ; or, Who Discovered America" — ly E. Bretschnei-
der, M. D. 714

" In the May number of the f Chinese Recorder ' there is an
article, reproduced from the ' Gentleman's Magazine,' in which
it is sought to be proved that the Chinese had discovered Ameri
ca as early as 500 A. D. . . . I have not read the dissertations of
M. Paravey. ... I am also equally unacquainted with the article
of Mr. Neumann ... I believe, however, that the Chinese no
tices about Fu-sang are all derived from one and the same source,
and each and all rest upon the statements of a lying Buddhist
priest, Hui-shen, who asserts that he was in Fu-sang. . . .

"In later times the Chinese poets, who seem to be gifted
with a much livelier imagination than some of our savants, have
developed and richly embellished the reports with regard to the
land of Fu-sang, and have made out of it a complete land of fa
bles, where mulberry-trees grow to a height of several thousand
feet, and where silk-worms are found more than six feet in
length. The statements about Fu-sang given by M. Leon de
Rosny, in his * Yarietes Orientales,' from a Japanese Encyclo
paedia, are probably borrowed from the Chinese. I have not,
however, read M. Rosny's work. (Cf. 'Notes and Queries,' vol.
iv, p. 19.)

" In order to place the credibility of the Buddhist priest Hid-

SHORTER ESSAYS.

175

sh$n in the proper light, I will yet mention what he further re
lates of his journeys. He asserts, namely (loco citato), that there
is a kingdom, 1,000 li east of Fu-sang, in which there are no men,
but only women, whose bodies are completely covered with hair.
When they wish to become pregnant, they bathe themselves in
a certain river. The women have no mammae, but tufts of hair
on the neck, by means of which they suckle their children.

" Upon these vague and incredible traditions of a Buddhist
monk, several European savants have based the hypothesis that
the Chinese had discovered America 1,300 years ago. Neverthe
less, it appears to me that these Sinologues have not succeeded
in robbing Columbus of the honour of having discovered Amer
ica. They might have spared themselves the writing of such
learned treatises on this subject. It appears to me that the ver
dict passed upon the value of the information of the Buddhist
monk Hui-shtn by Father Hyacinth is the most correct. This
well-known Sinologue adds the following words merely, after the
translation of the article ' Fu-sang J out of the ' History of the
Southern Dynasties ' : ' Hui-shen appears to have been a consum
mate humbug.' (Cf. ' The People of Central Asia/ by F. Hya
cinth.)

" I cannot, indeed, understand what ground we have for be
lieving that Fu-sang is America. We can not lay great stress
upon the asserted distance, for every one knows how liberal the
Chinese are with numbers. By tamed stags we can, at all events,
only understand reindeer. But these are found as frequently in
Asia as in America. Mention is also made of horses in Fu-sang.
This does not at all agree with America, for it is well known that
horses were first brought to America in the sixteenth century.
Neumann appears to base his hypothesis on the assumption that
the tree fit-sang is synonymous with the Mexican aloe. Mr.
Sampson has already refuted this error. (' Notes and Queries,'
vol. iii, p. 78.)

"According to the descriptions and drawings of the tree/w-
sang, given by the Chinese, there is no doubt that it is a malvacea.
In Pekin, the Hibiscus rosa Sinensis is designated by this name,
while Hibiscus Syriacus is here called mu-Jcin. These names seem
to hold good for the whole of China. The description which
is given in the Pun-tsdo-Jcang-mu of both plants (xxxvi, pp. 64 and
65) admits of no doubt that by the tree fu-sang, chu-kin, chi-kin,

176 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

ji-Jsij is to be understood Hibiscus rosa Sinensis. It is also
mentioned that this tree has a likeness to the mu-kin (Hibiscus
Syriacus). Its leaves resemble the mulberry-tree. • Very good
drawings of both kinds of hibiscus are found in the Chi-wu-ming-
shi-tu-k'ao (xxxv, pp. 58 and 34). The Buddhist priest Hui-shen
compares the tree fu-sang with the tree fung. Under this
name the Chinese denote different large-leaved trees. In the
Chi-wu-ming-shi-tu-tfao (xxx, p. 46), the tree fung is represented
with broadly ovate, cordate, entire, great leaves, and with great
ovoid, acuminate fruits. Hoffman and Schultes (' Nonas Indi
genes des Plantes du Japon et de la Chine ') have set down the
tree Vung as Paulownia imperialis. This agrees quite well with
the Chinese drawing.

" The tree tfung must not be confounded with the yu-fung
tree (synonyma, ying-teMung, jZn-tfung), from whose fruit is
furnished the well-known and very poisonous oil Vung-yu, which
the Chinese employ in varnish and in painting. It should be the
Dryanda cordata / according to others, JZlceococca verucosa. I
have not seen the tree, but it is known to occur very abundantly
in Central China, and especially on the Yang-tse-Jciang. There1
is a Chinese description in the Pun-fsao (xxxv, p. 26), and a draw
ing of it in the Chi-wu-ming-shi-tu-Jc'ao (xxxv, p. 26).

" There is also a tree which the Chinese call wu-tfung (syn-
onyme, chen). This tree has already been mentioned by Du
Halde (< Description de 1'Empire Chinois ') as a curiosity, in which
the seeds are found on the edges of the leaves. This phenomenon
is also described in the drawings of the Chi-wu-ming-shi-tu-Wao
(xxxv, p. 56). Compare, further, the description in ihePim-fsao
(xxxv, p. 25). It is the Sterculia plantanifolia, a beautiful tree
with large -leaves, lobed so as to resemble a hand, which is culti
vated in the Buddhist temples near Pekin. The Chinese are
quite right in what they relate about the seeds. The seed-folli
cles burst, and acquire the form of coriaceous leaves, bearing
the seeds upon their margin.

" The leaves of all the trees just now mentioned allow them
selves to be compared, as is done by the Chinese, with those of the
hibiscus, or other plants of the malvaceous family, but have not
the slightest resemblance with the Mexican aloe, or maguey-tree
(Agave Americana), which has massive, spiny-toothed, fleshy
leaves. Mr. Hanlay (' Chinese Recorder,' vol. ii, p. 345), of San

SHORTEPw ESSAYS. Iff

Francisco, can not, therefore, succeed in proving that the Bud
dhist priest Hui-sMn understood by fu-sang the Mexican aloe.

" Finally, I have to mention a tree which, as regards its ap
pearance and usefulness, corresponds pretty much with the de
scription given by Hui-shtn of the fu-sang tree. I am speaking
of the useful tree Broussonetia papyrifera, which grows wild
in the temperate parts of Asia* especially in China, Japan, Corea,
Mantchooria, etc., and is, besides, found on the islands of the
Pacific ; while, as far as I know, it does not occur in America.
The leaves of this tree are remarkable for their varying very
much in shape. The same tree produces at once very large and
quite small leaves. They are sometimes entire, sometimes many-
lobed. The fruit is round, of a deep scarlet colour, and pulpy.
It is a well-known fact that, in the parts where the tree grows,
its bark is used for the making of paper and the manufacturing
of clothing material. From ancient times it has been known to
the Chinese under the name cttu (synonyma, kou, kou-sang,
Jcou-shu : cf . Pun-tfsao-kang-mu, xxxvi, p. 10). An excellent en
graving of the tree is found in the Chi-wu-ming-shi-tu-k''ao
(xxxiii, p. 57). Hui-shen, in his botanical diagnosis, perhaps
made a mistake with regard to thefu-sang tree, and confounded
broussonetia with hibiscus.

"Just as little as the Mexican aloe, does the non-existence of
iron in the country Fu-sang prove that America is to be under
stood, for there were many countries in ancient times which
possessed copper, but where the art of working iron was un
known. The Chinese report also that the natives of the Loo-
choo Islands did not possess iron, but only copper.

"Mr. Hanlay (I. c.) appears to have received the discovery
of America by the Chinese with the greatest enthusiasm. Per
haps I have furnished him, by means of the above notice about
' the Kingdom of Women,' which Hui-shtn visited, a new proof
for his view of the case. Fu-sang lies, according to Hui-shen,
directly east from China, more than 20,000 li, thus about the
situation of San Francisco at the present day. The celebrated
Women's Kingdom lies 1,000 li farther toward the east, thus
about the country of Salt Lake City, where, at the present day,
the Mormons are, which, if not a women's country, is nevertheless

* Saghalien, where Mr. Bretschneider would put Fu-sang, can hardly be called
temperate. — Note by C. G. Leland.
12

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

a country of many women, and where — to the disgrace of the
United States — prostitution is carried on under the mask of the
Christian religion.

"I do not agree with Mr. Sampson ('Notes and Queries,'
vol. iii, p. 79) in supposing that Fa-sang must be identified with
japan — g ^ Ji-pen, ' the Land where the Sun rises '; for Japan
has been well known to the Chinese since several centuries before
our era, under another name. I avail myself of this opportunity
to add a few words about the earliest accounts which the Chinese
have of Japan. This country was primitively known to them
under the name Wo, which occurs for the first time in chapter
cxv of the ' History of the Posterior Han? (A. D. 25-221). I
can not afford to give here a translation of the whole article, and
shall, therefore, only touch upon some of the most important
points. The kingdom Wo, it is said, is situated on a group of
islands in the Great Sea, southeast of Han (in the southwestern
part of Corea), and is composed of about a hundred principali
ties. Since the conquest of Chao-sien (Corea) by the Emperor
Wu-ti, 108 B. c., about thirty of these principalities entered into
relations with China. The most powerful of the rulers has his
capital in Ye-ma-fai. It is mentioned that neither tigers and
leopards, nor oxen, horses, sheep, and magpies exist. As far as I
know, this last remark is not true at present, at least as far as
horses and oxen are concerned ; it is true, however, that sheep
can not thrive in Japan, and the attempts of the Europeans to
acclimatize them have been, until now, unsuccessful.

" In the reign of J£uang-wu, A. D. 25-58, envoys came from
the Wo-nu with presents to the Chinese court. They stated that
their country was the southernmost of the kingdom. . . .

" A Nu-wang-kuo, a ' Country of Women,' is spoken of in the
southern part of Japan. This statement is confirmed by the
Japanese annals. (Cf. Klaproth, 'Annales des Empereurs du
Japon,' p. 13.) The Japanese call this country Atsowma.

"The land Ta-han must have been a province in Siberia.
Fa-sang is said to lie to the east of Ta-han. Supposing, then,
that a country, Fu-sang, really existed, and was not an invention
of a Buddhist monk, it does not necessarily follow that it is to
be sought on the other side of the ocean. Let me here observe
that this monk mentions in no place in his account having passed
over a great sea. Klaproth, in assuming that Fu-sang is meant

SHORTER ESSAYS.

179

for the island of Saghalien, is, I believe, more near to the truth
than the other Sinologues.

"In « Notes and Queries' (vol. iv, p. 19) there is a passage,
cited out of the ' Liang-ssti-kung-kiJ that the kingdom of Fu-
sang had sent envoys to China. This would, of course, prove
that the so-called country of Fu-sang had political intercourse
with China; but it makes it more unlikely that America was here
meant. We will, therefore, in the mean time, still consider Fa-
sang as a terra incognita nee non dubia, and bestow upon Mr.
Burlingame the double honour of having been the first American
embassador at the Chinese court, and the first Chinese embas-
sador in America.

" The contradictory fancies about China that originate in the
brains of European literati are truly astonishing. Some main
tain that the Chinese discovered America 1,300 years ago ; while
a well-known Frenchman, Count Gobineau, some years ago as
serted that the Chinese had immigrated from America. In his
' Essay upon the Inequality of Human Races,' vol. ii, p. 242,
Count Gobineau says : * Whence came the yellow nations ?
From the great Continent of America. This is the answer both
of physiology and philology.'

" All these unfounded hypotheses have much the same value
as the supposed discovery of America by the Chinese."

This letter, and that of Mr. Simson, are copied, by permission,
from the work of Mr. Charles G. Leland, entitled, " Fusang ; or,
the Discovery of America." Mr. Leland's criticism is short, but
sharp :

i72i «jn krief? j)r Bretschneider asserts that there was no
Fu-sang — it being all the invention of a lying priest ; but that it
was in Siberia. There was never any such place ; but still Mr.
Simson is wrong in placing it in Japan, and Klaproth is right in
declaring it was at Saghalien. There was no fit-sang tree either ;
but the monk who saw it meant the kou-sang, describing more
accurately, however, a Mexican plant. Klaproth refuted de Guig-
nes, and exposed his errors by proving that Fu-sang was also in
Japan ; only, in Dr. Bretschneider's opinion, it was elsewhere.
And it is certainly curious that the writers who utterly discredit
the very existence of Fii-sang, and all that is said of it, have each
a theory as to where it really was."

180 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

Extract from a letter written by Pere Gaiibil to M. de
risle,}m dated Pekin, August 28th, 1752:

" The translation made by M. de Guignes from the Wen-Man-
Vung-k'ao concerning the nations Wen-shin, Ta-han, etc., situ
ated a great distance to the northeast of Japan, may have led
you to believe that in the times of the Liang dynasty (or even
more than three hundred years earlier) the Chinese were ac
quainted with America.

" All these texts prove nothing, however, when they are care
fully examined, and corrected by the clearer writings of earlier
and more trustworthy authors.

" From similar vague accounts, and from the distances indi
cated by several authors, it might be concluded that at the be
ginning of the Christian era, or even earlier, the Chinese were
acquainted with Europe, as, for instance, Italy, France, etc.
Now,, this is certainly not the case. All these texts should be
carefully examined ; and the thing is not at all difficult. Before
the days of M. de Guignes, a number of missionaries had sent
to Europe translations of texts similar to those of his ; but there
were numerous mistakes in the texts, and there was especially
shown in them a lack of critical judgment, which should have
been sufficient to prevent the occurrence of any misunderstand
ing based upon them.

" I can not admit your idea that America, or at least North
America along the coast of California, may have been peopled by
the tribes of Northeastern Chinese Tartary.

" The ancient and modern Chinese authorities agree in the
following statements :

"First, that under the dynasty Cheu, before the Christian
era, Japan was peopled by the Southern Chinese ; and,

" Second, that the last emperor of the Hia dynasty, after
having been dethroned by Ching-tang, his son, fled to Tartary
with a great number of Chinese, and founded the different Tar
tarian powers to the north and northeast of China.

" It is certain that at the time that the Russians concealed
their establishments in Kamtchatka, the court of Pekin had a
knowledge of that country; and it also seems certain that long
before the present dynasty the Chinese had known Jesso, and, in
general, the countries to the northeast, including Kamtchatka,
but not fully or in detail."

SHORTER ESSAYS. 181

Humboldt makes the following observation in regard to this
letter : ltw7

"According to the learned researches of Father Gaubil (found
in an astronomical MS. of the Jesuits, preserved in the ' Bureau
des Longitudes' at Paris), it appears doubtful whether the Chi
nese ever visited the western coast of America a thousand years
before that period (the eighteenth century), as was advanced by
M. de Guignes, the justly celebrated historian."

"Concerning Fa-sang "— -from the "Magazine of American
History" for April, 1883 *.2483

The question, "Where was Fa-sang?" has long excited
interest, and some have supposed that Fu-sang was the west
ern coast of America, which had been discovered by the Japan
ese. The literature of the subject is extensive, but unsatis
factory in the extreme. An almost unknown book, or rather
essay, on Fu-sang was put out somewhat privately, a few years
ago, by the Rev. William Brown, D. D., who is now in Japan
translating the Bible into the Japanese tongue. One of the
later efforts in connection with the subject is Leland's "Fu-
sang ; or, the Discovery of America by Chinese Buddhist Priests
in the Fifth Century," London, Triibner & Co., 1875. About
all that concerns the bibliography of Fu-sang may be traced
in this work. We have frequently been treated to pretended
extracts from the chronicles containing the voyage to "Fu-
sang" wherever it may have been ; but, having a desire to learn
the exact facts from a known American scholar, we addressed
a note to the Rt. Rev. Channing M. Williams, Bishop of Japan,
asking for information, who, in reply, kindly wrote as follows :

" It is only within a day or two that I have been able to
procure the information that you wish. The Shan Hai Xing
('Mountain and Sea Classic' — which the Japanese pronounce
San Gai Hfio) is a very old Chinese work, many of the ac
counts of which are entirely fabulous. It treats largely of drag
ons and fanciful beings of all sorts — men with ten heads or
one eye, creatures with bodies of animals, birds, snakes, and in
sects, and heads of men, etc.

" I have, however, gotten one of the best scholars I know to
examine the work ; and he has found three places in which refer
ence is made to the fu-sang (Jap., fu-soo) tree. These I have

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

translated quite literally, and herewith inclose. The Japanese
think the reference is to their country, and one of the names
which have been given to it is Fa-soo-Jcoku. There is a Japanese
work I have seen which speaks of the fu-soo (Chinese, fu-sang)
tree in the island of Ki-shu, which was 9,700 feet in length, and
dark, petrified wood is said to be now dug up where the tree is
supposed to have stood.

" The subject has, I see by the Shanghai papers, been brought
before the North China branch of the Asiatic Society, and Dr.
Macgowan promised to read a paper at the autumn meeting
proving that the Chinese did not go to America.

" Yours, very truly,

" C. M. WILLIAMS.

" Vol. 4. ' To the south the water goes 500 li (three Chinese
li make a mile), the flowing sand 300 li (when you) reach the
Wu-ko Mountain. To the south (you) see the Tu Sea. To the
east (you) see the/^-tree — silsofu-sang. No trees or grass (but)
great wind (on) this mountain.

"Vol. 9. ' North of this* is Heh Chi KwoJc (Black Teeth
Country). The people of Heh Chi Kwolc are black, eat rice, use
snakes, colour of which is red. Below there is a hot-water valley.
Above the hot-water valley is the fu-sang (tree). The place
where the ten suns bathe is to the north of the Heh Chi IZwok.
(They) dwell in the water. Nine suns dwell in the lower
branches. One sun dwells in the upper branches.

" Vol. 14. * Within the great uncultivated waste is a mount
ain called Nie Tao Kiun Li. On it is the /w-tree. Its height is
300 li. The leaves are like mustard. There is a valley called
Warm Spring Valley. Above this hot- water valley is the fu-
tree. Just as one sun reaches (or arrives) another sun comes
forth. All bear (lit., cause to ride) a crow.' "

" P. S. — Since writing the above, I have looked at Klaproth's
introduction to ' Nipon o dai itsi ran,' and find that he has trans
lated a little freely one of the passages from the ' Shan Hai
King? The longer account of Fu-sang, which he gives in a
note, is translated from another Chinese work, called 'Nan Szu '
(' Histoire du Midi ')."

* A place which can not be identified.

SHORTER ESSAYS. 183

Extract from the Remarks of M.Leon deRosny upon a Note of
M. Foucaux " Regarding the Relations which the Buddhists
of Asia and the Inhabitants of America may have had with
Each Other at the Commencement of our Era" 21S1
" It is true that the passage from Asia to America, by the way
of Behring's Straits, does not offer any difficulty ; that the fleets
of the Esquimaux resort annually from Kamtchatka to the coun
try known until recently as Russian America. But it should be
remarked that the tribes which go from the deserts of Asia to
the deserts of America belong to a race that is purely boreal,
which lives only in a certain circle, which neither in Asia nor in
America extends its excursions to the south. Between China,
Japan, and civilized Asia, on the one side, and Kamtchatka, on
the other, there are immense distances to be passed. Great
distances also separate the peninsula of Alaska from the warm
regions in which were located the ancient civilized states of Cen
tral America.

" How can we suppose that the Esquimaux, who always shun
precisely these warm regions, can have served as the medium of
connection between China and Mexico, Japan and Peru ? And
what kind of people are these Esquimaux ? The most miserable
of all races. Living in their inhospitable climate, in the lowest
stage of civilization, they are contented with the poorest shelter,
and with food that is gross and repugnant. Buried for whole
months under the snow, and having only the most elementary
rudiments of human culture, how can we suppose that these
guzzlers of the oil of cetaceans can have been the creators of
the high civilizations of Mexico, of Yucatan, and of Peru ;
the authors of the colossal monuments of Uxmal or of Pa-
lenque?"*

The accompanying newspaper article is given as having a
possible connection (although I can not say that I have much

* It is sufficient to say, in reply to M. de Rosny, that he is combating a man
of straw. The theory is, not that the Esquimaux made the journey to Mexico,
but that the Buddhist priests went from Asia to Mexico via the home of the Es
quimaux; and that, as the most difficult part of the journey, the trip from Asia to
America, by way of the Aleutian Islands, is not too difficult a voyage for the
Esquimaux, the difficulty of the route can not be fairly claimed to be so great aa
to make the theory of such a voyage by the five Buddhist priests incredible or
improbable.— E. P. V.

184 AN INGLOKIOUS COLUMBUS.

confidence in the truth of the story) with some visit in ancient
times from Asia to America :

(" The Weekly Colonist," Victoria, E. C., Wednesday, October 25tli, 1882.)

" THE OLDEST INHABITANTS. — WERE THE CHINESE HERE 3,000
YEARS AGO ?

" What if antiquarians are able to prove that the Chinese were
the earliest settlers of this continent ? That from the loins of the
children of the ' Flowery Kingdom ' are descended the native
tribes whom the white pioneers found possessing the land ? This
theory has been often advanced. A few weeks ago a party of
miners, who were running a drift in the bank on one of the
creeks in the mining district of Cassiar, made a remarkable find.
At a depth of several feet the shovel of one of the party raised
about thirty of the brass coins which have passed current in China
for many centuries. They were strung on what appeared to be
an iron wire. This wire went to dust a few minutes after being
exposed ; but the coins appeared as bright and new as when they
first left the Celestial mint. They have been brought to Vic
toria, and submitted to the inspection of intelligent Chinamen,
who unite in pronouncing them to be upward of three thousand
years old. They bear a date about twelve hundred years ante
rior to the birth of Christ. And now the question arises, how
the coins got to the place where they were found. The miners
say there was no evidence of the ground having been disturbed
by man before their picks and shovels penetrated it ; and the fact
that the coins are little worn goes to show that they were not
long in circulation before being hidden or lost at Cassiar.
Whether they were the property of Chinese mariners who were
wrecked on the north coast, about three thousand years ago, and
remained to people the continent ; or whether the Chinese min
ers who went to Cassiar seven or eight years ago deposited the
collection where it was found, for the purpose of establishing
for their nation a prior claim to the land — may never be known.
But the native tribes of this coast resemble the Mongolian race
so closely, that one would not be surprised at any time to hear
of the discovery of yet more startling evidences of the presence
of Chinese on this coast before the coming of the whites."

CHAPTER XL

REMARKS OF MM. VIVIEN DE SAINT-MARTIN AND LUCIEN ADAM.

"An Old Story Set Afloat" — The route to Fu-sang — Identity of the Amos with
the Wen-shin — To-Aawnear the mouths of the Amoor River — Route of Buddh
ist missionaries to the Amoor — Civilization of Buddhist origin — Pillars with
Buddhist inscriptions — Necessity of accurate translation — Twenty thousand
li signify only a very great distance — The fu-sang tree — Warlike habits —
Lack of draught animals — Civilization of Mexico — Difficulty of the voyage —
Conclusion — Remarks of M. Adam — Chinese acquainted with America — Ease
of the journey — Travels of Buddhist monks — Points characteristic of Ameri
can civilization — Ten-year cycle — The fu-sang tree — The f'ung tree — The
hibiscus— The Dryanda cordata — The maguey, or agave— Zoological objec
tions — Punishments — Slave children — Absurdities — Legend of Quetzalcoatl
— He came from the East — The legend a myth — Colleges of priests — Prac
tice of confession — The alleged figure of Buddha — The elephant's head— Lack
of tusks — America for the Americans — Theory that Hwui Sh&n repeated the
stories of Chinese sailors — Remarks of M. de Hellwald and Professor Joly.

"An Old Story Set Afloat"— by M. Vivien de /Saint-Martin.'466

CONDENSED TRANSLATION.

IT was the scholarly and industrious de Guignes, the justly
renowned author of that monument of Oriental erudition enti
tled " The History of the Huns," who was the first to make the
name of Fu-sang known in Europe. . . . An erroneous opinion
on this subject does not diminish the merit of his great works,
any more than it is affected by his other idea, equally strange,
of the Egyptian origin of the Chinese. . . .

As the route from Leao-tong to Fa-sang passes by way of
Japan, Wen-shin, and Ta-han, the precise situation of the coun
try of Ta-han becomes of interest in considering the true loca
tion of Fu-sang. This can not be determined with certainty
from the statements of the historian. The point in Japan which
is touched en route is not specified, the directions are but vaguely

130 Atf INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

noted, and, worse than all, the distances that are indicated can
not be relied upon, for we are not only ignorant as to the length
of the U (an extremely variable measure) which is referred to in
the account, but it should be remembered that the Chinese sail
ors can have had but very imperfect means of measuring the
distances, and their figures can therefore be taken as nothing
more than rough approximations.

Hence, we can be guided only by the general indications.
Fortunately, there are several which prevent us from straying
far from the true course. The Hairy Men among the mountains
of Northern Japan, and the Wen-shin, or Painted (or Tattooed)
Men, are clearly the Ainos ; from which it follows that the coun
try of the Wen-shin must be looked for along the shores of the
Sea of Japan (lying between the Japanese Archipelago and the
coast of Tartary), either at the northern extremity of the great
island of Niphon, or in the island of Jesso (which is also called
Matsmai), or, finally, upon some point of the Asiatic Continent
(Mantchooria) which borders the Japanese Sea on the west.

From the land of the Wen-shin, a maritime route conducts
us to the country designated by the name of Ta-han. Neither
the distance (five thousand U) nor the direction (toward the
east) can be of much service to us in looking for this last point.
Fortunately, there is another document, which furnishes us with
indications so precise as to remove all doubts, which are not
scattered by the account of the Chinese coasting voyage. The
result, as will be seen, is to place Ta-han near the mouths of the
Amoor, perhaps in the great island of Saghalien (or Tarakai),
which lies opposite them, but more probably upon the Asiatic
Continent.

This document is a description of the journey, written by
Buddhist missionaries of the time of the T'ang dynasty (618 to
907 A. D.), who went to preach their doctrine among the barbar
ous hordes and half-savage tribes of Central and Eastern Asia.
It is to this dissemination of the Buddhist religion, dating at least
as far back as the first half of the fifth century of our era, that
the shamanism of the nomadic tribes of Central Asia is due.
The Buddhist missionaries of China, who undertook this voy
age, set forth from the great bend which the Hoang-ho makes
west of Pekin, and crossed the desert of Gobi, thus gaining the
principal encampment of the Turkish Hoei-khe, from which they

REMARKS OF M. VIVIEN DE SAINT-MARTIN. 187

afterward reached the celebrated Mongolian city of Caracorum,
of which the ruins may still be seen, not far from the sources of
the Orkhon, about one hundred and fifty leagues to the south of
Lake Baikal. From that point the route continued to this lake,
and, turning to the east, they, after having visited a number of
Turkish and Mongolian tribes of the Daourian region, and of
the high valleys of the Amoor, reached the country of the Yu-
che, a people whom the Mantchoos (who pronounce their name
"Djourdje") regard as the parent tribe of their nation. This
country lies about half way down the Amoor River.

Here we are upon known ground. During the ten years that
the Russians have had possession of this vast basin of the
Amoor, it has been thoroughly explored, maps and descriptions
of the country have been published, and the land and its people
have become familiar to us. The indigenes are miserable tribes
of semi-savages, living by the chase and by fisheries. They be
long to the nation of the Tunguses, which is a branch of the race
of the Mantchoos. There are some tribes, however (the Ghiliaks),
spread along the sea-shore, which belong to the insular race, and
differ but slightly from the Ainos, whose long beards, and the
singular development of whose hairy system, not less than their
physical appearance and the combination of their physiognomi
cal traits, distinguish them broadly from the beardless Tartarian
races which are confined to the continent.

The few germs of rudimentary civilization, of which the
trace is found among the tribes of the Amoor, are of Buddhist
origin ; they undoubtedly appertain to several different epochs ;
but the oldest are connected with the missions of the sixth cent
ury and the three following centuries, which are mentioned in
the texts which de Guignes was the first to describe. This is a
real service, among many others, which the scholarly author of
the "History of the Huns" has rendered to science, and of which
his error as to the location of Ta-han does not at all diminish
the merit. A very curious discovery, made some ten years ago,
upon the banks of the lower portion of the Amoor River, by one
of the first Russian explorers, confirms the accuracy of the old
accounts collected by the Chinese historians. Near the Ghiliak
" Village of the Tower," the remains of pillars were found, hav
ing Chinese and Mongolian inscriptions, containing Buddhist
formulas. The pillars are delineated, and the inscriptions copied,

188 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

in the interesting volume published at Paris in 1861 by M. de
Sabin (from recent Russian material) under the title, "The Amoor
River; its History, Geography, and Ethnography." One of the
inscriptions, if the translation is exact, is of the time of the Yuan
(Mongolian) dynasty, which reigned in China from 1260 to 1338
A. D. ; but there were older establishments there, for the inscrip
tion itself speaks of a re-established convent.* We therefore
now have direct proof that the missionaries of the religion of
Buddha (or of Fo, as the Chinese write his name) not only intro
duced shamanism throughout all Central Asia, but pushed to
the east and descended the valley of the Amoor to the shores of
the Eastern Sea ; while other propagators of this worship, so
distinguished for its proselyting spirit, overspread (by the mari
time route) all the shores of that sea enclosed between the Japa
nese Archipelago and Mantchooria, which our maps designate
by the name of the Sea of Japan. The country of Ta-han, at
which the two parties of missionaries arrived, one from the west
by land, and the other from the south by sea, and which was,
for both, the extreme limit of their journeys, can be found no
where else than near the mouth of the Amoor. The maritime
voyage carries us in this direction, and the terrestrial route can
lead us nowhere else. It is, in fact, said of the Yu-che (the Tun-
guses of the valley of the Amoor, near the middle of its course)
that by a ten days' journey to the north the country of Ta-han
may be reached. . . .

Arrived at Ta-han, we are, as it were (in spite of the dis
tance), upon the threshold of Fu-sang, the final point of our
search ; for the single Buddhist traveler, who made the name of
the mysterious country of Fu-sang known to the Chinese, set
forth from Ta-han, and no intermediate country is mentioned.

But, in this controverted question, it is a matter of the first
importance to have a translation free from suspicion. Although
we do not wish to cast any doubt upon the general accuracy of
de Guignes's translation, which has, in addition, been criticised
by Klaproth, nevertheless, in order to have all possible assur
ance of freedom from error, we have had recourse to the inex
haustible kindness of M. Stanislas Julien, and give the literal
version with which this scholar kindly favoured us. It may be
depended upon that he has given a scrupulously faithful tran-

* Sabin, p. 158.

REMARKS OF M. VIVIEN DE SAINT-MARTIN. 189

script of the Chinese text. (This translation is given in Chapter
XVI.)

A few short remarks will suffice to show that it is quite im
possible that the country of Fu-sang could have been located in
America. To the reasons, sufficiently decisive, which were given
by Klaproth, it is now possible to add others more direct and
more convincing.

First, as to the distance. We have already seen how dan
gerous it is to rely upon statements of this nature contained in
Chinese books, especially when they relate to great distances in
countries that are known but little or not at all ; and, when they
are given by men who are generally ignorant, they are without
any guarantee whatever of even approximate accuracy. As
suredly this is the case as to the account which we are now con
sidering. It is evident that, in the mouth of the Buddhist mis
sionary to whom the Chinese are indebted for their only knowl
edge of the country of Fu-sang, twenty thousand li signify
nothing more than a very great distance. Nevertheless, if we
adhere to the letter of his account and to the direction, " to the
east," where are we conducted ? Leaving the neighbourhood of
the lower Amoor, turning past the island of Saghalien, passing
by the way of the Kurile Islands and along the long chain of
the Aleutian Islands (i. e., following the line the most favour
able to the American hypothesis), we scarcely reach beyond the
peninsula of Alaska, and are placed in the midst of a region
having a climate that is almost polar, and of which the miser
able indigenous population does not correspond in any way with
the statements of the text.

For those who have thought that Fu-sang might be sought
for as far as Mexico, we would simply observe that the part of
the American coast to which the twenty thousand li conduct us
is distant more than fifty degrees, or at least twelve hundred
leagues, from the Mexican coast.*

This first argument would seem sufficient ; but other impossi
bilities are revealed by merely reading the text.

The description of the fu-sang tree, and of its uses, is abso
lutely foreign to America, either to Mexico, or to the northwest
coast. Klaproth very justly remarked that the description, by

* This argument falls to the ground, if Ta-han is located either in the Aleu
tian Islands or in Alaska. — E. P. V.

190 AN INGLOKIOUS COLUMBUS.

confusion, or from some other cause, appears to apply to the
Morus papyri/era, although the tree commonly known in China
by the name oifu-sang must be the Rose of China, the Hibiscus
rosa Chinensis.

It has never been said that the miserable savages of the
northwestern coast of America had a method of writing, or that
they made paper; and it could not be said of the more southerly
tribes, or of the nations of Mexico, whose whole life was always
a combat, "that they did not make war."

The cattle (if this term is applied to the bisons) have never
been employed as draught animals by any of the indigenous
tribes of America. The aboriginal Americans have never had
carts drawn by horses, cattle, or deer, for two excellent reasons :
first, because the Americans, before the arrival of the Spaniards,
had no horses ; and, second, because they knew no more of draught
animals than of beasts of burden. The tribes of America had no
idea of raising animals for their milk ; they knew nothing either
of milk or of the articles made from it, and therefore made no
cheese.

It seems useless to insist further on these radical points of
difference between Fa-sang and America. Those who seek for
Fu-sang in Mexico should reflect that, at the time of the old
Toltec monarchy (according to the historic traditions, which are
our only guides), it then had, in its local civilization, religious
monuments, palaces, and numerous cities, of which it is surpris
ing that the Buddhist account says not a word. So that, on one
side, no part of the story is applicable to any country or tribe
whatever of America, and, on the other side, the account says
not a single word of the only things which would most strike a
stranger coming into Western America in the times of the Tol
tec monarchy.*

We have said nothing of the difficulties, or rather the mate
rial impossibilities, of a navigation, going and returning, between
the Sea of Japan and America, at the time spoken of in the Bud
dhist account ; as contradictions and radical impossibilities have
accumulated, it would appear too fastidious to insist upon f ur-

* M. Vivien overlooks the fact that the Toltec civilization may have been
founded mainly upon the teachings of the Buddhist monks, and that, therefore,
the religious monuments, palaces, etc., may not have existed until after the date
of their arrival.— E. P. V.

REMARKS OF M. VIVIEN DE SAINT-MARTIN.

ther details. It should be noted that reference is made, not to
an accidental voyage, but to a communication, regular, and, as
it seems, habitual.* That de Guignes may have believed in the
possibility of such a communication, in the state in which the
ideas of Europe then were in regard to the northwestern coast
of the American Continent above California, can be conceived.
In order to see how far the general notions prevailing a hundred
years ago were from the truth, it is only necessary to cast our
eyes upon the map made by Philippe Buache to accompany the
memoir of de Guignes. This map, it is true, would make d'An-
ville smile ; but Buache was not a d'Anville, and it is not neces
sary to go back a hundred years to see how frequently it is the
case that men, otherwise sagacious, have but a vague idea of the
important part which the study of positive geography should
have in the solution of scientific questions.

It would remain to seek the true situation of Fu-sang, if this
question had the least importance ; but its sole interest lies in its
having been attached to the complicated question of the origin
of the Americans; which has given rise to as many vain hypothe
ses as useless and false speculations. Like all problems in which
the effort is to penetrate the depths of the centuries in order to
find the half-obliterated traces of events anterior to history, this
question presents a powerful attraction ; but such researches have
their conditions and their limits, to which scarcely any attention
has been paid in the investigations regarding America. Fu-sang
has nothing to do with American questions. From that which
the Buddhist priest tells us, it is evident that he speaks of a
country in which there existed a certain degree of civilization
— which excludes all the savage countries of Asia to the north
of Ta-han (Eastern Siberia and Kamtchatka). It is therefore
necessary to look in some other direction. The disposition of
the insular countries of Eastern Asia leaves only one : that to the
southeast or the south. Klaproth thought that Fu-sang might
be a part of Niphon, the largest island of the archipelago ; and
this supposition is, as has been said, the most probable. It be
comes a certainty, if, as Klaproth affirms, Fu-sang is in fact one
of the names which Japan has borne.

I will add only a word on the subject of the memoir of M.
Gustave d'Eichthal. The essay of this scholarly author is an at-
* I can find no authority for this statement. — E. P. V.

192 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

tempt to prove that the Mexican civilization not only comes
from Asia, but that it has a Buddhistic origin. It is for this rea
son, evidently, that he has warmly taken in hand the defense of
the ideas of de Guignes, which, in fact, if they could be sus
tained, would furnish a direct explanation of the analogies which,
as some believe, have been discovered between certain delinea
tions figured upon the Aztec monuments and some of the monu
ments of India.

Whether well founded or not, these analogies have no neces
sary connection with the question of Fu-sang. This question is
entirely one of geography, and it is only from this stand-point
that I have regarded it. The other question has an archaeologi
cal side, of which the examination should be conducted by those
more competent than myself.

Condensed Translation of an Article read by M. Lucien
Adam before the International Congress of Americanists,
at Nancy, 1875. 1T

It is not my intention to fully go over the discussion regard
ing the Chinese account of the country of Fu-sang (dating from
the fifth century), which discussion has been going on from 1761
to the present time ; but it is plain that the advantage remains
with de Guignes, at least as far as regards the geographical de
termination of the location of this country.

The elements of this first part of the problem are in substance
as follows :

Li-yen, a Chinese historian who lived during the first part
of the seventh century, speaks of a country called Fu-sang, dis
tant more than twenty thousand li from China, toward the east.
He said that, in order to reach that country, it was necessary to
set forth from the coast of the province of Leao-tong, situated
to the north of Pe-kin; that, after traveling twelve thousand
li, Japan, properly so called — that is to say, Niphon — was reached;
that from there, after a voyage of seven thousand li to the
northeast, the country of the Wen-shin was reached; and that five
thousand li from this last-named country, toward the east, the
country of Ta-han was found, from which the country of Fu-
sang could be reached, which lay twenty thousand li farther
east. The total distance from Leao-tong to Fa-sang, touching

REMAKES OF M. LUCIEN ADAM. 193

successively at Niphon, Wen-shin, and Ta-han, was therefore
forty-four thousand li.

Of these five terms two are known, Leao-tong and Niphon.
De Guignes and Klaproth agree in placing the third in the island
of Jesso. But while de Guignes identifies Ta-han with Kam-
tchatka and Fu-sang with California, Klaproth thinks that the
fourth country named must be the island of Krafto, and the
fifth the southeastern coast of Niphon.

I agree with Messrs. Neumann, de Paravey, Perez, d'Eich-
thal, Godron, and Leland, that upon these two points de Guignes
has the best of the argument as against Klaproth, and that in
fact the Chinese have known, at least from the sixth century,
of the existence of the New World; since discovered in the year
1000 by the Icelander Leif Erikson, in 1488 by Jean Cousin
of Dieppe, and in 1492 by Christopher Columbus.

I think it important to add the fact mentioned by Com
mander Maury and Colonel Kennon,* an old officer of the United
States Navy, that it is possible to go from China to America by
way of the islands of Japan, the Kurile Islands, the coast of
Kamtchatka, the Aleutian Islands, and Alaska, without ever los
ing sight of land for more than a few hours, and that the dis
covery of America would not present any very serious difficulty
to Chinese sailors.

After having established the fact of this discovery, by the
geographical article of the historian Li-yen, de Guignes pub
lished a description of Fu-sang, borrowed by him from Ma
Twan-lin, which was published for the first time in a portion
of the " Great Annals of China," entitled Nan Szu.

The story of the Buddhist monk is rendered the more proba
ble from the established fact that in the fifth century of the
Christian era numerous Buddhist monks, actuated entirely by
religious motives, accomplished voyages nearly as long as, and
certainly more dangerous than, that from Leao-tong to the coast
of California. Again, at the time when the predecessors of
Hoei Shin visited Fu-sang, Samarcand, situated almost in the
center of Asia, was incontestably one of the principal centers of
Buddhist propagandism.

* Mr. Leland has, in his book entitled " Fusang," inserted a letter from Colo
nel Kennon, who, during the years 1853-'56, was connected with the expedition
sent out for the purpose of surveying the shores of Behring's Strait.
13

AN INGLOEIOUS COLUMBUS.

From this double point of view, it is far from being improba
ble that, coming into the country lying in the neighbourhood of
the Amoor River, the monks of Samarcand should have heard a
country mentioned as lying far to the east, and that these apos
tles should have sailed in the direction of the rising sun, coast
ing along by the way of the islands which connect the Old
World with the New.

For the rest, it is necessary to determine whether the de
scription of Fu-sang given by Hoei Shin is applicable to any
particular portion of the American Continent with a precision
such that we will be compelled to consider the Chinese monk as
an eye-witness.

To this question I answer, without hesitation, that a very
small number of the details reported by Hoei Shin present a
character that is truly American ; that the remainder are purely
fanciful and absurd, and that the story as a whole can not be
considered as testimony worthy of credit.

The lack of iron, the paper made from bark, and the absence
of metallic money, are indeed points that are characteristic of
America ; but it should also be borne in mind that the same
facts were found in the history of several other countries situ
ated to the east of China, notably in the Loo Choo Islands.

The cycle of ten years is used in Peru ; but Fu-sang can not
be placed in South America, and Mr. Leland, who does not wish
to lose the benefit of the decennial cycle, supposes that in the
fifth century Mexico may have been inhabited by the ancestors
of the present Peruvians !

Except these four statements — of which the first three are
not exclusively American, and the last is not applicable to the
civilization of North America — I can not see anything worthy of
credit in the account of Hoei Shin.

In the first place, the fu-sang tree described by this monk
can not be the maguey, or great American aloe. "I do not
know," said Dr. Godron, speaking in 1868, "to what botanical
species the tree mentioned by the Chinese narrator can be re
ferred." The scholarly botanist has not changed his opinion,
and has kindly written me a note which settles the question
definitely :

" The Buddhist monk, Hoe i Shin, describes, as existing in
the country of Fu-sang, a tree of which the fruit is red and pear-

REMARKS OF M. LUCIEN ADAM. 195

shaped, and which produces this fruit all the year round ; its
leaves being similar to those of the tree t'ung, and its sprouts
to those of the bamboo. Some have believed that in this plant
they recognized the Hibiscus rosa Sinensis or the Hibiscus
Syriacus. The second is out of the question, since it is a native
of no other country than Syria. It is cultivated as an ornamental
tree in our gardens. The first grows spontaneously in China, as
well as in Cochin-China, according to Laureiro ; it is cultivated
in all the gardens of the two peninsulas of India, and may also
be seen in our orangeries. These two species of hibiscus do not
have red or pear-shaped fruit. Their fruit is surrounded by
large bracts, which envelop it ; it is capsular, and opens at ma
turity.

" It has also been said that the fu-sang tree is the Dryanda
cordata. This plant, of the family of the Euphorbiaces, is a
tree of little height, which grows wild in Japan. The fruit is a
globular and woody capsule of the size of a walnut with its husk ;
it contains several kernels, from which a very acrid poisonous oil
is extracted, which is much used as an oil for lamps, and which
in China bears the name of Mu-yeu. The leaves are large,
and disposed in tufts at the ends of the branches ; they have a
leaf-stalk, are heart-shaped, and do not in any way resemble
(any more than those of the Hibiscus rosa Sinensis and Sy~
riacus) the leaves of the bamboo, which are shaped like
those of the grasses. The bamboos appertain to an entirely
different grand division of the vegetable kingdom from the
Malvaces and the Euphorbiaces. But Hoei Shin was no bot
anist.

"The maguey, or Agave Americana, answers still less to the
description of the Buddhist monk ; its fruit is neither red nor
pear-shaped, but is a hexagonal capsule, and its extremely large
leaves form a rosette about the roots.

" Of the plants to which that mentioned by the Buddhist
monk has been compared, none are American, with the exception
of the agave, and, moreover, it seems as impossible to reconcile
any plant of China or Japan with the description, as any plant
of the New World. The question seems to us, up to the pres
ent time, to be insoluble."

I remark, upon the subject of the fu-sang tree, that Hoei Shin
does not mention the long thorns which characterize the maguey,

196 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

and does not say anything of the alcoholic liquor which is ex
tracted in Mexico from the heart of the plant.

The zoology of the Buddhist monk is no more correct than
his botany, for horses were brought to America from Europe in
the sixteenth century ; and it is well known that at the time of
the conquest the inhabitants of the New World had neither
beasts of burden nor draught animals. The pretended herds of
deer of Fu-sang are evidently herds of reindeer ; and as to the
cattle, or bisons, they have been found domesticated, not upon
the coast of the Pacific, where we would naturally look for Fit-
sang, but rather in the ancient country of Cibola — that is to say,
in the region now known as New Mexico, where the houses are
constructed of unburned bricks, and where the Indians, called
Pueblo Indians, live in fortified towns, in order to defend them
selves against the incursions of the red-skins.

Messrs. d'Eichthal and Leland have ingeniously sought to
explain this part of the account of Hoei Sfdn by substituting,
for horses, animals of a great height, and with branching horns,
which the Spaniards call " horse-deer," and by transporting Fu-
sang into the interior of the continent, because of the bisons
found in Cibola. But the details given by the monk, relative to
the construction of the houses, to the cities, and to the military
weapons, absolutely exclude New Mexico, Arizona, and Califor
nia itself.

M. d'Eichthal has endeavoured to explain the idle tale of the
two prisons, by the dogmas as to future punishment held by the
Mandans : the prison of the north being understood as hell, and
that of the south as paradise. What, then, becomes of the mar
riages contracted by the prisoners, and the children sold as
slaves, the boys at the age of eight years and the girls at that
of nine ? Evidently Hoei Shin speaks of temporal punishment
and of prisons in the present life.

Of the ceremonies of marriage, the punishments inflicted
on criminals of the different classes of society, and of the coun
try inhabited by white women, I can see nothing to say, except
that it is all imaginary, and stamped with the imprint of mani
fest absurdity.

I now hasten to discuss the most important question raised
by the account. Is it certain, or even credible, that Hoei Shin
found Fu-sang- America converted to Buddhism, as he expressly

REMARKS OF M. LUCIEN ADAM. 197

declared? If the apostles, who came from Samarcand, spread
abroad the worship of Buddha, and with it the sacred books and
holy images of that religion, we should expect to find some
thing of all this in their traditionary history (since writing was
unknown), and in their monuments.

History, properly so called, is absolutely mute concerning any
religious revolution of the fifth century. It is true, however,
that this silence might be explained by claiming that the natives
formerly had books, which have been destroyed. Let us, there
fore, examine their traditions, and see whether, as has been
thought by some, Quetzalcoatl, the god of the city of Cholula,
may not have been one of the five monks of Samarcand.

According to Motolinia, Quetzalcoatl was a white man, of
good height, having a large forehead, and great eyes ; his hair
was long and black ; he wore a large beard, trimmed to a round
shape. He was chaste and peaceable, and very moderate in all
things. So far was he from asking that the blood of men, or
even of animals, should be shed in sacrifice, that he held no of
ferings as agreeable except those of bread, flowers, or perfume ;
he prohibited all acts of violence, and detested war. Finally, he
lacerated his body with the thorns of the agave, and recom
mended the practice of the most severe penances.

I admit that the resemblance is specious ; but if there is one
point upon which the legend is particularly plain, it is that Que
tzalcoatl came from a country situated to the east of America,
and that, when he took leave of his disciples on the eastern
coast, he told them that white men, bearded like himself, would
come by sea from the east and subdue the entire country. It is
said that the cause of Montezuma's ruin was his blind faith in
this prophecy. To this first reason for doubting that Quetzal
coatl can have been a Buddhist priest, there may be added a
second, which I think decisive. Quetzalcoatl, who, according to
the legend, came from Tula to Cholula— that is to say, from one
Toltec capital to another — appeared as the ideal representative of
the Toltec race ; but before he was invested with this marvelous
form, under which there was poorly concealed an energetic pro
test of the vanquished nation against the belligerent disposition
and sanguinary tastes of the Aztecs, Quetzalcoatl had been a god
similar in appearance to all the rest. At Tula his visage was
hideous. At Cholula his body was that of a man, and his head

198 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

that of a bird with a red beak. Finally, at a much older period,
Quetzalcoatl had been, in the north, purely and simply a bird,
representing the hieroglyphical sign of the air ; and, in the south,
sometimes an aerolite, and sometimes a serpent.

The Quetzalcoatl of the legend is, therefore, a personage not
less fabulous than the Saturn of the Latins, than Bochica, the
legendary white man of the Musca Indians, or Manco Capac, the
legislator of the Incas.*

In America, as in Europe, the golden age, or age of peace, has
been a popular fancy, and it may be affirmed that during the
fifth century the New World was the theatre of incessant wars,
which is, moreover, attested by the immense defensive works
discovered in the valleys of the Gila, the Colorado, the Ohio,
and the Mississippi. As to the colour of the personage in whom
the ideal of the golden age is incarnated, it should be remarked
that Quetzalcoatl has often been represented with a red visage,
and that among all nations, not belonging to the Caucasian race,
whiteness of the skin has been considered a sort of blessing, im
plying a divine mission or a superior nature.

The existence in Mexico of religious orders or of colleges of
priests, of which the members took vows of asceticism, of poverty,
and of mortification of the body, does not necessarily imply the
preaching either of Buddhism or of Christianity, for America is
not the only country in which men who were not connected
with either of these two great religions have united themselves
to practice frightful austerities in common. As for the volun
tary tortures esteemed as honourable by the Mandan Indians,
some of them bear a close resemblance to the tortures which the
fanatics of East India inflict upon themselves ; but, as has been
very judiciously remarked by M. Foucaux, these practices point
us to Brahmanism rather than to Buddhism. Finally, it is no
torious that the races of the New World have, in their life as
hunters, and in their perpetual wars, acquired an incredible
power of supporting suffering stoically, and that most of them
systematically submit their young warriors to the most cruel
trials of their endurance.

The practice of auricular confession by the natives of Mexico

* The same course of reasoning in regard to the myths that in New Mexico
and Arizona have gathered about the name of Montezuma, would prove, quite as
conclusively, that no such chieftain ever lived.— E. P. Y.

REMARKS OF M. LUCIEN ADAM. 199

would be an argument more conclusive than the preceding, if it
had not been superabundantly established that the avowal of
faults is a custom that is almost universal.

For the rest, the traditions and beliefs of the ancient races of
America constitute a field in which all investigators find almost
everything that they desire ; and I can oppose to the opinion of
M. d'Eichthal, where he recognizes Buddhist influences, the opin
ions of others who think that they see Christian influences of

which the agents were the apostles Saint Bartholomew and Saint
Thorn afc — or the colonists of Great Ireland or those of Ilvitra-
mannaland.

It remains, therefore, to verify the uncertain data of tradi
tion by the examination of monuments and antiquities.

In the belief of M. G. d'Eichthal, the results of the Buddhist
preaching of the fifth century are visible upon the walls of the
Palace of Palenque, and the House of the Nuns at Uxmal.

It may be objected to the view of d'Eichthal that the bas-
relief described by him is identical with others found in Bud
dhist temples ; that, according to Dupaix, Lenoir, Catlin, de Wai-
deck, and M. Viollet-le-Duc, Palenque was built much later than
the fifth century of our era. But this is a question that is still
undecided, and I must recognize the fact that, in the opinion of
Mr. Hubert H. Bancroft, the date of the construction of Pa
lenque can only be uncertainly fixed as some time between the
first and the eighth century of the Christian era.

It should be observed, moreover, that Stephens, who copied
the bas-relief, saw no trace of Buddhism in it. M. Lenoir has
confined himself to saying that there is an analogy between the
attitude of the principal figure and the usual pose of Buddha.
M. d'Eichthal, however, does not hesitate to raise a simple an
alogy in the position into a complete identity, doing this with
out paying any attention to the statements of Stephens : that
the character of the principal personage is the same as that of
personages represented elsewhere in the palace ; that the pre
tended worshiper is sitting cross-legged, and not upon his
knees ; that the offering does not consist of a flower, either of
the lotus or of the cacao-tree, but of a bunch of plumes, an
ornament essentially American, which is lacking in the head
dress of the principal personage ; that similar plumes are asso
ciated with the figures of other divinities of Palenque ; and,

200 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

finally, that the ruins of this stone-built city are situated in the
Atlantic state of Chiapas, and not in the kingdom of Cibola, or
upon the western coast. M. Lenoir, when he spoke of analogy,
had nothing else in mind than the pose of the principal per
sonage, sitting with legs crossed. Now, there exists at Copan a
bas-relief in which four personages, incontestably American, are
represented in this same attitude.

Of the figure seated in the niche of the wall of the House of
Monks at Uxmal, Mr. Hubert H. Bancroft assures us that it is
not certainly known whether this figure, which has now disap
peared, was copied from nature or drawn from the more or less
uncertain descriptions of the Indians. In any case, it is true
that M. de Waldeck, who was looking for Buddhist resem
blances, did not himself recognize the figure as that of Buddha,
and this is a very important fact.

Mr. Leland does not share in what I may be permitted to call
the Buddhistic illusions of M. Gustave d'Eichthal. " Images re
sembling the ordinary Buddha have been found," says he, " in
Mexico and Central America, but they can not be proved to
be identical with it." This is the truth. The ancient monu
ments of America sometimes present, in certain details, analo
gies with the principle of Grecian art, Assyrian art, Egyptian
art, and Hindoo art ; but these points of resemblance are purely
accidental, and are owing to the unity of the human mind, and,
from the mere fact that the conclusions drawn from them are
contradictory between themselves, it is evident that no impor
tant historical point can be determined by their means.

Mr. Francis A. Allen, who also admits the authenticity of
the tale of Hoei Shin, believes that he has found upon the walls
of the temples of Central America an ornament that is very com
mon in Buddhist countries. I mean the head and trunk of the
elephant, an animal unknown in the New World since the last
glacial period. This1 time the argument appears to be without
reply. The following is a short extract on this subject, from
the recent work of Mr. Hubert H. Bancroft, on "The Native
Races of the Pacific States " :

"At Uxmal, above one of the doors of the 'House of the
Governor, Uhere is a sculptured decoration, the central portion
of which is a curved projection, supposed by more than one
traveler to be modeled after the trunk of an elephant. It pro-

REMARKS OF M. LUCIEN ADAM.

201

jects nineteen inches from the surface of the wall. This pro
truding curve occurs more frequently on this and other buildings
at Uxmal than any other decoration, and usually with the same
or similar accompaniments which may be fancied to represent
the features of a monster of which this forms the nose. It oc
curs especially on the ornamented and rounded corners, being
sometimes reversed in its position. The same ornament is found
in the ruins of Zayi, at the angle of the fa9ade of the Casa
Grande, and at Labna at the corner of a palace, where the sup
posed trunk is superposed upon the mouth of an alligator inclos
ing a human head. . . . Finally, the head-dress of one of the
personages represented upon a bas-relief of the Palace at Pa-
lenque presents a somewhat striking resemblance to an elephant's
trunk."

The projection described by Mr. Bancroft reproduces, to a
certain extent, the curve of the trunk of the elephant ; but it
should be noted that the tusks of the animal are lacking. In
the absence of this characteristic part, it may be legitimately
supposed that, if the artist attempted to copy the nasal append
age of any animal (which is not at all evident), his model may
have been the American tapir.*

That which I said above regarding the traditions of the an
cient Americans is equally applicable to their monuments. Every
one interprets them in the sense that serves his theories the best,
and I dare say that too often the archaeology of the New World
is studied to find an argument for the defense of preconceived
theories, or to extend and systematize analogies that are entirely
accidental.

While I lived in the United States, I often heard the claim
that America was made for the Americans ; which I am far from
wishing to contradict. It is to be desired that this formula
should be introduced into the study of American antiquities, to
serve as a fundamental rule, and that, for the future, we should
not seek in America for India, Egypt, Assyria, or Greece, but
for America itself.

Returning to Fa-sang: I think that the Chinese had a
knowledge of America, at least in the seventh century, but I

* But the proboscis of the tapir is hardly noticeable, and it never takes the
curve characteristic of the elephant's trunk, shown in these Central American
decorations. — E. P V.

202 AN" INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

reject absolutely the tale of Hoei Shin. I understand thereby
that this missionary had collected fables, mixed with a very
little truth, from the mouths of the Chinese sailors ; that he
played upon his compatriots by boasting that he had visited
this American Fa-sang; and that he was induced to tell this
falsehood by the pious desire to aggrandize the kingdom of
Buddha in their eyes.

M. FREDERICK DE HELLWALD said that the question of Fu-
sang recurs periodically, and is obstinately reproduced from time
to time, just as certain journals occasionally repeat the differ
ent tales regarding the apparition of the sea-serpent : and as it
is a fact that no one has been given an opportunity to study this
monstrous animal zoologically, just so no one has ever given
scientific proof of the discovery of America by the Chinese. In
1871 the " Athenaeum," of London, related this account of the
discovery of America by the yellow men as a thing entirely new.
Dr. Bretschneider at that time amply refuted this fable ; but this
has not prevented an English book from taking the subject up
again recently. It is to be feared that the refutation of Messrs,
de Rosny and Lucien Adam will not prevent a re-appearance
of the monster. The Congress of Americanists will render a
true service to science by declaring that it holds Fu-sang as a
scientific sea-serpent, and by prohibiting it from infesting the
regions of American studies.

Professor JOLT, of Toulouse, could understand this impatience
for a solution of the problem, but did not share in it. Before
rejecting the Asiatic hypothesis, should not the proofs bearing
upon the subject which can be furnished by the auxiliary sciences
be exhausted ? Do we know enough of American archaeology,
zoology, anthropology, and craniology to be able to decide au
thoritatively ? Is it too much to ask that the attempt to solve
the question be postponed, at least until a later sitting of the
Congress ?

Returning to the subject of the herds of tame cattle and of
deer, mentioned by Hoei Shin, M. Joly asked whether these so-
called cattle might not be understood to be the largest of the
domestic quadrupeds of Central America, the llama, which is
used as a pack animal and to draw loads of goods.

M. LUCIEN ADAM observed that • the llama inhabits only

REMARKS OF PROFESSOR JOLY. 203

South America, particularly Peru. Fu-sang is at one time sup
posed to be Mexico ; presently it is moved to Arizona, in order
to find the bison there ; and then to Russian America, in order to
find the reindeer : now we descend to Peru, in order that we
may find a sufficiently imperfect representative of cattle in the
llamas of that country.

M. JOLT thought that paleontology might furnish a better
solution of the question of the communication between America
and Eastern Asia. Could not the representations of the elephant
upon the walls of Palenque be explained by a knowledge, on
the part of the natives, not of a contemporaneous elephant, but
of some one of the primitive elephants — the mammoth or the
mastodon ? Might not the Mexicans have discovered some
skulls of the Eleplias primogenius which existed in America dur
ing the glacial period? Might not the figure of this animal
have been preserved in some prehistoric design, as in France the
image of the reindeer or the cave-bear has been preserved graven
upon fragments of deer-horns? It is denied that Hoei Shin
could have found horses in America. Undoubtedly the horse
was imported by the conquering Spaniards ; but may not an in
digenous equine race have existed in America ?

Have not beds of the bones of horses been found in the Bad
Lands ? Until the soil of America has been more thoroughly
examined, and more fully studied, so that it shall have deliv
ered up its paleontological secrets, M. Joly asked that c-aution
should be exercised regarding this Asiatic hypothesis.

CHAPTER XII.

D'HERVEY'S NOTES.

Bibliography — The name of the priest — The city of King-cheu — Ta-han — Lieu-
kuei, a peninsula — Earlier knowledge of Fu-sang — The construction of the
dwellings — The lack of arms and armour — The punishment of criminals — The
titles of the nobles — The title Tui-lu found in Corea — The colours of the king's
garments — The cycle of ten years — Peruvian history — The long cattle-horns —
The food prepared from milk — The red pears — Grapes — The worship of
images of spirits of the dead — Its existence in China — Cophene — The " King
dom of Women" — The legumes used as food — Wen-shin — The punishment of
criminals — The name Ta-han — The country identified with Kamtchatka — Two
countries of that name — One lying north of China, and one lying east — Un-
warlike nature of the people.

Notes of the Marquis d^Hervey de Saint-Deny s on Ma Twan-
lin's Account of Fa-sang, Wen-shin, Ta-han, and the "King
dom of Women:'' 1547

MA TWAN-LIN'S account of Fa-sang is of exceptional inter
est, for it has raised the important question as to whether the
Chinese knew of America, not only in the fifth century of our
era, as is indicated by the account of Hoei Shin, but back to
the most remote antiquity, as I propose to demonstrate a little
farther on. The Oriental scholar de Guignes was the first to
find in the works of Ma Twan-lin (which had never been inves
tigated before by any European student) the mention of the
country of Fa-sang; which he recognized as belonging to
North America, and which he thought might be identified with
California ; being led to this conclusion by studying the route
followed by the Chinese vessels, which the currents had borne
to the shores of that country. He set forth this opinion in a
very justly celebrated memoir; the assertions contained in which
were opposed by a critic who was very much disposed to deny
everything that he had not discovered himself. But the feeble-

D'HERVEY'S NOTES. 205

ness of his refutation became a powerful argument in support
of the opinion advanced by de Guignes, for no one was better
able than Klaproth to expose errors of the kind which he ac
cused de Guignes of having committed; and when the poverty of
his contradictory pleas is exposed, as well as the manifest inac
curacy of the statements that he makes, the conclusion is natural
that the author of the " History of the Huns " has the best of
the argument. D'Eichthal, the Chevalier de Paravey, Professor
Neumann, and M. Perez have in turn defended de Guignes's
memoir with much force, by adding numerous new proofs in
support of those which had been given by that scholar. Finally,
in a volume full of facts, entitled " Fusang, or the Discovery of
America," an American author, Mr. Charles G. Leland, has very
recently devoted himself to the confirmation of the identification
of Fu-sang with California or Mexico, by means of more recent
documents borrowed from the latest researches concerning the
navigation of the Pacific and the ethnography of the American
tribes. Dr. Bretschneider alone declares his confidence in the
judgment of Klaproth ; undoubtedly from the robust faith with
which there is proof that he was inspired, since he very fairly
admits that he has read nothing that has been written in opposi
tion to his views. Lack of space prevents any analysis of the
works which I have cited, and which it appears sufficient to point
out to the reader. I shall take pains to call attention success
ively to the passages of this notice which have been the subject
of controversy, and to several expressions which have been in
terpreted in very different ways by de Guignes, Klaproth, Neu
mann, and Bretschneider. I have endeavoured to make my ver
sion as literal as possible, so that specialists who are not Sino
logues may easily obtain an accurate idea of the original text.
The same desire to aid in clearing up the question as to Fu-sang
induces me to place in an appendix several documents from
Chinese sources which relate to it, and which I believe have
never before been published in any European language.

The name of the Buddhist priest, i| ^, Neumann writes
Hoei Shin, and Dr. Bretschneider, Hui-shen. This appellation
signifies " very sagacious," or "very intelligent" (not "universal
compassion," as Neumann has translated it ; I can not imagine
why), and is a religious name, from which no indication can be
drawn as to the true nationality of the bonze who bore it. Mr.

206 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

Leland writes : " Klaproth says, ' a native of the country,' and by
'the country ' he means Fa-sang ; but in the German version of
the same passage, given by Neumann, * the [or this] country ' re
fers to China." If Neumann, whose German version I have not
seen, otherwise than in the English translation which Mr. Leland
has made (adding that it has been revised by Neumann himself),
gives it to be clearly understood that Hoei Shin was a native of
China, he is surely in error. The characters of the Chinese text,
ji |U, " of that kingdom " (otherwise, " of this country "), relate
to Fa-sang, and not to China. It is true that there is nothing in
the Chinese text to indicate whether Hoei Shin had become a
bonze in Fu-sang, or whether he was a native of that country.
This question it is necessary to reserve, and my version is abso
lutely literal.

To arrive at the city of IZing-clieu, which was situated in what
is now called Hu-kuang, and upon the banks of the Yang-tse-
kiang, Hoei Shin would be compelled to ascend the river, pass
ing Kien-kang, or Nan+king, which was the capital of the empire
of the Tsi dynasty.

De Guignes believed that he was able to identify the country
of Ta-lian with Kamtchatka, and also with the place of exile
called Lieu-kuei by the Chinese. Klaproth thinks that Ta-han,
which he also recognizes as the same country as Lieu-kuei, must
be the island of Saghalien, otherwise called Tarakai, or Karafto.
He adopts this hypothesis arbitrarily, without making any allow
ance for the fact that Ma Twan-lin says that Ta-Jian lies more
than 5,000 li to the east of Wen-shin, and this in turn more than
7,000 li northeasterly (not northerly) from Japan, and without
making any attempt to reconcile his opinion with that statement,
or with the geographical treatise Long-wei-pi-shu, which says
that Lieu-kuei could be reached by land, and that the sea sur
rounded this country on three sides only. ("Lieu-kuei is to
the north of the Northern Sea, and is surrounded by the sea on
three sides.") Dr. Bretschneider places the country of Ta-han
in Siberia, • abandoning Klaproth's opinion on this point ; and
Professor Neumann, with whom Mr. Leland agrees, affirms that
he believes the American peninsula of Alaska to have been in
tended by this designation. The kingdom of Ta-han is the ob
ject of special mention, a little farther on, and I therefore defer,
for discussion in that connection, several documents which I

D'HERVEY'S NOTES.

207

would be obliged to repeat if they were inserted here, merely
remarking for the present that Ma Twan-lin, and other Chinese
writers, treat separately the countries described by them under
the name of Lieu-kuei and Ta-han, and class the first among the
regions of the north, and the second among the regions of the
east. In any case, whatever may be the exact and definite iden
tification of Fu-sang, it should not be overlooked that when the
bonze Hoei Shin, who arrived in the empire of the Tsi (the
dynasty then ruling a large portion of China) by way of the
Great Itiang, described Fu-sang as being at the same time to the
east of Ta-han and of China, he should be understood as speak
ing, not of a land of limited extent, but of a true continent.

I can not allow the phrase of the account of Hoei Shin — read
ing, "It [the country of Fu-sang] contains many fu-sang trees,
and it is from this fact that its name is derived " — to pass, without
repeating an observation which I made some years ago (in the pref
ace of my translation of the Li-sao], and without demonstrating
that if the bonze Hoei Shin is the first who made the manners of
the people of Fu-sang known to the Chinese, there was a knowl
edge among the Chinese, centuries before him, of the existence
of such a country. Even during the life-time of Kiu-yuen, the
author of the poem entitled the Li-sao — that is to say, in the
third century before our era — the name of Fu-sang was em
ployed by the poets to designate the countries to the extreme
east. Now, the fact that this denomination of Fu-sang was
not an imaginary one, but a name drawn from a peculiar product
of a particular country, necessarily implies a real knowledge,
previously acquired, of the existence of the country so designated.

The passage relating to the construction of their dwellings
Klaproth translates : " The planks of the wood [of i\iQ fu-sang]
are used in the construction of their houses " ; and Neumann, ac
cording to Mr. Leland's English version, " The houses are built
of wooden beams." This last translation is the most exact, since
the Chinese text does not expressly indicate that the planks which
were used in the construction of the houses were made from the
wood of the fu-sang tree.

Klaproth has translated another passage : "They have neither
arms nor troops " ; Neumann, " The people have no weapons "; and
Bretschneider, " Arms and war are unknown." No one of these
three versions is strictly exact ; for the expression " kia-ping " con-

208 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

veys the idea of soldiers and their military armament, but with
out excluding them from the bow and arrow for hunting (which
would be included in the collective term " arms ") and of which
it is not said that the inhabitants of Fit-sang were destitute.

The statement is made that, " when a crime is committed by
a person of elevated rank, the people of the kingdom assemble in
great numbers, place the criminal in an excavation, celebrate a
banquet in his presence, and take leave of him as of a dying man,
when he is surrounded with ashes." This is not clear, and leaves
much in doubt as to the exact punishment of the criminal, of
which this ceremony appears to be merely a preliminary, in
tended to give it more solemnity. It has been supposed that he
was then sent to either the northern or the southern prison. Neu
mann says, " He is covered with ashes," which appears to sig
nify that he was buried alive, as de Guignes also understood this
passage ; but the meaning of the character |£| is " to surround"
and never " to cover"

The passage relating to the degrees of crime and their pun
ishments, Mr. Leland translates, following Neumann : "If the
offender was one of the lower class, he alone was punished ;
but, when of rank, the degradation was extended to his chil
dren and grandchildren. With those of the highest rank, it at
tained to the seventh generation." This interpretation is abso
lutely inadmissible. The word of the Chinese text, Iff, which
should be understood of the gravity, literally of the weighty of a
crime, can not be used in the sense of the rank, more or less ele
vated, of the criminal. Klaproth did not commit this error.

In the following sentence in regard to the designations of the
king and the nobility, the title of the nobles of the first class is
given as gj ]J, Tui-lu. In the great collection, entitled Ku-Jcin-
tu-shu-tsi-ching, the text of the " History of the Liang Dynasty,"
from which this account is borrowed, is reproduced, and this pas
sage reads, ^ ^ ^ Ta Tui-lu (Great Tui-lu), in opposition to
>J\ §f ]J, Siao Tui-lu (Petty Tui-lu, or Tui-lu of the Second Rank),
an honourary title, which is mentioned immediately below. It is
therefore probable that the character, ^, ta, has been inadvertent
ly suppressed in my editions of the Wen-hien-tong-kao ; and this
was the opinion of de Guignes, who translated this passage,
" Great and Petty Tui-lu." This detail is of little importance, but
it is deserving of attention (inasmuch as the remark must be new,

D'HERVEY'S NOTES.

since the notice of Ma Twan-lin regarding Corea has not been
translated into any European language before) that the title
given to the highest dignitaries of Fu-sang is precisely the same
as that borne by the first dignitaries of Kao-kiu-li (Corea).1546
"The mandarins of Kao-li are called ^ fj Jjj, Ta Tui-lu."
Eleven other titles, by which lower ranks are called, are also
given. " The care of the management of the internal and exter
nal affairs of state is divided among these twelve ranks of func
tionaries. The mandarins, called Ta Tui-lu, are elected and de
posed by the members of this rank, by their own authority,
without consultation either with the king or his ministers."

In regard to the colour of the king's garments, it should be
noted that the Chinese often confound blue and green. The
character ^ , employed here, designates equally the azure of the
sky and the light green of plants commencing to sprout.

In this connection, reference is made to a cycle of ten years,
represented by the cyclic characters ^ kia, £ y, pj ping, ~J~
ting, tic ou-> tl biy JjE fceng, -^ sin, ££ jin, and 2£ kouei, which
the Chinese use in the formation of their cycle of sixty years,
associating additional characters with them. Neumann, who
found a great affinity between the Mongolian Tartars and Mant-
choos and the Indians of North America, cites in this connec
tion the remark of Pere Gaubil : " I do not know where the
Mantchoo Tartars learned to express the ten Jean [or years of the
decennary cycle] by words which signify colours " ; and he gives
this curious information of his own ; " The two first years of the
decennary cycle are called by the Tartars green and greenish, the
two following years red and reddish, and the other years, in their
order successively, yellow and yellowish, white and whitish, and
black and blackish" Finally, Mr. Leland establishes a very close
analogy between the institutions of Peru at the time of the Span
ish conquest and the picture of the manners of Fu-sang sketched
by Hoei Shin, and thinks that the same civilization formerly
reigned in the two Americas. He treats this subject with much
interest (pages 49-59), and makes the following observations re
garding the passage to which this note refers :

" The change of the colour of the garments of the king, ac
cording to the astronomical cycle, is, however, more thoroughly
in accordance with the spirit of the institutions of the Children
of the Sun than anything which we have met in the whole of
14

210 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

this strange and obsolete record ; and it is indeed remarkable that
Professor Neumann, who had already indicated the southern
course of Aztec, or of Mexican, civilization, and who manifested,
as the reader may have observed, so much shrewdness in adducing
testimony for the old monk's narrative, did not search more
closely into Peruvian history for that confirmation which a slight
inquiry seems to indicate is by no means wanting in it. Thus,
with regard to the observations of the seasons, Prescott tells us
that the ' ritual of the Incas involved a routine of observances
as complex and elaborate as ever distinguished that of any na
tion, whether pagan or Christian. Each month had its appro
priate festival, or rather festivals. The four principal had refer
ence to the sun, and commemorated the great periods of his
annual progress, the solstices, and equinoxes. Garments of a
peculiar wool, and feathers of a peculiar colour, were reserved to
the Inca.' I can not identify the blue, red, yellow, and black
(curiously reminding one of the alchemical elementary colours,
still preserved, by a strange feeling for antiquity, or custom, in
chemists' windows) ; but it is worthy of remark that the rainbow
was the Inca's special attribute or scutcheon, and that his whole
life was passed in accordance with the requisitions of astronomi
cal festivals ; and the fact that different colours were reserved to
him, and identified with him, is very curious, and establishes a
strange analogy with the narrative of Hoei Shin."

The translation by Klaproth of the sentence, which he gives
as, " The cattle have long horns, upon which burdens are loaded
which weigh as much sometimes as twenty Ao," is absolutely in
admissible. The reference is, not to cattle upon the heads of
which burdens are loaded, but to the hollow horns of the cattle,
which serve as receptacles. The ho is a measure of capacity,
containing ten teu, or Chinese bushels, and the capacity of the
Chinese bushel has, it is said, varied from one litre thirty-five to
one litre fifty-four centilitres. We might be in doubt of the
existence of horns so extraordinary, but we read, in "L'Histoire
de la Conquete du Mexique par les Espagnols," that Montezuma
showed them, as a curiosity, cattle-horns of enormous dimen
sions ; and, in his " Tableaux de la Nature," A. von Humboldt
says that, in making excavations in the southwestern part of
Mexico, ancient ruins were found, and cattle-horns were discov
ered which were truly monstrous.

D'HERVEY'S NOTES. 211

I have not translated literally the phrase which refers to the
food which the people make from milk, owing to the difficulty
of determining the exact meaning of the character gg} lo, which
is used to designate the alimentary preparation of 'which the
hind's milk furnished the base. The true meaning of the charac
ter is curdled milk, and also cream. It also indicates a sort of
liquor which the Tartars make from fermented mare's milk.
This last sense is adopted by Dr. Bretschneider ; de Guignes has
translated it butter, and Neumann has imitated him. Klaproth
thinks that cheese should be understood ; and M. de Rosny, who
has translated from the Japanese an abridged reproduction of
this notice regarding Fu-sang, says that the inhabitants made
creamy dishes from the milk of their domesticated hinds. I
have preferred to leave the expression somewhat vague, since it
can not be determined just what was meant by the character
used in the original.

The version of the Encyclopaedia, Ku-Jcin-tu-shu-tsi-ching,
cited above, offers the variation, " They have the pears of the
fu-sang tree," etc., instead of the reading in our text, " They
gather the red pears, which are preserved for an entire year."

In the sentence, reading, " They also have to pu-tao " (many
grapes), de Guignes translates the characters 2£ fff |fl», tojm-tao,
" a great quantity of iris-plants and peaches," by giving their
isolated value to the characters pu and tao, and by giving to
the first (pu, reeds) a signification which is exceptional, to say
the least. He could not have been ignorant that the compound
pu-tao signified (/rapes ; but he also knew that the word, in re
cent times at least, demands a different orthography. Klaproth
has asserted that the two characters of the expression pu-tao,
employed by Ma Twan-lin, following the " History of the Liang
Dynasty," are nothing but the old form of the orthography more
recently adopted. It has, moreover, been established that these
characters are merely used to render phonetically in Chinese a
word of foreign origin ; and this makes the ideography of their
composition of less importance than it would otherwise be. I
have felt myself compelled to adopt this view; but it is indeed
surprising to see Klaproth seek, in the existence of the vine in
Fu-sang, to find an argument for affirming that that country
could not be America ; as if the Scandinavians had not given to
just this land of North America, where they landed, a name

212 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

which was suggested by the 'abundance of wild vines which they
found. Neumann has preferred to follow the opinion of de Guig-
nes in regard to translating the characters pu-tao separately,
instead of as a compound. He renders the phrase, " apples and
rushes from which the inhabitants make mats" This last state
ment is in all respects a more-than-free translation, since the
phrase in italics does not occur in the text, and the word tao
should not have the meaning of apple — the fruit of which the
Latin name is malum (persicum).

The version of I£u-kin-tu-shu-tsi-ching offers quite an impo'r-
tant variation in the phrase relating to the image that is set up
on the death of a member of the family. In place of f£ $£ W$ ffl,
" the image of a spirit is set up" that version reads, J& ft ffi
jpljl |Jk that is to say, " the image of the spirit which represents
the soul of the deceased is set up " or exposed. It is remarkable
that this custom has existed among the Chinese from a great
antiquity, as may be read in the chapter Ou-tse-chi-ko of the
Shu-Icing. Klaproth made the translation from the version of
Ma Twan-lin, and Neumann from that of the Ku-Jcin-tu-shu-
tsi-ching, which accounts for their difference in the rendering of
this passage. But neither of these two scholars appears to me to
have correctly expressed the letter and spirit of the Chinese text
in the interpretation of the complementary member of the
phrase, which immediately follows: j|J] fy ffi -ll> literally, "Morn
ing and night, prostrations are made and oblations offered."
Klaproth says, " Prayers are addressed (to the images of the
spirits) morning and night" ; and Neumann, " They (the relatives
of the deceased) remain from morning to night absorbed in
prayer before the image of the spirit of the dead." ^f, pal (to
salute, to prostrate one's self), and j|, tien (to offer oblations or
libations to spirits), are expressions which do not convey, other
wise than indirectly, the idea of addressing prayers, and the
meaning of the author may be altered, in an account of this na
ture, by modifying thus the expressions which he uses.

As to the country from which the Buddhist priests came, IR-
pin> St fC> Klaproth writes, in parenthesis, Cophene. The author
of the Japanese Encyclopaedia, San-sai-dzou-ye, from which M. de
Rosny extracted and translated an abridgment of Hoei Shin's
account, adds in a note, after the word Ki-pin, " Ki-pin is one
of the western countries (Si-yu) ; it is San-ma-ceU-kan (Samar-

D'HERVEY'S NOTES.

213

cand)." Mr. Leland says, "The land of Ki-pin, the ancient
Kophen, is now called Bokhara, the country of Samarcand.
Samarcand, at the times of which we are speaking, was one of
the great strongholds of Buddhism."

The nature of the facts reported in regard to the " Kingdom
of Women " has served for an argument to impeach the veracity
of Hoei Shin ; but it is impossible to fail to distinguish between
the account of this bonze concerning Fu-sang, a country in which
he had resided, and his story about a Kingdom of Women, of
which he knew nothing himself but the marvelous tales which he
had heard related. It may be remarked that all the ancient
nations have had some tradition of Amazons, or kingdoms of
women; and M. d'Eichthal has made the curious fact known that
entire tribes of North America have borne the name of " women "
as a national name. It may also be noted that the Chinese au
thors mention several kingdoms of women, entirely distinct from
each other, which fact arose, without doubt, because the Chinese,
among whom the women lived retired in the inner apartments,
without playing any active part in public life, would naturally
give the appellation of Kingdom of Women to those countries of
which the manners contrasted with those of the " Middle King
dom " in this respect. Those which have been mentioned above
are situated to the west of China. The Long-wei-pi-shu speaks
of as many as ten, and in the notice which we translate here the
Wen-hien-tong-Jcao mentions two which should not be confounded.
Finally, under the name of ^C A S> Niu-jin-leoue, an insignifi
cant variation, the Encyclopaedia San-tsai-tu-hoei, published in
the Ming dynasty, speaks also of an island in the South Sea
where the women showed themselves in force and made prison
ers of almost all the sailors of a Chinese vessel which winds
and tempests had driven upon that distant shore.

The expression which I render, " These islanders fed upon
small legumes," is very difficult to translate by an exact equiva
lent, for the botanical classifications of the Chinese are very dif
ferent from ours. The Chinese give the name of j£, teu> to a^
vegetables having distinct grains enveloped in a pod, shell, or
husk. De Guignes, while translating this phrase " little beans,"
thought it possible that maize might be meant.

The short notice which follows, regarding the country of
Wen-shin, or of " Tattooed Bodies," 155° does not vary, except by

214: AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

a few different readings, from the account contained in the por
tion of the Nan-sse, or " Annals of the South," inserted in my
article on Japan.1552 Ma Twan-lin has, however, suppressed here
the closing sentence concerning the punishment of criminals,
and the trials to which they were subjected. De Guignes and
Klaproth have thought that this country of Wen-shin might be
the island of Jesso. Neumann, who places the kingdom of Ta-
han in the peninsula of Alaska, thinks that the Wen-shin inhab
ited the Aleutian Islands. This last opinion appears very diffi
cult to reconcile with the account, that is given farther on, of the
abundance of provisions among the Wen-shin, and of the sumpt
uous palace of their king. In the " Chinese Recorder " "4 Dr.
Bretschneider wrote : " Wen-shen, the country in which the peo
ple tattoo themselves, lies 7,000 li northeast from Japan. The
inhabitants make large lines upon their bodies, and especially
upon their faces. By a stretch of the imagination we might
suppose North American Red Indians to be here meant. It is
known, however, that the Japanese have also the habit of tattoo
ing themselves." Without daring to attempt to decide the ques
tion of the identification of the country of Wen-shin, I will call
attention to the following paragraph regarding Ta-han, or rather
regarding the two different countries of that name. It will be
seen that the manners of the people of Ta-han of tJie East were
similar to those of the inhabitants of Wen-shin, and that there
were also affinities between the people of this land and those of
Fu-sang, which therefore seem to show a relationship between
the three nations.

The name of the country of Ta-han is too extraordinary in
itself not to excite attention. Ta-han (ft. SI) signifies literally
" Great Chinese " (han, Chinese, vir fortis), and Ta-han-kwoh,
" Kingdom of the Great Chinese," or " Great Chinese Kingdom,"
which de Guignes attempted to explain as follows : " That part
of Siberia called Kamtchatka is the region which the Japanese
call Oku-yeso, or ' Upper Jesso.' They place it upon their maps
to the north of Jesso, and represent it as being twice as large as
China, and extending much farther to the east than the eastern
shore of Japan. This is the country which the Chinese have
named Ta-han, which may signify ' as large as China,' a name
which corresponds with the extent of the country, and to the
idea which the Japanese have given us of it." Neumann, on the

D'HERVEY'S NOTES. 215

contrary, who locates Ta-han in the peninsula of Alaska, sup
poses that the Chinese have called this country Great China, or
a great country comparable to China, because they had knowl
edge of the vast continent which exists beyond it. These two
explanations are ingenious, without doubt ; but we find another,
much simpler, in the Chinese Encyclopaedia Yuen-kien-lui-han,
regarding at least one of the two countries called Ta-han of
which that work makes mention. The Yuen-Jcien-lui~han de
serves to be carefully examined, since it may give proof of the
correctness of Dr. Neumann as to the identification of the coun
try of Ta-han situated on the route to Fu-sang, and at the
same time confirm the assertion of de Guignes as to the kingdom
of Ta-han situated in Kamtchatka or somewhere else in Eastern
Siberia, as MM. Perez and Bretschneider have thought. Neu
mann has, in support of his opinion, the express statement of
Li-yen and of Ma Twan-lin, that the Ta-han at which vessels
touched on the way to Fu-sang was an Oriental country, situated
to the east, and not to the north, of Wen-shin. De Guignes, on
his side, produces a very precise account of the route which Chi
nese travelers followed when they went by land to the country
of Ta-han, an itinerary which can not be disputed. Here is what
we read in the Encyclopaedia Yuen-kien-lui-han — First : Kiuen
231, fol. 46 : " TAHAN OF THE EAST. — This kingdom is to the east
of that of the Wen-shin more than 5,000 li. Its people have no
arms and do not wage war. Their manners are the same as
those of the Wen-shin, but their language is different " (exactly
the same notice as that which the Wen-hien-tong-Jcao gives us).
Second : Kiuen 241, fol. 10 : " TAHAN OF THE NORTH. — We read
in the Sing-tang-shu (' Supplement to the History of the Tang Dy
nasty ' — a work published in the eleventh century of our era by
imperial order) : The Ta-han (of the north) live to the north of
the kingdom of Kio, or Kiai. They raise many sheep and horses.
The men of this kingdom are robust and of a great height, from
which fact the name Ta-han (( Great Chinese,' or, in common
language, ' Tall Fellows ') is derived. They are neighbours of
the Ke-Jcia-sse (natives who live upon the shore of the lake Pe-
hai, or Baikal). In former times they had no relations with the
empire (of China), but in the years ching-Jcuan and yong-hoei
(627-655) embassadors from their nation came once or twice
offering horses and martens' furs as tribute." The kingdom of

216 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

A70, or JTiai, is situated 500 li to the northeast of the territory
of the Pa-ye-Jcu, one of the most easterly tribes of the great
nation of the Hoei-he (Ouigours), which extends as far as the
country of the Shi-wei, or She-goei, occupying the northeast
ern part of Siberia. These last natives of Ta-han (whom Ma
Twan-lin calls Ta-mo, and whom he also classed among the
nations of the north) are those whom de Guignes thought to
be located in Kamtchatka ; but the immediate consequence of
this verification is to make it impossible to find a place in
Asia for the " Ta-han of the East" in which we are solely in
terested. None of the scholars who have studied this ques
tion have suspected the existence of two countries called Ta-
han ; and this fact has compelled them to make great efforts
to bring into agreement the accounts of the two routes to Ta-
han, one by land and the other by water, which led, in fact, to
two different countries. Neumann, whose judgment seems the
least reliable, has therefore very probably been the most in
spired. Although the notice of Tahan of the East is very short,
it contains the proof of a characteristic and very extraordinary
fact, of which the importance should not be overlooked. The
people of Ta-han, we are told, have no arms and know nothing
of war. This fact would be inexplicable regarding a tribe of
upper Asia, exposed to the attacks of the ferocious and belliger
ent nations whom they had upon their frontiers, and it reveals
a civilization analogous to that of the people of Fu-sang, to
whom the same peculiarity is attributed.

CHAPTER XIII.
D'HERVEY'S APPENDIX.

Difference between Hod Shin's story and other Chinese accounts — An earlier
knowledge of Fu-sang— The poem named the Li-sao— The Shan-hai-king—
The account of Tong-fang-so — The immense size of the country — The burn
ing of books in China — The origin of the Chinese — The writer Kuan-met —
The arrival of Hod Shin in 499— The civil war then raging— The delay in
obtaining an imperial audience — The " History of the Four Lords of the Liang
Dynasty "—An envoy from Fu-sang— The presents offered by him— Yellow silk
— A semi-transparent mirror — This envoy was Hod Shin — The stories told
by Yu-kie — The silk found upon the fu-sang tree — The palace of the king —
The Kingdom of Women — Serpent-husbands — The Smoking Mountain — The
Black Valley — The animals of the country — The amusement of the courtiers
— The poem Tong-king-fu — The route to Fu-sang — Fu-sang east of Japan —
Lieii-kud — The direction of the route.

Appendix to the Account regarding Fu-sang — by the Marquis
d^Hervey de Saint-DenysS™

THE relation of the bonze ffoei Shin has, for more than a
century, served as the foundation for all that has been written
for the purpose of attempting to decide the question whether
Fu-sang was America or not. This account, so clear and pre
cise, possessed, in the eyes of the Chinese, a character of authen
ticity which distinguished it from quite a large number of other
documents relating to Fu-sang^ which were furnished by authors
with more or less inclination for the marvelous. Ma Twan-lin
contented himself, for this reason, with merely repeating it with
out adding anything to it. Ma Twan-lin never undertook to
unite in his accounts all that the Chinese authors had related
regarding the subject of his work, but confined himself to men
tioning only what appeared to him to be the most worthy of
credit. The merit of his compilation, taken as a whole, results
mainly from this work of elimination, accomplished by judicious

218 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

criticism. But if it is attempted to clear up an obscure point by
means of the comparison of different accounts and by investiga
tions of all kinds, the most fabulous stories, and little points, ap
parently the most trivial, sometimes contain the clew to the
wished-for knowledge. Hence it appears that, in an effort to
decide as to the true location of Fu-sang^ the contrary method
should be followed and no means of information should be neg
lected. I have, therefore, grouped here all the documents which
I have been able to collect relating to this interesting question ;
some much anterior to Hoei Shin's account, and others forming,
to a certain extent, the corollary of the declarations of this
priest.

The first show that, if we admit it to be a fact that Buddhist
missionaries of the fifth century visited America, this is far from
proving that they were the first who discovered the country ;
the second permit us to detect the origin of the introduction of
supernatural elements into the authentic account of the bonze
Hoei Shin, and justify Ma Twan-lin in adhering to the strict
letter of Hoei Shin's account, and in declining to leave it for a
comparison of the different statements, by means of which the
true elements of these accounts might, some day, be separated
from the false.

It is proved that the idea of the existence of a great country,
covered with vast forests made up of a particular species of trees
called fu-sang trees, and situated beyond the eastern seas, was
an old tradition, even to the Chinese authors of the third century
before our era, this fact being attested by the Li-sao. Kiu-
yuen, the author of this celebrated poem, traveled in thought to
the four extremities of the universe. In the north he perceived
the land of long days and long nights ; in the south the bound
less sea attracted his attention ; in the west he perceived the sun
descend and sink in a lake, which has been supposed to be Lake
Tingry, or the Caspian Sea ; and, finally, in the east — in spite of
the immensity of the Pacific Ocean, and, in spite of the thought,
which would naturally occur to him, that the sun also rose from
the midst of the waters — he caught a glimpse of distant shores
receiving the first gleams of the dawn. It is in a valley in a
land shaded by the fu-sang tree that he places the limits of the
extreme east. The Shan-hai-Tcing, a work of uncertain date, but
of incontestable antiquity, contains an analogous reference to

D'HERVEY'S APPENDIX. 219

this land. An author, almost contemporaneous with Kiu-yuen,
Tong-fang-so (whose text is supposed to have suffered some al
terations, but at an epoch much anterior to that of Hoei Shin),
expresses himself thus : " At the east of the Eastern Sea, the
shores of the country of Fu-sang are found. If, after landing
upon these shores, the journey is continued by land toward the
east for a distance often thousand li, a sea of a blue colour (pi-
hai) is reached, vast, immense, and boundless. The country of
Fu-sang extends ten thousand li upon each of its sides. It con
tains the palace of Tai-chin-tong-wang-fu (the God who Presides
over the East). Great forests are found, filled with trees of
which the leaves are similar to those of the mulberry, while the
general appearance of the trees is similar to that of those which
are called chin (certain coniferous trees). They attain a height
of several times ten thousand cubits, and it takes two thousand
people to reach their arms around one of them. These trees
grow two and two from common roots, and mutually sustain
each other ; hence their name ot fu-sang (sese sustinentes mori —
mulberry-trees which sustain each other). Although they grow
tall and straight, like the conifers, their leaves and their fruit
are similar to those of the mulberry of China. The fruit, of
exquisite flavour and of reddish colour, appears but very rarely,
the tree which produces it bearing it but once in nine thousand
years. The anchorites who eat the fruit become of the colour of
gold, and acquire the power of hovering in celestial space."

The exaggeration of the proportions of the fu-sang tree is
evidently nothing but hyperbole ; but it may be remarked that
this tree is described as resembling the mulberry or the tong tree
in its leaves, and the chin tree in its form ; this last being a spe
cies of conifer of which the wood is used in the manufacture of
arrows. This description, although not having great botanical
precision, reminds one involuntarily of the gigantic Wellingtonia
of California, which may be the last remains of an immense
forest.*

* The Mexicans noticed a resemblance between the century-plant, or agave (the
plant which Hwul Slian called the fu-sang tree), and the conifers ; for they called
the fir-tree 62° "oya-metl," 1915 a term meaning the fake or counterfeit agave; and,
in fact, the flowering-stalk of the century-plant — often forty feet in height and
eight inches in diameter at the base — with its numerous branches of flowers,
springing out, almost horizontally, from its upper half, is very similar in form
and general appearance to a fir or pine tree. — E. P. V.

220 AN INGLOKIOUS COLUMBUS.

The indication of a breadth of ten thousand li for the country
of Fu-sang shows that it was a true continent ; and, if we do
not believe that this curious account of another ocean, found to
the east, beyond the vast territory, should be applied to the At
lantic, it still may be thought that America was better known to
the Chinese before the Christian era than it could be even from
the narration of Hoei Shin himself. In any case, the Buddhist
missionaries who again found the route to Fu-sang were certainly
guided in their voyage by the light of old traditions.

I ventured the following observations when publishing my
translation of the Li-sao, some years ago :

" The general 'burning of books, two hundred and thirteen
years before our era, was far from being as destructive as has
been imagined ; but still it caused a sensible diminution of the
sum of acquired knowledge. A great number of texts were
preserved in the memory of scholars or by the secretion of manu
scripts, and were thus finally restored, but many others were lost
or altered. Moreover, the Chinese people, at the same time that
they raised the great wall, isolated themselves in other ways, in
order to preserve their unity. No surprise should therefore be
felt at finding that the Chinese in very ancient times were pos
sessed of ideas more just and extensive, regarding a multitude
of subjects, than the Chinese of the following centuries; BO that,
to reach reliable accounts, it is necessary to go back as far as
possible into that antiquity which, perhaps, there is good reason
for vaunting so highly.

" I have sometimes thought that a great mystery might be
concealed in the origin of the old Chinese with black hair, who
arrived from the north (it is not known from what country) at
the banks of the Yellow River — not as primitive men, but as the
representatives of a ripened civilization — who avoided any inter
mixture with the native population, and who always turned
themselves toward their father-land to seek for light. If it
should be unquestionably proved that Fu-sang is indeed Ameri
ca, and if the first ideas which the Chinese had of that region
should appear lost in the most remote antiquity, would not a
strange enigma be presented to us for solution ? "

Mr. Leland's book has shown me that the thought which dic
tated these lines has also presented itself to several scholars
who have made a specialty of the study of subjects relating to

D'HERVEY'S APPENDIX. 221

America ; and the Long-wei-pi-shu cites an opinion of the Bud
dhist writer Kuan-mei, which demonstrates to what great an
tiquity some idea of the existence of Fu-sang went back among
the Chinese, if their statements on the subject are to be believed:
" It is in Fu-sang that Hwang-tVs astronomers resided (who were
charged with the observation of the rising sun) ", says Kuan-mei.
" In the first year yong-yuen, of the Tsi dynasty, there was a
bonze named Hoei Shin, who arrived from that country, and
who made it known" (literally, by whose narration it commenced
to be known — k., I, fol. 10), an expression which should be un
derstood here merely as referring to a knowledge renewed after
the lapse of centuries. Hwang-ti is the first sovereign of the
times reputed historical, and the first cycle of the Chinese com
menced in his reign, in the twenty-seventh century before our
era. We may assuredly entertain a doubt as to whether the
astronomers of this celebrated emperor, to whom the Chinese
attribute the invention of the astronomical globe and the insti
tution of their cycle, established an observatory in Fu-sang.
Nevertheless, I believe the fact to be established that there was
some account of Fa-sang current among the Chinese long before
the time of Hoei Shin, and this is what I first proposed to make
evident.

Let us now examine the circumstances under which Hoei
Shin's report was made, and attempt to decide what connection
there was between this bonze and the five Buddhist priests who
went to Fu-sang in 458 ; why Hoei Shin ascended the Grand
Kiang to King-cheu, instead of stopping at Nan-king, then the
capital of the empire ; and, finally, consider what should be
thought of an embassy from Fu-sang, which, according to the
work entitled Liang-sse-kong-ki (" Memoirs of the Four Lords
of the Liang Dynasty " ), came to visit the Chinese court in the
years tien-kien, which commenced in the year 502, that is to say,
at an epoch very near to that of the arrival of Hoei Shin — a co
incidence which should not be overlooked. We will finally con
sider the account of the route to Fu-sang as given by the histo
rian Li-yen, and the light furnished in this respect by several
passages of Ma Twan-lin, hitherto inedited.

We read in the JZu-kin-tu-shu-tsi-ching : " In the time of
Tong-hoen-heu, the first year yong-yuen (499), the bonze of the
kingdom of Fa-sang, named Hoei Shin, came to China. Never-

222 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

theless, the official annals of the Tsi dynasty make no mention of
him, and it is the books of the Liang dynasty which contain the
account of Hoei Shin regarding Fu-sang, in a section devoted to
the eastern countries."

The year 499, designated as the date of the arrival of Hoei
Shin upon the banks of the Kiang, was a year of civil war, which
preceded the downfall of the Tsi dynasty, and during which that
shadow of an emperor, called Tong-hoen-heu (" Prince of the Dis
orders of the East "), remained a prisoner in his palace, besieged
by his own brother. This brother was declared " Protector of the
Empire," and he resided at the same city of J^ing-cheu, to which
we see that Hoei Shin repaired. This brother soon mounted the
throne, and Was almost immediately deposed by the founder of
the Liang dynasty, known by the name of Liang Wu-ti, in the
first month of the year 502. Now, if we suppose that Hoei Shin
came from Fu-sang and intended to visit the emperor of
China — a favour which could never be obtained except after long
entreaties — these circumstances explain why it was that he was
compelled to remain at King-cheu, until the complete overthrow
of the Tsi dynasty, without being able to obtain an imperial
audience. The accession of Liang Wu-ti, a prince who was a
believer in the Buddhist religion, must, on the contrary, have
insured him a favourable reception by the new ruler of the empire.

I now come to the statements of the Liang -sse-lcong -lei, and
am convinced that others, like myself, will be struck by the vivid
light which they throw upon the story. The four princes, or
feudal lords, of whom the book contains the memoirs, were
named Ho-tchin* Yu-Tcie, Sho-tuan, and Chang-ki. Nothing is
said as to how they were connected with one another ; but their
memoirs tell us that in the years tien-Men, that is to say, in the
first years of the reign of Liang Wu-ti, an envoy from the
kingdom of Fu-sang presented himself, and, having offered to
the emperor divers objects of his country, the emperor charged
Yu-lcie to interrogate him regarding the customs and the produc
tions of Fu,-sang, the history of the kingdom, its cities, its riv
ers, its mountains, etc., as was the custom in similar cases when
ever a foreign embassador visited the court.

* In the " Ethnography," edited by the Marquis d'Hervey de Saint-Denys, this
name is written Hoei-tchin ; while in the same author's " Memoir " it is given as
Ho-tchin. The Marquis d'Hervey states that this last form is correct. — E. P. V.

D'HERVEY'S APPENDIX. 223

" The envoy from Fu-sang wept, and responded with respect
ful ardour," says the text — a singular phrase, which appears to
give the idea of an old man affected at finding himself again in
his native land after long years of absence. "The offering
which he presented consisted principally of three hundred pounds
of yellow silk, spun by the silk- worm of ihefu-sav.g tree, and of
an extraordinary strength. The emperor had an incense-burner
of massive gold, of a weight of fifty kin. [The kin weighs a
little more than 600 grammes.] This could be lifted and held
suspended by six of these threads without breaking them. There
was also among the presents offered to the emperor a sort of
semi-transparent precious stone, cut in the form of a mirror, and
of the circumference of more than a foot. In observing the sun
by reflection by means of this stone, the palace which the sun
contains appeared very distinctly." (Mention of these mirrors
has been made in the " Notes and Queries," and Mr. Leland pre
sents some very remarkable observations upon this subject.
"Discovery of America," p. 184.)

There is but little probability that Hoei Shin was a native of
Fu-sang, although all the texts agree in calling him " a bonze of
that country." It may be suspected that he had left China,
when very young, in company with the five priests of Ki-pin.
This can not be considered as anything more than a conjecture ;
but that which appears to me to be beyond doubt is, that Hoei
Shin and the envoy from Fu-sang, the bearer of the presents
offered to the emperor Wu-ti, were one and the same person.
To the presumption which is raised by the agreement of the
dates, and the circumstances, as mentioned above, should be
added the convincing fact that the prince Yu-Jcie, when speaking
at length of Mi-sang and other regions of the extreme east, as is
recorded in the Liang-sse-kong-ki, sometimes, as we shall see,
based his declarations upon the statements of the envoy whom
he had had the charge of interrogating, and sometimes upon the
relation given by Hoei Shin, without indicating that there was
any difference between the two sources of his information. It is
here, moreover, that we find the source of all the extravagancies
which have been mixed with Hoei Shin's narration, and which
have resulted in casting suspicion upon even his simplest state
ments.

The account quoted by Ma Twan-lin was probably the official

224: AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

record of the statements made by Hoei Shin, in his quality of
envoy of the kingdom of Fu-sang, in answer to the questions of
Yu-kiey who was delegated for the purpose by the emperor.
The compilation of this account is similar to that of a great num
ber of analogous documents contained in the notices of the Wen-
hien-tong-kao. Nothing is found which approaches the domain of
fable, any more than there is in the description of the presents
offered to the emperor, and the precision of the details gives to
the whole an appearance of truth which can not be mistaken; but
the lord Yu-kie wished to amuse the court in regard to his con
ferences with a person who had excited such general curiosity.

Let us return to the study of the Liang-sse-kong-ki. The
truth will thus be established.

" One day, when the attendants at court were amusing them
selves with stories of foreign countries, the lord Yu-kie took up
the subject, and spoke in the following terms : * At the extreme
east is Fu-sang. Silk-worms are found there which are seven
feet long and as much as seven inches in circumference. Their
colour is golden. It takes a year to raise them. On the eighth
day of the fifth month they spin yellow silk, which is extended
upon the branches of the fu-sang tree, for they make no cocoons.
This silk is naturally very weak ; but it is cooked in lye prepared
from the ashes of the wood of the fu-sang, and thus acquires such
strength that four threads twisted together are sufficient to raise
a weight of thirty Chinese pounds. The eggs of these silk
worms are as large as swallow's eggs. Some were taken to Kao-
kiu-li (Corea) ; but the voyage injured them, so that nothing
issued from them but silk-worms as small as those of China.

c The palace of the king is surrounded by walls of crystal,
which appear clearly before daylight ; but the walls become
quite invisible during an eclipse of the moon.'

" The lord Yu-kie said besides : * At the northwest, about ten
thousand li, there exists a Kingdom of Women, who take serpents
for husbands. Moreover, these reptiles are inoffensive. They
live in holes, while their wives or concubines live in houses
and palaces, and exercise all the cares of state. In this king
dom there are no books, and they know nothing of the art
of writing. They believe firmly in the efficacy of certain forms
of prayers or maledictions. The women who act uprightly pro
long their lives, and those who swerve from the right are imme-

D'HERVEY'S APPENDIX. 225

diately cut off. The worship of spirits imposes laws that none
dare to violate. To the south of Ho-cheu (the Island of Fire)
[probably ^, hwo, "fire," and >)\\,cheu, " an islander district"],
situated to the south of this country, is the mountain Yen-kuen
(Burning Mountain) [probably £0, yen, "smoke," and J|, kwun,
" a peak, a high mountain "], the inhabitants of which eat locusts,
crabs, and hairy serpents, to preserve themselves from the heat.
In this land of Ho-cheu, the ho-mu (trees of fire) [probably
>j£, hwo, " fire," and /f;, muh, " wood, a tree "] grow ; their bark
furnishes a solid tissue. Upon the summit of the mountain Yen-
kuen there live fire rats (ho-shu) [probably jfc, hwo, "fire,"
and J3,, shu, " a rat, mouse, weasel, squirrel, or similar animal "],
the hair of which serves also for the fabrication of an incombus
tible stuff, which is cleansed by fire instead of by water. To the
north of this Kingdom, of Women is the Black Valley (He-ko)
[probably Jl|, hoh, " black," and kuh, § , " a ravine, gully, gorge,
canon "], and north of the Black Valley are mountains so high
that they reach to the heavens. Snow covers them all the year.
The sun does not show itself there at all. It is there, it is said,
that the dragon Cho-long (the Luminous Dragon) resides. [Prob
ably Q, chuh, " an illumination, a torch, to illumine," and ||,
lung, " a dragon."] At the west is a fountain that inebriates,
and has the taste of wine. In these regions there is also found
a sea of varnish, of which the waves dye black the feathers and
furs that are dipped in them, and another sea of the colour of
milk. The territory surrounded by these natural marvels is of
great extent and extremely fertile. Dogs, ducks, and horses of
a great height live in it, and, finally, birds which produce human
beings. The males born of these birds do not live. The daugh
ters only are raised with care by their fathers, who carry them
with their beaks or upon their wings. As soon as they commence
to walk, they become mistresses of themselves. They are all of
remarkable beauty and very hospitable, but they die before
reaching the age of thirty years.

"'The rabbits of this country are white and as large as
horses, their hair being a foot long. The sables are as large as
wolves. Their hair is black and of extraordinary thickness.'

" The attendants of the court were much amused at these
stories. They all laughed and dapped their hands, and said
that letter stories had never been told.

220 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

"A minister of the emperor, named Wang-yun, interrupted
Yu-kie with this bantering objection : * If we believe the official
accounts which have been collected regarding the Kingdom of
Women, situated to the west of the country of Tsan-yai and to
the south of the Kingdom of Dogs (Keu-kwoh), it is merely in
habited by barbarians of the race of the Kiang-jong, who have
a woman as their sovereign ; but there has never been any ques
tion of serpents filling the office of husbands. How do you ac
count for that ? ' Yu-kie responded with pleasantry with a new
explosion of extravagancies, in the midst of which there appeared
here and there a true idea, burlesqued for diversion."

This curious fragment shows that the Chinese of the sixth
century were not as credulous as might be believed ; that they
knew how to distinguish between the true and improbable, and
that the extravagancies of their story-tellers, at which they were
the first to laugh, does not diminish the merit of the writers that
they respected.

The Ku-ldn-tu-shu-tsi-cliing is very explicit in this respect ;
citing several poets who in their works make allusions to Fu-
sang, it makes the following statement : " We read in the poem
entitled Tong-king-fu% f I ascended to the source of day and thus
arrived at Fu-sang.^ ffwai-nan-tse has written, ( The sun issues
from the valley Yang-Jco (the Luminous Valley) [probably It§,
yang, "the rising sun," and ^J, huh, "a ravine, valley, gully"],*
and rises in the midst of the fu-sang trees.' Yang-Hang says,
'Beyond the great sea is Fu-sang? 2ii\& Li-tai-pe writes, f At the
extreme west is the jo-mo tree ; at the extreme east, the fu-sang
tree.'" "From all this," continues the book from which we
cite, " it follows that Fit-sang lies to the east of China. Some
understand that the sun really comes out of this country, or that
Fu-sang is the sun itself ; but this is mere ignorance on their
part. When it is said that the sun comes forth from Fu-sang,
it simply means that the sun rises in the extreme east."

I will conclude with some remarks regarding the description
of the route from China to Fit-sang, given by the historian Li-
yen, who lived at the beginning of the seventh century of our
era, and regarding the conjectures to which this itinerary has

* Williams's "Chinese Dictionary," p. 1071, defines "Yang-kuh," "the valley
of sunrise in the extreme east, probably in Corea,, where Yao worshiped the sun
at the Ternal equinox.'*

D'HERVEY'S APPENDIX. 22T

given rise. According to Li-yen, the route sets out from the
coast of Leao-tong, skirts along Japan, touches at the country of
the Wen-shin, and then reaches the kingdom of Ta-han, from
which the route to Fu-sang is quite direct, the distance being
almost equal to the entire distance already traveled. The total
length of the journey is about 44,000 li, and each of the interme
diate distances is specified. The length of the li can not serve as
the basis for any certain calculation as to the exact distance, be
cause of the variations which it has suffered. The inductive
labours of the scholars, who have attempted to determine the situ
ation of Fu-sang from the statements of Li-yen, have heretofore
consisted in proceeding from the known to the unknown, by at
tempting to determine the length of the li from its value in the
distance between Leao-tong and Japan, so as to obtain a propor
tionate measure which would furnish the means for the identifi
cation of the more distant regions designated by the names of
Wen-shin, Ta-han, and Fu-sang. This very reasonable method
meets two great difficulties in its practice — one resulting from
the fact that the particular point in Japan to which the measure
was taken is not clearly indicated ; and the other from the fact
that the estimate of distances by sea in a voyage of this kind can
only be approximate. Thus, de Guignes and Neumann, who
agree in placing the country of Wen-shin in Jesso, have differed
regarding the identification of Ta-han, which the first thinks to
be in Kamtchatka, and the" second upon the peninsula of Alaska,
and this has resulted in their placing Fu-sang more or less to
the south. But neither of these two scholars, nor M. d'Eichthal,
the Chevalier de Paravey, M. Jose Perez, or Mr. Leland, has
hesitated to acknowledge that Fu-sang must be sought upon the
American Continent. I do not hesitate to declare that it seems
to me impossible to seek elsewhere for a region of a thousand
leagues in extent, situated beyond the great ocean, to the east of
Japan, an$ the new documents which I have been permitted to
collect attest this to be its true location.

The mention regarding the extent of Fu-sang is in the frag
ment of the Shi-cheu-ki, cited above ; that of the situation of
Fu-sang to the east of Japan is found in the preface of the
" Ethnography of the Eastern Nations," by Ma Twan-lin, where
it is distinctly said, "Japan is situated directly to the east of
China, and Fu-sang is situated directly to the east of Japan "

228 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

(Kiuen, 324, fol. 1, line 6). Ma Twan-lin adds that about thirty
thousand li separate China from this country of the extreme
east ; an assertion which does not in any way contradict the
estimate of forty thousand li made by Li-yen, since the distance
here spoken of is that in a direct line, and not the distance by a
roundabout route.

This positive statement of Ma Twan-lin's would be sufficient
to destroy the singular hypothesis of Klaproth, who imagined
that the Chinese had confounded Japan with Fu-sang, if this
paradoxical theory did not crumble of itself at all points, as it is
easy to demonstrate that it does.

Klaproth does not dispute either the sincerity of the state
ments of Hoei Shin, or the veracity of the Chineses writers who
have spoken of Fu-sang, and confines himself to commenting
upon their statements from his point of view. The best way of
exposing his attempted refutation of de Guignes's memoir is to
show how he has proceeded in his interpretation of the Chinese
authors.

The Prussian scholar commences by admitting, with de
Guignes, that the country of Wen-shin must be Jesso, so that
he is obliged to accept as the length of the li, in the time of the
historian Li-yen, a measure proportionate to the number of li
which this writer concedes between Leao-tong and the island of
Jesso. Then, immediately, in order to bring the remainder of
the itinerary into accordance with his fancy, he supposes the li
to be less than half as long, and so small that it can not be ap
plied to any of the measures of distance indicated by the Chinese
geographers of any epoch. M. d'Eichthal has described this
contradiction very clearly; but that which he has not said is, that,
in order to place Ta-han in the island of Karafto, or Tarakai,
the same land according to him as Lieu-Jcuei, Klaproth ignores
or pretends to be ignorant, on the one side, that the land of
Lieu-kuei is described by the Chinese books as a peninsula and
not as an island (" Long-wei-pi-shu? Kiuen, 4, fol. 7 ; " Wen-
hien-tong-kao," Kiuen, 347, fol. 4), and, on the other side, that
the countries of Lieu-kuei and Ta-han are described separately
in the two works above named, with the important distinction
that Lieu-kuei is described among the regions of the north, and
Ta-han among those of the east ; this last country being located
to the east of the Wen-shin, while Lieu-Jcuei is to their north.

D'HERVEY'S APPENDIX. 229

The question of the orientation troubled the scholarly author
of the " Tableaux de 1'Asie " very little, it is true ; and, as the
direction toward the east, on leaving the island of Karafto, or
Tarakai, incommoded him, he, in order to arrive at his conclu
sion, changed this direction, so precisely given by the Chinese
texts, and, without ceremony, turned it arbitrarily toward the
south. In such manner was he carried away by his imagination,
that he concluded by supposing that the Chinese navigators of
the seventh century thought that they were visiting Fii-sang
when they landed upon the southeastern coast of Japan — that is
to say, in a country which had been known to them, and which
had had constant relations with China, for more than five cent
uries. If such reasoning had been published by an Orientalist
of less reputation than Klaproth, it would be almost superfluous
to expose it.

Attention should be called, in conclusion, to the fact that
Klaproth is the only critic who has opposed the identification of
Fu-sang with America ; since no attention should be paid to the
unsupported opinion of those who with closed eyes declare that
they agree wTith him.

Such is the additional information drawn from the examina
tion of a number of Chinese authors— information which I have
thought should be added to the notice of Ma Twan-lin. For a
statement of all that has been published hitherto in European
languages on the question of Fu-sang, as also for the latest in
formation concerning the ethnography of North America, and
the navigation of the Pacific, Mr. C. G. Leland's book may be
profitably consulted.

CHAPTER XIV.

AKGUMENT.

" Notices of Fu-sang and other Countries lying East of China " — The origin of
American tribes — The work of H. H. Bancroft— Mr. Leland's book — Ma
Twan-lin — His " Antiquarian Researches " — Hwui-shin's story — Cophene —
No later accounts of Fu-sang — The titles of the nobility — The ten-year cycle
— Red pears — The f u-sang tree — No mention of pulque — Brocade — Fables —
Account of the Shih Chau Ki — The article of the Marquis d'Hervey de Saint-
Denys — Criticisms thereon — P&ng-lai — The distance of Japan and Fu-sang —
The name Fu-sang sometimes applied to Japan — Mention of the fu-sang tree
in a Chinese geography— Expeditions sent to search for Fu-sang — Compari
son with Swift's "Voyage to Laputa" — The Kingdom of Women — Mention
by Maundevile and Marco Polo of a land of Amazons — The country of Wan
Shan — Tattooing — Its existence among the Esquimaux — Quicksilver — Two
kingdoms of Ta Han — Lieu-kuei and the Lewchew Islands.

Notices of Fu-sang and Other Countries lying East of China —
by Professor S. Wells Williams.*™

THE origin of the various nations and tribes inhabiting the
American Continent is a question that has attracted the atten
tion of antiquarians ever since the discovery of the continent
four centuries ago. The general designation of "Indians," given
by Columbus to the people whom he met, shows the notion then
entertained of their Asiatic origin, not less than his ignorance of
their true position. Since that time, numerous antiquarians
have given us their ideas and researches upon this obscure sub
ject. Some have combined many scattered facts so as to uphold
their crude fancies ; while others have formed a theory, and
then hunted over the continent for facts to prove it. When
their various works are brought together, comparison only shows
how little which can lead to a definite conclusion has yet been
really ascertained. The digest of the most careful of these trav
elers, and the candid analysis of the works of antiquarians and

PROFESSOR WILLIAMS'S ARGUMENT. 231

philologists, given by H. H. Bancroft in the fifth volume of his
laborious work on the " Native Races of the Pacific States " (pp.
1-136), fully upholds his concluding sentence as to the present
state of this question : " To all whose investigations are a search
for truth, darkness covers the origin of the American peoples and
their primitive history, save for a few centuries preceding the
conquest. The darkness is lighted up here and there by dim
rays of conjecture, which only become fixed lights of facts in
the eyes of antiquarians whose lively imaginations enable them
to • see best in the dark, and whose researches are but a sifting
out of supports to a preconceived opinion."

Since the publication of this work, in 1875, attention has
been again directed to a hypothesis as to the origin of the na
tive races — namely, that America was peopled from China — by
the issue of Mr. C. G. Leland's book, entitled " Fusang, or the
Discovery of America by Chinese Buddhist Priests in the Fifth
Century." Mr. Bancroft had already collected the leading data
upon this particular point (volume v, pp. 34-51), and Mr. Le-
land adduces no new facts.* He brings together in a conven
ient form what he has collected from de Guignes, Neumann, and
d'Eichthal in favor of his theory ; while he analyzes and criti
cises the remarks of Klaproth, Sampson, and Bretschneider
against it.

I have thought that a translation of the sections describing
the lands lying to the east of China, found in the work of Ha
Twan-lin, would tend to place his notice of Fu-sang in its true
light, and help us to guess where that country should be looked
for. This distinguished Chinese author belonged to a literary
family, and spent his life in collecting and arranging the materials
for his great work, the Wdn Hien Tung Kao, or "Antiquarian
Researches," which was published about the year 1321, by the
Mongol emperor Jin-tsung, a nephew of Kublai Khan. Ma
Twan-lin's life was passed amid the troublous times of the con
quests of the Mongols, and his father held a high office at the
court of the emperors of the Sung dynasty at Hangchow. He
was busily engaged with these labors during the whole period of
the residence of Marco Polo in China (1275-1295), and their
deaths probably occurred about the year 1325.

* Attention has already been called to the fact that an earlier and shorter ar
gument by Mr. Leland preceded Mr. Bancroft's work by many years. — E. P. V.

232 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

The "Antiquarian Researches" now contains 348 chapters
(Men), arranged, without any natural sequence, under twenty-five
different heads, as Chronology, Classics, Religion, Dynasties, etc.
The last title is called Sz* X Kao, or " Researches into the Four
Frontiers." In it are gathered together, in twenty-four chapters,
all the information that the author could collect respecting for
eign kingdoms and peoples. He himself seems never to have
traveled outside of his own land ; and during the ruthless wars
of the Mongols he was probably glad to escape all molestation
by staying quietly at bis home at Po-yang, in Kiangsi province.
The eight volumes containing these notices of other countries
must consequently be regarded only as the carefully written
notes of a retired scholar, who was unable to test their value or
accuracy by any standard, either of his own personal observation,
or of the criticisms of those among his acquaintances who had
gone abroad. The energy and skill of the great Khan, so unlike
the effete and ignorant rule of the native monarchs at Hang-
chow, must have developed much mental and physical vigor
among his subjects. An author like Ma Twan-lin would there
fore be stimulated to gather all the information he could, no
matter whence it came, to enrich his work. His design was
more like that of Hackluyt orPurchas than that of Rollin or La
Harpe ; and in carrying it out he has done a good service for
the literature of his native land.

In his survey of lands beyond the Middle Kingdom, he com
mences on the east, and goes around to the south and west,
describing each country without much reference to those near it.
Having no data for ascertaining their distances, size, or relative
importance, he makes no distinction between islands, peninsulas,
and continents ; for all such things his countrymen are even
now just beginning to learn. . . .

[The first section of Ma Twan-lin's work, translated by
Professor Williams, is that relating to Hia-i, the land of the
"Shrimp Barbarians." These are shown to be the Ainos, and
it does not seem necessary to copy the account here. Then
follows his translation of the account regarding Fu-sang, which
is given elsewhere ; upon which Professor Williams makes the
following observations :]

Ma Twan-lin makes no comment on this narrative, nor does
he tell us whence Hwui-shin got it ; he did not feel obliged to

PROFESSOR TVILLIAHS'S ARGUMENT. 233

discuss its veracity, or explain its obscurities. The first impres
sion made upon one who reads it, with the idea that Fu-sang lay
somewhere on the American Continent, is that it proves rather
too much, judging by what we yet know of the nations and
tribes who once dwelt there. I do not mean that the notices
it gives of the houses, unwalled cities, curious mode of judging
prisoners, and mourning customs, could not have applied to the
natives of Mexico or Peru ; but it has not the air of the narra
tive of a man who had actually lived there. It is easy to reply
that all traces of the people mentioned have been lost, so that
our present ignorance of their early civilization proves nothing
either way. Still, this account reads more like the description
of a land having many things in common with countries well
known to the speaker and his hearers, but whose few peculiari
ties were otherwise worth recording. The shaman Hwui-shin
may have been one of the five priests who went to Fu-sang
from Ki-pin only forty years before his arrival at Kingchau, the
capital of the Tsi dynasty. Ki-pin is the Chinese name for
Cophene, a region mentioned by the Buddhist traveler Fa-hien
(chap, v) under that name, and by Strabo and Pliny as situated
between Ghazni and Candahar, along the western slopes of
the Suleiman Mountains, in the upper valleys of the Helmond
River. These priests had probably traveled far north of China
in their missionary tour, as described by de Guignes and
d'Eichthal, and lived in Fu-sang until it had become familiar to
them. I think that Ma Twan-lin inserts Hwui-shin's account
next to that of Hia-i, from an idea that both kingdoms lay in
the same direction. He seems to have found no accounts of a
later date, and the long interval of seven centuries had furnished
nothing worth recording about a land so insignificant as Fu-
sang. We can hardly imagine that such would have been the
case with a country to be reached by a long sea-voyage, one
where stupendous mountains, great rivers, well-built cities or
citadels, and people with black or dark-red complexions, would
each make a deep impression upon an Asiatic. It is just as
likely that junks drifted across the Pacific Ocean in the sixth
century as in the nineteenth ; but Hwui-shin is as silent respect
ing the manner in which he returned from Fu-sang, as of the
way he reached it. If the five priests had traveled toward
Okotsk, and beyond the river Anadyr, till they reached Beh-

234: AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

ring's Straits, and then slowly found their way down to warmer
climes, this would naturally form part of the story. Silence on
all these points makes one hesitate in coming to the conclusion
that Fu-sang formed any part of America.

The internal evidences to be deduced from what is stated
are still more opposed to that conclusion. In our present state
of knowledge of the ancient American languages, so far as I can
learn, it would be a vain search to look for any words among
them suggesting the names of yueh-ki for king ; tui-lu for a
high noble ; siao tui-lu for a secondary grandee ; and no-cha-
sha for those of the lowest rank. It is not possible at this date
to be quite sure what sounds were intended by the priest, or by
the historian, to be represented by the Chinese characters used
in transliterating the three foreign words ; but those here given
are the present sounds in the court dialect, and probably near
their originals.

But the next statement, respecting the changes required every
two years in the color of the king's dress, carries with it alto
gether too much likeness to Chinese ritualism to be overlooked.
It needs a little explanation to be made clear. The sexagenary
cycle, used in Eastern Asia from remote times, is made by repeat
ing ten stems six times in connection with twelve branches re
peated five times ; the two characters' united form the name of
a year. The ten years containing the ten stems begin with the
first year of the sixty. Consequently, the first and second years,
the eleventh and twelfth, the twenty-first and twenty-second,
and so on to the last decade, will contain the same two stems —
kiah yueh five times over ; in these two years the king's dress
must be tsing, or azure color. In the next two, the third and
fourth in each decade, the stems ping ting require it to be chih,
red or carnation. In the next two the stems wu hi require it to
be hwang, yellow ; in the fourth binary combination, the stems
Jc&ng sin require it to be peh, white. Lastly, the two stems jin
kwei, denoting the ninth and tenth years of each decade, close
the series, and then his robes are to be AeA, black. These five
are the primitive colors of Chinese philosophy.

Nothing analogous to this custom has ever been recognized
among the Aztec, Peruvian, or Maya people. The ten stems
in these five couples indicate among the Chinese and Japanese
the operation of the five elements, wood, fire, earth, metal, water,

PROFESSOR WILLIAMS'S ARGUMENT. 235

in their active and passive exhibitions ; each one destroys its
predecessor, and produces its successor, in a perpetual round of
evolutionary forces. The mention of such an observance in Fu-
sang seems to fix its location in Eastern Asia, where the sexa
genary computation of time has long been known. It was a
curious usage, which would strike a priest familiar with the Chi
nese ritual.

The same may be said of the worship of ancestral manes and
images, and of the three years' mourning by the new king. The
efforts to explain the big horns of the oxen, the red pears which
will keep a year, and the vehicles drawn by horses, have each
their difficulties if applied to anything yet known of the na
tions of ancient America along the Pacific coast, but may be
applied to Northern Asia with some allowances. I think the red
pears may denote persimmons, which are dried for winter use,
and to this day form a common article for native ships' stores.

The identification of the tree fu-sang, on which the notice
chiefly turns, is not yet complete. Klaproth refers it to the Hi
biscus rosa sinensis; but I agree with Dr. Bretschneider in mak
ing it to be the Broussonetia papyri/era, or paper-mulberry, a
common and useful tree in Northeastern Asia. The use asserted
to be made of the bark in manufacturing paper and dresses does
not apply to the Hibiscus nearly so well, though that plant also
produces some textile fibers, as does also another large tree not
yet entirely identified, belonging to the family Tiliaceae or lin
dens. The further statement, too, that its shoots are eatable
like those of the bamboo, is inapplicable to the agave of Mexico
as well as to the Hibiscus, the linden, or Broussonetia, none of
which are endogenous. It is one of the inaccuracies of the de
scription, and can not be reconciled with either plant. The
maguey made from the agave is better fitted for threads and
cloths than for making paper. The fruit or berry of the Brous
sonetia is reddish, indeed, but no one would liken it to a It or
pear. If the agave is intended, as Mr. Leland urges, it is very-
probable that Hwui-shin would have said something about the
intoxicating drink called pulque, obtained from the leaves, rather
than have likened them to the tung, as he has done. This last
tree is either the ^Eleococca or Pawlonia, both well known in
China and Japan ; so that an omission to speak of the pulque be
comes rather an evidence against the agave being thefu-sang tree.

236 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

The remark about the fibers being woven into brocade is also
true of the Broussonetia. A beautiful fabric is made in Japan
by weaving them with a woof of silk ; but nothing of this sort
could be made from the weak agave fibers. Moreover, the
Broussonetia has not been found in Mexico, although Neumann
thinks that it once existed there. . . . The word kin (Jg), ap
plied to the curious paper-silk brocade manufactured from the
fu-sang bark, according to Ma Twan-lin's text, is also applied to
embroidery and parti-colored textures. It is not so much the
damask-like figure that is the essential point ; but among the
Chinese the kin always has a variety of colors. This seems to
have attracted the attention of Hwui-shin, and the remarkable
iridescence of some specimens of this Japanese mulberry silk still
excites admiration. Professor Neumann says that in the year
books of Liang he found the reading to be mien ($^), " floss " ;
but the textual character kin has more authority in its favor, and
is found in the Yuen Kien Lui Han. He translates the sentence:
" From the bark they prepare a sort of linen which they use for
clothing, and a sort of ornamental stuff." The word pu, here
rendered linen, is now confined to cotton fabrics ; but the distinc
tion aimed at in the two terms used seems to have been that of
a plain fabric and a brocaded one, like the Japanese nisiki.

It may be added, lastly, that many fables have gathered
around the tree and the country of Fu-sang, which increase the
difficulty of their identification. For instance, the Shih Chau
Ki, quoted in the native lexicon Pei-wtin Yin Fu, says : " The
fu-sang grows on a land in the Pih Hai, or Azure Sea, where it
is abundant ; the leaves resemble the common mulberry (sang),
and it bears the same kind of berries (shin, ^g) ; the trunk rises
several thousand rods (chang), and is more than two thousand
rods in girth. Two trunks grow from one root, and lean upon
each other as they rise ; whence it gets the name fu-sang, i. e.,
supporting mulberry." * The use of the technical word shin for
the fruit of the fu-sang is a very strong argument for its being
the Broussonetia, and shows that its affinity to the silk mulberry
(Mbrus) had been noticed.

* This is evidently a philological myth ; as one of the meanings of the charac
ter FU is " to prop up, support," ™* the name FU-SANG was supposed to mean
"the supporting mulberry," and the tale given above was probably invented to
account for it. It appears, however, that there is a species of double maguey, or

PROFESSOR WILLIAMS'S ARGUMENT. 237

Since the publication of Mr. Leland's book, the Marquis
d'Hervey de Saint-Denys, who has succeeded Stanislas Julien
in the Chinese Professorship at Paris, has contributed a paper
in the Transactions of the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-
Letters for 1876, which contains some additional notices of Fu-
sang. Among these is an extract translated from the Liang $?'
Kung Ki, or " Memoirs of Four Lords of the Liang Dynasty,"
which throws some light on the times in which Hwui-shin lived,
and the circumstances attending his arrival at King-chau. The
marquis shows that it was just at the overthrow of the Tsi
dynasty that the priest came as envoy from Fu-sang, and bad to
wait three years before the Emperor Wu-ti, of the Liang dy
nasty, could receive him. The section in Ma Twan-lin he justly
regards as a copy of the official report made to his superiors by
Yu Kieh, one of these four lords, obtained from Hwui-shin, the
envoy. It is quite unlike the usage in such cases that nothing is
said in the official annals of the presents offered by him ; these,
if they had come from America, would have been different from
anything before seen, and therefore likely to be recorded. Such
a list, however, did not necessarily fall within Ma's purpose when
describing Fu-sang. The marquis notices some of the presents
offered, which are spoken of in the " Memoirs of the Four Lords,"
and also some popular notions of that day concerning Fu-sang.
He identifies the envoy with the shaman Hwui-shin, and con
cludes, with reason, that he was one of the five priests who went
in the year 458 from Ki-pin. I have no copy of the Liang SzJ
JTung Ki, and therefore quote his translation :

"At the commencement of the year 502,* an envoy from the
kingdom of Fu-sang was introduced, and, having offered different
things from his country, the emperor ordered Yu Kieh to in
terrogate him on the manners and productions of Fu-sang, the
history of the kingdom, its cities, rivers, mountains, etc., in

that the plant sometimes throws out two flowering-stalks instead of one ; as Saha-
gun refers to it in the following words : 220° " The god Xolotl took to flight and
hid himself in a field of maize, where he metamorphosed himself into a stalk of
that plant, having two lower portions with separate roots, which the labourers call
xolotl ; but having been discovered among the maize, he fled a second time and hid
himself among the magueys, where he changed himself into a double maguey, which
is called mexolotl (from metl, maguey, and xolotl )." — E. P. V.

* This clause should read, "At the commencement of the years called tien-kien,"
i. e., about the year 502.— E. P. V.

238 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

conformity to the usage practiced at court whenever a foreign
envoy visited it. The envoy from Fu-sang wept, and replied
with a respectful animation, says the Chinese text, such as an
old man would exhibit when he found himself in his own country
after a long absence.* The presents which he offered consisted
especially of three hundred pounds of yellow silk, produced by
worms found on the fu-sang tree, and of extraordinary strength.
The censer of the emperor, made of solid gold, weighed fifty
catties (between fifty and sixty pounds), and three f threads of
this silk held it up without breaking. Among the presents was
also a kind of semi-transparent stone, carved in the form of a
mirror, in which, when the sun's image was examined, the palace
in the sun distinctly appeared. . . .

" One day, while he was entertaining the court about foreign
countries, the magnate Yu Kieh began to speak thus : ' In the
extreme east is Fu-saug. A kind of silk-worm is found there,
which is seven feet long and almost seven inches around. The
color is golden. It takes a year to raise them. On the eighth
day of the fifth moon the worms spin a yellow silk, which they
stretch across the branches of the fu-sang, for they wind no co
coons. This native silk is very weak ; but, if it be boiled in the
lye made from the ashes of fit-sang wood, it will acquire such
strength that four strands well twisted together are able to hold
up thirty catties. The eggs of these silk-worms are as big as
swallows' eggs. Some of them were taken to Corea ; but the
voyage injured them, and when they hatched out they were or
dinary silk-worms. The king's palace is surrounded with walls
of crystal. They begin to be clear before daylight, and become
all at once invisible when an eclipse of the moon occurs.'

"The magnate Yu Kieh proceeded to say : 'About ten thou
sand li northwest of this region there is a Kingdom of Women ;
they have serpents for husbands. The serpents are J venomous
and live in holes, while their spouses dwell in houses and pal
aces. No books are seen in this kingdom, nor have the people

* The pamphlet, from which Professor Williams translated, might leave it to be
inferred that the phrase, " such as an old man would exhibit when he found him
self in his own country after a long absence," was contained in the Chinese text.
It is, however, merely a comment, made by M. d'Hervey de Saint-Denys. — E. P. V.

f The word " three " should be " six."— E. P. V.

\ This clause should read, " The serpents are not venomous." — E. P. V.

PROFESSOR WILLIAMS'S ARGUMENT. 239

any writing. They firmly believe in the power of certain sor
ceries. The worship of the gods imposes obligations which no
one dares to violate. In the middle * of the kingdom is an island
of fire with a burning mountain, whose inhabitants eat hairy
snakes to preserve themselves from the heat ; rats live on the
mountain, from whose fur an incombustible tissue is woven,
which is cleaned by putting it into the fire instead of washing it.
North of this Kingdom of Women there is a dark valley ; and
still farther north are some mountains covered with snow whose
peaks reach to heaven. The sun never shines there, and the lu
minous dragon dwells in this valley. West of it is an intoxi
cating fountain whose waters have the taste of wine. In this
region is likewise found a sea of varnish whose waves dye plumes
and furs black ; and another sea having the color of milk. The
land surrounded by these wonders is of great extent, and exceed
ingly fertile. One sees there dogs and horses of great stature,
and even birds which produce human beings. The males born
of them do not live ; the females are carefully reared by their
fathers, who carry them on their wings ; as soon as they begin
to walk they become mistresses of themselves. They are re
markably beautiful and very hospitable, but they die before the
age of thirty. The hares of that land are as big as the horses
elsewhere, having fur a foot long. The sables are like wolves
for size, with black fur of extraordinary thickness.'

" The courtiers were greatly amused with these recitals,
laughing and clapping their hands, while they assured the nar
rator that they had never heard better stories. One minister in
terrupted Yu Kieh by a bantering objection : ( If one can put
any trust in the official reports collected in relation to this King
dom of Women, it might be all simply inhabited by savages who
are governed by a woman ; there would then be no question re
specting this matter of serpents acting as husbands. How would
you then arrange this matter ? '

" Yu Kieh answered pleasantly, that he had nothing more to
say on that point ; and then he went on from one strange story
to another still more strange, in which one part truth was mixed
with nine parts invention."

The whole paper from which this extract is taken does credit
to its author's researches into this matter, however much we may
* For " In the middle " read "At the south." -E. P. V.

240 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

differ from his inferences. On a previous page he adduces fur
ther proof from two early Chinese authors, who mention Fu-
sang. One of them is Kiuh Yuen, who nourished about B. c.
300, and wrote the poem Le Sao, or " Dissipation of Sorrows,"
which has since become a classic among his countrymen. In it,
the marquis says, " he traveled in thought to the four quarters of
the universe. On the north he perceived the land of long days
and long nights ; on the south, the boundless ocean met his
view ; on the west, he saw the sun set in a lake, perhaps the
Tengiri-nor or the Caspian Sea ; on the east, in spite of the vast-
ness of the Pacific, and of the idea which would naturally pre
sent itself to his mind as the sun rose from the abyss of waters,
he beheld the far-off shores receive the beams of Aurora, and in
a valley, on a land shaded by the fu-sang tree, he places the lim
its of the extreme east."

He also calls in another author to fortify the poet, namely,
Tung Fang-soh, whose work, the Shin-i King, or " Record of
Strange Wonders," was extant in the Han dynasty, but was af
terward lost. That now bearing his name has been manipulated
by subsequent authors, and Mr. Wylie regards it as a production
of the fourth or fifth century, and " the marvelous occupies so
large a portion that it has never been received as true narrative."
But the marquis does not so regard it : " The works of Tung
Fang-soh, which treat of regions most remote from China, have
undergone some slight alterations at the dictum of the Chinese
literati, who inform us that the alterations which they suspect
date back to the fourth century after Christ. Their criticism,
far from diminishing for us its authority, becomes, on the con
trary, a valuable testimony of its authenticity at that date.
This it what it says : * East of the Eastern Ocean is the country
of Fu-sang. When one lands on its shores, if he continue to
travel on by land still further east ten thousand li, he will again
come to a blue sea, vast, immense, and boundless.' I think that
I hazard nothing in saying beforehand that it is impossible to
apply these indications of Tung Fang-soh to any other country
than America."

Fu-sang and Pang-lai are still used among the Chinese for
fairy land, and are referred to by the common people very much
as the Garden of the Hesperides and Atlantis were among the
ancient Greeks. In Hankow, when a shopkeeper wishes to praise

PROFESSOR WILLIAMS'S ARGUMENT. 24:1

the quality of his goods, he puts on his sign that they are from one
or other of these lands. The latter is perhaps the more common
of the two, for it has become associated with the conqueror
Tsin Chi Hwangti, who sent an expedition, about B.C. 220,
easterly to find it and two other islands, called San Sien Shan,
or Three Fairy Hills, where the genii live. Pang-lai is now the
name of a district in the province of Shantung (better known
from the pref ectural city Tangchau, west of Chef u), which com
memorates this expedition after the fairies. Nothing was more
natural to people living along the Yellow River, in the days of
Kiuh Yuen and Tung Fang-soh, when Shantung was inhabited
by wild tribes, than to regard all that little known region in the
utmost east as the abode of whatever and whoever were wonder
ful. To quote such legends as corroborative history or travel,
needs the support of some authentic statement to begin with ;
and Hwui-shin would be as likely to connect his account with
something his hearers would recognize as existing in that direc
tion, as to make up a story. I do not infer that neither the Chi
nese nor Japanese of the sixth century had any knowledge of
the American Continent from other sources, for it was as easy
then for vessels to drift across the Pacific as they still do ; but
they could not drift back again, and, when once landed anywhere
between Alaska and Acapulco, the sailors were not likely to try
a second voyage to reach their homes.

There is, furthermore, an unexplained point how the name of
the treefu-sang came to be applied to the kingdom Fu-sang.
If the Broussonetia be the plant denoted, and everything con
firms this deduction, one would have expected its identity or
likeness to the chu shu, its Chinese name, to have been men
tioned. It is, however, quite as probable that the tree got its
name from the country, for the manufacture of paper from its
bark does not seem to have been known in the days of Kiuh
Yuen.

Yu Kieh's pleasant account of Fu-sang and its silk-worms
tends rather to show that in his day it was a region which every
one could people with what he chose. The use of silk among
the people on the Pacific coast was, according to H. H. Ban
croft, mostly confined to the Mayas in Central America ; it was
by no means a common product, and mostly used in combination
with cotton. This reference by Yu Kieh, although so exagger-
16

242 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

ated, tends to show that Fu-sang was regarded as on the western
side of the Pacific Ocean ; and I am inclined to place it in Sag-
halien Island.

De Guignes lays much stress on the alleged distance of Fu-
sang from Ta-han, and ingeniously reduces the 20,000 li, or 7,000
miles, to an actual estimate of the road taken by Hwui-shin (Le-
land, p. 128) to get there. In the introduction to his accounts
of all these eastern countries, in chap. 324, Ma Twan-lin places
the Flowery Land in the center of the universe, and then adds :
" East of China lies Wo-kwoh, also called Japan ; east of Wo-
kwoh, farther on, lies Fu-sang, about 30,000 li from China."
These figures are much too hap-hazard to depend on in settling
this point, and carry less weight than such internal evidence as
we can analyze. If compared with other distances applied to those
regions by this author, we soon find how valueless they all are.
No one in the sixth century had any means of measuring long
distances, or taking the bearings of places, so as to make even a
rough guess as to their relative positions, if he had tried to make
a map. For an illustration of this remark, see Dr. Bretschnei-
der's article in " Transactions of North China Branch of the Royal
Asiatic Society," No. X, 1876, where he gives an example of
Asiatic map-making in A. D. 1331, to show the divisions of the
Mongol Empire. It looks like a checker-board.

The position of Fu-sang can not therefore be yet settled from
these notices ; but we may, as the Marquis d'Hervey de Saint-
Denys hopefully remarks, yet see the day when the immense
riches hidden and almost lost in Chinese books will be brought
out, and something more definite on this head be discovered.

I have only two other quotations to add. One is the name
FuAhi-koku, i. e., the kingdom of Fu-sang, an unusual designation,
known to the Japanese themselves, of their own country or a
part of it, and which would hardly have been applied to a land
on the other side of the Pacific Ocean. The other is the men
tion found in the Ying-hioan Chi Lioh, or " Geography of the
World," by SiiKi-yii, the late governor of Fuhkien, who wrote it
in 1848. In speaking of the troubles in Corea caused by the
Mongol invasion, and the ravages of the Japanese corsairs along
the Chinese coast during the Ming dynasty, he proceeds to say :
" But as the rising grandeur of our present Imperial house began
to diffuse itself afar, its quick intelligence perceived that it ought

PROFESSOR WILLIAMS'S ARGUMENT. 243

first to scatter [as it were] slips from ihefu-satig tree in the Valley
of Sunrise ; and thereby those lands (Corea and Japan) were awed
into submission for many years, and our eastern frontier remained
quiet and protected ; neither of these nations presumed to en
croach on our possessions. " The Valley of Sunrise, used in the
Shu King, or " Book of Records," is regarded as a synonym of
Corea, and thefu-sang tree is here connected with that land. A
few sentences on, Governor Su quotes from another book, called
" Records of Ten Islands or Regions " : " In the sea toward the
northeastern shores lie Fu-sang, Pang-kiu, and Ying-chau ; their
entire circuit is a thousand li." He then adds : " I think that the
story about these Three Fairy Hills arose from the exaggerated
descriptions of our own writers, who used them to deceive and
mislead men ; for really they were small islands, contiguous to
Japan and belonging to it. If their ships of that period went to
them out in the ocean, why could not [our people ?] find them
if they had searched for them ? " He then relates the quixotic
expedition sent by Tsin Chi Hwangti under Si! Fuh to find
them, with several thousand men and women, none of whom
ever returned. From this reference it may be concluded that
Governor Sil regarded Fu-sang and the other two to belong to
the Kurile Islands near Yezo. He had access to many works
in his own literature, and took unwearied pains to get at the
truth of what he was writing about, by asking intelligent
foreigners who were able to tell him. Among these were Rev.
David Abeel (whose aid he acknowledges), and M. C. Morrison,
a son of Rev. Dr. Morrison, the missionary. His opinion de
serves to be received as that of an intelligent scholar, though he
knew nothing of the question started by de Guignes.

In reading the marquis's translation of Yu Kieh's story, an
English scholar can hardly fail to compare it with the " Voyage
to Laputa " ; for that land was placed not far from Fu-sang by
its clever discoverer and historian. Dean Swift, like Yu Kieh,
drew on his imagination for his facts. The numerous references
in that " Voyage " to the people of China, their institutions, pecul
iarities, costumes, and manners, must have been derived or sug
gested to him by the writings of Semedo, Martini, Mendez
Pinto, and other travelers in Asia before 1720, which were prob
ably in Sir William Temple's library. But one would almost as
soon think of quoting Swift's assertion in chapter iii of this " Voy-

244 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

age " regarding " the two lesser stars or satellites which revolve
about Mars," as proof that Professor Asaph Hall's discovery of
1876 had been already known in Queen Anne's reign, as to seri
ously undertake from these Chinese authors to prove that they
knew the American Continent by the name of Fu-sang.

[Then follows the translation of the account of the " King
dom of Women," which is given in full in the seventeenth chap
ter of this work. Professor Williams comments :]

From this account, following that of Fu-sang, we might con
clude that Ma Twan-lin regarded Hwui-shin alone as his author
ity for both of them, as he is quoted at the beginning of each
section. But the incident of A. D. 508 may have been taken
from the " History of the Liang Dynasty. " The mention of Tsin-
ngan, however, as the residence of the shipwrecked man who
found the Ntl Kwoh, shows how little dependence can be placed
on the Buddhist priest's estimate of the distance or direction of
either Fu-sang or Nti Kwoh from China. The only seaport of
that day named Tsin-ngan was the present Pu-tien Men, identical
with the prefectural city of Hing-hwa, situated between Fuhchau
and Tstien-chau in the province of Fuhkien. This man was
probably a fisherman, bound for the Pescadore Islands, who was
driven off by a storm through the Bashee Straits into the Pacific
Ocean, among the islands east of the Philippines. I think the
priest is not responsible for the sailor's story, as it is omitted in
the Yuen Kien Lui Han, and only the first part given. The
legend of the Nil Kwoh probably applies to two places. Sir
John Maundevile * places his Lond of Amazoyne beside the
Lond of Caldee where Abraham dwelt ; but his Yle of Nacume-
ra, where "alle the men and women of that Yle have Houndes
Hedes ; and thei ben clept Cynocephali," might be looked for
where the " History of the Liang Dynasty " puts them as well
as anywhere else.

In his « Book of Marco Polo " (ed. 1871, vol. ii, pp. 338-340),
Colonel Yule has brought together notices of the various legends
which have appeared from time to time in Eastern Asia of this
fabled land of females, to illustrate what the Venetian has reported
in chapter xxxi about the " Two Islands called Male and Female."
In his other admirably edited work, "Cathay, and the Way
Thither" (p. 324), he alludes to the report of Marignolli, about

* " Maundevile's Voyage," ed. by nalliwcll, 1839, pp. 154, 197.

PROFESSOR WILLIAMS'S ARGUMENT. 245

A. D. 1330, of a kingdom in Sumatra ruled by women. The first
part of Ma's notice, which is certainly ascribed to the shaman,
leads one to look northeasterly toward the Kurile Islands for people
with so much hair ; and suggests a comparison with the inhab
itants of Alaska called Kuchin Indians, described in Bancroft's
" Native Races " (vol. i, pp. 115, 147, sqq.). But it would not be
worth while to spend much time in looking for this fabled land,
had not the idea got abroad that its location would aid in identi
fying Fu-sang with some part of America.

[Next comes Professor Williams's translation of the account
of the Wtin SMn, or the land of " Marked Bodies," found in
the seventeenth chapter of this work, as to which he says :]

It is not certain whether marking and painting the body, or
tattooing, is intended by this term wan sMn ; but as the Chi
nese have a technical term, king, Hj, used in this extract * to de
note the process, it proves that tattooing must be here intended.
This practice is less common among the islanders in the North
Pacific than in the South, where a warmer climate enables them
to show off their pretty colors and figures. The courses and
distances from Japan here given would land us in Alaska ; but
no weight can be attached to them in this quotation from the
Liang records.

The distinction of rank, indicated by the different lines de
scribed in this extract, is like that in force among the Eskimo
tribes near Icy Cape, as described by Armstrong : " At Point
Barrow the women have on the chin a vertical line about half
an inch broad in the center, extending from the lip, with a
parallel but narrower one on either side of it, a little apart.
Some had two vertical lines protruding from either angle of the
mouth, which is a mark of their high position in the tribe "
(Bancroft, vol. i, p. 48). The practice of tattooing has been
so common at various times among the Chinese, Japanese, and
other inhabitants of Eastern Asia, that nothing can be inferred
regarding the country here intended. The singular notice of
filling the moat with quicksilver may be paralleled by Sz'ma
Tsien's description of the wonderful subterranean tomb of the
great conqueror Tsin Chi Hwangti (B. c. 270) in Shensi, wherein
he tells us that "rivers, lakes, and seas were imitated by means

* I am unable to find this character in Ma Twan-lin's Chinese account of the
country of " Marked Bodies."— E. P. V.

246 AN INGLOKIOUS COLUMBUS.

of quicksilver caused to flow in constant circulation by mechan
ism."

[After giving the translation of the account of the country
of Ta Han, Professor Williams says :]

In chapter ccxxxi of the Yuen Kien Lui Han, a valuable Cyclo
paedia, compiled by orders of the Emperor Kanghi, and issued in
1710, this section is quoted verbatim from the Nan Shi of Li
Yen-shau, the same source from which Ma Twan-lin got it.
Though that history contains the records of the Liang dynasty
(A. r>. 502-557), it was not written till about one century after
ward, in the Tang dynasty ; and during that interval nothing
more seems to have been learned about the lands of Fu-sang, Ta
Han, or Nil Kwoh. Nor had Ma Twan-lin found anything in his
day, six centuries afterward, to add to what the shaman Hwui-
shin reported ; while this Cyclopaedia — the product of a com
mission of learned men who ransacked the literature of China to
find whatever was valuable and insert it — contains just the same
story, hoary with the twelve hundred years' repose it had had in
the Nan Shi. To show the carelessness of these compilers in their
work, in chapter ccxli another kingdom is described under the
name of Ta Han, but not a word is added to indicate how two
kingdoms should have had the same name. This last is equally
vague with the first in respect to its identification, and reads as
follows :

"The 'New Records of the Tang Dynasty' say: 'Ta Han
borders on the north of Kuh; it is rich in sheep and horses.
The men are tall and large, and this has given the name Ta Han
(i. e., Great China) to their country. This kingdom and J£uh are
both conterminous with JZieh-Jciah-sz1 , and therefore they were
never seen as guests [in our court]. But during the reigns
Ching-kwan and Yung-hwui (A. D. 627 to 656) they presented
sable skins and horses, and were received. It may be that they
have come once since that time.' "

The compilers of the Cyclopaedia abridged this extract some
what, for they do not refer to Lake Baikal, where Ta Han joins
the countries of the Kieh-kiah-sz\ and Kuh, and thus help to
identify it. The next section contains an extract of seven pages
from the " New Records of Tang " about the Kieh-kiah-sz\ or
Hakas, whom Klaproth regards as the ancestors of the Kirghis
now dwelling in Tomsk. If half of this account be true, the

PROFESSOR WILLIAMS'S ARGUMENT. 247

Hakas formed a powerful kingdom in the Tang dynasty, and
their neighbors Ta Han and Kuh are to be looked for on the
river Yenisei, or more probably between the Angara and Vitim
rivers.

The effort of Professor Neumann to identify the first-named
Ta Han with Alaska, simply because he places Wan Shan
among the Aleutian Islands, and Ta Han lies 5,000 U east of it,
is based alone on reported distances that are mere guesses. Mr.
Leland also refers to de Guignes's opinion that Ta Han meant
Kamtchatka, and that Wan Shan was Yezo, and adds this com
ment : " De Guignes determined with great intelligence that
the country of the Wen-schin, 7,000 li northwest of Japan, must
be Jezo, from the exact agreement of the accounts given of that
country by Chinese historians of the early part of the sixth cent
ury (Goei-chi and Ven-hien-tum-hao, A. D. 510-515) with that
of Dutch navigators in 1643. Both describe the extraordinary
appearance of the natives, and speak of the abundance of a
peculiar mineral resembling quicksilver " (p. 129). Mr. Leland
has been misled, in regard to this agreement, by not knowing
that these supposed historians are only the names of two books,
viz., " Records of the Wei Dynasty " (A. D. 386 to 543), and
the same " Antiquarian Researches " from which I have trans
lated these sections. He also assumes that Hwui-shin and his
predecessors went by sea, adding that this was "no impossible
thing at a time when in China both astronomy and navigation
were sciences in a high sense of the word."

[Then follow the accounts of the "Land of Pygmies," of
the " Kingdom of Giants," and of the " Islands of Lewchew,"
none of which have any direct bearing upon the account re
garding Fu-sang, the "Women's Kingdom," or the countries
passed on the way thither. Professor Williams continues :]

In concluding these extracts from Ma Twan-lin's writings, I
need hardly draw attention to the vagueness which marks them,
when we look for any definite information. His long chapter
on Japan bears more marks of well-digested information than
any of those which are here given, and indicates constant inter
course between it and China. Mr. Leland quotes from several
authors whatever will elucidate and uphold his theory respecting
Fu-sang, and deserves thanks for his research in this interesting
question. He has, however, been led astray by a similarity, or

248 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

an error in spelling, to confound Kamtchatka with Lewchew.*
. . Mr. Leland has a note in which he says : " It [ie., the ac
count of the kingdom of Zsieu-Tcuei] is evidently borrowed from
the Tang-schu, but is much better arranged, and contains some
original incidents, on which account I have freely availed my
self of it." I have no means of verifying this statement, and
therefore am unable to say how far Ma quoted from the " History
of the Tang," and also to explain whether Kamtchatka was ever
called Lieu-kuei, and what the Chinese characters for this name
are, or whether Lieu-kuei is a misprint for Liu-kiu or Lew-
chew. The name of this insular kingdom has been written a
dozen ways by foreigners ; it is called Riu-kiu by the Japanese,
Doo-choo by the inhabitants, Low-kow by the Cantonese, and
Lewchew by the Ningpo people ; but it could never have been
confounded with Kamtchatka by either of them.

* It appears that Professor Williams was led to confound Liu-Hu (^ ]Ejj£),
or Lewchew, with Lieu-hud (ffifc ^j| — characters transcribed in Professor Will-
iams's dictionary as Liu-kwei), a term which seems, beyond question, to have
been applied to Kamtchatka. The fact that he did not learn the characters for
the term Lieu-kuei is evidently the cause of his error ; and in this case it was he,
and not Mr. Leland, who was led astray by the similarity in sound of the two
names, one of which was applied to the Lewchew Islands and the other to Kam
tchatka.— E. P. V.

CHAPTER XV.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION. — NATURE OP THE CHINESE LAN
GUAGE.

Fu-sang wood— NiS-yao-kiun-ti— The Warm Spring Valley— The Shin I King—
The kingdom Hi-ho-koue — The astronomer Hi-ho — The story of a Corean —
An island of women — P*ung-lai — An expedition to explore it — The coloniza
tion of Japan — Lang Yuen — The Kwun-lun Mountains — A statue of a native
of Fu-sang — A poem to his memory — The tree of stone— Varying translations
— The peculiarities of the Chinese language — The brevity and conciseness of
the written language — Its lack of clearness — The meaning of groups of char
acters, or compounds — Proper names — No punctuation — Difficulty of trans
lating correctly — Preparation of M. Julien — Illustrations of mistakes.

To the information regarding Fu-sang, which is contained in
the quotations given in the preceding chapters, a few additional
items may be added. Klaproth states1666 that some Japanese
writers report that a blackish, petrified wood is found in their
country, which is highly valued, and which is called fu-sang
wood, or wood of the country of Fu-sang : that this country is
Japan, which has received this name because of its beauty, in
which it resembles the shrub fu-sang, which is, as is well known,
the species of hibiscus which we designate by the name of rosa
Sinensis.

1667 A passage of the Shan Hai King, quoted by some Japan
ese authors, reads as follows :

" In the vast space placed at the eastern extremity of the
world is the mountain Nie-yao-Jciun-ti. It is there that the tree
fu-sang grows. Its height is three hundred li. Its leaves re
semble those of mustard. Near this, to the east, is the valley
Wen-yuan-ku." The Chinese words, " 2ffi<&-yao-kiun-ti" are pro
nounced by the Japanese " I-yo-Jcun-te" and the Japanese author
adds that this is lyo, one of the four provinces of the island

250 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

of Si-kokf. The valley Wen-yuan-ku is also called ^Pang-kit,
or " Warm Springs."

We read in another Chinese work, called Shin I King : "In
the eastern part of the world there is a mulberry-tree eight hund
red feet in height ; it covers a large space of ground, and its
leaves are ten feet long and six or seven broad. Upon this tree
there live silk-worms three feet in length, of which the cocoons
furnish a pound of silk. The fruit of this tree is three feet and
five inches long."

The following passage is found in another chapter of the
Shan Hai King : " Beyond the southeastern ocean, and between
the Kan-shui, or the " Pleasant Rivers," is the kingdom of Hi-
ho-Jcoue (or, according to the Japanese pronunciation of the char
acters, Ghi-wa-kokf). There lived the virgin Hi-ho (Ghi-wa),
who espoused Ti-tsiun, and gave birth to ten suns." The same
book also says that Hi-ho ( Ghi-wa) is the name of a kingdom
among the countries of the east, which is also called "The
Place where the Sun Rises." . . .

A passage of the Shan Hai King T'sang-chu, which is a com
mentary upon the Shan Hai King, says : "In the days of the
Emperor Hwang-ti, Hi-ho ( Ghi-wa) was the astronomer charged
with the observations of the sun. This prince having given him
the country of Fu-sang, he embarked with his family, settled
there, and gave this country the name of Hi-ho-koue ( Ghi-wa
kokf), or the country of Hi-ho. He had ten children ; the boys
were named Yen (in Japanese, Fiko), or the male sun ; and the
girls Ki (in Japanese, Fime), or the female sun ; the sun being
considered as the source of all fecundity." " So,"adds the Japan
ese author, " a man, who in our days would be called Ko-saJc,
would at that time have been called Ko-fiko ; and a woman
named Ouki-ne would then have been called Ouki-fime. This
country," he continues, " was also called Wa-kokf" (in Chinese,
Ho-koue). Wa (Ho), the second character of Ghi-wa, signifies
tranquillity and peace ; kokf means kingdom. Wa (in Chinese,
Ho) is, even now, one of the names of Japan.

Klaproth also reports an incident which indicates that Hwui
Shan told in Corea, as well as in China, the story of his advent
ures, and that some recollection of his narration was preserved
by the people, as the following story of a country inhabited
by women recalls Hwui Shan's account of the "Kingdom of

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION. 251

Women," as well as the Chinese account of the sailors who were
shipwrecked upon an island inhabited by women who resembled
those of China. The incident is as follows : 1657

The King I£hi (of Wo-tsiu, one of the divisions of Corea)
sent emissaries to look for Koung, to capture him, so that he
might be punished. When they had reached the eastern coast of
the country, they asked an old man if there were any people beyond
the sea upon the east. He answered : " Some of the inhabitants
of this country once embarked to go a-fishing, when they were as
sailed by a storm ; and, having been violently driven before the
wind for ten days, they reached an island inhabited by people
whose language they could not understand, and who had an
ancient custom of drowning a young virgin in the sea at the
seventh month." The same old man also stated that there was
another country in the midst of the sea, inhabited by women,
without any men. He said that, simply clothed in linen gar
ments, they threw themselves into the sea, and passed it by swim
ming. Their bodies resembled those of the Chinese women, and
their garments had sleeves three fathoms long. Their country
was in the midst of the sea of Wo-tsiu.

The expedition above referred to occurred during the reign
of the Wei dynasty, i. e., some time between 386 and 534 A. D.2518

As a place called P'ung-lai is frequently mentioned in con
nection with Fu-sang, the following statements regarding it may
be of interest :

In the year 219 B. c.,2159 during1671 the epoch of the Japanese
Dairi Ko-rei-ten-o, who reigned from 290 to 210 B. c., the Em
peror Shi-hwang, of the T'sin dynasty, reigned in China. He
sent the skillful physician Siu-fu to the island of P'ung-lai to
seek for the beverage of immortality. It is stated that, not hav
ing succeeded in this commission, he arrived at Japan, and died
upon the mountain Fusi. The Chinese mythologists pretend
that in the Eastern Sea there are three mountains (or islands) of
the genii, called P'ung-lai, Fang-chang, and Ing-cheu. They
are inaccessible. To the first is also given the name of P'ung-
tao, or the island of P'ung; it is said that they are covered
with tabernacles, and with halls of gold and silver, which are
used as the habitations of the genii.

It is to these three islands that Tsin Shi Hwang Ti (the
Emperor Shi Hwang, of the Tsin dynasty) sent an expedition,

252 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

composed of some thousands of young people of both sexes, un
der the guidance of one Tao-szu, to seek there for the remedy
that confers immortality. The Chinese historians report that
the fleet which bore them was shipwrecked, and that a single
bark returned with the news of the disaster. It is seen that the
Japanese annalists report the contrary. Sin-fu was, according
to their statement, one of the physicians of the emperor of
China ; he introduced into their country arts and sciences which
they had not before known, and the Japanese have therefore
accorded divine honours to him.

It appears that the Chinese tradition of the three fabulous
islands, situated in the Eastern Sea, had its origin in the vague
ideas which they then had of Japan, which is really composed of
three large islands, which could only be reached with difficulty
by navigators as inexperienced as the Chinese must have been at
that time. Other Chinese authors state that the island, or the
mountain, of P'ung-lai is found near an island situated to the
east of CJiang-Jcoue, a district of T'ai-cheu, of the province of
Che-Many.

Mr. Mayers adds 1189 that it is conjectured that this legend has
some reference to attempts at colonizing the Japanese islands ;
and M. de Rosny 2157 states that this expedition is mentioned by
a number of Japanese historians.

Klaproth mentions the fact that 1682 the Japanese proverbially
apply the name P'ung-lai shan to all places where treasure is
kept.

In Professor "VVilliams's Dictionary, 254T the term ^ $jj, LANG
YUEN, is defined " Fairy-land." The characters mean a vacant or
unoccupied pasture-field, or park ; and as it is a fact that there
is much confusion between the Chinese accounts of "Fairy
land " and of Fu-sang, this may possibly be a reference to the
vast plains of America, which, some centuries ago, were almost
uninhabited.

Mr. Medhurst 1867 states that ^p Jj| (pronounced Fu-sang in
the Mandarin dialect, and Hoo-song in the Hok-keen dialect) is
a kind of supernatural mulberry-tree, that grows on the east of
the JTwun-lun hill, toward the sunrising ; hence the common
expression that the sun rises at Fu-sang.

It is reported2325 that the name Kwun-lun is applied to a
range of mountains, rendered famous in Chinese history and

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION. 253

legend, separating Thibet from Chinese Turkestan and the Des
ert of Gobi. It starts from the Pushtikur Knot, in latitude 36°,
N., and runs along easterly nearly parallel between that and the
35th degree. At the 92d degree of longitude, E., in the middle
of its course, it divides into two ranges, one declining to the
southeast — the Bajinkara, or Snowy Mountains — and unites
with the Yung Ling, or Cloudy Mountains. The other branch
bends northerly, and, under the various names of Kilien Shan,
In Shan, and Ala Shan, passes through Kansuh and Shinsi to
join the Inner Hing-ngan range. The JTwun-lun range is the
Olympus of China, and the supposed source of the Fung-sJiwin.

Professor Williams states that the term Kwun means "a
peak beyond comparison," and adds that the Kwun-lun range is,
like the Caucasus among the Arabs, the fairy-land of Chinese
writers, one of whom says its peaks are so high that when sun
light is on one side the moonlight is on the other.2545 The En
cyclopaedia Britannica 1316 says that the name is derived from
the Chinese geographers, and is probably a corruption of some
Turkish or Thibetan word ; it appears to be unknown locally.
The name having been adopted, chiefly on the initiative of Hum-
boldt, before any correct geographical knowledge had been ob
tained of the region to which it was applied, it has been used
with inconvenient want of precision, and this has encouraged
erroneous conceptions. Little precise information is available on
the subject. It is worthy of notice that the name Kwun-lun is
also applied to an island in the China Sea (Pulo Condor Island),
probably in imitation of the Anamitic name Conon, or Koh-
noong.2546

As the characters g, $f, KWUN-LUN, are composed of the
radical for mountains, |lj, combined with the phonetics B ^,
Kwux-LUtf, which, taken by themselves, mean 258° " the canopy of
the sky," it seems possible that the name originally meant
" mountains reaching to the sky," and that it may have been ap
plied to more than one high range, somewhat as the general
term " Alps " is applied in English.

As in some cases Chinese characters terminating in nasals are
intended to transcribe foreign words in which no nasal is found —
as, for instance, Kiang-lang is written for the Sanskrit Kdla, and
Thoung-loung-mo for the Sanskrit drouma 1619 — it does not seem
impossible that, in case sufficient reason is found for believing

254 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

the country of Fu-sang to be identical with Mexico, the name
HTwun-lun, as applied to the mountain-range east of which Fu-
sang is situated, may be used as the Chinese transcription of the
Mexican word Quauhtla, meaning a mountain, or a range of
mountains.1918

As an illustration of the knowledge of the country of Fu-
sang still preserved among the people of China, the following
translation of an account given by Mr. Chung Nam Shan, of
San Francisco, in September, 1883, may be found of interest :

" Some fifty li east of Canton there is a temple named the
temple of Po-lo, outside of the door of which there stands a statue
of a man who came from the country of Fu-sang. Here he
lived for some years, and here he finally died ; and after his death
he was deified and his statue placed at the door of the temple.
He is represented as standing looking earnestly toward the east,
with his right hand shading his eyes. At some later date a visitor
to the temple wrote this stanza about him :

' Where the sun rises, in the land of Fu-sang, there is my home ;
Seeking glory and riches, I came to the Kingdom of the Central Flower ;
Everywhere the cocks crow and the dogs bark, the same in one place as

in another,
Everywhere the almond -trees blossom the same.' "

The last two lines are intended to be consolatory to a man
that is homesick ; the assurance being that one place is substan
tially the same as another, and the conclusion being that it is
therefore foolish to grieve for any particular place.

The Chinese believe that in " Fairy-land " (between which
mythical land and the country of Fu-sang there is, as has been
mentioned, more or less confusion in their traditions), or in the
Kwun-lun mountains,2557 there is a tree of stone,2642 called KII-KA^,
" the agate gem " ; 2539 PIH-SHIT, " the green-jade-stone tree," 2657 or
LANG-KAN-SHTi,2536 " the coral-tree " ; which myth it will here
after be shown may have originated from a pun, or accidental
resemblance between two words of the Mexican language.

Before entering upon the discussion of the account given by
Hwui Shan, it seems necessary to give his story in full, in the
original Chinese, as preserved for us by Ma Twan-lin, and place
opposite to it the different translations that have been made
by the Chinese scholars who have given the subject attention.

NATURE OF THE CHINESE LANGUAGE. 255

This course is necessary, as the disagreements as to the true ren
dering of various phrases and characters are numerous and im
portant ; and Hwui Shan's report will often be found to be
true if a certain reading, for which there is good authority, is
adopted, while, if the versions of other translators are accepted,
no confirmation of the statement can be found.

It is evident that, in cases in which some five or six translat
ors differ radically as to the meaning of a certain clause, all but
one are certainly mistaken as to its true meaning, and it may
even be the case that no one of the translators has correctly ren
dered it. The present author, therefore, while admitting that he
has no other knowledge of Chinese than such as he has been able
to obtain from the study of a few Chinese-English dictionaries
and grammars, during the time that he has been interested in the
question as to the true location of the country of Fu-sang, will
venture to give his own translation of the account, differing in
some points from the version given by any of the celebrated
scholars who have preceded him. In all cases, however, the
authorities will be quoted in full upon which he relies as justify
ing the changes in the translation ; and it is believed that these
authorities will be found sufficiently plain and decided, as to the
points in question, to enable all to see the reasons for the render
ing that is given. As, moreover, he has had the assistance of a
number of native Chinese scholars, as well as of others who
have made a study of the Chinese language, some one or more
of whom he has consulted as to each doubtful point, he believes
that his translation will be accepted as giving at least as accurate
a rendering of the true meaning of the original as is found in any
of the earlier versions.

The principle has been adopted that, in all cases in which the
Chinese text may be understood in two or more ways, one of
which is true while the others are not, Hwui Shan is entitled to
that translation which brings his story into conformity with
the truth. While there is certainly great danger, in attempting
a translation from the Chinese under this principle, that the
translator may fail to give the true meaning of the original text,
it nevertheless seems plain that if the account be true, such a
course will best bring out its truth ; while, if it be false, no in
genuity can twist it into a true description.

The possibility of interpreting a sentence in several different

256 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

ways arises from the peculiarities of the Chinese language.
While it is feasible to so convey a thought in Chinese that there
can be no misconception as to the true meaning, or as to the re
lations which the different words of the sentence bear to one
another, and while this is usually done in the colloquial idioms,
yet in the written language it is made an object to convey the
conception with the least possible number of words or characters,
and clearness is therefore frequently sacrificed in favour of brev
ity.

"Before all things," says Martin,1825 "a Chinese loves con
ciseness. While we construct our sentences so as to guard
against the possibility of mistake, he is satisfied with giving the
reader a hint of his meaning. Our style is a ferry-boat, that
carries the reader over without danger or effort on his part ; his
is only a succession of stepping-stones, which test the agility of
the passenger in leaping from one to another. ... In return
for a few hints, the reader himself supplies all the links that are
necessary for the continuity of thought."

It is said of Confucius, for instance,980 that he studies the
utmost brevity and terseness, and frequently the most profound
Chinese scholars, without the aid of commentaries, are unable to
comprehend the meaning of his sentences. Even at this day,
among the Chinese, a writer can scarcely lay claim to classical
taste unless he is able to couch his thoughts in language so
brief and obscure as to require the aid of a commentator to
make them intelligible to the common reader.

Dr. Bretschneider states 782 that, in translating from the Chi
nese, the principal question is the understanding of groups of
words in their connection, or phrases, not of single words ; for
very often the single characters in a phrase lose completely their
original meaning. In the dictionaries, for example, you find fu9
to assist, and ma, horse. Entfu ma is not an " assistant horse,"
but is used in Chinese historical writings always to designate the
son-in-law of the emperor. Chinese literature is very rich in such
combinations and phrases formed by two or more characters ;
and the original meaning of the characters, in most of the cases,
does not serve to explain the phrases. It is in vain, then, that
you look for them in the dictionaries ; the greater part, although
often unknown to our European Sinologues, have come down by
tradition to the Chinese of the present day, and they are so

NATURE OF THE CHINESE LANGUAGE. 257

familiarized with those terms that they consider it superfluous
to incorporate them in the dictionaries. A Chinese dictionary
in a European language, with a good collection of phrases, is
still a desideratum. At least all existing dictionaries are of no
value to the reader as regards the Chinese historical style, and,
if he consults only Morrison's or other dictionaries, he runs the
risk of committing the greatest mistakes.

In Chinese historical writings, or narratives of journeys, one
meets with a great many proper names. The Chinese, in render
ing names of countries or men, are obliged to represent every
syllable of the name by a similar sounding hieroglyph (it is
known that all Chinese words are monosyllabic). As every
hieroglyph has a meaning, it is sometimes difficult for a Euro
pean scholar, translating without a native teacher, to distinguish
whether the characters represent only sounds, or whether they
must be translated. European translators have often committed
errors of this kind.

Another difficulty, to the European reader of Chinese books,
arises from the complete ignorance of the Chinese of our system
of punctuation. They have some characters which denote the
end of a period, but they seldom make use of them ; and gen
erally one finds no break in a whole chapter ; so that the reader
must decide for himself where a point is to be supplied. An
erroneous punctuation sometimes changes the sense of the whole
period, or even the whole article.

Dr. Bretschneider adds that781 every Sinologue knows how
apt the ambiguous Chinese style is to give rise to misunderstand
ings, and that often the Chinese themselves are unable to solve
the difficulties ; and he states783 that he is of opinion, and thinks
every conscientious Sinologue will agree with him, that it is im
possible to make correct translations from Chinese in Europe,
without the assistance of a good native scholar, except, of course,
those Sinologues who have studied the language in China, and
who have studied it for a long time.

Professor Max Miiller says that,1962 while the mere transla
tion of a Chinese work into French seems a very ordinary per
formance, M. Stanislas Julien, who had long been acknowl
edged as the first Chinese scholar in Europe, had to spend
twenty years of incessant labour in order to prepare himself for
the task of translating the " Travels of Hiouen-thsang."
17

258 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

As an illustration of the danger of misunderstanding a Chi
nese text, the following translation of a Chinese ode, by Pro
fessor Neumann, is quoted from the " Chinese Repository " : 979

41 Cease fighting now for a while,
Let us call back the flowing waves.
"Who opposed the enemy in time ?
A single wife could overpower him ;

Streaming with blood, she grasped the mad offspring of guilt;
She held fast the man, and threw him into the meandering stream.
The Spirit of the Water, wandering up and down on the waves,
Was astonished at the virtue of Ying.

My song is at an end.
Waves meet each other continually ;
I see the water green as mountain Peih,
But the brilliant fire returns no more.
How long did we mourn and cry ! "

" I am compelled," says Professor Neumann, " to give a free
translation of this verse, and confess myself not quite certain of
the signification of the poetical figures used by our author."
We will subjoin a less free translation :

" The spirit of war has now ceased and vanished away;
Let us go back in thought, returning like the winding stream.
Who was there that could then resist the foe,
When but a single female was found to insult his power?
With her blood she spat on the guilty wretch,
Then, despising life, she sank in the curling waves.
Her pure ice-like spirit now wanders over the stream,
Her courageous soul with hesitancy lingers behind.

" My song ended, I still loitered on the spot, and, casting a
look on all around, I saw the hills retaining their blueness, and
the sea its azure hue ; but the beacon smoke and the shadowing
masts return no more. Long I stayed disburdening myself of
sighs."

An instance of a still more radical misunderstanding of the
meaning of a Chinese sentence is given 978 in the " Chinese Re
pository," vol. iii, p. 72.

The quotations given above sufficiently show the difficulty
sometimes experienced in comprehending the exact meaning of

NATURE OF THE CHINESE LANGUAGE. 259

a Chinese author, and hence it should not be considered as any
reflection upon the scholarship and superior knowledge of the
eminent gentlemen who have given translations of the Chinese
account of Fu-sang, if the present author, relying partly upon
the dictionaries and grammars of the language, and partly upon
the views of native scholars, ventures in some cases to differ
from his predecessors.

Although knowing far less in regard to the Chinese language
than any of the celebrated scholars who have discussed Hwui
Shan's story, it is possible that the greater length of time, and
the more patient and careful study, which he has devoted to this
particular account, may have counterbalanced this disadvantage,
and may have enabled him to discover the true meaning of cer
tain phrases which have heretofore been misunderstood.

CHAPTER XVI.

THE DESCRIPTION OF FU-SANG.

The Chinese authorities — Variations in the texts — The Chinese text — A literal
translation— Parallel translations of eight authors — The date of Hwui ShSn's
arrival in China— The location of Fu-sang— The f u-sang trees— The deriva
tion of the name of the country — The leaves of the fu-sang tree — Its first
sprouts— Red pears — Thread and cloth — Dwellings — Literary characters —
Paper — Lack of arms — The two places of confinement — The difference be
tween them — The pardon of criminals — Marriages of the prisoners— Slave-
children — The punishment of a criminal of high rank — The great assembly —
Suffocation in ashes — Punishment of his family — Titles of the king and
nobles — Musicians — The king's garments— The changing of their colour —
— A ten-year cycle — Long cattle-horns — Their great size — Horse-carts, cattle-
carts, and deer-carts — Domesticated deer — Koumiss — The red pears preserved
throughout the year — To-p'u-i'Aoes — The lack of iron — Abundance of cop
per — Gold and silver not valued — Barter in their markets — Courtship — The
cabin of the suitor — The sweeping and watering of the path — The ceremonies
of marriage — Mourning customs — The worship of images of the dead — The
succession to the throne — A visit from a party of Buddhist missionaries —
Their labours and success.

THE substance of the following account is found in the
Liang-shu™ or " Records of the Liang Dynasty," contained
in the Nan-shi, or " History of the South," written by Li Yen-
shau,* who lived at the commencement of the seventh century.
The Nan-shi forms a portion of the Great Annals of China,
the Nien-rli-sJii^ or " Twenty-two Historians."

Ma Twan-lin copied the account in his " Antiquarian Re
searches " ; but as Mr. Leland states 1714 that he gives the report
"much more correctly," it is evident that he made such changes
as he thought the truth to require. A number of points, as to
which the different accounts vary, are noted by some of the trans-

* See Klaproth's account, given in chapter iii, and that of Professor Williams,
in chapter xiv.

THE DESCRIPTION OF FU-SASTG. 261

lators, but it is not likely that attention has been called to all the
variations. As the present author has been unable to obtain a
copy of any other than Ma Twan-lin's account, that alone is
given ; but in a few important cases, in which Mr. Leland and
the Marquis d'Hervey de Saint-Denys have pointed out the
difference between the text of Ma Twan-lin and that of the
Liang-ahUy the character found in the latter is given in a note
in the column headed " Definition." It would be interesting to
compare the different Chinese versions of Hwui Shan's story,
and such a comparison would undoubtedly do much to remove
difficulties and assist in bringing the truth to light ; when it
would probably be found that most of Ma Twan-lin's " correc
tions," like those of some of our modern Shakespearean com
mentators, resulted only from a failure to understand the
original text, and that it is necessary to reject them, in order
to arrive at the true meaning of the author.

The left-hand pages that follow contain the characters of Ma
Twan-lin's text, with their sounds, and Professor Williams's defini
tions of their meaning, with a column showing the page of his
dictionary upon which they are found. In the last column is
given that English word which comes the nearest to expressing
the meaning of the Chinese character; and, by reading these
words in their order down the column, a literal translation of
the story will be discovered, which will, in most places, be found
intelligible — such English words as are necessary to show the
connection with one another of the characters, and the ideas
which they express, having been inserted in small type.

Upon the opposite pages eight different translations will be
found, being those of de Guignes, Klaproth, Neumann, de Ros-
ny, Julien, d'Hervey de Saint-Denys, Williams, and the present
author ; these being given in the order above-named, and an
English version of the first six being presented instead of the
original French or German of their authofs. In making these
translations it has been my intention to follow the foreign text as
closely and literally as is consistent with intelligibility and with
justice to the translators. It will be seen that, in a number of
cases in which my version of the Chinese text differs from that
of the majority, I am nevertheless supported by some one or
more of the scholars who have previously studied the subject.

262

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

No.

Character

Page.

Sound.

DEFINITION.

Translation.

T/C

144

724

FU
SANG

To assist, support.
The mulberry tree.

FU-
SANG.

144

Same as 1.

FU-

ixi'v

724

SANG

Same as 2.

SANG

. 491

KWOH

A state, country, region.

COUNTRY

CHE

This, that ; indicates the sub
ject of the proposition.

REGARDING :

in the

reign of the

ffjK

966

TS'I

The name of a dynasty.

TS'I

J 1

dynasty,

in the years called

/Tc

1149

YUNG

Perpetual, eternal, final.

EVERLASTING

1134

YUEN

The first, the commencement.

FOUNDATION,

in the

1134

YUEN

Same as 9.

FIRST

<¥

634

NIEN

A year.

YEAR,

3£

342

K'l

He, she, it, that, there.

THAT

491

KWOH

Same as 6.

COUNTRY

1113

YIU

To have, to be, existence.

HAD

£J*

730

SHA

Sand, gravel. ( Transcription

a SHA

•j of the San-

576

MA.X

A gate, a door. ( skritSramana.

MAN

named

265

HWUI

Intelligent, wise, mild.

HWUI

$p*

736

SHAN

Deep, profound, learned.

SHAN

498

LAI

To come, to reach.

who
CAME

CHI

To arrive, to, at.

• if

403

KING

A thorny bush. { Name of a
I Chinese

KING-

CHEU

An islet, a dis- j political
trict, a region. [ district.

CHE U

and

ift

788

SHWOH

To speak, narrate.

TOLD

the following

"zr

1142

YUN

To speak, say, circulate.

STORY :

THE DESCRIPTION OF FU-SANG. 263

The following is the account which has been preserved for us. It was
given by a priest who went to China in the year 499 A. D. in the reign of
the Toy dynasty.

In the first of the years young yuan of the reign of Fe-ti, of the dynasty
of 77m, a Chamen (or Buddhist priest) called Hoei chin, arrived from the
country of Fu-sang at King-tchcou. He related what follows :

During the reign of the Tsi dynasty, in the first year of the years bear
ing the designation " Eternal Origin " (i. e., in the year 499 of our era),
there came a Buddhist priest from this kingdom, who was called by his
cloister-name of Hoei-schin, i. e., "Universal Sympathy," to King-tscheu—
an old name for the present district of Hu-Kuang and several adjoining
districts — who said :

(Not translated.)

The kingdom of Fu-sang (was made known to the Chinese) in the first
year of the period Yong-Youen of the dynasty of the Thsi (499). In this
kingdom there was a Cha-men, named Hoei-chin, who came into the dis
trict of King-tcheou. He related that which follows :

In regard to the kingdom of Fu-sang, the first year, yung-youen, of the
dynasty of Tsi, there was a Cha-men, or Buddhist priest of this kingdom,
called Hod-chin, who arrived at the city of King-tcheou, and who reported
that which follows :

In the first year of the reign Yung-yuen of the emperor Tung Hw&n-
hau, of the Tsi dynasty (A. D. 499), a Shaman priest named Hwui-shin ar
rived at King-chau from the kingdom of Fusang. He related as follows :

In the first year of the reign of the Ts'i dynasty, known by the desig
nation YUNG-YUEN, or "Everlasting Foundation" (i. e., in the year
499 A. D.), a Shaman, or Buddhist priest, named Hwui SHAN, came to
KI.NG-CHEU from that country, and narrated the following account regard
ing the country of FU-SANG (or FU-SANG-KWOH).

264:

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

No.

Character

Page.

Sound.

DEFINITION.

Translation.

144

Same as 1.

FU-

724

SANG

Same as 2.

SANG

941

839

TSAI
TA

To be in or at, to dwell.
Great, chief, prominent.

IS SITUATED

from the

GREAT

164

IIAN

A Chinese, relating to China ;
name of a river ; the milky
way.

HAN

30
31

491
930

KWOH
TUNG

Same as 5.

The spring of the year, east,
eastward.

COUNTRY

to the

EAST

- '

721

•BH

Two ; the second ; to duplicate.

TWICE

1040

WAN

Ten thousand ; many ; an in
definite number.

TEN THOUSAND

1121

The rest, the remnants, super
abundant.

35
36

518

879

LI
TI

A Chinese mile, which has
been of various lengths,
from 1,158 to 1,894 feet.

The earth, a place, land.

(Chinese miles).
That
PLACE

941

105

TSAI
CHUNG

Same as 27.
The middle, center.

IS SITUATED

at the

MIDDLE

491

KWOH

Same as 5.

COUNTRY

CHI

Sign of the genitive case.

930

TUNG

Same as 31.

EAST.

342

K'l

Same as 12.

THAT

43
44

920
909

T'U
TO

The earth, a region, place.
Numerous, many, often.

REGION

has

MANY

144

Same as 1.

FU-

724

SANG

Same as 2.

SANG

607
434

MUH
KU

Wood, a tree.

The cause, because, for, for-
merlyr old.

TREES,

and it is

BECAUSE

THE DESCRIPTION OF FU-SANG.

265

The kingdom of Fusany is situated twenty thousand li to the east of
the country of Tahan. It is also east of China. It produces a great
number of trees called fusang,

Fusang is twenty thousand li to the east of the country of Tahan, and
equally to the east of China. In this country there grow many trees
called fusang,

Fusang is about twenty thousand Chinese miles distant from Ta-han
in an easterly direction. The land lies easterly from the Middle King-
dom. Many fusang trees grow here,

The country of Fou-so is situated at the east of the country of Tai-kan.
According to the authority of the work entitled Toung-tien, Fou-so is dis
tant from the country of Tai-kan in an easterly direction about 20,000 li.
It is placed to the east of the " Middle Kingdom " (China). Many trees,
called Fou-so-mok (Hibiscus rosa sinensis), are found there. (In Japanese,
" SONO TSOUTSI NI FOU-SO-MOK ONOSi," " In hanc terram FOU-SO [sic vocati]
arbores multi sunt "),

This kingdom is situated about twenty thousand li to the east of the
kingdom of Ta-han. This country is to the east of the Middle Kingdom.
It produces a great number of fusang trees,

Fu-sang is situated more than twenty thousand li to the east of the
kingdom of Ta-han, and is equally to the east of China. It contains
many fu-sang trees,

Fu-sang lies east of the kingdom of Ta-han more than twenty thou
sand li; it is also east of the Middle Kingdom. It produces many fu
sang trees,

FU-SANG is situated twice ten thousand LI (Chinese miles) or more to
the east of the Great HAN country. That land is also situated at the east
of the Middle Kingdom (China). That region has many FU-SANG trees,
and it is from

266

AX INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

No.

Character

Page.

Sound.

DEFINITION.

Translation.

I/I

rx^»

278

By^ans^oMo Because;to

OF THESE

SslVwi 'fbS'tS

trees that they

ywj

1047

WEI

To do, to mate. °Pinion-

GIVE

the country its

600

MING

A name, a title, famous.

NAME.

144

Same as 1.

The FU-

724

SANG

" " 2

SANG

x'l^

5?t

1081

YEII

The leaves of plants.

LEAVES

"(El

837

SZ'

Like, appearing, resembling.

RESEMBLE

IPI

934

T'UNG

The name of a tree. (As this
character differs from the

one given in the Liang -87m,
the true reading is uncertain.)

and the

ciru

To begin, the first.

FIRST

^fe

742

SHlNG

To produce, bear, grow, come

SPROUTS

forth.

are

297

As, like, to equal.

813

SIUN

The tender shoots of bamboo.

( BAMBOO
\ SHOOTS.

The

[^1

491

KWOH

Same as 5.

COUNTRY

'" *

286

JAN

A human being.

PEOPLE

766

SHIH

To eat or drink, take food.

EAT

CHI

Same as 40. A pronoun in

THEM

the accusative.

and the (or a)

fli

769

SHIH

Fruit of plants ; real, solid.

FRUIT

-^^

which is

297

Same as 59.

•^

515

A pear.

PEAR,

719

'RH

And, if, still, on the contrary.

BUT

^fc

CH'IH

A reddish carnation ; light-red

REDDISH.

•S*

colour.

They

986

TSIH

To spin thread.

SPIN THREAD

from

342

K'l

Same as 12.

THEIR

j£

679

Skin, leather, a surface, bark.

BARK,

THE DESCRIPTION OF FtJ-SANG. 267

from which has come the name borne by the country. The leaves of the
fusang are similar to those of the tree which the Chinese call tony. When
they first appear, they resemble the shoots of the reeds called bamboos,
and the people of the country eat them. The fruit has the form of a
pear, and inclines toward red in colour ; from its bark they make cloth,

of which the leaves resemble those of the thming (Bignonia Tomentosa),
and the first shoots those of the bamboo. The people of the country eat
them. The bark of this tree is prepared in the same way as that of hemp,

whose leaves resemble the Dryandra Cordifolia, but the sprouts, on the
contrary, those of the bamboo, and these are eaten by the inhabitants of the
land. The fruit in its form resembles a pear, but is red. A species of
linen cloth is prepared from the bark,

Their leaves are similar to those of the t6 tree ; when they are young
they are like bamboo sprouts, and the natives eat them. Their fruits are
like pears, and of a red colour. The fibers of the bark are drawn out

and it is from this fact that it derives its name. In its leaves, the fu
sang tree resembles the thong tree (Paullownia imperialis). When they
commence to grow they are like the (edible) shoots of the bamboo. The
inhabitants eat them. The fruits of this tree resemble pears, but they
are red. They spin (the fibers of) the bark,

and it is from this fact that its name is derived. The leaves of the fu-
sang tree are similar to those of the long tree (according to Leland, the
Dryanda cordata or El&ococca verucosa). When the fu-sang commences
to grow, it resembles the young sprouts of the bamboo, and the inhabit
ants of the country eat it. Its fruit has the form of a pear, and is of a
red colour. From its bark they make a cloth,

from which it derives its name. The leaves of the fu-sang resemble those
of the tung tree. It sprouts forth like the bamboo, and the people eat
the shoots. Its fruit resembles the pear, but is red ; the bark is spun

these trees that the country derives its name. The leaves of the FU-SANO

resemble ? and the first sprouts are like those of the bamboo. The

people of the country eat them and the (or a) fruit, which is like a pear
(in form), but of a reddish colour. They spin thread from their bark,

268

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

No.

Characfr

Page.

Sound.

DEFINITION.

Translation.

1047

WEI

Same as 50.

from which they
MAKE

ffi

713

Cotton, linen, or hempen
fabrics.

CLOTH,

75
76

278

1047

I
WEI

Same as 49.
" " 50.

OF WHICH

they

MAKE

270

Clothes, garments.

CLOTHING,

sfc

1093

YIH

And, also.

AND

79
80

278
1047

WEI

Same as 49.
" " 50.

OF WHICH

they

MAKE

399

KIN

A kind of thin brocade.
The Liang-shu has here
the character MIEN, jg,
which signifies fine silk,
soft.

FINER MATERIAL.

They

f£

1005

TSOH

To act, to do, to make.

MAKE

with

84
85

J?R

sfn£

int
7m

651

1064
1059

PAN

WUII

A board, a plank for
building adobe walls.

A house, a cabin.
None, not, destitute of.

PLANKS OF THE
KIND USED FOR
BUILDING ADOBE
WALLS, their
HOUSES.
They are

DESTITUTE OF

CITING

A citadel, a walled city.

CITADELS
and

492

KWOH

The second wall of a large
city.

WALLED CITIES.
They

1113

YIU

Same as 14.

HAVE

1041

WlN

Lines, marks, literature,
literary.

LITERARY

1032

TSZ'

A character in writing;
writing.

CHARACTERS.

They

278

Same as 49.

USE

the

144

« « i

FU-

III

724

SANG

« (( 0

SANG

94
95

679
1047

P'l
WEI

" " 72.
" " 50.

BARK
to
MAKE

lii

56
I

CHI

Paper, stationery, a docu
ment.

PAPER.

THE DESCRIPTION OF FU-SANG. 269

and other stuffs with which the people clothe themselves, and the boards
which are made from it are employed in the construction of their houses.
No walled cities are found there. The people have a species of writing,

and cloth and clothing are made of it. Flowered stuffs are also manu
factured from it. Wooden planks are used for the construction of their
houses, for in this country there are no cities, and no walled habitations.
The inhabitants have a species of writing, and make paper from the bark
of ihefusany.

and is used for clothing, and a species of flowered tissue is also prepared
from it. The houses are made of wooden beams. Fortified places and
walled places are unknown. Written characters are used in this land,
and paper is made from the bark of the fu-sang.

to make cloth, from which clothing is made.

The planks of the tree are employed to build their houses. In this
country there are no cities. The natives have a method of writing, and
they make clothing (sic) from the bark of the fou-so tree.

and from them make cloth to make their garments.

They also make from them a species of brocade («<•). (The inhabitants)
construct houses of planks. They have no walled cities. They have a
writing, and make paper from the (fibers of the) bark of the fu-sang.

suitable for making clothing, and also thinner fabrics, which have the
appearance of silk. The houses are constructed of planks. Neither for
tified cities nor walled enclosures are found in Fusang ; but the people
have a method of writing, and make paper from the bark of i\\Q fu-sang.

into cloth for dresses ; and woven into brocade. The houses are made of
planks. There are no walled cities with gates. The [people] use charac
ters and writing, making paper from the bark of the fu-*ang.

from which they make cloth, of which they make clothing. They also
manufacture a finer fabric from it. In constructing their houses they use
planks, such as are generally used when building adobe walls. They have
no citadels or walled cities. They have literary characters, and make
paper from the bark of the FU-SANG.

270

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

No.

Character

Page.

Sound.

DEFINITION.

Translation.

They

1059

Same as 85.

ARE DESTI
TUTE OF

698

PING

A soldier, troops, a weapon,
military.

MILITARY
WEAPONS

and

355

KIAH

Armour, a soldier, military.

ARMOUR,

and they do

100

717

PUH

No, not.

NOT

101

Bfe

461

KUNG

To attack, to fight with, to

WAGE

rouse.

102

Mfe

CHEN

To join battle, a battle, war,

WAR

military.

103

342

K'l

Same as 12.

THAT

104

491

KWOH

" " 5.

KINGDOM.

According to their

105

^2r

123

FAH

A law, a rule, a religion.

RULES

(of law or religion)

—f—*

they

106

1113

YIU

Same as 14.

HAVE

t 2

107

614

NAN

The south, to go south, sum

SOUTHERN

mer.

and a

108

^l(j

709

POH

The north, to separate, op

NORTHERN

pose.

jf-=>T»

( PLACE OF

109

1139

YUH

A prison, a jail.

I CONFINE-

f MENT.

110

^fer

296

JOII

As, if, perhaps, like.

they

111

1113

YIU

Same as 14.

HAVE

112'

128

FAN

To offend, violate ; a criminal.

CRIMINAL

who has

113

407

KING

Light, not heavy, slight.

SLIGHTLY

114

f£

1016

TSUI

Trespass, crime, sin; pun

SINNED,

ishment.

115

CHE

Same as 6.

116

299

JUH

To enter, go into.

ENTERS

the

117

614

NAN

Same as 107.

SOUTHERN

L18

1139

YUH

" " 109.

PRISON,

but if his

L19

1016

TSUI

" " 114.

CRIME

120

108

CHUNG

Heavy, weighty, important.

WEIGHS

TEE DESCRIPTION OF FU-SANG. 271

and they love peace. Two prisons, one placed in the south and the other
in the north, are designed to confine their criminals, with this difference,

that the most guilty

They have no weapons or armies, and do not make war. According to
the laws of the kingdom, there are a southern prison and a northern
prison. Those who have committed crimes that are not very serious are
sent to the southern prison, but great criminals

The people have no weapons, and carry on no wars. According to the
regulations of the kingdom, there exist, however, a southern and a north
ern prison. The petty transgressors are shut up in the southern, and the
greater

They have no offensive weapons or defensive armour, and do not wage wars
between themselves.

They have neither armour nor lances, and do not wage war. According to
the laws of the kingdom, there are two prisons, that of the south and that
of the north. Those who have committed a misdemeanour of small mag
nitude are confined in the southern prison ; and those who have committed

They have no soldiers, and no thought of making war. According to the
laws of their kingdom, there exist a northern prison and a southern pris
on. Those who have committed crimes of little gravity are sent to the
southern prison, while the great criminals

There are no mailed soldiers, for they do not carry on war. The law of
the land prescribes a southern and a northern prison. Criminals convicted
of light crimes are .put into the former, and those guilty of grievous of
fences

They have no military weapons or armour, and they do not wage war in
that kingdom.

According to their rules (of government or of religion) they have a
southern and a northern place of confinement. An offender who has
transgressed but slightly enters the southern place of confinement, but
if 'he has sinned heavily

272

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

No.

Character.

Page.

Sound.

DEFINITION.

Translation.

121

CHE

Same as 6.

122

299

JUH

" " 116.

ENTERS

the

123

^f(j

709

POH

" " 108.

NORTHERN

124

*5fc

1139

YUH

" " 109.

PRISON.

wH/V

If he may

125

1113

YIU

" " 14.

HAVE

126

748

SHE

To remit punishment, par

PARDON,

don, forgive.

127

956

TSEH

A rule, law, precept; be

THEN

? » "T

cause, then.

he is

128

135

FANG

To let go, liberate ; indulge ;

SENT AWAY

to send away.

(or possibly from

r£7

the)

129

PfJ

614

NAN

Same as 107.

SOUTHERN

130

1139

YUH

" " 109.

PRISON,

but if there is

131

717

PUH

" " 100.

132

748

SHE

" " 126.

PARDON

' These three

for

133

CHE

" « 6. words are not

HIM,

found in the

134

956

TSEH

text of Ma
" 127. J Twan-lin. They

THEN

are inserted

he is

135

FANG

u « 190 here on the
•-0' authority of Mr.

SENT AWAY

136

Ifc

709

POH

Kwong fci Chiu.
" " 108.

to the
NORTHERN

137

1139

YUH

" " 109.

PRISON.

The

138

941

TSAI

" " 27.

DWELLERS

. in the

139

709

POH

" " 108.

NORTHERN

140

1139

YUH

" " 109.

PRISON,

141

CHE

" " 6.

THOSE

142

614

NAN

The male of the human spe

MEN

cies, a man, a son.

and

143

641

NtJ

Women, a lady, a wife,

WOMEN,

young.

when they (have)

144

ffi

790

SIANG

Mutually, together, to assist,

TOGETHER

to examine, look at.

THE DESCRIPTION OF FU-SANG. 273

are placed in the northern prison, and are afterward transferred into that
of the south, if they obtain their pardon ; otherwise they are condemned
to remain all their lives in the first.
They are permitted to

are shut up in the northern one. Those who may receive their pardon
are sent to the first ; those, on the contrary, to whom it can not be ac
corded, are confined in the northern prison. The men and the women
who are shut up in the latter are permitted to

in the northern prison, so that those who may be pardoned are placed in
the southern jail, while, upon the contrary, those as to whom this is not
the case are confined in the northern prison. The men and women con
fined here for life are allowed to

(Not translated.)

n the northern prison. If the culprit obtains pardon, he is put in the
southern prison, and if he does not obtain pardon, he is put in the
lorthern prison. In the northern prison, which receives criminals of the
wo sexes, if a man and woman

re confined in the northern prison, in such a manner that the southern
irison receives those who may obtain pardon, while those who can not be
>ardoned are placed in the northern prison, from which they can never be
eleased. Among the prisoners of the two sexes of the northern prison

nto the latter. Criminals, when pardoned, are let out of the southern
)rison ; but those in the northern prison are not pardoned. Prisoners in
he latter

e enters the northern place of confinement. If there is pardon for
im, then he is sent away to (or, possibly, from) the southern place of con-
nement, but if he can not be pardoned, then he is sent away to the

northern one. Those men and women dwelling in the northern place of

xrafinement, when they
18

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

No.

Character.

Page.

Sound.

DEFINITION.

Translation.

145

672

P'EI

A mate, a companion, as a

MATE

F-9U

wife; to pair, to mate,

(d)

equal.

and

146

742

SHlNG

Same as 68.

BEAR

- ' * *

(or have borne)

147

-51

614

NAN

" " 142.

MALE

x^y

children ; at

148

647

PAH

Eight.

EIGHT

149

827

SUI

A year of one's age, age,

YEARS

years, yearly.

of age they

150

/TT7|

1047

WEI

Same as 50.

MAKE

yin»|

them

151

640

A slave.

SLAVES,

S2^^

but if they

152

/fr

742

SHANG

Same as 58.

BEAR

- * *

• t.

(or have borne)

153

641

Nfl

" " 143.

FEMALE

~*s^

children, at

154

x w

413

KIU

Nine, many, deep.

NINE

155

827

SUI

Same as 149.

YEARS

>Sf»

of age they

156

yiuj

1047

WEI

" " 50.

MAKE

them

157

675

A maid-servant ; an unmar
ried female slave.

j FEMALE
{ SLAVES.

The

158
159

128
1016

FAN

TSUI

Same as 11 2. ( To transgress,
-| to commit a
" " 114. ( crime ; guilty.

t GUILTY

one

160

CHI

" " 40.

161

735

SHlN

The trunk, the body.

BODY

162

CHI

Same as 20.

UNTIL

(or at)

163

836

SZ'

Death, to die.

DEATH

164

717

PUH

Same as 100.

does
NOT

165

ffl

CH'UH

To go forth, to go out.

GO FORTH.

When a

166

484

KWEI

Honourable, noble, good.

NOBLE

167

286

JAN

Same as 62.

MAN

168

1113

YIU

" " 14.

HAS

THE DESCRIPTION OF FU-SANG. 275

marry, but their children are made slaves. When criminals are found
occupying one of the principal ranks in the nation

marry each other. The male children born from these unions are sold as
slaves at the age of eight years ; the girls at the age of nine years- The
criminals who are confined there never come forth alive.
When a man of high rank

marry. The boys born of these marriages become slaves when eight
years old, but the girls not until they have passed their ninth year.
When a man of high rank

(Not translated.)

have commerce with each other, and, if a boy is born, he is enslaved at
the age of eight years ; if a girl is born, she is enslaved at the age of nine
years. The men who have committed a crime remain in prison until their
death. When a nobleman

marriages are permitted. The children which are born of these unions
become slaves, the boys at the age of eight years, and the girls at the age
of nine years. When a person of elevated rank

marry. Their boys become bondmen when eight years old, and the girls
bondwomen when nine years old. Convicted criminals are not allowed to
leave their prison while alive. When a nobleman (or an official) has

mate (or have mated) and bear (or have borne) children ; the boys are
made slaves at the age of eight years, and the girls at the age of nine
years. The criminal (or the criminal's body) is not allowed to go out up
to (or at) the tune of his death. When a nobleman has

276

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

No.

Character

Page.

Sound.

DEFINITION.

Translation.

169

1016

TSUI

Same as 114.

TRANSGRESSED,

the

170

|^j

491

KWOH

" " 5.

COUNTRY

171

286

JlN

" " 62.

PEOPLE,
in a

172

~fc

839

" " 28.

GREAT

173

264

HWUI

To collect, assemble ; an as

ASSEMBLY,

sembly, meeting.

174

1002

TSO

To sit, squat, kneel ; to sit

SIT

in judgment on.

in judgment
on the

175

1016

TSUI

Same as 114.

TRANSGRESSING

176

286

JlN

" " 62.

MAN,

177

~fjk

1118

A preposition, in, at, on,

with, by, to be in, to oc

cupy a position.

178

Eft

323

K'ANG

A ditch, excavation, pit;
a tumulus.

( EXCAVATED
| TUMULUS.

179

924

TUI

To front, opposite, to re

IN FRONT OF

spond, a sign of the da

tive.

180

CHI

Same as 40.

HIM

they

181

1090

YEN

A feast, a banquet, merri

FEAST

ment.

and

182

life

1102

YIN

To drink, to receive, con

DRINK,

cealed.

and

183

129

FAN

To separate, divide, share,

SEPARATE

distribute.

from him

184

447

KtfEH

Parting or dying words, a

TAKING LEAVE

farewell, to take leave.

of him

185

296

JOH

Same as 110.

if from a

186

836

SZ'

" " 163.

DYING

187

E'J

684

PIEH

To separate, divide, to

man
SEPARATING

'» *

part, to leave, a parting,

moreover.

188

1082

YEN

A final affirmative particle.

TRULY.

189

278

Same as 49.

WITH

190

260

HWUI

Ashes, embers, lime, dust.

ASHES

they

191

«|2E

292

JAO

To wind around, to be en

SURROUND

tangled in, to go about,

to environ.

192

CHI

Same as 40.

HIM

THE DESCRIPTION OF FU-SANG. 277

the other chiefs assemble around them ; they place them in a ditch, and
hold a great feast in their presence. They are then judged. Those who
have merited death are buried alive in ashes,

commits a crime, the people assemble in great numbers. They sit down
face to face with the criminal, who is placed in a ditch, and regale them
selves with a banquet, and take leave of him as of a dying man. Then
he is surrounded by ashes.

commits a crime, a great assembly of the people of the kingdom is called,
and a banquet is held in the presence of the criminal, which takes place
in an excavation. There they bestrew him with ashes, and take leave of
him as of a dying person.

(Not translated.)

commits a crime, the inhabitants gather together in a great assembly.
The culprit is placed in a subterraneous place, and food and drink are
placed before him ; then they take leave of him as when one takes leave
of one that is dead. He is surrounded with ashes.

commits a crime, the people of the kingdom assemble in great numbers,
place the criminal in an excavation, celebrate a banquet in his presence,
and take leave of him as of a dying man. Then he is surrounded with
ashes.

been convicted of crime, the great assembly of the nation meets and
places the criminal in a hollow (or pit) ; they set a feast, with wjjne, be
fore him, and then take leave of him. If the sentence is a capital one,
at the time they separate they surround (the body) with ashes.

committed a crime, the people of the country hold a great assemblage and
sit in judgment on the culprit, in an excavated tumulus. They feast and
drink before him, and bid him farewell when parting from him, as if
taking leave of a dying man. Then they surround him with ashes

278

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

No.

Character

Page.

Sound.

DEFINITION.

Translation.

193

342

K'l

Same as 12.

THERE.

•"^^

If of

194

— •

1095

YIH

One, the first, the same.

ONE

195

108

CHUNG

Same as 120. To repeat, to

WEIGHT,

add, a time, again, a classi

fier of thickness or layers.

196

956

TSEH

Same as 127.

THEN

197

1095

YIH

" " 194.

ONE

198

735

SHAN

" " 161.

BODY

-^j

(or person) was

199

702

P'ING

A screen-wall, a de- "

HIDDEN

fence, to hide, to

expel, to reject ; to To

spoil, as robbers. keep

back.

200

*M,

926

T'UI

To retreat, draw back,

AWAY.

abate, yield.

If of

201

721

'RH

Same as 32.

DOUBLE

202

108

CHUNG

" " 120.

WEIGHT,

203

Mil

956

TSEH

" " 127.

THEN

204

if*

735

SHAN

" " 161.

the
BODIES

were

205

394

KIH

To effect, to reach to, to im
plicate, also, concerning.

IMPLICATED

of the

206

~¥*

1030

TSZ'

A child, a son, a boy, an heir.

CHILDREN

•9-r

and

207

J^j*

829

SUN

A grandson, a grandchild,

GRANDCHIL

suckers.

DREN.

If of

208

723

SAN

Three, thrice, several.

TRIPLE

209

108

CHUNG

Same as 120.

WEIGHT,

210

CHE

" " 6.

of
THOSE

211

Mil

956

TSEH

" " 127.

THEN

212

1%.

394

KIH

" " 205.

were
IMPLICATED

213

-k

987

TS'IH

Seven.

SEVEN

214

ttfc

763

SHI

An age, a generation; the

GENERATIONS.

world; times, seasons.

The

215

600

MING

Same as 51.

TITLE

216

491

KWOII

" " 6.

of the
COUNTRY

THE DESCRIPTION OF FU-SANG. 279

and their posterity is punished according to the magnitude of the crime.

For an offense of little gravity, the criminal alone is punished, but for
a great crime, the culprit, his sons, and grandsons, are punished ; finally,
for the greatest offenses, his descendants to the seventh generation are
included in the punishment.

If the transgressor is of low rank, he alone is punished ; if of higher
rank, the punishment falls upon his children and grandchildren also, and,
if of the highest rank, the punishment reaches to the seventh generation.

(Not translated.)

If a man has committed a grave crime, he alone is cut off from society.
If he has committed two grave crimes, the same punishment is visited
also upon his children and his nephews ; if he has committed three, this
punishment is extended to the seventh generation.

If the crime is only one of the first degree, the criminal alone is pun
ished ; if the crime is of the second degree, his children and grandchild
ren are punished with him ; and, finally, if the crime is of the third degree,
the descendants of the criminal to the seventh generation are included in
his chastisement.

For crimes of the first grade, the sentence involves only the person of
the culprit ; for the second, it reaches the children and grandchildren ;
while the third extends to the seventh generation.

there. For a single crime (or a crime of the first magnitude), only one
person (the culprit) was hidden (or sent) away. For two crimes (or a
crime of the second magnitude), the children and grandchildren were
included in the punishment. For three crimes (or a crime of the third
magnitude), seven generations were included in the punishment.

280

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

No.

Character

Page.

Sound.

DEFINITION.

Translation.

217

I£

1043

WANG

A king, a ruler, royal, to be

KING

a king.

218

s^v

1047

WEI

Same as 50.

MADE

the

219

£j

1096

YIH

One ; bent ; often used as a

CHIEF

pedantic form of — YIH,

meaning, one, the first.

of the

220

§15

345

K'l

Full, abundant, very, large,

MULTITUDES.

/1*1™

numerous, multitudes, a

crowd of people.

The

221

484

KWEI

Same as 166.

NOBLE

222

286

JAN

" " 62.

MEN

of the

223

~ff

879

A series, an order. Tlaced

}

5ri

before figures, it forms the

ordinal numbers.

J- FIRST

224

1095

YIH

Same as 194.

rank,

225

CHE

" " 6.

THESE

are

226

1047

WEI

" " 50.

MADE

227

924

TUI

" " 179.

TUI-

228

j®

554

A vessel for containing rice,

LU;

a fire-pan, a grog-shop,

black.

of the

229

879

Same as 223.

[ SECOND

230

721

'RH

" " 32.

231

^s*

CHE

" " 6.

rank,
THESE

232

is;

y»»ij

1047

WEI

" " 50.

are
MADE

233

795

SIAO

Small, little, inferior.

LITTLE

234

924

TUI

Same as 179.

TUI-

235

554

" " 228.

LU;

of the

236

879

" " 223.

)

237

— *

723

SAN

" " 208.

[ THIRD
) rank,

238

CHE

" " 6.

THESE

239

1047

WEI

" " 50.

are
MADE

240

611

NAH

To enter, to receive, to insert,

NAH-

MM V

within.

THE DESCRIPTION OF FU-SANG. 281

The king bears the title of noble Y-chi, the nobles of the nation after
him are the great and petty Touy-lou, and the

The name of the king of the country is Y-khi (or YU-khi). The nobles
of the first class are called Toui-lou ; those of the second, little Toui-lou ;
and those of the third

The name of the king is pronounced "Ichi "; the nobles of the first
class are called "Tuilu"; the second class, "Little Tui-lu"; and those of
the third class

They give to their king the name of Kiki-zw, that is to say, " the most
honourable man,"

The king is called Lid. The nobles of the first class are the Toui-lou ;
those of the second class, the little Toui-lou ; those of the third class, the

The king is called Y-Jci. The nobility of the first class are called toui-
lou ; those of the second class, little toui-lou ; and those cf the third class

The king of this country is termed yueh-Jci ; the highest rank of nobles
is called tui-lu ; the next, little tui-lu ; and the lowest,

The title of the king of the country is " The chief of the multitudes."
The noblemen of the first rank are called " Tui-lu ",• those of the second
rank, " Little Tui-lu "; and those of the third rank,

282

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

No.

Character

Page.

Sound.

DEFINITION.

Translation.

241

PIH

921

TUH

To speak to one another, to

TUH

talk.

242

730

SHA

Same as 15.

SHA.

•-^

The

243

jl^j

491

KWOH

" " 5.

COUNTRY

244

1043

WANG

" " 217.

KING,

• 1 -*

> — *

when he

245

207

HING

To step, to go to walk, to act,

WALKS

to do.

abroad,

246

1113

YIU

Same as 14.

HAS

247

434

A drum, to drum, to excite.

DRUMS

and

248

409

KIOH

A horn, a corner, to gore.

HORNS

249

3iir

867

TAO

To lead, to conduct.

LEADING

»j "

and

250

^St

1024

TS'UNG

A clan, a family, posterity, to

FOLLOWING.

follow, followers.

251

342

K'l

Same as 12.

HIS

252

270

" " 77.

CLOTHES

253

727

SEH

Air, manner, form, colour,

COLOUR,

hue, complexion, mode,

sort, glory, beauty.

254

826

SUI

To accord, to follow, to com

ACCORDING TO

ply with, according to.

the

255

634

NIEN

Same as 11.

YEARS'

256

307

KAI

To change, to alter, to amend,

CHANGES,

to correct.

257

281

YIH

The mutations or alterations

IS CHANGED.

?7J

in nature, as of the sun or

moon; to change.

The

258

355

KIAH

Same as 99. The first year of

FIRST

the cycle.

and

259

1096

YIH

Same as 219. The second year

SECOND

of the cycle.

260

634

NIEN

Same as 11.

YEARS,

261

995

TS'ING

The green of plants or the
blue of the sky.

they are
BLUE

(or green);

262

699

PING

The third of the ten stems.

the
THIRD

263

903

TING

The fourth of the ten stems.

and
FOURTH

264

634

NIEN

Same as 11.

YEARS,

THE DESCRIPTION OF FU-SANG. 283

Na-to-cha. The prince is preceded by drums and horns when he goes
abroad. He changes the colour of his garments every year.

Natu-cha. When the king goes forth, he is accompanied by drums and
horns. He changes the colour of his garments at different epochs. In
the years of the cycle Ida and i, they are blue ; in the years ping and
ting,

"Na-to-scha" When the prince goes out he is accompanied by drums and
horns. The colour of his clothes is different in different years. In the
two first of the ten-year cycle they are blue ; in the next two,

When the latter walks abroad he is accompanied by drums and trumpets.
At different periods of the year he changes the colour of his garments. In
the cyclic years kia and i, they are blue ; in the years ping and ting, they

Na-to-cha. When the king goes forth, he is accompanied with drums and
horns. The colour of his garments is changed according to the years. In
the years marked with the cyclic signs Kia and I they are green ; in the
years marked with the cyclic signs Ping and Ting they are

na-to-cha. When the king goes abroad he is accompanied with drums and
trumpets, which precede and follow him. He changes the colour of his
garments according to the order of the years. In the years (of the cycle
called) kia and y his garments are of a blue or green colour. In the years
ping and ting they are of a

no-cha-sha. When the king goes abroad he is preceded and followed by
drummers and trumpeters. The color of his robes varies with the years
in the cycle containing the ten stems. It is azure in the first two years ;
in the second two years it is

NAH-TO-SHA. The king of the country, when he walks abroad, is pre
ceded and followed with drums and horns. The colour of his garments is
changed according to the mutations of the years. The first and second
years (of a ten-year cycle) they are blue (or green) ; the third and fourth
years they are

284:

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

Character

Page.

Sound.

DEFINITION.

Translation.

265

^
•^

CH'IH

Same as 69.

RED;

the

266

1063

The fifth of the ten stems.

FIFTH

i^i

and

267

337

The sixth of the ten stems.

SIXTH

268

634

NIEN

Same as 11.

YEARS

269

iff

252

HWANG

The colour of earth, yellow.

YELLOW;

•^

the

270

J^t

321

KING

The seventh of the ten stems.

SEVENTH

271

806

SIN

The eighth of the ten stems.

EIGHTH

272

&£

634

NIEN

Same as 11.

YEARS

273

706

POH

White, clear, bright, pure.

WHITE ;

the

274

^f+

287

JlN

The ninth of the ten stems.

NINTH

and

275

483

KWEI

The last of the ten stems.

TENTH

276

££

634

NIEN

Same as 11.

YEARS

277

218

HOH

Black, dark.

BLACK.

0 ilv

They

278

'pf

1113

YIU

Same as 14.

HAVE

279

2fc.

638

NIU

An ox, a cow, a bull, cattle,

CATTLE-

some kinds of deer.

280

^t
y^j

409

KIOH

Same as 248.

HORNS ;

the

281

CH'ANG

Long, in time or distance,

LONG

constantly, direct, straight,

old, to grow, too heavy.

ones are

282

J^t

278

Same as 49.

USED

of the

283

409

KIOH

" " 248.

HORNS

284

941

TSAI

A year, to contain, to fill in,

TO CONTAIN

to bear.

285

1065

WUH

A thing, matter, substance,

THINGS.

an article, goods.

They

286

CHI

Same as 20.

REACH

the

287

}ffi

771

SHING

To bear, to sustain, to raise,

BEST

to conquer, to excel, supe

rior, best, excellent, to add.

of them, to

288

721

'RH

Same as 32.

TWICE

THE DESCRIPTION OF FU-SANG. 285

The cattle of the country bear a considerable weight upon their horns.

red ; in the years ou and ki, yellow ; in the years Iceng and sin, white ;
finally, in those which have the characters jin and kouei, they are black.
The cattle have long horns, upon which burdens are loaded which weigh
as much sometimes as

red ; in the two following years, white ; and in the two last, black. The
oxen have such large horns that they contain as much as ten sheepskins ;
the people use them to keep all kinds of goods.

red, etc.

red ; in the years marked with the signs Meou and Sse, they are yellow ;
in the years marked with the cyclic signs Keng and Sin, they are white ;
in the years marked with the signs Jin and Kouei, they are black. They
have cattle whose horns are very long, and who bear upon their horns a
weight as great as

of a red colour ; they are of a yellow colour in the years ou and ki; of a
white colour in the years keng and sin; and of a black colour in the years
jin and kouei. Ox-horns are found in Fusang so large that their capacity
is sometimes as great as two

red ; it is yellow in the third ; white in the fourth ; and black in the last
two years. There are oxen with long horns, so long that they will hold
things — the biggest as much as

red ; the fifth and sixth years, yellow ; the seventh and eighth years,
white ; and the ninth and tenth years, black. They have cattle-horns, of
which the long ones are used to contain (some of their) possessions, the
best of them reaching (a capacity of) twice

286

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

No.

Character.

Page.

Sound.

DEFINITION.

Translation.

289

768

SHIH

Ten.

TEN

times as much

290

233

HUH

(From a peck measure and a horn.)
The Chinese bushel, holding ten
pecks, or a picul, according to

as an ordinary
HORN-MEAS
URE.

some; but the common table

makes it measure five pecks, or
half a picul. At Shanghai the

They

291

1113

YIU

(Same as 14)

huh for rice holds only 2-05 pints,
and that for peas, 1-86 pint. The
Buddhists use it for a full picul
of 133X Ibs., av., but the Hindu
drona, which the huh represents,

HAVE

weighs only 7 Ibs. 11 oz., av.

292

571

A horse, warlike, quick as a

HORSE-

tttg

horse.

293

CE'E

A wheeled carriage, a cart.

CARTS,

294

638

NIU

Same as 279.

CATTLE-

295

CH'E

" " 293.

CARTS,

and

296

562

LUH

A deer, especially the males ;
stags which have horns.

DEER-

297

Iff

CH'E

Same as 293.

CARTS.

t^'

The

298

491

KWOH

" " 5.

COUNTRY

299

286

JAN

" " 62.

PEOPLE

300

1072

YANG

To nourish, rear, "bring up,

RAISE

tame ; to raise, educate.

301

JS§

662

LUH

Same as 296.

DEER

302

y,p

297

JO-

" " 59.

5»"

in the

303

Pff

105

CHUNG

" " 38.

MIDDLE

304

491

KWOH

" " 5.

KINGDOM

— »**•*

they

305

iif

CH'UH

To rear, to feed, to raise, to

RAISE

M-l

domesticate.

806

638

NIU

Same as 279.

CATTLE.

307

278

" " 49.

FROM

308

298

Jtr

Milk, milky, the breasts, the

MILK

nipple ; to suck, to nurse.

they

309

1047

w£i

Same as 50.

MAKE

310

§§

553

LOH

Cream, dried milk, racky [kou

KOUMISS.

miss] from mare's milk.

They

311

1113

YIU

Same as 14.

HAVE

312

CH'IH

" " 69.

the
RED

THE DESCRIPTION OF FU-SANG. 287

They are harnessed to wagons. Horses and deer are also employed for
this purpose. The inhabitants feed hinds, as in China, and from them
they obtain butter. A species of red

twenty ho (of 120 Chinese pounds). In this country they make use of
carts harnessed to cattle, horses, and deer. They rear deer there as they
raise cattle in China, and make cheese from the milk of the females.
A species of red

Horses, oxen, and deer are also harnessed to wagons. Deer are raised
here as cattle are in the " Middle Kingdom," and from the milk of the
hinds butter is made. The red

The natives raise deer, as cattle are raised, and make creamy dishes
from the milk of the animals.

twenty ho (the ho is a measure of ten bushels).

They have carts drawn by horses, cattle, and deer. The inhabitants
raise deer as cattle are raised in China. They make cheeses from milk.
There is a species of red

hundred bushels. They are used to contain all sorts of things. Carriages
also may be seen, to which horses, cattle, and deer are harnessed. The
inhabitants raise deer as cattle are raised in China ; the milk of the hinds
makes part of their food. They gather the red

five pecks. Vehicles are drawn by oxen, horses, and deer ; for the people
of that land rear deer just as the Chinese rear cattle, and make cream of
their milk. They have red

ten times as much as the capacity of a common horn. They have horse-
carts, cattle-carts, and deer-carts. The people of the country raise deer
as cattle are raised in the Middle Kingdom (China). From milk they
make koumiss. They have the red

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

No.

Character.

Page.

Sound.

DEFINITION.

Translation.

313

515

Same as 67.

PEARS

314

404

KING

The warp ; to pass through ;

THROUGH-

laws ; religious manuals.

out the

315

634

NIEN

Same as 11.

YEAR

316

/Y*

717

PUH

" " 100.

317

244

HWAI

Going or gone to ruin, to

SPOILED,

spoil, to injure, to perish,

spoiled, useless.

and

318

909

Same as 44. Many ; numer

™

ous.

319

715

P'U

The cat-tail rush, the cala

P'U-

mus, or sweet-flag.

320

$fc

870

T'AO

A peach, a nectarine, a flower-

T'AO-

bud.

es.

321

3£

342

K'l

Same as 12.

ITS

322

879

" " 36.

GROUND

jfm*

323

Tfft

1059

" " 85.

DESTITUTE OF

324

$16

893

T'lEH

Iron, made of iron, firm.

IRON,

^f*^

but it

325

1113

YIU

Same as 14.

HAS

326

934

T'UNG

Copper, brazen, coppery.

COPPER.

~ .«

They do

327

<r*

717

PUH

Same as 100.

NOT

328

ft*

484

KWEI

" " 166.

VALUE

329

398

KIN

Gold, gilded, yellow, precious.

GOLD

330

sill

1101

YIN

Silver, money, wealth.

SILVER.

Their

331

762

SHI

A market, crowded, vulgar,

MARKETS

to trade, salable.

are

332

1059

Same as 85.

DESTITUTE OF

333

ffl

1007

TSU

Rent or tax in kind from

TAXES

fields ; rental ; income ;

taxes.

and

334

433

To estimate, reckon, guess,

FIXED PRICES.

think, set a price on ; value,

worth, price.

When

335

342

Same as 12.

THEY

336

™

268

HWUN

A bridegroom, a husband, to

MARRY,

marry a wife.

THE DESCRIPTION OF FU-SANG. 289

pear is found there, which is kept for a year without spoiling ; also the
iris, and peaches, and copper in great abundance. They have no iron,
and gold and silver are not valued. He who wishes to marry

pear is found there which is preserved throughout the year. There are
also many vines. Iron is lacking, but copper is found. Gold and silver
are not esteemed. Commerce is free, and they do not haggle at all.
The practices regarding marriages are as follows :

pears of the fusang trees keep good throughout the whole year. In addi
tion, there are many apples and reeds, mats being made from the last.
There is no iron in this country, but copper is found. Gold and silver are
not valued, and do not serve as the medium of exchange in the markets.
Marriages are concluded in the following manner :

In this country there is no iron, but there is copper. Gold and silver
are not valued. In the markets no duties are levied.

pear which can be preserved for a year without spoiling. There are many
grapes. No mines of iron exist, but copper is very abundant. The in
habitants do not esteem either gold or silver. The public markets are
not subject to any duty. The laws relating to marriage are as follows :

pears which are preserved for an entire year, and they also have many
grapes. Their land does not contain any iron, but they have copper, ob
tained from their mines. Gold and silver among them have but little
value. The markets are free, and that which is sold does not have a
fixed price. In regard to marriage,

pears which will keep a year without spoiling ; water-rushes and peaches
are common. Iron is not found in the ground, though copper is ; they do
not prize gold or silver, and trade is conducted without rent, duty, or
fixed prices.

In matters of marriage

pears kept unspoiled throughout the year, and they also have TOMATOES.
The ground is destitute of iron, but they have copper. Gold and silver
are not valued. In their markets there are no taxes or fixed prices. When
they marry,

290

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

No.

Character

Page.

Sound.

DEFINITION.

Translation.

337

123

FAH

Same as 105. ) A rule, a pat-

it is the
RULE

[• tern to go

338

Hi]

956

TSEH

" " 127. ) by.

THEN

for the intending

339

its

790

A son-in-law.

SON-IN-LAW

340

1044

WANG

To go, formerly, past, the fu

TO GO

ture.

and the

341

I^C

641

Ntf

Same as 143.

WOMAN

342

§lc

351

KIA

A household, a family, a

DWELLING

dwelling.

343

576

MAN

Same as 16.

DOOR

344

1037

WAI

Outside, beyond, foreign, to
exclude.

OUTSIDE

345

>fjs

1005

TSOH

Same as 82.

TO MAKE

346

1064

WUH

" " 84.

HOUSE

(or cabin).

347

CH'AN

Morning, dawn.

MORNING
and

848

804

SIH

Evening, dusk, the last day

EVENING

of a month or year.

849

731

SIIA

To sprinkle, to scatter, deep

SPRINKLES

water.

and

350

jjj£

726

SAO

To sweep, to brush, to clean

SWEEPS

up, a broom.

(the ground)

851

404

KING

Same as 314.

THROUG fl

out a

852

638

NIEN

" " 11.

YEAR,

853

flff

719

'RH

" " 68.

AND

if the

354

641

" " 143.

WOMAN

•^^

355

717

PUH

" " 100.

NOT

356

1131

YUEH

Contented, delightful, to

PLEASED

agree to, willing.

with him,

357

984

TSIH

Eating, to go, now, soon, then,

THEN

forthwith.

she

358

ffg

443

K'U

To turn animals out of a field,

SENDS AWAY

to drive on, to lash, to or

der people into their prop

er places.

359

•S

CHI

Same as 40.

HIM;

360

790

SIANG

" " 144.

but if they are
MUTUALLY

THE DESCRIPTION OF FU-SANG. 291

builds a house or cabin near that of the maid whom he desires to wed,
and takes care to sprinkle a certain quantity of water upon the ground
every day during the year ; he finally marries the maid, if she wishes and
consents ; otherwise, he goes to seek his fortune elsewhere.

He who desires to wed a girl, establishes his cabin before the door of
the latter ; he sprinkles and sweeps the earth every morning and every
night. When he has practiced this formality for a year, if the maid will
not give her consent, he desists ; but if she is

the man builds himself a hut before the door of the house in which the
one lives whom he desires ; morning and evening he sprinkles and clears
the ground. When a year has passed, if the maiden does not consent, he
leaves her ; but if she

(Not translated.)

The future son-in-law goes into the family of the girl and constructs a
house, outside of her door ; morning and night he waters and sweeps
;he place. If, at the end of a year, the girl feels no love for him, she
sends him away ; but, if they are smitten with love for each other,

he customs of the country are as follows : the suitor constructs a dwell-
ng for himself before the door of the house in which dwells the young
woman whom he seeks. Morning and evening he sprinkles and sweeps
he earth in this place. At the end of a year, if the young woman is not
leased, she sends him away ; and, in the contrary case,

i is the law that the (intending) son-in-law must erect a hut before the
oor of the girl's house, and must sprinkle and sweep the place morn-
ng and evening for a whole year. If she then does not like him, she
ids him depart ; but if she is

t is the custom for the son-in-law to go and erect a house (or cabin) out-

ide of the door of the dwelling of the young woman (whom he desires to

marry). Morning and evening he sprinkles and sweeps (the ground) for

year, and, if the young woman is not pleased with him, she then sends

im away ; but if they are mutually

292

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

No.

Character

Page.

Sound.

DEFINITION.

Translation.

361

'It

1131

YUEH

Same as 356.

PLEASED,

362

JTj

612

NAI

But, it may be, doubtless,

THEN

moreover, if, then, there

they

ff^

upon.

363

CH'ING

To finish, to complete, to ac

COMPLETE

complish.

the

364

$H
"

268

HWUN

Same as 336.

MARRIAGE.

The

365

268

HWUN

" " 336.

MARRIAGE

366

520

An act, particularly an act of

CEREMONIES

worship, ceremony, rites,

for the

manners.

367

"A*

839

Same as 28. "I T

MOST

* >

In gen-

368

•U£

878

To oppose, to sus- I ^emost

PART

to'obtdn/6'1011 J Part

are

369

JSil

1125

YOr

By, with, to, as, as if.

in the

370

pff

105

CHUNG

Same as 38.

MIDDLE

371

491

KWOH

" " 5.

KINGDOM

•~"T

the

372

[§j

933

T'UNG

Together, all, identical, same,

SAME.

the same as.

Fora

373

991

TS'IN

To love, to approach, near,

FATHER,

intimate, a relative, a wife,

MOTHER,

kindred. The six TS'IN

WIFE, OR

are parents, brothers, wife,

SON,

. t

and sons.

they

374

725

SANG

To mourn, to lament for one's

MOURN

parents.

375

987

TS'IH

Same as 213.

SEVEN

376

293

JEII

A day, the sun, daily.

DAYS,

377

717

PUH

Same as 100.

NOT

378

766

SHIH

" " 63.

EATING.

379

1007

TSU

A grandfather, an an- "|

Fora
GRAND

cestor, the first, the 1

origin, to begin. A

V grand-

380

147

A rule, a father, an father.

FATHER

ancestor, a senior,

paternal. J

or grand-

381

'fif

605

A mother, a dam, the source

MOTHER

of.

they

382

131

725

SANG

Same as 374.

MOURN

383

1060

A perfect number, five, the

FIVE

whole, all.

384

293

JEH

Same as 376.

DAYS

THE DESCRIPTION OF FU-SANG. 293

The marriage ceremonies, for the most part, are similar to those which
are practiced in China. At the death of relatives, they fast a greater or
less number of days, according to the degree of relationship.

pleased with him, he marries her. The ceremonies of marriage are
nearly the same as in China. At the death of father or mother, they fast
seven days. At that of a grandfather or grandmother, they refrain from
eating for five days,

consents, the marriage is completed. The marriage customs, on the
whole, resemble those of the " Middle Kingdom." When the parents die,
it is the custom to fast for seven days ; on the death of a grandfather,
on either the father's or mother's side, five days ;

The rules for the observance of the marriage ceremony are in general
the same as those of the Middle Kingdom (China).

they are married. The ceremonies of marriage are in general the same as
those in China. If a father or mother dies, one fasts for seven days ; if
it is a grandfather or grandmother, for five days ;

the marriage is immediately celebrated with ceremonies which have much
resemblance to those of China. At the death of father or mother, it is
the custom to fast for seven days. The fast is for five days at the death
of a grandfather or grandmother,

pleased with him, they are married. The bridal ceremonies are for the
most part like those of China. A fast of seven days is observed for par
ents at their death ; five for grand-parents ;

pleased, then the marriage is completed, the marriage ceremonies being
for the most part like those of the " Middle Kingdom " (China).

For a father, mother, wife, or son, they mourn for seven days without
eating. For a grandfather or grandmother they mourn for five days

294

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

No.

Character.

Page.

Sound.

DEFINITION.

Translation.

385

717

PUH

Same as 100.

NOT

386

766

SHIH

" " 63.

EATING ;

J^G

for an

387

213

HIUNG

An elder brother, a senior.

ELDER

s u

BROTHER,

388

j¥i

879

A younger brother, junior,

YOUNGER

cousins.

BROTHER,

389

ffi

707

POH

A father's elder brother.

FATHER'S ELD

1 H

ER BROTHER,

390

.jfcj/

779

SHUH

A father's younger brother.

FATHER'S

4?V

YOUNGER

BROTHER,

891

'fcfc

432

A polite term for females.

or his SISTER,

t ji-

or for an

392

"iff}

1031

TSZ'

An elder sister, a school-mis

ELDER

tress.

SISTER

393

•hk

586

MEI

A younger sister, a sister, a

YOUNGER

girl.

SISTER,

394

723

SAN

Same as 208.

THREE

395

293

JEH

" " 376.

DAYS,

396

717

PUH

" " 100.

NOT

397

766

SHIH

" " 63.

EATING.

398

750

SHEH

To institute, establish, set up.

They
ESTABLISH

and

399

1002

TSO

Same as 174.

SET UP

qprf.

the

400

737

SHAN

A god, a spirit, divine, super

SPIRIT

natural.

401

Hfc

793

SIANG

Like, a figure, image, like

IMAGE,

ness, a statue, an idol, to

resemble.

and

402

CHAO

The dawn, morning, early.

MORNING

and

403

804

SIH

Same as 348.

EVENING

404

648

PAI

To honour, reverence, kneel

REVERENCE

to, salute.

it, and

405

896

TIEN

To enshrine as a god, to offer

OFFER LIBA

libations.

TIONS

. >-

to it. They do

406

'T*

717

PUH

Same as 100.

NOT,

in their

407

rjj'J

CHI

To regulate, a rule, practice,

MOURNING

mourning usages.

USAGES,

» • .

wear

408

JiR

1017

TS'UI

A strip of sackcloth ancient

MOURNING-

ly worn on the breast as a

GARMENTS

badge of mourning.

THE DESCRIPTION OF FU-SANG. 295

and during their prayers they expose the image of the deceased person.
They wear no mourning

and only for three days at the death of brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts,
and other relatives. The images of spirits are placed upon a species of
pedestal, and prayers are addressed to them morning and evening.

for the death of an elder or younger brother or sister, or an uncle or aunt,
three days. They sit then, from morning until evening, before the image
of the spirit, absorbed in prayer ; yet they have no mourning

(Xot translated.)

if it is an uncle, or an aunt, or a sister, for three days. The image of
the deceased person is placed upon a pedestal. It is saluted morning and
night, and offerings made to it. There is no law in regard to mourning

and for three days at the death of brothers, sisters, uncles, and aunts,
Avithout distinction between the elder and younger, or between the rela
tives on the father's side and those on the mother's side. The image of a
spirit is set up, before which prostrations are made morning and night,
and to which oblations are made. Moreover, mourning

and three days for brothers, sisters, uncles, and aunts. Images to repre
sent their spirits are set up, before which they worship and pour out liba
tions morning and evening ; but they wear no mourning or

without eating ; for an elder brother, younger brother, father's elder
brother, or father's younger brother, or for the corresponding female rela
tives, or for an elder sister or younger sister, three days without eating.
They set up an image of the spirit (of the deceased person) and reverence
it, and offer libations to it morning and evening. In their mourning
usages they do not wear mourning garments or \f Q"?

296

AX INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

No.

Character.

Page.

Sound.

DEFINITION.

Translation.

409

890

TIEH

Badges of coarse white hemp

MOURNING-

en cloth worn by mourners

BADGES.

at funerals.

410

838

SZ'

To succeed to, lawfully ; the

INHERITING

IHJ'y

expectant heir, children,

heirs ; to employ ; here

after ; the following.

411

1043

WANG

Same as 217.

KING

412

538

LIH

To stand erect, established, to

SEATED ON

set up, to succeed to or seat

THE THRONE

one's self on the throne.

for

413

723

SAN

Same as 208.

THREE

414

&£

634

NIEN

" " 11.

YEARS

415

717

PUH

" " 100.

WITHOUT

416

991

TS'IN

" " 373.

APPROACHING

the

417

491

KWOH

" " 5.

COUNTRY

418

764

SHI

An affair, a matter, business,

. AFFAIRS.

duties.

419

~M"

342

K'l

Same as 12.

THEY

~y/>

were

420

822

SUE

Inelegant, uneducated, com

IGNORANT

mon, vulgar.

421

414

KIU

Old, venerable, formerly, an

FORMERLY,

ciently.

and

422

fiE

1059

Same as 85.

DESTITUTE

/>i

423

153

FUH

Buddha.

BUDDHA

I/ r*

424

123

FAH

Same as 105.

RULES;

4-2

but in the

425

,/^v

831

SUNG

To dwell ; a feudal state ; the

SUNG

Sung dynasty.

dynasty,
in the period called

426

~fc

839

Same as 28.

" GREAT

427

IJj

599

MING

Bright, clear, the dawn, splen

BRIGHTNESS,"

dour.

in the

428

- J.

721

'RH

Same as 32.

SECOND

429

634

NIEN

" " 11.

YEAR,

430

lit

340

A coarse carpet or felt rug,

KI-

made of camel's hair.

431

695

A stranger, a visitor, to en

tertain.

432

491

KWOH

Same as 5.

COUNTRY

THE DESCRIPTION OF FU-SANG. 297

garments, and the prince who succeeds to his father takes no care regard
ing the government for three years after his elevation. In former times
the people had no knowledge of the religion of Fo, but, in the year 458
A. D., in the Sum dynasty, from Samarcand

The king does not occupy himself with the affairs of government dur
ing the three years which follow his accession to the throne. Formerly
the religion of Buddha did not exist in this country, but in the fourth of
the years Ta-ming, of the reign of Hiao-wou-ti of the dynasty of Soung
(458 A. D.), from the country of Ki-pin (Cophene),

garments. The king who succeeds his deceased father does not occupy
himself with the affairs of the kingdom for the next three years. Of old,
the method of living of these people was not according to the laws of
Buddha. It happened, however, that in the second year of the years
bearing the designation "Great Light," of the Song dynasty (458 A. D.),
from the kingdom of Kipin,

In the second year of the period called " ta-ming " (or great light), the
year 458 of our era, under the reign of the emperor Hiao Wu-ti of the
Sung dynasty, from the country of Ki-pin,

garments. The heir to the throne remains three years without occupying
himself with the affairs of the kingdom. Formerly they did not know
the doctrine of Buddha. In the second year of the period Ta-ming, of
the dynasty of the Song (458), from the kingdom of Ki-pin (i. e., Cophene,
now the country of Caboul),

garments are not worn. During the first three years of his accession, the
king does not occupy himself with affairs of state. Formerly the religion
of Fo was unknown in Fusang. It was only in the Song dynasty, in the
second of the years ta-ming (458), that from the kingdom of Ki-pin

fillets. The successor of the king does not attend personally to govern
ment affairs for the first three years. In olden times they knew nothing
of the Buddhist religion, but during the reign Ta-ming, of the Emperor
Hiao Wu-ti of the Sung dynasty (A. D. 458), from Ki-pin

mourning-badges. A king who inherits the throne does not occupy him
self with the affairs of the government for the first three years after his ac
cession. Formerly they were ignorant, and knew nothing of the Buddhist
religion ; but during the reign of the Sung dynasty, in the second year of
the period called TA-MIXG (or " Great Brightness," i. e., in the year 458
A. D.), from the country of Ki-nx (i. e., Cophene, now Cabul),

298

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

No.

Character.

Page.

Sound.

DEFINITION.

Translation.

r**«l

had

433

CH'ANG

To taste, to try, to essay, to prove.
When preceding another verb,

FORMERLY

it denotes past time, usually.

formerly, ever.

434

1113

YIU

Same as 14.

HAD

435

674

To compare, to corre- "|
spond, to equal, to bring

PI-

into harmony, to select, A

f-j»

each, every. men-

436

Jn\

416

K'lU

A natural hillock, a high dicant

K'lU,

place, a hill with a hoi- priest.

. ;

lowed or level top for

(mendicant priests),

worshipers, a tumulus.

437

3£

1060

Same as 383.

FIVE

438

286

JlN

" " 62.

MEN,
who

439

%$•

1112

YIU

To float, drift, swim, travel, rove
about, to take pleasure in, satis-

VOYAGING

fled, pleased.

440

207

HING

Same as 245.

WENT

441

•K

342

K'l

" " 12.

THAT

442

491

KWOH

" " 5.

COUNTRY,

\Z— 1

and

443

$£

549

LIU

The flowing of water, to pass, to
circulate, to diffuse, to make
known, to shed, fluid, to select,

MADE
KNOWN

444

932

T'UNG

to beg, a class, roving, vagrant.
To permeate, go through, see

THROUGH

^^ '

clearly, to bring about, to suc

ceed, current, through, general,

complete.

445

/fife

153

FUH

Same as 423.

BUDDHA

|X f*

446

iy-fc

123

FAH

" " 105.

RULES,

and his

447

>B"T^

404

KING

" " 314.

RELIGIOUS

BOOKS, and

448

793

SIANG

" " 401.

IMAGES,

^•30

and

449

£f2*

372

KIAO

To instruct, to teach, command,

TAUGHT

precept, doctrine, a religious
sect, a party, a class.

the

450

•A

546

LING

A law, a rule, an order, to

COMMAND

command, an officer.

451

CH'UH

To become a priest.
Same as 165. (Hepburn, p. 424.)
Forsaking home,

FORSAKE

• surname, and the

the

world to enter a

452

^Sc.

351

KIA

" " 345. Buddhist monas

FAMILY,

tery.

and its

453

155

FUNG

The wind, a breeze, speech, man
ner, deportment, style, fashion,

MANNERS'

reformation, instruction, temper,

habit.

454

16*

822

SUH

Same as 420.

RUDENESS

455

828

BUI

To accord with, then, thereon,

FINALLY

-tlu

finally.

was

456

§2

307

KAI

Same as 256.

REFORMED.

THE DESCRIPTION OF FU-SANG. 299

five priests went preaching their doctrine in this country, and then the
manners of the people were changed.

five pi-khievu, or priests, came to Fu~sang, and there spread abroad the
law of Buddha. They carried with them their books and sacred images,
and the ritual, and established monastic customs, and so changed the
manners of the inhabitants.

five begging monks came to this land, and there spread abroad the re
ligion of Buddha, with his sacred writings and images. They instructed
the people regarding the rules of monastic life, and so changed the cus
toms of the people.

five bhikshu (mendicant priests) in their travels reached FOU-SO, and com
menced to propagate Buddhism there.

five bhikcJwus (religious mendicants) traveled into this country, and there
spread abroad the law, the books, and the images of Buddha. Their doc
trine induced men to leave their families (in order to embrace a religious
life). The manners of the inhabitants were then changed (i. e., the peo
ple immediately adopted the usages and the principles of Buddhism).

five Buddhist priests repaired by sea to this country. They there dis
tributed the books of the law and the holy images ; they taught the pre
cepts of monastic life, and changed the manners of the inhabitants.

five beggar priests went there. They traveled over the kingdom, every
where making known the laws, canons, and images of that faith. Priests
of regular ordination were set apart among the natives, and the customs
of the country became reformed.

formerly, five men who were PI-K'IU (i. e., bhikshus, mendicant Bud
dhist monks) went by a voyage to that country, and made Buddha's rules
and his religious books and images known among them, taught the com
mand to forsake the family (for the purpose of entering a monastery), and
finally reformed the rudeness of its customs.

300 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

Hwui Shan also gave a description of a country called " the
Kingdom of Women," situated about one thousand li east of
Fu-sang. This story has always been rejected as a manifest
absurdity, and its presumed falsity has been one of the most
powerful arguments for casting discredit upon his whole account.
For this reason, those who have accepted his statements regard
ing the country of Fu-sang have said as little as possible about
his tale in regard to "the Kingdom of Women," and have dis
missed it with the statement that it was merely a description,
given by him from hearsay, of a country that he had not visited,
and that its absurdities should not be permitted to raise doubts
as to the truth of his report regarding the country of Fu-sang,
in which he had resided.

His description, which will be found, when rightly translated
and understood, to be substantially true, and to furnish strong
proof of the reliability of his statements, will be given in the
following chapter ; and as the only clew to the location of Fu-
sang is that it lies easterly from both China and the Great Han
Country, and as all that is known as to the situation of this last-
named country is that it lies northeasterly from Wen Shan, the
land of "Marked Bodies," the Chinese account of these two
countries will also be given.

CHAPTER XVII.

THE KINGDOM OF WOMEN, THE LAND OP " MARKED BODIES," AND
THE GKEAT HAN COUNTRY.

The accounts of all these countries derived from the same source — The Chinese
text — The location of the Kingdom of Women — Its inhabitants — Their long
locks — Their migrations — Birth of their young — Nursing the young — The age
at which they walk — Their timidity — Their devotion to their mates — The
salt-plant — Its peculiarities — A shipwreck — The women — A tribe whose lan
guage could not be understood — Men with puppies' heads — Their food,
clothing, and dwellings — The land of " Marked Bodies " — Its location —
Tattooing with three lines — The character of the people — Lack of fortifi
cations — The king's residence — Water-silver — No money used — The Country
of Great Han — Its location — Lack of weapons — Its people.

THE following account of the Kingdom of Women is ex
pressly stated to have been given by Hwui Shan ; but it does not
appear to have been noticed that the reports in regard to the
Great Han Country, and the land of "Marked Bodies," must
also, in all probability, have been derived from the same source.

These countries were made known to the Chinese during the
reign of the Liang dynasty. Now, it is known that Hwui Shan
reached China just before the establishment of this dynasty, but
that his account was not given to the emperor, and did not
become generally known, until some time during its first years.
Hence there can have been no earlier report, regarding Great
Han, than that which he could have given ; and as in his account
of Fu-sang he refers to Great Han, and in the description of
this country the land of " Marked Bodies " is mentioned, it is
almost impossible that he should not have been questioned as to
these strange countries also. The accounts are short — such as
would be incidentally given in a single report, in which the main
interest centered upon another land ; and there is nothing to
show that the Chinese ever heard anything more about them.

302

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

No.

Character.

Page.

Sound.

DEFINITION.

Translation.

457

641

Ntr

Same as 143.

WOMAN

458

491

KWOH

" " 5.

COUNTRY.

459

641

NtJ

Same as 143.

WOMAN

460

491

KWOH

" " 5.

COUNTRY,

461

265

HWUI

" " 17.

HWUI

462

736

SHAN

" " 18.

SHlN

463

1142

YUN

" " 24.

SAYS,

464

941

TSAI

" " 27.

IS SITUATED
from

465

144

FU-

466

Jj|

724

SANG

" " 2

SANG

467

930

TUNG

" " 81.

EAST

^•J^

one

468

'"T

980

TS'IEN

A thousand, many, an indefi

THOUSAND

nite number.

469

518

Same as 35.

LI.

470

342

K'l

" " 12.

ITS

471

286

JAN

" " 62.

PEOPLE

472

1146

YUNG

To receive, the air, "
manner, conduct,
the face, looks, or

The aspect
of one's man

MANNER
of

attitude.

ner (Med-

473

f£

582

MAO

The outward mien,
gait, style, man
ner, form, appear

hurst, p. 757).
The appear
ance, air, de

APPEARANCE

ance, the face,

meanour.

like, similar to. ,

474

ifl

936

TWAN

Sprouting, the head,
the origin, straight,

STRAIGHT

direct, correct, up

Correct, in

right, modest,

tegrity, up

475

CHING

grave, decent.
Correct, proper,
straight, right,

right, either
physically
or morally.

ERECT.

erect, exact, really,

the first.

Their

( (Mcdhurst. 586.)

476

727

SEH

Same as 253. •< The countenance,
( colour, beauty.

COLOUR

is a

477

738

SHlN

Social delights, very, extreme

VERY

ly.

478

lii*

377

KIEH

Clear, limpid, pure, neat,

PURE

tidy.

479

1=3

706

POH

Same as 273.

WHITE.

480

735

SHAN

" " 161.

Their
BODIES

THE KINGDOM OF WOMEN. 393

THE KINGDOM OF WOMEN.

The inhabitants of this kingdom are white,

THE KINGDOM OF WOMEN.

The bonze Hoei-chin has spoken in the following terms of a kingdom
of women situated a thousand li from Fu-sang toward the east. The
women of this kingdom have very regular features and very white faces ;
but

NtT KWOH, OR KINGDOM OF WOMEN.

Concerning the Kingdom of Women, the shaman Hwui-shin relates : It
is a thousand li to the east of Fu-sang. The bearing and manners of the
people are very sedate and formal ; their color is exceedingly clear and
white : their bodies

THE COUNTRY OF WOMEN.

Hwui ShSn says that the Country of Women is situated a thousand li
east of Fu-sang. Its people's manner of appearance is straight erect
(or, is very correct), and their colour is (or their countenances are) a very
pure white.

Their bodies

304

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

No.

Character

Page.

Sound.

DEFINITION.

Translation.

481

884

T'l

The body, the whole person, the
substance, a solid, the essentials,
influential, to embody.

THE WHOLE
BODY

482

1113

YIU

Same as 14.

HAS

483

580

MAO

The covering of animals or

HAIR.

birds, as hair, fur, feathers,

or down.

The

484

Ji£

121

FAH

The hair of the head, numer

HAIR OF THE

ous, grass, vegetation.

HEAD is

485

*Sk

CH'ANG

Same as 281.

LONG,

486

1051

WEI

To sustain, bear, allege, send off,

the
END

confide to, a wrong, grievance,
the end, the last, really.

reaching to the

487

iiil

879

Same as 36.

GROUND.

488

CHI

" " 20.

• ' •*

the

489

721

'RH

" " 32.

SECOND

490

723

SAN

" " 208.

THIRD

491

1129

YUEH

The moon, a lunar month,

MONTH,

. ..

monthly.

492

407

KING

Originally formed of words above a
man, repeated, to indicate the

BICKERING,

bickering of the people ; strong,

violent, bickering, testy, to be

they

quarrelsome, great, abundant.

493

299

JUH

To enter, to go into, to pro

ENTER

gress, according to, an en

trance.

the

494

781

SHUI

Water, a fluid, clear, a stream, a
trip from one place to another,

WATER.

an inundation, trivial, common.

Tbcv

gentle, low land, to wet, to soak.

495

M'J

956

TSEII

Same as 127.

THEN

496

287

JlN

Pregnant (used
only of women). *—

BECOME
PREGNANT

497

fiB

736

SHAN

Pregnant, quick ^pe^j;n'

WITH YOUNG

/wt

with child.

498

. 1 .

562

LUH

Six.

SIX

499

987

TS'IH

Same as 213.

SEVEN

500

1129

YUEH

" " 491.

MONTHS

-**-

they

501

CH'AN

To produce, to breed, to bear,

BEAR

a birth, the natives, an es

tate, an occupation.

their

502

-^p.

1030

TSZ'

Same as 206.

YOUNG.

•^

The

503

ft*

641

NCr

" " 143. )

FEMALE

[• Females.

504

286

JAN

" " 62. )

PEOPLE

THE KINGDOM OF WOMEN. 395

They have hairy bodies and long locks that fall down to the ground. At
the second or third month the women come to bathe in a river, and they
become pregnant. They bear their young at the sixth or seventh month.

have hairy bodies and long locks which fall down to the ground. At the
second or third month they enter the water, and they then become preg
nant. They bear their young at the sixth or seventh month.
These women

are hairy, and the hair of the head trails on the ground. In the spring
they emulously rush into the water and become pregnant ; the children
are born in the autumn. These female-men

are hairy, and they have long locks, the ends of which reach to the
ground.

At the second or third month, bickering, they enter the water (come
down to the low lands or to the streams ? or, perhaps, " enter upon a mi
gration," the character SHUI meaning not only " water," but also " a trip
from one place to another "). They then become pregnant. They bear
their young at the sixth or seventh month (probably of gestation ; but
possibly of the year). The female-people

306

AN INGLOEIOUS COLUMBUS.

No.

Character

Page.

Sound.

DEFINITION.

Translation.

505

jjtij

214

HIUNG

The thorax, the breast, the

CHESTS

bosom, the feelings, the

heart, clamour.

506

981

TS'IEN

To advance, progress, in front

IN FRONT

lU'J

of, before, in advance, for

merly, when, a light black

colour.

507

:fe£

1059

Same as 85.

ARE DESTI

7JR

TUTE OF

508

298

Jtr

" " 308.

BREASTS,

but the

509

191

HIAO

The nape, the part which '

NAPE OF THE

•^^

rests on the pillow; a

sort or class, great, A
funds. 1 A

(or back of the head)

510

175

HEU

After, in time ; too late ; [ y J»
behind, in place; then, man'

BEHIND

next, an heir, to remain,

the second.

511

4fe

742

SHlNG

Same as 58.

BEARS

512

580

MAO

" " 483.

HAIR-

513

317

KAN

Eoot, origin, beginning, a base ; a
classifier of things long and stiff,
and even of ropes ; an organ.

ROOTS;

and the

514

706

POH

Same as 273.

WHITE

615

580

MAO

" " 483.

HAIR

516

pjj

105

CHUNG

" " 38.

MIDST

517

-W

1113

YIU

" " 14.

HAS

518

>J4-

CHIH

Juice, gravy, liquor, 1

JUICE

pleasing to the taste 1 ^j^

or is pleasing to the

519

298

Jtf

Same as 308.

taste). They
NURSE

their

520

"~f~*

1030

TSZ'

" " 206.

YOUNG

for

521

707

POH

A hundred, many, all.

ONE HUNDRED

522

293

JEH

Same as 376.

DAYS,

523

I — f
.At*

616

NlNG

The moose; power, ability,

and they then

CAN

rjbJ

skill, capable, skillful, may,

can.

524

^rf

207

HING

Same as 245.

WALK.

When

525

— .

723

SAN

" " 208.

THREE

Mil

526

l/y

836

SZ'

Four, all, around, everywhere.

POUR

527

634

NIEN

Same as 11.

YEARS

Fill

old

528

956

TSEH

" " 127.

THEN

THE KINGDOM OF WOMEN. 307

Instead of breasts they have white locks at the back of the head, from
which there issues a liquor that serves to nourish their children. It is
said that one hundred days after their birth the children are able to run
about, and when three or four years of age appear

have no breasts upon their chests, but only hair of a white colour at the
back of the neck, which contains milk. One hundred days after their
birth the children commence to walk, and at the age of three or four
years they have attained

have no paps on their bosoms, but hair-roots grow on the back of their
necks ; a juice is found in the white ones. The children are suckled a
hundred days, when they can walk ; by the fourth year they are

are destitute of breasts in front of their chests, but behind, at the nape of
the neck (or back of the head), they have hair-roots (short hair, or a
bunch of hair, or a hairy organ), and in the midst of the white hair it is
pleasing to the taste (or there is juice). They nurse their young for
one hundred days, and they can then walk. When three or four years
old they become

308

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

No.

Character

Page.

Sound.

DEFINITION.

Translation.

629

fcg

CH'ING

Same as 363. f Adult (Medhurst,

FULLY

7xV

p. 60). To become

630

286

JlN

a man.
" " 62. 1 (Hepburn, p. 346.)
A grown-up per

GROWN,

son, Mi-grown.

531

•£*

279

A final particle, denoting that the

TRULY.

~^\

sense has been fully expressed,

or that the intention is very

strong.

532

JiL

385

KIEN

To see, to know, to observe, an

SEEING

opinion, to appear.

{(Hepburn, p. 115.)

633

286

JlN

A man, a person,
male or female,

HUMAN BEING,

people, mankind.

they are

534

jpg|

403

KING

A shy horse, to terrify, afraid,

AFRAID,

alarmed.

and

535

tf=^

676

To flee from, to escape, avoid, to
retire, to hide away.

FLEE

636

689

P'lEN

At or by the side, deflected, exces
sive, aside, partial. Before verbs,

TO ONE SIDE.

must, will.

They

637

1054

WEI

To dread, venerate, respect, awe,
devotion for, dread, timidity.

VENERATE

538

"xf"*

CHANG

A line of ten feet, to ]

their

639

142

measure, an elder. A
To help, assist, a hus- [ , A .
band, a man, a J USDana-
scholar.

HUSBANDS

(or mates). They

540

766

SHIH

Same as 63.

EAT

^«^

the

541

198

HIEN

Saltish, preserved, salted,

SALT-

bitter.

542

•gy

956

TS'AO

Plants with herbaceous stems,

PLANT;

•

herbs, vegetation, plants in

general.

its

643

1Q81

YEH

Same as 54.

LEAVES

644

837

SZ'

" " 55.

RESEMBLE

-L/

those of the

545

3jj)

796

SIE

Deflected, inclined, depraved,

SIE-

corrupting.

646

170

HAO

Tall herbs ; the Artemisia pe

HAO

dicularis ; Vitex, or Amar-
anthus; Tansy.

(a species of ab
sinthe),

547

rffj

719

'RH

Same as 68.

BUT

648

348

K'l

Fume, vapour, steam, breath,

its
ODOUR

air, spirit, temper, to smell.

is more

549

^§*

188

HIANG

Fragrant, odoriferous, sweet.

FRAGRANT

550

1053

WEI

Taste, flavour, smell, relish.

and its

TASTE

551

198

CHANG

Same as 541.

SALTISH.

THE KINGDOM OF WOMEN. 399

appear fully grown. The women take flight at sight of a stranger, and
they are very respectful toward their husbands. These people feed upon
a plant which has the taste and odour of salt, and which for this reason
bears the name of the " salt-plant." The leaves are similar to those of
the plant which the Chinese call sie-hao, which is a species of absinthe.

their full growth. The women take to flight rapidly at sight of a stranger.
They have much respect for their husbands. A fragrant herb, of which
the leaves resemble those of the plant sie-hao (a species of absinthe), and
of which the taste is saltish, is eaten in this country.

fully grown. Whenever they see a man, they flee and hide from him in
terror, for they are afraid of having husbands. They eat pickled greens,
whose leaves are like wild celery ; the odor is agreeable and the taste
saltish

fully grown. This Is true ! When they see a human being, they are
afraid, and flee to one side. They venerate (or are devoted to) their hus
bands (or mates).

They eat the " salt-plant." Its leaves resemble (those of the plant called
by the Chinese) the SIE-HAO (a species of absinthe or wormwood), but
its odour is more fragrant and its taste is saltish.

310

INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

No.

Character.

Page.

Sound.

DEFINITION.

Translation.

In the reign of the

652

jjfe

525

LIANG

A bridge, a beam, self-reli

LIANG

ant, the principal, the Li

dynasty, under the

653

1061

ang dynasty.
Military, martial, warlike.

emperor

wu-

554

*3j*

880

To judge, a god, a sovereign,

•"

Heaven, supreme.

In the years des

ignated by the name

655

~jfc

897

T'lEN

Heaven, the sky, a day, sea

TIEN

son, celestial,* God.

656

387

KIEN

To examine carefully, an of

KIEN

fice, to look down upon as

(Celestial Protec

a god, to oversee.

tion), in the

657

_f ..

562

LUH

Same as 498.

SIX-

•^^

558

£fi

634

NIEN

" " 11.

YEAR,

559

1113

YIU

" " 14.

THERE WERE

560

li*

990

TSIN

To increase, to grow, to at

TSIN-

*""*

tach, to adopt.

661

620

NGAN

Peace, rest, tranquillity,

NGAN

562

286

JlN

peaceful, calm, quiet.
Same as 62.

(the name of a place)

MEN

563

iffi

917

To ford, to cross a stream or

CROSSING

fX-*^»

sea, to go through, to pass,

the

t>L_*

a ferry-boat.

564

160

HAI

The sea, an arm of the ocean,

SEA.

a large river, marine, vast,

great, oceanic.

565

•1^

1047

WEI

Same as 50.

BECAUSE OF

1 ^*T

the

666

155

FUNG

" " 453.

WIND

667

ffi

817

To fell timber, a place, if, as

CAUSING

to, who, what, a cause, a

them to be

final expletive.

568

683

P'lAO

A whirlwind, swayed, whirled,

BLOWNABOUT,

/Jy-*A

blown about or rocked by

thev

the wind.

mejr

569

CHI

Same as 20.

REACHED

670

1095

YIH

" " 194.

A CERTAIN

i£»

(or the same)

671

•ifi

866

TAO

An island out at sea ; a hill

ISLAND

on which birds can alight

(or possibly " sea-

572

862

TANG

in crossing seas.
To ascend, to advance, to at

coast "). They
WENT

— ^*

tain, as soon as, specially,

at the time.

673

£p

622

NGAN

A shore, bank, or beach ; the edge
or bank of a stream, end of a

ASHORE

journey.

where there

574

1113

YIU

Same as 14.

WERE

575

286

JAN

" " 62.

PEOPLE

THE KINGDOM OF WOMEN. 3H

In the year 507 A. D., in the reign of the Learn dynasty, a Chinese ves
sel which was sailing the ocean was driven by a tempest to an unknown
island

During the reign of the emperor Ou-ti, of the Leang dynasty, in the
sixth of the years called tien-kien (507), some Chinese sailors of Tsin-ngan
(now Fou-tcheou-fou [Fo-kien]), who were navigating the sea, were carried
far out of their course by furious winds. They landed upon an island

In the year A. D. 508, in the reign of Wu-ti, of the Liang dynasty, a
man from Tsin-ngan was crossing the sea, when he was caught in a, storm
and driven to a certain island. On going ashore, he found it to be in
habited.

In the reign of the LIANG dynasty, under the emperor WU-TI, in the
sixth year of the period designated by the name TIEN-KIEN, or " Celestial
Protection" (i. e., in 507 A.D.), some men of TSIN-NGAN, who were cross
ing the sea, were driven by the winds to a certain island (or the same
sea-coast). They went ashore and found the inhabitants'

312

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

No.

Character

Page.

Sound.

DEFINITION.

Translation.

576

JjL

437

Kfl

To dwell, dwellings, residence,

DWELLINGS.

the settled parts.

The

577

I5C

641

NCr

Same as 143.

WOMEN

578

956

TSEH

" " 127.

THEN

579

XftJ

297

Jtf

" " 59.

RESEMBLED

•^

the

580

III

105

CHUNG

" " 38.

MIDDLE

581

|^|

491

KWOH

" " 5.

KINGDOM

582

286

JiN

" " 62.

PEOPLE,

583

ffi

719

'RH

" " 68.

BUT

their

584

1083

YEN

A word, sentence,

LANGUAGE

remark, speech,

ZST-

talk, reports. Conver-

585

7-:T)L

1126

Ytf

To talk with, to con- sation,

WORDS

verse, to tell, discus-

words, conversa- sion.

tion, discourse,

language.

586

717

PUH

Same as 100.

NOT

587

425

K'O

To be willing, to permit, able

COULD

to do, can, may.

588

|P^

193

HIAO

Light, clear, the dawn, intel

UNDERSTOOD.

ligent, easy to perceive, to

make to understand, to

The

comprehend.

589

614

NAN

Same as 142.

MALES

590

956

TSEH

" " 127.

THEN

591

286

JiN

" " 62.

had
MEN

592

£jf

735

SHlN

u " 161.

BODIES

593

719

'RH

" " 68.

BUT

694

329

KEU

A dog, petty, contemptible, a

PUPPIES'

puppy, a brat.

595

876

T'EU

The head, the front, the top,

HEADS.

,._

the first, the beginning.

596

342

K'l

Same as 12.

THEIR

697

771

SHING

A sound, a voice or tone, a

VOICES

note in music, a cry, a wail,

language.

598

$tf

297

Same as 59.

RESEMBLED

those of

599

452

K'ftEN

A dog, especially a large

DOGS

one.

THE KINGDOM OF WOMEN. 313

The women resembled those of China, but the men had a figure and a
voice like those of dogs. The Chinese could not understand their lan-

0 guage.

of which the women resembled those of China, but of which the men had
dogs' heads, and barked like dogs. It was impossible to understand their
language.

The women were like those of China, but their speech was unintelligible.
The men had human bodies, but their heads were those of dogs, and their
voices resembled the barking of dogs.

dwellings. The women resembled those of the Middle Kingdom tChina),
but the words of their language could not be understood. The males
had human bodies, but puppies' heads, and their voices resembled those
of dogs

314

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

No.

Character

Page.

Sound.

DEFINITION.

Translation.

600

140

FEU

The bark of a dog, to bark, to
yelp, to howl, as canine
animals do.

BARKING

(or howling).

601

342

K'l

Same as 12.

THEIR

602

766

SHIH

" " 63.

EATING

603

1113

YIU

" " 14.

POSSESSED

604

795

SIAO

" " 233.

SIAO-

605

874

TEU

A wooden trencher, a dish,
pulse, legumes, to measure
out, a peck.

TEU

(little beans),

606

342

K'l

Same as 12.

THEIR

607

270

" " 77.

CLOTHING

608

297

Jff

" " 59.

RESEMBLED

609
610

611
612

713
96

920
1047

PU
CHUH

T'U
WEI

" " 74.

To beat down hard, as a
threshing-floor, to ram down
the earth, to make chunam
pavements or adobe walls.

Same as 43.
" " 50.

CLOTH

(of linen or cotton).

BEATING
DOWN

EARTH

they

MADE

613

969

TS'IANG

A wall, built of mud, stone,
or brick.

ADOBE WALLS.

614

342

K'l

Same as 12.

THEIR

615

206

KING

Form, figure, shape, contour,
the body, manner, style, to
appear.

SHAPE

was

616

ffl

245

HWAN

To revolve, to encircle, to en
viron, to go around, a circle,
a ball, round.

ROUND,

and

617

342

K'l

Same as 12.

THEIR

618

225

An inner door, a door having
only one leaf, a hole, an
opening.

DOORS

619

297

Jtf

Same as 59.

RESEMBLED

620

875

TEU

A hole, a burrow, a drain,
loss, waste, damage, to dig a
hole.

BURROWS.

THE KINGDOM OF WOMEN.

These people fed upon small beans, and had clothing made of a species
of linen cloth ; and the walls of their houses were constructed of earth,
built up in a circular form.

These islanders fed upon small legumes, and had garments of a species
of cloth, and constructed houses of a round shape from beaten earth, with
a single opening as an entrance.

Their food was small pulse; their garments were like cotton. The
walls of their houses were of adobie, round in shape, and the entrance
like that to a den.

barking (or howling). Among their food was SIAO-TEU (" little beans " or
kernels— possibly an attempt to both transcribe and translate the Mexican
word CENTLI 1898 or ciNTLi,1900 meaning maize). Their clothing resembled
linen (or perhaps cotton) cloth. Beating down the earth, they made adobe
walls of a round shape, the doors of which resembled burrows.

316

AN INGLOKIOUS COLUMBUS.

No.

Character

Page.

Sound.

DEFINITION.

Translation.

621

622

1041
735

WAN
SHAN

Same as 89.
" " 161.

MARKED
BODIES.

623

1041

WAN

Same as 89.

The
MARKED

624

jfp

735

SHlN

" " 161.

BODIES

country, in the

625

yjp\

525

LIANG

" " 552.

LIANG

dynasty '8

626

759

SHI

Time, a season, an hour, a

TIME,

period, a Chinese hour, a

quarter of a year, while.

627

g|j

1041

WAN

To hear, to learn by report,

WAS RE

hearing, fame, news, to

PORTED

state to, small, a noise.

628

1082

YEN

Same as 188.

TRULY

to be

629

•>£

941

TSAI

" " 27.

SITUATED

*=t^.

from the

630

1057

The Japanese, yielding, trim

JAPANESE

ming.

631

491

KWOH

Same as 5.

COUNTRY

632

930

TUNG

" " 31.

EAST-

633

^ti

709

POH

" " 108.

NORTH

634

-t

987

TS'IH

" " 213.

SEVEN

635

980

TS'IEN

" " 468.

THOUSAND

636

1121

Ytf

" " 34.

637

518

" " 35.

LI.

Its

638

286

JAN

" " 62.

PEOPLE

fiJHfi

639

884

T'l

" " 481.

WHOLE

BODIES

640

'hf

1113

YIU

" " 14.

HAVE

641

1041

WAN

" " 89.

MARKS

642

Ittt

297

jty

" " 59.

643

756

SHEU

A wild animal, a beast, a

WILD BEASTS.

hairy brute, a gamekeeper,
brutal, violent.

644

342

K'l

Same as 12.

THEIR

THE LAND OF "MARKED BODIES." 317

Ven-chin is found seven thousand li from Japan, toward the north
east.

This country was made known about 510 or 520 A. D., its inhabitants
having a figure similar to that of animals.

The land of the Wen-schin is distant from Japan in a northeasterly
direction about seven thousand Chinese miles. The bodies of these people
exhibit all kinds of figures, such as those of animals and the like.

The kingdom of Ouen-chin was made known (to the Chinese) under the
dynasty of the Liang (502-587) ; it is situated seven thousand li to the
northeast of Japan. The men have lines (oucn) upon the body (chin) like
(certain) animals.

During the Leang dynasty, the following story was current regarding
Ouen-chin :

They live more than seven thousand li to the northeast of Japan. They
have their bodies tattooed, and marked like those of certain animals.

WAN SHAN, OR PICTURED BODIES.

During the Liang dynasty (A. D. 502-556), it was reported that about
seven thousand li to the northeast of Japan there was a country whose
inhabitants had marks on their bodies, such as are on animals.

MARKED BODIES.

During the reign of the Liang dynasty (502 to 556 A. D.), it was reported
that the country of " Marked Bodies " was situated seven thousand li and
more to the northeast of the country of Japan. Its people have marks
upon their bodies like (those upon ?) wild beasts.

318

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

No.

Character

Page.

Sound.

DEFINITION.

Translation.

645

628

NGOH

The forehead ; the front, or

FRONT

what is before ; a fixed or

regular number or quan
tity ; what ought to be or

(or forehead)

is settled by law ; incessant.

646

741

SHANG

To go up, to exalt, upward,

UPON

top, above, facing, high,

ancient, before, superior,

they

honourable.

647

1113

YIU

Same as 14.

HAVE

648

723

SAN

" " 208.

THREE

649

-<$r

1041

WAN

" " 89.

MARKS.

650

1041

WIN

" " 89.

If the
MARKS

are

651

~fc

839

" " 28.

LARGE

— £-.

and

652

CHIH

To look ahead, straight, di

STRAIGHT,

rect, true, exactly, a per

pendicular stroke, to

653

CHE

straighten, to go direct.
Same as 6.

THESE

654

]3"

484

KWEI

" " 166.

NOBLE ;

655

jjr

1041

WAN

" " 89.

but if the
MARKS

•

are

656

/J>

795

SIAO

" " 233.

SMALL

657

ffl

458

K'UH

Crooked, bent, a bend, false,

CROOKED,

tortuous.

658

CHE

Same as 6.

THESE

659

979

TSIEN

Light in estimation, mean,

IGNOBLE.

low, ignoble, worthless, to

The

660

920

T'U

disesteem, to deprecate.
Same as 43.

LAND

661

822

SUH

" " 420.

COMMON

±3rL

PEOPLE

662

Ifc

244

HWAN

Joy expressed by the 1 H. h_

are MERRY,

663

554

LOH

voice, jolly, merry, glad, i %
pleased, to rejoice. 1 }L?f "
Pleasure, quiet, to rejoice f "e^1"
in, to take delight in, '

and
REJOICE IN

dissipation, music. J merry-

664

1065

WITH

Same as 285.

ARTICLES'

665

157

FUNG

A large goblet, full cup, abun

ABUNDANCE

dant, plenteous, fertile, pro

666

ffi?

719

'RH

lific, plenty, copious.
Same as 68.

ALTHOUGH

667

979

TSIEN

" " 659.

POOR IN

668

207

HING

" " 245.

QUALITY.
TRAVELING

THE LAND OF "MARKED BODIES." 319

They traced different lines upon their faces, the form of which served
to distinguish the chief men of the nation from the common people.

It was, for the rest, a fertile country, where all that is necessary to sus
tain life might be found in abundance.

They have three lines upon the forehead ; the large and straight indi
cate the nobles, the small and crooked the common people of the nation.

Those who have three straight lines upon the forehead are esteemed (or
considered as noble). If the lines are small and crooked, they are scorned.
The inhabitants live joyously. The various products are abundant and
cheap.

The travelers who go through this country

Upon the forehead they have three marks or lines. Those which have
the marks large and straight are chiefs ; those who have only small crooked
marks are of low condition. Their nature is merry. The productions of
their country are abundant and cheap. The traveler

They had three marks on their foreheads. Those whose marks were
large and straight belonged to the honorable class, while the lower sort of
people had small and crooked marks. It is a custom among this people
to collect a great variety of things of a very poor sort to amuse them
selves. Those who travel

In front (or upon their foreheads) they have three marks. If the
marks are large and straight, they indicate that those who have them are
of the higher classes ; but if they are small and crooked, then their pos
sessors are of the lower classes. The people of the land are of a merry
nature, and they rejoice when they have an abundance, even of articles
that are of little value. Traveling

320

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

No.

Character.

Page.

Sound.

DEFINITION.

Translation.

669

429

K'OH

A guest, a visitor, an ac

VISITORS

quaintance, a customer, a

stranger, an alien, transi

tory, foreign.

670

717

PUH

Same as 100.

NOT

671

964

TSI

To take in both hands and

PREPARE FOR

/f^t

offer to, to give, to send a

THEIR JOUR

present, to prepare things

NEY

for a journey, to supply.

672

7[*m

524

LIANG

Rations, soldiers' pay, food,

FOOD,

f .

provisions, taxes in kind.

and they

673

^tj

1113

YIU

Same as 14.

HAVE

their

674

1064

WUH

" " 84.

DWELLING

675

1126

The part of the house covered

SHELTER.

by the eaves, to cover, to

shelter, wide, vast, terri

They are

tory.

676

$ft

1059

Same as 85.

DESTITUTE OF

677

%£

CH'ING

" " 86.

FORTIFICA

TIONS

and

678

492

KWOH

" " 87.

WALLED

•31

CITIES.

The

679

njWi

491

KWOII

" " 5.

COUNTRY

1*^1

680

1043

WANG

" " 217.

KING

• • '

681

rJT

817

" " 567.

RESIDENCE

682

437

" " 576

BUILDING

^4r

683

767

SHIH

To adorn, to paint, to orna

ADORNED

ment, to gloss over, to pre

tend, to excuse, a facing,

an ornament.

684

278

Same as 49.

BY MEANS OF

685

398

KIN

" " 329.

GOLD

/in

and

686

ffeR

1101

YIN

" " 330.

SILVER

687

CHlN

Whatever is noble, precious,

and
PRECIOUS

or beautiful, rare, excel

lent, to prize.

and

688

JUg

524

Elegant, fair, beautiful, flow

BEAUTIFUL

ery, bright, a pair, to de

pend on, to tie, a beam, a

(objects)

vOirfe.

boat.

689

)p!

292

JAO

Same as 191.

ABOUT

fc— •

the

690

1064

WUH

" " 84.

DWELCING.

THE LAND OF « MARKED BODIES." 321

Their towns or villages were unwalled. The dwelling of the king was
ornamented with precious things.

(Not translated.)

have no need to furnish themselves with provisions. They have houses.
The cities are not walled. The palace of the king is ornamented with
gold and silver. The exterior is all covered (literally, " surrounded ")
with precious substances of a great beauty. The inhabitants

easily finds food [M. d'Hervey de Saint-Denys, on page 60 of his " Eth
nography," translates this passage : " The traveler has no nee.d to carry
food with him — the country furnishing it to him in abundance "]. The
Ouen-chin have houses, but no walled cities. The habitation of their
king is ornamented with gold, silver, and jewels. Surrounding (this habi
tation)

or peddle do not carry any provision with them.

They have houses of various kinds, but no walled towns. The palace
of the king is adorned with gold, silver, and jewels in a sumptuous man
ner. The buildings are surrounded

visitors do not prepare food for their journeys, and they have the shelter
of their (the inhabitants') dwellings. They have no fortifications or
walled cities. The residence of the king of the country is adorned with
gold and silver, and precious and beautiful objects about the dwelling.

322

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

No.

Character

Page.

Sound.

DEFINITION.

Translation.

691

1047

WEI

Same as 50.

They
MAKE

692

jtfi/f

983

TS'IEN

The moat or fosse around a

DITCH

town, a ditch to lead water

of a

in, irrigation, to dig out.

693

Jill

478

KWANG

Broad, extensive, wide, spa

BREADTH

cious, large, ample, stout,

to enlarge.

694

1095

YIH

Same as 194.

ONE

695

CHANG

" " 538.

ROD

'**'

(of teu Chinese

u^»

feet), which is

696

~^~

769

SHIH

" " 65. Real, solid,

FILLED

hard, full, compact, to fill,

to cram.

697

278

Same as 49.

BY MEANS OF

698

•w^

781

SHUI

" " 494. )

WATER-

>• Quicksilver.

699

V§t

1101

YIN

" " 330. )

SILVER.

When it

700

1124

Ytf

Rain, a shower, to rain.

RAINS,

701

M'J

956

TSEH

Same as 127.

THEN

the rain

702

549

HIANG

" " 443.

FLOWS

703

1118

Ytf

" " 177. As, to, to be

UPON

come.

the

704

781

SHUI

Same as 494. )
> Quicksilver.

WATER-

705

1101

YIN

" " 330. )

SILVER

706

;£

CHI

" " 40. "To pass from

one state to another."

707

741

SHANG

Same as 646.

SURFACE.

In their

708

762

SHI

" " 331.

MARKETS

(or bartering) they

709

HFJ

1149

YUNG

To use, to employ, to cause,

USE

useful, by, with, thereby.

710

CHAN

Same as 687. "|

PRECIOUS

Jewels,

711

663

PAO

Precious, valuable, [• valu-

GEMS.

Jf^»

a gem, a coin, ables.

value, noble. J

THE LAND OF "MARKED BODIES."

A ditch might be seen there which appeared to be filled with quick
silver, and this matter, esteemed in commerce, became liquid and flowing
when it had imbibed water from the rain.

M. de Guignes adds, from another source : " They exposed their con
demned criminals to wild beasts, and they deemed those innocent from
whom the animals took flight."

(Not translated.)

dig a ditch one chang (ten Chinese feet) long, and fill it with quicksilver.
When it rains, the water runs upon the quicksilver. In the markets (in
the place of money) they use the most esteemed fruits. [NOTE. — M.
Julien has evidently mistaken the character PAO, " a gem " (see No.
711), for the very similar character SHIH, "fruit" (see No. 696), and
hence has erroneously translated the last word " fruits " instead of
" gems."— E. P. V.]

there is a ditch of ten cubits width, which is filled with quicksilver.
When it rains, the water flows upon the quicksilver. The transactions
in their markets are made by means of precious objects.

M. d'Hervey de Saint-Denys adds, in his " Ethnography," page 60, the
following, derived from the " NAN-SSE," i. e. : He who has committed a
petty crime is scourged. He who rs accused of a crime deserving death is
thrown to wild beasts to be devoured. If the accusation is calumnious,
the beasts keep at a distance from him, it is said (instead of devouring
him) ; then, after a night (of trial), he is set at liberty.

with a moat, over ten feet broad. When it is filled with quicksilver, and
the rain is allowed to flow off from the quicksilver, the water is then re
garded in the markets as a precious rarity.

They make a ditch of a breadth of one rod (of ten Chinese feet, or
nearly twelve English feet), which is filled with " water-silver " (i. e., ice).
When it rains, then the rain flows upon the surface of the water-silver.
In their traffic they use precious gems (or valuables, as the standard of
value, instead of gold or silver).

324

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

No.

Character.

Page.

Sound.

DEFINITION.

Translation.

712

839

Same as 28.

GREAT

713

164

HAN

This character is composed of
"water" and "hardship." The

HAN.

Milky Way. The large branch
of the Yang-tsz River. A Chi

nese; relating to China. The

Han dynasty, which was named
from the Duke of llan.

714

839

TA.

Same as 28.

GREAT

715

164

HAN

" " 713.

HAN,

•TV

during the

716

jjffi

525

LIANG

" " 552.

LIANG

dynasty's

717

H^F

759

SHI

" " 626.

TIME,

was

718

1041

WAN

«< i< 627.

REPORTED TO

~**

719

i?!|

1082

YEN

" " 188.

TRULY

720

M-*

941

TQA.I

« u 27.

SITUATED

from

721

~y^

1041

WAN

" " 89.

MARKED

722

735

SHlN

" " 161.

BODIES'

723

491

KWOH

" " 5.

KINGDOM

724

930

TUNG

" " 81.

EAST

725

5£

1060

" " 383.

FIVE

726

•=p

980

TS'IEN

" " 468.

THOUSAND

y~w

and

727

§£

1121

YtJ

" " 34.

728

518

" " 35.

LI.

Its people are

729

1059

" " 85.

DESTITUTE OF

730

698

PING

" " 98.

MILITARY

731

:fe

489

KWO

A kind of lance, a javelin, a

WEAPQNS,

spear, weapons, war.

and do

732

*/j*

717

PUH

Same as 100.

NOT

733

JAT*

461

KUNG

" " 101.

WAGiE

734

CHEN

" " 102.

WAR.

735

155

FUNG

" " 453.

Their

MANNJERS'

THE GREAT HAN COUNTRY. 325

At a distance of five thousand li from Ven-chin, toward the east, Ta-
han was found. The inhabitants of this country had no military weapons ;
their customs

In the times of the Leang dynasty, in the first half of the sixth century
of our era, the Chinese heard of a land which lay five thousand of their
miles easterly from the country of the "Pictured People," and named it
" Ta-han" or " Great China." The people of Ta-han carried no weapons,
and knew nothing of war and strife. In their customs and usages, the
people of Ta-han, on the whole,

The kingdom of Ta-han was made known (to the Chinese) under the
dynasty of the Leang (502-558) ; it is situated about five thousand li to
the east of the kingdom of Oueu-chin. The inhabitants have no arms,
and do not wa";e war. Their manners and their

In the time of the Leang dynasty, it was said of the kingdom of Ta-
han : This kingdom is situated to the east of the country of the Ouen-chin
more than five thousand li. Its people have no arms, and do not wage
war. Their manners

TA HAN, OR GREAT CHINA.

It was reported, during the Liang dynasty, that this kingdom lay more
than five thousand li east of Wan Sha"n. The inhabitants have no sol
diers or weapons, and never carry on war. Their manners and

GREAT HAN.

During the reign of the LIANG dynasty, Great HAN was reported to be
situated five thousand LI or more to the east of the " Marked Bodies "
country. Its people have no military weapons, and do not wage war.

326

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

No.
736

Character.

Page.

Sound.

DEFINITION.

Translation.

822

SUH

Same as 420.

RUDENESS

737

700

PING

Two together, both, with, and,
even with, to compare.

COMPARED

738

1125

Same as 369.

WITH

that of the

739

1041

WAN

" " 89.

MARKED

740

735

SHAN

" " 161.

BODIES

741

491

KWOH

" " 5.

COUNTRY
the

742

933

TUNG

" " 372.

SAME,

743

719

'RH

" " 68.

BUT

their

744

1083

YEN

" " 584.

LANGUAGE

745

1126

Ytf

" " 585.

WORDS
are

746

281

To divide, different, foreign,
to oppose, a difference.

DIFFERENT.

THE LAND OF "MARKED BODIES."

In all the foregoing translations the character SHIH (No. 696,
page 322) has been rendered " filled." Its fundamental meaning
seems to be " fruit," from which the secondary signification of
" solid, hard, compact, full, crammed," was derived. When used
as a verb, it seems to me to mean "to solidify, to harden, to pack
together, to cram " ; and, while it is applicable to the process of
filling a confined space with solid substances or articles closely
packed together, I doubt whether it can be used with pro
priety to express the filling of a receptacle with a liquid. It
therefore appears to me that the word, when used as a verb,
should be translated " to harden, to solidify, to make compact,"
rather than " to fill," and that the description of the country
should be read (punctuating after characters Nos. 689, 695, 699,
and 707):

" The residence of the king- of the country is adorned with
gold and silver, and precious and beautiful objects about it.
The dwellings consist of excavations of a breadth of one rod.
These (dwellings) are made solid, hard, compact, or impervious

THE GREAT HAN COUNTRY. 327

DE
GUIGNE8.

were essentially the same as those
had a different language.

of the people of Ven-chin, but they

NEU
MANN.

resembled the "Pictured People."
quite different languages.

The two nations, however, spoke

JULIEN.

customs are the same as those of the kingdom of Ouen-chin, but the Ian-
guage is different.

D'lIEKVET.

are the same as those of the Ouen-chin, but their language is different.

WILL
IAMS.

customs are the same as those of the Wan Shan, but their speech
differs.

VINING.

The rudeness of their customs is
country of " Marked Bodies," but
ferent.

the same as that of the people of the
the words of their language are dif-

by the use of water-silver [i. e., ice]. When it rains, then the
rain flows off from the surface of the water-silver."

I should understand that Hwui Shan meant to say that the
walls and roof of the dwellings were made solid and impervious
to either air or water by means of ice. The houses of this re
gion of the world are described by modern travelers as consist
ing of an excavation, with low, earthen side-walls, and a roof of
earth thrown over beams and branches used for its support.

If, now, water was poured over these walls and the roof, it
would soon freeze, and render them compact and impervious to
rain, so that "when it rained, then the rain would flow off over
the surface of the ice."

This translation suggested itself to me at so late a date that
I have not had time to consult competent Chinese scholars as to
the possibility of so rendering the passage. I have, therefore,
followed former translators in the version which is discussed in
Chapter XIX. I believe, however, that the Chinese text is sus
ceptible of the rendition given above, and that such a ver
sion removes all difficulties in the account, and brings HwuL
Shan's description into strict conformity with the truth.

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE LENGTH OF THE LI. — THE NAME "GREAT HAN."

The direction from Japan in which Fu-sang lay — Variations in standards of meas
ure — The Chinese li about one third of a mile in length — The greater length
of the Japanese li — Possibility of still another standard in Corea — Communi
cation between Corea and Japan and between Corea and China — Chinese knowl
edge of the route to Japan derived from Corean sources — Fu-sang farther from
" Great Han " than Japan is— Distances stated with at least approximate accu
racy—The country of " Marked Bodies " identified as the Aleutian Islands — Al
lowances for changes and misunderstandings — Caesar's account of the inhabit
ants of Britain — Maundevile's repetition of the story — " Great Han " identified
as Alaska — Land found in the regions indicated by Hwui Shan — Meaning
of the character " Han " — Nature of the Chinese characters— The manner in
which they are compounded of two parts — Some characters in which the
meaning is affected by that of both parts — Application of the character " Han "
to a swirling stream and to the Milky Way — Hence its possible meaning of
" dashing water " — Meaning of the name " Alaska " — The breakers of the
Aleutian Islands — The population — A philological myth — The hypotheses
upon one of which Hwui Shan's story must be explained — The explanation
should be consistent.

HAVING thus given the Chinese accounts of the land of Fu-
sang, and of the countries found upon the route from China to
that region, together with the arguments of former writers as to
their location, let us now examine the question for ourselves.

Fortunately, there is no doubt as to the first of the countries
that is named as lying upon the route. Long before the days of
Hwui Shan, the Chinese were acquainted with this kingdom of
Japan, and, when it was mentioned by him, there was no neces
sity for describing its location.

At a distance of over seven thousand li to the northeast of
Japan, it was stated that the country of " Marked Bodies " was
to be found. More than five thousand li to the east of this the
land of "Great Han" was situated, and over twenty thousand

THE LENGTH OF THE LI. 329

li easterly from this last-named country lay the land of Fu-sang.
As it is expressly stated, however, that Fu-sang lay to the east of
China, and as the greater part of the route from Japan to Great
Han was in a northeasterly direction, it is evident that Fu-sang
must have lain farther south than Great Han, and that its true
bearing from this last country was southeasterly rather than
east.

With these explicit statements as to the direction of the
route, there would be no difficulty in laying it down upon a chart,
provided that we knew the exact length of the li.

It is the case, however, that nearly all standards of measure
were more or less indefinite when they were first established, and
that, even after having been fixed with some degree of precis
ion, they have been subject to change in the course of cent
uries. The chief difficulty is found in the earlier stages of civili
zation, however. Crawfurd, for instance, in speaking of the
Javanese, says that,1138 in countries where there are no roads,
where the principal conveyance is by water, and where the paths
are circuitous and little frequented, it is not reasonable to sup
pose that any determinate measure of considerable distances
should exist. Such contrivances, although familiar to Europeans,
are the result of much improvement and civilization. The In
dian islanders, in traveling, speak of a day's journey, which, with
tolerable uniformity, may be reckoned at twenty British miles.

In another place he states that,1131 from their very nature,
the measures of grain among the Javanese are indefinite, and
hardly insure greater accuracy than we imply ourselves when
we speak of sheaves of corn. In the same district they are tol
erably regular in the quantity of grain and straw they contain ;
but such is the wide difference between the different districts or
provinces that the same nominal measure is often twice — nay,
three times — as large in one as in another.

This difficulty usually ceases to exist, however, by the time
that the state of civilization is reached which the Chinese had
attained in the fifth century. Long before that time their stand
ards of measure had apparently become so well established that
they have remained to the present time, with but few other
changes than those recently made by the Europeans.

Bretschneider ™ says : " Having often had the opportunity of
comparing distances given by the Chinese with our measures, I

330 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

came to the conclusion that we make no considerable error in tak
ing three Chinese li of our days as. equal to one English mile; and
it can be proved, from ancient itineraries of the eleventh and
twelfth centuries, that the length of the Chinese li has not
changed since that time."

The " Chinese Repository " 1016 says that there is great difficulty
in estimating the Chinese li, or mile. It appears, by the " His
tory of the Ming Dynasty," that the measures have varied
under the different dynasties. The Chinese have never been
able to measure distances by astronomical observations. It may
be doubted whether they have ever taken the trouble to measure
roads. On those which are prepared for the emperor, and at great
expense, the number of li is written up all along the road ; but it
is a fact that those li are not all of equal length. The traveler,
when inquiring the distance from one place to another, is told so
many li, and it is often added, " They are great or small." It is
admitted that in the north the li are longer than in the south. It
would appear that popular tradition has determined their number.
A geography, printed by order of government, states that from
Canton to Pekin the distance is 8,185 li. As the positions of Can
ton and Pekin are known, it seems that they might serve to esti
mate the Chinese lij but there is no doubt that the windings of
the road are included in those 8,185 li. Now, the routes in China,
both by land and water, wind without end ; so that there seems
no way of estimating the li with precision. However, it is
generally believed that there are two hundred li to a degree of
latitude.

In another place it states that 971 the li, or mile, is an uncer
tain measure. Its common measure is 31 6^ fathoms, or 1,897£
English feet, and it is the usual term in which length is estimat
ed. The Chinese reckon 192J li for a degree of latitude and
longitude (for a degree of a great circle — say, 65 miles — this is
1,918 feet) ; but the Jesuits divided the degree into 250 li, each
li being 1,826 English feet, or the tenth part of a French league,
which is the established measure at present. A li, according to
this measurement, is a little more than one third of an English
mile.

A long article on the true length of this standard of meas
ure 1036 is also given, in which the same general conclusion is
reached — that the li is about one third of an English mile.

THE LENGTH OF THE LI. 331

Remusat, in a note upon " The Pilgrimage of Fa Hian,"15WT
makes the statement that the length of the sheu, or cubit, is
variously estimated : sometimes at two chih (0-610 metres) ;
sometimes at one chih and two tsun (0*4575 metres). Four sheu
make one hung (bow), and three hundred hung make one li.
According to this calculation the li would be either 549 or 732
metres.

Prinsep says that S095 a li is not quite one third of a mile ; for
two hundred li equal a degree of latitude, or some sixty-nine
statute miles.

Professor Williams states that 2509 a discrepancy exists regard
ing its precise length, owing to the various measures of the
chih. It is usually reckoned at 1,825*55 feet, English, which
gives 2*89 li to an English mile. This is based on the esti
mate of 200 li to a degree ; but there were only 180 li to a de
gree before Europeans came, which increases its length to 2, 028 '39
feet, or 2'6 li to a mile, which is nearer the common estimate ;
and Summers2415 says that the li, or Chinese mile = 316^ fath
oms = 1,897-J- English feet : 192£ li = I degree of latitude or
longitude, according to the Chinese ; but the Jesuits make 250
li = 1 degree, each li being = 1,826 feet, or ^ of a French league.

It will not be necessary to quote other authorities upon the
subject ; but, at the risk of being tedious, it seemed best to give
the foregoing, for the purpose of showing that, after all that has
been said as to the uncertainty as to the true length of the lit
there is really but little disagreement as to what that length
was before the coming of the Jesuits, and that if it be estimated
at one third of an English mile the result will be very close to
the truth.

The Chinese li is sometimes stated to be equal to three hun
dred and sixty (double) paces, and a comparison of this number
with the one thousand (double) paces which was the original basis
for the length of our mile, gives substantially the same result.

Attention should be called, however, to the fact that, just as
there is a great difference between the lengths of the English
mile, the German mile, and the nautical or geographical mile, so
there is a great difference between the standards of distance
used in Japan and China, respectively, and there is some reason
for thinking that still another standard may have been used in
Corea.

332 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

The Japanese and Coreans, who do not use the letter "/,"
substitute " r " for it, and pronounce the word " ri" instead of
" li" The same character is used by them when writing the
word, however, that is used by the Chinese for the " li.n

Klaproth1651 says that the ri of Corea, which is the same as
that of the Mantchoos in China, contains only three and a half
Japanese matsis, and, as the Japanese ri contains thirty-six
matsis, ten Corean ri* are hardly equal to one Japanese ri.

This last standard is equal to about three English miles ; and
if Klaproth is correct in his statement that the Corean ri or li is
the same as the Chinese, its length is about one third of a mile.
Oppert, in one place,1999 says, however, that thirty Corean li equal
three English miles ; and if his statement can be relied upon, this
reduces the Corean li to about one tenth of a mile.

About a century after the visit of Hwui Shan, Li Yen-shau,
who copied the official records of the story of the Buddhist priest,
also gave an account of the country of Japan, in which (or in
the copies which the Chinese now have) the distance from the
port of Lo-lang, in western Corea, to Japan, is stated to be
twelve thousand li. As the actual distance to the capital of
Japan is not more than fifteen hundred miles, it follows either
that there is a serious error in his account, or else that the li used
as a standard must be only about one tenth of a mile in length.
This statement of Li Yen-shau's has been the cause of nearly
all the misunderstanding as to the true position of the coun
tries described by Hwui Shan. No other instance seems to occur
in the Chinese records in which the length of the li varies mate
rially from one third of a mile ; yet from this single instance, of
a standard apparently only one tenth of a mile in length, used
by a writer who lived long after the days of Hwui Shan, his
whole story has been discredited, and an effort has been made to
show that the distance which he described as twenty thousand li
was in reality only the trifling distance between the island of
Saghalien and Japan.

It will be shown in one of the following chapters that the
chief early intercourse of the Japanese was with the people of
Corea. These in turn were frequently visited by the Chinese.
Klaproth1656 says that there was constant communication between
the two countries, and that Corea paid tribute to China through
out the fifth and sixth centuries. Their histories also show that

THE LENGTH OF THE LI. 333

when the Chinese visited Japan it was by way of Corea. It
is therefore evident that the Chinese relied upon the Coreans for
information as to the route to Japan, and for assistance in reach
ing that country, and nothing can be more probable than that
Li Yen-shau, when gathering information as to Japan, obtained
much of it, either directly or indirectly, from Corean sources.
Whether it is a fact that the Corean li is, or ever has been, only
one tenth of a mile in length, and that the Chinese borrowed the
description of the route given by the Coreans, without making the
correction for the difference in the length of the li used in the
two countries, or whether, as is indicated by a discovery of M. de
Rosny, mentioned in a note given in Chapter XXXIV, a seri
ous error was made by the Chinese in copying from their early
records, by which they doubled the distance, must be left to the
decision of competent scholars ; but that the true explanation of
the great distance that is named will be found either in one
cause or the other, there seems little room to doubt.

Whatever the cause of the error in the description of the
route to Japan may have been, Hwui Shan, when describing the
length of his journey, to the representative of the Chinese em
peror, could not have meant by the word li anything else than
the distance then called a li by the Chinese — that is to say, about
one third of an English mile. He certainly can not be blamed
for his failure to foresee that a century after his death his story
would be confused with another account, in which there would
be either a serious error or else in which another standard of
distance would be used.

Those who have placed Fu-sang in Japan have either ignored
so many difficulties, or disposed of them so satisfactorily to them
selves, that the trifling discrepancy that, according to their views,
the distance from Japan to Great Han was twelve thousand li
(of a length never used elsewhere in Chinese accounts), while
the distance from Great Han to Japan (Fu-sang) was twenty
thousand li, seems unworthy of notice.

In addition to the difficulty which a number of former in
vestigators have found in determining, approximately, the
length of the li, the second objection is raised that Hwui
Shan, or the mythical Chinese voyagers who have been sup
posed to have visited the country of Marked Bodies and Great
Han, could not have had any means of determining with, accu-

334: AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

racy the distances which they traveled or the direction of their
voyage.

Admitting that the distances and the direction may not be
accurately given, it certainly does not follow that they are not
a reasonable approximation to the truth. Surely there was no
greater difficulty in those days than there is now in making a
rough estimate, with reasonable accuracy, as to the distance
traveled and the general direction of the course. Of all the
men who sail the seas, it is doubtful whether there is one who,
if he had pursued a southerly course of a thousand or twelve
hundred miles, could be so egregiously mistaken as to believe
that he had sailed seven thousand miles easterly ; and if it be as
sumed that Hwui Shan attempted to describe his journey in
good faith, it certainly ought not to be taken for granted that
he was liable to make so gross a blunder.

Klaproth says 1659 that the navigators who visit the Japanese
Islands estimate even the distances which they have themselves
traveled only approximately. It is evident, however, that they
do estimate them approximately, and would not be likely to be
guilty of such stupidity as calling south, east, and thinking one
mile to be seven.

The " Chinese Repository," 101T when referring to distances
reckoned in " days' journeys," says that " the day's journey is
usually considered one hundred tt, a little more or less " ; and it
is not improbable that the Buddhist traveler, when journeying
along the shore or paddling from island to island, estimated each
day's journey as about this distance. However this may have
been, there can be no question that a man possessed of courage,
persistency, and hardihood sufficient to carry him through a
journey of forty-one years, in countries previously unknown,
can hardly have lacked the amount of knowledge necessary
to enable him to distinguish between east and south, or be
tween one mile and half a dozen. When he says that the
country of Marked Bodies lies twenty-three hundred miles
northeasterly from Japan, we may grant that this is a mere
estimate. Possibly the distance was only two thousand miles,
or it may have been twenty-five hundred ; the course, also, may
have varied a few degrees from northeast ; but if we are to as
sume that he may have meant a country less than five hundred
miles from Japan, and lying directly north, we assume that he

THE LENGTH OF THE LI. 335

was either grossly ignorant or thoroughly dishonest, and in either
case it would be useless to examine his story further.

Let us for the present, however, proceed upon the assump
tion that he may have been honest and intelligent, as he must
have been brave and resolute, and see whether his story is or is
not true.

If we sail from Japan, in a northeasterly direction, for a
distance of some two thousand miles, where do we find our
selves ? Not in the island of Jesso, but among the Aleutian
Islands. Do these islands or their people correspond with Hwui
Shan's account ? If they do, we have a strong proof that his
story is true. If they do not, it is useless to look elsewhere for
the country described by him, and his story may be dismissed
as false.

Allowance must be made, however, for the changes that
have taken place in the fourteen centuries that have elapsed
since the time of his travels. It could not be expected that all
the customs mentioned by him should have come down to the
present day, or that those which still exist should be found
identical in all respects with the form which they had so long
ago. It is also to be presumed that those which have survived
will be found, in many cases, scattered among tribes now living
at some distance from the region inhabited by their ancestors
fourteen hundred years ago.

Caesar's account of the people of Gaul and Britain antedates
by only some four centuries Hwui Shan's story of the lands
visited by him ; but if we had no other means of proving that
Caesar actually visited western Europe and England than a com
parison of his account with existing customs, his credit would
suffer as has our Buddhist priest's.

When speaking of the people of Britain, he says "' that they
do not consider it right to eat the hare, the domestic fowl, or the
goose, and adds that917 " most of the inhabitants of the interior
do not sow grain, but live upon milk and flesh, and clothe them
selves in skins. All the men of this country dye themselves with
woad, which gives them a bluish colour, and makes their appear
ance in battle more terrible. Their hair is long, and all parts
of their body are shaved except the head and upper lip. Ten
or twelve have their wives in common, usually brothers with
their brothers, or parents with their children ; but the offspring

336 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

are considered the children of him by whom the maiden was
first espoused."

It is a curious illustration of the persistency with which his
torical tales survive, and of the fact that even the most incredible
are frequently founded upon some warped or perverted truth,
and hence are deserving of study in order that the truth which
they contain may be separated from the error, that Sir John
Maundevile, returning to England some twelve centuries later,
with his mind filled with marvels — not only those which he had
himself seen in the Orient, but also all that he had been able
to gather from others regarding the countries still farther east
— should have brought back to Britain the story which had
started from it so long before. The tale had survived, but the
location of the land had been forgotten, and hence it was sup
posed to be situated in the distant East.

leas (( Bey0n(ie that Yle, is another Yle, where is gret mul-
tytude of folk ; and thei wole not for nothing eten Flesche of
Hares, ne of Hennes, ne of Gees ; and yit thei bryngen forthe y
now, for to seen hem and to beholden hem only. But thei eten
Flesche of alle other Bestes, and drynken Mylk. In that Centre
thei taken hire Doughtres and hire Sustres to here Wyfes, and
hire other Kynneswomen. And gif there ben 10 or 12 men or
mo dwellynge in an Hows, the Wif of everyche of hem schalle
ben comoun to hem alle, that duellen in that Hows."

Returning again to the account of the Buddhist traveler, it
will be seen that he says that, about sixteen hundred miles east
of the land of "Marked Bodies," there lay a country called
GREAT HA^. At about that distance east of the center of the
Aleutian Islands, Alaska is found ; and if his story is true, Great
Han was located in or near Alaska.

It should first be noticed that here are two instances in which
land exists in the Pacific Ocean, just where he says it is to
be found. A glance at a map will show how unlikely it is that
he would be right as to the existence of land in a certain direc
tion, and at a certain distance, if his story were but a figment of
the imagination. With all the islands in the Pacific Ocean to
choose from, those who attempt to locate Fu-sang. elsewhere
than in America, can do so only by ignoring both the distance
and the direction. If any other U than the true one is used,
and if the bearings mentioned by Hwui Shan are preserved, the

THE NAME "GREAT HAN." 337

end of the route will fall into the fathomless depths of the Pa
cific.

The name of the easternmost of the two countries is given as
fa TA (Great), g|, HAN. The last character being made up of
two parts, meaning respectively " water " and " hardship."

Instead of being composed,2390 as is frequently supposed, of a
vast number of arbitrary and complicated symbols, the charac
ters of the Chinese language are compounded of very simple
elements, which carry along with them into their derivatives
something of their own meaning, while each generally preserves
its figure unchanged. These elementary characters supply the
place of an alphabet ; but it is an alphabet of ideas, not of
sounds.

The earliest Chinese characters were evidently pictorial ; but
pictures could not be made which would clearly express all ideas.
Among the means resorted to, for obtaining characters to express
conceptions that could not be indicated by a simple sketch, was
that of combining two familiar pictures to give rise to a new
idea, sometimes of an abstraction, sometimes the name of a
real thing.2392 For instance, a man with a large eye represents
" seeing " ; two men, " to follow " ; three men, " many " ; 1568
two men on the ground, " sitting."

All other means failing, the present great mass of characters
was formed by a principle from which the class is called "pho
netic"; because in the characters classed under it, while one
part (called the " radical ") preserves its meaning, the other part
(called the " phonetic " or " primitive ") is used to give its own
sound to the whole figure. This part does sometimes, however,
8393 convey also its symbolic meaning as well as its sound.

As a specimen of the influence which the primitive frequently
exerts upon the meaning of the compound, the following is
given : 1027

jg, TI, means low or mean ; when compounded with the radi
cal " man," it means a low man, a base fellow, a vagabond ; when
with " heart," it means a sordid mind, meanness ; when with
"hand," it .means underhanded, crafty; when with a "tree,"
the roots ; when with a "stone," the foundation ; when with a
" horn," to put the horn down, to gore ; when with an " eye," to
look down, humble, condescending ; when with a "boat," per
haps the bottom of the boat or rudder ; when with " words,"
22

338 AN INGLOEIOUS COLUMBUS.

low words, vulgarisms, slander ; and when with " grain," ripe
grain that bends down.

G. T. Lay, in an article in the " Chinese Repository," insists
upon the importance of recognizing the influence of the " pho
netic" upon the meaning of the character, in the following
words : 104S

" The Chinese primitives or vocal portions may not be ex
changed (for others of the same sound) without producing the
greatest change in the sense. Every student of a few months'
standing knows that you can not substitute one primitive for an
other without producing a different sense ; with this fact before
him, will any man have the hardihood to tell me that the primi
tive in composition serves only for the purposes of sound ? We
acknowledge that Chinese sometimes exchange these primitives
in their books, and more frequently in their petitions, letters, and
private documents, and thus occasion doubt and difficulties which
might have been avoided. The number of substitutions is al
ways in the direct ratio of the composer's ignorance of the written
language. Many a time has the foreigner mortified the pride of
the native by showing him that he had written the wrong primi
tive, and perhaps not less frequently has the native repaid the
little affront by pointing out a similar mistake which the foreign
er had made. This is an every-day proof that the Chinese rec
ognize the principle that the primitive has a meaning as well as
a sound."

There are at least five or six hundred common Chinese char
acters in which it is universally admitted that the meaning of
the so called "phonetic" is preserved in the compound char
acter.

Let us see whether this character HAN should not be in
cluded in this class. Professor Williams defines the word as
follows : " The Milky Way ; the large branch of the Yang-tsz'
River ; a Chinese ; relating to China ; the Han dynasty, which
was named from the duke of Han."

Its most common use at present is in the meaning " Chinese."
The " Land of Han " is China,1363 and hence the term " Great Han "
has been considered to mean either " Great China," or a land
inhabited by " Great Chinese." It is evident, however, that
the term " Han " was first applied to the Chinese as subjects
of the Han dynasty,1363 which took its name from its founder,

THE NAME "GREAT HAN." 339

the duke of Han. He in turn derived his title, like many
English noblemen, from the small district over which he first
ruled, and this district took its name from the river Han, upon
the bank of which it was situated.

If we now inquire how the character in question first came
to be applied to the river Han, and if we bear in mind that the
character is composed of two parts, meaning "water" and "hard
ship," it is readily seen that it may have been adopted as the
name of the river to express the idea that its leading character
istic was that its " water " could be navigated only with " diffi
culty," if at all. The Chinese " Historical Classic," the SHU
KING, as translated by Mr. James Legge, mentions " the Han
with its eddying movements," 1708 and Professor Williams refers
to 2533 the swirling waters of the river Han, thus showing that
the two parts of the character correctly describe the stream.

The character Han also means the Milky Way.2628 And here
again the idea of foaming, dashing water is apparent ; the Milky
Way resembling a foaming stream among the stars.

When Hwui Shan reached the Aleutian Islands, or Alaska,
what name did he find the country to bear ? what was the mean
ing of the name, and how would he probably attempt to tran
scribe it in Chinese characters ?

It is stated in the " Chinese Repository " that 1007 the etymolo
gies of the Chinese are sometimes deserving of notice as an index
of their habits of thought, and modes of combining relative
ideas in order to embody a new one ; and Professor Williams says
that 2494 scholars are fastidious as to the introduction of merely
phonetic words into their compositions, and prefer to translate
everything that they can.

Hence, the probability is strong that Hwui Shan would at
tempt both to translate the name, and to adopt a character which
would to some extent describe the country.

Dall gives the following statement as to the name applied by
the natives of the Aleutian Islands to the adjoining continent,
and as to its meaning : 1168

"Alaska. — This name, now applied to the whole of our new
territory, is a corruption, very far removed from the original
word. When the early Russian traders first reached Unalashka,
they were told by the natives that to the eastward was a great
land or territory. This was called by the natives Al-ak-shak, or

34:0 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

Al-ay-ek-sa. The island now known as Unalashka was called
Na-gun-alayeksa, or the land near Alayeksa. From Alayeksa
the name became, by corruption, Alaksa, Alashka, Aliaska, and
finally Alaska. . . . We have then Alaska for the territory, Ali
aska for the peninsula, and Unalashka for the island ; all derived
from the same root, meaning a GKEAT country or continent"

Pinart also states that among the Aleuts 2039 a tradition of the
people is mentioned, in which they say that, before coming to
their present home, they lived " in a great land, which was also
called Alidkhskha — that is to say, * a continent.' "

Coxe also mentions the acquaintance of the Aleutian Island
ers with the size of the adjoining continent, in the following
words : 1123

" Glottof did not land till he reached the last and most east
ward of these islands, called by the inhabitants Kadiak ; from
which the natives said it was not far to the coast of a wide, ex
tended, woody continent."

Hence, when Hwui Shan was in the Aleutian Islands, he, too,
probably heard of the " great land," " the continent," to the
east ; and this he indicated by the character TA, meaning "great."

That the character is used with this meaning, and not as a
mere phonetic, is quite conclusively proven by the fact that in
the twenty-eight cases in which it is used by Hiuen Ts'ang,1616 in
the names of towns or districts of India, it is invariably a trans
lation of the Sanskrit " Maha," having the same meaning, while
m the twenty cases in which the syllable " TA " is transliterated,
some other character is always used.1617

While it is possible that he may have meant "China" by the
character " Han," thus intending to call the continent " Great
China," and so indicate the fact that it was larger than China, it
seems more probable that he meant to go back to the original
meaning of the character, and thus indicate that it was a great
country of dashing icater, or a great country reached with diffi
culty by water.

This would be very appropriate, as Langsdorff says that 1699
the current, or the influence of the ebb and flood tides, is very vio
lent and irregular here between the numerous islands, and needs
to be carefully watched by every sailor. While the Encyclo
paedia Britannica states that 1292 the Aleutian Islands are bare and
mountainous, and their coasts are rocky and surrounded by

THE NAME " GREAT HAN." 341

breakers, by which the approach is rendered exceedingly dan
gerous.

Although the population of the Aleutian Islands is now
very small, the islands were once thickly peopled. Langsdorff
says, for instance, that 170° about 1770 the population of Kadiak
and the neighbouring islands was estimated at fifty thousand
people.

One curious indication of the location of the country named
"Han " is found in the Chinese character ^|, of which the Hok-
kee'n pronunciation is CHAY. This is defined as1864 "driftwood
floating down a river, upon which they fable that genii ride in
order to float into the Milky Way, or Heavenly River, and thus get
among the stars." Here is evidently a myth founded upon the
character " Han," which was applied by Hwui Shan to a country
far to the northeast, upon which driftwood floating in the Kuro-
siwo, or gulf-stream of the Pacific, would ultimately be thrown.
After the existence of this country was partly forgotten, some
surviving statement, that the driftwood floated to " Han," was,
on account of the fact that one of the meanings of the character
is "the Milky Way," supposed to mean that the driftwood
floated to this Heavenly River.

Before taking up the account of the lands of "Marked
Bodies " and " Great Han," and examining them clause by clause
to see whether similar accounts are given by other travelers to
the same region, attention should be called to the fact that a
thorough examination of Hwui Shan's story should lead to some
one of the following conclusions :

First. — His story is entirely false ; nothing more than an
effort of the imagination of a " lying Buddhist priest."

Second. — He himself had not visited the countries which he
described, but he had heard some account of them from others
who had visited them, and he attempted to repeat their stories.

Third. — He had actually visited the countries described by
him, and he attempted to give a truthful account of his travels.

In deference to the views of those scholars who see in every
nursery tale and every history a myth of the rising sun, a fourth
theory might be added : that the story of Fu-sang is a " sun-
myth." This Procrustean theory is so all-embracing — applying
with equal force to " Sing a Song of Sixpence " and the Iliad ; to
the history of Jacob and the life of either of the Napoleons —

342 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

that the various arguments used to adapt it to any tale what
ever might be applied (even with special force, as to some points)
to the history of Fu-sang, " the Land of the Rising Sun." A
sprinkling of Sanskrit, and a reference to the clouds surrounding
the rising sun as " cows " or " herds," would make the argument
complete.

As it is reasonable to presume, however, that not more than
nine tenths of early history is a variation upon the sun-myth
theme, let us assume that the story of Fu-sang is among the
few early tales that have some claim to other foundation.

In such case it is but reasonable to ask that the story as a
whole should lead to some one of the three conclusions before
mentioned. A portion of the story should not be accounted for
by one hypothesis, and another of its statements by a different
theory, wholly inconsistent with the first. It is not proper, for
instance, to arrive at the conclusion that there was no such land
as Fu-sang, and then in the next sentence attempt to prove that
there was a land of Fu-sang, but that it was located in Japan.

The author will attempt to show that the third theory is the
true one. It is not necessary to remove every objection ; some
difficulties will unquestionably remain unsolved. But the true
point to be decided is as to which one of the possible theories
offers the fewest and least serious perplexities. If it be shown
that Hwui Shan describes a particular region in America, with
its characteristic plants, and mentions peculiar customs of its
people, such as are not known to have ever existed elsewhere ;
if truth after truth is told, of a nature such as could never have
been imagined if America had not actually been visited — a
point will soon be reached when even explanations that would
otherwise seem improbable may be accepted in regard to some
few difficulties that present no other solution.

If it requires infinitely more explanation to account for Hwui
Shan's story upon either the first or second theory than it does
upon the third, then the third may be considered as established
with reasonable certainty. In the following pages an effort will
be made to show that this is the case.

CHAPTER XIX.

THE CUSTOMS OF THE LAND OF " MAKKED BODIES," AND OF

GEEAT HAN.

Necessity of examining the account in detail — The resemblance of the people of the
two countries — Their customs — Their languages — The marks upon their bodies
— Tattooing with three lines — Existence of the custom in America — The marks
a sign of the position of their bearer — The merry nature of the people — Their
feasts and dances — Their hospitality — Hospitality of the American Indians —
The.Iroquois — The Esquimaux — The Aleutians — Absence of fortifications —
The chiefs — The decoration of their dwellings — The Haidah Indians — Other
Indian tribes from British Columbia to Alaska — Esquimaux fondness for
ornamentation — Ditches — The dwellings of the people — Water-silver — Proof
that ice is meant — Quicksilver — No country ever had ditches filled with
quicksilver — The traffic by means of precious gems — No money used — Value
of amber — The peaceful nature of the people— The punishment of crime —
Summary of facts mentioned by Hwui Shan — Application of the doctrine of
chances — The two countries bearing the name of Great Han.

MARSDEN, in his edition of the " Travels of Marco Polo," 1739
states that while much ingenuity has been shown, on the one
side, in pointing out what seem to be improbabilities, defects,
and inconsistencies in his work, and, on the other, in defend
ing it upon general principles, little has hitherto been done, by
editors or commentators, toward an examination of the particu
lar details, with the view of bringing them to the test of mod
ern observation ; and yet it is upon the unexceptionable evi
dence of their consistency with known facts, rather than the
strength of any argument, that the reader is expected to ground
his confidence in the intentional veracity of the author.

This criticism seems equally true in regard to the Chinese
descriptions of eastern lands ; and this chapter will therefore be
devoted to an examination of "the particular details" of the
account of the Countries of Marked Bodies and Great Han, in
order to show " their consistency with known facts."

344: AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

I. — THE RUDENESS OF THE CUSTOMS (of the people of the
two countries) is THE SAME, BUT THEIR LANGUAGES ARE DIF
FERENT.

Latham says 170T that the inhabitants of the Aleutian Islands,
properly so called (i. e., of Behring's and Copper Islands), of the
Rat Islands, of the Andreanowsky Islands, of the Prebulowiini
Islands, of Unalaska, and of Kadiak, are all Esquimaux ; a fact
which numerous vocabularies give us full means of ascertaining.
In respect to the difference of speech between particular islands,
there is external evidence that it is considerable. The people of
Atka have a difficulty in understanding the Unalaskans, and
vice versa. Again, the Kadiak vocabulary, as found in Lisiansky,
differs very notably from the Unalaskan of the same author ;
indeed, it may be doubted whether the two languages are mu
tually intelligible.

Dall states that 1154 the language of the western Innuit differs
totally in the vocabulary from that of any Indian tribes, while
there are many words common to the Greenlanders and the
Behring's Strait Esquimaux. On the other hand, the words of the
language of the Aleutians are in very large part quite dissimilar
to those of the most adjacent Innuit. There is more difference
in this respect between them and the Innuit of Kadiak than ex
ists between the Greenlandic and Behring's Strait dialect. Never
theless, the Aleutian language is clearly of the Innuit type, and
is only entitled to rank as a branch of the Orarian stock.

While Langsdorff repeats, almost verbatim, the words of
Hwui Shan : "The inhabitants of Kadiak are but slightly dif
ferent from those of Unalaska. In general the people are some
what taller and more robust, but otherwise they are undeniably
of the same race. The language is different. The customs, man
ners, methods of living, means of sustenance, and the clothing,
however, are almost exactly the same." 1709

il.— THE PEOPLE HAVE MARKS UPON THEIR BODIES LIKE
WILD BEASTS.

It does not seem quite certain whether Hwui Shan meant
that the marks were like those upon animals, or that they were
pictures of wild beasts, or merely that the people resembled
animals from the fact that their bodies were marked.

If it is meant that the marks were representations of wild
beasts, the Haidah Indians, of Queen Charlotte's Islands, who

CUSTOMS OF THE LAND OF " MARKED BODIES." 345

live not far from Alaska, and who may have moved from a still
nearer neighbourhood during the last fourteen centuries, ex
actly meet the description. They seem to be intruders in their
present location, as Swan states that there is a24'24 marked differ
ence in their manners and customs from the Indians of the main
land. He adds that a singular 2423 custom which prevails among
them, and which seems to be a distinctive feature of this tribe, is
that of tattooing their bodies with various designs, all of which
are fanciful representations of animals, birds, or fishes, either an
attempt to represent in a grotesque form those which are known
and commonly seen, or their mythological and legendary crea
tions ; he says also that 2422 each of the people will have on some
part of the body a representation in tattooing of the particular
figure which constitutes his or her family name or connection.
The chief will have all the figures tattooed on his body to show
his connection with the whole.

If it is merely meant, however, that the people resembled
wild beasts rather than men, because their bodies were marked
or tattooed, it is not necessary to look farther than to the tribes
now living in Alaska and the Aleutian Islands.

Bancroft says that,101 were these people (the Esquimaux)
satisfied with what nature has done for them, they would be
passably good-looking. But with them, as with all mankind,
no matter how high the degree of intelligence and refinement
attained, art must be applied to improve upon nature. The few
finishing-touches neglected by the Creator, man is ever ready to
supply. Arrived at the age of puberty, the great work of im
provement begins. Up to this time the skin has been kept satu
rated in grease and filth, until the natural colour is lost, and
until the complexion is brought down to the Esquimaux standard.
Now pigments of various dyes are applied, both painted out
wardly and pricked into the skin.

John Ledyard, who visited Unalaska with Captain Cook,
stated that, among the people whom they saw,108 both sexes
had undergone the usual face painting and ornamentation ; and
Langsdorff mentions that 1698 tattooing was very customary in
former times in the Aleutian Islands, especially among the women.
They punctured the chin, the neck, and the arms.

III. IN FRONT (OB UPON THEIR FOREHEADS) THEY HAVE

THREE MARKS.

346 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

Richardson says : 105 " The women tattoo their faces in blue
lines, produced by making stitches with a fine needle and thread
smeared with lamp-black." Beechey reports that, between
Kotzebue Sound and Icy Cape,102 " all the women were tattooed
upon the chin with three small lines." Armstrong states that,109
at Point Barrow, the women have on the chin a vertical line
about half an inch broad in the center, extending from the lip,
with a parallel but narrower one on either side of it, a little
apart. Choris assures us that,102 on Behring's Isle, men as well
as women tattoo ; many men having the face tattooed. Coxe
mentions that im the women of the Aleutian Islands were orna
mented with different figures sewed into the skin, and that 118°
the faces of the women of the Fox Islands were marked with
blackish streaks made with a needle and thread in the skin ; and
Bancroft says that 105 young Kadiak wives secure the affection
ate admiration of their husbands by tattooing the breast and
adorning the face with black lines ; while the Kuskoquim women
sew into their chin two parallel blue lines.

This custom seems to have spread over a large portion of
Northwestern America.

Ross says that all the Esquimaux women met by him'162 were
tattooed to a greater or less extent, chiefly on the brow, and on
each side of the mouth and chin ; this ornament consisting in
lines alone, without any peculiar figures, and thus conforming
to the usages of the Northwestern Esquimaux of America, as they
have been described by different voyagers.

Mackenzie, after mentioning that 1773 the Chepewyans have a
tradition among them that they originally came from another
country, inhabited by very wicked people, and had traversed a
great lake which was narrow, shallow, and full of islands, where
they had suffered great misery, it being always winter, with ice
and deep snow, adds that Im both sexes have blue or black bars
of from one to four straight lines on their cheeks or forehead,
to distinguish the tribe to which they belong. He also asserts
that 1775 the men of both the Slave and Dog-rib tribes of Indians
have two double lines, either black or blue, tattooed upon each
cheek, from the ear to the nose, and that some of the Kniste-
naux women 1771 tatoo three perpendicular lines, which are some
times double, one from the center of the chin to that of the under
lip, and one parallel on either side to the corner of the mouth.

CUSTOMS OF THE LAND OF "MARKED BODIES." 347

Powers remarks that the Karok2058 squaws tattoo in blue three
narrow fern-leaves perpendicularly on the chin, one falling from
each corner of the mouth, and one in the middle, and that the
Wintun2059 squaws all tattoo three narrow lines, one falling
from each corner of the mouth, and one between.

IV. — IF THE MARKS ABE LARGE AND STRAIGHT, THEY INDICATE
THAT THOSE WHO HAVE THEM ARE OP THE HIGHER CLASSES ;
BUT IP THEY ARE SMALL AND CROOKED, THEN THEIR POSSESSORS
ARE OP THE LOWER CLASSES.

Armstrong states that at Point Barrow some of the wom
en 103 " have two vertical lines protruding from either angle
of the mouth ; which is a mark of their high position in the
tribe."

V. THE PEOPLE OF THE LAND ARE OP A MERRY NATURE,

AND THEY REJOICE WHEN THEY HAVE AN ABUNDANCE, EVEN OF
ARTICLES THAT ARE OF LITTLE VALUE.

It is singular that nearly every traveler to Alaska and the
Aleutian Islands has mentioned this peculiarity in the disposi
tion of the people, by which they are clearly distinguished from
the taciturn and phlegmatic tribes occupying other portions of
the American Continent.

Bancroft states that 109 the Aleuts are fond of dancing.
Langsdorff asserts that 169S the character of the people of the
island of Unalaska is in general kind and good-natured, sub
missive, and obedient. Ball states m6 that originally the Aleu
tian tribes were active and sprightly, and that,1172 like most
of the Innuit tribes, they were fond of dances and festivals,
which, like those of Norton Sound, were chiefly celebrated in
December. Food was then plenty, and the otter-hunting
season did not commence till a little later.1157 Whole villages
entertained other villages, receiving the guests with songs and
tambourines. Successive dances of children, naked men beating
their rude drums, and women curiously attired, were followed
by incantations from the shamans. If a whale was cast ashore,
the natives assembled with joyous and remarkable ceremonies.
They advanced and beat drums of different sizes. The carcass
was then cut up, and a feast held on the spot.

This peculiarity seems to be shared by the Kamtchatkans,
for it is stated of them that 1641 they pass their time in singing
and dancing, and in relating their intrigues, and the greatest

34:8 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

misfortune that they can suffer is to be deprived of these
amusements.

VI. — TRAVELING VISITORS DO NOT PREPARE FOOD FOR THEIR

JOURNEYS, AND THEY HAVE THE SHELTER OF THEIR (THE IN
HABITANTS') DWELLINGS.

By referring to the seventeenth chapter, it will be seen that
some of the former translators of this passage have thought that
reference was made to " a fertile land, where all that is neces
sary to sustain life may be found in abundance "; to a country
where "the various products are abundant and cheap," and
where " the travelers who pass through it have no need to fur
nish themselves with provisions." The Marquis d'Hervey de
Saint-Denys renders the first clause of the paragraph above
quoted, " The traveler easily finds food"; and in another place
translates the same clause, " The traveler has no need to carry
food with him (the country furnishing it to him in abundance)."

The version of this passage by Professor Williams will be
seen, however, to agree in its main features with that given by
the present author.

The statement of the Chinese account is, that "traveling
visitors do not prepare food for their journeys "; and the in
ference of former translators, that the reason is that " the coun
try furnishes it in abundance," is merely an inference, and hap
pens to be erroneous.

The true reason is, that the people, although poor, are so hos
pitable that they supply travelers freely with all that they them
selves have. This complete hospitality, which is carried to such
a point that it is considered to be a right of the traveler to share
freely of all that may be found in the dwellings that he enters,
and that there is no thought on either side that it is an act of
mere courtesy, is characteristic of the aborigines of the Ameri
can Continent ; as it existed throughout all of North America,
at least, and was probably found in South America also ; while
it is doubtful whether the same universal and complete hospi
tality has existed anywhere else in the world.

So accustomed were all or nearly all of the tribes of America
to this hearty welcome in every house that they entered, that
Mr. Stephen Badger, in a letter to the Massachusetts His
torical Society, published in 1798, complains that "6 the Indians
are strangely disposed and addicted to wander from place to

CUSTOMS OF THE LAND OF "MARKED BODIES." 349

place, and to make excursions into various parts of the country,
and sometimes at no small distance from their proper homes,
without anything on hand for their support in their perambula
tions, as for this they depend, with unanxious concern, upon the
charity and compassion of others.

Morgan says that1936 one of the most attractive features of In
dian society was the spirit of hospitality by which it was per
vaded. Perhaps no people ever carried this principle to the
same degree of universality as did the Iroquois. Their houses
were not only open to each other, at all hours of the day and of
the night, but also to the wayfarer and the stranger. Such
entertainment as their means afforded was freely spread before
him, with words of kindness and of welcome. He states again
that,1919 among the Iroquois, hospitality was' an established
usage. If a man entered an Indian house in any of their vil
lages, whether a villager, a tribesman, or a stranger, it was the
duty of the women therein to set food before him. An omis
sion to do this would have been a discourtesy amounting to an
affront. If hungry, he ate ; if not hungry, courtesy required
that he should taste the food and thank the giver. This would
be repeated at every house he entered, and at whatever hour in
the day. As a custom it was upheld by a rigorous public senti
ment. The same hospitality was extended to strangers from
their own and from other tribes. Upon the advent of the Euro
pean race among them it was also extended to them. Quotations
follow from " Smith's History of Virginia," from the Rev. John
Heckewelder, from Lewis and Clarke, and from many others, to
show that this hospitality is universal among the Indian tribes.

In another place 1937 Morgan gives the following anecdote in
illustration of the difference between the hospitality of the In
dians and that of the whites :

Canassatego, a distinguished Onondaga chief, who flourished
about the middle of the last century, said, in a conversation with
Conrad Weiser, an Indian interpreter : " You know our prac
tice. If a white man, in traveling through our country, enters
one of our cabins, we all treat him as I do you. We dry him if
he is wet, we warm him if he is cold, and give him meat and
drink that he may allay his hunger and thirst ; and we spread
soft furs for him to rest and sleep on. We demand nothing in
return. But if I go into a white man's house at Albany, and ask

350 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

for victuals and drink, they say, ' Where is your money ? ' And
if I have none, they say, ' Get out, you Indian dog I ' "

Mackenzie speaks particularly m2 of the generosity and hos
pitality of the Knistenaux ; and Ross 216S mentions several in
stances 2164 in which he had " ample proof of the hospitality " 2163
of the Esquimaux whom he met.

To return to Alaska and the Aleutian Islands : Dall mentions
a case of great kind-heartedness shown to him by two of the
natives of Alaska.1152 He says again of the Aleutians that1171 hos
pitality was one of their prominent traits.

Quoting from Veniaminoff, he says 1169 that it is the custom of
the Aleutians for the successful hunter or fisher, particularly in
times of scarcity, to share his prize with all, not only taking no
large share, but often less than the others ; and if he has forgotten
any one at the distribution, or any one arrives too late, he shares
the remainder with him. All those in need of assistance hasten
to meet the returning hunter at the landing, and sit down silently
by the shore. This is a sign that they ask for aid ; only the
infirm or orphans send persons to represent them : and the hunt
er divides his prize, without expecting thanks or restitution.

Continuing his quotations from the same authority, he adds : 1161

" The Aleuts are not inhospitable, but they practice hospital
ity in their own way. They meet all strangers at the landing-
place, though rarely saluting them by word or sign, except
where they have learned the custom, daily becoming more uni
versal, from the Russians. If the stranger has a relative or inti
mate friend, he goes to him ; if not, no one will invite him, but
all are ready to receive him : he can choose his quarters himself.
Then he is entertained in the best manner ; the woman of the
house takes care of his clothing, mending his kamlayka, or what
ever stands in need of repair ; but she is not obliged to receive
him, as was formerly customary. They never think of asking
their guest for anything, but let him stay as long as he may ;
they even provide him with food of every kind when he departs"

The duplication by Veniaminoff, in the clause in italics, of the
statement given in the Chinese account, should be particularly
observed.

Bancroft says that109 the Aleuts are given to hospitality ; and
Coxe mentions that 1124 when the natives of the Fox Islands are
on a journey, and their provisions are exhausted, they beg from

CUSTOMS OF THE LAND OF "MAKKED BODIES." 351

village to village, or call upon their friends and relations for
assistance.

VII. — THEY HAVE NO FORTIFICATIONS OB WALLED CITIES.

This is so well known to be true of the Aleutians and Alas
kans, that no quotations upon the subject will be necessary.

VIII. THE RESIDENCE OF THE KING (OR KINGS) OF THE

COUNTRY IS ADORNED WITH GOLD AND SILVER AND PRECIOUS
AND BEAUTIFUL OBJECTS ABOUT THE DWELLING.

First, as to the ruler, Bancroft states that,110 in the Aleu
tian Islands, every island, and, in the larger islands, every village,
has its toyon,* or chief, who decides differences, is exempt from
work, and is allowed a servant to row his boat, but in other re
spects possesses no power.

The houses of the chiefs are not now decorated in the Aleu
tian Islands as described in the account, but some remnants of
such decoration still exist in Alaska, and, by going a little way
down the American coast, we find, among the Haidah Indians
(who, as has already been stated, seem to be intruders in their
present position, and who may have migrated from the Aleu
tian Islands or their neighbourhood during the last fourteen
hundred years), carvings and decorations which recall the de
scription given above.

As it is mentioned, a little farther on in the account, that, in
their barters, precious gems are used (as the standard of value,
instead of gold and silver), it is evident that, at the time when
the residence of the chief was adorned with gold and silver,
these metals were used merely as ornaments. After their value
as the medium of exchange with foreign nations was learned, it
is not likely that the outside of any dwelling would long be
covered with them, and they would, therefore, soon be replaced
with other decorations.

Swan, in his account of the Haidah Indians, gives an engrav
ing which he says 8422 is intended to represent one of the carved
posts or pillars which are raised in front of the houses of the
chiefs or principal men. These pillars are sometimes from fifty
to sixty feet high, elaborately carved, at a cost of hundreds of

* This word, which is found with the same meaning, and with but slight
changes in sound, throughout Eastern Asia, and in the Aleutian Islands and
Alaska, is a proof of an early communication between the two continents. — E.
P. V.

352 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

blankets ; some of the best ones even costing several thousand
dollars : consequently, only the most wealthy individuals of the
tribe are able to purchase the best specimens. These pillars are
carved out of a single cedar-tree, the back hollowed so as to re
lieve the weight when raising it in a perpendicular position.
They are deeply and firmly set in the earth, directly in front of
the lodge, and a circular opening near the ground constitutes the
door of entrance to the house. The Chimsean Indians, at Fort
Simpson, and the Sitka tribes, have this style of carved posts,
but they set them at a short distance from the front of their
houses. The figures carved on these posts are the family totems,
or heraldic designs of the family occupying the house ; and as
these Indians build large wooden lodges, capable of containing
several families, the carvings may be said to indicate the family
names of the different occupants. The chief or head man owns
the house, and the occupants are his family and relatives.

Dall mentions similar 1162 high posts, curiously carved, as being
frequently erected before the houses of the Thlinkeets, and says
that they are sometimes placed directly in front, so that an en
trance is made through the block or log, which is often of enor
mous size.

The Niskah or Naas Indians, of British Columbia, have elabo
rately carved poles in front of many of their houses. Some of
the houses have their fronts built in the form of an animal's
head. The front of one of their houses is described as shaped
like a wolf's head, the nose being the porch, and the mouth the
door.14"4 A chief's rank is marked by the height of the pole
erected in front of his house (on which the crest which distin
guishes his division of the tribe is carved) ; and no offense leads
to more frequent quarrels than the attempt on the part of a
chief to put up a pole higher than his rank warrants.1423

Fondness for ornamentation is shown by both the Alaskans
and Aleuts, their boats being frequently1173 inlaid very prettily
with lozenge-shaped pieces of gypsum.

The same love for such ornamentation, which led to the deco
ration of their houses, is still shown in many smaller matters.
Langsdorff says that 1697 the Aleutian, who but seldom has an op
portunity of obtaining a piece of good wood a few inches in diam
eter, when he obtains a suitable piece, occupies himself for weeks
together in shaping it into a board so made that, when it has

CUSTOMS OF THE LAND OF "MARKED BODIES." 353

been soaked in water for some little time, it can be bent evenly
and uniformly. He then attempts to gradually bring together
the two corners of the little board, which he has previously
given the form of a semi-oval, and sew them together with sinew-
thread, by which means a pyramidical cap is made. If he is
successful in this work, which is not always the case, for the
board often either breaks or bends unevenly, he paints it with
coloured earth and ocher, brought from the far distant crater of
the volcano, and adorns it with figures labouriously carved from
walrus-tusks, without any tools worthy of the name. He also
decorates it with glass or amber beads, obtained from the Rus
sians, and with the bristles from the muzzle of the sea-lion, which
to a certain extent take the place of the ornamental plumes used
by Europeans ; the Aleutians placing a high value upon a bunch
of these bristles — which are the trophies of a successful hunter
— as each sea-lion has but four.

IX. — THEY MAKE A DITCH OF A BKEADTH OF ONE ROD (of
ten Chinese feet, or nearly twelve English feet), WHICH is FILLED

WITH WATER-SILVER. WHEN IT RAINS, THEN THE RAIN FLOWS
UPON THE SURFACE OF THE WATER-SILVER.

As the Chinese seldom punctuate their writings, it is uncer
tain whether the clause " ABOUT THE DWELLING," which in the
present translation was used as the closing member of the pre
ceding phrase, may not really be the opening clause of the pres
ent sentence ; in which case the ditch above mentioned should
be considered as surrounding the house or houses, either of the
ruler or of the people.

Coxe says that the inhabitants of some of the Aleutian Isl
ands lm live in holes dug in the earth, but elsewhere "" explains
his meaning more clearly by saying that their 1121 dwellings are
hollowed in the ground, and covered with wooden roofs, resem
bling the huts in the peninsula of Kamtchatka. These are de
scribed as 1643 surrounded by a wall of earth, or by a palisade.
Langsdorff states that M96 the dwellings of the Unalaskans consist
of pits, which are covered with a roof of earth thrown over them,
upon which, after they have stood for a few years, high grass
grows, so that a village then resembles a European church-yard
with high grave-mounds. He adds that,1701 although the dwell
ings of the inhabitants of Kadiak are in most respects like those
of the Unalaskans, they differ somewhat, from the fact that more
23

354: AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

wood is used in their construction. These houses, half-buried
in the earth, although without stoves, are warm enough in the
winter to protect their inhabitants from the cold.

It is evident from these quotations that the earth, excavated
within the walls of the dwelling, is thrown up about them out
side and upon the roof. Those who have had occasion to erect
tents know that one of the most essential precautions to secure
comfort is to dig a small trench about them, to carry away any
rain that may fall ; and in a country so intolerably I1M rainy as
is Alaska,1163 it would seem as if a ditch about the houses were
an absolute necessity. Hayden describes the cabins or huts of
the Arikaras 1463 in very much the same language as that used
above in picturing the dwellings of the Alaskans, and adds :
" Around the house, on the outside, a small trench is dug, to carry
away the rain." No such ditches are described as existing in
Alaska, however, although Petroff states that 203° storms and tides
often1 inundate the swampy shore on which their partly sub
terranean dwellings are built, and, filling them with water, drive
the inmates out ; while Dall also concurs in the statement that ""
their underground houses are, in summer, full of water.

It is not certain, however, that Hwui Shan meant to say that
the ditch or ditches surrounded the houses. All that can be de
rived with certainty from his words is, that somewhere in the
country he saw one or more ditches filled with a substance suf
ficiently remarkable to be, in his opinion, worthy of mention.

He describes this substance as "water-silver." Now, although
this term usually means quicksilver 119° (and it has therefore been
so translated by all others), yet here it seems to be impossible
that it can have been used otherwise than as a descriptive phrase
for ice. We, who see every year the wonderful transformation
of water into a solid crystalline substance, easily forget the sur
prising nature of the change to one who has not been accustomed
to it. The king of Siam could believe all the marvelous tales
of foreign lands that were told to him, until this transformation
was mentioned. Then his credulity was taxed too far, and he
announced his disbelief, and the reasons for it. " Water," said
he,1038 " is a fluid, and a fluid is not a compact body ; therefore,
water can never appear in a compact form, and all the fables
about ice, snow, and hail are unworthy of credit."

Now, although ice is occasionally formed in Northern China,

CUSTOMS OF THE LAND OF "MARKED BODIES." 355

the temperature is seldom low enough 986 to form it at Canton ;
and, as it is seen throughout the most of China and other coun
tries of Southern Asia, it is merely a thin and easily melted cake,
differing widely from the glittering and immensely thick mass
which is formed in the ditches in the Aleutian Islands. It is
therefore not surprising that Hwui Shan should have spoken of
the great thickness of ice seen in this country. The character
CHI,* in the phrase, may possibly be used, not in its most common
sense, as a mere particle indicating the relations to each other of
the words between which it is placed, but in its original sense
as a verb, meaning 2412 " to proceed, to go to," 1305 " to proceed
to," or, as Professor Williams defines it, "to pass from one
state to another," and it seems not impossible that Hwui Shan
may have meant that the rain passed from the state of a fluid
into that of the " water-silver." The passage is very obscure,
and many educated Chinamen have confessed that they were
unable to decide with certainty as to its meaning.

Had it been the intention to say that the ditches were filled
with quicksilver, there is2531 a character1866 (^, HUNG) meaning
quicksilver, which could have been used instead of the compound
"water-silver." This would have placed the meaning beyond
question, and the nature of the Chinese language is such that
it will hardly permit two characters to be used when one would
fully express the meaning.

It is possible that the original term may have been "icy-
silver," as ;J^, PING, ice?™ differs by only one dot from 7]^, SHUI,
water. It seems more likely, however, that Hwui Shan wished to
distinguish between this hard, solid, transparent ice of the Arctic
regions, and the thin crusts, scarcely deserving the name, which
were all that could be seen in China ; and, in order to do so, he
used a compound analogous to a number of others existing in
Chinese. Quartz crystal is, for instance, called2574 SHUI-TSING,
" water - crystal," or2578 SHUI-YUH, "water-gem." This last
term was also applied to glass,2658 "because it is clear as water
and hard as a gem," when that substance was first introduced in
China a few centuries ago. "Water-silver" is as appropriate
and natural a term for ice as the other compounds above named
are for the substances to which they are applied.

It should be again insisted that Hwui Shan is fairly entitled

* See chap, xvii, character No. 706.

356 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

to that translation of his account which will make his story con
form with the truth, provided that such a translation is possible.
If he were relying upon his imagination, innumerable statements
would be made which no possible ingenuity could harmonize
with the truth. If " water-silver " is translated " ice," all diffi
culties vanish, and his account becomes simple and truthful. If
it is translated " quicksilver," we become involved in manifest
absurdities, as, for instance : " When the ditch is filled with quick
silver, and the rain is allowed to flow off from the quicksilver,
the water is then regarded in the markets as a precious rarity."
This should not be understood as an imputation upon the schol
arship of the late Professor Williams, the depth of whose learn
ing, and whose thorough acquaintance with the Chinese language
are too well known to need mention. .His translation is quoted
merely as showing the utter absurdity of the whole passage if
" water-silver " is translated by its usual equivalent of " quick
silver." There never was a country in which there was a ditch
filled with quicksilver. If such a country had ever existed, rain
water flowing upon it, and then flowing off from it, would not
be in any way affected by it ; and if the water were affected by
it, it could not be considered in the markets as a precious rarity,
as an unlimited amount of water could have been permitted to
flow over it. Can it be believed that any sane man would ever
have told so absurd a story ?

X. — IN THEIR TEAFFIC THEY USE PEECIOUS GEMS (or Valu-

ables — as the standard of value — instead of gold or silver).

As late as the beginning of the nineteenth century, Langs-
dorff stated that m3 no money was current in the country. Yeni-
aminoff 116° describes the custom of bartering existing among the
Aleuts, and says that " it is of great age, and has been preserved
without change." Dall mentions 1165 amethysts, zeolites, tourma
lines, garnets, spinel, agates, carnelians, variegated marble, hy-
pochlorite (commonly used for ornaments by the natives, resem
bling jade, and sometimes called malachite), and fossil ivory, as
existing in Alaska.

Langsdorff says that1704 a species of mussel-shell, the sea-
tooth (Dentdlium entails), which is called tache, or heikwa, is
very highly prized by -the Aleutians, and even now is in great
request. Bancroft states that 106 at times amber is thrown up in
large quantities by the ocean on the south side of Kadiak, gen-

CUSTOMS OF THE LAND OF "MARKED BODIES." 357

erally after a heavy earthquake, and that at such times it forms
an important article of commerce with the natives. Dall 1159 also
speaks of their fondness for amber, and states that among im the
relics forwarded to the Smithsonian Institution from the Aleu
tian Islands, was one rude amber bead, evidently of native make,
on a sinew thread. The amber was obtained from the lignite
beds, which are reported on the islands of Amchitka, Atka, and
Unalaska, and may exist elsewhere. We know that amber was
held in great esteem by the early natives, and extraordinary
value set upon it. This bead, therefore, may have represented
in value a good many sea-otter skins.

Amber is among the articles included by the Chinese under
the general term "gems," and its value in China was formerly
very great.9™

XI. — THEY (the people of Great Han) HAVE NO MILITARY

WEAPONS, AND DO NOT WAGE WAR.

This well characterizes the peaceful Esquimaux, and is a
statement that it would be impossible to make with truth regard
ing any of the tribes of Northeastern Asia.

XII. HE WHO HAS COMMITTED A PETTY CRIME IS SCOURGED.

HE WHO IS ACCUSED OF A CRIME DESERVING DEATH IS THROWN
TO WILD BEASTS TO BE DEVOURED. IF THE ACCUSATION IS CA
LUMNIOUS, THE BEASTS KEEP AT A DISTANCE FROM HIM, IT IS SAID

(instead of devouring him) ; THEN, AFTER A NIGHT (of trial), HE

IS SET AT LIBERTY.

This statement was copied by the Marquis d'Hervey de Saint-
Denys from the Chinese "History of the South." Ma Twan-
lin, for some reason, did not think it best to include it in his
account. The white bears and other large wild beasts, which
once existed in the Aleutian Islands, have long been extinct.
No trace of the custom above referred to can therefore now be
found in those islands, and the most that could be expected to
have survived to the present day would be some dim trace, to
be found among the nearly allied tribes of Kamtchatka or
Alaska.

The author fancies that he has seen an account of the aban
donment to wild beasts, by the Alaskans, of some alleged witch
es ; but if so, he is unable to find it again. Possibly the night
of trial through which their medicine-men pass before assuming
the office, when, alone in the forest or plains, they wait for their

358 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

guardian spirit to appear to them in the guise of some wild ani
mal, may be a trace of the ancient custom.

Something of the kind may still exist in Kamtchatka, as it
is stated that those who have committed a theft 1642 are released,
for the first offense, by returning what they have taken, and by
living isolated from dealings with their countrymen, without
being able to expect any help from them.

If it be considered that any difficulties in the foregoing ac
count are not satisfactorily explained, let it be asked again,
Which one of the possible theories upon the subject is accom
panied by the fewest and least serious difficulties ?

Is it possible that Hwui Shan could have told the following
truths, except as the result of an actual visit to America by way
of the Aleutian Islands ?

1. Land was to be- found in the Pacific Ocean, some twenty-
three hundred miles northeasterly from Japan.

2. Some sixteen hundred miles farther east, land was again
to be found.

3. The journey could be continued easterly, for some six
thousand miles at least, and land would still be found.

4. The second of the countries mentioned by him was known
as a " great " land ; and it not only lay east of the first coun
try, but was so extensive that it also lay to the east of China.

5. The people of the first two countries were alike in their
customs, but their languages were different.

6. The people of the first of the countries tattooed their
bodies.

7. They had the custom of tattooing some portion of the
face with three lines.

8. These lines indicated the position of their owner in the
tribe.

9. The people were of so merry and joyous a nature that the
fact was worthy of notice.

10. They were so hospitable as to furnish their visitors, not
only with shelter, but also with food for their journeys.

11. They had no fortifications or walled cities.

12. They had no military weapons and did not wage war.

13. The dwellings of their chief men were curiously adorned,
externally.

14. The ditches in their land were filled with some singular

CUSTOMS OF THE LAND OF "MARKED BODIES." 359

substance to which the term " water-silver " could be applied,
and this substance was in some way connected with the rain.

15. Gold and silver were not used as the standards of value,
but their place was filled by " gems."

If it be assumed that there is just one chance out of two
that each one of these statements would be true as to any newly
discovered land, then the probability that they would all be true
is as one to the fifteenth power of two, or one to over thirty-two
thousand, a proportion which makes it practically impossible
that the story can have been imaginary. It will readily be ad
mitted that there is no more than one chance out of two that any
one of the fifteen statements above referred to would be true of
an unknown region, and it is evident that of some of them the
chance is not one in a dozen. The probability that such a story,
if invented by one who knew nothing of the region, would prove,
upon exploration, to be true, instead of being one in thirty-two
thousand, is really, therefore, but one in millions, and it is easier
to accept almost any difficulty, as to one or two of the points,
than to believe that the account was imaginary, or that it related
to any other country.

D'Hervey (see Chapter XII) has clearly explained the difficulty
into which earlier writers had been led by confounding the two
regions called Ta Han, or Great Han — one to the north of China
(and hence on the Asiatic Continent), and the other to the east
or northeast (and hence on the American Continent). This con
fusion between the two countries, which caused de Guignes and
other writers to look upon the Asiatic Continent for Hwui Shan's
Great Han country, has been the chief cause of the desperate
attempts to locate Fu-sang, also, somewhere else than in America.

CHAPTER XX.

THE COUNTRY LYING IN THE REGION INDICATED BY HWUI SHAN.

The direction from China, Japan, and Great Han in which Fu-sang lay — The
trend of the American Pacific coast — The distortion of the common maps —
Mexico lies in the region indicated — The nations inhabiting Mexico in the
fifth century — Their language — Traces of their beliefs and customs existing
one thousand years later—Aztec traditions— The Toltecs— Their character—
Their civilization — The time of their dispersion — Their language — The Pacific
coast — The evidence of place-names — The Aztec language — Limits of the
Mexican empire — The name of the country— The city of Tenochtitlan — The
application of the name "Mexico" — First applied to the country — Early
maps — Late application of the name to the city — Pronunciation of the word
— Similar names throughout the country — Meaning of the syllable " co " —
Varying explanations — Real meaning of the term — " The Place of the Centu
ry-plant " — Meaning of the syllable " ME " — Meaning of the syllable " xi " —
Its meaning in other compounds — Other abbreviations — Appropriateness of
the designation — The god Mexitli — Proof that he was the god of the century-
plant — Reason that the Spaniards were misled as to the meaning of " Mexico."

HAVING, in the preceding chapters, arrived at the conclusion
that the country referred to by Hwui Shan under the name of
" Great Han " was located in the

let us continue the examination of his story, and endeavour to
identify the land which he calls the country of Fu-sang.^

His first reference to it is as follows :

I. — FU-SANG is SITUATED TWICE TEN THOUSAND LI OR MORE

TO THE EAST OF THE GREAT HAN COUNTRY. THAT LAND IS ALSO
SITUATED TO THE EAST OF THE MlDDLE* KlNGDOM (China).

Attention should first be called to a fact, already noticed, that,
as the greater part of the route from Japan to the Great Han
country bears in a northeasterly direction, the route from the
land of Great Han to a country lying to the east of China can
not be directly east, but must lie somewhat southerly.

Probably but few realize how the western coast of America

THE COUNTRY INDICATED BY HWUI SHAN. 361

trends toward the east. We are so accustomed to consider the
top of our maps as the north, and the bottom as the south, and to
think, half unconsciously, that a perpendicular line upon the map
represents a true north and south line, that, when we see the
usual maps of North America drawn upon the customary projec
tion, in which, in order to represent the rounding surface of the
earth upon a plane surface with as little distortion as possible,
the westerly meridians are drawn sloping from near the center of
the upper margin of the map toward the lower left-hand corner,
we forget that these sloping lines are the true meridians, and
learn to consider the western coast of America as bearing almost
north and south. If Hwui Shan had said that the land six thou
sand miles beyond Alaska lay to the south of that country, prob
ably no one would have thought of objecting that it lay also to
the east ; and yet it is quite as true to say that Mexico lies to the
east of Alaska as it is to say that it lies to the south. A map of
the northern half of the hemisphere including the North Pa
cific Ocean, drawn upon the customary projection, in which
the meridians passing through the western coast of America
are placed upon the right side of the map, instead of on the
left, as we are accustomed to see them, will help to fix the
true direction of the coast in the mind, and will also show how
natural it would have been for Hwui Shan to consider his jour
ney beyond Alaska as a continuation of the same general course
which he had been pursuing, and not as an abrupt turn at right
angles from the east to the south. (See Frontispiece.) It is
difficult for us to realize that San Francisco lies farther east of
the westernmost of the Aleutian Islands than Portland, Maine,
lies east of San Francisco, and that, in going from California to
Panama, the route trends so much toward the east that its termi
nus is found to be upon nearly the same meridian as Washington.

If a voyage of some six thousand miles (making a due allow
ance for the sinuosity of the coast, and for a slight but natural
exaggeration by a traveler who had no means of measuring the
distance accurately) were made from Alaska, in an easterly di
rection, but trending toward the south, so that at the end of the
journey the destination would lie easterly from China, where
would the traveler find himself ?

A few moments' study of a map will answer the question
clearly and unmistakably : on the coast of Mexico.

362 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

If a traveler had made this journey in the latter part of the
fifth century, A. D., what tribe of people would he have found
upon the Pacific coast of Mexico, what language was then
spoken there, what were the manners and customs of the people,
what was their state of civilization, and by what name was the
country then known ?

Here, unfortunately, except for the account given by Hwui
Shan himself, we are compelled to rely upon tradition, supple
mented only by a few scanty hieroglyphical records, and by
vague recollections of more complete accounts which once exist
ed ; upon the ruins scattered about the country, and upon cus
toms and arts, which had evidently come down from distant
generations, which were found to exist in the land at the time
of the Spanish conquest. It is surprising, however, to find how
much of the history of Mexico at the time spoken of may, on
close and careful study, be vaguely discerned through the mists
of the intervening centuries.

M. Lenoir very justly observes that 1726 there necessarily ex
isted a great affinity between the customs, arts, and beliefs of the
Mexicans, at the time of their conquest by the Europeans, and
those which existed, when the population of Guatemala flour
ished, and Palenque and Mitla were founded. We may, there
fore, by first examining the religion, the customs, the arts, and
even the literature, of the Mexicans during the reign of Monte-
zuma, hope to obtain some knowledge of these earlier tribes,
even though the Mexicans seem to have — to a great extent —
forgotten them, and to have been ignorant in regard to the
state of civilization which had been reached by the nations who
were the founders of their arts and sciences.

There is no question that several races of conquerors suc
ceeded one another in the Mexican empire, and that they had suc
cessively adopted the religion and the customs of the vanquished
people ; and it may be again repeated that it is indisputable that
some traces of the primitive religion and customs must have sur
vived, and that a mixture of the old and the new religion must
have occurred, as was the case in the history of Christianity
when it overcame paganism.

According to the traditions of the Aztecs, they migrated
during the eleventh 1601 or twelfth lm century to the region where
they dwelt at the time of the conquest. When they reached

THE COUNTRY INDICATED BY HWUI SHAN. 363

this country 1226 they, according to Humboldt, found the pyramidal
monuments of Teotihuacan, of Cholula, or Cholollan, and of Pa-
pantla. They attributed these immense works to the Toltecs, a
powerful and civilized nation which had lived in Mexico for five
hundred years ; they used hieroglyphic writing, and knew the
length of the year more exactly than the greater part of the
nations of the Old World. The Aztecs did not certainly know
whether other tribes had lived in the country of Anahuac before
the Toltecs. In regarding the " Houses of God " of Teotihuacan
and Cholollan as the work of this last nation, they assigned to
them the greatest antiquity of which they had any knowledge.
It is possible, nevertheless, that they were constructed before the
invasion of the Toltecs— an event which, according to some
writers, occurred in the year 648 of our era.

Humboldt also states, in another place,1601 that the Toltecs
preceded the Aztecs, in the country of Anahuac, by more than
five centuries, and differed from them by that love for the arts,
and that religious and peaceful character, which distinguished the
Etruscans from the first inhabitants of Rome.

M. Lenoir says that 1727 the Toltecs, who inhabited this part
of America toward the seventh century, and who, according to
tradition, had a mild and gentle religion, and offered only flowers
and fruits to their gods, were displaced successively by the
Chichimecs and the Aztecs, whose ferocious and sanguinary relig
ion was practiced by the nation over whom Montezuma ruled
at the time of the Spanish conquest. According to the Mexican
tradition, the Toltecs who inhabited the land of Anahuac were
far advanced in the arts and sciences. After their migration to
the Bay of Campeche and Honduras, their country was occu
pied by the Chichimecs, a warlike and ferocious nation, but one
whose people profited by the presence of some Toltecs who still
remained in their old home, and acquired, from them, a knowl
edge of agriculture and the arts.

Bancroft also refers to "the old-time story, how the Tol
tecs in the sixth century appeared on the Mexican table-land ;
how they were driven out and scattered in the seventh century ;
how, after a brief interval, the Chichimecs followed their foot
steps ; and how these last were succeeded by the Aztecs, who were
found in possession."

The preceding quotations fix the date of the arrival of the

364 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

Toltecs in the land of Mexico as in the sixth or seventh century.
The traditions are too vague and unreliable, however, and the
scanty paintings which confirm them too brief and uncertain as to
their precise meaning, to permit the exact century to be deter
mined with accuracy. No writer fixes the date later than the
sixth or seventh century, but many set it much earlier.

The Mexican historian, the Abbe Domenech,316 places the
Toltecs' arrival in New Spain about the third century before the
Christian era.

The Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg says that624 the uncer
tainty regarding the origin of the Toltec race prevents the fix
ing, with any surety, of the epoch when they appeared upon the
shores of Mexico ; everything leads to the belief, however, that
it was during the century before the Christian era, or in the
first century after Christ. A date mentioned by him, of which
he does not undertake to guarantee the authenticity, appears to
fix the time of the arrival of the tribes speaking the Nahuatl
language as in the year 279 B. c.

According to Bancroft,417 the date of the arrival of the Tol
tecs in Huehue Tlapallan is given by Ixtlilxochitl, in his first
Toltec Relation (p. 322), as 2,236 years after the creation, or 520
years after the flood. That is, it occurred long before the
Christian era. In other places (pp. 206 and 459) the same author
represents the Toltecs as banished from their country, and mi
grating to Huetlapan, in California, on the South Sea, in 387 A. D. ;
and this last-named date is repeated by Gallatin (in Schoolcraft's
"Arch.," vol. v, p. 96) and Muller ("Reisen," tome iii, p. 97).

As, according to Gallatin,1402 we may safely conclude that,
within a few years after the conquest, there did not exist a
single historical painting in which events prior to the fifteenth
century were faithfully recorded under their proper date, it is
impossible to arrive at any positive conclusion as to the exact
time when the Toltec empire was founded ; but we can rely
with much confidence on the general conclusion, stated by Ban
croft, that 195 as the Nahua nations were living when the Span
iards found them, so had they probably been living for at least
ten centuries, and not improbably for a much longer period.

We are, therefore, carried back to about the days of Hwui
Shan, and have reason to believe that if he had made the jour
ney to Mexico he would have found there either the Toltecs,

THE COUNTRY INDICATED BY HWUI SHiN. 365

or some nation speaking substantially the same language, and
having many of the arts and customs which were possessed by
the Toltecs of later days.

The quotations already given show that245 the Aztecs derived
their system of hieroglyphics from the Toltecs, and that the
civilization of the latter was far superior to that of their suc
cessors. According to tradition, it was195 during the Toltec
period of Nahua culture that husbandry and all the arts pertain
ing to the production and preparation of food were brought to
the highest degree of perfection, and similar traditions exist as
to all other arts known to the Mexicans at the time of the con
quest.

The indications which we have, all agree 178° that the ancient
Toltecs and the seven tribes of Nahuatlacas, or Nahuas, had the
same origin, and spoke the same language, which was the Mexi
can, Kahuatl, or Aztec. Buschmann says : 862 " That the Aztecs
were of a common origin with the Toltecs, Acolhuas, and other
inhabitants of Mexico, is shown by the language common to all
and still known as the Aztec, although the people are prefer
ably and more usually called Mexicans."

Similar statements are made421 by Bancroft,356 McCulloh,1843
Bandelier,611 and all other authorities that have referred to the
subject.

It might be thought, however, that the quotations which have
been given refer only to the region in the neighbourhood of the
city of Mexico, and that a different state of affairs may have
existed upon the shore of the Pacific. It is found, however, that
the Toltecs colonized that coast, and that the Aztec language
was spoken upon nearly the whole of the western border of the
country of Mexico.

Ixtlilxochitl,433 in Kingsborough (vol. ix, p. 214), mentions a
Toltec party that emigrated to the Michoacan region, and dwelt
there for a long time. Sahagun (tome iii, let. x, pp. 145-146) refers
to a Toltec migration as an issue from the same region. Veytia
(tome ii, pp. 39-40) speaks of Toltecs who founded colonies all
along the Pacific coast, and gradually changed their language
and customs. Gallatin 361 says that Copan was a colony of Tol
tecs ; and the Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg says that the Pipiles,
a tribe speaking the Mexican language, occupied a portion of
Guatemala 655 before the great emigration of the Toltecs in the

366 Atf INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

eleventh century ; and he also states that,762 in that part of Ana-
huac which lay upon the sea-shore, north and south, and particu
larly upon the shore of the Pacific Ocean, the Nahuatl (Mexican
or Aztec) language was found as the native dialect, and that 7W
the Xinca language of Guatemala was probably a corrupt dia
lect of the Mexican.

Between the east and southeast from Zacatecas,909 Hervas
(vol. iii, p. 64) sets the Mazapili, who, according to him, proba
bly spoke a dialect of the Aztec language. He also says that 1541
this language extended far beyond the limits of the Mexican
empire, and quotes the statement of Herrera, that it was spoken
in Nicaragua and in Guatemala.

A glance at a map of Mexico, by one having even a slight
acquaintance with this tongue, will show that the names of
places are nearly all Aztec, even in regions of the country in
which other languages are spoken. The map given by Orozco
y Berra,2007 at the end of his " Geografia," and reproduced by
M. Malte-Brun,1780 shows that the Aztec or Mexican-speaking
tribes had possession of the entire Pacific coast of Mexico, from
latitude 16° 40' (just south of Acapulco) to latitude 25° 20'
, (about half-way between Mazatlan and Guaymas) ; but Mexican
names will be found far beyond these limits.

It has been generally admitted that2102 the presence through
out nearly the whole of the Spanish peninsula, of topographical
names significant in the Euskarian language, and evidently de
rived from it, makes it a safe inference that this language had
formerly a similar extension ; and the same course of reasoning
leads to the conclusion that the Mexican language must once
have been spoken in nearly all portions of the present republic
of Mexico.

To account for this,154 says Bancroft, we have, if other causes
are not sufficient, the unknown history and migrations of the
Nahua people during the centuries preceding the Toltec era.

The Aztec language was, and is, according to Alexander von
Humboldt, 863 the most widely extended of any in Mexico. It is,
as he states, "at the present day extended from 37° north lati
tude to Lake Nicaragua, over a length of four hundred leagues."

Buschmann 885 adds that the first reasons that present themselves
are not sufficient to explain the intensity of the extension of
Aztec place-names : the thick setting of such names in provinces

THE COUNTRY INDICATED BY HWUI SHAN. 367

in which other tongues, chiefly or only, were spoken, or their
dispersion, although more sparsely, to great distances — from the
extreme north of Mexico nearly to the southern boundary of the
kingdom of Guatemala. As an example of the strong setting
of Aztec names in provinces in which other languages ruled,
Oaxaca, Michoacan, and the whole northerly half of Guatemala,
may be mentioned.

Even at the time of the Spanish conquest, however, the Az
tec civilization and the Aztec language ruled throughout a great
portion of the country. Bancroft says that 365 the Nahua, Aztec,
or Mexican, the language of Mexican civilization, was spoken
throughout the greater part of Montezuma's empire, extend
ing from the plateau of Anahuac, or valley of Mexico, as a
center, eastward to the Gulf of Mexico, and along its shores
from above Vera Cruz east to the Rio Coatzacoalcos, westward
to the Pacific, and upon its border from about the twenty-sixth
to the sixteenth parallel ; thus forming an irregular but continu
ous linguistic line from the Gulf of California southeast, across
the Mexican plateau to the Gulf of Mexico, of more than four
hundred leagues in extent. Again, it is found on the coast of
Salvador and in the interior of Nicaragua, and it also had some
connection with the languages of the nations of the north.

Solis, speaking of the limits of the empire of Mexico at the
time of the conquest, says 2342 its length from east to west was
more than five hundred leagues, and its breadth from north to
south was in some places fully two hundred leagues.

On the east it was bounded by the Atlantic Ocean, and
extended along its shores from Panuco to Yucatan. On the
west it touched upon the other sea, and looked out upon the
Asiatic Ocean (or the Gulf of Anian), from Cape Mendocino
as far as to the limits of New Galicia. On the south it was
bounded by the South Sea, from Acapulco to Guatemala, and
even insinuated itself through Nicaragua into that isthmus or
stretch of land which both divides and unites the two Americas.
On the northern side it reached to the district of Panuco, and
included that province.

Orozco y Berra 2006 states that the Mexican empire, when it
reached its greatest extension, included a part of the State of
Mexico ; those of Puebla and of Vera Cruz on the east ; on the
west the greater part of the country between the Zacatula River

368 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

and the Pacific Ocean ; and that on the south it was bounded
by the river Coatzacoalcos.

Clavigero 1053 says that it extended toward the southwest and
south as far as to the Pacific Ocean ; and Bancroft says that it 428
reached the Pacific coast, along which it extended from Zaca-
lotlan to Tututepec.

As to the identity of the civilization of the other inhabitants
of Mexico with that of the Aztecs or Mexicans, properly so
called, we have the express statement of Gomara,521 that " speak
ing of the Mexicans, is to speak in general of all New Spain."

Such information as we have, therefore, confirms us in the
conclusion that if Hwui Shan had visited the Pacific coast of
Mexico during the latter half of the fifth century, he would have
found there a nation of the same blood as that from which the
Aztecs of Cortez's day descended, and one speaking substan
tially the same language as that which was found to be current
at the time of the conquest : a nation resembling the Aztecs in
many of their manners and customs, but of a milder, gentler
nature ; free from the horrors of the superstitious rites to which
the Aztecs of later times abandoned themselves, and (unless the
greater civilization that is mentioned by tradition was wholly
the result of Hwui Shan's visit) more advanced in many of the
essential arts of civilization.

The question now arises as to the name of this country.
Had it any general name ? If so, what was it, and what was its
meaning? It is well known that the country is now called
" Mexico "; but it appears to be quite generally thought that this
term was properly the name of the city of Mexico, and that it
was not until after the coming of the Spaniards that it over
spread the immense region now so designated. This statement
is made by Bancroft 451 and Buschmann,883 and was undoubtedly
repeated by them from some of the older historians of the coun
try. The weight of evidence is strongly against this conclusion,
however. It is stated, time and again, by the best authorities,
that the real name of the city was not Mexico, but Tenochtitlan,
or some very similar term, different authors giving the variations
Temixtitlan,1200 Tenuchtitlan,1200 Tenuthtitlan,2349 Tenustitan,2600
Temixtitan,1102 Tenuxtitan,1782 Tenuchtitan,2603 Temixitan,1091 Te-
mistitan,1605 Tenoxtitlan,1605 Temihtitlan,1605 Themisteton,451 Timi-
tistan,451 and Tenuchitlan.451

THE COUNTRY INDICATED BY HWUI SHN. 369

Torquemada MT ("Monarq. Ind.," tome i, p. 293) says ex
plicitly : " The natives do not call it (the city) Mexico, but Te-
nuchtitlan." Gage 1376 states that "the old and first name of the
city, according to some historians, was Tenuchtitlan " ; and Solis
says,8349 " The great city of Mexico was formerly known by the
name of Tenuthtitlan, or by a similar name, which is given a
little different pronunciation by others." Even Buschmann, who
claims that the term Mexico was originally applied to the city,
and not to the country, states in other places that882 "the Mexi
cans themselves appear to have called it Tenochtitlan in prefer
ence, or at least a part of it (Tlatelulco not having been included
in that designation 884), and it appears that the Spaniards first
made the name Mexico general." Diaz 120° says that Temixtitlan,
or Tenuchtitlan, was the proper name of the city, but adds that
"Mexico" was certainly also an old appellation, which the elder
Indians rejected after the conquest, but which was afterward
accepted by the younger generation of Indians.

It certainly can not take long to decide whether the " elder
Indians " or the " younger generation " best knew the true Aztec
designation of the city. " Tenochtitlan " so evidently occurred
in the name, that many of those, who think the term Mexico to
have been also connected with it, give the compound " Mexico-
Tenochtitlan " 248 as the true appellation.461

In order to explain this double name, Herrera stated that 1689
the old residence of the Aztecs, Tenuchtitlan, had two large
divisions, of which one was called Tlatelulco and the other
Mexico. Gage1380 makes the same statement, and adds that,
because the imperial palace was in this last-named portion of
the city, the whole city was also sometimes called Mexico, al
though that was not its original name. Solis451 is of opinion
that Mexico was the name of the ward — Tenochtitlan being ap
plied to the whole city; from which Bancroft concludes that the
compound Mexico-Tenochtitlan would signify the ward Mexico
of the city Tenochtitlan, but adds that it was but gradually that
the Spanish records began to add Mexico to Tenochtitlan, and
that in the course of time the older and more intricate name
disappeared.

Brasseur de Bourbourg states, however, that 731 the city was
divided into four quarters, sections, or wards, instead of two,
and that the names of these were Teopan, Atzacualco, Moyotlan,
24

370 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

and Quepopan. Bandelier 503 copies this statement, spelling the
last name " Cuepopan," and translating the four terms in their
order, "Place of God," "House of the Heron," "Place of the
Mosquito," and "Place of the Dike."

The term " Mexico " was first heard by Europeans when
Grijalva landed on the coast in May, 1518, as the designation of
a country rich in gold.1688 Diaz says that when the Spaniards
asked where the Indians obtained their gold and jewels,1197 " they
pointed toward the place of sunset, and said Culhua and Mex
ico" In another place m6 he states, " They could not give us
more gold, but in a land far away toward the setting sun it
might be found in abundance. Then they said Culba, Culba,
and Mexico, Mexico / but we did not understand the meaning of
these words." Prescott 2072 and Zamacois 2586 repeat the statement.

Can it be believed that these Indians, when they pointed to
ward the land from which their gold was obtained, referred to a
ward of the city of Tenochtitlan ?

The early map-makers seem to have been for a long time un
decided as to whether the term Mexico was the name of the city
or of the country, and they usually compromised by so giving the
name that it might be understood either way. The two oldest
maps of America,1689 have the name " Mexico " written in rather an
uncertain manner some distance back in the country, and do not
indicate whether they would have it understood to mean a prov
ince or a city. In " Apiano, Cosmographica," 1575, is a map,
supposed to be a copy of one drawn by Apianus, in 1520, on
which the name " Themisteton " is given apparently to a large
lake in the middle of Mexico ; 451 Fernando Colon, in 1527, and
Diego de Ribero, 1529, both give the word " Mexico " in small
letters, inland, as if applied to a town, although no town is desig
nated ; Ptolemy, in "Munster," 1530, gives " Temistitan " ;
"Munich Atlas," No. VI, supposed to have been drawn be
tween 1532 and 1540, " Timitistan vel Mesicho" ; Baptista Ag-
nese, 1540-'50, "Timitistan vel Mesico " ; Ramusio, 1565, " Mex
ico"; "Mercator's Atlas," 1569, "Mexico," as a city, and "Te-
nuchitlan " ; Michael Lok, 1582, "Mexico" ; in Hondius, about
1595, in Drake's " World Encompassed," the city is " Mexico,"
and the gulf, " Baia di Mexico" ; Hondius, in "Purchas, His
Pilgrimes," Laet, Ogilby, Dampier, " West-Indische Spieghel,"
Jacob Colon, and other seventeenth century authorities, give

THE COUNTRY INDICATED BY HWUI SHAN. 371

uniformly to the city, or to the city and province, but not to the
country at large, the name as at present written.

M. Nicolas Schotter, in connection with an essay regarding
Americus Vespucius,1091 exhibited to the Congress of Americanists,
at Luxemburg, in 1877, a remarkable map of the world, which is
" a reproduction upon a plane surface of a silver globe, which
made part of a chalice which the Duke Charles IV, of Lorraine,
brought from Germany, and which is now deposited in the
library at Nancy." Neither .tjie name of the maker nor the date
of his work is known, although it is seen that the German car
tographer gave to the southern part of the continent of America
the name of " New America," to Mexico that of "New Spain,"
and that all the remainder of North America is represented as
being an integral part of Asia, bearing the names of " Asia Ori-
entalis," " Asia Magna," and " India Orientalis." The Indian
Ocean is represented as extending from the eastern coast of
Africa to the shores of South America. Its southeastern part,
however, bears the names of the " Ocean of Magellan," and of
the "Pacific Sea," proving, beyond controversy, that the globe
in question was made after the year 1520.

LTpon this map the capital of New Spain bears the name of
"Temixitan," while the term "Mexico" is found to the south
west, not far from the Pacific Ocean. To the northwest again
occurs the name " Messigo," while not more than a dozen names
in all are given within the territory now covered by the country
of Mexico.

It appears from these references that it was not until about
half a century after the date of the conquest that the map-makers
felt certain that they were right in applying the term Mexico to
the city rather than to the country, and that in the earlier maps
the indications are that it was thought that it might be the name
of the land.

The Bishop Juan de Zumarraga dates a letter,2602 in 1529, from
"Tenuxtitlan " ; again, in 1530, he speaks of "this great city of
Tenuchtitan," and signs the same document, " Given in the said
city of Tenuxtitan." In 1529 he dates one of his letters from
" Mexico-Tenustitan " 260° and in it says, " The Calzonzi of Micho-
acan was, next to Montezuma, the most powerful king of all
Mexico." Here, only a few years after the conquest, the term
Mexico is used not as the name of the city or of a province, but

372 *AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

as the name of the whole country, embracing even Michoacan,
which was not subject to Montezuma. In a work, published
in 1522, the following passage occurs, " They have conquered a
city called Temistitan." 464 Here, again, in one of the first refer
ences to the city that appeared in Europe, there is no hint that
its name was Mexico.

Cortez certainly had a favourable opportunity to learn the
name of the city that he had conquered. Time and again he
refers to mo " the great city of Temistitan" ; and in one place
he adds,1102 " Before I describe this great city and the others
already mentioned, it may be well, for the "better understanding of
the subject, to say something of the configuration of Mexico in
which they are situated, it being the principal seat of Muteczuma's
power. This province is in the form of a circle, surrounded on
all sides by lofty and rugged mountains, its level surface com
prising an area of about seventy leagues in circumference."

Summing up the evidence, it appears that the name " Mexico "
was first heard as the designation of the country from which the
Indians on the Gulf of Mexico obtained their gold ; that Cortez
applied the name to the valley in which the capital city and
many others were situated, while de Zumarraga applied it to the
whole region, including Michoacan ; that the elder Indians did
not recognize it as the name of their city, and that all its wards
or divisions had other names ; that in the earlier maps and
accounts the name of the city is given (with variations of spell
ing) as Tenochtitlan ; and that it gradually passed through the
compound " Mexico-Tenochtitlan " to " Mexico," taking about
half a century to make the change. During all this time, how
ever, the term " Mexico " was steadily applied to the country sub
stantially as it is* still applied.

No other term is given in any place as the name of the coun
try ; and if the land had any general name by which it was
known, that name must have been " Mexico."

This was neither pronounced " Mec-si-co," nor, as the Span
iards pronounce it, " Mejico," with the " j " sounding like the
German "ch" or Greek "x" ; but "Me-shi-co," the "x" being
pronounced like " sh " in English 357 or " ch " in French.2036

Numerous place-names, either fromf the same root or from one
very similar, will be found scattered over the country. The Abbe"
Brasseur de Bourbourg -mentions Mexilla 626 (evidently from Me-

THE COUNTRY INDICATED BY HWUI SHlN. 373

xi -\-the Aztec place-termination "tlan"), Meztitlan™1 (from
Mez -f- the terminations " ti " and " tlan "), Iztacmixtitlan 737 (from
Iztac= white -\-mix -f- the terminations "ti" and "tlan"),
Mixiuhcan™ (from Mi-xiuh + the termination "can"), and
Mixco 752 (from Mix + the place-termination " co "). Bancroft
mentions " Mexi-caltzinco " and " Mexiuh-tlan," 42° and a glance
at a map of the country will also show the forms "Mixtan,"
" Mextitlan," and " Mexcala." If these words, or the majority
of them, have a common root, it is evident that its meaning
must be applicable in some way to a very large portion of the
region known as Mexico.

The last syllable, " co," serves as a suffix 869 to many place-
names, 2173 and " signifies in or within that which is signified by
the noun " (Parades, p. 39) ; or possibly it conveys the broader
meaning of the region, " in " which it is situated, or " at " or
"near" that which is signified by the preceding syllables. Ex
amples of its use are found in " Soconusco," ^ (formerly
"Xoconochco"887), " Matlatzinco," 8M " Tenantzinco," 87° "Azca-
potzalco," 88° " Xochimilco," 881 " Tezcuco," " Acapulco," 1963 etc.

The meaning of the remainder of the word " Mexico," or of
the entire word, has been stated in many different ways by the
various authors who have attempted to explain it. McCulloh
says that1842 the etymology of Mexico is, "Place of Mextli?
the name Mextli being a synonym of Huitzilopochtli, the desig
nation of their god of war. He borrows this statement from
Clavigero, and is followed by Pimentel,2035 Buschraann,882 Tyler,322
Bancroft,247 and others.

Brasseur de Bourbourg states that,662 according to several
authors, the Mexicas, or Mexicans, derived their name from one
of their first chiefs, Mecitl, or " the Hare of the Aloes." Saha-
gun says that 22C9 the name Mexicatl was formerly pronounced
Mecitl, formed from me or metl, which signifies the maguey r, and
from citli, a hare. This, therefore, should be written Mecicatl •
but the change of c to x has produced the corruption Mexicatl.
It is said that this name was given to the people because the
Mexicans, when they first arrived in the country, had a chief or
lord named Mecitl, who at the moment of his birth was surnamed
Citli (or the Hare). ' As, moreover, a large leaf of the maguey
was given to him for a cradle, he was therefore called Me-citl, as
if to say, the man raised in this maguey leaf. When he had

3T4 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

grown up he became priest of their idol, and in this quality he
had relations with the demon — a thing which insured him respect
in the eyes of his subjects, who, according to the account of the
elders, adopted the name of this high-priest, 'and were called Mex
ica, or Mexicatl.

Herrera says 1689 that, according to some, " Mexico " means a
spring ; and this statement is often copied : but, upon reference to
the Aztec or Mexican dictionaries, it will be found that there is
no word in the language having any such meaning which bears
even the most distant resemblance to the term "Mexico."

Bancroft has the following on the subject : 451 " A number
of derivations have been given to the word Mexico, as mexitli,
( navel of the maguey ' ; metl-ico, f place amidst the maguey ' ;
meixco, ' on the maguey border ' ; mecitli, ' hare ' ; metztli, ' moon ' ;
amexica, or mexica, ' you of the anointed ones.' The significa
tion, 'spring' or * fountain,' has also been applied. ,But most
writers have contented themselves by assuming it to be identical
with the mexi, mexitl, or mecitl, appellations of the war-god,
Huitzilopochtli, to "which has been added the co, an affix imply
ing locality ; hence * Mexico ' would imply the place or settle
ment of Mexico, or Mexicans. This war-god, Huitzilopochtli, as
is well known, was the mythic leader and chief deity of the Az
tecs, the dominant tribe of the Nahua nation. It was by this
august personage, who was also called Mexitl, that, according
to tradition, the name was given them in the twelfth century,
and in these words, ' Inaxcan aocmoamotoca inam azteca ye am
mexica,' ' Henceforth bear ye not the name Azteca, but Mexica.' "

Torquemada 32° ("Monarq. lud.," tome i, p. 293), referring to
the principal god of the Aztecs, which had two names, Huitzilo-
puchtli and Mexitly, says that this second name means " Navel
of the Maguey."

Clavigero gives the following account :1061 " There is a great
difference of opinion between different authors as to the etymol
ogy of the word Mexico. Some derive it from Metztli, 'the
moon,' because they saw the moon reflected in the lake as the
oracle had predicted. Others declare that Mexico means 'at
the fountain or spring,' because they found a spring of good
water upon its site. But these two derivations are too violent,
and the first is not only violent, but also ridiculous. I thought
at one time that the name should be Mexicco, which would mean

THE COUNTRY INDICATED BY HWTJI SHlN. 375

* in the center of the magueys,' or Mexican aloe-plants ; but,
from the study of the history of these people, I have been un
deceived, and have become convinced that Mexico means 'the
place of Mexitli J (or Huitzilopochtli — who was the Mars of the
Mexicans), because of the sanctuary there built to him ; hence
Mexico means to the Mexicans the same that Fanum Martis
meant to the Romans. From words of this description, when
compounded, the Mexicans take away the final letters tl. The co
that is added is equivalent to our preposition in. The word
Mexicaltzinco means the place of the house or temple of the god
Mexitli : so that Huitzilopochco, Mexicaltzinco, and Mexico, the
names of the three places which were successively inhabited by
the Mexicans, mean substantially the same thing."

Professor J. G. Mtiller, commenting upon these various state
ments, says: 1964 " If we inquire concerning the meaning of 'Mex
itli ' and ' Mexico,' we find the singular answers that ' Mexitli '
means 'the god of Mexico,' and that 'Mexico' means 'the
city of Mexitli.' The name of the place called Huitzilopochco,
and the name of the god Huitzilopochtli, might be explained in a
similar way by their connection with each other, or the name of
Tenoch, the mythical founder of Tenochtitlan, by its connection
with the name of that city. Clavigero was therefore wrong
when he was induced, by this course of reasoning in a circle, to
withdraw his earlier view, according to which ' Mexico ' meant
' in the midst of the maguey,' or the Mexican aloe. The Mexi
can word for maguey is ' metl,' from which the final consonants
' tl,' as is the custom in the case of that termination in the Mexi
can language, are dropped when the word is compounded with
others. This gives a very good explanation of the name 'Mex
ico.' The usual name of the city in olden times was ' Tenoch
titlan,' meaning ' the prickly pear upon the stone ' ; and this w^as
also the hieroglyph of the city, it being clearly an emblem of the
wandering multitude who at first were oppressed with many
troubles. Soon, however, the place became a ' Mexico,' a place
in the midst of magueys — the plants which were the richest of all
in their blessings to the Mexicans, for they furnished them with
their favourite drink, called ' octli,' and also with a species of
hemp, and with paper."

Having given this full account of the views of others, the
present author now hopes to show that the real meaning of the

376 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

term Mexico is "Place of the Century-plant." The name of the
agave, or century-plant, in the Aztec language is metl, mi and, as
already explained,1987 nouns ending in tl lose that termination in
compounds and derivatives. The syllable me is sometimes used
as the plural termination of nouns,1403 and it is in a few cases in
terchanged with ma, the root of maitl,** or maytlj** the hand ;
as, for instance, inT the word meaning to carry a burden on the
shoulders, which is sometimes written mama 190T and sometimes
meme.im With these exceptions, however, it is doubtful whether
the syllable me occurs in any Aztec word, except as the repre
sentative of the name of the agave. There is no question as to
the power of the termination co, and the misunderstandings as to
the meaning of the whole word have all arisen from the difficulty
of explaining the syllable xi. The only explanation that has been
given is that of Clavigero, who, by writing the word " Me-xic-co,"
derived the' middle syllable from xic^-tli, " the navel." This is
not a satisfactory derivation, however, and it is surprising that no
one has noticed that the syllable xi is the abbreviated represent
ative of the word xihuitl,615 or xiuitl,mi meaning an herb or
plant.1928 In accordance with the rules of the Mexican language,
the tl would be dropped in the compound, and the abbreviation
of the remaining xiui to xi is less violent than that which takes
place in the Mexican language in many other cases. Buschmann,
who is one of the leading authorities upon the subject of the Az
tec language, and whose soundness of judgment is universally
recognized, speaks as follows regarding a case of much greater
abbreviation : 872

" I may be permitted to call it great boldness to point out
the letter x in the forms maxtlatl and maxtli as the last trace
of the verb xeloa. As it is found there in close connection,
both with the following consonant and the preceding syllable,
it would at first sight seem that it should be regarded as a
middle letter of a word. That an etymologist should venture
such an unheard of conjecture as that above made, has only
become possible through the unlimited power of induction,
proceeding cautiously step by step. In these two examples,
which I have treated with etymological accuracy, I have taken
a glance into the dark history of word destruction (or abbre
viation) into which the tribes throughout the whole of North
America have plunged in lawless licentiousness ; the Aztec

THE COUNTRY INDICATED BY I1WUI SHAN. 377

idiom to a less degree than others, but still more than has been
believed. Only one example of a simple kind need be cited:
Niltze, which Molina gives as an exclamation, * ho ! halloa ! ' is
an abbreviation of nopiltzine, my son (from pilli = son, no = my,
tzin, the reverential form — applied here rather as an endear
ment — and e, the sign of the vocative)."

In one case the syllables mexi (used with the same meaning as
in Mexico) are abbreviated so that the xi appears as x, s, or z.
This is in the word usually written mexcalli, but also appearing as
mexical, mescal, mezcal, mezcale, mescali, mescale, and mizcal™
the name of the maguey-plant (i. e., the metl,pita, agave, Ameri
can aloe, or century-plant — for these different terms are all ap
plied to the same plant,1508 or to mere varieties of what is essen
tially the same plant), or of a plant of similar growth, and a name
which is also applied to a spirituous liquor distilled from its
juice. Sahagun also defines the words as " the cooked leaves of
the aloe."

It may be stated, by the way, that the concluding 'syllable of
this word is evidently a form of qualli, good,908 which is perhaps a
participle of qua, to eat, mjeaning that which one can eat.873 Hence
the word mexical, mezcal, or mexcalli, would mean the good or
edible century-plant, or that part of the century-plant which can
be eaten or drunk when suitably prepared for the purpose. This
is surely a more appropriate etymology than that suggested by
Buschmann, who thinks it to be from metz-calli, meaning the
house or temple of the moon.886

Returning to the word " Mexico " : In the Maya language of
Yucatan we find the word xihuitl abbreviated to xiu.m In the
Aztec language we find the name of the Mexican balsam-tree 1496
to be hoitzilo-xitl,1497 and there is no other possible etymological
explanation of the termination of this word than that it is a
corruption of xihuitl. The form xitl, when followed by a word
with which it was compounded, would be reduced to xi, as we
have it in "Me-xi-co."

Fortunately, however, we are able to give a number of Mexi
can words which can not be explained in any other way than
by considering the syllable xi as the representative of the word
xihuitl. This word is almost the only one in the Mexican lan
guage which has two or more radically distinct meanings. It,
however, means not only an herb or plant, but also has the

378 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

meanings 1928 " a year," " a comet," and " a turquoise." Now,
we find, in Molina's Aztec Dictionary,1926 the following words :

" Ximmictia, to choke or smother the plant of wheat, or
anything similar.

" Ximmatlaliztli, a sapphire, a precious stone.

" Xippachoa, to cover anything with herbs, or to choke the
plant of wheat, or anything similar."

In these words the doubled consonants indicate, merely, that
the preceding vowel is short, and it is necessary to reject one of
the two in order to arrive at the true etymology. The root
mic, which occurs in the first word, conveys the idea of death,
and is connected with miqui, to die ; 868 tia is a verbal termina
tion. Mictia means " to kill," and xi-mictia, if we are right as
to the meaning of the first syllable, would mean " to kill a
plant." This is practically the definition given by Molina. The
third word is compounded from xi and the verb pachoa^
meaning " to rule over, to govern, to set upon eggs like a hen."
Here, again, the idea of overshadowing, or covering over, ex
pressed by pachoa, when combined with the idea of plants or
herbs expressed by xi, produces the definitions given in the dic
tionary.

In the second case, the syllable xi means a turquoise ; liztli
is a grammatical termination, and the matla of xi-matla-liztli is
connected with the word matla-lin,ms meaning "an obscure
green colour." The whole word, therefore, means a turquoise of
an obscure green colour.

In these cases there seems no possibility of doubt as to the
fact that xi is an abbreviation of xihuitl. Two other cases may
be cited in which this word is abbreviated to tz and z, just as, in
the different forms of mexcalli, it is reduced to x, s, or z. Otti
is the Aztec name for India rubber,1916 while metzolli means 1914
"the marrow or soft part of the maguey." Here me means
the maguey, olli the soft elastic portion, and the tz can mean
nothing else that plant. We also find meztallotl™* "the white
heart of the maguey before it throws out its shoot," and metol-
lotl,m* "the marrow or soft part of the maguey." It is difficult
to explain why the inserted z in the first word does not affect the
meaning, on any other theory than that it means plant. Another
case in which the termination huiil is dropped in a compound
is seen in the word quammaitl™ " a branch of a tree," of which

THE COUNTRY INDICATED BY HWUI SHAN. 379

the part maitl means a hand or arm — in this case, a branch —
while the syllable qua can be nothing else than the abbreviated
representative of the word quahuitl, a tree.

From these illustrations, drawn from the Mexican language,
it appears to be established beyond any reasonable question that
the term "Me-xi-co" (pronounced by the Aztecs Me-shi-co)
means "the Place of the Agave-plant," or "the Region of the
Century-plant. That this is an appropriate designation, and one
which would very naturally be given by any people coming into
the country from beyond its borders, will be admitted by all
who have visited it.

The plant is peculiar to the country ; it grows throughout
nearly all portions of the land ; its peculiarities are such as to in
stantly attract attention ; and, as will be explained in the follow
ing chapter, it may be claimed to be of greater value to the
inhabitants than any and all other plants growing in the
country.

There is, therefore, reason to believe that if Hwui Shan visited
the region which he claimed to have explored, he reached the
country now known as Mexico, and then probably called by the
same name ; this appellation, as we have seen, being derived from
that of the most useful and remarkable plant which is found there.

The connection between the term Mexico and the name of
the god Mexitli) or Huitzilopoclitli, may be explained by suppos
ing him to have originally been a deification of the century-
plant.

" They manufactured so many things from this plant called
maguey,324 and it is so very useful in that country, that the devil
took occasion to induce them to believe that it was a god, and
to worship and offer sacrifices to it." (" Spiegazione delle Tavole
del codice Mexicano," in Kingsborough's "Mex. Antiq.," vol. v,
pp. 179-180.)

His name of Huitzilopochtli — which has been supposed to be
derived from Huitzitzilin, or, as Molina spells the word, Vitzitzi-
/m,1930 " the humming-bird," and the root opoch, found in the
word opochmaitl™ " the left hand" (maitl meaning "hand")>
and which he was said to have been given because he had a fringe
of humming-birds' feathers adorning his left leg — seems rather
to have been derived from Huitzla™ " a thorny place or a
thorny plant," and the root poch, with the termination tli, as

380 AN INGLOKIOUS COLUMBUS.

found in tel-pochtli™ "a youth," and icli-poclitli^ " a maiden,"
and to have meant "the Ever-youthful One of the Thorny
Plant."

The termination pochtli occurs in the name of the god
0-pochtli, protector of fishermen 2239 (perhaps originally A-pochtli,
"the Youthful One of the Water"), and it here evidently has
nothing to do with the left hand. That the termination pochtli
was not an essential part of Huitzilopochtli's name is shown by
the fact that 744 the place in which his temple was situated was
called Huitzillan, a compound formed from Huitzil with the
place-termination tlan.

Bancroft states321 that Huitzilopochtli was the son of the
goddess of plants, and that his connection with the botanical
kingdom is shown by the fact that he was specially worshiped at
three ancient yearly feasts, which took place exactly at those
periods of the year that are the most influential for the Mexican
climate : the middle of May, the middle of August, and the end
of December.

The theory, that he was originally a deification of the century-
plant, is strengthened by the fact that he was considered as the
god of vegetation, by whose power it was annually revivified.1965
We also find the word Vitzyecoltia™™ (which by many other
authors would be spelled Huitzyecoltia, Molina always using v or u
before a vowel to indicate the sound of the English w, which
other writers indicate by the letters hu) defined as meaning
" to celebrate the feast of the vine." The syllable yec is from
the root of yec-tli, meaning " good." The last five letters form
a verbal termination. The syllable vitz can mean nothing else
than a thorn or thorny plant, and must have originally referred
to the century-plant — which was the one from which the Mexi
cans obtained their " wine," which was the only intoxicating
liquor with which they were acquainted ; and the plant is therefore
frequently referred to by early authors as the " vine " of the
country. The Mexicans certainly had no feast dedicated to the
grape-vine, as, although it occurs in the country (as will be
shown in Chapter XXII), it is seldom referred to, and they never
made wine from grapes.1-

Since writing the above, I have found the following statement
in Sahagun : 2m " New wine made from the maguey is called
uitz-tli." This seems to remove all possibility of doubt of the

THE COUNTRY INDICATED BY HWUI SHlN. 381

connection of the verbal root variously spelled uitz, vitz, and
huitz, with the century-plant.

The name Camaxtle,lS5& or Camaxtli™ under which this god
was worshiped by the Tlascaltecs, seems to have been formed
from the prefix ca (meaning unknown) and a variant of the
name Mexitli. This people also knew him by the name of Mix-
couatl™* in which another variation of the same word may be
seen.

While it is true that the word " Mexico " means " the Place
of the Century-plant," it could also be used with the meaning of
" the Place of Mexi-tli "/ Mexi-tli being (as above explained)
nothing but a name for the personified or deified century-plant.
Now, in the center of the city of Tenochtitlan, there was a large
square containing the temple in which the god Huitzilopochtli,
or Mexitli, was worshiped. This square and its temple would
be called " Mexico," meaning (in this connection) " the Place of
the God Mexitli," and this fact explains how it was that the
name was thought to apply, first, to a ward of the city, and,
later ) to the whole city ; why it was that many of the Spaniards
supposed it to be applicable to a limited area only, instead of to
the whole country, and why they failed to learn its original sig
nification.

CHAPTER XXI.

THE FU-SANG TREE AND THE BED PEARS.

Connection between the name of the country and that of the " tree " — Application
to smaller plants of the Chinese character translated "tree'' — Application
of the term " tree " to the century -plant — Description of the metl, maguey,
agave, aloe, or century -plant — The leaves of the fu-sang — Disagreement of dif
ferent texts — The t'ung tree — Evidence of corruption in the text — Conject
ure as to original reading — Similarity of the young sprouts to those of the
bamboo — Their edibility — Thread and cloth from the fiber of the plant —
The finer fabric made from it — Variation in the texts — Manufacture of pa
per — The red pear — The prickly-pear — Resemblance of the century-plant to
the cacti — Preserves made from the prickly-pears — Confusion in the Mexican
language between milk and the sap of the century-plant — The Chinese " lo,"
or koumiss — The liquor made from the sap of the century -plant — Its resem
blance to koumiss — Indians never use milk — Confusion in other Indian lan
guages between sap and milk — Meaning of the name fu-sang — Variations in
the characters with which it is written — The spontaneous reproduction of the
century-plant — The decomposition of the character " sang " — The tree of the
large wine-jar — The tree having a great cloud of blossoms — Blooming but
once in a thousand years — The Chinese name of the prickly-pear — Eitel's
definition of the term " fu-sang " — Professor Gray's statement.

HAYING thus settled, as far as it is now possible to do so, the
character of the nation which Hwui Shan would have found in
the region indicated by him, if he actually took the journey
which he claimed that he had made, and having attempted to
determine the name of the country, and its meaning, let us now
continue the examination of his story.

II. — THAT REGION HAS MANY FU-SANG TREES, AND IT is FROM

THESE TREES THAT THE COUNTRY DERIVES ITS NAME OF Fu-SANG.

THE LEAVES RESEMBLE ? AND THE FIRST SPROUTS ARE LIKE

THOSE OF THE BAMBOO. THE PEOPLE OF THE COUNTRY EAT
THEM AND THE (or A) FRUIT, WHICH IS LIKE A PEAR (in form),
BUT OF A REDDISH COLOUR. THEY SPIN THREAD FROM THEIR

THE FU-SANG TREE AND THE RED PEARS.

383

BARK, FROM WHICH THEY MAKE CLOTH OF WHICH THEY MAKE
CLOTHING ; THEY ALSO MANUFACTURE A FINER FABRIC FROM IT.
. . . THEY MAKE PAPER FROM THE BARK OF THE FU-SANG. . . .
THEY HAVE THE RED PEARS KEPT UNSPOILED THROUGHOUT THE
YEAR.

One of the first points to attract the attention is, that there \
is a connection between the name of the country and that of a
species of " tree " which grows there. It has already been shown
that there is a similar connection between the name " Mexico "
and the agave, or century-plant. It might be claimed, however,
that this is not a " tree."

In reply to this objection, it may be said that it is probable
that the century-plant would be included by the Chinese under
the general term MUH, fa which is here translated " tree," this
character being used by the Chinese not only as the radical of
trees, but also of shrubs. 2491 Fig. 10 contains illustrations of two

iJfc/

FIG. 10. — Two plants classified in the 'En-YA, under th'c heading MUH, or " trees."

plants which in the 'Rii-YA (a book written by one of the most
celebrated scholars of the Han dynasty, between B. c. 202 and
A. D. 25) are included under this general heading of MUH, or
"trees." It is evident that, if these insignificant plants can
properly be included in that term, the century-plant — the flower
ing-stalks of which sometimes tower to a height of forty 2373 or
fifty 2372 feet, throwing out branches on every side,2373 and being

384 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

sufficiently solid to be used as beams,2370 of which houses are built
in many places ; 222° these stalks being said to make " very good
rafters," and being also used as fuel,11 — can hardly be excluded,
either on the ground of size or of lack of woody consistency.

As a matter of fact, the term " tree " was usually applied to
the century-plant by < the early writers. Acosta, for instance,
says : " " The maguey is the tree, of marvels, to which the Indians
are accustomed to ascribe miracles, inasmuch as it gives them
water, wine, oil, vinegar, honey, syrup, thread, and a thousand
other things. It is a tree which the Indians of New Spain es
teem very highly. . . . The wood of this tree is hollow and soft,
and is used for preserving a fire, for it burns slowly like a match
lock, and keeps the fire for a long time, and I have seen the In
dians use it for this purpose."

So, too, Gage says : 1379 " About Mexico, more than in any
other part, groweth that excellent tree called metl" ; and,1377
"There are also mantles made of the leaves of a tree called
metV Bartram also speaks of " a forest " of agaves, and ex
plains : 55° " I term it a forest, because their scapes, or flower-
stems, arose erect near thirty feet high."

It is therefore manifest that Hwui Shan is not alone in his
application of the term " tree " to the century -plant.

Before examining his description of the plant, or tree, from
which the country took its name, it will be best to note what is
said by other writers regarding the plant which, if Mexico is
identified with Fu-sang, must have been the " f u-sang tree " of
Hwui Shan.

Prescott says : 2066 " The miracle of nature was the maguey r,
whose clustering pyramid of flowers, towering above their dark
coronals of leaves, were seen sprinkled over many a broad acre
of the table-land. Its bruised leaves afforded a paste from which
paper was manufactured ; its juice was fermented into an in
toxicating beverage, pulque, of which the natives to this day
are excessively fond ; its leaves further supplied an impenetrable
thatch for the more humble dwellings ; thread, of which coarse
stuffs were made, and strong cords, were drawn from its tough
and twisted fibers ; pins and needles were made of the thorns at
the extremity of its leaves ; and the root, when properly cooked,
was converted into a palatable and nutritious food. The agave,
in short, was meat, drink, clothjng, and writing-materials, for the

THE FU-SANG TREE AND THE RED PEARS. 385

FIG. 11. — A century-plant in blossom.

386 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

Aztec ! Surely, never did nature inclose in so compact a form
so many of the elements of human comfort and civilization '. "

Clavigero, in his " History of Mexico," has epitomized the
uses of the various kinds of agaves of that country in the fol
lowing language : 237°

" Some species furnish protecting inclosures, and afford im
passable hedges to other objects of cultivation. From the juice
of others are extracted honey, sugar, vinegar, pulque, and ardent
spirits. From the trunk and the thickest part of the leaves,
roasted in the earth, an agreeable food is obtained. The flower
ing-stalks serve as beams, and the leaves as roofs for houses. The
thorns answer for lancets, awls, needles, arrowheads, and other
cutting and penetrating instruments. But the fibrous substance
of the leaves is the most important gift of the agaves of Mexico.
According to the species, the fiber varies in quality from the
coarsest hemp to the finest flax, and may be employed as a supe
rior substitute for both. From it the ancient Mexicans fabri
cated their thread and cordage ; mats and bagging ; shoes and
clothing ; webs equivalent to cambric and canvas ; the ham
mocks in which they were born, and in which they reposed and
died, and the paper on which they painted their histories, and
with which they adored and adorned their gods. The value of
these agaves is enhanced by their indifference to soil, climate,
and season ; by the simplicity of their cultivation, and by the
ease with which their products are extracted and prepared. It
is not, therefore, surprising that the ancient Mexicans used
some part or preparation of these plants in their civil, military,
and religious ceremonies, and at marriages and deaths ; nor that
they perpetuated an allusion to their properties in the name of
their capital." 107S

Fig. 11 is a cut of a century-plant, adapted by the engraver
from a photograph, by Mr. Taber of San Francisco, of a plant
now (December, 1884) in blossom in that city. The represen
tation of the flowering-stalk is much better than that of the
leaves about its base.

It is unfortunate that the various Chinese authorities differ
so radically as to what it was that the leaves of the fu-sang tree
resembled, that it seems impossible to determine, with any cer
tainty, the real statement of Hwui Shan on the subject.

In Ma Twan-lin's account, it is said that they resemble those

THE FU-SANG TREE AND THE RED PEARS.

337

of the T'UNG tree. This is said by Klaproth to be the Bignonia
tomentosa, by Neumann to be the Dryandra cordif olia, by Julien
to be the Paullownia imperialis, and by Leland to be the Dry-
anda cordata, or Eleococca verrucosa.

Fig. 12, copied from the 'Rn-YA, shows, on the left, the
YUNG-T'UNG, or " Beautiful T'UNG " tree ; now called the wu-

Fio. 12. — The t'ung tree and the wild mulberry.

T'UNG ; and this in Williams's Dictionary (p. 1060) is said to be
the Eleococca verrucosa. In the same engraving is given a pict
ure of the wild mulberry, or mountain mulberry, the leaves of
which will be seen to closely resemble those of the YUNG-T'UNG.
Leland states, however,1718 that in the "Year Books of the
Liang Dynasty," the character is not written jffl, T'UNG, the t'ung
tree, but Jp), T'UNG, copper. According to this older authority,
therefore, the leaves of the fu-sang tree resembled copper. The
old Chinese geography, called the Shan Hai King, adds to the
confusion by saying that the leaves are like mustard, or sinapis.
The two characters given above have the same "phonetic," or
"primitive" (the part at the right), and differ only in the "radi
cal" (the part at the left), which, in the first is "tree," and, in
the second, is " metal." The characters are so much alike that
the indications are strong that the first was substituted for the
second by some copyist or commentator, who reasoned as fol-

388 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

lows : " The appellation c f u-sang ' means ' the useful mulberry.'
The tree was therefore some species of mulberry. The Regis
ters of the Liang Dynasty say that its leaves resemble copper.
This is evidently a mistake ; there is no plant having leaves re
sembling copper ; the character, however, very much resembles
that used for the T'UNG tree, and the leaves of this tree are very
similar to those of the mulberry. It is therefore probable that
some copyist, transcribing the old records, written before print
ing was invented, mistook a carelessly written character, T'UNG,
H3, meaning * the T'UNG tree,' for the character T'UNG, $p], * cop
per.' I will correct his error, and restore the reading as it
must originally have stood." So, like many of our Shakespearean
commentators, he probably substituted his own conjecture for
the original text, merely because he was unable to understand
the latter ; and thereby made it almost impossible for those
coming after him to detect the real meaning of the author.

If I may be permitted to submit a surmise, which is con
fessedly a mere conjecture, of which the most that can be said is
that it is possibly true ; I would suggest that the old reading " cop
per " is probably an error, but that the mistake is not in the radi
cal, but in the phonetic. There is in the Chinese language a
character, ££j, KEu,2538 which closely resembles the one used for
" copper," jjj). This character KEU is defined as meaning " a
hook, a barb, a claw, a fluke ; a sickle, a bill-hook ; a crooked
sword ; to hook, to make crooked or hooked." It is evident that
the general idea is that of being crooked, sharp, and barbed ; and
the character was probably originally composed of the radical
" metal " with a picture of a fish-hook and its bait. This character
is used in the compound KEu-YAo,2577 " the barbed-exotic," which
is applied to a species of thistle found in Kiang-su. No charac
ter in the Chinese language would better describe the curved
and prickly leaves of the century-plant, " armed with teeth like a
shark," 1282 than this term KEU, " a hook, a barb, a crooked sword."
Now, if Hwui Shan said that the leaves of the f u-sang resembled §£j,
it is not beyond the limits of reasonable possibility that this may
have been so illegibly written as to have been mistaken for ||sj,
or that some copyist may have carelessly made this change
while transcribing. Then the course of reasoning above sug
gested would very naturally have led to the substitution of the
character Jpi), and the accounts would have exhibited the confu-

THE FU-SANG TREE AND THE RED PEARS.

3S9

sion and contradiction that we now find. It is not contended
that these changes are proved, or anything more than merely
possible. It is claimed, however, that unless some such changes
took place, the variations in the texts can not be explained ; and
that it is now impracticable to decide with certainty as to the
character originally used. The fact that the leaves of the cent
ury-plant do not at all resemble those of the TUNG tree is there
fore no proof that the fu-sang tree was not the century-plant

In Hwui Shan's next statement we find a detail regarding
which there is no dispute, which makes it absolutely impossible
that the original description of the plant can have represented
that its leaves resembled those of the T'UNG tree. This is the fact
that " the first sprouts are like those of the bamboo." Now, the
bamboo is an endogenous plant, and the first sprouts of nearly all
endogens have a similar general character, but differ widely from
those of the exogens. No mulberry, no T'UNG tree (if this is cor
rectly identified by any of the authors above named), ever exhib
ited a " first sprout " which even the most careless observer could
consider as at all resembling that of the bamboo, while this com
parison might be made with
justice as to the sprout of
almost any endogenous plant.

Fig. 13, a copy of another
illustration of the 'Rn-TA,
gives a picture of these bam
boo-sprouts. It is not difficult
to find specimens of the cent
ury-plant in almost any of
our cities, and young sprouts
may frequently be found push
ing up around them. If the
reader will take the trouble to
examine some of these, he will
see that the illustration of
bamboo-sprouts will answer
nearly as well for those of the
century-plant. The resemblance is very close and very striking.

Hwui Shan would hardly have been likely to mention these
shoots, however, if it were not a fact that their great number
about the elder plants is such as to attract attention. M. Jourdanet,

FIG. 13. — Bamboo-sprouts.

390 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

in his notes upon Sahagun, says that, 2221 at an advanced period of
the plant's development, eight or ten shoots grow up about it ;
while Bartlett M9 and Squier 2372 agree in the statement that " an
infinity of shoots " springs from the decaying roots of the old
plants, and that no known plant multiplies with greater facility.

Our Asiatic traveler noticed a second point of resemblance to
bamboo-shoots, however, and that lay in the fact that they were
edible. Professor Williams states that 249° the tender shoots of
the bamboo are cultivated for food, and are, when four or five
inches high, boiled, pickled, and comfited. Crawf urd says that1136
the young shoots of the bamboo are, with the natives of the In
dian Islands, a frequent, favourite, and agreeable esculent vege
table, and may be either boiled, or used with vinegar as a pickle.

The " Chinese Repository " gives the following account : 988
"The young and tender shoots of the bamboo are used as a
vegetable for the table in different ways ; if cut as soon as they
appear above the ground, they are almost as tender and delicate
as asparagus. They are white and palatable, and when in this
state are used as pickles, as greens, as a sweetmeat, and as a
medicine. The fondness for these young shoots is so general
that they are made articles of commerce, and are sent to the
capital and all parts of the empire. They are cured by exposing
them, when fresh, to steam, and afterward drying them. They
often form a part in the feasts of the rich, and constitute an im
portant article of diet for the priests. These young shoots are
artificially cultivated during the most part of the year. All
classes use the pickle, as a relish, with rice and other vegetable
dishes."

The statement of Clavigero,2370 that, from the trunk of the
century -plant and the thickest part of the leaves, roasted in the
earth, an agreeable food is obtained, has already been quoted.
Bancroft mentions the maguey-plant, Agave Mexicana, among
the articles on which the natives of New Mexico rely for food,115
and also names "roasted portions of the maguey stalks and
leaves"203 among the articles of food used by the natives of
Mexico. General Crook, in his report to the Government of his
expedition against the Mescalero Apaches (who take even their
name from the " mescal," before referred to — a species of agave),
states as one of the reasons which make it almost impossible to
capture them, that 1U9 " the agave grows luxuriantly in the mount-

THE FU-SANG TREE AND THE RED PEARS. 391

ains, and upon this plant alone the Indians can live." M. God-
ron says that 1413 they not only eat the tender roots of the plant,
but also the central shoot, keeping its soft and fleshy consistence.

It is reasonable to believe that the young and tender shoots
would be included among the parts of a " soft and fleshy consist
ence," and so would be eaten with the rest. Other authors do
not mention them particularly, as they would form only a small
portion of the food derived from the plants, but Hwui Shan
would be led to refer specially to them, because of their resem
blance to the edible shoots of the bamboo.

The Chinese text says that the people of the country spun
thread from the bark of the fu-sang tree, from which they made
cloth, of which they made clothing, and that they also manufact
ured a finer fabric from it.

In the case of most exogenous fiber-producing plants, it is
from one of the layers of bark that the fiber is derived, and those
who are accustomed to seeing flax, hemp, or the paper-mulberry,
naturally learn to associate fiber with the "bark," and to speak
of it as derived therefrom, even in the case of endogenous
plants, which have no true bark, and in which the fiber is scat
tered through the stems and leaves. The Abbe Brasseur de
Bourbourg, for instance, makes the statements that 657 the Cak-
chiquels made garments from the bark of trees, and of maguey's,
and that 659 nequen is a species of coarse hemp which the Mexi
cans draw from the bark of the aloe, or maguey.

Dr. Brinton, also, after mentioning that three Central Ameri
can codices, described by him, were all841 written on paper
manufactured from the leaves of the maguey-plant, refers to the
statements of old writers, who said that the books of the Mexi
cans were made of the bark of trees.

In Ma Twan-lin's text, the clause which I have translated,
"They also manufacture a finer fabric from it" (the thread),
reads, " They make KIX, |g, from it " (the thread). The term KIN-
IS defined as meaning " embroidered stuff, or embroidered and
ornamented stuff in general."1713 Professor Williams (p. 399
of his dictionary) defines it as a kind of thin brocade, and in
the article, copied in Chapter XIV of this work, says that the
word is applied to embroidery and parti-coloured textures. It is
not so much the damask-like figure that is the essential point,
but among the Chinese the kin always has a variety of colours.

392 Atf INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

Mr. Leland says, however,1713 that the " Year Books of the
Liang Dynasty" have, instead of KIN, the character MIEN (evi
dently £$), which signifies fine silk. This "Register of the
Liang Dynasty " is the original authority on the subject, and, in
case of a variation in the texts, its reading is entitled to at least
as much attention as that of Ma Twan-lin.

Hepburn defines the character MIEN, " cotton, floss silk," I4M
and says that the "Tree-MiEN," ^f; £$, is a kind of cloth, made
of the bark of the mulberry, worn in ancient times.1493 Professor
Williams defines the word, " soft, cottony, like fine floss or raw
silk, drawn out, prolonged, extended, as a thread or fiber."

It is therefore probable that in the time of Hwui Shan the
term was applied to some species of soft textile fabric, made
from the fiber of the paper-mulberry, of a finer quality than the
usual coarse material manufactured from it, and if the word was
so used in his days, he would naturally apply it to a similar ma
terial made from the agave fiber.

As to the manufactures of the Mexicans, McCulloh says : 1846
" From the maguey they made two kinds of cloth, one of which
was like hempen cloth, and a finer kind which resembled linen"

Clavigero states that1082 "from the leaves of the pati,* and
of the quetzalichtli (species of maguey), they drew a fine thread,
with which they made cloth as good as that made of linen, and
from the leaves of other species of maguey they derived a
coarser thread similar to hemp." This account is repeated by
the Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg.719

Sahagun, also, when speaking of the merchant who deals in
mantles made from the fiber of the maguey, says : 2208 " Some of
those which he sells are of light tissue, similar to those which
are used for head-dresses, such as the finely woven mantles of
the single thread of the nequen, and those which are made from
the twisted threads of this plant. He also sells others of coarse
texture, very closely woven, and still others coarse and thick,
made either from the pita, or from the thread of the maguey."

The Chinese account says that paper, also, is made from the
bark of the f u-sang ; and the following quotations regarding the
paper manufactured from the fiber of the agave, maguey, or
century-plant will be of interest in this connection.

Bancroft says : 232 " Paper, in Aztec amatl, used chiefly as a

* Perhaps a typographical error. The pita is probably meant.— E. P. V.

THE FU-SANG TREE AXD THE RED PEARS. 393

material on which to paint the hieroglyphic records, was made
for the most part of maguey fiber, although the other fibers used
in the manufacture of cloth were occasionally mixed with those
of this plant. The material must have been pressed together
when wet, and the product was generally very thick, more like a
soft pasteboard than our paper. The surface was smooth, and
well adapted to the painting which it was to bear. Certain gums
are said to have been used for the more perfect cohesion of the
fiber, and the amatl was made in long, narrow sheets suitable
for rolling or folding."

The Cavalier Boturini,* a collector of Mexican relics, in
forms us 2453 (yet from sources which he has omitted to quote) :
" Indian paper was made from the leaves of the maguey, which,
in the language of the natives, was called metl, and in Spanish
pita. The leaves were soaked, putrefied, and the fibers washed,
smoothed, and extended for the manufacture of thin as well as
thick paper." 216

Squier makes the following statement :2372 "The fiber of the
maguey is coarser than that of the Agave Sisilana, but it is,
nevertheless, of great utility, and is extensively used. The an
cient Mexicans painted their hieroglyphical records and ritual
calendars on paper made from the leaves of this plant, macerated
in water, and the fibers deposited in layers, like those of the
Egyptian cyperus (papyrus), and the mulberry of the South Sea
Islands ; and in modern times the fibers are used for a corre
sponding purpose. Indeed, the paper made from the maguey
is so much esteemed for its toughness and durability, over that
made in the United States and Europe, that, in 1830, a law was
enacted by the Mexican Congress requiring that no other kind
of paper should be used in recording the laws, or in the execu
tion of legal documents."

He adds 2373 that Mr. Brantz Mayer, in his work, " Mexico as
It Was and as It Is," p. 313, observes : "The best coarse wrap
ping or envelope paper I have ever seen is made in Mexico, from
the leaves of the Agave Americana. It has almost the tough
ness and tenacity of iron."

Hwui Shan's account says that the people of the country ate a
fruit which was like a pear in appearance, but which was red. The

*Cavaliere Lorenzo Boturini Benaducci, " Idea de Una Nueva Historia Gene
ral y Catalogo del Musco Historico," Madrid^ 1746, p. 95.

394: AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

character SHIH used to designate the fruit, indicates that it did
not have a nut or kernel,2563 as, if it had, the term KWO 2544
would probably have been used instead. The connection is such
that it is naturally inferred that the fruit referred to was that
of the fu-sang. This seeins the most probable meaning of the
text ; and yet I hardly think it entirely certain that the meaning
may not have been that the people ate a fruit — instead of the
fruit (of the fu-sang). The fruit referred to can be nothing else
than the well-known prickly-pear, otherwise called the noctli,1*00
nopalli™1 nopal?™ nochtli™ tuna™* or Indian fig.2590 The re
semblance of its shape to that of a pear is such that it derives
its best-known name from this fact, and, while there are species
of many different colours,1386 the common wild variety is red. It
is the fruit of a species of cactus. The agave, or century-plant,
belongs to a different botanical family, and yet it so closely re
sembles the cacti, in many of their most striking peculiarities, that
travelers frequently fall into the error of classing it with them.
Lieutenant Herndon, for instance, says that the " maguey is a
species of cactus."1533 An editorial article in the New York
"Herald," of February 17, 1883, says that "the present customs
duty on hennequin, or Sisal hemp — which is the product of a
kind of cactus— is six dollars a ton " ; the fact being that
the so-called Sisal hemp is derived from a species of agave very
closely related to the century-plant. So, also, an article in the
Chicago "Tribune," of May 11, 1884, mentions "that species
of cactus called the maguey." Both the agaves and the cacti
are distinguished from other plants by their thick, fleshy, stem-
less leaves, which, in both cases, are usually armed with strong
spines or thorns. They grow in arid 2372 and barren 2373 lands,
in which scarcely any other plant — except varieties of artemi-
sia, or sage-brush — can live ; and it is not strange that they
should be considered by the unscientific observer as different
species of one general family. It is possible that Hwui Shan
used the term fu-sang as a generic name, under which he in
tended to include all varieties of the cactus, and that he classed
the agaves with them. Mexico is the home of both plants, and
they form the characteristic vegetation of a large portion of
that country. They are indigenous nowhere else except in the
neighbouring regions, and it is in Mexico that they present more
varieties and larger species than in any other part of the globe.586

THE FtJ-SANG TREE AND THE RED PEARS. 395

The prickly-pear abounds in nearly all portions of Mexico, and
it is a fruit that is much esteemed, and which enters largely into
the food of the inhabitants. Gage says of it that it is 1386 " abso
lutely one of the best fruits " in the country. Emory speaks of
its " truly delicious " taste. Diaz states that the army of Cortez 1204
lived for a time upon it ; and Prescott says that the provisions
with which his camp was supplied from the friendly towns in the
neighbourhood consisted of fish and the fruits of the country, 2081
" particularly a sort of fig borne by the tuna ( Cactus opuntia)."

The last statement of the Chinese text regarding these " red
pears " is, that they are kept unspoiled throughout the year. In
the relation of the voyage to Cibola, undertaken in 1540, con
tained in vol. ix, of the first series of the " Voyages," etc., pub
lished by M. Ternaux-Compans, it is stated that the people of the
country 2437 " make many preserves from tunas, the juice of which
is so sweet that it preserves them perfectly without adding any
syrup." The statement is also made in another place that, " in a
province called Nacapan, many tunas, or Indian figs, are found,
of which the people make preserves." 2431

The Marquis d'Hervey de Saint-Denys, in his notes, which are
given in the twelfth chapter of this work, calls attention to the
fact that the Encyclopaedia, Ku-kin-tu-shu-tai-ching, gives the
passage of the Chinese text last above referred to, " They have
the pears of thefu-sang tree" etc., instead of the reading given
by Ma Twan-lin. This seems to indicate that there was a doubt
in the minds of various Chinese authors and compilers as to
whether the (< red pears " were or were not the fruit of the f u-
sang tree.

Before leaving the account of the fu-sang, there is another
statement of the Chinese text, which, in my opinion, should be
connected with the details regarding this plant, and that is :

III. FROM MILK THEY MAKE KOUMISS.

As this phrase follows a reference to the deer of the country,
it has usually been translated, " from the milk of the hinds they
make butter, cheese, creamy dishes, or cream " ; for all these
articles are named by different authors as indicated by the Chi
nese character LO, which in the translation given above is ren
dered "koumiss." The words, "of the hinds," italicized above,
are not found in the Chinese text, and are supplied only from
the inferences of the translators.

396 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

According to the " Chinese Repository," 987 the products of
the dairy, as milk, butter, and cheese, are hardly known among
the Chinese. Milk is usually cooked by boiling ; it is also em
ployed in making cakes, pastry, etc. Butter and cheese are not
used by them, nor do they understand the process of making the
latter. Professor Williams refers to the same fact in the following
words : 2501 " The Chinese use very little from the dairy, as milk,
butter, or cheese ; the very small number of cattle raised in the
country, and the consequent dearness of these articles, may have
caused them to fall into disuse, for they are all common among
the Manchus and Mongols. A Chinese table seems ill-furnished
to a foreigner when he sees neither bread, butter, nor milk upon
it, and, if he expresses his disrelish of the oily dishes or alliaceous
stews before him, the Chinese thinks that he gives a sufficient
reply to the disparagement of his taste, when he answers, ' You
eat cheese, and sometimes when it can almost walk.' "

In many other parts of Asia, as, for instance, in Sumatra,
the natives use no milk or butter.1822

Koumiss, or some similar preparation, was made by the Chi
nese, however,1008 as far back as in the days of the Han dynasty
(B. c. 202 to A. D. 25), and the following account of it is given 1009
in the " Chinese Repository " :

" The Chinese describe a preparation, made from the milk of
various domestic animals, that resembles the koumiss, found
among the Tartars. It is called lo, and is made in the follow
ing manner : Put a quart of milk into a boiler, and simmer
it for some time, when another quart is to be added, and the
whole boiled until many bubbles arise to the surface, all the
while stirring it about with the ladle ; now pour it into a ves
sel, and wait till it is cold, when the pellicle that forms upon
the surface is to be taken off to form the soo (a kind of oil
that is simmered from such pellicles). Now add a little old lo,
and cover it up for a while with paper, until it is completely
made."

This is evidently the LO mentioned in our text, and it was,
therefore, neither butter, cheese, cream, nor any similar article
of food.

Attention has been called to the. fact that a " wine," much
resembling koumiss, was made by the Mexicans from the sap of
the agave, and it has been claimed that if Hwui Shan was at-

THE FU-SANG TREE AND THE RED PEARS. 397

tempting to describe the agave, or century-plant, in the tree which
he calls fu-sang, he would have referred to this liquor that was
made from it. Bancroft 204 says that one of the most popular
Nahua beverages was that since known as pulque. This liquor,
called by the natives octli — pulque, or pulcre, being a South
American aboriginal term applied to it in some unaccountable
wray by the Spaniards — was the fermented juice of the maguey.
One plant is said to yield about one hundred pounds in a month.
A cavity is cut at the base of the larger leaves, and allowed to
fill with juice, which is removed to a vessel of earthenware or
of skin, where it ferments rapidly and is ready for use.

In another place 122 he states that their principal and national
drink is pulque, made from the Agave Americana, and is thus
prepared : When the plant is about to bloom, the heart, or stalk,
is cut out, leaving a hole in the center, which is covered with the
outer leaves. Every twenty-four hours, or, in the hotter climates,
twice a day, the cavity fills with the sap from the plant, which
is taken out and fermented by the addition of some already-
fermented pulque, and the process is continued until the plant
ceases to yield a further supply. The liquor obtained is at first
of a thick white colour, and is at all times very intoxicating.

Brasseur de Bourbourg also states that the colour of pulque is
whitish, like that of whey,714 and it is, therefore, evident that, in
its colour and general appearance, as well as in its fermentation
and its intoxicating quality, it closely resembles the koumiss, or
"lo," and no better term than this could be found for it in
Chinese.

That koumiss, or some other intoxicating liquor, was used
in Fu-sang, is indicated by that clause of the account in which
it is stated that the people of the country feasted and drank* at
the great assemblies which they held to pass judgment upon
criminals of a high rank.

The question instantly arises, however, " If this was the arti
cle to which Hwui Shan referred, why did he say that it was
made from milk ? " The answer to this query is, that the Mexi
cans applied the term milk to the sap of the century-plant, or
rather designated both articles by a common term, which was
originally the name of the sap.

Milk, in the Mexican or Aztec language, is called " memeyal-

* See character No. 182, in chapter xvi, p. 276.

.398 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

lotl." 1906 The last part, " yallotl," is elsewhere spelled " yollotl," 616
or " yullotli," 1903 and means the heart, the life, or, in case of a
plant, the sap, the juice. The syllable "me" is, as is the case in
the word Mexico, from metl, a century-plant, or agave ; and the
reduplicated form, meme, indicates the plural.1403 The whole word
therefore means " century-plants' sap."

Powers states that it 2061 is a singular fact that the Indians
generally have no word for " milk." They never see it, for they
never extract it from any animal, because that would seem to
them a kind of sacrilege or robbery of the young. Hence, an
Indian frequently sees this article for the first time among civil
ized people, and adopts the Spanish word for it.

The confusion existing in the Aztec language between the
name for milk (i. e., the natural food of young children) and the
sap of the century -plant is shown by the following quotation
from Bancroft : 302

" The children were given to Xolotl to bring up, and he fed
them on the juice of the maguey : literally, in the earliest copy
of the myth that I have seen, the milk of the thistle, i la leche de
cardo,' which term has been repeated blindly, and apparently
without any idea of its meaning, by the various writers that
have followed. The old authorities, however, and especially
Mendieta, from whom the legend is taken, were in the habit of
calling the maguey a thistle ; * and, indeed, the tremendous
prickles of the Mexican plant may lay good claim to the lNemo
me impune lacessit'* of the Scottish emblem."

Thomas, also, speaking of "pellets of milk? which were
burnt before a certain idol in Yucatan, says : 2446 " By the term
' milk,' as here used, is meant the milky juice of some plant."

The same confusion between sap and milk exists in other
American languages ; as, for instance, in the Chippeway (or Ojib-
beway), in which milk is called 1761 " the sap of the breast," 1762
and wine is called928 "grape-milk."

The Chinese also occasionally use the word milk in a figura
tive sense, as in the compounds " milk-gold," 2535 for liquid gold
used in painting ; " bamboo-milk," for tabasheer ; and " milky

* " Maguey is the thistle from which they extract honey," Mendieta, " Hist.
Ecles.," p. 110. " Metl is a tree or thistle which, in the language of the islands,
is called maguey," Motolinia, " Hist, de los Ind.," in Icazbalceta, " Col. de Doc.,"
tome i, p. 243.

THE FU-SAXG TREE AND THE RED PEARS. 399

perfume," for olibaimm or incense : but they probably do not
use it any more freely in this figurative sense than it is so em
ployed in English.

The foregoing explanations appear to remove all material
difficulties in Hwui Shan's account, as far as it is quoted in this
chapter, and the statements which are copied from other authors
prove that if he had gone to Mexico he would there have found
a country deriving its name from a remarkable plant, whose
first shoots were like those of the bamboo, and which were
edible ; that thread, clothing, and two varieties of cloth were
prepared from its fiber, and that paper was also made from it ;
and, finally, that a species of red pear was found in the land,
which it was the custom to preserve in such a manner that it
served as an article of food throughout the year. There is no
other country in the world as to which all of these statements are
true, and there therefore seems no escape from the conviction
that Hwui Shan either visited Mexico himself, or else derived
his information from some one who had been in that country.

This chapter will be concluded with an account of the charac
ters used by the Chinese in writing descriptions of Fu-sang, or
of the fu-sang tree, and with a reference to Chinese traditions
regarding the existence of a "tree" having the most striking
peculiarities of the century-plant ; traditions which may be
founded upon the verbal statements of Hwui Shan, which would
naturally be fuller and more complete than those embodied in
the official record.

The name FU-SANG is usually written in Chinese with the two
characters J£ ||, of which the first means "to assist, to sup
port, to defend " ; and the second indicates the mulberry. It is
probable that the characters are used only as phonetics, but there
is a possibility that their signification was borne in mind and
that the name was intended to mean "the useful mulberry," or
" the defensive mulberry " ; the term " mulberry " being applied
to the plant on account of the similarity between the uses made
of its fiber and those to which that of the paper-mulberry was
applied. As to the appropriateness of the term "useful," as
applied to the agave, there can be no question ; and if the first
character is considered to mean "defensive," or "defending,"
rather than " useful," this would also be appropriate, as it was,
and still is, a custom in Mexico to use the agaves as a defensive

£00 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

hedge ; 5U their strong and numerous spines rendering it impos
sible for animals, or men, to force their way through it.

In some cases the character ^j-Jj, which is also pronounced FU,
is used instead of the first of the two given on the last page.2527

In one instance the character $j|, su, is used instead of |j|, SANG.
This is in the phrase, j£[ ^ J£ jj|, SHAN YIU FU-SU, which Pro
fessor Williams translates, "the hills produce mulberries." The
first two characters mean, " the hills produce " (or " the island
produces "), and the term " mulberries " must therefore be his
translation of the last two characters. He adds the statement
that this ancient name FU-SU is probably the same as FU-SANG.
The last character, su, is composed of a " plant," and " to revive/*
and means, " to resuscitate, to revive as when wilted, or from
apparent death, to breathe again, to rise from the dead." The
compound FU-SU might therefore be translated, "the useful res
urrection-plant," or " the useful plant that rises again when ap
parently dead."

This definition might well be applied to the century-plant,
for it reproduces itself spontaneously.2221 It perishes after efflo
rescence,2372 but an infinity of shoots then spring from the decay
ing roots, and no plant multiplies with greater facility.549

The character gj, su, the phonetic of the word j$j£, su, men
tioned above, is, on account of its meaning, used for writing
the last syllable of the name JESUS (jE-su).1043

The character Jjj|, SANG, is sometimes decomposed into its two
parts, and written ^ /fc, JOH MUH, " the JOH tree," which Pro
fessor Williams describes 2534 as a " divine, self-existing tree,
which grows in Fu-sang," and it can be nothing else than another
term for the fu-sang tree.

We find in the Chinese dictionaries 2651 the character /fi[g, NIH
(composed of a tree and a large wine-far], which is described as " a
fabulous tree, said to be a thousand feet high ; it flowers once in
a millennium, and perfects its fruit in nine more." . This charac
ter, and the description, seem to have grown from some exag
geration of the peculiarities of the agave, which is a tree, or
plant which fills a large wine- jar with its sap ; which towers
above all £33 surrounding plants, and which, although it does not
require either a millennium to develop its blossoms (as the Chi
nese legend has it), or a century 2373 (as our own popular tradi
tions have it — hence the common name of "century-plant"),

THE FU-SANG TREE AND THE RED PEARS. 401

still does not blossom for quite a number of years — the exact time
of flowering varying with localities and climate.2373

Hepburn 1491 gives a word or phrase, which in Japanese is
pronounced Udonge, and in Chinese YIU-T'AN-HWA, the charac
ters meaning, " a great cloud of blossoms," which he defines as
the name of a fabulous flower, said to bloom but once in a thou
sand years. Here again a tradition seems to have been pre
served of some description that Hwui Shan gave of the century-
plant, for its flowering-stalk rises to the height of forty feet or
upward, and throws out branches on every side, like those of a
candelabrum, so as to form a kind of pyramid, each branch sup
porting a cluster of flowers, greenish-red 2313 (in some species) or
yellow 633 (in others). It is therefore evident that no plant better
deserves the appellation of " a great cloud of blossoms."

The Chinese call the prickly-pear 1488 JiJ] ^ ^, SIEN-JAN-CHANG,
"the palm of the fairy people's hand."2520 The first character,
which is translated " fairy," is composed of a man and a mountain,
or island, and hence may have originally meant the inhabitant of
some mountain, island, or region beyond the sea. Many of the
Chinese legends called fairy stories relate to such a region, and
it is just possible that they knew that the prickly-pear was a na
tive of such a trans-oceanic land.

In EitePs Chinese Dictionary 1279 1 very unexpectedly came
upon the following definition : " ^p, Fu, in the phrase, ^j| |j|,
FU-SANG : a divine tree found in the East (Japan) ; a tree
(Agave Chinensis) found in Corea."

It is evident that the location of the FU-SANG tree in Japan,
in the first part of the definition, is founded upon the opinion,
enunciated by Klaproth, that the country of FU-SANG must have
been situated in Japan. But how does Eitel come to describe
the term as being applicable to a species of agave ? The agaves
are all natives of America, and it does not seem possible that, if
they had ever been introduced into Corea, they could have sur
vived for any length of time in so cold a country. Professor
Gray informs me that botanists do not know of any plant or tree
called the Agave Chinensis, or Agave Sinensis, and that he has
every reason to believe that no species of agave exist in that coun
try. Mr. Yu Kill Clum, a gentleman connected with the Corean
embassy, who remained in this country after the other members
had returned home, was shown a picture of the agave, when he
26

402 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

said that no such plant was to be found in Corea, and also took
occasion to say that the statements of those who attempted to
locate FU-SANG in Corea or Japan were false.

I am, therefore, uncertain as to the authority which Mr. Eitel
had for saying that the term FU-SA^G was applied to a species of
agave growing in Corea ; but it is certainly strange that of all
the plants in the world he should have named the one described
by Hwui Shan.

CHAPTER XXII.

THE LANGUAGE OP FIT-SANG.

Peculiarities of the Chinese language — Difficulty of indicating pronunciation of for
eign words — Examples — Change in sound of Chinese characters — The pisang
or banana tree — Names of countries terminated with KWOH — The character
SANG — The character FU — The most distant countries at the four points of
the compass distinguished by names beginning with FU — Mexican dialects —
FU-SANG-KWOH and Me-shi-co — The title of the king — Montezuma's title — Ti
tle of the noblemen of the first rank — The Mexican Tecuhtli, or Teule — The
Petty TUI-LU — The NAH-TO-SHA, or Tlatoque — The title lower than that of
Tecuhtli — Its meaning — Transcription of foreign words by characters indi
cating both the meaning and the sound — TO-P'U-TA'OCS, or tomatoes — The
grape-vine — The tree of stone — A Mexican pun — Danger of being misled
by accidental or fancied resemblance.

Ix the preceding chapters the fu-sang tree has been identified
with the agave, and the country of Fu-sang with Mexico, and the
question will naturally arise, why the term " Fu-sang " should
have been used as the transcription or translation of the word
"Mexico."

Before attempting to answer this question, it will be neces
sary to examine some of the peculiarities of the Chinese lan
guage, and of the transliterations which it adopts for other for
eign proper names.

On this point the testimony is unanimous, that 783 it is as im
possible for the Chinese to render the correct pronunciation of
words of other languages by their hieroglyphs as it is to indi
cate the exact pronunciation of Chinese characters by European
spelling. One will find, in the different manuals for learning
the Chinese language, the most detailed directions for pronounc
ing Chinese characters. In Romanizing Chinese sounds, not only
all European letters and ciphers are laid under contribution, but,
besides this, the letters are marked with strokes, crotchets, ac-

4:04:

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

cents, etc. This is a vain trouble. No Chinese will understand
the words pronounced by Europeans according to these rules.

According to Crawf urd,1146 the articulation or pronunciation
of the Chinese is so imperfect, and so utterly unlike that of all
the rest of mankind, that it is only by mere accident that they
ever pronounce a foreign word rightly. Professor Williams says,
in reference to this subject : 2495 "If it is difficult for us to ex
press their [the Chinese] sounds by Roman letters, it is still
stranger for the Chinese to write English words. For instance,
' baptize,' in the Canton dialect, becomes pa-p'i-tai-sz? ; ( flannel '
becomes fat-lan-yin ; ' stairs ' becomes sz'-ta-sz / ' impregnable '
becomes im-pi-luk-na-pu-U, etc." So, also, in the transcription of
Sanskrit words, " Aurva " becomes Tu-liu ; 555 " Kakshivat," Kia-
/<;'«; 556"Udaye," Tau-to-i;551 and " Visv&mitra," Pi-she-po.™

Max Miiller remarks that 1961 " the Chinese alphabet was never
intended to represent the sound of words. With such a system
of writing it was possible to represent Chinese, but impossible
to convey either the sound or the meaning of any other lan
guage. Every Sanskrit word, as transcribed by the Chinese Bud
dhists, is a riddle which no ingenuity is able to solve. Who could
have guessed that Fo-to, or, more frequently, Fo, was meant
for ' Buddha ' ? Jfo-lo-keou-lo for ' Rahula/ the son of Buddha ?
Po-lo-ndl for ( Benares ' ? Tcha-li for ( Kshattriya ' ? Siu-to-lo
for < Sudra ' ? Fan, or Fan-lan-mo, for ' Brahma ' ? "

As instances of the difficulty of identifying foreign words
which the Chinese have attempted to reproduce in their charac
ters, the following are given, as specimens of a much longer list
which was prepared, but which it would be wearisome to insert
at length :

Foreign Word.

Chinese Transcription.

Foreign Word.

Chinese Transcription.

Russia

Ngo-lo-sz.2517
Tak-kat.1146
( Ha-la-ho-lin, usu-
1 ally abbreviated to
( Ho-lin.78T

Pu-su-man.785
Tan-too-loo.1003
Sz-me-li.2334

France

Fah-lan-si.2517
Bang-ka-sat.1146
Pa-le-kwan.1018
P'u-hua.1"3
Ki-sze-da-ni.777
Ha-she-ko-urh.1021
A-ko-lap.1003
Kak-tsze.1003
Che-la-t'o-po-mo.1622
Chi-li-ti-p'o.1621
Ngo-tche-li-ye.1694

Ta<ml

Macassar

Barkoul

Bokhara

Mussulman (writ
ten by Plano-
carpin " Bes-
sermin ")
Dentro

Constantinople . .
Kashffar .

Azora

Casa

Craddhavarma . .

Siberia

Atcharya

THE LANGUAGE OF FU-SANG. 405

The last three words are from the Sanskrit, and some imper
fections in the transliteration might be expected, from the fact
that the Sanskrit books from which the names were taken were
translated fourteen centuries ago, and that the powers of the
Chinese characters used to represent the syllables of these words
have changed in the mean time.1272

The other words in the table are, however, of comparatively
recent adoption, and show how imperfectly, even when they are
first chosen, the Chinese characters represent the sounds which
they are intended to transcribe. When to this original imperfec
tion is added that produced by the fact that, since the days of
Hwui Shan, the sounds attached to the characters have been in a
state of slow but constant flux,1269 it may be admitted that the
present sounds, FU-SANG, of the characters JJ* J| may be very far
from representing the pronunciation of the foreign word which
they were so long ago chosen to express.

As a further illustration of the changes produced in the
sound of the Chinese characters in the course of centuries, it may
be noticed that Sanskrit syllables, pronounced in all of the follow
ing ways, i. e., 9ya, ye, 9% yi, chya, yva, dja, djha, dha, dya,
dhya, and tcha,1618 were, some fourteen or fifteen centuries ago,
transcribed by Chinese characters all of which are now pronounced
CHE (the ch like the English sh}.

The foregoing statements illustrate the extreme difficulty of
attempting to decide with certainty as to the sounds which the
characters now pronounced FU-SANG were originally intended to
represent.

My own opinion is that, long before the Christian era, the
Chinese had obtained some imperfect knowledge of the Philippine
Islands, or some of the neighbouring islands, upon which the plan
tain, or banana (called in Malay 2459 the pisang*™), grew, and that
there were then numerous popular stories and traditions regard
ing this " Land of the Pisang" and of the wonderful pisang-tree
to be found upon it, far away to the east or southeast, and that
the characters Ife H, FU-SANG, the " useful mulberry," or f$j JJ£,
FU-SANG, the "supernatural mulbery," or ^J ||, FU-SANG, the
" distant mulberry-tree," were adopted as both describing the
tree and transcribing its name. My reasons for this opinion will
be given in a following chapter. For the present, I will merely
say that if, when Hwui Shan reached China, from a distant

406 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

eastern country, which derived its name from a wonderful plant
or tree growing in it, the fact was that the Chinese already had
a number of vague traditions regarding a land situated in the
east and taking its name from a remarkable tree, they would
be very likely to consider the two countries as identical ; and if
the characters which they had adopted for expressing the name
of this land, already vaguely known, could, by any possibility,
be considered as representing the sound of the name of the
country mentioned byHwui Shan, the likelihood that they would
consider the two regions as one and the same, and therefore
use for the name of the newly discovered land the characters
already applied to the other eastern country, would be much in
creased.

Absurd as it may appear at first sight, I think it very prob
able that the Chinese, having the characters FU-SANG, already
well known as the name of an eastern country, took these charac
ters, with the addition of |9, KWOH,2326 meaning country, and
used them to transcribe the name " Mexico " of the country that
had been visited by Hwui Shan.

It should first be mentioned that in Chinese the names of coun
tries are usually followed by this word KWOH, or, as it is some
times written, KWO, "kingdom."2408 MEI KWOH, ^| g (the
Fertile or Beautiful Country), is used as the name of the United
States of America,2326 and is unquestionably an attempt to trans
literate the word "America," the character KWOH representing
the final syllable "ca" of America. As the Chinese have no
characters which have the sound either of "a" or "ri," both
these syllables have been omitted.

Great Britain2335 is called ^ "±£ gl, TA-YING-KWOH (the Great
YING Land, or the Great Excellent Country). Here the fc TA,
" Great," is taken from the first word of the name Great Britain.
YING-KWOH represents " England," the syllable TING being in
tended for the "Eng " of England, and the last syllable, " land,"
being translated by KWOH.

The character [U, KWOH, country, being so near, both in sound
and meaning, to the terminal syllable " co " (meaning at, in, place,
or region) of "Mexico," it is of all the characters in the Chinese
language the one which would most likely be chosen to transcribe
that syllable.

Tkere is, therefore, no difficulty, so far as the final syllable is

THE LANGUAGE OF FU-SANG. 4QT

concerned, in believing that FU-SANG-KWOH may have been used
by the Chinese as the transcription of ME-XI-CO.

Now, as to the middle syllable : this, as we have already seen,
was pronounced by the Mexicans " shi." Can the character ||,
now pronounced SANG, have ever been used to represent this
sound ? In some dialects of the Chinese, the character has prob
ably been pronounced substantially as it now is, for two thousand
years or more ; but in other dialects the sound has, as probably,
been quite different. This character is now usually pronounced
so by the Japanese ; but Professor Williams (see Chapter XIV
of this book) says that the Japanese pronunciation of FU-SANG-
KWOH is FU-SHI-KOKU. Here the middle syllable is pronounced
exactly as the Mexicans enunciated the corresponding syllable
of the name of their country. His authority for this pronun
ciation is not stated, but there are other evidences that the
character was sometimes given nearly this sound.

It may be noted that the use of a character having a terminal
nasal is not always a proof that the transcribed syllable has such
a nasal. M. Julien says l619 that KIANG-LANG was written for the
Sanskrit Mia, and T'OUNG-LOUNG-MO for the Sanskrit drouma.
In this last word, the letters NG must be dropped, leaving T'OU-
LOU-MO, which was as near as the Chinese seemed able to come
to drouma. So, too, we find 2327 MAN-LAH-KIA written for Ma
lacca, and MENG-KIA-SAH for Macassar.

It has already been stated * that, when referring to the fu-
sang tree, the character H is sometimes decomposed into its two
parts and 2534 written *x ?fc, " the JOH tree." The first part is
the "phonetic" of the character |J|, and is supposed to give to
it" its sound. It is seen, however, that, when written separately,
the character is pronounced JOH (j given the French pronuncia
tion, like zn), and not SANG. Attention was also called, in the
same connection, to the fact that a character pronounced su is
sometimes substituted for SANG.

The Sanskrit word sramana, applied to a Buddhist priest, is
not only written in Chinese with characters pronounced SHA-MAN,
but also H P'J, SANG-MAN,2559 and || P*j, sni-MAN.2169 Here the
character g|, SANG, is used as the equivalent of other characters
pronounced SHA and SHI.

* See page 400.

408 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

In view of the illustrations already given of the imperfection
with which Chinese characters frequently represent the sounds
which they are intended to transcribe, is it beyond the bounds
of possibility that the character usually pronounced SANG, but
fluctuating in sound at different times or in different dialects
toward so, su, SHI, SHA or ZHOH, may have been considered by
the Chinese as a sufficiently good representative of the xi (or
SHI) of Me-xi-co ?

As to the first syllable, M. de Paravey claims that, as a coun
try in the extreme north was known as FU-YU (j£ fj;),2317 one in
the extreme south as FU-NAN (j^ ]fj),2319 and one in the extreme
west as FU-LIN (fjjj} |^),2320 the Chinese adopted this fourth ru,
in FU-SANG, as being properly expressive of a country at the ex
treme east.

In the Chinese SAN-FUH-TSi,2331 a term applied to a kingdom
in the island of Sumatra, and which is probably intended to rep
resent the same name for which we have adopted the word
" Sumatra," the Chinese character run seems to be equivalent to
our syllable " ma." M. Julien finds the character ^, ru, written
for the Sanskrit IM in Subhuti, and for 16 in Bodhisattva.1628
He also finds other characters, now pronounced ru, written ioipa
in Vachpa,1629 and for ve in Vetala,1627 as well as for pu and pti.

It is therefore evident that, of the characters now pronounced
FU-SANG-KWOH, the first may have been intended to represent any
of the sounds FU, FU, PU, PU, BO, BHU, PA, or VE ; the second to
represent SANG, so, su, SHI, SHA, or ZHOH ; and the third to rep
resent KWOH, KWO, or co.

Now, let it be borne in mind that there have undoubtedly
been some changes in the sound of Mexican words during the
last fourteen centuries ; that different dialects varied in their
pronunciation ; and that one language is mentioned by Busch-
mann as closely connected with the Mexican, which substituted
v for the Mexican M, and which would therefore pronounce
" Me-shi-co " as " Ye-shi-co."

With this allowance, is it impossible that the characters now
pronounced FU-SANG-KWOH, and which at one time, or in some
particular dialect, may have been pronounced PA-SHA-CO or VE-
SHI-CO, may have been taken as the representatives of the Aztec
word " Me-shi-co," or of a possible variant " Ve-shi-co " ?

All this is not given as absolutely proving that the term Fu-

THE LANGUAGE OF FU-SANG. 409

SANG-KWOH was used for " Mexico," but merely as indicating that
the connection is not as distant as it appears at first sight, and
that any argument drawn from the apparent dissimilarity of the
words can have but little weight.

My own opinion is, as already stated, that when Hwui Shan
related his adventures to the Chinese, and told that this distant
eastern land derived its name of " Me-shi-co " from a remarkable
" tree " growing there, they immediately inferred that the coun
try was the same of which they had before heard as FU-SANG-
K\VOH ; believing that the possible sounds of these characters
were near enough to those of the name of the country visited by
him to make it probable (when other circumstances were taken
into consideration) that the country was the same.

Having thus referred to the subject of language, let us now
consider that portion of Hwui Shan's story in which he gives a
number of the words of the language used in the country which
he visited.

IV. THE TITLE OF THE KING OF THE COUNTRY IS " THE

CHIEF OF THE MULTITUDES." THE NOBLEMEN OF THE FIRST
RANK ARE CALLED " TUI-LU " ; THOSE OF THE SECOND RANK, " PET
TY TUI-LU " J AND THOSE OF THE THIRD RANK, " NAH TO-SHA."

The first clause is translated by others, " The king is called
' noble Y-chi? < Y-Jchi? < Yit-khi,' ' I-chi? < I-ki? < Y-U? or
* Yueh-ki ' "/ and if it were not for the translation by de Rosny
of the Japanese form of the story, in which he says, "They
give to their king the name of Kiki-zin, that is to say, * the most
honourable man? " I should have felt more hesitation about ren
dering the title as " Chief of the Multitudes." It appears to me
that the two characters should have been reversed, so as to read,
" K'I-YIH," instead of " YIH-K'I," if this were the meaning ; but a
number of educated Chinamen, whom I have consulted on the
subject, all concur in the statements that the characters as they
stand mean " the chief of the multitudes," and can have no other
meaning, and that, while they are not quite sure whether the
characters should be translated or transliterated, they are of the
opinion that it was not the intention to use them merely as
phonetics, and they therefore think that they should be trans
lated as above. Moreover, the meanings of the characters,
taken separately, are so exactly those of the words of which the
title of the Mexican ruler was composed, that I can not doubt

410 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

that the characters were intended by Hwui Shan as its transla
tion. The first character, YIH, £,, means, " one, bent, the first "
(Williams's Dictionary, p. 1096), and the second, K'I, jjj|J, "full,
abundant, very, large, numerous, multitudes, a crowd of people "
(Williams's Dictionary, p. 345). Medhurst 187° also gives the mean
ing " great." This character is composed of a city, or region,
and to worship, and was probably first adopted as a representa
tion of the assembly of the people, when they gathered, once a
year, to witness the public worship of the Supreme God by the
emperor. Hence its first meaning would be, "the people, the
multitude," from which the meanings " numerous," " abundant,"
" full," " large," and " great " would subsequently be evolved.
In Hwui Shan's time the word may have been in the first stage,
and have meant distinctively " the people."

The title of the Mexican emperor is seldom mentioned by
historians, and is in fact so rarely referred to, that some authori
ties even state that the Mexican language has no word for em
peror.506 Nevertheless there are occasional references to Monte-
zurna's title, which is given as " Chief of Men," 607 " Tlaca-tecuh-
tli." 524 This title is composed of " tlaca-tl," a man, or, in the
plural, men or people, and " tecuhtli," the title which will be next
considered, and which is equivalent to " lord " or " chief." The
compound therefore means " Lord of Men " or " Chief of the
People."

Sebastian Ramerez de Fuenleal, Bishop of San Domingo, in
a letter to the Spanish empress,2138 dated Mexico, November 3,
1532, said : " Montezuma bore the title of Tecatecle Tetuan Intla-
catl9 and this is the title which they also give to your majesties ;
its meaning being ' Wise and Powerful Lord.5 " The good bishop
evidently knew but little of the Mexican language. The first
word is a compound of " teca," meaning nation, tribe, or people,*
and " tecle," which is one of the numerous variations 1878 of the
title given in the last paragraph as " Tecuhtli," meaning lord 1198
or chief. No such word as tetuan is found in the Aztec diction
aries, but teuan is defined as " our," and this is probably the
word meant. " Intlacatl " is a compound of " in," nearly equiv
alent to the English " the," and " tlacatl," " man or people." Here
the meaning is substantially the same as that of the title given

* The names of most of the Mexican tribes end in " tcca," or its abbreviation,
" tec," as, for instance, the " Az-tecas " or Aztecs, the " Tol-tecas " or Toltecs.

THE LANGUAGE OF FU-SANG. 411

in the last paragraph, " chief " and " people " being found in both,
the whole meaning literally, " the Nation's Lord of our People."

Let us now examine the statement of Hwui Shan, that the
noblemen of the first rank are called TUI-LU, §Jj|. The first
character is not used in transcribing Sanskrit words, but it does
not seem to have been subject to much, if any, fluctuation in
sound. The second character is used to represent the Sanskrit
syllables Id, r6, ru, lu, rti, and Iri, I631 and when written with a
small square (or "mouth") at the left — which does not affect its
sound— for Iri, r<?,1630 ru, and rtf.1638

Was there any such title as this in existence among the Mexi
cans ? Bancroft says : 166 " There were several military orders
and titles, which were bestowed upon distinguished soldiers for
services in the field or the council. There was one, the member
ship of which was confined to the nobility ; this was the cele
brated and knightly order of the Tecuhtli. To obtain this rank
it was necessary to be of noble birth, to have given proof in sev
eral battles of the utmost courage, to have arrived at a certain
age, and to have sufficient wealth to support the enormous ex
penses incurred by members of the order."

In another place 168 he states that the rank of Tecuhtli was the
highest honour that a prince or soldier could acquire.

Molina1919 and Biondelli613 spell the word " Tecutli"— the
first defining it " a cavalier or chief," and the second, " a warrior,
a prince, a chief. " Morgan gives the form " Teuchtli. " 194° Ol-
mos,1982 Buschmann, 89° and Clavigero 1072 use the form " Teuctli."
Bancroft also uses it in the compound Mictlan-teuctli, Lord of
Hades.803 Olmos 1991 explains this change of spelling or pronun
ciation by saying that sometimes, when u follows after c, the it
is made liquid, and, although it is not lost in the written word, it
seems to be lost in the pronunciation, or at least is but slightly
sounded, and the c remains in the pronunciation with the pre
ceding vowel. As to the rank of these noblemen, Clavigero says
that the Teuctli took precedency of all others in the senate as
well in sitting as in voting ; 1073 and Buschmann says 905 that
Tecutli, or Teuctli, is the Mexican word for what we are accus
tomed to call a cazique, prince, chief, chieftain, a lord in general,
or a high noble. In the name of OmetochtU, one of the numerous
Nahua gods of wine,204 the part " tochtli," which by itself means
rabbit, is evidently a variant of this title.

412 AN" INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

The name of the general in command of the army first met
by Cortez is given as Teutile,2341 Teuhtlile, 453 or Teudile.2118
Here again we have the same title, which, as in other cases, took
the place of the name. 506 If proof is needed, it is found in the
fact that the name of his companion or lieutenant is given as
Pilpatoe, 2341 which is evidently a title also : from Pitti, noble/17
and Patio, precious. In a letter written by Nicholas DeWitt, in
1554, " Pipiltic " is named as one of the titles given to noble
men.2439 The form " Tecle " has already been mentioned, and this
is stated to be an older form than the preceding.528 Zurita gives
the form " Teutley," 504 and Arenas, Teuhtli.65 Gallatin gives the
name of the god, before referred to, as Hometewfa',1408 and de
Zumarraga 2601 and the auditor Salmeron 2223 and his colleagues
use the form " Teule." It will be seen that these various forms
differ as much between themselves as Hwui Shan's form TUI-LU
differs from any of them ; and it seems beyond all reasonable
doubt that he intended to transcribe the title given above.

In the notes of M. the Marquis d'Hervey de Saint-Denys,
reproduced in Chapter XII of the present work, he states that one
of the Chinese texts gives this title as " Great Tui-lu " instead of
merely " Tui-lu." The use of a word meaning " great " or
" noble," in connection with a title expressing elevated rank, is
common in all countries. As to its use in Mexico, Solis mentions
that,2354 when approaching Montezuma, his subjects entered into
his presence barefooted, and made three reverences without rais
ing their eyes from the earth — saying at the first, " lord ! " at the
second, " my lord ! " and at the third, " great lord ! "

The Chinese account continues that the noblemen of the
second rank were called "Petty TUI-LU."

I have not found any case in which a word meaning " petty "
is attached to the title Teuctli. I find in Molina, however,1921 the
forms Tlatoca-tepito, a petty ruler or king, and Tlatoca-tontli,
a petty king or lord. In these compounds Tlatoca is the title
next referred to, tepito means " little, small," 192° and tontll in
dicates diminution,1984 littleness, depreciation, or humiliation.1985
It is therefore evident that the Mexicans were accustomed to
divide at least one of their ranks of nobility into two classes, the
less powerful being indicated by attaching to the title a word
meaning " little " or " petty."

Hwui Shan says that the nobles of the third rank are called

THE LANGUAGE OF FU-SANG. 413

NAH-TO-SHA. This is the Mexican title referred to in the last
paragraph, which takes the forms Tlatocayo,1922 Tlatoani,906 or, in
the plural, Tlatoque.1923

As to the use of NAH for the syllable " Tla " : it should be re
membered that the Chinese language has no word in which one
consonant is followed by another without the interposition of a
vowel, and it is therefore absolutely powerless to express such a
sound as " Tla." La would seem the most likely form to use for
it ; but I and n are so regularly interchanged with each other, in
the various Chinese dialects, that it is not strange that in this
case, as in many others, na should be used for la. In Med-
hurst's Dictionary,1873 a large number of words will be found
written with an initial I and pronounced with ??, or written with
n and pronounced with I. In " Smith's Vocabulary of Proper
Names" we are told, under the heading Lui,2330 "For words
commencing with this character, see NUI, the more correct
word."

In transcribing Sanskrit words, characters pronounced NA,
NIB, and NO are used to represent the Sanskrit syllable da (with
the cerebral d) and also the syllable da (with the dental c?).1620

Bancroft says, in relation to the title : 317 " The nobles of
Mexico, and of the other Nahua nations, were divided into
several classes, each having its own peculiar privileges and
badges of rank. The distinctions that existed between the vari
ous grades and their titles are not, however, clearly denned.
The title of Tlatoani was the highest and most respected ; it
signified an absolute and sovereign power, an hereditary and
divine right to govern. The kings and the great feudatory lords,
who were governors of provinces, and could prove their princely
descent and the ancient independence of their families, belonged
to this order."

Although Bancroft seems to be uncertain as to the exact na
ture of the distinction between various ranks, there is no ques
tion that this title, Tlatoani, Tlatoca, or Tlatocayo, was a lower
title than that of Teuctli.

Buschmann says in regard to it : £06 " Tlatoani is the parti
ciple, present, active, of itoa, or tlatoa, to speak.* It expresses,

* Tlatoa is derived from itoa, " to speak," with the prefix tla, a species of
pronoun, meaning " it " or " something." It therefore means, " to speak something
of importance — something to which attention should be paid," i. e., " to command."

414: Atf INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

« /

first, in reality, ' speaker ' ; second, however, and chiefly, ' great
lord, nobleman, governor, prince, cazique.' 3:

The word is really equivalent to the English title " Command
er." The fundamental radical of the word is the syllable to (from
itoa, to speak), and this syllable is represented in Chinese by the
character Pj|}, TO, also meaning to speak. There are a great num
ber of other Chinese characters pronounced TO, but this particu
lar one was chosen because of its coincidence in meaning as well
as in sound with the syllable which it was to represent.

This is in accordance with the usual custom of the Chinese,
who, in transcribing foreign words, often seek for meanings,
allusions, fortuitous coincidences, and plays of words.1344 Thus,
for the word "opium," they use characters pronounced YA-
PIEN 2406 (which is as near as they can come to the sound of the
word), and meaning " black flakes." For the name of the Ganges
(or Gunga) they use the characters HANG-no,2321 which, like the
original word, mean " the ceaseless river." So they transcribe
the word " Turk " 93T with the characters T'IU-KIUE, meaning
" insolent dogs."

The last syllable of the words Tlatoca, Tlatocayo, or Tlatoque
is represented by a character pronounced SHA, the sounds K and
SH being in this case, as in many others, interchanged.

Another phrase is used by Hwui Shan in which I think that
I detect an attempt to transcribe a Mexican word. This is the
statement that —

V. — They have TO-P'TJ-T'AO-CS in THAT PLACE.

The characters TO-P'U-T'AO I think to be intended for the
Mexican word1924 which we have adopted as the name of the
tomato.

The translators have had much difficulty with this phrase,
rendering it : " They have the iris and peaches in abundance " ;
" There are also many vines " ; " In addition there are many
apples and reeds, mats being made from the last " ; " There are
many grapes " ; and " Water-rushes and peaches are common."

The exact meaning of the characters, TO-P'TJ-T'AO is "numer
ous reed-peaches," or "many reeds and peaches."

A compound,1471 pronounced P'U-T'AO, is used as the name of
the grape-vine by the Chinese,2570 but it is written with different

The suffix nij or cayo, turns the verb into a noun, precisely as our suffix " er "
turns " command " into " commander."

THE LANGUAGE OF FU-SANG. 415

characters from those used in the text. Klaproth claims that the
name was formerly written with the characters given in this
place, but I have not been able to find any other authority for
the statement. Beal seems to think that the P'U-T'AO may have
been the sugar-cane.567

Reeds or rushes are found in great numbers along the water
courses of Mexico, and Tulan, the capital of the Toltecs, took its
name from the "tules," or reeds, in its neighbourhood. This
Aztec word has passed into the English language, and the reeds
growing in the marshy lands of California are now universally
called "tules." The Mexicans wove the mats of which their
beds were made from these reeds, or tules.722

The term " reed-peach " would have been particularly appli
cable to the tomato, as the straggling vine upon which it grows is
somewhat analogous to a reed, and different compounds of the
word "peach," with a modifying adjective, are, in Chinese, used
to designate various soft, round fruits that are destitute of a
kernel or stone. Thus the " fairy peach " is a poetical name for
a fig,2672 the " divine peach " is a variety of orange, the " fragrant
peach " is the lemon, and the " flossy blossoming peach " is the
flower-bud of cotton.

Bancroft refers 202 to the use made of the tomato by the Mexi
cans, and, in fact, even at the present day there are few of the
characteristic dishes of the country of which it does not form a
part.

If the compound is decided to mean " grapes " or " grape
vines," it is equally true that they were found in the country.
The fact that they were found in " Vinland," or New England,
does not prove that they existed in Mexico, some four thousand
miles distant. After finding, however, that grapes were indige
nous1606 to California,2457 Texas,1970 Arizona,691 New Mexico,2479 24SO 243S
and Sonora,534 and at Parras, in the state of Durango, Mexico,548 1
finally found several references to their existence throughout the
land of Mexico, although it is evident that the fruit was not
esteemed, and that little use was made of it.

Prescott refers incidentally to the grape-vines in Mexico.2073
Acosta says : *' In New Spain there are some vines which bear
grapes, although no wine is made from them." 12 Diaz states that,
1199 " in the middle of August, in the year 1519, we left Sempoalla.
We came the first day to Xalapa and then to Socochina, a well-

416 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

kept place of difficult accessibility, where there are a multitude
of arbours of the grape-vines of this country." To this statement
the translator adds the following note :

"The grape-vine was certainly brought from Europe to
the West Indies, yet it can not be doubted that the Spaniards
had before found it growing wild in America." Oviedo, whose
work, so far as it relates to the historical portion of natural his
tory, is of great value, says, explicitly : " These wild vines bear
good, black grapes. I say good, for, considering that they are a
wild growth, they well deserve that appellation. They are found
throughout the whole West Indies, and I believe that all the
vines now remaining there have descended from this wild stock."

Finally, Clavigero gives the following account regarding
them : 1055

" Grapes are not entirely lacking in this country. The places
called Parras and Parral, in the diocese of New Biscay, were so
named from the abundance of vines which were found there, of
which many vineyards were made, which, to this day, yield good
wine. In Mixteca there are two species of wild vine, native to
that country : the one, in its shoots and in the figure of its leaves,
resembles the common vine, and bears red grapes, which are large
and covered by a hard skin, but which are of a sweet and agree
able taste, which would surely be improved by cultivation ; the
grapes of the other vine are hard, large, and of a sour flavour,
but they make a very good preserve."

The Chinese account may possibly refer to grapes, but I can
not help thinking that " tomatoes " is the true rendering.

In Chapter XY attention was called to the fact that the Chi
nese have a legend of a tree of stone, called " the agate gem," "the
green-jade-stone tree," or " the coral tree." This may possibly
be founded upon Hwui Shan's account of the gems, which were
most highly prized by the Mexicans, and which they called Chal-
chiuitl,m* or Chalchihuitl.m These were green or bluish-green
stones, resembling amethysts,544 emeralds,2358 or turquoises,5.85 and
probably very similar to the green -jade stone so highly prized in
China. These were considered as valuable by the Mexicans as
diamonds are by us,2388 and when Montezuma wished to send to
the ruler of Spain the most royal present which it was possible
for him to give, he sent his general to Cortez with four of these
stones, which were handed over with great solemnity as jewels

THE LANGUAGE OF FU-SANG. 417

of inestimable value,2343 and with the statement that he could
not consent to part with them except to give them to so power
ful a monarch as the one to whom Cortez yielded obedience must
be. Each stone was declared to be worth a load of gold 455 (i. e.,
the weight that a man could carry — some sixty pounds), or,
according to some authorities, two loads.1932 Chalchihuitl was
one of the titles bestowed upon Quetzalcoatl, and it was the name
given to Cortez,738 by the Mexicans, who knew of no title that
they could give him which would more fully express their sense
of his superiority.

This word is evidently composed of xalli (pronounced shalli,
and, after dropping the terminal li, scarcely distinguishable from
chal), meaning sand or a sandy stone,1927 and xihuitl, a turquoise ;
the compound meaning " the stone turquoise." It has already
been explained, however, that xihuitl also means a plant. Hence
Hwui Shan may have supposed the meaning of the appellation
td be " the stony plant," and the Chinese legends may have
grown from the accounts, carried to China by Hwui Shan, of
the Mexican Chalchihuitl.

It should be said, in concluding this philological portion of
the subject, that, if it stood by itself, but little confidence could
be placed in it. So many instances have occurred in which
careful students have been misled by accidental or fancied re
semblances between words radically distinct, that great caution
is necessary in pursuing the subject.

Nevertheless, when taken in connection with the other proofs,
given and to be given, of the truth of Hwui Shan's statements,
these philological coincidences seem to add to their number.

If the Mexican language did not contain titles corresponding
with the words found in the Chinese text, that circumstance
would be a valid argument against the truth of the story. The
words exist, however, and have been shown.

Let any who may think the resemblance accidental or fancied,
or to be the result of mere ingenuity, attempt to discover another
language in the world in the words of which, denoting degrees
of rank, any such resemblance to the titles named by Hwui Shan

can be found.
27

CHAPTER XXIII.

THE PECULIARITIES OF THE COUNTRY.

The construction of the dwellings — Adobe walls — The " Casas Grandes " — Houses
of planks — Lack of armour — Absence of fortifications — Literary characters —
The pomp which surrounded the Aztec monarch — Musical instruments — The
evanescence of Montezuma's pomp — Rulers accompanied by musical instru
ments — Tangaxoan — The king of Guatemala — The king of Quiche1 — Homage
to the Spaniards and to the Spanish priests — The long cattle-horns — The
Chinese measure called a HUH — Animals of the New World erroneously des
ignated by the names of those of the Old World — Bisons — Their range — An
extinct species — Its gigantic horns — The horns of the Rocky Mountain sheep —
Use of horns by the Indians — Herds of tame deer — The lack of iron — The use
of copper — Gold and silver not valued — Their markets — Barter — Customs at
tending courtship — Sprinkling and sweeping the ground as an act of homage
— The customs of the Apaches — The fastened horse — The Coco-Maricopas —
Serenades — Huts built in front of those of the parents — The length of the
" year " — The punishment of criminals of high rank — The sweat-house, or
estufa — Indian councils — Severe punishment of men of distinction — Custom
in Darien — Punishment witnessed by Cortez — Smothering in ashes.

THE next statement to be examined relates to the method of
building their dwellings :

VI. — IN CONSTRUCTING their HOUSES they use PLANKS, such

are generally used when building adobe walls.

This passage has been jcariously translated : " The boards
V which are made from the fu-sang tree are employed in the con
struction of their houses," and "Their houses are made of
planks," or " wooden planks " or " beams." It is to be noted
that it does not say that the planks are made from the fu-sang
tree, and also that the character used for the word " planks " is
not the ordinary character |g, PAN, composed of " wood," or " a
tree," and the phonetic PAN, but is JgjJ, PAN, composed of this
last-named phonetic and the radical meaning " a slice," " a piece."
This character is not only used with the meaning " board " or

THE PECULIARITIES OF THE COUNTRY. 419

" plank," but is employed specifically as the name of the small
boards or pieces of planks which are used when constructing
adobe or mud walls ; and it appears to have this meaning in our
text. In China, according to Professor Williams, durable walls
are made by pounding a compound of sifted gravel and lime,
mixed with water, into a solid mass, between planks secured at
the sides, and elevated as the wall rises.2499 Medhurst says that
the Chinese in Hok-keen generally build their walls of mud,
which is pounded and beaten between two boards fastened
together.

As to the dwellings of the Mexicans : we are told that they
varied with climate and locality, and that in treeless parts they
were constructed of adobe or sun-dried bricks and stones.121
Zamacois says that 2588 the houses of the wealthier classes were
of adobe, but were well whitened, and the habitations of the
greater part of the people were of clay hardened in the sun, and
of earth.2588 The celebrated ruins in New Mexico, known as the
" Casas Grandes," are of adobe^ that is, the ordinary mud of the
locality mixed with gravel.395 It is specially stated, however,
that, according to appearances, the walls of these buildings were
built in boxes (moulds) of different sizes.394 Bancroft adds
that 396 the material, instead of being formed into small rectan
gular or brick-shaped blocks, as is customary in all Spanish-
American countries to this day, seems in this aboriginal struct
ure to have been moulded — perhaps by means of wooden boxes
— and dried where it was to remain in the walls.

Bartlett states that,"5 of the " Casas Grandes," near the Gila
River, the exterior walls, as well as the division walls of the in
terior, are laid with large square blocks of mud, prepared for
the purpose by pressing the material into large boxes about two
feet in height and four feet long. When the mud became suf
ficiently hardened, the case was moved along and again filled, and
so on until the whole edifice was completed ; and, referring af
terward to the " Casas Grandes," in Chihuahua, Mexico, he says
that M6 they are built with large blocks of mud, or what the Mexi
cans call tapia, about twenty-two inches in thickness and three
feet or more in length. In fact, the length of these blocks
seems to vary, and their precise dimensions can not be traced,
which leads to the belief that some kind of a case or box was
used, into which the mud was placed, and that, as it dried, these

420 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

cases were moved along. It is true they may have been first
made in moulds or cases, and, after being dried, placed on the
-walls ; but the irregularity and want of uniformity in the length
of these layers indicate that they were made on the walls them
selves.

If it be considered that Hwui Shan intended to say that the
houses were constructed of wooden planks, instead of by means
of these movable boards, there is just a possibility (but it can
not be called a probability) that such houses may at one time
have been built. Ixtlilxochitl tells us, in his second " Relation,"
that at Tollantzinco " they [the Toltecs] constructed of planks
a house large enough to accommodate the entire nation." 6i2

Other writers have referred to the planks made by the na
tives of Oregon and Washington Territory,1840 for the construc
tion of their dwellings ; but this region is too far removed from
Mexico to make it probable that the two places would be re
ferred to in the same account, as if they were only one coun
try.

VII. — THEY HAVE NO CITADELS OB WALLED CITIES, . . . THEY

HAVE NO MILITARY WEAPONS OR ARMOUR, AND THEY DO NOT WAGE
WAR IN THAT KINGDOM.

This duplication of a statement which was made in regard to
Great Han, indicates that the explorer was questioned by the
representative of the Chinese government as to the military
qualities of the nations which he had visited.

Dupaix says of the ruins of Central America : " The truth is
that there can not be found in any quarter the least trace of an
inclosure, of an adjoining defense of any kind, or even of exte
rior fortifications." m5

When Mexico was first visited by the Spaniards, the natives
wore an armour of quilted cotton, very similar to the quilted
dress worn by the Tartars for the same purpose. The resem
blance is such that it seems not unreasonable to suppose that it
may have been introduced by the party of Buddhist priests as a
means of protecting their disciples from the arrows of their ene
mies.

While the Aztecs were a ferocious and warlike people, it is
well known that their predecessors, the Toltecs, were milder and
gentler, and were not addicted to war. Landa and Herrera re
port that the nations of Yucatan learned the art of war from the

THE PECULIARITIES OF THE COUNTRY. 421

Mexicans, having been an altogether peaceful people before the
Nahua influence was brought to bear on them.275

It may be, however, that Hwui Shan reported what he
thought to be the change in the customs of the inhabitants of
the land which he had visited, brought about through their con
version to the doctrines of Buddha by means of the preaching of
the five Buddhist missionaries, rather than their character as it
was during the days when they were " ignorant."

VIII. — THEY HAVE LITERAEY CHARACTERS.

The picture - writing of the Mexicans is so well known as
to require but few references. Bancroft states that it467 reveals
the jj»hpjiejic_ej^raent_so developed as to endow the Mexicans
with that high proof of culture, written records, applied not only \y
to historic incidents and common facts, but to abstract subjects
of philosophic, scientific, and poetic nature. He also says of the
Palenque inscriptions that they have all the characteristics of a
written language in a state of development analogous to the
Chinese with its word- writing ; and, like it, they appear to have
been read in columns from top to bottom.281

Sahagun says that their holy chants were written in their
books,2196 and Dr. Brinton claims that no nation ever reduced
pictography more to a system.841 It was in constant use in the
daily transactions of life. In these records we discern some
thing higher than a mere symbolic notation. They contain the N
germ of a phonetic alphabet, and represent sounds of spoken
language. The symbol is often not connected with the idea, but
with the word.

M. Leon de Rosny goes still further in the following state
ment, but does not mention the grounds upon which his opinion
is based : " I am much inclined to believe that writing, properly
so called, was known to the Mexicans at one time, probably
during the times when the Toltec empire flourished ; but I also
believe that this system of writing was absolutely distinct from
that of the didactic paintings which were in vogue during the
century of the last of the Montezumas."2153

IX. THE KING -OF THE COUNTRY, WHEN HE WALKS abroad, IS

PRECEDED AND FOLLOWED WITH DRUMS AND HORNS.

It is well known that 158 the jx)mp and circumstance which
surrounded the Aztec monarchs, and the magnificence of their
every-day life, was most impressive.

422 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

Cortez exclaims :1105 " So many and various were the ceremo
nies and customs observed by those in the service of Muteczuma,
that more space than I can spare would be required for the de
tails, as well as a clearer memory, for their recollection, than I
possess, since no sultan or other infidel lord, of whom any knowl
edge now exists, ever had so much ceremonial in his court."

The kings did not often appear among their people, the rule

being that they should not show themselves in public except in

urgent cases (see " Duran," chap, xxvi, p. 214). m Whenever

they did appear abroad, however, it was with a parade that cor-

I responded with their other observances.164 Prescott states that,

V when Montezuma went abroad, it was in state, on some public

occasion, usually to the great temple, to take part in the religious

services ; and, as he passed along, he exacted from his people

the homage of an adulation worthy of an Oriental despot.2076

Bancroft says that ths Mexicans had instruments of music,
consisting of drums, horns, and large sea-shells ; *" and in another
place 183 mentions drums, flutes, trumpets, and sharp whistles as
their musical instruments.

It should be remembered that the Spanish conquerors had
but slight opportunity for beholding the pomp with which Mon
tezuma had been surrounded in his daily life. His power and
vainglory vanished before them like mist before the rising sun.
They had but time to catch a glimpse of it, and it was gone
forever. When he came forth to meet Cortez, it was under cir
cumstances so new and strange, that it is not surprising that
some of the ceremonies usually observed when he ventured
abroad should have been dispensed with. His power had been
openly defied. These mysterious beings of another race, clad
in armour which could not be pierced by the weapons of the
Mexicans, mounted upon strange animals of a strength, speed,
and docility of which they had before had no conception, and
who breathed forth thunder and lightning, with which it was in
their power to slay all those in their sight at their pleasure ;
these creatures, who in some respects resembled men, but who
had many of the attributes of the gods, came fearlessly to his
capital city, regardless of his command to the contrary. This
was no time for music or for public rejoicing, and, therefore,
Montezuma was borne along in silence.

That it was customary, however, for the rulers of Mexico to

THE PECULIARITIES OF THE COUNTRY. 423

be accompanied by the music of drums and trumpets, when they
appeared in public, is shown by the following quotations : When
the natives of the surrounding region came to assist Cortez
rebuild the city of Mexico after its conquest, " each chief of a
city or village arrived at the head of his men accompanied by
the sound of instruments" ™8 Tangaxoan, king of Michoacan,
set forth to visit Cortez, and pay him tribute, " preceded by the
music of his palace, and accompanied by a brilliant court." 745
" The king of Guatemala came forth from his palace to meet the
Spaniards, carried by his servitors upon a species of magnificent
litter, and surrounded by a cortege of noblemen and of musi
cians." 926 When Tecum Uman, king of Quiche, left the capital,
he was borne in his litter on the shoulders of the principal men
of his kingdom, and preceded by the music of flutes, cornets, and
drums.658

These signs of rejoicing, these acts of adulation, were almost
immediately exhibited before the conquering Spaniards. At
their entrance into the city of Tlascala, victorious shouts and
acclamations resounded upon all sides, and still greater confusion
was caused by the fact that they were mixed with the clamour
of the people and the dissonant music of their flutes, kettle
drums, and trumpets.2344 Their entry into Cholula was similar
to that at Tlascala ; the streets were filled with an immense con
course of people, through which they could only with difficulty
force their way ; tumultuous acclamations resounded upon all
sides ; women distributed bouquets of flowers, and scattered
them before them. Caciques and priests did reverence to them,
and smoked incense before them, and numbers of instruments
were played which made more noise than music.2346 So, too, at
the entry into Gualipar, "kettle-drums, flutes, and shells were
distributed in different bands, which alternated with and suc
ceeded each other, making a noisy and agreeable welcome." 2359
Zamacois says that when Xicotencatl came to meet Cortez, "a
numerous band of musicians, whose instruments consisted of
drums, trumpets, and sea-shells, with which they produced a hor
rible noise, was seen in the first files of the troops." 2591 Cortez
himself refers to the subject in the following words : " The next
morning the people of Cholula came forth to receive me on the
road, with many trumpets and kettle-drums." 1099

Cortez was not the only one to whom this sign of homage and

424 AX INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

welcome was rendered. When the Spaniards invaded Nicara
gua, the natives, on several occasions, met the Spaniards in a
procession of men and women, gayly decked in all their finery,
marching to the sound of shell trumpets, and bearing in their
hands presents for the invaders.267 In the distant north, Alva-
rado, when he reached Cicuye, was welcomed by the inhabitants,
who went before him with great demonstrations of joy, accom
panying him to the village to the sound of drums, and of flutes,
similar to fifes, on which they often played.2434

This method of showing joy in the presence of one whom
they wished to honour, was, in later days, used as a means of hon
ouring the Spanish priests. Gage, in his account of his travels
through the country, mentions this fact time and again. In his
first journey, before he had fairly left the seaport of San Juan
de Ulloa, he says : 13t3 " Two miles before we came to the Town
of Yera Cruz, there met us on Horse-back some twenty of the
chief of the Town, presenting unto every one of us a nosegay of
flowers ; who rid before us a bow shot, till we met with more
company on foot, to wit, the Trumpeters and the Waits, who
sounded pleasantly all the way before us. ... When we took
our leaves, the Waits and Trumpets sounded again before us."
So, also, when he departed from the little town called St. Chris
topher, " Waits and Trumpets " sounded before him.1381 On
leaving Comitlan, when being ferried over the river upon which
the town was situated, canoes went before his party with " the
Quiristers of the church singing " before them, " and with others
sounding their Waits and Trumpets." 1382 He finally mentions,
as a general custom, that "to the Church there do belong, ac
cording as the Town is in bignesse, so many Singers, and Trum
peters, and Waits, over whom the Priest hath one Officer, who
is called Fiscal." " They are to attend with their Waits, Trum
pets, and Musick, upon any great man or Priest that cometh to
their Town, and to make arches with boughs and flowers in the
streets for their entertainment." 1384

X. — THEY HAVE CATTLE-HORNS, OF WHICH THE LONG ONES

ARE USED TO CONTAIN SOme of their POSSESSIONS, THE BEST OF

THEM REACHING a capacity of TWICE TEN times as much as an
ordinary HORN-FULL. . . . THE PEOPLE OF THE COUNTRY

RAISE DEER AS CATTLE ARE RAISED IN THE MlDDLE KlNGDOM

(China).

THE PECULIARITIES OF THE COUNTRY. 425

The first sentence is rendered by different translators as fol
lows :

" The cattle of the country bear a considerable weight upon
their horns." " The cattle have long horns, upon which bur
dens are loaded, which weigh sometimes as much as twenty ho
(of one hundred and twenty Chinese pounds)." " The oxen have
such large horns that they contain as much as ten sheep-skins ;
the people use them to keep all kinds of goods." " They have
cattle whose horns are very long, and who bear upon their horns
a weight as great as twenty ho (the ho is a measure of ten
bushels)." " Ox-horns are found in Fu-sang so large that their
capacity is sometimes as great as two hundred bushels. They
are used to contain all sorts of things." " There are oxen with
long horns, so long that they will hold things ; the biggest as
much as five pecks."

It should be noted, however, that the statement refers to
cattle-Aoms, and not to cattle. If the meaning were, they " have
long-horned cattle," the text would read, " YIU CH'ANG KIOH NIU,"
the order of the words being the same that it is in English in
the phrase included in quotation-marks. The order in the text is,
however, YIU NIU KIOH ; they "have cattle-horns." One cause
of variation in the translations is found in the character j|g, TSAI,
which means both to contain and to bear ; and another cause lies
in the uncertainty as to the size of the measure called a HUH (or
HO).

Professor Williams gives the following information regarding
it : 253° " jj|, HUH (from a peck measure and a horn), to measure, a
measure ; the Chinese bushel holding ten pecks, or a picul, ac
cording to some, but the common table makes it to measure five
pecks, or half a picul. At Shanghai the HUH for rice holds only
2*05 pints, and that for peas 1-86 pints ; the Buddhists use it for
a full picul of 133J Ibs., av., but the Hindu drona, which the HUH
represents, weighs only 7 Ibs. 11 oz., av."

Bearing in mind the fact that the character is composed of a
" horn " and a " measure," and that it is still used at Shanghai
for an amount of rice or peas but little greater than the capacity
of a large ox-horn, I can not help believing that it originally
meant a "horn-full," and that it was with this meaning that
Hwui Shan used it.

It is a plausible remark 2498 of de Guignes (vol. ii, p. 173) that

426 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

"the habit we fall into of conceiving things according to the
words which express them, often leads us into error when read
ing the relations of travelers. Such writers have seen objects
altogether new, but they are compelled, when describing them,
to employ equivalent terms in their own language in order to be
understood ; while these same terms tend to deceive the reader,
who imagines that he sees such palaces, colonnades, peristyles,
etc., under these designations, as he has been used to, when, in
fact, they are quite another thing."

Now, although the names of many animals in the New World
have been frequently borrowed from the Old, the species are dif
ferent.2082 " When the Spaniards landed in America," says an
eminent naturalist, " they did not find a single animal they were
acquainted with ; not one of the quadrupeds of Europe, Asia, or
Africa." (Lawrence, " Lectures on Physiology, Zoology, and the
Natural History of Man," London, 1819, p. 250.)

Hence we can not expect that the " cattle " or " cattle-horns,"
described by Hwui Shan, would be exactly the same as those of
Asia or Europe. It seems very doubtful whether our mission
ary meant to state that there were " cattle " in the country. It
is not improbable that all that he meant was that he had seen
horns of a very large size in the possession of the people, and
he supposed them to be cattle-horns. There is nothing to indi
cate that he ever saw the animals from which they were taken.

If, however, he meant to refer to animals so similar to cattle
as to be properly called by the same name, the buffaloes or bisons
must have been the animals meant. The term " wild cattle " 30
was occasionally applied, by both the early French and the early
English explorers, to the moose ( Alces malchis) and the elk ( Cer-
vus Canadensis)?* but it was almost invariably applied to the
bison. And the fact, that the horns were called " cattle-horns," con
clusively establishes the point that no animal of the deer species
could have been referred to in this case.

Bceuf sauvage was the name given to the bison by Du Pratz,26
though it was often, also called buffle, vache sauvage, and some
times bison cVAmerique, by the early French colonists, while the
Canadian voyageurs are said to have termed it simply le bceuf.
Kalm spoke of the American bisons as wilde Ochsen wid Kuehe,
while the early English explorers also often referred to this ani
mal under the same English equivalent, and also used for it the

THE PECULIARITIES OF THE COUNTRY. 427

names buffle and boeuf sauvage. Charlevoix called the bison the
bceufdu Canada, while Hennepin called it taureau sauvage.

The great kingdom 1287 of " Cibola " (a name meaning " buffa
lo "), although distant from the city of Mexico, must have been
known to Montezuma, for we find the Spaniards struck with
amazement at the sight of a singular animal in the zoological
gardens of the Mexican monarch, such as they had never seen
before. Nor, according to Yenegas, was it known in Sonora, or
along the river Gila. By Solis, this animal is thus described : 23M
" This greatest rarity — the Mexican bull — has a bunch on its
back like a camel, its flanks thin, its tail large, and its neck
covered with hair like a lion ; it is cloven-footed, and its head is
armed like that of a bull, which it resembles in fierceness, having
no less strength and agility." Hernandes 1521 also describes the
animal by the name of the " Mexican bull."

When Cabrillo explored the coast of California, he reported
that the natives on the coast,2470 and back in the interior also,2473
had "many cows." The animals here mentioned, and which
were understood by the Spaniards to be cows, were doubtless
bisons, which formerly ranged to the eastern foot-hills of the y
Sierras, and accounts of which, if not the skins of the animals,
must have reached the coast tribes. Although cows were intro
duced into the New World by Columbus, and were brought to
Mexico as early as 1525, it was not until many years afterward,
on the permanent settlement of the country by the Spaniards,
that these domestic animals found their way to California.

Although the buffalo does not now range as far south as
Mexico, there is proof that it was formerly to be found in the
northern part of that country.

Respecting the extreme southwestern limit of the former
range of the buffalo,32 Keating, on the authority of Calhoun, wrote
in 1823 as follows : "De Laet says, quoting from Herrera, that
they grazed as far south as the banks of the Yaquimi (Americce
ITtriusque Descriptio, Lugd. Batav. Anno 1633, lib. 6, cap. 6, p.
286). In the same chapter the author states that Martin Pere
had, in 1591, estimated the province of Cinaloa, in which this
river runs, to be three hundred leagues from the city of Mexico.
This river is supposed to be the same which, on Mr. Tanner's
map of North America (Philadelphia, 1822), is named Hiaqui
(the Rio Yaqui, doubtless, of modern maps), and which is situ-

428 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

ated between the 27th and 28th degrees of north latitude.
Perhaps, however, it may be the Rio Gila, which empties itself in
latitude 32°." (Quoted from " Long's Expedition to the Source
of the St. Peter's River," vol. ii, p. 28.)

Dr. Berlandier,33 who was for a long time a resident of the
northeastern provinces of Mexico, and who at his death left in
MS. a large work, now in the Smithsonian Institution, on the
mammals of Mexico, speaks of the buffalo as formerly ranging
far to the southward of the Rio Grande. I am unable to say,
however, what are his authorities. In his chapter on this animal
he thus refers to its former range in Mexico :

" In Mexico, when the Spaniards, always eager for wealth,
pushed their explorations into the north and northwest, they did
not loiter to discover the buffaloes. In 1602 the Franciscan
monks, who discovered New Leon, found numerous herds of these
quadrupeds in the neighbourhood of Monterey. They were also
scattered throughout New Biscay (the states of Chihuahua and
Durango), and they sometimes went still farther south. Although
they formerly roamed as far south as the 25th degree, they now
do not pass the 27th or 28th degree, at least in the inhabited and
well-known portions of the country."

In the map attached to Mr. Allen's work on " The American
Bisons, Living and Extinct," the former limit of the buffalo
range is put down as including the Mexican states of Nuevo
Leon, Coahuila, and Chihuahua.

The common bison has small horns, however, and the Asiatic
explorer would not be likely to call them "long." Still, remains
have been found of an extinct species of bison, which may have
been living fourteen centuries ago, to the horns of which the
term could be well applied.

The first remains of such an animal discovered in North
America were found in the bed of a small creek, about a dozen
miles north of Big-bone Lick, Kentucky.21 This specimen Peale
believed to indicate a species of the ox tribe of gigantic propor
tions, whose horns must have had a spread of nearly twelve feet
— a conjecture that subsequent discoveries have proved well
founded. In 1846 the greater portion of the skull of a large
extinct bison was discovered on the Brazos River, near San Felipe,
Texas. This specimen was of the same gigantic proportions as
the one made known by Mr. Peale.22

THE PECULIABITIES OF THE COUNTRY. 429

Among the measurements given by Dr. Leidy of the first-
named discovery are : 23 Circumference of the horn-core at its
base, 20J- inches ; circumference of the horn-core, ten inches
from its base, 1T-J inches. This specimen is still in the museum
of the Academy of Natural Sciences, of Philadelphia. Through
the kindness of the curators of the museum, Mr. J. A. Allen was
enabled recently to examine the specimen at his leisure. He
found the circumference of the horn-core, fourteen inches from
the base (t^ie point at which it is broken off), to be 16 inches, or
only four inches and a half less than at the base, and one and a
half inches less than at ten inches from the base. Mr. Peale, in
his description of the same specimen, nearly three fourths of a
century ago, expressed his belief that the horn itself could not
have been less then six feet in length.

The third specimen of cranial remains thus far known,24 as
unquestionably referable to the Bison latifrons, consists of two
nearly perfect horn-cores, with small fragments of the frontal
bones attached. These remains were exhumed about three years
since, in Adams County, Ohio. They are nearly entire, lacking
only a little of the apical portions, and give the following
measurements : Total length, measured along the upper side,
32 inches ; total length, measured along the lower side, 34
inches ; circumference, at base, 20 inches ; circumference, ten
inches from the base, 16 inches ; circumference, fourteen inches
from the base, 14|- inches ; circumference, twenty-four inches
from the base, 9£ inches. They thus about equal in size the
specimens above described.

If this gigantic animal was living at the time of Hwui
Shan's visit, or if the horns were still occasionally found in the
country some time after its extinction, they may well have at
tracted his attention.

In case the reference is to the buffalo, it may be that one
clause of the account should be read, " The largest of them attain
(the weight of) twenty HUH " ; and if the HUH be considered as
indicating a weight of one hundred and thirty-three and a
third pounds, this would be but a slight exaggeration of their
size. '

Audubon states the weight of old males to be nearly two
thousand pounds, that of the full-grown fat females to be about
twelve hundred pounds ; 25 and Brickell, in the " Natural History

430 AN INGLORIOUS' COLUMBUS.

of North Carolina," 1737, pp. 107-108, says : " These monsters
(buffaloes) — as I have been informed — weigh from sixteen hun
dred to twenty-four hundred pounds weight." 31

It seems more reasonable to .believe, however, that Hwui
Shan referred to the enormous horns of the animal popularly
\ known as the Rocky Mountain sheep, which he found in use by
the Mexicans as receptacles for their property, and that, not
having seen the animals from which they were taken, he fell into
the error of considering them to be cattle-horns.

Coronado reported that, in or near Cibola, he found certain
sheep as big as a horse, with very great horns.2477 He adds, " I
have seen their horns so big that it is a wonder to behold their
greatness." The statements are also made, " These animals are
very large. They have long horns" 243S and " They say that every
horn of theirs weigheth fifty pounds weight." 2478 The following
is also given in the account of their journey : 2432 " After having
marched three days in the desert, we found, upon the bank of a
river which ran through a deep caiion, a large horn, which the
general had seen, and which he had left there that the army
might see it also. It was a fathom (brasse) and a half in length ;
the base was as large as a man's leg, and in its shape it resembled
a goat's horn. It was a great curiosity."

As to the use of horns by the Indians to contain their prop
erty, etc., Purchas says *ll! that " Lopez de Gomara reporteth that,
in Quivera, the Buffalo Homes yeeld them Vessels." Gage also
reports of the Mexicans (p. 145 of the German edition), " From
horns they make drinking vessels and basins."

The peculiar custom of taming deer, and keeping herds of
them, as cattle are kept in other countries, existed in Mexico.

Bancroft states that201 the common people kept and bred
techichi (a native animal resembling a dog), turkeys, quails, geese,
ducks, and many other birds. The nobles also kept deer, hare,
and rabbits. He adds that the 195 kings and nobles of the Chichi-
mecas kept forests of deer and hare to supply the people with
food, until, in Nopaltzin's reign, they were taught to plant by a
descendant of the Toltecs (Torquemada, " Monarq. Ind.,"tome i).
Bandelier, also,513 quoting from Torquemada, lib. i, chap, xlii,
p. 67, says : " Neither did the Chichimecas pay any attention to
it [agriculture or horticulture], for the reason that the Lords and
Kings had parks ("bosques") of rabbits and deer, which sup-

THE PECULIARITIES OF THE COUNTRY. 431

plied them with meat." Clavigero states 1077 that in the estates
of the nobility were bred fish, deer, rabbits, and many varieties
of birds. Certain natives of Guatemala, in the provinces of
Acalan, called Mazatecas, kept deer in so tame a state that they
were easily killed by the least active soldiers.*06 Diaz says of
them : 1206 " Another day we saw two great villages of the same
tribe. They are called the Mazatecas, which means ' People or
Land of Deer?; and the name is certainly appropriate, for our
path brought us soon into a great treeless meadow, where we
were fearfully burned by the sun, and the game grazed in such
numbers, and were so fearless, that we soon killed more than
twenty. In reply to the question how this happened, we learned
that the people honoured these animals as holy, and neither
killed nor frightened them."

A letter written by the Adelantado Soto, regarding the ex
ploration of " Florida," says that the Indians asserted that,2441 at
a distance of five days' journey, fowls would be found in abun
dance, as well as guanacos shut up in parks, and tame deer which
were kept in herds. This report was probably without founda
tion, however.

XL — THE GROUND is DESTITUTE OF IKON, BUT THEY HAVE

COPPER ; GOLD AND SILVER ARE NOT VALUED ; IN THEIR MARKETS
THERE ARE NO TAXES OR FIXED PRICES.

It is not certain that Neumann does not express the real
meaning of the narrator in his rendering, " Gold and silver are
not valued, and do not serve as the medium of exchange in
their markets."

Nearly every writer on the history of the Aztecs mentions
the fact that the use of iron, though its ores are abundant in the
country, was unknown to the natives,223 while copper could be
obtained in abundance.471 Gold, silver, copper, tin, and lead
were the metals known to and used by the Nahuas. The latter,
however, is merely mentioned, and nothing is known about
where it was obtained or for what purposes it was employed ; 22S
while tin also was but little used, and has never been found in
any great quantities.

Sahagun makes the following statement : " There is gold in
this country, which is found in mines. There are also silver,
copper, and lead. They are procured in different places, in the
ravines, or in the rivers. Before the Spaniards came to New

432 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

Spain, no one cared to search for either silver or lead. The na
tives sought only for gold in the rivers."8218

Prescott says that the Mexicans were as well acquainted with
the mineral as with the vegetable treasures of their kingdom.
Silver, lead, and tin they drew from the mines of Taxco ; cop
per from the mountains of Zacatollan.2067

Copper-mines are mentioned 631 at Santa Rita del Cobre, in
what is now New Mexico, not far from the Mexican boundary.
The copper was formerly sent to the city of Mexico ; but it is
stated that " there is no longer a market in the city of Mexico,
as other mines have been found much nearer." Copper was for
merly exported in considerable quantities from Sonora, and silver
and gold are among the exports from that state.536

As to their markets : we are informed that m8 a very large
^/ square was set apart in all the principal cities of the kingdom
for the exhibition and sale of the various articles of merchandise
brought to market. Though these bazars were attended every
day, yet every fifth day was considered the principal or proper
market-day,210 and, to suit the convenience of the various mer
chants that constantly visited these marts, the adjacent cities
held their principal market on such days as would not interfere
with those of their neighbours. The number of persons col
lected together at such times in the city of Mexico has been es
timated by the Spanish conquerors at forty or fifty thousand.

They made their purchases and sales by barter, each giv
ing that of which he had an excess for such goods as he might
need.2352 Still, regular purchase and sale were not uncom
mon, particularly in the business of retailing the various com
modities to consumers. Although no regular coined money
was used, yet several more or less convenient substitutes fur
nished a medium of circulation. Chief among these were nibs
or grains of the cacao, of a species somewhat different from that
employed in making the favourite drink, chocolate.209

XII. WHEN THEY MARRY, IT IS THE CUSTOM FOR THE f uture

SON-IN-LAW TO GO and ERECT A HOUSE (or cabin) OUTSIDE, OF

THE DOOR OF THE DWELLING OF THE YOUNG WOMAN whom he

desires to marry. MORNING AND EVENING HE SPRINKLES AND
SWEEPS the ground FOR A YEAR, AND IF THE YOUNG WOMAN is

NOT PLEASED with him, SHE THEN SENDS HIM AWAY ; BUT IF THEY
ARE MUTUALLY PLEASED, THEN THEY COMPLETE THE MARRIAGE.

THE PECULIARITIES OF THE COUNTRY. 433

The sprinkling and sweeping of the ground is evidently an
act of homage, the dust being laid and the stones and other ob
stacles removed as a preparation of the road upon which the
bride walks. When the prince Cacumatzin, lord of Tezcuco,
and a nephew of Montezuma, came to visit Cortez, as soon as he
alighted from the litter in which he was borne, some of his serv
ants ran before him to sweep the ground upon which he was
about to tread.2347 This homage rendered to their chiefs was
also, if we may believe Hwui Shan, shown to the prospective bride;
and this, together with the entire freedom of choice left to the
young woman, shows a state of civilization and a regard for
woman very different from anything existing in China or other
Asiatic countries, either at the time or since. This custom does
not appear to have existed among the Aztecs at the time of the
Spanish conquest, it having been extirpated by causes to be here
after considered ; but, scattered among the neighbouring tribes,
we find, even among those which are usually considered the most
savage and degraded, certain usages of courtship which seem to
have been founded upon the same motives and feelings, and to
be the survivals of substantially the same custom, as that men
tioned by Hwui Shan.

Cremony states that 1148 the Apache girls are wholly free in
their choice of husbands. Parents never attempt to impose
suitors upon their acceptance, and the natural coquetry of the
sought-for bride is allowed full scope until the suitor believes
his "game made," when he proceeds to test his actual stand
ing. In the night-time he stakes his horse in front of her
roost, house, hovel, encampment, bivouac, or whatever a few
slender branches with their cut ends in the ground and their
tops bound together may be termed. The lover then retires,
and awaits the issue. Should the girl favour the suitor, his horse
is taken by her, fed, and secured in front of his lodge ; but
should she decline the proffered honour, she will pay no attention
to the suffering steed. Four days comprise the term allowed her
for an answer in the manner related. A ready acceptance is apt
to be criticised with some severity, while a tardy one is regarded
as the extreme of coquetry. Scarcely any one of them will lead
the horse to water before the second day, as a hasty perform
ance of that act would indicate an unusual desire to be married ;
nor will any suffer the fourth day to arrive without furnishing
28

434: AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

the poor animal with its requisite food and drink, provided they
intend to accept the suitor, for such a course would render them
liable to the charge of extreme vanity.

As the horse has been introduced among the Apaches since
the time of the Spanish conquest, and as it is not likely that the
custom above referred to can have spontaneously originated
since that time, we are 'forced to the inference that it must be a
changed form of some custom which formerly existed among
them, and this may have been substantially the practice men
tioned by our Asiatic explorer. It is to be noticed, however, that
the present custom of the Apaches, instead of showing a willing
ness upon the part of the young man to wait upon and care for
his intended wife, requires service from her. Among the Coco-
Maricopas, however, there is an evident desire to please the
young woman. Among these Indians, when a man desires to
marry,543 and has made choice of a girl for his wife, he first en
deavours to win over her parents by making them presents. The
fair one's attention is sought by another process. To do this, he
takes his flute, an instrument of cane with four holes, and, seat
ing himself beneath a bush near her dwelling, keeps up a plaint
ive noise for hours together. This music is continued day after
day ; and, if no notice is at length taken of him by the girl, he
may "hang up his flute," as it is tantamount to a rejection. If
the proposal is agreeable, the fair one makes it known to the
suitor, when the conquest is considered complete.

It can hardly be disputed that there is a singular coincidence
between this custom and that which is mentioned by Hwui Shan.

In Yucatan it was the custom for newly married pairs to live,
during the first few years after their marriage,1691 in cabins built
in front of the house of their father or father-in-law.

Although I can give no good reason for it, beyond a belief
that a year is a greater length of time than such a courtship
would be likely to have been continued, I can not refrain from
expressing my opinion that Hwui Shan meant to indicate some
other length of time, by the word translated " year," than the
period of twelve months, although this is certainly the only
meaning that the character now has. The " week " of five days,
referred to in the account of the " markets," would be a much
more probable length of time for the young woman to put the
patience of her suitor to the test.

THE PECULIARITIES OF THE COUNTRY. 435

XIII. — WHEN A NOBLEMAN HAS COMMITTED A CRIME, THE

PEOPLE OF THE COUNTRY HOLD A GREAT ASSEMBLAGE, AND SIT in

judgment on the CULPRIT, IN AN EXCAVATED TUMULUS. THEY

FEAST AND DRINK BEFORE HIM AND BID HIM FAREWELL when

parting from him, AS if TAKING LEAVE OF A DYING man. THEN

THEY SURROUND HIM WITH ASHES THERE.

The character which I have translated "an excavated tumu
lus " has been rendered " a ditch," " an excavation," " a subterra
neous place," and "a hollow or pit."

The usual character for a ditch, excavation, or hollow, is jtj,
K'ANG (composed of earth and the phonetic K'ANG) ; but the one
used in this case is |5J (composed of a mound and the same pho
netic), and means not only a ditch, excavation, or valley, but
also a tumulus.™ Hence I have translated it as above stated.
Of all the characters in the Chinese language, there is none which
gives a better representation of the singular structure referred to
in the following quotations :

" The sweat-house,117 or, as the Spaniards call it, the estufa,
assumes with the Pueblos the grandest proportions. Every vil
lage has from one to six of these singular structures. A large
semi-subterranean room is at once bath-house, town-house, coun
cil-chamber, club-room, and church. It consists of a large exca
vation, the roof being about on a level with the ground, some
times a little above it, and is supported by heavy timbers or
pillars of masonry. Around the sides are benches, and, in the
center of the floor, a square stone box for fire, wherein aromatic
plants are kept constantly burning. Entrance is made by means
of a ladder, through a hole in the top, placed directly over the
fire-place, so that it also serves as a ventilator, and affords a free
passage to the smoke. Usually they are circular in form, and of
both large and small dimensions. They are placed either within
the great building, or under ground in the court without. In
some of the ruins they are found built in the center of what was
once a pyramidal pile, and four stories in height. At Jemes the
estufa is of one story, twenty-five feet wide by thirty feet high.
The ruins of Chettro Kettle contain six estufas, each two or
three stories in height. At Bonito are estufas one hundred
and seventy-five feet in circumference, built in alternate layers
of thick and thin stone slabs. In these subterranean temples
the old men met in secret council, or assembled in worship of

436 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

their gods. Here are held dances and festivities, social inter
course, and mourning ceremonies."

"Each pueblo 397 contains an estufa, which is used both as a
council-chamber and a place of worship, where they practice such
of their heathen rites as still exist among them. It is built partly
under ground, and is considered a consecrated and holy place.
Here they hold all their deliberations upon public affairs, and
transact the necessary business of the village." (Davis's "El
Gringo," p. 142.)

" In the west end of the town (S. Domingo) is an estuffa, or
public building, in which the people hold their religious and
political meetings. The structure — which is built of adobes, is
circular in plan, about nine feet in elevation, and thirty-five feet
in diameter, and with no doors or windows laterally — has a small
trap-door in the terrace or flat roof by which admission is
gained." (Simpson's " Jour. Mil. Recon.," p. 62.)

Morgan mentions these estufas at Taos,1948 Pintado,1983 Pen-
asca Blanca,1964 and other pueblos ; 1946 and they are also referred to
by Bancroft,398 Bell, 683 and Wheeler,2481 and in fact by all who
have written about the natives of New Mexico, Arizona, and
Northern Mexico.

The " great assembly," or council, is distinctively American,
and among nearly all the American tribes it was the custom to
settle all important public matters at such meetings. Morgan
s~ays (referring particularly to the Iroquois, though the statement is
equally true of most other American tribes) that it 1935 is a singu
lar fact, resulting from the structure of Indian institutions, that
nearly every transaction, whether social or political, originated or
terminated in a council. This universal and favourite mode of
doing business became interwoven with all the affairs of public and
private life. Immediately on the commission of a murder 1938 the
affair was taken up by the tribes to which the parties belonged.
If the criminal belonged to one of the first four tribes, and the
deceased to one of the second four, these tribes assembled in
separate councils, to inquire into all the facts of the case. Had
it chanced that both parties belonged to one of the four brother
tribes, a council of this division alone would convene to attempt
an adjustment among themselves. Bandelier says of these coun
cils among the Mexicans, that 627 the council of the kin exercised
power over life and death.

THE PECULIARITIES OF THE COUNTRY. 437

As to the punishment of nobles, the following quotation
from Sahagun 2m is pertinent : " Drunkenness was punished in
two ways. If a great lord, or a man of distinction, was guilty
of this crime, he was hung for its first commission, and his body
was finally dragged along the public highway and thrown into
a certain river. If the drunkard was of a lower class, he was
sold into slavery for his first fault ; but, if it occurred a second
time, he was hung. In regard to this difference in the punish
ment, the king said that he who was the most elevated in rank
merited the most rigorous treatment." 2m

Solis also states that 2355 capital punishment was the penalty
for any failure of integrity in the officers of the law. In Darien m
a constable could not arrest or kill a noble ; consequently, if
one committed a crime punishable with death, the chief must kill
him with his own hand, and notice was given to all the people
by beating the large war-drum, so that they should assemble
and witness the execution. The chief, then, in presence of the
multitude, recited the offense, and the culprit acknowledged the
justice of the sentence. This duty fulfilled, the chief struck the
culprit two or three blows on the head with a macana until he
fell, and, if he was not killed, any one of the spectators gave him
the finishing-stroke.

Cortez gives the following account of the infliction of capital
punishment by an assemblage of the people :1098 "When one of
the natives of Tlascala stole some gold of a Spaniard, . . . they
placed him at the base of a structure resembling a theatre, which
stands in the midst of the market-place, while the crier went to
the top of the building and with a loud voice proclaimed his
offense ; whereupon the people beat him with sticks until he
was dead " ; and the Abbe" Brasseur de Bourbourg says that,660
if a chief of the Teo-Chichimecs was guilty of adultery, he was
put to death by his vassals.

I am not aware that the custom of inflicting the death pen
alty by smothering the culprit in ashes ever existed elsewhere,
yet this singular punishment survived in Mexico up to the time
of the Spanish conquest. Bancroft states that221 in Tezcuco
criminals of a certain class were " bound to a stake, completely
covered with ashes, and so left to die." Clavigero mentions
that1075 the laws published by the celebrated king Nezahual-
coyotl provided that a man guilty of a certain heinous crime

438 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

should be " suffocated in a heap of ashes " ; and Sahagun bears
his testimony to the same practice in the following words : 911
" A person guilty of a certain grave crime was (by the laws of
Nezahualcoyotly one of the worthiest kings of Mexico), after
other punishment, finally abandoned to the boys of the village,
who covered him with ashes, and with a pile of wood, to which
they set fire. His accomplice was also buried under a pile of
ashes, and there died of suffocation."

To my mind the singular facts mentioned in this paragraph ;
the custom of calling councils ; the practice of holding them in
an excavation or an excavated tumulus ; the power of life and
death lodged in such a council ; the custom of meting out a
heavier penalty to a criminal of the higher classes than was
visited upon one of lower rank ; and the remarkable method of
inflicting capital punishment by suffocation in ashes — are suf
ficient to prove that Hwui ShSn actually visited America, if no
further evidence were to be found in any of his other statements.

CHAPTER XXIV.

THE NARRATOR OF THE STORY.

The condition of China at the time — The reign of a Buddhist emperor — The bhik-
shus, or mendicant priests — Their duties — Rules for their conduct — The name
Hwui ShSn — Frequency with which the name Hwui occurs — Meaning of the
characters — The nationality of Hwui ShSn — Cophene — Struggle between
Brahmanism and Buddhism — The route from India to China — The command
that at least three should, go together when traveling — Persecution in China
in the year 458 — The journey to America by water — Ease of the trip — Proba
bility that Hwui Shan was but slightly acquainted with the Chinese language
— Yu Kie's criticism of Hwui Sh&n's statements — Causes of errors — Use of
the term "water-silver" — Accounts given by first explorers seldom free
from error — Absurdities narrated by other Chinese travelers — Pliny — He
rodotus — Marco Polo — Maundevile — Caesar — The unicorn — Elks without joints
in their legs — The Icelandic account of Vinland — Difficulties in the account
— The Unipeds — The Zeno brothers — Ignorance of geography in the fifteenth
century — Marvelous tales of early explorers — Allowances to be made — Hwui
ShSn entitled to equal charity.

BEFORE entering upon an examination of other statements re
garding the land of Fu-sang, it will be best to consider the
circumstances under which the account was first given, and learn
what we can of the original narrator, The Chinese text has
the following upon the subject :

XIV. — IN THE FIRST YEAR of the reign of the TS'I dynasty,
known by the designation YUNG-YUEN (or " Everlasting Founda
tion," L e., in the year, 499 A. D.), a SHAMAN (or Buddhist priest),
named HWUI SHAN, CAME TO KING-CHEU FROM THAT COUNTRY,
and TOLD the following STORY REGARDING the COUNTRY OF FU-
SANG (or FTJ-SANG-KWOH). ... IN THE SECOND YEAR of the
reign of the SUNG dynasty, in the period called TA-MING (or
" Great Brightness," i. e., in the year 458 A. D.), FIVE MEN, who
were PI-K'IU (i. e., bhikshus, or mendicant Buddhist monks),

Who WERE FORMERLY from the COUNTRY OF KI-PIN (i. 6., Co-

phene), WENT by a VOYAGE to THAT COUNTRY.

440 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

The Marquis d'Hervey has, in the notes contained in the thir
teenth chapter of this work, given a full and vivid description
Xpf the unhappy condition in which Hwui Shan found China,
when he reached it from Fu-sang. He was obliged to remain in
the country some two or three years, until, as the result of the
civil war then raging, the old dynasty of the Tsci was overthrown,
and the LIANG dynasty was established in its place, its first em
peror being known as WU-TI. This monarch became so great a
devotee of Buddhism952 that he retired to a monastery, like
Charles V, but, having been persuaded to resume his crown,
he thenceforth employed his time in teaching the doctrines of
this religion to his assembled courtiers.2511

Prior to his time, Buddhism had been discarded by the Chi
nese, but in his reign it again revived.1033 Ma Twan-lin mentions
a Hindoo who, about A. D. 502, translated into Chinese some
Buddhist Shastras of the Great Development school.1257 In 506
a Buddhist priest, named Sanga Pala, introduced into China the
first alphabet for writing Sanskrit words,2560 and the reign of
this emperor was particularly distinguished by the arrival in
China, from India, of TA-MO (Bodhi-dharma), the twenty-eighth
of the patriarchs of the Buddhist religion, and by the extraor
dinary prosperity of this faith under the imperial favour.1266

We are not informed as to the circumstances under which he
became converted to Buddhism ; but it seems not impossible
that the story of Hwui Shan's adventures in its behalf may have
had a share in attracting his attention to the subject.

The Chinese term PI-K'IU is a transcription of the Sanskrit
word bhikshu, " mendicant," im which was applied to those monks
who professed to obtain their sustenance by alms,1348 begging above
to sustain their intellectual life, and toslow to support their visi
ble body.

Those who have devoted themselves to this kind of life have
to practice twelve kinds of observances, named T'EU-T'O, from a
Sanskrit word which signifies to shake one's self, because these
disturbances help to clean away the dust and the foulness of
vice.138' The mendicant should shun all causes of disturbance ;
eschew vain ornaments ; destroy in the heart the germs of cu
pidity ; avoid pride ; and, in purifying his life, search for supreme
reason, rectitude, and truth. The twelve observances which are
recommended to them with this view have reference to the four

THE NARRATOR OF THE STORY.

actions or manners of being, named WEI-YI (" gravity," or " that
which should be done gravely "), namely, to walk, to stand, to
sit, and to lie down. The following is extracted from a book
specially treating upon the twelve observances, and entitled SHI-
EUL-T'EU-T'O KING :

1. The mendicant should dwell in a place which is A-LAN-JO
(dranyaka), that is to say, a tranquil place, a place of repose.
This is the means of avoiding disturbance of spirit, of escaping
the dust of desire, of destroying forever all the causes of revolt,
and of obtaining supreme reason, etc.

2. It is requisite that he always beg his subsistence (in Pali,
pindapdtika)) in order to extinguish cupidity. The mendicant
should accept no man's invitation. He should beg the nourish
ment necessary for the support of his material body and the ac
complishment of his moral duties. He ought to recognize no
difference in the food obtained, whether it be good or bad ; nor
to feel resentment if it be refused him : but always to cultivate
the equanimity of a perfect spirit.

3. In begging he should take his rank (in Pali, vdthdpantari)
without being attracted by savoury meats ; without disdain for
any one, and without selection between rich and poor : with pa
tience should he take his rank.

4. The mendicant who occupies himself with good works
should thus reflect : " It is much to obtain one meal ; it is too
much to make an early repast (breakfast), and a second (after
midday). If I do not retrench one of these, I shall lose the
merit of half a day, and my spirit will not be entirely devoted
to reason." He therefore avoids multiplicity of meals, and adopts
the custom of making one (eka ', pdniko).

5. The food which the mendicant obtains shall be divided
into three portions : one portion shall be given to any person
whom he shall see suffering from hunger ; the second he shall
convey to a desert and quiet spot, and there place it beneath a
stone for the birds and the beasts. If the mendicant fall in with
no person in want, he must not on that account himself eat all
the food he has received, but two thirds only. By this means
his body will be lighter and better disposed, his digestion quicker
and less labourious. He can then without inconvenience apply
himself to good works. When one eats with avidity, the bowels
and the stomach enlarge, and the respiration is impeded ; noth-

442 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

ing is more injurious to the progress of reason. This fifth ob
servance is called, in Sanskrit, khalupaswaddhaktinka.

6. The juice of fruits, honey, and other things of the same
kind ought never to be taken by the mendicant after midday.
If he drink of these, his heart abandons itself to desire, and be
comes disgusted with the practice of virtue.

7. The mendicant ought not to desire ornaments; let him
seek no sumptuous dresses, but take the tattered raiments that
others have rejected, wash and clean them, and make of them
patched garments, only for protection from cold, and to cover his
nakedness. New and handsome vestures give rise to the desire
of rebirth ; they disturb the reasoning, and they may, moreover,
attract robbers.

8. Tra'ichivariTca, or only three dresses. These words import
that the mendicant should content himself with the KIA-SHA, of
nine, of seven, or of five pieces. He has few desires, and is easily
satisfied. He desires neither to have too much nor too little rai
ment. He equally eschews men dressed in white, who have
numerous dresses, and those heretics who, from a spirit of morti-
•fication, go entirely naked, in defiance of all modesty ; each ex
treme is contrary to reason. The three vestments hold the proper
medium. Moreover, the word KIA-SHA signifies "of divers col
ours," because of the pieces which form the vestment of the first,
second, and third order.

9. Smdsdnika, or the dwelling amid tombs, obtains for the
mendicant just ideas of the three things which form the prime
gate of the law of Fo : instability, or the brief duration of
bodies which, composed of five elements, return to their originals
and are destroyed ; pain, which oppresses the body from the mo
ment of birth till that of death ; and vacuity, since the body is
borrowed, formed by the reunion of the four elements, and sub
ject to destruction. This is, in fact, the observation made upon
this subject by Sakya Muni himself, who opened by it the road
to supreme wisdom. By dwelling among tombs, the mendicant
beholds the exhibition of death and of funerals. The stench and
the corruption, the impurities of every description, the funeral
pyres, the birds of prey, awaken in him the thought of instability,
and hasten his progress in goodness.

10. Vrikshamulika, or being seated under a tree. The men
dicant, who hath not attained wisdom amid the tombs, should go

THE NARRATOR OF THE STORY. 443

and meditate beneath a tree ; there let him seek for wisdom, as
did Buddha, who accomplished under a tree the principal events
of his life ; who was there born, who there completed the doc
trine, there turned the wheel of the law, and finally there at
tained his parinirvdna. This is an effect of destiny. We learn
besides that other Buddhas similarly placed themselves ; and the
tree is so connected with these supreme operations that the word
bohdi equally means the tree and the doctrine.

11. To sit on the ground, dbhyavaJcdshiJca, is an additional
advantage for the mendicant. Seated beneath a tree so as to be
half covered by its shade, he enjoys the cool air. It is true
he is exposed to rain and moisture, that the droppings of birds
soil him, and that he is exposed to the bite of venomous beasts ;
but he also abandons himself to meditation ; seated on the earth,
his spirit is recreated ; the moon, in shining on him, seems to
illumine his spirit ; and he thus gains the power of more easily
entering the ecstatic state.

12. Naishadhika, to be seated, not recumbent. The sitting
posture is that best becoming a mendicant ; his digestion and his
respiration are more easy, and he thus more readily attains wis
dom. Vices invade those who abandon themselves to idleness,
and surprise them at disadvantage. Walking and standing set
the heart in motion, and the mind is at rest. The mendicant
should take his rest seated and should not allow his loins to
touch the ground.

It appears to me that the foregoing extract, from a work con
secrated to the habits of Buddhist mendicants, will supply the
reader with more correct ideas of the sect than the repetition of
what travelers have said upon the subject. The observances in
culcated in the eighth paragraph may be noted as directly op
posed to the manners of the digambaras, or gymnosophists of
India.1338

As to the name Hwui Shan : it is to be observed that it is the
practice of Chinese Buddhists, on entering a religious career,
to lay aside their family name, and, in token of renewed life, adopt
another of moral or religious signification ; 1328 and no other sur
name seems to have been so commonly adopted in such cases as
that of HWTJI (or, as it is spelled by the French authorities who
have discussed the subject, HOEI), meaning " intelligent, wise,
mild."

444 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

In the account of the travels of the Buddhist monk Fa Hian,
we find among the names of the priests who accompanied him,
or whom he met, those of Hoei King, Hoei Ying, Hoei Wei,1826
Hoei Kian,1327 and Hoei Tha.1332 We find the same surname also in
the case of Hwui-sheng, a priest who, in the year 518, accom
panied Sung-ytin, who was sent to India for Buddhist books
by the prince of the Wei country.1257

The name SHAN (or, as it is spelled by other authorities — and
even by Professor Williams himself, elsewhere than in his dic
tionary — SHIN) means "deep, profound, learned." The Chinese
call the Pacific Ocean the " Shin " sea, i. e., the " Deep " sea.2333
According to Hepburn,1473 the Japanese use the character with the
meaning " to grow old, to grow late " ; and it therefore probably
once had that signification in Chinese.

An interesting question now arises as to the nationality of
Hwui Shan. The text says that he was from " that country,"
meaning the country of Fu-sang, for the Chinese character :£,
KCI, here translated " that," is equivalent in this connection to
the Latin "ille."2400

From the nature of the substantive verb ^, YIU, which
expresses his connection with Fu-sang, it may possibly be in
ferred, however, that he was not a native of the country, but
merely a traveler who had visited it and returned from it.

Summers says of the Chinese substantive verbs that there
are several2402 which vary according to the nature of the case
in which they are used and the connection of the subject with
the predicate in a sentence. The logical copula "is" is ex
pressed by the verb shi. It denotes either that the predicate
is, or that it is generally supposed to be, an attribute of the
subject by nature. . . . The verb wei, " to do, to exist, to be
come," is also used as a substantive verb, but only when the
notion of becoming something by mere conventional arrange
ment is implied, not, as is the case with shi, when the relation
between the subject arid predicate is a natural consequence. In
"fire is hot" use shi; in "the Yellow River is the boundary"
use wei. Also, especially before designations in the predicate,
"he is (wei) a slave." . . . When the substantive verb im
plies location, the verb tsai, " to exist, or consist in," is used ;
and when the possession of some attribute, the verb yiu, " to
have": e. g., in "he is here" use tsai, in "this is polite" use

THE NARRATOR OF THE STORY. 445

yiu. . . . The verb yiu means to have some quality as an ac
quired possession or as an accident, " to happen to be." He
says, again,2420 the substantive verbs are variously used, accord
ing to the logical relation of the subject and predicate in the
sentence. Thus ski, " to be," means " is " where the simple copula
alone is required, the predicate being natural to the subject.
Yiu, " to have," means " is " when the notion of the property
having been acquired is intended, as in " he is rich."

His explanation of the different shades of meaning inherent
in these verbs, is repeated 241° in several places.2411

According to these reiterated statements as to the power of
the various substantive verbs, it would appear that Hwui Shan's
connection with the country of Fu-sang, which is expressed by the
verb YIU, was an acquired, or accidental connection, and not one
to which he was born. I must confess, however, that my confi
dence in this conclusion is somewhat shaken by the fact that
this same verb YIU is used to indicate the connection of the five
Buddhist priests with Cophene ; and there can hardly be a doubt
that in their case it is meant that they were natives of that land.

The different authorities do not agree as to the exact location
of Cophene, although there is no doubt as to its having lain
northerly from India. One of the notes to the Pilgrimage of
Fa Hian says that 1333 Cophene is the country watered by the
Cophes. Rennell supposed the affluent of the Indus, so named
by the ancients, to be identical with the Cowmull ; Saint Croix
believes it rather to be the Merhamhir. The syllable " Cow " is
probably a remnant of the ancient appellation. JKi-pin, which
Chinese authors confound with Cashmere, and which de Guignes
has taken for Samarcand, supposing the latter to be identical
with Kaptchak, corresponds with the country of Ghizneh and
Candahar. It is celebrated in Chinese geography, and appears
to have been a flourishing seat of Buddhism.

A second note by another commentator says, however,1334 that
the Cophene of the ancients is not, as Rennell and the French
editors suppose, the Gomal (not Cowmull), an inconsiderable
mountain-stream, dry all the year except at the season of the
periodical rains. The Cabul River is the only one that corre
sponds with the accounts given of the Cophene by the historians
of Alexander, particularly Arrian, who describes it as falling
into the Indus, in the country of Peukelaotis, and carrying along

446 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

with it the tributary waters of the Malantus, Suastus, and Gara-
cus. ("Indica" iv, 11.) M. Pauthier says that the country of
Cophene is Cabul,2022 and that the Chinese have given it succes
sively2021 the names of Ka-she-mi-lo (Cashmere), Tsao, I£o-
shi-mie, and Sa-ma-eul-kan (Samarcand). Edkins says in one
place that it is the same as the modern Cabul,1249 and in another
that it is stated to be Candahar ; 1253 and F. Porter Smith says
that 2324 it is a part of Afghanistan, whose capital is said to be
12,200 li from the Chinese city of Si-ngan-fu, and that in some
Chinese works Ki-pin is said to be Samarcand.

The priests of Cophene were noted for their zeal, and priests
from that country were the most diligent of any in translating
their scriptures in China.564

In the fifth century a struggle in India between Brahmanism
and Buddhism ended in the overthrow of the latter in the land
of its birth,1364 and its devotees sought in distant lands a refuge
from the intolerance of their persecutors. The extensive inter
course that then began to exist between China and India may
be gathered from the fact 1254 that even Ceylon sent an embassy
and a letter to the Chinese emperor Sung Wen-ti. The journey
is one of almost incredible difficulty and peril ; the route pass
ing through deserts and across a number of the highest mountain
ranges of the world, through passes far above the limits of
perpetual snow and along frightful precipices. Notwithstand
ing these perils, however, and the fact that hostile and savage
tribes infest many portions of the country through which the
road passes, still, more or less communication has been kept up
between the two countries since that time. The Arabic ac-
count of voyages made to China in the ninth century states
that 2143 some of those who made the journey mentioned having
seen in China a man, who bore a leathern packet of musk upon
his back, who had come from Samarcand, having traveled the
distance on foot.

The fact that there were five priests in the party which went
to Fu-sang was in accordance with a rule of their religion which
required that in going to a distance at least three should be in
company,1265 and it was, therefore, the common practice for Bud
dhist priests, in the performance of their pilgrimages from town
to town, and from temple to temple, from India to China, and
from China to India, to associate themselves in companies.1329

THE NARRATOR OF THE STORY. 447

Although it may be a mere coincidence, it seems worthy of
notice that, in the year 458, the year in which this party went
to Fu-sang, a conspiracy was detected in China in which a chief
party was a Buddhist priest. An edict issued on the occasion
by the emperor says that among the priests, " Many are men who
have fled from justice and taken the monastic vows for safety.
They take advantage of their assumed character to contrive new
modes of doing mischief. The fresh troubles thus constantly
occurring excite the indignation of gods and men." " The con
stituted authorities," it is added, " must examine narrowly into
the conduct of the monks. Those who are guilty must be put to
death." 1255 It seems not unlikely that the examination then com
menced amounted to a severe religious persecution, and this may
have caused some party of priests from Cophene, who had already
settled in China, or who, more probably, reached China from Co
phene at this time, to travel on beyond this land of persecution,
and so finally to reach America.

The Chinese character $£, YIU, translated " by a voyage,"
contains the radical " water," and therefore means properly " to
travel by water — to float, swim, or drift," although it has come
to have the secondary meaning of traveling, roving about. It
seems most likely, however, that fourteen centuries ago it would
have been used in its original meaning, and this character, to
gether with the statement that Japan, the country of "Marked
Bodies," and the Great Han Country were on the route to Fu-
sang, indicates that the party went by boat, along the coast, by
way of the Kurile and Aleutian Islands, and thence down the
American coast.

The voyage in an open row-boat or canoe is not only prac
ticable, but its difficulties and perils are hardly to be compared
with those of the overland journey from India to China. The
ease of the trip from Asia, along the Kurile and Aleutian Islands,
to Alaska, and the fact that the natives constantly pass back and
forth between the two continents in the slightest of boats, scarcely
ever being out of sight of land while making the trip, have been
mentioned in the first chapter of this work. The remainder of
the voyage, along the American coast, is even easier. The excur
sion from Oregon to Alaska can scarcely be termed an ocean trip.
Out of a total distance of more than a thousand miles, there
are hardly one hundred and twenty miles of open sea voyage.

448 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

The remainder of the journey, on account of the remarkable
formation of the coast, is through a continuous archipelago,
serving as a breastwork against the storms and billows, and af
fording quiet passageways through deep, narrow channels and
reaches, skirted on either side with well-wooded banks, high,
rocky shores, and towering islands.2385

The text does not say explicitly that Hwui Shan was one of
the five monks who made this voyage together, but this was most
probably the case. If so, he must have been a young man when he
started (and hence can have spent but little time, if any, in China),
and quite an elderly man when he reached China, on his way back
home, forty-one years later. When he gave his account to the
representative of the Chinese emperor, he had probably been in
China not more than some two or three years. It seems a
reasonable supposition that, in this length of time, he could not
have learned to speak and write Chinese perfectly, and hence his
story was probably told, as best he could tell it ; in disjointed
and ungrammatical phrases ; by the use of such Chinese written
characters as he had become acquainted with ; by signs and rude
drawings, to eke out his meaning when he was ignorant of the
proper word to use. Yu Kie, the officer who took down his story,
probably held long colloquies with him ; many questions may
have been asked on one side and explanations attempted on
the other, which were not fully understood. It is evident, from
the story narrated by Yu Kie, and given in the thirteenth chap
ter of this work, that Hwui Shan told him much which he either
realized that he did not comprehend or else which he did not
fully credit.

The story of the land of Fu-sang, as we have it in Ma
Twan-lin's text, is therefore the result of Yu Kie's criticism of
Hwui Shan's statements. In many places it may contain the
account of the latter just as hjB gave it, in imperfect Chinese,
and by the use of characters which did not exactly express
his real meaning, if construed strictly in accordance with the
grammatical rules of the Chinese language. In other cases Yu
Kie probably wrote down the substance of the understanding that
he had reached on the particular point in question, after hold
ing a long colloquy on the subject with Hwui Shan. If this
theory is true, Yu Kie arrived at quite a complete comprehension
of Hwui Shan's statements, and showed much discretion and

THE NARRATOR OF THE STORY. 449

judgment in the digest of his story, which he entered in the coun
try's annals ; and yet there is just such an amount of confusion
and disconnection in the account as would be the natural result
of a conversation between two men of different nationalities,
who were able to understand each other but imperfectly ; while
it is noticeable that the various points, as to which the story is
not strictly true of America, are points in which the truth is, as
it were, travestied.

The account was written down nearly a hundred years before
printing was invented in China,1637 and the liability of errors in
copying manuscript is very great. The numerous variations in
the several texts show that the original account has been more
or less corrupted. When allowance is made for these corrup
tions and for misunderstandings of the text, it is not surprising
that, as to some of the details, the glimpse which w7e get of the
far off land of Fu-sang is such as would be obtained of a distant
landscape through a window of old and imperfect glass — glass
streaked and faulty when first placed in position, and now dimmed
and cracked by unnumbered etorms, and obscured by the dust of
centuries. There is imperfection and distortion in the view, and
yet it is evident that we are looking at a real landscape, the handi
work of nature, and not at a mere human invention.

To the causes above mentioned should be attributed the use
of the term " water-silver " for ice ; the connection of the ac
counts of the f u-sang tree and of the red pears, in such a way
that the latter may be supposed to be the fruit of the former,
and the statement that koumiss was made from " milk," without
any explanation of the peculiar nature of the milk. Yu Kie
seems to have understood that the milk was that of the does to
which Hwui Shan had referred in his statement that the people
of Fu-sang raised deer as cattle were raised in China ; and yet
there seems to have been some attempt on the part of Hwui Shan
to set him right, for he reverts to the vegetation, and immediately
makes a statement — otherwise disconnected — regarding the red
pears.

There are other instances of misunderstandings ; of statements
which seem to be connected with others near which they stand,
and which are untrue in that connection, and yet true if they are
allowed to stand by themselves ; but upon the whole Yu Kie
showed such good judgment ia what he accepted and rejected,
29

450 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

that the official account as given us by Ma Twan-lin is as good
a description of a newly discovered land as any that we have ;
for it must be borne in mind that the tales which are told by
first explorers are seldom free from mistakes, even though the
discoverer of the formerly unknown region be a man of intelli
gence, who strives to tell the truth and nothing but the truth.
Possibly some errors may have arisen from misunderstandings
by Hwui Shan himself. It is not to be expected that he alone
among explorers would fail to narrate some tales on hearsay,
to give in some cases his erroneous inferences instead of the
facts upon which his inferences were founded, or to exaggerate
or misunderstand some strange phenomenon that he had seen.

Fa Hian is not denounced as a " lying Buddhist priest " be
cause modern travelers fail to find the " venomous dragons,"
mentioned by him, " which dart their poison if they happen to
miss their prey." 1336 Other Chinese mediaeval travelers refer to
two-headed snakes,786 describe the ostrich as feeding upon fire,788
mention " dragon-horses with scales and horns," 789 and eagles
which lay eggs from which dogs are hatched out ; 79° and yet there
is no question that they actually visited the countries which they
attempt to describe. Some of these travelers heard of the cot
ton-plant : this bears " wool," and hence may be considered as a
vegetable-sheep.1834 From this simple fact the following marvel
ous tale gradually grew in neighbouring lands, and was gravely
narrated by the travelers : "The * sheep planted on hillocks' are
produced in the western countries. The people take the navel
of a sheep, plant it in the ground and water it. When it hears
thunder it grows, the navel retaining a connection with the
ground." 791

Is the whole story of the traveler who gives an account of
this nature to be rejected because of his credulity ? Not at all.
The critic who will take the trouble to separate the true from
the false, and to extract from the false the kernel of truth which
lies concealed in it, will learn much which would never be other
wise discovered.

Pliny tells many a marvelous tale, and yet mixes many valu
able facts with his accounts. Herodotus was for centuries de
nounced as the " father of liars " by critics who were" too igno
rant or too indolent to find the truth in his history. When he
.told of a land in which the air was filled with feathers,1038 he

THE NARRATOR OF THE STORY.

himself detected the fact that this was merely a figurative de
scription of snow ; but when he mentioned a land in which it
was said that men were found who slept six months at a time,
1537 he could not credit the tale, although it is now evident that
the Arctic region, with its long night of nearly six months' dura
tion, was the land which was described. The value of his his
tory is but little lessened by the tales which he repeats of mon
sters with dogs ' heads,1540 of winged serpents,1538 and of ants
larger than foxes.1535

It is well known that for a long period after the close of the
thirteenth century, when an account of the travels of Marco Polo,
of Venice, first made its appearance and was circulated, in manu
script, the information it gave of countries till that time unheard
of, and of manners incompatible with every idea that had been
entertained of the barbarians of Tartary, was treated with levity
or ridicule by the generality of his countrymen, and read with
suspicion by the best-instructed persons in every part of Europe ;
88 and yet the general truth of his account is now recognized by
all scholars, notwithstanding his description of the rukh, or roc, of
the Arabian Nights, a bird so large and strong as to seize an ele
phant with its talons and to lift it into the air ;1819 of oxen 180T as
large as elephants ;1795 of men with tails,1811 and of dogs the size of
asses.1805

Sir John Maundevile repeats Pliny's accounts of the land in
habited by people having but one foot,1828 of the Cynoccephali,
129 of the one-eyed people,1838 of the Androgynes, and others, and
also repeats other wild stories that he has heard, such as those re
garding two-headed geese, and hens without feathers, but having
wool, etc. ; and yet Maundevile repeated his marvels in good
faith, and added much to our knowledge of the condition of Asia
during the middle centuries.

Caesar's accounts of his military expeditions are not discred
ited because he indulges in a few wonderful tales, such as the
following :

" There is an ox of the form of a deer, from the middle of the
forehead of which, between the ears, there rises a single horn
higher and straighter than the horns of any of the animals known
to us, and, from its summit, palm-like branches are widely spread
out. The appearance of the male and female is the same, and
the form and size of their horns are similar." 918

452 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

"There are also animals that are called * alces' (elks), of
which the figure and the varied skins resemble those of the deer,
but their size is somewhat greater ; they shed their horns, and
their legs are without joints or articulations. They do not lie
down to rest, and, if they fall down, or are thrown down by
any accident, they are not able to rise. The trees serve them
for beds ; they lean against them, and thus, slightly reclining,
they take their rest. When the hunters discover from their
tracks the places to which they are accustomed to resort, they
either undermine all the trees at the roots, or they cut into them
so far that the upper part has only the appearance of standing
firmly, and, when the animals lean against them, according to
their habit, the weakened trees are overthrown by their weight,
and they fall to the ground together." 919

Any one who has seen deer, antelope, or elks, cantering along
at a little distance, will easily discover the grain of fact upon
which this ridiculous story is based. These animals leap so
nimbly that the slight fraction of a second during which their
legs are bent is too short to enable the eye to detect the motion,
and the animals appear to be bounding along stiff-legged, as if
they were thrown forward by springs. One seeing them leaping
along in this style would imagine that " their legs are without
joints or articulations." Csesar evidently reached this conclu
sion ; but then came the question, How, then, could they lie down
to sleep, or rise again, being down, without levers to lift them
up? Imagine imperial Caesar asking this question of some griz
zly, bare-limbed Gaul, and unsuspectingly writing down the out
rageous reply of the fun-loving barbarian, who dared to gravely
jest with the conqueror of the world !

The accounts of the discovery of " Vinland " by the North
men or Icelanders, about the year 1000 A. D., are now generally
believed, and, undoubtedly, with good reason ; and yet there are
many difficulties in the stories that have never been explained
away. They speak of finding " wheat," 2132 but do not describe it
as being remarkable in any way ; 2133 and they make no mention
of maize, unless it is considered as thus referred to. They say
that no snow fell during the winter,*134 and that cattle found
their food throughout the winter in the open field, thus describ
ing the winters as very different from those which now occur
in this country. They describe Rhode Island or Massachusetts

THE NARRATOR OF THE STORY. 453

as being inhabited, not by Indians,2135 but by Esquimaux,2131
and this at a time when the Esquimaux had not reached Green
land.2105 Four names are given 213T which seem never to have
been identified with any American language. They state that
the " Skrellings " had a sort of war-sling. They elevated on a
pole a tremendously large ball, almost the size of a sheep's stom
ach, and of a bluish colour ; this they swung from the pole upon
land and over Karlsefne's people, and it descended with a fearful
crash, striking terror into the Northmen as they fled along the
river.2136 Schoolcraf t, to be sure, states that,1110 many generations
ago, the natives used to sew up a round bowlder in the skin of
an animal, and hang it upon a pole which was borne by several
warriors, and which, when brought down suddenly upon a group
of men, produced consternation and death ; but there is strong
reason for believing that the Northmen's account was his only
authority for the statement, as it is certain that nothing of the
kind is mentioned by any other writer.

Finally, we come to the following description of a nation of
one-legged men : 11U

" It chanced one morning that Karlsefne and his people saw
opposite, in an open place in the woods, a speck which glittered
in their sight, and they called out toward it, and it was a Uni-
ped (Einfoetingr, from em, one, and fotr, foot), which there
upon hurried down to the bank of the river, where they lay.
Thorvald Ericson stood at the helm, and the Uniped shot an
arrow into his bowels. Thorvald drew out the arrow, and said :
' It has killed me ! To a rich land we have come, but hardly shall
we enjoy any benefit from it.' Thorvald soon after died of his
wound. Upon this the Uniped ran away to the northward ;
Karlsefne and his people went after him, and saw him now and
then, and, the last time they saw him, he ran out into a bay.
Then they turned back, and a man sang these verses :

' The people chased
A Uniped

Down to the beach.
Behold he ran
Straight over the sea —
Hear thou, Thorfinn ! '

They drew off to the northward, and saw the country of the
Unipeds."

4:54: AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

It is a curious fact that, in Charlevoix,1114 we find an account
of Unipeds. (See Shea's edition, vol. i, p. 124.) Nevertheless,
their mention by the Northmen would seem to require some ex
planation. Whether this is forthcoming or not, the account con
tains so much that is true, and which could not, by any possi
bility, have been guessed by one who had not visited America,
that the story must be the record of a visit to this continent.

Major says of the voyages of the Venetian brothers Nicolo
and Antonio Zeno : 1778

" It can scarcely be doubted that one of the leading causes of
the . . . puzzle having remained unsolved till now has been the
tendency to cope with outlying difficulties instead of first directing
attention to the proof of the authenticity of the document. . . .
Indeed, the authenticity of the document is so preponderating an
element in the case, that, when once it is well established, the
minor objections might be fairly left to shake themselves into
their places as best they could."

This remark is equally true of the travels of the Northmen,
and it may be justly claimed to apply with equal force to the
journey of Hwui Shan.

At the time that America was discovered by Columbus, Europe
lay in a singular state of ignorance, even as to the countries that
might have been reached by a land journey, or by an easy coast
ing voyage. Asia and Africa were almost as unknown regions as
America. The edition of Zachariah Lily's " Orbis Breviarum,"
published in 1493, gives a fair idea of the little that was taught
on the subject. No modern travelers were considered worthy
of notice, and all the accounts were based upon the statements
of the classical authors. Among the countries described are the
lands of the Amazons, of the Androgynae,1751 of the Centaurs,175*
of the Gorgons,1753 and of the Satyrs,1757 while Paradise 1755 and
Inferno 1754 are not forgotten.

As to the early explorers and historians of America, Acosta,2
Charlevoix,949 Sharp,486 Wafer,2461 and others,487 all insist that the
peccary has its navel on its back. Herrera (" Hist. Gen.," dec. 2f
lib. 10, chap, xxi) says that the humming-birds, when the rainy
season is over and the dry weather sets in, fasten themselves to
the trees by their beaks and soon die ; but in the following
year, when the new rains come, they come to life again.2075

Purchas mentions winged serpents 2109 and tribes of Indians

THE BARRATOR OF THE STORY. 455

who lived to be more than three hundred years of age.2103 Her
nandez, in his exceedingly valuable description of the plants and
animals of Mexico, gives plates of the flying dragon 15-4 and of
the two-headed serpent ; 1&23 and Pigaf etta,2033 Yon Nord,1232 O viedo,
Argensola, Hawkins, de Weert,2C04 and others, all united in the
statement that Patagonia was inhabited by giants, and only dif
fered as to whether their average height was eight or ten feet.

In all these cases allowances are charitably made for natural
causes of error. Should less allowance be made in the case of
Hwui Shan, who not only had that liability to mistake which is
common to all human beings, but who, in addition, laboured under
the disadvantage of telling his story in a language with which he
was but slightly acquainted, and of having the text of his narra
tion more or less corrupted in its transmission to us ? Should not
allowance be also made for our own ignorance of the countries
which he describes, and for the changes which must there, as
elsewhere throughout the world, have taken place during the
last fourteen centuries ?

These questions are asked because it appears to have been
taken for granted that if a single point could be found in his
story which seemed to be untrue of America, then his whole ac
count should be rejected. When the theory has been presented,
however, that his journey was to some portion of Japan, then it
has not been thought necessary to prove that his account was
true of that country in more than one particular ; and the one
particular which has, as a rule, been insisted upon, is the ex
tremely probable theory, that, when he said east, he meant
south, and, when he said twenty thousand li, he meant two or
three thousand.

Is this fair treatment of his story ? Is it not to be expected
that some difficulties will be found ? If it is shown that so many
of his statements are true, that it is inconceivable that they can
be the result of anything else than an actual visit to the country,
can we not afford to temporarily accept, as to a few doubtful
points, explanations which, if they stood by themselves, might
seem improbable ; and wait for time and further investigation
to bring about their complete elucidation ?

CHAPTER XXV.

THE INTRODUCTION OF ASIATIC CIVILIZATION.

The former ignorance of the people — The introduction of Buddhism — The changes
of a thousand years — The two places of confinement — Meaning of the char
acter FAH — Two species of prisons — One for those sentenced to death — The
other for minor criminals — The Mexican Hades — The future abode of the Az
tec hero — The sojourn but temporary — The dark and dismal " Place of the
Dead," in the north — Confinement here eternal — The slave children — Treat
ment of illegitimate children and of orphans— Age at which children were
taken to the temple — Boys at seven years of age — Girls at eight — Chinese
custom of calling children a year older than they would be considered by us —
The punishment of the family of a criminal — Mourning customs — Fasts — Fu
nerals — Images of the deceased — Reverence of these images and offerings to
them — The custom in China — The absence of mourning-garments — The king
not fully crowned until some time after his accession to the throne.

ONE of the assertions that is made indicates that the account
that is given is, as to some of its details, rather a description of
the customs existing as the result of the teachings of the Bud
dhist priests, some forty years after they first entered the coun
try, than an attempt to picture the condition of the people at
the time that the party discovered the land. This is the follow
ing statement :

XV. — FORMERLY THEY WERE IGNORANT (uncultured or un
civilized), and KNEW NOTHING OF BUDDHA'S RULES (or religion) ;
. . . but the five mendicant priests who came to the country
. . . MADE BUDDHA'S RULES AND HIS RELIGIOUS BOOKS AND
IMAGES KNOWN AMONG THEM, TAUGHT THE COMMAND TO FOR
SAKE THE FAMILY (for the purpose of entering a monastery),

AND FINALLY REFORMED THE RUDENESS OF THEIR MANNERS.

It is, therefore, to be presumed that the account of the coun
try will be coloured with statements as to Asiatic customs, beliefs,
and arts introduced by these missionaries, and existing at the
time of Hwui Shan's story, but which have since died out.

THE INTRODUCTION OF ASIATIC CIVILIZATION. 457

Sahagun, in his day, remarked with reason that, in spite of
fifty years of continual preaching to the Mexicans, and in spite of
the efforts of the numerous priests working for their conversion,
and the Christian establishments raised upon the ruins of their
temples, less than fifty years more would suffice to make them lose
all remembrance of Christianity, if they were left to themselves. 7"

"We may, therefore, expect that some of the effects of the
teachings of the Buddhist missionaries would be found to be
only temporary in their nature ; and the real occasion for sur
prise is that, as will hereafter be shown, so much of the results
of their efforts survived the storms of over a thousand years,
rather than that some few of the customs and beliefs then
founded should have perished.

XVI. — According to their RULES (of government or of re
ligion) they HAVE A SOUTHERN AND A NORTHERN PLACE OF CON
FINEMENT. AN OFFENDER WHO HAS TRANSGRESSED BUT SLIGHTLY
ENTERS THE SOUTHERN PLACE OF CONFINEMENT, BUT IF HE
HAS SINNED HEAVILY HE ENTERS THE NORTHERN PLACE OF CON
FINEMENT. IF THERE IS PARDON FOR HIM, THEN HE IS SENT

AWAY TO (or, possibly, from) THE SOUTHERN PLACE OF CON
FINEMENT, BUT IF HE CAN NOT BE PARDONED, THEN HE IS SENT
AWAY T"O THE NORTHERN ONE. THOSE MEN AND WOMEN DWELL
ING IN THE NORTHERN PLACE OF CONFINEMENT, WHEN THEY

MATE (or have mated), and BEAR (or have borne) CHILDREN,

THE BOYS ARE MADE SLAVES AT THE AGE OF EIGHT YEARS,
AND THE GIRLS AT THE AGE OF NINE YEARS. THE CRIMINAL

(or the criminal's body) is NOT ALLOWED TO GO OUT UP TO

(or at) THE TIME OF HIS DEATH.

The character FAH, ^J, which I have translated "rules," and
as to which I am not certain whether the reference is to rules of
government or to a religious belief, or to both, has heretofore
been rendered "laws." This is the natural translation if the
character meaning " country," which immediately precedes it, is
construed in connection with it ; for, while FAH, by itself, or in
other connections, usually means "religious canons," the com
pound, "a country's FAH," usually means "a country's laws,"
rather than a country's religion. Still, it is not certain that the
words, "in that country" (see characters Nos. 103 and 104,
Chapter XVI), are not the concluding clause of the preceding
paragraph, rather than the beginning of a new sentence.

458 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

This character FAH (often spelled FA) is used by the Bud
dhists as a technical term for the translation of the Sanskrit
word "Dharma," signifying — 1st, morality or virtue ; 2d, the law
or the moral code ; and, 3d, the material effects or the phe
nomenal world.853

The "Three Precious Ones" are Buddha, the personal
teacher ; Dharma, the Law or body of doctrine ; and Sangha,
the Priesthood.1274

There are three treasures, i. e., Buddha, the Law, and the
Church.566 This word Dharma has various meanings, but is
usually to be understood in the sense of "truth." It is not un-
f requently translated " the law " ; but this interpretation gives
an idea contrary to the entire genius of Buddhism. The Dharma
is therefore, emphatically, " the truth." 1439

In the Pali canon there is a remarkable book called Dham-
ma-pada, which was evidently of great authority in the Buddhist
church. The Chinese translation of this is called the FA-KHEU
KING, the character FA being used as the translation of the Pali
word Dhamma (the Sanskrit Dharma). ml

Beal translates FA by the phrase "system of religion," in
the sentence, "Venerable sir, what system of religion (FA)
has engaged your mind during your contemplation to
night?"565

Edkins translates the phrase FA-SHEN " the embodiment of
the (religious) law," 125° and C'HU-KIA FA (see characters Nos. 451
and 452, Chapter XVI), "the monastic principle." 1245 Other in
stances of the use of this character in a religious sense are in the
compounds " Buddha's FAH," for the rites and ordinances of Bud
dhism ;1472 "to develop FAH," meaning to disseminate or propa
gate religious doctrine ; 1474 " FAH conversation," for preaching a
discourse on religious subjects ; 1476 " FAH clothing," for a garment
worn by Buddhist priests ; 1477 " FAH assembly," for an assembly
of Buddhist priests ; 1478 and " FAH body," meaning shaven-headed,
like a Buddhist priest.1479

This technical use of the character by the Buddhists seems to
make it probable that Hwui Shan, a Buddhist priest, would em
ploy the word in this religious sense ; particularly as he might
have used some other character, if it had been his intention to
speak of the laws of the government.

On investigating the history of the Aztec empire, however,

THE INTRODUCTION OF ASIATIC CIVILIZATION. 459

we find that the statement is substantially true, no matter
whether FAH is understood to refer to law or to religion.

They had two species of prisons : one similar to ours, which
was called Teilpilojan, for debtors who refused to pay their
debts, and for those who had not merited the punishment of
death ; and the other, smaller, which was called Quauh calli,
made like a cage, for the prisoners who were to be sacrificed,
and for those who were guilty of capital crimes.1076 The Abbe
Brasseur de Bourbourg 71° and Mr. Bancroft 8n follow Clavigero
in this statement.

There is no indication as to whether it was the custom to
build the prison for those condemned to death in the northern
part of the town, and the other place of confinement in the south
ern part, unless such an indication is given in the fact that, in
the only case in which the location of this prison for condemned
criminals is mentioned, the one for the city of Mexico is said to
have been situated " over a mile north west-by-north of the cen
tral plaza of Mexico." (« Hist. Verdad.," pp. 70-71.) 461

If FAH is understood to refer to religious belief, however,
then the "prisons," or "places of confinement," must be the
supposed abodes of the spirits of the dead. The usual term for
" Hades," 148° or the place in which the Buddhists suppose the spirits
of the wicked to be punished, is TI-YUH, or " earth's prison." 1267
The Roman Catholics designate purgatory by the phrase LIEN
YUH, "fire-separating prison."2679 The characters TI-YUH, or
"earth's prison," which are usually applied to "Hades," are
sometimes also used 1044 to designate a jail.963

The future abode of the Mexicans had three divisions,1064 to
which the dead were admitted according to their rank in life
and manner of death.350 . . . The Aztec hero was borne in the
arms of Teoyaomiqui herself, the consort of Huitzilopochtli, to
the bright plains of the Sun-house, in the eastern part of the
heavens, where shady groves, trees loaded with luscious fruit, and
flowers steeped in honey, vied with the attractions of vast hunt
ing-parks, to make his time pass happily. Here also awaited him
the presents sent by affectionate friends below. Every morn
ing, when the sun set out upon his journey, these bright, strong
warriors seized their weapons and marched before him, shout
ing and fighting sham battles. This continued until they reached
the zenith, where the sun was transferred to the charge of the

460 AN INGLOKIOUS COLUMBUS.

Celestial Women, after which the warriors dispersed to the chase
or the shady grove.

The members of the new escort were women who had died
in war or child-bed, and lived in the western part of the Sun-
house. Dressed, like the warriors, in martial accoutrement, they
conducted the sun to his home, some carrying the litter of
quetzal feathers in which he reclined, while others went in front,
shouting and fighting gayly. Arrived at the extreme west,
they transferred the sun to the dead of Mictlan, and went in
quest of their spindles, shuttles, baskets, and other implements
necessary for weaving or household work. The only other per
sons who are mentioned as being admitted to the Sun-house, were
merchants who died on their journey. After four years of this
life, the souls of the warriors pass into birds of beautiful plum
age, which live on the honey of flowers growing in the celestial
gardens, or seek their sustenance on earth.

The second place of bliss was Tlalocan,* the abode of
Tlaloc, a terrestrial paradise, the source of the rivers, and all
the nourishment of the earth, where joy reigns and sorrow is
unknown, where every imaginable product of the field and gar
den grows in profusion beneath a perpetual summer sky. . . .
To this place went those who had been killed by lightning, the
drowned, those suffering from itch, gout, tumors, dropsy, leprosy,
and other incurable diseases. Children, also, at least those who
were sacrificed to the Tlalocs, played about in its gardens, and
once a year they descended among the living, in an invisible
form, to join in their festivities. It is doubtful, however, whether
this paradise was perpetual ; for, according to some authors, the
deceased stayed here but a short time, and then passed on to
Mictlan ; while the children, balked of their life by death or
sacrifice, were allowed to essay it again.

The third destination of the dead, provided for those who
died of ordinary diseases or old age, and, accordingly, for the
great majority, was Mictlan, " the Place of the Dead," which is
described as a vast pathless place, a land of darkness and desola
tion, where the dead, after their time of probation, are sunk in a
sleep that knows no waking. In addressing the corpse, they
spoke of this place of Mictlan as " a most obscure land, where

* Tlalocan is the name given by some old writers to the country between Chi
apas and Oajaca.701

THE INTRODUCTION OF ASIATIC CIVILIZATION. 4G1

light cometh not, and whence none can ever return." . . . The
indications are that Mictlan was situated in the antipodean re
gions, or rather in the center of the earth, to which the term
" Dark and Pathless Region " also applies. This is the supposi
tion of Clavigero,1066 who bases it on the fact ihatTlalzicco, the
name of Mictlantecutli's temple, signifies "center or bowels of
the earth." But Sahagun and others place it in the north, and
support this assertion by showing that Mictlampa signifies
"" north." The fact that the people turned the face to the north
when calling upon the dead, is strongly in favour of this theory.

McCulloh 1MI and others give a similar account of the religious
belief of the Aztecs.

It is evident that these three abodes of the dead are re
ducible to only two, which are radically distinct from each
other : a land of bliss, situated in the region in which the sun is
placed — a country of "perpetual summer" (and, therefore, nec
essarily in the south), which could be left by the spirits of the
dead after a time ; and a dark and gloomy region, "a place of
punishment," 853 from which there was no escape.

The Central Americans say that the future life is divided into
good and bad. The first is for the good. They represent it as
a life of delights, where they enjoy all the comforts of peace and
of abundant supplies, all the pleasures of the body, eating and
drinking, without pain or fatigue, under the perfumed shade of
a delicious tree, where they repose, sheltered from all the suffer
ings of the world. The second, on the contrary, is represented
as a place situated below the other, where they suffer all the tor
ments of frost, of hunger, and of sorrow, without any species of
consolation.645

That the " Hades " of the Mexicans was located in the north
is proved by the following quotations :

" Mictlan, the Mexican Hades, a place of the dead, signifies,
either primarily or by an acquired meaning, northward or toward
the north."329

" Mictlampa — to Hades — to the north. Mictlampa ehecatl,
the north wind." 874

" Mictlampa-ehecatl, the north wind, is said to come from
hell."361

" The second wind blows from the north, where the natives
believe the infernal regions to be placed," ?201

462 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

" The realm of Mictla, the Aztec god of death, lay where the
shadows pointed."805

" It is believed that the dead go to the north. It is for
this reason that, among their superstitious practices regarding
the dead, after they have enveloped them in their wrappings,
the bodies of the dead are seated with their faces toward Mict-
lampa, or the north." 2202

"In cases of interment [of the Mexican kings], the de
ceased was deposited in the grave seated on a throne, in full
array, facing the north, with his property and his victims around
him." 26°

The assertion of Hwui Shan as to the existence of two
places of confinement, one in the north and the other in the south,
is therefore fully confirmed.

There is a difficulty in explaining the statement as to the chil
dren that are made slaves, and in my opinion it may be found that
its source lies in the character P'EI, JJ(i, which I have translated
"mate." The word means "to compare, to place together,
to pair, to match,1475 to couple with, to unite," 1874 and hence
frequently refers to marriage, although it is not the character
which is generally used for this purpose. There are some
traces, however, of an earlier and different meaning. Thus the
Japanese use the character not only with the signification above
stated, but also with the meaning " to exile, to transport a crimi
nal," and, when it is followed by a character meaning " a place,"
the compound signifies "a place of banishment (for nobles)."1475
Prof essor Williams also gives the phrase gji J|L ^ ^ as meaning,
"let him enjoy perpetual felicity in Hades."2454 Here the last
three characters mean "to enjoy a thousand seasons," and the
reference to Hades must therefore be expressed by the first
character.

It therefore seems possible that the character may refer either
to a temporary, illegal connection — in which case the children
referred to are illegitimate children — or else to the banishment
or sending away (to an earthly prison, or to Hades) of the par
ents ; and in the latter case the children would be orphans. In
this case it would appear that Hwui Shan meant to refer to
children born before the parents were banished or sent away.

It is a well-known fact that slavery existed among the
Mexicans180 as well as among the nations to the south.125

THE INTRODUCTION OF ASIATIC CIVILIZATION. 463

Although it is stated by some authorities that the children of
slaves were invariably born free,180 there is much dispute on
the subject, and it is probable that this was a reform introduced
by King Nezahualpilli, not long before the coming of the Span
iards.4*6 The statement is repeatedly made "6 that parents could
sell their children 427 as slaves,179 and that this was often done, par
ticularly in times of famine.424

But little is said as to the condition of either orphans or
illegitimate children ; it is stated, however, that the latter were
not allowed to share in the property or the dignities of their
father,670 and that they were excluded from all public offices.526
Brasseur de Bourbourg667 and Bancroft270 both state that
victims for sacrifices were chosen from among the young boys,
from six to twelve years of age, born among them, but of ille
gitimate birth. De Olmos defines the word tlanamiqui, " he who
is born a slave or bastard," I992 thus indicating that the two con
ditions were practically identical ; and las Casas, speaking of the
permission given to the Spaniards to demand a certain number
of slaves from the Indian chiefs, says that the latter 925 seized
the children of their households to furnish the number demanded,
after having disposed of all the orphans, who were sacrificed
first. De Landa also states that in Yucatan the orphans who
had been reduced to slavery were induced to carry their com
plaint to the monks.1692

If, therefore, Hwui Shan meant to refer either to illegitimate
children, or to orphans who were left behind when their parents
were banished to the place of confinement in the north (i. e., to
the land of the dead), it seems quite possible that his statement,
that they were made slaves, is true.

There is nothing to show the exact age when slave-children
were compelled to commence active labour, but it may reason
ably be supposed to have been at about the same age as that at
which their more fortunate companions were first sent to school.
Cortez states this age to have been " seven or eight years," 1103
which is the same as the custom in Japan 1372 and China. Bras
seur de Bourbourg says : 668 " At the age of seven years the father
brings his son to the priest, and shows him how to draw blood
from various parts of his body," and 669 " the young girls are
also brought to the temple at the age of eight years."

It will be observed that in this case the age of the girl is

464: AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

one year greater than that of the boy, just as it is in Hwui
Shan's statement, but that the ages are seven and eight years
instead of eight and nine. This difference is explained by the
fact that Buddha allowed the age to be counted from the date
of conception,1194 instead of that of birth ; and that in Japan, and
(as I was informed by the late Professor Williams) in China also,
all children born during the year, even as late as the last day of
the twelfth month, are considered as being one year of age on
the next New Year's day.1681 Hence, children, whom the Spaniards
would call seven and eight years old, would be described by the
Chinese as eight and nine years of age, and the ages mentioned
by Hwui Shan are thus brought into exact accord with those
named by the Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg.

XVII. — FOB A SINGLE CRIME (or a crime of the first magni
tude), ONLY ONE PERSON (the Culprit) WAS HIDDEN (or SCllt)

AWAY. FOR TWO CRIMES (or a crime of the second magnitude),

THE CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN WERE INCLUDED IN THE

PUNISHMENT. FOR THREE CRIMES (or a crime of the third mag
nitude), SEVEN GENERATIONS WERE INCLUDED IN THE PUNISH
MENT.

The " seven generations," to which reference is made, prob
ably included the parents, grandparents, and great-grandpar
ents, the criminal himself, with his wife, brothers and sisters,
and his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

This custom of punishing not only the criminal, but also his
relatives, when a heinous crime has been committed, exists in
Asia. Thus Hardy says that, 146° if one man strikes another in
the street, he is merely fined for the offense ; but if he were to
strike the king, his hands and feet, and then his head, would be
cut off, and all his relatives, both on the side of his father and
mother, to the seventh degree of relationship, would be de
stroyed.

As to the existence of this custom in Mexico, Clavigero says
1074 that the traitor to the king or to the state was torn in pieces,
and his relatives, who knew of his treason and did not make it
known in time, were deprived of liberty.

Ixtlilxochitl writes 219 that the children and relations of the
traitor were enslaved till the fifth generation.

Bancroft 17S repeats these statements,202 and the Abbe Brasseur
de Bourbourg states that M4 the robbery of sacred things, prof a-

THE INTRODUCTION OF ASIATIC CIVILIZATION. 465

nation of the temples, and insult to the ministers of religion or to
the person of the monarch, were considered as high treason, and
that the culprit was punished with death, his goods were con
fiscated to the public treasury, and his family declared infamous.
In another place he mentions that 671 the property of every man
condemned to death is confiscated to the public treasury, and that
his wife and children are sold as slaves, without regard to the
rank to which they may have belonged, while673 all treason
against the state or the sovereign, the discovery of the secrets of
the government, or desertion to the enemy, brings the penalty
of death down upon the culprit ; his wife and children being
sold, and his goods confiscated.

He adds that 672 the vassal who runs away from his master or
his lord, if he is captured, is put to death, and his wife and chil
dren are reduced to slavery.

Fig. 14 is a fac-simile of an illustration of a Mexican manu
script, contained in the collection of Mendoza, preserved in the
Bodleian Library of Oxford, and copied by Lord Kingsborough
in the first volume of his " Antiquities of Mexico." The expla
nation is given in vol. vi 1M6 — and in a French work entitled
" Histoire du Mexique," published without name of author, date,
or place — that the central figure represents a cacique who re
belled against Montezuma, and who, having been conquered,
was strangled by two executioners. The figures at the right are
those of his wife and son, and the " collars " upon their necks
show that they have been reduced to slavery. In fact they indicate
that their wearers were reduced to a particularly severe form of
slavery, to which, as a rule, only the vilest were condemned.283

Punishment of a criminal, by the Aztecs.

466 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

XVIII. FOB A FATHER, MOTHER, WIFE, OE SON THEY MOUEN

FOE SEVEN DAYS, WITHOUT EATING. FOB A GEANDFATHEE OE
GEANDMOTHEE THEY MOUEN FOE FIVE DAYS, WITHOUT EATING.
FOE AN ELDEE BEOTHEE, YOUNGEE BEOTHEE, FATHEB's ELDEE
BEOTHEE OE FATHEE's YOUNGEE BEOTHEE, OE FOE THE COBEE-
SPONDING FEMALE EELATIVES, OE FOE AN ELDEE SISTEE OE
YOUNGEE SISTEE, THEEE DAYS, WITHOUT EATING. THEY SET UP

AN IMAGE OF THE spiEiT (of the deceased person), AND BEVER-

ENCE IT, AND OFFEE LIBATIONS TO IT MOENING AND EVENING.
IN THEIR MOUENING USAGES THEY DO NOT WEAE MOUBNING-GAR-

ME:NTS OE MOUENING-BADGES. A KING WHO INHEEITS THE

THEONE DOES NOT OCCUPY HIMSELF WITH THE AFFAIES OF THE
GOVEENMENT FOE THE FIEST THEEE YEAES AFTEE HIS ACCESSION.

According to Brasseur de Bourbourg,646 the Mayas had a
horrible fear of death. When they had lost a relative, they
wept for four days together, maintaining a sorrowful silence
during the day-time, and spending the nights in dolorous wail-
ings. During this time the wife of the deceased, if she was nurs
ing a child, retained her milk, not permitting the child to suckle ;
the fifth day a priest came to say that the dead was with the gods,
and that it was time to proceed with his funeral. De Landa adds
that they observed abstinences and fasts for the deceased,
especially in the case of a husband who mourned the loss of his
wife.1693

For the death of a chief, or any of his family, the Pipiles
lamented for four days, silently by day and with loud cries by
night. At dawn, on the fifth day, the high-priest publicly for
bade the people to make any further demonstration of sorrow,
saying that the soul of the departed was now with the gods.282
In Michoacan all remained seated, for five days, with bowed heads,
without uttering a word, except the grandees, who went in turn
by night to watch and mourn at the grave.584 Upon the graves
were placed flags, ornaments, and various offerings of food, dur
ing the four days of mourning. Visits of condolence, with attend
ant feasting, extended over a period of several days, however.261
The dead had a difficult road to travel before reaching their
future abode, which was on the fifth day after the burial.255
On that day, before daybreak, a grand procession formed for
the temple.257

If a Mexican merchant was killed by the enemy while he was

THE INTRODUCTION OF ASIATIC CIVILIZATION. 467

on a journey, his family made a mannikin of splinters of pine,
such as were used for torches. These were fastened together
and covered with cloth. When made, the puppet was clothed
with the garments of the defunct, and then was carried to
the temple. Here it was left for all of one day, during which
his friends wept over it as if it were the real corpse of the de
ceased merchant. At midnight the mannikin was taken and
burned in the court of Quauhxicalco and the ashes were interred
as usual.711

Although cremation was frequently resorted to in later days,
it seems to have been, at the time of the invasion by the Span
iards, a comparatively recent custom, and it is asserted that the
Toltecs who remained in the country after the destruction of the
empire adhered to interment, as did the early Chichimecs.258

According to Clavigero, when a king died they cut off some
of his hair, which, with some that had been cut off in his infancy,
they preserved in a little box, to perpetuate, as they stated, the
memory of the deceased. Upon the box they placed the image
of the deceased, made of wood, or else of stone.1010

Brasseur de Bourbourg says that,709 as soon as a king died, a
statue was always made in his image and placed upon the bed of
state.256 The chiefs of the senate, having the Cihuacohuatl at
their head, first paid their homage to it. It was then stripped of
its garments, and, after being washed from head to foot with
blue water, was reclothed and crowned with a diadem ornament
ed with a heron's plume. The singers approached it in turn,
having their faces tinted blue, and bearing flowers and perfumes
in their hands, to chant the praises of the king. . . . Both the
body and the statue were then transported to the temple of
Huitzilopochtli.

Bancroft gives the following account of the obsequies of a
king or chief : 2M " When the body had been thoroughly burned,
the fire was quenched, the blood collected from the victims being
used for this purpose, according to Duran, and the ashes, sprinkled
with holy water, were placed with the charred bones, stones, and
melted jewelry, in the urn or casket, which contained also the
hair of the deceased. On the top of this was placed a statue of
wood or stone, attired in the royal habiliments, and bearing the
mask and insignia, and the casket was deposited, at the feet of
the patron deity, in the chapel. On the return of the procession,

468 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

a grand banquet was given to the guests, ending as usual with a
presentation of gifts. For four days the mourners paid constant
visits to the shrine, to manifest their sorrow, and to present the
offerings of food, clothes, or jewels."

In Yucatan, people of condition made wooden statues of
their parents, of which the occiput was hollow ; they burned a
part of the body, and deposited the ashes in this receptacle, and
closed the opening. They preserved these statues, with much
veneration, among the idols, and kept both statues and idols in
the oratorios of their houses, where they were looked upon with
tenderness as well as reverence. On all feast-days and days
of general rejoicing they made offerings of food to them.1694

It is manifest from these statements that the Mexicans and
natives of Yucatan had a well-defined period of mourning, which
was usually of five days' duration. The early chroniclers would
hardly have paid attention to the deaths of the common people ;
and the customs of the indigenes were so soon swept out of exist
ence, that periods of seven days' mourning for the nearer rela
tives, and three days for the more distant, may have existed un
noticed.

The practice of making an image of the dead, which is men
tioned by Hwui Shan, and the reverence bestowed upon it, re
call a similar custom existing in China, which is probably to be
found in other Asiatic countries also. From the quotations
given above, it appears that this custom, with some modification
and distortion, survived in America until the sixteenth century.

As no mention of the use of mourning-garments in Mexico is
made by any of the historians, it is evident that the Aztecs
did not wear them. In China the mourning-dress consists of
coarse, unbleached linen robes and a white girdle.994 This refer
ence to the absence of mourning-garments is conclusive proof
that Fu-sang can not have been any part of Japan ; for, as will
be hereafter shown, the Japanese used them from the earliest
dates mentioned in their histories. Klaproth must have been ac
quainted with this fact, and it is, therefore, somewhat amusing
to observe the discretion which he exhibited in omitting from
his translation the clause which states that mourning-garments
were not worn in Fu-sang.

The custom of prohibiting the king from actively engaging
in government affairs, for some time after his accession to the

THE INTRODUCTION OF ASIATIC CIVILIZATION. 469

throne, was probably of Asiatic origin. At the time of the Span
ish conquest, it was the rule in Mexico that,425 before the corona
tion of a new monarch could be celebrated with fitting solemnity,
and in a manner worthy of his predecessors, victims for sacrifice
must be captured in large numbers ; it had become an established
custom for each newly elected king to undertake, in person, a
campaign with the sole object of procuring captives,161 and it
was always required that he should obtain some victory over his
enemies, or reduce some neighbouring or rebellious province to
subjection, before he could be crowned, or ascend the royal
throne.2356 Special mention is made of an expedition of this na
ture against the Chalcas, undertaken by Montezuma before his
coronation.423

CHAPTER XXVI.

THE INTRODUCTION OF ASIATIC CIVILIZATION. — (Concluded.)

The colour of the king's garments — Colours in Asia — Green and blue confounded —
The dyes used by the Mexicans — Changes of the king's garments — Dresses of
different colours for different occasions — Various species of mantles worn —
Changes because of superstitious ideas — Length of the " year " — Divisions of
the day — The marriage ceremonies — Chinese customs — Mexican customs at
tributed to Quetzalcoatl — Mexican weddings — The horse-carts, cattle-carts,
and deer-carts — Difficulties of this passage — Explanations suggested — The
introduction of the horse into America — Extinct species of horses in Ameri
ca—Indian traditions — Name may have been applied to some other animal —
Mirage — The Buddhist description of the " three carts " or " three vehicles."

HAVING thus examined the account of the king's coronation,
we may now turn back to the description of his clothing.

XIX. — THE COLOUR OF THE KING'S GARMENTS is CHANGED

ACCORDING TO THE MUTATIONS OF THE TEARS. THE FIRST AND

SECOND YEARS (of a ten-year cycle) THEY ARE BLUE (or green) ;

THE THIRD AND FOURTH YEARS THEY ARE RED ; THE FIFTH AND
SIXTH YEARS, YELLOW J THE SEVENTH AND EIGHTH YEARS, WHITE ;
AND THE NINTH AND TENTH YEARS, BLACK.

This connection between certain colours and the divisions
of time exists among a great number of the nations of Asia, and
the order of enumeration of the colours is, usually, exactly that
above named, i. e., blue, red, yellow, white, and black.934 Klap-
roth 1649 mentions the same symbolism of the years, of a ten-year
cycle, by the five colours above named, among the Mongols,
that Hwui Shan says was recognized by the dress of the king
of Fu-sang. The ten years were by the Tartars designated re
spectively by the colours blue and bluish, red and reddish, yel
low and yellowish, white and whitish, and black and blackish.
Hue, also, repeats the statement that,1576 among the Tartars and
Thibetans, the signs of the denary cycle are expressed by the

THE INTRODUCTION OF ASIATIC CIVILIZATION. 471

names of the five elements repeated twice, or by the names of
the five colours with their shades.

The Chinese emperor, acting as a high-priest,977 when he wor
ships heaven, wears robes of azure colour, in allusion to the sky.
When he worships the earth, his robes are yellow, to represent
the clay of this earthly clod. When the sun is the object, his
dress is red ; and for the moon he wears a pale white.

Neither the Chinese nor the Mexicans discriminated between
different colours to a refined extent, both failing to distinguish
green from blue,814 and the two colours are therefore, in both
languages, designated by the same word.

Brinton says that in Central America 814 the names of the five
main colours are constantly recurring as signs and metaphors.
They are white, black, red, green, and yellow. The poverty of
this list was eked out by certain terminations which modified
the force of the root indicating that the colour was light or
shaded toward white.

It is almost impossible 'to doubt that the coincidence of the
connection of the divisions of time with five colours in a certain
order^ which existed both in Asia and Fu-sang, must have been
the result of the introduction of the custom into Fu-sang from
Asia — probably by the five Buddhist priests themselves.

In the preparation of dyes and paints by the Mexicans, min
eral, animal, and vegetable colours were all employed, the latter
extracted from woods, barks, leaves, flowers, and fruits. In the
art of dyeing they probably excelled the Europeans, and many of
their dyes have, since the conquest, been introduced throughout
the world. Chief among these was the cochineal, nochiztle, an
insect fed by the Nahuas on the leaves of the nopal, from which
they obtained beautiful and permanent red and purple colours
for their cotton fabrics. The flower of the matlalxihuitl sup
plied blue shades ; indigo was the sediment of water in which
branches of the xiuhquilipitzahuac had been soaked ; seeds of
the achiotl boiled in water yielded a red, the French roucou •
ocher, or tecozahuitl, furnished yellow, as did also the plant xochi-
palli, the latter being changed to orange by the use of nitre ;
other shades were produced by the use of alum ; the stones
chimaltizail and tizatlalu, being calcined, produced something
like Spanish white ; black was obtained from a stinking mineral,
tlaliac, or from the soot of a pine, called ocotl.™

472 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

Sahagun 2205 gives a long description of the colours and dyes
used by the Mexicans, and says that 2219 they include cochineal
and several other red colours, yellow and a light golden colour,
black, indigo and other blues and greens, violet, and fawn colour.
Palacio tells us of priestly robes in Salvador of different colours,
black, blue, green, red, and yellow.273

It is said that among the Mexicans the king changed his dress
four times each day, and that a dress once worn could never be
used again.163 Concerning this custom, Peter Martyr, translated
into the quaintest of English, writes : " Arising from his bed, he
is cloathed after one manner, as he commeth forthe to bee scene,
and returning backe into his chamber after he hath dined, he
changeth his garments ; and when he commeth forthe againe to
supper hee taketh another, and returning back againe the fourth,
which he weareth vntill he goe to bed. But concerning his gar
ments, which he changeth every day, many of them that returned
have reported the same vnto me with their owne mouth ; but
howsoeuer it be, all agree in the changing of garments, that be
ing once taken into the wardrope, they are there piled vp on
heaps, not likely to see the face of Muteczuma any more."

In fact, there appears to have been a different dress for every
occasion.208 We are told, for instance, that when going to the
temple the king wore a white mantle, another when going to
preside at the court of justice, and here he again changed his
dress, according as the case before the court was a civil or crimi
nal suit. Sahagun also states that the king, when offering in
cense to the god Huitzilopochtli, during the ceremony of anoint
ment, was dressed in a tunic of dark-green cloth. The veil was
also of green cloth, ornamented with skulls and bones, and, in
addition to the articles described by other writers, this author
mentions that they placed dark-green sandals upon his feet.
("Hist. Gen.," tome ii, p. 319.) 16°

Cortez says that Muteczuma was dressed every day in four
different suits, entirely new, which he never wore a second time ; 1104
but Diaz makes the much more probable statement that mi a gar
ment which the Mexican king had worn one day was not per
mitted to be brought to him again earlier than after four days.

Sahagun,2204 in the eighth chapter of his eighth book, de
scribes sixteen species of mantles used for clothing the kings.
A first species, very rich, called coaxayacayo tilmatli (i. e., a

THE INTRODUCTION OF ASIATIC CIVILIZATION. 473

cloak with the figures of serpents), is of a reddish colour, covered
with silver circles, bearing upon a red field a figure of a monster
or a demon. The border is fringed and ornamented within with
figures like the letters S S, contained in little squares alternated
with others that are destitute of ornaments. On the ends this
fringe has small massive balls not very near to one another.
The kings wear these mantles, and give them to personages of
eminence, and to men who have distinguished themselves in
war, with permission to wear them. They also wear other man
tles, called teccizyo tilmatli (i. e., a mantle with large shells),
which are given this name because they are woven with designs
representing sea-shells in red tochomitl upon a field representing
the waves of the sea figured in light blue. This mantle is bor
dered by a first band, half light blue and half dark blue, and by
a second band of white feathers, with a fringe of red tochomitl,
not fringed out, but pierced with small holes.

They also wear another mantle, called temalcacayo tilmatli
tenixio (i. e., a mantle having mill-stones and with a border of
eyes). It is made of a cloth with a reddish-brown ground, in
which there are woven designs representing a sort of mill-wheel,
of which the circumference is black ; a circle, made of a larger
white band, is inscribed ; in the center there is a small ring sur
rounded by another of a black colour. There are twelve of these
figures grouped together, three and three, and forming a square.
The border of this mantle is formed by a fringe in which eyes
are represented upon a black ground. It is on this account that
it is called tenixio.

They also wear another mantle, called itzcoayo tilmatli (i. e., a
mantle with obsidian serpents). It has six saw-like figures placed,
two upon each side and two in the middle, upon a reddish field.
Between these groups there are figures like the letters S S alter
nating with others like O O. The remainder of the entire de
sign consists of two bands upon a fawn-coloured field. A fringe
extends all about the mantle, with a lace-work of feathers upon
a black field.

They also wear a mantle, called ome tetecomayo tilmatli (i. e.,
a mantle having two vases), which is strewed with representations
of very beautiful and very rich vases, with three feet, and orna
mented with two wings like those of butterflies. The lower part
is round, and red and black in colour. The wings are green,

474 Atf INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

with a yellow border and three small rings of the same colour in
each. The neck of this vase has the form of the ornaments of
the vestments of a marquis, surmounted by four small staves
embroidered with blue and red feathers. The designs of the
vases are represented upon a white field. This mantle has upon
its border, in front, two red bands, which cross the white bands
close together, two and two.

We will not describe the other mantles, as they are commonly
worn by all the world. But it is important that we should call
attention to the skill of the women whose trade it is to weave
them. It is they who trace the designs, when manufacturing
the cloth, and weave the coloured thread in place according to
the design ; taking care to weave in the same fashion that they
have designed, and changing the shade of the thread in conform
ity with the pattern which they follow.

They wear other mantles, called papaloyo tilmatli tenixio
(i. e., mantles which have butterflies and borders furnished with
eyes), which have a reddish ground, upon which butterflies are
woven in white feathers, each bearing a human eye upon the
middle of its body. These butterflies are placed in a row, reach
ing from one corner of the mantle to the other, the edge being
terminated by a border bearing eyes woven upon a black ground,
with a red fringe pierced with small holes.

They also wear another mantle, covered with flowers called
ecacozcatl, grouped in threes, and separated by small bouquets of
white feathers woven in the stuff. This mantle is ornamented all
around by a fringe and feathers, with a border of eyes. It is
called xaualquauhyo tilmatli tenixio (i. e., a mantle having an
ornament of eagle feathers and a border garnished with eyes).

They wear other mantles, called ocelotentlapalli yitic ica
ocelotl (i. e., having a tiger within, and a red-coloured border).
A tiger's skin is figured in the center of these, and for a border
they have a red band terminated exteriorly by a web of white
feathers.

The said mantles are worn because of superstitious ideas.
There is among them one called ixneztlaciulolli (i. e., that which
is worked in a manner very apparent), and another called ottin,
upon which the sun is figured in different colours and embroid
eries.

The sentence in italics, above, shows that the changes in the

THE INTRODUCTION OF ASIATIC CIVILIZATION. 475

dress of the monarchs were connected, in some way, with their
religious belief, and it seems that the different mantles were
used as symbols.

Prescott says that the dress of the courier denoted by its
colour the nature of the tidings that he brought,2064 thus indi
cating that his dress also was governed by a similar symbolism.
Bancroft, quoting from Zuago,262 mentions similar changes of
garments, even in the case of the wrappings of a corpse. The
statement is that the corpse was decorated with feathers of vari
ous colours, and seated in a chair to receive the expressions of
sorrow and respect of friends, and their humble offerings of
flowers, food, or dresses. After a couple of hours a second set of
shrouders removed the garments, washed the body again, re
dressed it in red mantles, with feathers of the same colour, and left
it to be viewed for an hour or more, according to the number
of the visitors. A third time the body was washed by a fresh
corps of attendants, and arrayed, this time, in black garments,
with feathers of the same somber colour. These suits were
either given to the temple or buried with the body.

In the case of the customs of courtship, the doubt was ex
pressed as to whether Hwui Shan may not have intended to indi
cate some other period of time than a year by the character 4£.
The very similar character ^ is used for noon,1876 or the time
from 11 A. M. to 1 P.M.,2675 and, although there is no proof that
the one first above given ever meant anything else than a year,
I can not help thinking that Hwui Shan may have used it to
denote the fractional parts either of a day or of the Mexican
week of five days.241

The Javanese, who, like the Mexicans, had a week of five
days, consider the names of the days of their native week to have
a mystical relation to colours, and to the divisions of the horizon.
According to this whimsical interpretation, the first means white
and the east ; the second, red and the south ; the third, yellow
and the west ; the fourth, black and the north ; and the fifth,
mixed colour and the focus or center.1134

The Mexicans had not only a week of five days, but also had
an accurate system of dividing the day into fixed periods, corre
sponding somewhat to our hours.234

The day commenced with sunrising, and was divided into
eight portions of time, a division recognized by the Hindus,

476 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

Romans, etc.1850 The hours of the night were regulated by the
stars,2595 and the ministers of the temple, whose duty it was to
watch them, sounded certain instruments like trumpets, by which
the town was informed of the time.

Among both the Mayas and the Mexicans, the natural day
is divided into four principal parts ; the first commences at the
rising of the sun, and closes at noon. Noon is called by names
which, both in Maya and in Aztec, signify the center or middle of
the day. Oc na Jcin, in Yucatan, and Quaqui Tonatiuh, in Mexi
co, designate the commencement of the night, and Chumuc Akdb
and Yohual Nepanila the hour of midnight. Each of these four
parts is subdivided again into two other equal parts, which corre
spond to nine o'clock in the morning and three o'clock in the
afternoon, nine o'clock at night and three o'clock in the morn
ing. Gama remarks that, besides these subdivisions, the civil day
is divided into sixteen parts, each having its own name ; eight
for the day and eight for the night. They commenced at the
rising of the sun, as among most of the nations of Asia.693

Now, although it may be admitted that some of the customs
existing in Mexico in the sixteenth century do not precisely
correspond with the statements of Hwui Shan, it seems to be
conclusively proved that, in each case, the Spaniards found in
Mexico something very much like the custom described by the
Buddhist traveler ; and I can not help thinking that the differ
ences are no greater than would be naturally produced by the
gradual changes which would inevitably occur during the period
of more than a thousand years.

XX. — THE MARRIAGE CEREMONIES ARE, FOR THE MOST PART,
LIKE THOSE OF THE MlDDLE KlNGDOM (i. 6., China).

In China there are six ceremonies which constitute a regular
marriage : 2502

1. The father and elder brother of the young man send
a go-between to the father and brother of the girl, to inquire
her name and the moment of her birth, that the horoscope of the
two may be examined, in order to ascertain whether the proposed
alliance will be a happy one.

2. If so, the young man's friends send the mei-jin (go-be
tween) back to make an offer of marriage.

3. If that be accepted, the second party is again requested to
put their assent in writing.

THE INTRODUCTION OF ASIATIC CIVILIZATION. 477

4. Presents are then sent to the girl's parents, according to
the means of the parties.

5. The go-between requests them to choose a lucky day for
the wedding ; and,

6. The preliminaries are concluded by the bridegroom going,
or sending a party of his friends, with music, to bring the bride
to his own house.

The principal formalities of marriage are everywhere the
same,2503 but local customs are observed in some regions which
are quite unknown, and appear very singular, elsewhere. In Fuh-
kien, when the lucky day for the wedding comes, the guests
assemble in the bridegroom's house to celebrate it, where also
sedans, a band of music, and porters are in readiness. The
courier, who acts as guide to the chair-bearers, takes the lead
of the procession, and, in order to prevent the onset of malicious
demons lurking in the road, a baked hog or large piece of pork is
carried in front, that it may safely pass while they are devouring
the meat. Meanwhile the bride arrays herself in her best dress
and richest jewels. Her girlish tresses have already been bound
up, and her hair arranged by a matron, with all due formality ;
an ornamental and complicated head-dress, made of rich mate
rials, not unlike a helmet or corona, often forms part of her coif
fure. Her person is nearly covered by a large mantle, over
which is an enormous hat, like an umbrella, that descends to the
shoulders and shades the whole figure. Thus attired, she takes
her seat in the red gilt marriage sedan, called hwa-Jciau, borne
by four men, in which she is completely concealed. This is
locked by her mother or some other relative, and the key given
to one of the bridemen, who hands it to the bridegroom, or his
representative, on reaching the house.

The procession is now rearranged, with the addition of as
many red boxes to contain her wardrobe, kitchen-utensils, and
the feast, as the means of the family, or the extent of her par
aphernalia, require. As the procession approaches the bride
groom's house, the courier hastens forward to announce its com
ing ; whereupon the music at his door strikes up, and fire-crackers
are let off until she enters the gate. As she approaches the door,
the bridegroom conceals himself, and the go-between brings for
ward a young child to salute her, while she goes to seek the
closeted bridegroom. He approaches her with becoming gravity,

478 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

and opens the sedan to hand out his bride, she still retaining the
hat and mantle ; they approach the ancestral tablet, which they
salute with three bows, and then seat themselves at a table upon
which there are two cups of spirits. The go-between serves
them, though the bride can only make the motions of drinking,
as the large hat completely covers her face. They soon retire
into a chamber, where the husband takes the hat and mantle
from his wife, and sees her, perhaps, for the first time^ in his life.

The bridal procession is as showy and stylish as the means
of the parties will allow,2504 consisting of friends, a band of mu
sic, sedans, and boxes containing the marriage-feast and other
things, all of them painted red, and their bearers wearing red
jackets.. The tablets of literary rank held by members of the
family, wooden dragons' heads, titular lanterns, and other offi
cial insignia, are borne in the procession, which, with all these
additions, sometimes stretches along for a quarter of a mile or
more. In some cases, an old man elegantly dressed heads the
procession, bearing a large umbrella to hold over the bride when
she enters and leaves the sedan ; behind him come bearers with
tablets and lanterns, one of which bears the inscription, " The
phoenixes sing harmoniously." To these succeed the music and
the honourary tablets, titular flags, state umbrella, etc., and two
stout men as executioners, dressed in a fantastic manner, wearing
long feathers in their caps, and lictors, chain-bearers, and other
emblems of office. Parties of young lads, prettily dressed, and
playing on drums, gongs, and flutes, or carrying lanterns and ban
ners, occasionally form a pleasing variety in the train, which is
continued by the trays and covered tables containing the bride's
trousseau, and ended with the sedan containing herself.

The ceremonies attending her reception at her husband's
house are not uniform. In some parts of the country she is
lifted out of the sedan, over a pan of charcoal placed in the
court, and carried into her chamber. After a brief interval she
returns into the hall, bearing a tray of betel-nuts for the guests,
and then worships a pair of geese, brought in the train with her
husband— this bird being an emblem of conjugal affection. On
returning to her chamber, the bridegroom follows her, and takes
off the red veil, after which they pledge each other in wine, the
cups being joined by a thread. While there, a matron who has
borne several children to one husband comes in to pronounce a

TOE INTRODUCTION OF ASIATIC CIVILIZATION. 479

blessing upon them, and make up the nuptial bed. The assem
bled guests then sit down to the feast, and ply the sin lang,
" new man," or bridegroom, pretty well with liquor ; the Chi
nese on such occasions do not, however, overpass the rules of
sobriety. The sinfu-jin, " new lady," or bride, and her mother-
in-law also attend to those of her own sex, who are present in
other apartments ; but among the poor a pleasanter sight is now
and then seen in all the guests sitting at one table.

In the morning, the pair worship the ancestral tablets, and
salute all the members of the family. The pledging of the bride
and groom in a cup of wine, and their worship of the ancestral
tablets, and in some cases a united prostration to his parents,
may be considered as the important ceremonies of a wedding
after the procession has reached the house. Marriage processions
are heard at all hours, though twilights and evenings are consid
ered the most propitious ; the spring season, or the last month
in the year, being regarded as the most felicitous nuptial peri
ods. The Chinese do not marry another woman with these ob
servances while the first one is living ; but they may bring home
concubines, with no other formality than a contract with her
parents.

The foregoing account is from Professor Williams's work
entitled " The Middle Kingdom." A very similar description
of the marriage ceremonies of the country will also be found in
the " Chinese Repository." 1032

The ceremonies of marriage which were in use among the
Aztecs were attributed to Quetzalcoatl, the mysterious stranger
to whom most of their civilization and of their arts was also at
tributed.828 (See Veytia, cap. xvii, in Lord Kingsborough's work.)

The laws of Mexico and those of Michoacan severely prohibit
all marriages between relatives of the first degree, either by con
sanguinity or affinity, except between a brother-in-law and sister-
in-law.706 The father, having made choice of a wife for his son,
first consults the priests, and, if the prognostics are unfavourable,
he looks for another. Certain female go-betweens, named cihua-
tlanque, demand her of her parents, repeating their overtures two
or three times, and offering presents, until the latter respond to
their requests. On the day of the wedding, the father and mother
of the betrothed give her a long discourse upon conjugal fidelity
and obedience, and exhort her to honourable conduct. Finally

480 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

they conduct her in pomp to the house of her future husband.
The latter comes forth to meet them with his relatives, preceded
by four women bearing torches, and the two parties, when they
meet, scatter perfume upon each other from their censers. The
young man then takes his bride by the hand and leads her into
his house, and they sit down together upon a mat placed in the
middle of the room, having a lighted brazier before them ; a
priest ties one end of the gown of the bride to the extremity of
the mantle of the bridegroom, this ceremony being the true es
sence of the matrimonial contract. After this they walk together
around the hearth or brazier seven times and throw into it some
grains of copal, and return to sit upon the mat, where they offer
presents to each other. The banquet then takes place — the guests
eating with the relatives, while the young couple remain upon
their mat and wait upon each other.

McCulloh,1849 Sahagun,2198 and Bancroft181 all give substan
tially the same account of the marriage ceremonies in Mexico,
and it can not be denied that they present a great similarity to
those of China, although they are mixed, as will hereafter be
shown, with some of the customs of India.

XXI. — THEY HAVE HOUSE-CARTS, CATTLE-CARTS, AND DEER-
CARTS.

This is the statement which has usually been relied upon to
prove that Fu-sang could not have been located in America, and
that it must have been situated in some part of Japan ; and yet
it is just as untrue of Japan as of America, for the Japanese
have had no roads upon which carts of any nature could be used,
and, until very lately,1314 the only vehicle employed in traveling in
Japan was the palanquin. In fact, there has never been a country
in which horse-carts, cattle-carts, and deer-carts were all in com
mon use at the same time. A nation possessing horses would not
be likely to employ deer as draught animals ; and the only coun
tries in which deer (i. e., reindeer) are employed are countries
in which horses and cattle could not well be used.

The statement in question might therefore be used in support
of the hypothesis of the utter falsity of Hwui Shan's story. So
many of the details mentioned by him are shown to be true, how
ever, that it is impossible to entertain this theory. The only
alternative is, therefore, to believe that the statement does not
correctly convey the idea which he meant to express.

THE INTRODUCTION OF ASIATIC CIVILIZATION. 481

A number of explanations may be given, no one of which is
very satisfactory, and yet it is infinitely easier to accept some
one of them, or to believe that an explanation of some kind will
hereafter be found for the statement, than to think that Hwui
Shan can have invented the account of his travels.

First. — The character CH'E, jfC, translated " carts," may possi
bly have been used as a sign of the plural. One of its meanings
is, "to be piled up, heaped up by laying one upon another, to in
crease in number by adding one to another," 11S3 and it is used as
the numeral for things placed one above another, as boxes, stairs
of a tower, or folds of cloth.1481 The character ]fr, differing from
it by only the addition of two strokes, is employed as the classi
fier of " heavens." 1029 The character J}£ (also very similar)
means " a concourse, a sign of the plural of persons, an adjective
of number, much, many, all ; 2525 but it should precede the noun.
PEI, S||, or ^, means " a class, a sort, things, kinds," 2553 and is a
sign of the plural,1875 or, as Summers expresses it, is one of the
characters "used after nominal notions to express plurality."8407
Still another similar character, jf, Klins, means "numerous, many,
a legion,1872 an army, troops." 2451

It is possible that the character may have originally been
some one of those above named, and that the text may have
been corrupted so as to read jjl.

Second. — Some of the characters may have been used as
phonetics, instead of with their usual meaning. Thus the phrase
may have been meant for " they have MA-CH'JS-NIU armies, or
deer-armies"; in which case, if the third character is pronounced
LIU (I and n being frequently interchanged by the Chinese), it
might possibly be considered as an attempt to transcribe the
Mexican word "mazatl," meaning deer.1513

Third. — It is well known that, at the time of the invasion by
the Spaniards, the Mexicans had no horses, or other beasts of
burden,755 and that their only way of transporting property was
by the use of porters.229 In New Mexico,1784 dogs were used to
carry burdens.1288 They were the only animals pressed into the
service of the natives of North America, and they merely drag
ged along the tent-poles, with possibly a few articles laid upon
them ; nothing of the nature of a vehicle having ever been
known.1851 The horse was introduced into America from Spain.13
Nevertheless, there seems a bare possibility that this animal may
31

482 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

have existed in America fourteen hundred years ago. Professor
Leidy says: 1975 "The horse did not exist in America at the time
of its discovery by Europeans ; but its remains, consisting
chiefly of molar-teeth, have now been so frequently found in
association with those of rodent animals, that it is generally
admitted to have once been an aboriginal inhabitant. When I
first saw examples of these remains, I was not disposed to view
them as relics of an extinct species ; for, although some presented
characteristic differences from those of previously known species,
others were indistinguishable from the corresponding parts of
the domestic horse, and among them were intermediate varieties
of form and size. The subsequent discovery of the remains of
two species of the closely allied extinct genus Hipparion, in ad
dition to the discovery of the remains of two extinct equine
genera (Anchitherium and Merychippus) of an earlier geological
period, leaves no room to doubt the former existence of the horse
on the American Continent, contemporaneously with the masto
don and megalonyx ; and man probably was his companion."

In another place Professor Leidy says that,1709 though no in
digenous species of horse appears to have existed on the Ameri
can Continent during the period of man, a number of them in
habited the country just previously and contemporaneously with
the great mastodon, the elephant, etc. The name of Equmfra-
ternus has been proposed for a species, based on remains found
in association with those of the mastodon, etc., although they
are neither distinguishable in size nor details of form from cor
responding parts in the domestic horse.

The proof will be presented in another chapter, that a species
of elephant or mastodon probably existed in America up to quite
a recent period, and the horse also may have lived during the
same time, and have recently become extinct.

Professor Powers says that,2060 many hundreds of years ago,
according to the old Indians, there existed on earth a horse and a
mare which were extremely small. The Indians called them by
a name (sd-to-icats)y which they at once applied to the first horses
brought by the Spaniards. They perished long before white
men ever saw California. It is possible that these liliputian
ponies of the Indian fable were the extinct species of horse
of which the remains have been discovered by Mr. Condon, in
Oregon*

THE INTRODUCTION OF ASIATIC CIVILIZATION. 483

Mr. E. L. Berthoud, in an article entitled " The American
Horse," 698 contained in the " Kansas City Review," for Novem
ber, 1881, mentions reasons for believing that horses were found
in South America soon after the discovery of the country, and
at a time and place when and where it is difficult to believe that
they could have been the progeny of any horses that could have
been introduced into the country from Europe.

Fourth. — It is possible that the name " horse " may have been
applied by Hwui Shan to some other indigenous animal ; or that
he may have seen a troop of far-off animals, and, because of the
great distance, or because of a mirage, have mistaken them for
horses. Marcy says that 1785 the very extraordinary refraction of
the atmosphere upon the elevated American plateaus causes ob
jects in the distance to be distorted into the most wild and
fantastic forms, and often exaggerated to many times their true
size. A raven, for instance, would present the appearance of a
man walking erect, and an antelope often be mistaken for a
horse or a buffalo. James states that 1612 nothing is more difficult
than to estimate by the eye the distance of objects seen in these
plains. A small animal, as a wolf or turkey, sometimes appears
of the magnitude of a horse, on account of an erroneous impres
sion of distance. Three elks, which were the first he had seen,
crossed his path at some distance before him. The effect of the
mirage, together with his indefinite idea of the distance, magni
fied these animals to a most prodigious size. For a moment he
thought he saw the mastodon of America moving in those vast
plains, which seem to have been created for his dwelling-place.
An animal seen for the first time, or any object with which the
eye is unacquainted, usually appears much enlarged, and inaccu
rate ideas are formed of the magnitude and distance of all the
surrounding objects.

Some of the early explorers say that wild horses existed in
Newfoundland prior to the year 1600,30 while others mention
goats and wild swine in Canada, and monkeys and apes in Vir
ginia ; all of these statements being evidently erroneous. Elks 28
are called cows or buffaloes,29 and there is scarcely a conceivable
case of misunderstanding or misnomer into which some of the
first explorers did not fall.

Montezuma,460 and the Mexicans generally,454 called the horses
of the Spaniards "gigantic deer." Some of the Indians with.

484 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

whom Cortez left a wounded horse called it a " white tapir" ; 198S
and Acosta,3 Clavigero,1057 and Charlevoix,944 941 all compare the
tapir to a horse, mule, or ass. Hwui Shan may have confounded
these animals, in the same way, and applied the term " horse "
either to some species of deer or to the Central American tapir.

The horse commonly seen in China is a mere pony, not much
larger than the Shetland pony ; it is bony and strong, but kept
with little care, and presents a worse appearance than it would if
its hair were trimmed, its fetlocks shorn, and its tail untied.2489
The antelopes, which are very common in Mexico 1514 and the
western part of America,2412 the females of which are devoid of
horns,1294 may have been compared to these small Chinese
horses.

I have mentioned these possibilities, not that I think any of
them probable, but merely because the truth might lie hidden in
some one of them. There is another possible explanation, how
ever, which I think more plausible, although it is not completely
satisfactory.

Fifth.— The Chinese Buddhists use the term ^ $> " the three
carts," " three carriages," or " three vehicles," for three modes of
crossing sansara to nirvana, as if drawn by sheep, oxen, or deer,
which shadow forth the three degrees of saintship; and this term
is further used for three developments of Buddhist doctrine.2523

One of the notes to the Pilgrimage of Fa Hian says that 18SI
the less translation and the great translation are expressions of
such frequent recurrence in the narrative, that it is well to ex
plain their import : Ta ching , in Chinese, means the great revolu
tion ; Siao ching, the little revolution. Ching signifies transla
tion, passage from one place to another, revolution, circumference ;
and also the medium of transport, as a car or riding-horse. Its
exact Sanskrit equivalent is ydna, and the significations of these
two terms are identical. But each of these acquires, with refer
ence to the doctrines of Buddhism, a characteristic and peculiar
significance. They are mystical expressions, indicating that in
fluence which the individual soul can and should exercise upon
itself in order to effect its transference to a superior condition.
As this action, or influence, and its results are of different kinds
or degrees, so they are distinguished into two, three, or more
ydnas (in Chinese, ching ; in Mongol, Jculguri) ; and, according
-as his efforts are directed to the attainment of greater or less

THE INTRODUCTION OF ASIATIC CIVILIZATION. 485

perfection, the Sanga (Buddhist priest) belongs to the less, the
mean, or the great translation.

The vehiculum, which is common to all the translations, is
the contemplation of the four realities, namely : pain, reunion,
death, and the doctrine, and that of the twelve concatenations.
By this means man is transported beyond the boundary of the
three worlds, and the circle of birth and death. Strictly speak
ing, there is but one translation, that of Buddha, the practice of
which is enjoined upon all living beings, that they may escape
from the troubled ocean of birth and death, and land on the
other shore, namely, that of the absolute. Buddha would at
once have spread abroad the knowledge of the Law, and taught
• mankind the one translation ; but he found it indispensable to
adapt his instructions to the various faculties of those who re
ceive them, and hence arose the different ydnas, or means of
transport. We may, in the first place, distinguish the transla-
tiohs of disciples or auditors and that of distinct understandings.
To these must be added a third, that of the Bodhi-sattwas, who
are beings far more nearly approaching to absolute perfection.

It is to the Tri ydna that the double metaphor is applied of
the three cars, and the three animals swimming a river. The car
is to be taken here as the emblem of that which advances by re
volving, or that which serves as a vehicle ; and the idea is con
nected to that attached to ydna, and the means by which man
may escape from the world and enter upon nirvana. To the
first car is yoked a sheep, an animal which in flight never looks
back to see whether itf be followed by the rest of the flock ; and
thus it represents the Shrdwakas, a class of men who seek to es
cape from the three worlds by the observation of the four reali
ties, but who, occupied wholly with their own salvation, pay
no regard to that of other men. The second car is drawn by
deer, animals that can look back upon the herd which follows
them ; this is typical of the Pratyeka Buddhas, who, by their
knowledge of the twelve Niddnas, effect their own emancipation
from the circle of the three worlds, and at the same time neglect
not the salvation of other men. The third car is drawn by an
ox, which typifies the Bodhi-sattwas of the doctrine of the
three Pitakas, who practice the six means of salvation, and seek
the emancipation of others without regard to themselves, as the
ox endures with patience whatever burden is imposed upon him.

486 AN INGLOKIOUS COLUMBUS.

A complete exposition of all that is understood by the ob
servance of these various classes would be nothing short of a
treatise of Buddhism ; suffice it that these modes of translation
are so many probationary steps, by which men are led to a higher
or a lower grade in the psychological hierarchy extending from
inferior beings to the absolute. Explained according to Eu
ropean notions, the less translation consists in morality and ex
ternal religious observances ; the mean, in traditional or sponta
neous psychological arrangements ; and the great translation
is an abstruse, refined, and highly mystical theology.

It seems possible that Hwui Shan may have meant to refer
to the " three vehicles " as above defined ; and to say that these
people who had been reformed, who had accepted Buddha's
doctrines, and some of whom had undertaken to live in monas
teries, had been taught the mysteries of these " three transla
tions," "three carts," or " three vehicles."

CHAPTER XXVII.

THE COUNTRY OF WOMEN AND ITS INHABITANTS.

Stories of Amazons — Account of Ptolemy — That of Maundevile — Marco Polo—
The Arabs — The Chinese — Similar stories in America — Explanations of these
accounts — " Cihuatlan," the Place of Women — The account given by Cortez
— Nuno de Guzman — The expedition to Cihuatlan — The monkeys of Southern
Mexico — Their resemblance to human beings — Stories of pygmies — Classical
tales — Pliny's account — That of Maundevile — The worship of Hanuman in
India — Chinese stories — The Wrangling People — The Eloquent Nation — The
Long-armed People — " Chu-ju," or the Land of Pygmies — Pygmies in America
— Mexican monkeys — Their long locks, queues, or tails — Their migration —
Their bickering or chattering — Their rutting-season — The period of gestation
— The beginning of the year in China, Tartary, and Mexico — The absence of
breasts — Nursing children over the shoulder — Young monkeys carried on
their mothers' backs — Long hair at the back of the head — A different trans
lation suggested — Age at which they can walk — That at which they become
fully grown — Their timidity — Their devotion to their mates.

HAVING thus completed the examination of Hwui Shan's ac
count of Fu-sang, we will next consider his statements regard
ing a country situated some three hundred miles to the east.
These have always been considered so wild and absurd that their
supposed falsity has been used as a strong argument for casting
discredit upon his whole story.

I. — Hwui SHAN SAYS THAT THE COUNTRY or WOMEN is

SITUATED A THOUSAND LI EAST OF Fu-SANG.

It is strange that a story of a region inhabited exclusively by
women, situated in some unknown or distant land, has existed
in almost every country. The classical accounts of a land of
Amazons were believed in up to the time of Columbus, and even
later.

Amazonia, as described by Ptolemy in his fifth book, is a
region of Scythia. The Amazons are female Scythians, who first
dwelt in the country near the river Don. Thence they removed

488 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

to a place near the river Terma, and finally they conquered a
great part of Asia by their arms.1751

Maundevile 1827 gives the following account of this mythical
country :

" Besyde the Loud of Caldee is the Lond of Amazoyne. And
in that Reme is alle Women, and no man ; noght, as sume men
seyn, that men mowe not lyve there, but for because that the
Women will not suffre no men amonges hem, to ben here Sov-
ereynes. For sum tyme, ther 'was a Kyng in that Contrey ; and
men maryed, as in other Contreyes : and so bef elle that the Kyng
had Werre, with hem of Sithie ; the whiche Kyng highte Colop-
eus, was slayne in Bataylle, and alle the gode Blood of his Reme.
And whan the Queen and alle the othere noble Ladyes sawen, that
thei weren alle Wydewes, and that alle the rialle Blood was lost,
thei armed hem, and as Creatures out of Wytt, thei slowen alle
the men of the Contrey, that weren laft. For thei wolde, that
alle the Women weren Wydewes, as the Queen and thei weren.
And fro that tyme hiderwardes thei nevere wolden suffren man
to dwelle amonges hem, lenger than 7 dayes and 7 nyghtes ; ne
that no Child that were Male, scholde duelle amonges hem,
lenger than he were noryscht ; and thanne sente to his Fader."

Marco Polo says that,1818 distant from Kesmacoran about
five hundred miles toward the south, in the ocean, there are two
islands, within about thirty miles of each other, one of which is
inhabited by men without the company of women, which is
called the Island of Males, and the other by women without
men, which is called the Island of Females.

The Arabs had a similar tradition regarding an " Island of
Women." im

The Chinese writings mention many countries of Amazons,23*6
one in particular being known as ;£ -^ |jj, NU-TSZ'-KWOH, and
said to be situated to the north of Wu-hien.

In the fabulous account of the origin of Ceylon, detailed by
Hiuen Ts'ang, it is stated that two vessels loaded with provisions
and necessaries set sail from Southern India, one carrying young
men and the other young women. The vessel on which the
damsels embarked arrived at the western part of Persia, in a
country inhabited by genii. Those who landed had children by
their intercourse with the genii, and established the " Great Oc
cidental Kingdom of Women." 1361

THE COUNTRY OF WOMEN AND ITS INHABITANTS. 489

De Paravey,2013 after enumerating several countries of Ama
zons mentioned by Chinese writers, says :

"The Chinese books also place an ancient Country of .Ama
zons near the Caspian Sea." "The Chinese texts name them
N'm-mou-yo, and also, by abbreviation, Niu-mou, and in this
name the character mou is written in three or four different
manners ; and it was undoubtedly the same with the character
2/o, which originally accompanied it. If the name is written
-£, N~iu, J|L, mou, ^ yu, it signifies l Women without Breasts?
and exactly translates the name given them by the Greeks,
A-mazons (from d, without, and [la&s, breast)"

It is well known that in America the largest river of the
world took its name from a similar story.2119 In Charlevoix's
" History of Paraguay " it is stated that, when Ribera was among
a tribe of Indians named the Urtuezez, he examined separately
many of the Indians of the neighbourhood concerning the coun
try that lay beyond them, and they unanimously told him that,
at ten days' march to the northwest, there were large towns in
habited by women, who were governed by a woman.943

Cronise, in his " Natural Wealth of California," makes men
tion of an ancient tradition to the effect that, when the Spaniards
first arrived in California, they found a tribe, in what is now
Mendocino County, in which the squaws were Amazons, and exer
cised a gynecocracy ; and Powers adds that he is inclined to think
that the fable was not without some foundation.2057 Hervas 1542 says
that among the Chulotecas in Nicaragua the men "are subject to
the women." Mention is also made735 of a cape of Yucatan called
the " Cape of the Women," and said to be so called because of
the idols of women which were found in a temple there.

The opinion has frequently been expressed that these tradi
tions regarding tribes of women may have originated from the
contemptuous application of the term "women," by warlike
tribes, to those in their neighbourhood whom they thought less
valiant than themselves. The Mexicans applied this epithet to the
Tlascalans,2080 when they approached the capital with the Span
iards, and also designated the Tlatilulcas by the same term.525

A more likely explanation seems, however, to be found in the
fact that when, as for instance among the Caribs,2116 the men
went on a military expedition, the women defended their homes
against the attacks of enemies ; or else in the custom — which has

490 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

been made use of by some timid and peaceful tribes when they
were threatened with attack by powerful enemies, or when they
wished to propitiate strangers — of sending the women to meet
them, while the men remained at home ; this action being con
sidered as a pledge of friendship and security.1125

Whatever the cause may have been, the fact remains that
among the Mexicans there were traditions not only of white
men, and men with beards, but also of a nation of Amazons.1860

In all the old maps of Mexico there will be found, upon the
Pacific coast, the name " Cihuatlan," sometimes spelled with an
initial S or with the h replaced by g or q. Scarcely any two of
them agree as to its exact location, the old maps of the coun
try being so incorrect that Clavigero says that he did not find a
single one among them which was not full of errors, as well in
respect to the latitude and longitude of the places as in regard
to the division of the provinces, the course of the streams, and
the direction of the coast.1051

In the " Munich Atlas," No. 6, supposed to have been drawn
between 1532 and 1540, the name appears with the termination co,
as Ciguatanco. De Laet gives the name as Cimatlan.1690 George
Home gives it as Ciguatlan, and says that it is situated in Cul-
vacan.1561 In Clavigero's map, Cihuatlan appears upon the Pacific
coast, in the province of Zacatollan, a little southeast of the city
of that name.1052 Ranking, who follows Clavigero, with the ex
ception of rectifying the latitudes and longitudes, places this
town or district in about 102° 30' west longitude, and 18° 30'
north latitude, some distance northwest of Acapulco.2141 Gage
places Ciguatlan upon the Pacific coast, almost due west of the
city of Mexico, and Siquatlan near Sacatula, a few miles back
from the coast ;1387 while d'Avity gives two places named Cigua
tlan, one near the extreme north and the other near the extreme
south of Mexico.78

Buschmann says that 894 " Cihuatlan" (meaning "the Place or
Land of Women ") is the name from which the south wind takes
its designation, and is applied to an old place upon the Pacific
Ocean, somewhat southerly from Zacatollan, and to a place
southerly from Tabasco, upon the eastern coast, apparently in
the land of Guatemala. Cihuatlampa is defined as meaning "to
the west," and the west wind is therefore called Cihuatlampa
ehecatl (ehecatl meaning wind), and he says that the word in

THE COUNTRY OF WOMEN AND ITS INHABITANTS. 491

question is derived from Cihuatl, " woman," combined with the
place-particle tlan, and the post-position pa, " toward, against,
near"; thus the compound means "toward the Woman's Land,"
or from there here, or it may also be denned as " toward Cihuat-
lan." 8™ Sahagun says that Cihuatlampa means "near the wom
en," and adds that the Indians supposed that the women who
died in childbed went to that part of the heaven where the sun
sets ; hence the term was used figuratively to denote the west.

The commander-in-chief of the Mexican army, who was slain
in the battle at Otumba in 1520, was named Cihuacatzin, meaning
"the honoured chief of Cihuacan," or of "the Woman's King
dom." 892

Cortez, in one of his letters to the Spanish emperor, says :
" Not only the province of Zacatula, but many others adjoining
it, offered themselves as vassals of your imperial majesty, name
ly, Aliman, Colimonte, and Ciguatan. A captain, sent on an ex
pedition to Zacatula and its neighbourhood, brought an account
of the land of Ciguatan, in which there is affirmed to be an island
inhabited by women without any men, although at certain times
they are visited by men from the main-land : and if the women
bear female children, they are protected ; but if males, they are
driven from their society. The island is ten days' journey from
that province, and many have gone there and seen it. They
also tell me it is very rich in pearls and gold ; respecting which
I shall labour to obtain the truth, and to give your majesty a full
account of it." no°

Nuno de Guzman undertook an expedition in search of this
land of Amazons, which, in some accounts, was stated to lie at a
distance of only three days' journey from the city of Mexico.2222

In an interview with the chief Tangaxoan, he, " thinking to
obtain information that would be useful to him in the expedition
which he contemplated making to the north of Mexico, inter
rupted him to demand a description of the northern provinces.
* Who of you,' said he, * has heard mention made of the cele
brated cities of Teo-Culhuacan and Cihuatlan, where the women
are sovereign to the exclusion of the men ? ' They answered that
they had no knowledge of them. ' Ah well ! I know where they
are situated,' replied Guzman, 'and I am in hope of going there
to conquer them, and one of you shall accompany me.' " 754

After a month's stay at Chametla, the army proceeded north to

492 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

the Quezala province, and thence to Piastla, easily subduing the
natives of the district. The women were becoming more beauti
ful as they continued their course, which seemed to indicate that
they were approaching the object of their dreams ; and indeed
glowing reports of Cihuatlan, the " Place of Women," confirmed
the marvelous tales which had reached the capital. . . . These
Spaniards awoke to disappointment when they learned, at Cihu
atlan, that the Indians had been telling stories to amuse them ;
that there was no Amazon island or other great wonder there
awaiting them. Yet for a long time they continued to talk of
these things, and in a measure to believe in them, though they
knew them to be false.473

Bancroft, in his " History of the North Mexican States," says
that Ciguatan, " Place of Women," was a province of eight pueb
los, on a river of the same name, also called, in Spanish, Rio de las
Mugeres, and apparently to be identified with the stream now
known as Rio de San Lorenzo. The name Quila, used in the
narratives, is still applied to a town on that river. The rich and
mysterious isles of the Amazons had been from the first one of
the strongest incentives to northwestern exploration in the minds
of both Cortez and Guzman. The cosmographer, by his vagaries,
had furnished the romancer with sufficient foundation for the
fable ; the tales of natives from the first conquest of Michoacan
had seemed to support it ; and as Guzman proceeded northward,
and drew nearer to Ciguatan, his hopes were greatly excited. Na
tives along the route were willing to gratify the Spanish desire for
the marvelous, or perhaps the interpreter's zeal outran his lin
guistic skill. The women of Ciguatan were represented as living
alone, except during four months of the year, when young men
from the adjoining provinces were invited to till their fields
by day, and rewarded with their caresses at night. Boy babies
were killed or sent to their fathers ; girls were allowed to grow
up. These details, with some variations, are repeated by each
writer as having been told before they arrived and as corrobo
rated more or less completely by what they saw and heard at
Ciguatan, where they found many women and few men. But,
as several of them admit, it was soon discovered that the men had
either fled to avoid the Spaniards, or to make preparations for an
attack. The Amazon bubble had burst ; but the soldiers were by
no means inclined to forget the marvels on which their imagina-

THE COUNTRY OF WOMEN AND ITS INHABITANTS. 493

tion had so long feasted : they continued to talk, long after they
returned to Mexico, of the wonderful City of Women.

Lopez, " Rel.," p. 443, says only three males and one thousand
women were found in one town. Armienta, "Apuntes para la
Historia de Sinoloa," says : " These towns were found to be at
this time inhabited by women alone, in conformity with a religious
vow which obliged them to live separate from their husbands for
a period of twenty Aztec years." He calls the Amazon towns
Abuya and Binapa, at the base of the Tacuchamona range, on
the other side of which was Quezala — confounded with the later
and more northern Casala. He also describes the reception at
Navito by sixty thousand natives. This narration, written for a
Sinoloa newspaper, seems to be mainly taken from Tello's work.

Oviedo, iii, 576-577, heard these tales from the soldiers in
Mexico ; but, meeting Guzman later in Spain, was told the truth.
This author says the chief pueblo was a well-built town of six
thousand houses. He also names Orocomay as another Amazon
pueblo. Herrera, dec. iii, lib. viii, chap, iii, calls the town
Zapuatan.491

Gomara suggests that all the stories of this wonderful land
may have originated from the name " Place of Women." 472
Whatever the reason may have been for the existence of this
name, the fact is beyond dispute that there was a region of
Mexico so-called ; and it is a proof of the lack of care, in former
examinations of Hwui Shan's story, that no one has ever called
attention to this fact in connection with his account. As to
the statement that the Country of Women lay to the east of
Fu-sang, a glance at a map of Mexico will show that the Pacific
coast of that country lies almost due east and west, and that a
region farther down the coast than that in which a voyager from
Asia would naturally land would lie easterly from it, as well as
to the west or southwest of the city of Mexico.

II. — ITS PEOPLE'S BODIES ARE HAIRY, AND THEY HAVE LONG

LOCKS, THE ENDS OF WHICH REACH TO THE GROUND.

The whole account of these inhabitants of the " Country of
Women " is so evidently a description of the monkeys of South
ern Mexico, that it is surprising that it has never before been
noticed.

Where monkeys are found, the idea seems often to have oc
curred to men to account for the resemblance of the monkey to

494: AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

mankind by making of the first a fallen or changed form of the
latter.305 According to the Quiches, when man was, for the third
time, created, the gods took counsel together. It was decided
that a man should be made of wood and a woman of a kind of
pith. They were made ; but the result was in no wise satisfac
tory. They led a useless existence ; they lived as the beasts
live ; they forgot the Heart of Heaven. Then was the Heart
of Heaven wroth ; and he sent ruin and destruction upon those
ingrates. Thus were they all devoted to chastisement and de
struction, save only a few who were preserved as memorials of
the wooden men that had been ; and these now exist in the
woods as little apes.301

The stories of pygmies have probably all been founded upon
the existence of quadrumana ; and it is not wonderful that a
traveler, passing through strange lands, and meeting many
remarkable tribes, with peculiarities and customs formerly un
known, should, when he first sees monkeys or apes, suppose that
they too are some strange wild tribe of human beings.

According to Latin authorities, the Pygmies are a small kind
of people living in Arabia, as stated by Pomponius in his third
book. As Pliny also writes, in his seventh book, the Pygmies
inhabit the farthest mountains of India, a region always health
ful and spring-like, opposite to the northern mountains, and
they are greatly molested by the cranes. It is said that, in the
spring-time, they, being armed with arrows, all descend to
gether, in an army, to the sea, and live upon eggs and young
birds ; being in such flocks that they can not be resisted. Gelius
testifies that their height does not exceed two feet and a quarter.
Their females bear young when five years old, and they become
aged at the age of eight years. 1756

Maundevile states that in1832 "the Lond of Pigmaus, the
folk ben of litylle Stature, that ben but 3 Span long : and thei
ben right faire and gentylle, after here quantytees bothe the
Men and the Wommen. And thei maryen hem, whan thei ben
half Yere of Age and geten Children. And thei lyven not but
6 Yeer or 7 at the moste. And he that lyvethe 8 Yeer, men
holden him there right e passynge old."

It will be observed that these accounts of the pygmies agree
in several respects with Hwui Shan's statements as to the pecul
iarities of the inhabitants of the Country of Women.

THE COUNTKY OF WOMEN AND ITS INHABITANTS. 495

Maundevile's account of an " Yle " in which " ben folk, that
gon upon hire Hondes and hire Feet, as Bestes : and thei ben
alle skynned and fedred, and thei wolde lepen als lightly in to
Trees, and fro Tree to Tree, as it were Squyrelles or Apes," mi
is evidently another variation of the descriptions of the quadru-
mana.

The notion of mountaineers with tails seems to have its origin
in the name of orang utan, or " wild men," given to certain apes
that particularly resemble the human species.1812

In India, the worship of Hanuman, a rational and very
amusing ape of the Hindu mythology, who, with an army of his
own species, assisted Rama in the conquest of Ceylon, has pro
duced a feeling of veneration for the whole race of quadrumana,
but particularly for those of the larger class, whose form ap
proaches nearest to that of the human race. Here we have a
variation of the customary confusion, however, as it has been
conjectured, with much plausibility, that in this case the so-called
monkeys of llama's army were in fact the half -savage mount
aineers of the country near Comorin.1817

Several cases of confusion between quadrumana and human
beings occur in the Chinese books. Thus the " Wrangling or
Remonstrating People " are described as a race of pygmies seven
inches high.2521 The people of " Lik-pit " are said to be about
three inches high, having wings, and because of their skill in
talking and joking they are called " the Eloquent Nation." 186S

In both cases there is an evident reference to the almost
ceaseless chattering of a troop of monkeys ; while the statement
that they have wings, is merely a figurative method of expressing
the lightness and ease with which they vault from tree to tree,
for, as Acosta says, 14 " they almost seem to fly like the birds."

The Chinese also mention a country of Long-armed People: 8556
again an evident allusion to some species of ape. One of the
most unquestionable references to a country inhabited by apes
is found in their account of the country of Chu-ju, the Land of
Pygmies.1553 A literal translation of Ma Twan-lin's account of
this land is given below :

" In the CHU-JU (or Pygmy) country, the people are only
four (Chinese) feet tall (or four feet eight inches of our stand
ard). It is south of the Black-teeth and Naked-people's coun
tries, which are four thousand H or more distant from Japan.

496 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

The ship should then go to the southwest for perhaps a year,
some ten thousand lit when the Sea-people are reached. They
have black bodies and white eyes, and are naked and ugly.
Their flesh is delicious, and the travelers sometimes shoot and
eat them."

The last sentence has usually been translated, "The travel
ers who are plump run the risk of being killed with their arrows,
and then eaten." The Chinese text, however, clearly indicates
that the banquet is not one at which the pygmies eat, but one at
which they are eaten. As the travelers referred to were not
cannibals, these pygmies can have been nothing else than apes.

In America, Hennepin reports that some of the Indians who
visited him from the extreme west, who occupied four months
in making the journey, said that beyond them there were pyg
mies, or small men.1469 Juan Alvarez Maldonado, who made an
expedition from Cuzco in the year 1561, reported that when he
descended the eastern range of the Andes, he had scarcely cleared
the rough and rocky ground of the slope when his party encount
ered two pygmies. They shot the female, and the male died of
grief six days afterward.1532

It will be seen, from the references that have been given, that
travelers in all parts of the world have frequently described
monkeys as people, or as pygmies, and yet there are, undoubted
ly, many who will be ready to denounce Hwui Shan as "a lying
Buddhist priest," because he falls into the same error, notwith
standing the fact that he gives an accurate description of the
Mexican monkeys, and mentions many peculiarities which were
never possessed by any race of human beings ; and one which
distinguishes them from all other monkeys of the world.

As to the monkeys of Mexico, the Encyclopedia Britan-
nica says that,1297 in America, north of Panama, the genera as
yet known to be represented are Chrysothrix, NyctipitJiecus,
Cebus, Ateles, Mycetes, and Hapale, in Veragua ; Nyctipithe-
cus, Cebus, Ateles, and Mycetes, in Costa Rica and Nicaragua ;
Ateles and Mycetes, in Guatemala ; and Ateles, in Southern Mexi
co. The statement is added that,1298 in the New World, the
highest northern latitude certainly known to be attained is 18°
or 19° (Ateles melanochir), in Southern Mexico, but they possi
bly reach even latitude 23°.

Nott and Glidden,1979 quoting from Richardson's " Report on

THE COUNTRY OF WOMEN AND ITS INHABITANTS. 497

North American Zoology," contained in the publications of the
British Association for the Advancement of Science, vol. v,
1837, p. 138, say that the monkeys which enter into the southern
provinces of Mexico belong to the genera Mycetes and Hapale.
They also mention Wagner's statement (found in the publica
tions of the Bavaria Academy at Munich for 1846, p. 51), that
apes are found in the southern provinces of Mexico.1978 Of the
two hundred and ten species of monkeys which were classified
in 1882, twenty-six belonged to the genus Hapale and seven to
the genus Mycetes™'1

The statement is made by Acosta that 14 all the mountains
of the islands, of the main-land, and of the Andes, have an in
finite number of Micos, or apes, which are of the race of monk
eys, but different from the fact that they have a very long tail.
Among them are some species which are three times or even
four times as large as the common ones ; some are entirely
black, others chestnut coloured, others gray, and others spotted
and mixed. Their agility, and their manner of doing things (leur
fa$on defaire), are admirable ; for they seem to have reason,
and to discourse with each other as they travel through the trees.

Clavigero says that 1056 all the species of quadrumana found
in that kingdom are known to the Mexicans by the general
name of OzomatU, and to the Spaniards by that of Monos.
They are of different sizes and shapes, some small and singularly
diverting, others of medium size, about as large as a badger, and
others large, strong, ferocious, and bearded, which, by some, are
called Zambos. These, when they stand erect, as they sometimes
do, upon two feet, almost equal a man in stature.

Hernandez states that 1502 they are of various sizes and colours,
some being found that are black, others whitish, and others
brown ; some being large, others remarkably small, and still
others of medium size ; others have canine heads, and nearly all
are burdened by clasping their young.

It is wonderful how they bend and throw the branches of
the trees, which they have climbed on account of the traveler ;
how they cross rivers by grasping each other with their tails,
and swinging from the trees over the neighbouring rivers ; and,
above all, how well they, when wounded with an arrow or shot,
bear the wound as well as men would do, and apply moss or the
leaves of the trees to the wound, in order to check the flowing
32

498 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

blood, and so, if possible, to save their lives. They raise one
little one, which they carry about with them, it clinging fast
and they embracing it with wonderful devotion and love. They
are found near the heights and chief peaks of the mountains.

If it be admitted that Hwui Shan was speaking of monkeys,
his statement, that they had hairy bodies, is evidently true, and
the long " locks," the ends of which reached to the ground, are
their tails.

The character translated " locks " closely resembles the one
since adopted for the Chinese queue. The ancient Chinese wore
their hair long, and bound upon the top of the head, somewhat
after the style of the inhabitants of the Loo Choo Islands, and,
taking pride in its glossy black, called themselves the " Black-
haired Race." 260° But in 1627, while the Manchus were in pos
session of only Liautung, they issued an order that all the Chi
nese under them should adopt their coiffure, on penalty of death,
as a sign of allegiance.1869 The fashion thus begun by compul
sion is now followed from choice.

III. AT THE SECOND OB THIRD MONTH, BICKERING, THEY

ENTER THE WATER (possibly " come down to the low lands or to
the streams," or perhaps " enter upon a migration " — the charac
ter SHUI meaning not only " water," but also " a trip from one
place to another"). THEY THEN BECOME PREGNANT. THEY

BEAR THEIR YOUNG AT THE SIXTH OR SEVENTH MONTH. (Prob-

ably of gestation, but possibly of the year.)

Four statements are made here, all of which are true of
monkeys, and none of which can be considered as to the same
extent characteristic of any tribe of human beings :

1. They migrate at a particular season of the year.

2. They " bicker " or " chatter " so much as to excite atten
tion to the fact.

3. They have a well-defined rutting-season.

4. The period of gestation is much shorter than it is in the
case of the human race.

Audebert says of the Sai or capuchin monkeys, that they go
in great troops in the trees, and it is particularly during the
rainy season that they are found thus collected together.71

The migrations of monkeys, and their habit of coming to the
water, in great troops, in the spring, are mentioned in the ac
counts of the pygmies which have already been given.

THE COUNTRY OF WOMEN AND ITS INHABITANTS. 499

The character fg, KING, translated "bickering," was originally
formed of " words " above " a man," and this was repeated ; thus
picturing two men talking to each other, both at once. No
more appropriate character could be used to indicate the chat
tering of monkeys.

It is strange that former translators should have imagined
that the statement of the text was intended to convey the idea
that their pregnancy was the result of bathing, rather than that
these beings had a regular rutting-season, which occurred at the
same season each year as that at which they came to the water.
The period of gestation is sufficient to put it beyond the pale of
possibility that Hwui Shan can have been speaking of any race
of human beings. In the case of the lower Simiadce, however,
gestation lasts about seven months, while in the Hapilince its
duration is only three months.1296

It is difficult to decide as to the exact months of our year in
which the second or third months referred to by Hwui Shan
would fall.

In China the year is lunar ; but its commencement is regu
lated by the sun, and the new year begins on the first new moon
after the sun enters Aquarius, which makes it come not before
the 21st of January, nor after the 19th of February.2506 The civil
year in China ordinarily consists of no more than twelve luna
tions ; but an intercalary month is introduced as often as may
be necessary to bring the commencement of every year to the
second new moon after the preceding winter solstice.961

The year seems to have commenced on the same day in Tar-
tary, for Marsden states, in his notes upon the " Travels of Marco
Polo," that1802 in the " Epochs Celebriores" of Ulugh Beig (the
son of Shah Rokh), translated by the learned Greaves, we are
informed that the solar year of the Kataians and Igurians com
mences on that day in which the sun attains the middle point of
the constellation of Aquarius, and this we find from the Ephe-
meris fluctuates between the third and the fifth of February, ac
cording to our bissextile. With respect to their civil year, we
have a satisfactory account in the " Voyage de la Chine," of P.
Trigault, compiled from the writings of the eminent Matt. Ricci,
who says, " At each new year, which commences with the new
moon which precedes or closely follows the fifth of February,
from which the Chinese date the commencement of spring, an

500 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

embassador is sent from each province to pay an official visit to
the king " : by which we should understand the new moon that
falls the nearest to (either before or after) the time of the sun's
reaching the middle point of Aquarius ; and consequently the
festival can not be assigned to any particular day of the Euro
pean calendar.

It has been frequently attempted to fix accurately the time
when the Mexican year commenced, according to our dates ; 143
but there is no agreement upon this point between the old histo
rians, and although many elaborate calculations have been made,
for the purpose of verifying the one or the other statement, the
results seldom agree with one another.

Sahagun says that 1407 in some places they told him that it
commenced on a certain day in January ; in others, on the first
of February ; in others, in the beginning of March. Having
assembled in the Tlaltelolco many old Indians, the most sagacious
that could be found, and the ablest of the Spanish professors,
they discussed the matter several days, and they all concluded by
saying that the year commenced on the second day of February.

As the years were of 365 days, and thirteen days were added
at the end of fifty-two years, the first day of the year must have
varied through a cycle of thirteen days, and this will explain
some of the discrepancies quoted below.

In a table, presented by Bancroft,237 it is shown that Sahagun,
Martin de Leon, and Veytia say the year began on February
2d ; Acosta, de Laet, Clavigero, Klemm, and Carbajal Espinoso
say February 26th ; the Codex Vaticanus and Codex Telleriano
Remensis say February 24th ; Motolinia and Duran say March
1st ; Gemelli Careri says April 10th ; Gama (who is followed by
Humboldt and Gallatin) says January 9th ; Mueller says March
20th. In the fragment of the Tarasca calendar, preserved by
Veytia, it is said that the year commenced on March 22d.695

There is a similar disagreement as to the name of the month
which began the Mexican year. Sahagun, Torquemada, and
Clavigero say that the first month was the one variously called
Atlcahualco, Quahuitlehua, Cihuailhuitl, or Xilomanaliztli ; 327
Martin de Leon, Duran, Yetancurt, Klemm, Brasseur de Bour-
bourg, Carbajal Espinoso, and the Codex Vaticanus concur in
this statement. Gomara, Gemelli Careri, de Laet, and Mueller
give Tlacaxipehualiztli as the first month, with the synonym of

THE COUNTRY OF WOMEN AND ITS INHABITANTS. 501

Cohuailhuitl; Veytia and Lorenzana give the first month as Ate-
moztli ; and Leon y Gama (repeated by Humboldt and Gallatin)
names Tititl or Itzcalli as the first month.236 Other authors as
sign the first place respectively to those months which are either
the last, the third, or the fourth month, according to Gama.1401

Whatever the month may have been, the calendar was sub
stantially the same in Yucatan, Chiapas, Guatemala, Nicaragua,
and Oaxaca as on the Aztec plateau, thus furnishing a convincing
proof of the identity of their civilization ; 69S with the exception
of some variants of little importance, and some difference in the
arrangement of the names, the days of the month are found to
be everywhere the same, their meanings being probably identical
in the greater number of the different languages.694

The weight of evidence preponderates so greatly that the first
of the year occurred some time in the latter part of the month
of February, that we can assume with a tolerable degree of cer
tainty that the " second or third month," referred to by Hwui
Shan, corresponded nearly with our month of May.

IV. THE FEMALE-PEOPLE ARE DESTITUTE OF BREASTS IN

FRONT OF THE CHEST, but BEHIND, AT THE NAPE OF THE NECK

(or back of the head), THEY HAVE HAIR-ROOTS (short hair, or a
bunch of hair, or a hairy organ), AND IN THE MIDST OF THE

WHITE HAIR IT IS PLEASING TO THE TASTE (or there is juice).

The explanation has been made that this statement probably
arose from the fact that in some countries it has been the custom
for mothers to nurse their children over their shoulders. Mor
gan mentions the existence of this practice in the valley of the
Columbia, and among the Esquimaux, and the Village Indians of
Colorado.1957 Petitot says that the women of the Dene-dindjies
carry their young children upon their back ; 20J8 and Powers
refers to the custom as in existence among the California In
dians.2058

The true explanation may possibly be found in the fact that
it is the custom of monkeys to carry their young upon their
back, and the latter hang on with teeth and nails, in order to
retain their places as their mothers bound from tree to tree.
Wafer says,2463 "They skip from bough to bough, with the
young ones hanging at the old ones' back." Herndon says
that,1534 among the monkeys of Brazil, the mother carries the
young upon her back until it is able to go alone. Dobrizhoffer

502 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

states that,1210 in the woods, when quite young, they are carried
about on the backs of their mothers, round whose necks they
put their arms, like infants, and in this manner are borne along
the boughs of trees, wherever there is any chance of finding
food ; and Dampier confirms the statement as follows : im " The
female monkeys find it difficult to leap with their young after
the males. They usually have two, of which they carry one
under one of their arms, and the other, which is seated upon its
mother's back, holds on with its two paws clasped about her neck
in front."

It would not be surprising if a traveler, seeing the young so
clinging to their mothers, should fancy that they were nursing.

Long hair at the nape of the neck, or back of the head,
whitish at the roots, is a peculiarity of some varieties of the genus
Hapale^ found nowhere else in the world except in Mexico and
south of that country.

The Encyclopaedia Britannica says,1295 "As to the head,
long hair is found thereon in Hapale cedipus, and long hair is de
veloped from the shoulders in Hapale humeralifer" Nott and
Glidden give a picture of Hapale cedipus, showing it to be dis
tinguished, from all the other species pictured, by longhair at the
back of the head and neck.1976 Audebert, in his description of
this species, says that 72 the top of the head is ornamented with
long, white hair, which forms a species of plume, which is all the
more remarkable from the fact that the rest of the head is bare.

In the female quadrumane there is no protrusion of the breast
as in the human being,1320 or, in the words of Owen,2008 " the in
tegument covering the mammary gland is not protruded by its
enlargement in the form of a hemispheroid ' breast ' ; it is cov
ered with hair, like the rest of the body."

Since the foregoing was written, Mr. Saum Song Bo has
suggested to me a translation of this clause of the Chinese text
which, while it is not strictly in accordance with the classical
signification of the characters, yet seems to me to convey the
idea which Hwui Shan intended to express.

In common, every-day use, the character J|[, HIANG, is some
times employed for J|(, TING, "the top or tip" of anything ; this
confusion being caused partly by the great similarity between
the two characters, and partly by the fact that the signification
of "top" is merely an extension of the original meaning of HIANG,

THE COUNTRY OF WOMEN AND ITS INHABITANTS. 503

" the back or upper part of the head " ; very many Chinese
characters having, in the course of centuries, had their original
power so enlarged. HIANG is therefore sometimes applied (col
loquially) to the top of a mountain, or the tip of a finger.

Doolittle's "Vocabulary and Hand-Book of the Chinese
Language " 1215 gives ^ B|> as meaning "nipple."

The characters are so much alike that it is possible that Jg,
HIANG, has been substituted for Jf|, TING, or jjjj, T'EU, in the
original text. I am strongly inclined to think that this change
has been made, or that, if Hwui Shan used the character HIANG,
he employed it with the meaning " top " or " tip " (of the breast),
i. e., the " nipple," and that what he intended to say was :

" The female-people are destitute of breasts in front of the
chest, and back from the " tip " (i. e., the nipple) they have short-
hair (i. e., the whole chest or breast is, with the exception of the
nipple, covered with hair), and the milk issues from the midst of
this whitish hair."

This statement is strictly true, and the common or colloquial
use of the word gives some ground for thinking this to have
been Hwui Shan's meaning ; notwithstanding the fact that the
classical dictionaries recognize only the fundamental signification
of the character.

Y. — THEY NURSE THEIR YOUNG FOB ONE HUNDRED DAYS, AND

THEY CAN THEN WALK. WHEN THREE OR FOUR YEARS OLD, THEY
BECOME FULLY GROWN. THIS IS TRUE ! WHEN THEY SEE A
HUMAN BEING, THEY ARE AFRAID AND FLEE TO ONE SIDE. THEY

VENERATE (or are devoted to) THEIR HUSBANDS (or mates).

The statements regarding the age at which they are able to
walk and become fully grown are, of course, untrue of any race
of human beings ; but they are in curious accordance with the
classical tales of the pygmies.

The assertion, that they are afraid and flee to one side when
they see a human being, states a characteristic peculiarity of the
quadrumana, and well describes their timidity and agility. Pro
fessor Williams's translation, in which he substitutes " man " for
" human being," seems inadmissible, as the Chinese word ^, JAN,
signifies homo, not vir. There is no trace of sex in its meaning ;
it is applied as often to women as to men, and it is necessary
to prefix NAN, " male," or NU, " female," whenever it is wished to
express the gender. His translation, " They are afraid of having

5(M AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

husbands," differs from that of all others who have transcribed
the phfase ; and there seems to be no reason for doubting that
the true rendering is, " They venerate their husbands " : the
character -g, WEI, expressing veneration, respect, awe, or devo
tion, rather than an abject fear.

It is well known that monkeys are very faithful and affec
tionate to their mates, and many affecting tales are told of the
devotion shown by these animals toward their mates when the
latter have been shot.1218

It is very singular that the assertion that these peculiar
beings inhabited a land called the Country of Women should,
for more than a century, have caused them to be considered
Amazons, in spite of the fact that they were expressly stated to
have " husbands," to whom they were faithful and devoted.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

THE COUNTRY OF WOMEN AND ITS INHABITANTS. — (Concluded.)

The habit of standing erect — The colour of the inhabitants — Albinos — Aztlan,
" the White Land "—The mountain Iztaccihuatl, or " the White Woman "—
The Iztauhyatl, or " salt-plant " — The salt of the Mexicans and Chinese —
References of Sahagun to the Iztauhyatl — An erroneous identification —
References to it by Hernandez — The salt-weed — The sage-brush — The char
acteristic vegetation of Mexico — Food of the monkeys — Cattle and game
fattened upon the white sage — Its value in Asia — The Mexican rainy season
— The preceding month of "hard times" — Difficulty of obtaining food at
this season — Animals coming to lowlands in the spring to feed upon the
early vegetation — A sweet variety of sage — The use of an herb to sweeten
meat — Chinese description of monkeys — An Aztec pun — Shipwreck of a
Chinese fishing-boat — Corean fishing-boats — Japanese vessels wrecked on
the American coast — The land reached thought to be that mentioned by
Hwui Shfin — The women of the country — The language that could not be
understood — Heads like those of puppies — The Cynocephali — Their voices
— Barking Indians — Their food — Their clothing — Their dwellings — The door
ways.

THERE seems to be some difficulty in accurately translating
the sentence next to be considered.

VI. — ITS PEOPLE'S MANNER OF APPEARANCE is STRAIGHT
ERECT (or is very correct), AND THEIR COLOUR is (or their coun
tenances are) A VERY PURE WHITE.

The two characters, translated " straight erect," are defined
as meaning " upright, either physically or morally." The two
rendered " manner of appearance," mean " air, manner, appear
ance," when considered separately, and "the aspect of one's
manner, the appearance, air, demeanour," when taken together.
The word for " colour " also means " countenance," or " beauty."
D'Hervey translates this phrase : "The women of this kingdom
have very regular features and very white faces," while Professor
"Williams gives the rendering : " The people are very sedate and
formal ; their colour is exceedingly clear and white."

506 AN INGLOKIOUS COLUMBUS.

My own opinion is that it was Hwui Shan's intention to men
tion a fact, to which he would never have thought of referring
if he had been speaking of real men, and that was the ability of
these peculiar beings to stand erect. As to the colour (which
may be no more than the colour of their faces), it is the general
statement that, while many or most of the monkeys of Southern
Mexico are dark in colour, some of them are white.2463 Audebert
says of the Hapale cedipus 72 that the breast, the abdomen, the
arms, the fore part of the legs, and the four extremities are white ;
and of the capuchin monkey, that, while it has undoubtedly taken
its name from the brown colour of most of this species, it varies as
to colour,71 there being some which are black and white, and
others gray and yellowish. He mentions particularly a white-
throated species, which differs from the capuchin monkey, prop
erly so-called, by having a flesh-coloured face, and hair of a
beautiful white colour over the cheeks, the fore-arms, and the
breast.

Possibly Hwui Shan confounded the stories of these peculiar
inhabitants of Cihuatlan with the accounts of albinos which seem
to have always existed in this part of the world. Wheeler,2475
Bell,582 Emory,1285 and McCulloh,1858 all speak particularly of the
number of albinos to be found among the Zuiiis ; Wafer gives a
long description of those found near the Isthmus of Panama,2464
and Gabb 139° mentions the general report in Costa Rica that
some of the Guatusos are of light colour, and have brown hair,
one woman being described as being " as white as an English
woman." Either the existence of these Albinos, or the fact that
Aztlan, the name of the traditional home of the Nahuas, or
Aztecs, means literally " the White Land," 806 may have given rise
to numerous tales of a tribe of white people to be found some
where in America.

The belief that the inhabitants of Cihuatlan were white, and
were women, may, however, have arisen from the circumstance
that one of the highest mountains of Mexico bears the name of
Iztaccihuatl, an Aztec term meaning " the White Woman," de
riving this appellation from the fact that it mimics in its form
a fantastic dame clothed in white drapery.2596 The accompany
ing engraving (Fig. 15), copied from a photograph by Kilburn
Brothers, of Littleton, N. H., contained in Mr. Becher's book
entitled " A Trip to Mexico," 571 will show why the mountain re-

THE COUNTRY OF WOMEN AND ITS INHABITANTS. 507

ceived its name. As all the region about Pike's Peak was once
known as " the Pike's Peak country," so the district in the neigh
bourhood of " the White Woman " may have been referred to

FIG. 15. — The mountain called Iztaccihuatl, or " the White Woman."

as " the White Woman's country," and a visitor landing upon the
coast of Mexico, and making his way some little distance into the
interior, may have had this mountain pointed out to him, rising
far off in the southeast, and told, " There : there, in ' the White
Woman's country,' these strange beings are to be found."

VII. — THEY EAT THE SALT-PLANT. ITS LEAVES RESEMBLE
those of the plant called by the Chinese THE SIE-HAO (a species
of absinthe or wormwood), BUT ITS ODOUR is MORE FRAGRANT,

AND ITS TASTE IS SALTISH.

Professor Williams translates the opening words of this sen
tence, " They eat pickled greens " ; but in this he differs from
all other translators, and can hardly be right. As the Chinese
characters are generally used to express an idea in its broadest
sense, the same word which is used for " salt " might also be
employed for " saltish " and " salted," but, while the character
occurring in this sentence might possibly be used with the mean
ing " salted " or " pickled," its more usual signification is " salt in
taste, salty," 149° "saltish, briny, of a saltish taste." 1871 The char
acter TS'AO, ffi translated " plant," is the word from which the

508 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

English term " soy " has been derived, and is applied to all plants
used for salad — as lettuce, cabbage, and spinach — and also to the
leaves of turnips and radishes when used as greens.984 Hence
it will be seen that the characters translated " salt-plant " might
also mean " salted plants " or " pickled greens " ; but the con
nection is such that there seems no good reason to doubt that
the correct rendering is that given at the head of this section.

When I first saw the phrase, " They eat the * salt-plant,' " I
turned to the Aztec dictionaries to see whether they gave any
term equivalent to " salt-plant," and immediately found the word
" IZTAUHYATL " 606 defined as " absinthe," " axenxios, o asemios
yerua" m4 or " wormwood." 861 This word is evidently a com
pound of iztatl,1905 "salt" 607 (the terminal tl being dropped in com
pounding, according to the usual rule), with a form of the verbal
root hueya™ "to grow, to increase." The plant in question
therefore corresponds, both in its name and in the botanical
family of which it is a member, with the description of Hwui
Shan. It undoubtedly derived its name from its taste, which
must more resemble that of the crude, bitter salt, containing
magnesia, which is made in China by the evaporation of sea-
water,2486 or the alkaline efflorescence used by the Indians of Mexi
co,2593 than that of the refined article to which we are accustomed.

As to the plant in question, Sahagun states that, the evening
before the feast of Uixtocihuatl* (the goddess of salt), the women,
old and young, and the girls, devote themselves to dancing,9180
moving in a ring, united by small cords, of which each holds an
end, which are called xochimecatl (i. e., flowery ropes ; from xoch-
itl, flowers, and mecatl, a rope, cord, or garland), and which are
wreathed with the flowers of the absinthe of the country, which
is called iztauhyatl. The French translators of Sahagun's work add
a note, stating that the plant is the Artemisia laciniata, and is
called in Spanish estafiate (an evident corruption of the Aztec
name). The botanical name was probably given on the author
ity of Colmeiro ; 1089 but Professor Asa Gray informs me that it can
not be correct, as the Artemisia laciniata is a native of Asia, and
is not found in America.

Sahagun, in other places, refers to it as an odourif erous plant,
resembling the absinthe of Spain,2216 and also says that it " resem-

* This name should evidently be spelled Iztacihuatl, from iztatl, salt, and
cihuatl, woman. — E. P. V.

THE COUNTRY OF WOMEN AND ITS INHABITANTS. 509

bles the incense used in Spain." 2185 Bancroft describes it as " a
sweet- smelling herb." 188 Hernandez makes a number of refer
ences to it, but seems to treat it as a plant too common and too
well known to be worthy of description. He says, for instance,
that the tzaguangueni is an herb having long, large, and narrow
leaves, divided into five parts, and resembling the iztauhyatl, or
Indicum absinthium.1509 The flowers of the tlanoquilonipatU,
which are described as " yellowish and growing in a thin spike,"
are said to be not dissimilar to those of the absinthium.1507 A
decoction of xoxocapatli and iztauhiatl is said to be used as a
remedy for pains in the joints.1503 The yztacchyatl, or "bitter
salt " (possibly a mere variant of the name iztauhyatl), is de
scribed 1506 as an herb similar in form and properties to absinthe,
and is said to be, on that account, indiscriminately substituted
for the latter in New Spain. Two species are known, the broad-
leaved and the narrow-leaved. It grows in temperate and warm
places, and its seeds, having probably been carried to Spain for
sale, have been dispersed there. It is used to cure pains arising
from cold, for colic, and for the bowels. Quauh yetl or picietl
(two species of tobacco) is usually added, to strengthen the inter
nal organs ; it is beneficial to patients who are suffering from
nausea, and to infants that throw up milk. Administered with
ecapatli, or the Laurus Indica, it acts as a physic : the decoc
tion is used to bathe the swelled legs of the infirm. Hernandez
also describes a plant named the iztauhyapatli, and as "patli "
means " remedy," the compound is equivalent to " the Iztauhyatl
remedy," and the plant is therefore very probably the same that
is elsewhere called the yztauhyatl, or iztauhyatl. This is de
scribed as follows : " The root is ovate and ferruginous ; the wil
lowy leaves are in fours, long, not serrated, and are ash-coloured
on the under side ; the length of the leaves is about six inches,
and the breadth does not exceed half an inch." 152°

I have not been able to learn the botanical name of the plant,
or obtain any further information regarding it, but it must be
common in Mexico. There is a town in that country, in Oaxaca,
on the Rio Grande, called, after it, Istayata. Morgan 1955 and
Bandelier 528 mention a plant named the " salt-weed" as growing
in the adobe soil of Southern Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexi
co, which may or may not be the same plant.

The common sage-brush of the plains was called absinthe by

510 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

the Canadian voyageurs,698 and Bell particularly mentions the fact
that, in the uplands of the valley of the Colorado River, in Ari
zona, most of the plants, including especially the artemisias and
other shrubby composite, are smeared with a resinous varnish,
which gives out a pleasant, stimulating aroma, noticed by nearly
all desert travelers.592 In this respect, at least, the artemisias
described by him therefore corresponded with the " salt-plant "
mentioned by Hwui Shan. Professor Baird informs me that, while
the sage-brush of the West is principally the Artemisia triden-
tata of Nuttall, the term is also applied to two or three other
species which resemble it, mainly Artemisia arcana, A. arbus-
cula, and A. trifida. Appletons' Cyclopsedia 41 says that the com
mon sage-brush of the American plains is Artemisia Ludovi-
ciana. Hayden's "Preliminary Report of the United States
Geological Survey of Wyoming " 146e mentions the A. tridentata?™
Canadensis, trifida, cana, lAidoviciana, Michardsoniana, fri-
gida^ scopulonem, borealis, ar\djilifolia,md as different varieties
of artemisia found in that Territory. Whatever the species or
variety may be, there can be no doubt that the iztauhyatl, or
" salt-plant," of Mexico, is some variety of artemisia, not widely
different from the sage-brush of the Northern plains. Those who
have traveled in Mexico, Arizona, and New Mexico will, I think,
admit that the characteristic vegetation of the country, and in
fact nearly all of the vegetation that can be seen in many dis
tricts, consists of varieties of the agave, or century-plant, of spe
cies of cactii (of which the prickly-pear is an exceedingly common
and representative form) and of the sage-brush. With the ex
ception of the last, this vegetation is not only characteristic of the
region in question, but it is indigenous nowhere else. If it be
thought that the story of Hwui Shan is a fable, it is certainly
remarkable that he gives a description of just these three plants
and of no others. In Mexico and its neighbourhood, plants
answering his descriptions are to be found, and they can not be
found elsewhere in the world.

But is this " salt-plant " ever eaten by the monkeys of Mexi
co ? On this point I can not obtain any very positive informa
tion, although those whom I have consulted, who are acquainted
with the habits of these animals, do not think it likely that they
feed upon it. Dr. Oswald informs me that, although their natu
ral food consists of fruits and nuts, the monkeys of Gibraltar

THE COUNTRY OF WOMEN AND ITS INHABITANTS. 511

will sometimes eat the sprouts of currant-bushes. It may not
be out of place to call attention to the fact that, however dis
tasteful wormwood or sage may be to us as a food, numerous
animals feed upon these plants with avidity. Many of the cattle
of the far West, as well as the game of the same region, feed and
fatten upon little else than the " white sage." James mentions
the fact that several species of artemisia are eaten by the bisons,
and that his horses were sometimes " reduced to the necessity "
of feeding upon them ; 1613 and Bell says that a species of wild
sage, which grows in many places in Mexico, gives the beef a
peculiar and delicious flavour.689 Pallas mentions that the2009
white absinthium (Artemisia alba) and the camphor-plant (Cam-
pkorosma monspeliaca) are found in all the deserts of Asia,
covering extensive regions with their creeping roots and their
shoots, which make a species of turf, like fine moss. In win
ter they form the principal food of the numerous herds of the
Kalmucks and the Kirguis, as they preserve their natural state
under the snow, which is but scanty in this country, the little
that falls melting almost immediately. The herds therefore
have but little difficulty in finding these plants. They eat them
but little during the summer, as they have a great number
of others upon which they rely. The Kirguis call these two
plants jouschanu, and take great care to establish their win
ter habitations in places in which they grow. This small species
of absinthium is remarkable for its flower, which, in its odour,
taste, and figure, resembles the "worm-seed." If this latter
were not mixed with small stems, it might be mistaken for
this plant.

In Mexico the rainy season begins as a rule in the first half
of May,321 or in some districts not until the beginning of June,877
and lasts until October 632 or November.2367 No drop of rain falls
in December and January, and but little in February or April.878
In the month of May the whole country seems parched and
dry.2052 Not a leaf, not a bud ; the branches and boughs are
naked, and covered with a thick coating of gray dust ; nothing
to intercept the sight in the thicket but the bare trunks and
branches, with the withes entwining them. Early in June come
the first refreshing showers. As if a magic wand had been
waved over the land, the view changes — life springs every
where. In the short space of a few days, the forests have re-

512 AN INGLOKIOUS COLUMBUS.

sumed -their holiday attire ; buds appear and the leaves shoot ;
the flowers bloom, sending forth their fragrance, that, wafted by
the breeze, perfumes the air far and near ; the birds sing their
best songs of joy ; the insects chirp their shrillest notes ; butter
flies of gorgeous colours flutter in clouds in every direction, in
search of the nectar contained in the cups of the newly opened
blossoms, and dispute it with the brilliant humming-birds. All
creation rejoices, because a few tears of mother Nature have
brought joy and happiness to all living beings, from the smallest
blade of grass to the majestic palm, from the creeping worm to
man.

Of the months occurring at the dry season of the year,
Atlcahualco bears a name meaning " the buying or scarcity of
water," 327 Atemoztli means "the drying up of the waters," 242 the
following month, Tititl, was called the month of " hard times," m
and Itzcalli * means " revivification," or " the sprouting of the
grass." 24°

From the name "Tititl," the month of "hard times," it ap
pears that the Aztecs found it difficult to obtain food during the
dry season, when the old crop was nearly exhausted, and the new
one had not commenced to grow. If they found this a season
of " hard times," the quadrumana can hardly have fared better.
Living upon fruits and nuts, when they could be obtained, they
must have found some substitute during the season when these
were not to be had. Sahagun says of the raccoon that, "during
the winter, when neither fruits nor maize can be found, it eats
rats and reptiles."2213 To what did the quadrumana resort?
Audebert, quoting from Buffon, says that the capuchin monkeys
are very fond of cockchafers and snails.71 Wafer claims that he
saw monkeys breaking oyster-shells on the sea-shore, and eating
the oysters.2465 It is therefore evident that they are not wholly
confined to fruits, nuts, and roots.

Why did the peculiar inhabitants of the Country of Women
come to the water at the second or third month, or just about
the beginning of the rainy season ? In the United States, the
antelopes of the Rocky Mountain region, which spend the winter
in the mountains, come down to the plains in great numbers in
spring to eat the tender vegetation, which first starts in the low-

* Molina defines Izcalia " to open, to expand, to come to one's self, to resusci
tate, to revive."

THE COUNTRY OF WOMEN AND ITS INHABITANTS. 513

lands near the streams. May not a similar cause lead the quad-
rumana of Mexico to the lowlands near the water at the beginning
of the rainy season ? If so, they could not find either fruits or
nuts, but would be compelled to live upon the young and tender
sprouts of some one or more species of plants. It would seem as
if, at this season of the year, no other plant would be more likely
to furnish them with edible sprouts than some species of sage
brush, the iztauhyatl, or "salt-plant." This is of course a mere
presumption. It is not proved that the monkeys eat the plant
in question, but it certainly does not seem impossible that they
may, and, for myself, as Hwui Shan tells so much that is proved
to be true, I do not think it unsafe to rely upon his statement
in this case.

It is possible, however, that there is a reversion, at this point
in his account, from the monkeys of Cihuatlan to the people of
that region, and that he means to say that the latter eat the
salt-plant. Dupaix mentions that, in the neighbourhood of
Tequilla, he found a species of sage growing vigorously in the
shape of a branching bush, its taste being so agreeable that it is
there called " the sweet herb." 1222 Possibly this may be the plant
to which reference is made, or the practice mentioned by Gage
may be referred to.1383

" These also will now and then get a wild Dear, shooting it
with their bows and arrows. And when they have killed it, they
let it lie in the Wood, in some hole or bottom, covered with leaves,
for the space of about a week, untill it stink and begin to be
full of wormes ; then they bring it home, cut it out into joints,
and parboil it with a herbe which groweth there, somewhat like
unto our Tanzy, which they say sweeteneth it again, and maketh
the flesh eat tender, and as white as a piece of Turkey."

Although it seems impossible, with our present information,
to decide whether the iztauhyatl is eaten either by men or monk
eys, the fact remains that there is in the region indicated by Hwui
Shan a plant which answers to his description, inasmuch as it is
called " the salt-plant," and, being a species of absinthe, must re
semble the Chinese plants of the same genus ; its taste is saltish,
and its odour fragrant, just as stated by our Buddhist traveler.

Identifying the " people " of the " Country of Women " as
monkeys, it seems strange that mention is not made of their
size, and of the fact that they live in the trees.
33

514 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

It has occurred to me as possible that Yu Kie may have failed
to understand Hwui Shan on these points, or may have doubted
his report, and so suppressed what he said regarding them. One
of the most common names given by the Chinese to a mythical
land of Amazons is -£ ^ g, WOMAN-CHILD-LAND. This is
usually translated the " Land of Women and Children " ; but the
Chinese frequently 2397 suffix 3f>, CHILD, as a diminutive ; 2394 and
the compound ^ •"?*> WOMAN-CHILD, is used for "girl."1487 The
name of the Amazonian country may, therefore, have meant
originally the " Land of Little Women," rather than " the Land of
Women and Children " ; and the traditions among the Chinese,
that the inhabitants of Fu-sang have the power of flying in
the air, may have arisen from stories of the gambols among the
trees of the inhabitants of the " Woman's Land."

We should hardly expect complete accuracy in the reports ex
tant in a land like China, in which the most scientific account that
they have of a species of monkey living in their own country is
that " its nose is turned upward, and the tail is very long and
forked at the end, and whenever it rains the animal thrusts the
forks into its nose. It goes in herds, and lives in friendship ;
when one dies, the rest accompany it to burial." 2487

In closing the examination of this account of the Country of
Women, it may be well to endeavour to discover the origin of
the term. Several explanations have already been suggested ;
but none of them seem satisfactory. It is my opinion that the
traditions regarding the land of Amazons arose from the name,
as an attempt to explain it, rather than that the name arose from
the existence of any region inhabited exclusively by women. It
seems to me to be possible that, when the inhabitants of the
northern part of Mexico heard vague reports of the remarkable
beings found in the southern part of that country, they, not hav
ing formerly heard the word opumatli™* 61° or opomatli 612 (for
the Mexicans always confounded the vowels o and w, some pro
nouncing their words with one vowel and some with the other,1990),
which was the term applied to monkeys, mistook it for the very
similar word pouatl™ $ohuatl?^ ciuatl™ or cihuatl™ meaning a
woman ; and hence supposed the term Opomatlan, meaning " the
Region of Monkeys," to be the compound Qohuatlan, or Cilma-
tlan, signifying " the Region or Country of Women." After this
mistake had once been made in the name, traditions of a land in-

THE COUNTRY OF WOMEN AND ITS INHABITANTS. 515

habited exclusively by women would, almost inevitably, spring
up.

Our examination of the official record of Hwui Shan's state
ments has been completed, and, with the exception of the short
account next given, there seems to be no reason to believe that
the lands described by him were ever visited by any of the Chi
nese. Ma Twan-lin seems to have thought, however, that some
Chinese sailors, who were shipwrecked on a distant seacoast, and
who succeeded in making their way back to China, were thrown
upon the shores of the same Country of Women that was de
scribed by our Buddhist explorer, and he therefore joins their
story to the account of that land given by Hwui Shan.

VIII. — In the reign of the LIANG dynasty, under the em
peror WU-TI, in the SIXTH TEAR of the period designated by the
name TIEN-KIEN, or "Celestial Protection" (i. e., in 507 A. D.),

SOME MEN OF TsiN-NGAN, WHO WERE CROSSING THE SEA, WERE
DRIVEN BY THE WIND TO A CERTAIN ISLAND (or to the Same

island or seacoast). THEY WENT ASHORE AND FOUND THE IN
HABITANTS' DWELLINGS.

Professor Williams says "a man," instead of "some men,"
and, as the Chinese language does not, as a rule, distinguish be
tween the singular and the plural, it can not be determined, other
wise than by inference, which was meant in this case. It seems
more probable, however, that a large boat, such as would carry a
number of men, would live through a storm which would drive
it across the Pacific, than that a small boat with only a single man
should pass through such a tempest. A number of men would also
be more likely to frighten the natives away from their homes,
and thus protect themselves against attack by the inhabitants,
than would a solitary sailor. Oppert says of the Corean fishing-
boats 199S that they resemble the Japanese more than the Chinese,
but that they are of rude construction. Each of these boats
usually carries a crew of some thirty to forty men, but some
have a crew of more than sixty.

It seems not unlikely that the vessel which was wrecked upon
the distant land, that is mentioned by Ma Twan-lin, may have
been a fishing-boat of the kind above referred to. It has already
been stated that Japanese junks are frequently wrecked upon the
coast of America ; but, so far as I know, no other case is mentioned
in which the survivors of the shipwreck succeeded in making

516 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

their way back home again. It is noticeable that the case men
tioned occurred only about half a dozen years after Hwui Shan's
story was told in China ; and it seems not impossible that these
men may have heard the story of his travels, and of the route by
which he reached China, and so may have made their way home
up the coast of America to Alaska, and thence across to Asia, and
down the coast of that continent via the route pointed out by
our Buddhist priest.

I have ventured to suggest that the characters — - Ji, YIH
TAG, which have formerly been translated " an island," " a certain
island," or " an unknown island," may possibly mean " the same
seacoast." The first character, although meaning literally " one,"
is sometimes used for "the same," and as it is not customary to
use the character merely as the indefinite article, and as it seems
evident that Ma Twan-lin thought this land to be the same as
that described by Hwui Shan (for otherwise he would not have
included the two accounts in the same section), it seems probable
that he intended to use it here in its secondary meaning. The
second character is a picture of a bird and a mountain, and hence
means " a hill on which birds can alight in crossing seas," and
thus might be applied to a seacoast reached after crossing a vast
expanse of water, without much regard to the size of the land.

IX. THE WOMEN RESEMBLED THOSE OF THE MlDDLE KlNG-

DOM (China), BUT THE WORDS OF THEIR LANGUAGE COULD NOT

BE UNDERSTOOD. THE MALES HAD HUMAN BODIES, BUT PUPPIES*
HEADS, AND THEIR VOICES RESEMBLED THOSE OF DOGS BARKING

(or HOWLING).

The shipwreck seems to have occurred at a point where there
existed the custom, formerly referred to, of leaving the women
to entertain the strangers, while the men ran away ; and the
Chinese seem to have seen only these women, and to have sup
posed the apes in the woods to be the males.

Many writers have spoken of the great resemblance of many
of the tribes of the western coast of America to the Chinese,
and Mr. Leland discusses the subject at length.

It is noticeable that nowhere else in the accounts is it men
tioned that the language of the people could not be understood,
and this statement seems applicable rather to the chattering of
monkeys, than to any human language, of which strangers would
soon be able to understand a few words.

THE COUNTRY OF WOMEN AND ITS INHABITANTS. 517

Although some tribes of savages have been referred to as hav
ing dogs' heads,1813 the description seems rather to be that of the
Mexican monkeys, some of which, according to Clavigero, " from
having the head of a dog, appertain to the class of the Cyno-
cephali." 10S8 It is probable that the comparison of their voices
to those of dogs refers rather to howling than barking ; but as
the bark of the Chinese dogs is a short, thick snap, very unlike
the deep, sonorous baying of our mastiffs,2488 it is possible that
barking may be meant.

Attention should be called, in this connection, to the singular
fact that this same comparison has been made regarding the
conversation of a tribe living near the northern boundary of
Mexico. Captain Emory says of one of his interviews with the
Indians : " The chief person talked all the time in a tongue re
sembling more the bark of a mastiff than the words of a human
being. They were supposed by some to be the Cayotes (i. e.,
Wolves), a branch of the Apaches ; but Londean thought they
belonged to the tribe of Tremblers, who acquired their name from
their emotions at meeting the whites ; im while Captain A. R.
Johnston says of the Apaches, ' They bayed at us like their kin
dred wolves.' " 1615

X. — AMONG THEIR FOOD WAS "SIAO-TEU" (LITTLE BEANS).
THEIR CLOTHING RESEMBLED LINEN (or perhaps cotton) CLOTH.
BEATING DOWN THE EARTH, THEY MADE ADOBE WALLS OF A ROUND
SHAPE, THE DOORS OF WHICH RESEMBLED BURROWS.

It seems not impossible that the characters SIAO-TEU, mean
ing " little beans," may have been used as an attempt both to
transcribe and translate the Aztec word cintlijm or centli™*
meaning " ears of maize, cured and dried." TEU is the Chinese
term for pulse of any kind,984 and, as has been explained by M.
the Marquis d'Hervey, might include grains of maize. It is a
fact, however, that the Aztecs raised beans,121 which formed one
of their principal articles of diet,2598 while it was a matter of tradi
tion that the Olmecs raised both maize and beans, before the time
of the Toltecs (Veytia, " Hist. Ant. Mej." tome i, p. 154).194 The
cloth made by the Aztecs from the fiber of the agave has already
been described, but they also made cotton cloth.687 The manner
of beating down the earth, to make the adobe walls of their dwell
ings, seems to be the same as that mentioned by Hwui Shan.
Powers, in describing the houses of the aboriginal Calif ornians,

518 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

says that 2062 the round, dome-shaped, earth-covered lodge is con
sidered the characteristic one of California ; and probably two
thirds of its immense aboriginal population lived in dwellings
of this description. The doorway is sometimes directly on
top, sometimes on the ground at one side.1950 Wheeler states
that 2469 the houses of the Southern Calif ornians were probably
of a simple construction, though varying somewhat in different
localities. Usually they are described as conical in shape, and
built over a hole dug to the depth of a few feet. Around this
hole, poles were set, forming the frame, which was covered with
rushes and earth. The door was sometimes on a level with the
ground, while in other houses it was placed near the top, when
it also served for an exit to the smoke.

By the term " door," as used above, it is evident that " door
way " is meant, for they had no doors to their houses, although
among some of the American tribes a curtain was hung before
the entrance to prevent any inquisitive examination.1845

A doorway, which might be well compared to a " burrow,"
is that used by the Esquimaux, as well as by the Mandans and
some other tribes ; the entrance to their dwellings consisting of
a passageway some five feet wide, ten or twelve feet long, and
about six feet high, constructed with split timbers, roofed with
poles, and covered with earth.1951

CHAPTER XXIX.

YU KIE'S STATEMENTS REGARDING FU-SANG.

The envoy from the kingdom of Fu-sang — The commission of Yu Kie — Hwui ShSn
the envoy mentioned — Yu Kie's story — The presents given to the emperor
— The custom of offering tribute — The yellow silk — The term applied to
vegetable fibers — Sisal hemp — Its strength — Probability that the agave fiber
would be brought home by a traveler — The semi-transparent mirror — Mexi
can obsidian mirrors — Nature of obsidian — The " Palace of the Sun " — The
Chinese zodiac — Their horary cycle — Concave and convex mirrors— Obsidian
mirrors peculiar to Mexico — The silk taken from the agave — Lack of cocoons
— The seeds of the century-plant carried to Corea — The use of agave leaves
as fuel — The ashes used for obtaining lye — The agave fiber steeped in an
alkaline solution— The feast of Huitzilopochtli — Intercourse between Corea
and China — The Corean records — Possibility that further information may
be found in them — The palace of the king — The glitter of obsidian in the
morning light — The Country of Women again — Serpent husbands — The ex
pedition of Nuno de Guzman — The Smoking Mountain — Volcanoes — Hairy
worms — The " nopal de la tierra "—The fire-trees — The fire-rats — The Black
Valley — The Snowy Range — Huitzilopochtli — The intoxicating liquor — The
" Sea of Varnish " — Petroleum — Mineral springs— Hot springs — The extent
of the land — Animals — Winged men — Birds that bear human beings.

IN the appendix to the account of Fu-sang, given by the
Marquis d'Hervey de Saint-Denys, contained in the thirteenth
chapter of this work, and in the slightly different version which
was translated by Professor Williams, and which is copied in the
fourteenth chapter, it is stated that, in the commencement of the
years called TIEN-KIEN — which were the first years of the reign
of the emperor WU-TI, of the LIANG dynasty, beginning in 502
A. D. — an envoy from the kingdom of Fu-sang presented him
self, and offered to the emperor divers objects from his country.
WU-TI charged an official of his court, named Yu KIE, to inter
rogate him regarding the customs and the productions of Fu-
sang, the history of the kingdom, its cities, its rivers, its mount
ains, etc., as was the custom in similar cases whenever a for-

520 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

eign embassador visited the court. D'Hervey gives conclusive
reasons for believing that this envoy was none other than the
monk Hwui Shan. It seems that Yu Kie wrote down the
account found in the Chinese official records, and that he in
cluded in it only such statements as he thought worthy of a
place in these records, and as he felt convinced that he thor
oughly understood ; all that seemed doubtful or unworthy of
belief being omitted.

It happened, however, that 'he one day entertained the attend
ants at court with an account of the wonders of Fu-sang, and a
portion of his narration has been preserved. This was told in a
joking way, and many of the facts were evidently exaggerated or
perverted ; while other details seem to be founded upon a mis
understanding of the imperfect Chinese of a man who had been
but two or three years in the country. Yu Kie appears to have
thought, however, that the account related to him by Hwui Shan
was as wonderful as anything that he could himself invent,
and he therefore seems to have adhered quite faithfully to the
story that he had heard. While his joking account can not be
fully relied upon as to any particular point, many statements
are contained in it which throw light upon facts which are but
imperfectly described in the official record.

Before examining this merry tale, however, it will be well to
notice the statements made in regard to the presents which were
brought to the emperor by Hwui Shan. The account of these gifts
seems as reliable as any portion of the record that was copied by
Ma Twan-lin, and it is therefore necessary to inquire whether the
articles were such as were produced or made in Mexico, and as
would be likely to be taken by a foreigner, when about to leave
the country, as being representatives of the most valuable or
most wonderful articles to be found in it.

I. THE PRESENTS WHICH HE OFFERED CONSISTED PRINCIPALLY

OF THREE HUNDRED POUNDS OF YELLOW SILK, SPUN BY THE SILK
WORM OF THE FU-SANG TREE, AND OF AN EXTRAORDINARY
STRENGTH. THE EMPEROR HAD AN INCENSE-BURNER OF MASSIVE
GOLD, OF A WEIGHT OF SOME FIFTY POUNDS. THIS COULD BE
LIFTED AND HELD SUSPENDED BY SIX OF THESE THREADS, WITHOUT
BREAKING THEM.

Maundevile, in speaking of the emperor of China, says : 1833
" The custom is suche, that no Straungere schalle come before

YU KIE'S STATEMENTS REGARDING FU-SANG. 521

him, but gif he geve hym sum manere thing, af tre the olde Lawe,
that scythe, Nemo acceclat in conspectu meo vacuus."

It therefore appears that Hwui Shan, in his offer of tribute,
was but complying with one of the necessary conditions of an
imperial audience.

The "yellow silk" presented by him was unquestionably the
fiber of the agave. The usual Chinese character for silk is J$,
sz'. This is defined by Prof essor Williams : 2568 "Silk as it comes
from the cocoons ; silk in general ; the fibers of nettle-hemp (Boeh-
meria) and other plants" Copper- wire is also called "copper-
silk." It therefore appears that the character j|J0 being equally
applicable to any lustrous vegetable fiber, does not necessarily
mean silk, but might be used with propriety for the glossy fiber
of the American agave. This is of a beautiful light golden
yellow colour, as may be seen by any one who will take the
trouble to examine a strand of the so-called " Sisal hemp." Its
strength is such that a weight of at least eight pounds can be
lifted by a single fiber ; and the statement as to the weight
which was lifted by six of the fibers (probably twisted together)
does not seem to be exaggerated. Here Yu Kie seems to have
misunderstood Hwui Shan. He gathered from his account the
fact that the so-called " silk " was in some way connected with
the f u-sang tree (i. e., the agave), but failed to learn what the
exact connection was. His reference to the silkworm of the
fu-sang tree seems to have been based upon the belief that the
fiber, although so coarse and strong as to differ greatly from
common silk, was in reality a species of true silk, and that it
must therefore be the product of a silk-worm.

The weight that was presented to the emperor is not in ex
cess of the amount that could be carried by a single man in an
open boat, coasting along the shore from Mexico to China by
the route heretofore pointed out.

As the fu-sang tree, or agave, was not only the plant from
which the country took its name, but was also both the most
wonderful and the most valuable plant contained in it, and as its
chief value lay in its fiber (which was used for making cordage,
cloth, and paper), it would be surprising if a stranger who visited
the land, and who wished to take with him specimens of its
strangest, most valuable, and most characteristic products, should
have failed to include among them the fiber in question.

522 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

II. — THERE WAS ALSO AMONG THE PRESENTS OFFERED TO

THE EMPEROR A SORT OF SEMI-TRANSPARENT PRECIOUS STONE,
CUT IN THE FORM OF A MIRROR, AND OF THE CIRCUMFERENCE
OF MORE THAN A FOOT. IN OBSERVING THE SUN BY REFLEC
TION, BY MEANS OF THIS STONE, THE PALACE WHICH THE SUN
CONTAINS APPEARED VERY DISTINCTLY.

Nearly all the historians of Mexico mention the fact that the
Aztecs made mirrors of obsidian,717 which were often ornamented
with gold. Bancroft says that their mirrors of rock-crystal, ob
sidian, and other stones, brightly polished, and encased in rich
frames, were said to reflect the human face as clearly as the best
of European manufacture,227 and he refers particularly to Peter
Martyr (dec. v, lib. x), who says of the obsidian of the country :
" Excellent glasses may bee made thereof by smoothing and pol
ishing them, so that we all confessed that none of ours did bet
ter showe the naturall and liuely face of a manne." 2S8 These
mirrors were found as far north as New Mexico 893 or Arizona,547
and as far south as Yucatan and Nicaragua,274 and specimens of
them are still preserved in the National Museum of the City of
Mexico.388 Masks, and even rings and cups, were sometimes
worked from the same material,226 and it was also the stone of
which they made their knives, razors, swords, daggers, and other
cutting instruments.1516 Hernandez says of this stone : 1516

"Three varieties are distinguished, the blue, white, and
black, all of which are translucent. When cut into shape, they
are bright and sparkling, and of wonderful transparency. They
are dug out of veins, of which many are found in Mexico, and
are cut into moderately small pieces, of such size and shape as
may be desired, the angles being rubbed down with other small
stones of a gritty nature."

Respecting obsidian relics, Mr. Tyler says : 389 "Any one who
does not know obsidian may imagine great masses of bottle-
glass, such as our orthodox ugly wine-bottles are made of, very
hard, very brittle, and, if one breaks it with any ordinary im
plement, going, as glass does, in every direction but the right
one. Out of this rather unpromising stuff the Mexicans made
knives, razors, arrow and spear heads, and other things, some of
great beauty. I say nothing of the polished obsidian mirrors
and ornaments, nor even of the curious masks of the human face
that are to be seen in collections, for these were only labouriously

YU KIE'S STATEMENTS REGARDING FU-SANG. 523

cut and polished with jewelers' sand, to us a commonplace pro
cess."

But if the semi-transparent mirror which Hwui Shan present
ed to the emperor was brought from Mexico, what is " the palace
which the sun contains," which was said to be reflected in it ?
Here there is a possibility of error, owing to the fact that we
have no copy of the statement in Chinese. It seems probable,
however, that the character translated " palace " is g, KUNG,
which means " a mansion or palace." Now, the Chinese divide
the zodiac into twenty-eight KUNG,9507 constellations, lunar man
sions, houses, or palaces.2566 The zodiac is further divided into
twelve signs, or palaces, ranging from 25° to 38° in length,
named after the twelve branches, or the animals representing
them ; 25C8 and these last are probably the divisions referred to by
Schlegel, when he says : 22S7 " The twelve divisions of the Chi
nese horary circle are named in Chinese the twelve KUNG, or
palaces." As the phrase YUEH KUNG, "the moon's palace,"
means " the bright moon," 2543 it is possible that " the sun's pal
ace " may mean " the bright sun," or " the brightness of the
sun." I think, however, that there is here a reference to the
fact that a spherically concave or convex mirror will, when laid
horizontally, with its reflecting surface facing the zenith, exhibit
an image of the sun, in some particular part of the mirror ; the
exact place being governed by the position of the sun in the
heavens. Hence, the distance of the sun above the horizon
could be seen represented in the mirror, and from this it would
be easy to determine the KUNG, or celestial mansion, or palace,
in which the sun then was.

We have unquestionable proof that the Aztecs had not only
plain mirrors, but also made them both concave
and convex. Herrera says that they had mirrors
" as large as one's fist, round as a ball, framed
in gold." m Castaneda's plates include a semi-
spherical mirror of copper-covered lava, three
and a half inches in diameter.380 Clavigero gives
the accompanying engraving,1080 and says that 1084
it is a picture of a Mexican mirror, which repre-
sents the city of Tehuillojoccan, which name
means "the Place of the Mirrors." Brasseur de Bourbourg
says : m " They sold mirrors having two faces, polished on both

524: AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

sides, and made some of them concave, of white or black stone."
He also says that the priests of Central America, by the use of a
mirror, caused the holy fire to descend upon the victim, which
was thus immediately consumed.641 This could only have been
done by a concave mirror. Finally, Sahagun states that the
Mexicans made mirrors which reflected the figure differently from
what it really was, for they enlarged the different parts of the
visage, and made them appear deformed. They were given dif
ferent forms, round, triangular, etc.2217 These must have been
either concave or convex.

It should be noticed that, in the cases in which the size of the
mirrors is mentioned, this corresponds closely with the dimen
sions of the one presented to the emperor by Hwui Shan ; and
it seems that a concave or convex mirror of obsidian, such as
were made by the Aztecs, would fully answer the description
given in the Chinese account. So far as I know, these peculiar
mirrors were never made in any other country in the world, and
the account of this one article seems sufficient to prove that its
giver must have brought or obtained it from Mexico. Accus
tomed as the Spanish conquerors were to excellent mirrors, they
thought that these of Aztec manufacture were worthy of special
mention, and we find them named among the list of precious
articles which Montezuma and other chieftains presented to their
enslavers.224 The only reflectors manufactured by the Chinese
in the days of Hwui Shan were metallic ; 2506 and, as they were
then unacquainted with glass, the semi-transparent mirror pre
sented by the Buddhist priest must have struck them as both
new and wonderful.

To me, the presents brought by Hwui Shan seem to be ex
actly such articles as a traveler would be likely to bring from
Mexico, as representative of its most characteristic and most val
uable productions, and I know of no other land from which they
could have been obtained.

Recurring now to Yu Kie's statements, we find the following :

III. SlLK-WOKMS ABE FOUND IN Fu-SANG WHICH ABE SEVEN

FEET LONG AND AS MUCH AS SEVEN INCHES IN CIBCUMFEKENCE.

THEIB COLOUB is GOLDEN. IT TAKES A YEAB TO BAISE THEM.

ON THE EIGHTH DAY OF THE FIFTH MONTH THEY SPIN YELLOW
SILK, WHICH IS EXTENDED UPON THE BBANCHES OF THE FU-SANG
TBEE, FOB THEY MAKE NO COCOONS. THIS SILK IS NATUBALLY

YU KIE'S STATEMENTS REGARDING FU SANG. 525

VERY WEAK, BUT IT is COOKED (or BOILED ; perhaps the meaning
is " steeped ") IN LYE PREPARED FROM THE ASHES OF THE WOOD
OF THE FU-SANG, AND THUS ACQUIRES SUCH STRENGTH THAT FOUR
THREADS TWISTED TOGETHER ARE SUFFICIENT TO RAISE A WEIGHT
OF THIRTY CHINESE POUNDS. THE EGGS OF THESE SILK - WORMS
ARE AS LARGE AS SWALLOWS* EGGS. &OME WERE TAKEN TO Co-
REA ; BUT THE VOYAGE INJURED THEM SO THAT NOTHING ISSUED
FROM THEM BUT SILK-WORMS AS SMALL AS THOSE OF CHINA.

Here, for the second time, we find an error arising from an
imperfect understanding of Hwui Shan's faulty Chinese, and
from the belief that the fiber shown was true silk, and, therefore,
the product of a silk-worm. The fiber of the agave is produced
from something which is about seven feet long and about seven
inches in circumference (or rather breadth) ; this much Hwui
Shan succeeded in causing Yu Kie to understand ; but that some
thing is not a silk-worm, but the leaf of the plant. The golden
or yellow colour is the tint of the fiber.

It may easily be imagined that the explorer endeavoured to
explain that the fiber was in the leaf of the fu-sang tree and ex
tended through it ; and all that Yu Kie could make of his few
Chinese words, helped out by signs, and possibly by rude draw*
ings, was that the " yellow silk " was " extended upon the branches
of the fu-sang tree," while Hwui Shan's attempt to set him right,
by explaining that there were no cocoons, was unsuccessful.

The so-called " eggs " are undoubtedly the seeds of the agave.
Some of these he brought with him as far as Corea, and there
they were either found to have been killed by the cold of the
Arctic regions, through which he had passed, or else, having
been planted, he was obliged to leave the young plants there
while they were small.

As to the reference to the lye prepared from the ashes of the
wood of the fu-sang : we find, first, that the leaves of the agave, or
maguey, formed a common fuel123 in Mexico.572 Becher says that
tortillas " are cooked in an earthen dish over a fire, generally of
dried maguey leaves " ; and Sahagun names, among the articles
sold by the dealer in fire- wood, " the leaves of the maguey," 2208
and adds that S22° " they make an excellent fire, and the ashes are
very good for lye."

The general statement of the Mexican historians is, that the
maguey fibers were prepared for use by the same process as

526 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

that adopted for the preparation of flax in other countries.231 The
Aztecs macerated the leaves, steeping them in water,721 then
cleaned the fiber, dried it in the sun, and beat it until fit to
spin.1083 There is no proof that they were acquainted with the
use of an alkaline bath for treating the fiber, although Sahagun's
statement leads to the reasonable inference that the Mexicans ex
tracted lye from the ashes of the agave leaves ; and alkalies are
used in the process now most frequently employed. Squier says
that, at Key West,2371 the people either preserve the primitive
process which is practiced in Yucatan, of beating or scraping the
leaves, or, after crushing them between a pair of rollers, they
steep them in an alkaline solution for a few days, and then hackle
them. He adds that2369 the use of alkalies in treating fibers, either
with or without pressure, in the process of boiling, will take out
much of the gummy and colouring matters which they contain,
but the heat will fix or set that which is left of a luff colour, of
greater or less depth, according to the strength of the alkaline
bath used.

The statement that it takes a year to raise the worms, or the
silk, and that the silk is spun upo'n the eighth day of the fifth
month, each year, seems to vaguely indicate that the agave leaves
were cut or the fiber gathered on a fixed day of the year, and, if
so, the customs of the Mexican people were such that this annual
harvest would probably be connected with a feast or festival in
honour of the god Huitzilopochtli, "the Ever-youthful One of
the Thorny Plant," whom we have already identified as a deifi
cation of the plant in question.

Bancroft says that the first half of the month called Toxcitl
(which was probably the fifth month) was,186 among the Mexi
cans, taken up with a continuous scene of festivals in honour of
Tezcatlipoca ; the latter half of the month was devoted to the
worship of his brother god Huitzilopochtli.187 From Sahagun's
statement it would appear, however, that the feasts and banquets
in honour of Tezcatlipoca lasted but five days;*™ then, according
to Lenoir,1728 two days before the feast of Huitzilopochtli (or
Vitzlipultzi, as he spells the name) a statue representing him
was kneaded from corn-meal and honey. It therefore appears
not impossible that the feast of Huitzilopochtli fell on the
eighth day of the fifth month. It is probable that too little is
now known of the life of the aboriginal Mexicans to enable us

YU KIE'S STATEMENTS REGARDING FU-SANG. 527

to determine whether this was the exact date of his feast, or
whether it was connected in any manner with the gathering of
the fiber of the century-plant.

The mention of the circumstance that the " eggs," or seeds,
were taken to Corea, shows that Hwui Shan passed through that
country on his way to China. Attention has already been called
to the fact that some knowledge of his story seems to have been
preserved in that country. Corea paid tribute to China through
out the fifth and sixth centuries, and there was then constant
communication between the two countries,1656 so that the Bud
dhist priest must have found this portion of his journey very easy.
It is possible that the visit to the Chinese emperor Liang Wu-ti 126°
(the emperor to whom Hwui Shim presented the "silk " and the
semi-transparent mirror), of Corean embassadors, who came to
ask for the Buddhist classics, was brought about by the interest
in Buddhist doctrines occasioned by the visit of Hwui Shan.

The Coreans first adopted the ideographic writing of the
Chinese ; but as their language is susceptible of being written by
means of an alphabet, they either invented or adopted one, in the
year 374 A. D. This alphabet is still in general use in Corea,
although Chinese characters are also used in almost all scientific
works.1654

As the Coreans were able to write at the time that Hwui
Shan visited them, it seems not unreasonable to hope that some
account of his story may still be found among their records,
which will supplement and complete the account which we have
borrowed from the Chinese.

Oppert says, however:1995 "The few native writings, pre
tending to supply historical accounts, contain in truth nothing
whatever that throws light upon any subject of importance. They
limit themselves solely to the enumeration of the different kings
and queens, without furnishing dates of any important events
that may have occurred ; the most likely conjecture for which,
perhaps, is that they really have had no prominent facts to re
cord. It is true that a journal was kept in every magistrate's
office, giving an accurate account of even insignificant occurrences
happening in the district ; this kind of registration appears, how
ever, to have been carried on more for the purpose of facilitating
the superintendence of the central government over the different
parts of the country, than with a view to record monuments of

528 AX INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

historical interest. Nearly four hundred volumes were found,
on the occasion of Admiral Roze's visit to Kangwha, in the
buildings of the Prefecture, containing journals of such district
records, but which the French believed at the time to contain
matters of great historical moment. These books were sent to
Paris, and placed in the then Bibliotheque Impe'riale, where they
still are. It is almost unnecessary to add, after what has been
stated above, that they are not of the slightest value for the pur
pose of researches on the general history of the country."

Still, notwithstanding Oppert's statement, something of value
may yet be found in these records.

As there seems no other possible explanation of the fact,
mentioned by M. the Marquis d'Hervey de Saint-Deny s (see
Chapter XII of this work), that the highest dignitaries of Corea
bear the same title of " Great Tui-lu " that was borne by the
first rank of the nobility of the country of Fu-sang, I venture
to suggest the theory that, after the story of the land of Fu-
sang had become well known in Corea, the officer of some secret
society, or some political party, assumed this foreign title — just
as in America the chief officer of " Tammany Hall " assumed the
aboriginal title of " sachem " — and at some later date this soci
ety or party succeeded in forcing a recognition by the govern
ment, and shared in the power of the throne. The fact that
the mandarins of this title in Corea are elected and deposed
by the members of this rank, by their own authority, without
consultation either with the king or his ministers, indicates an
independence which can hardly have originated otherwise than
in the manner above suggested.

IV. — THE PALACE OF THE KING IS SUREOUNDED BY WALLS OF
CETSTAL, WHICH APPEAR CLEAELT BEFOEE DAYLIGHT ; BUT THESE
WALLS BECOME QUITE INVISIBLE DURING AN ECLIPSE OF THE
MOON.

Here there seems a reference to walls built of some semi-trans
parent or translucent stone, such as obsidian, alabaster, or gypsum.
The Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg states that 716 marble, jasper,
porphyry, alabaster, and obsidian were everywhere used as mate
rials either for ornaments of the palaces and temples, or for statues
and other sculptured objects, and he mentions that 7S3 the edifice
designed for the preservation and propagation of the birds,
whose feathers were used for the manufacture of mosaic feather-

YU KIE'S STATEMENTS REGARDING FU-SANG. 529

work, was surrounded by porticos of alabaster, which opened upon
vast gardens. Tecali, a transparent stone resembling alabaster,
was sometimes used in the temples for window-glass,246 and plates
of gypsum are still sometimes used in Mexico or New Mexico for
the same purpose.1187

Diaz states that Montezuma's palace was of stone and lime,
and the walls were covered with marble, jasper, and porphyry, in
the smoothly polished surface of which one could see his reflected
image ; 1202 and among the notable edifices of Mexico is mentioned
the Tezcacalli, or " House of Mirrors," so called from the (ob
sidian) mirrors which covered its walls.253 If the ancient tradi
tions may be believed, the Toltec monarchs built as magnifi
cent palaces as their Aztec successors.162 The sacred palace of
that mysterious Toltec priest-king Quetzalcoatl had four prin
cipal halls, which were ornamented respectively with gold ; with
emeralds, turquoises, and precious stones ; with silver and sea-
shells, and with red jasper.

To one unacquainted with true glass, the glitter and transpar
ency of obsidian, iztli, or volcanic glass would seem very remark
able. Both Prescott and Bancroft 466 mention the glistening of
obsidian in the dawning light, the former in these words : 2<m
" The first gray of the morning was coming over the waters, . . .
while the bosom of the lake, as far as the eye could reach, was
darkened by canoes, crowded with warriors, whose spears and
bludgeons, armed with blades of * volcanic glass,' gleamed in the
morning light."

Some such reference as this seems to have been made by
Ilwui Shan to the gleam of the obsidian or alabaster in the walls
of the king's palace, when illuminated by the first light of the
morning, and Yu Kie exaggerated it into the shape given in the
text.

V. — THE LOUD Yu KIE SAID BESIDES : AT THE NORTHWEST,

ABOUT TEN THOUSAND LI, THERE EXISTS A KlNGDOM OF WOMEN
WHO TAKE SERPENTS FOR HUSBANDS. MOREOVER, THESE REP
TILES ARE INOFFENSIVE. THEY LIVE IN HOLES, WHILE THEIR
WIVES, OR CONCUBINES, LIVE IN HOUSES AND PALACES, AND EX
ERCISE ALL THE CARES OF STATE. IN THIS KINGDOM THERE ARE

NO BOOKS, AND THEY KNOW NOTHING OF THE ART OF WRITING.
THEY BELIEVE FIRMLY IN THE EFFICACY OP CERTAIN FORMS OF
PRAYERS, OR OF MALEDICTIONS. THE WOMEN WHO ACT UPRIGHTLY
84

530 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

PEOLONG THEIR LIVES, AND THOSE WHO SWEEVE FEOM THE EIGHT
AEE IMMEDIATELY CUT OFF. THE WOESHIP OF SPIEITS IMPOSES
LAWS THAT NONE DAEE TO VIOLATE.

Here there is a reference to the " Country of Women." In
the account of the voyage to Cibola, contained in the collection
of M. Ternaux-Compans, it is stated that the Tahuas, living
in the province of Culiacan (the province in which the Country
of Women was often said to be situated), raised large serpents,
for which they had great veneration.2436 A full description of
this curious custom is given in the " First Anonymous Account of
the Expedition of Nufio de Guzman," published in the collec
tion of Icazbalceta.1422 "In the religious rites of this land, the
devil is worshiped as their god ; and in many houses of this
country they keep numerous great serpents, which live in a cor
ner in the darkest part of the house ; the serpents are twined
together in a great ball or heap, and some of these masses of
serpents are very large. When they are thus twined together
in a round ball, from which the head of one projects at the top,
and another from the bottom, and others from the middle, the
spectacle is one that is frightful to behold ; for they are as large
around as the arm, and they open their mouths ; but they do no
harm, for the Indians take them in their hands and feed them.
These Indians say that the serpents have the form of the demon
whom they adore, and they therefore pay them great honour."

A story of a custom of this kind, existing in a land named
" the Country of Women," might very readily give rise to the
curious melange narrated by Yu Kie, if it was related to him by
a man who had but a slight knowledge of Chinese, and who was
therefore unable to make himself fully understood.

VI. — To THE SOUTH OF Ho-TCHEOU (the " Island of Fire " —
probably )J£, HWO, "fire," and CHEU, Jfl, "an island or district"),

SITUATED TO THE SOUTH OF THIS COUNTEY, IS THE MOUNTAIN YEN-

KOUEN (" Burning Mountain " — probably *{]§, YEN, " smoke," and
jj,, KWUN, " a peak, a high mountain "), THE INHABITANTS OF

WHICH EAT LOCUSTS, CEABS, AND HAIEY SEEPENTS, TO PEESEEVE
THEMSELVES FEOM THE HEAT. IN THIS LAND OF Ho-TCHEOU, THE

HO-MOU (trees of fire— probably >£, HWO, " fire," and /fc, MUH,
" wood, a tree ") GEOW ; THEIE BAEK FUENISHES A SOLID TISSUE.

UPON THE SUMMIT OF THE MOUNTAIN YEN-KOUEN THEEE LIVE

FIEE-EATS (HO-CHOU, probably HWO, >J£, " fire," and J|, SHtr> " a

TU KIE'S STATEMENTS EEGARDING FU-SANG. 531
rat, mouse, weasel, squirrel, or similar animal "), THE HAIR OF

WHICH SERVES ALSO FOR THE FABRICATION OF AX INCOMBUSTIBLE
STUFF WHICH IS CLEANED IN FIRE INSTEAD OF IN WATER.

The Marquis d'Hervey's transcription of the words which he
renders "Burning Mountain" shows that the translation should
rather be " Smoking Mountain." This is exactly the meaning of
the Aztec name, " Popocatepetl," 2a45 which is applied to the high
est mountain and most active volcano of Mexico (from popoca,
" smoking," and tepetl, "a mountain"). South of Mexico several
mountains are to be found, the native names of which mean
either "Fire Mountain," "Burning Mountain," or "Smoking
Mountain." No equal extent of the American Continent, per
haps of the globe, possesses so many volcanoes, active and ex
tinct, or exhibits so many traces of volcanic action as Central
America ; that is to say, the region embraced between the Isth
mus of Tehuantepec and that of Panama, or Darien. In the
words of Mr. Stephens, the entire Pacific coast of this remark
able country " bristles with volcanic cones." 2364

Oviedo makes a long enumeration of the volcanoes known at
the time, and continues : " But it seems to me that none of these
volcanoes are to be compared with that of Masaya, which, as I
have said, I have seen and examined myself. Of this the reader
shall be the judge, after he has read the description of that
mountain whose name signifies '* the Burning Mountain," in the
language of the Chorotegans, in whose territory it is situated.
In the language of Nicaragua it is called Popocatepec, which
means 'Boiling Stream.'"

Mr. Squier explains that this translation is a mistake of the
chronicler ; " Popocatepec " meaning * " Smoking Mountain." 2362

As to the "hairy serpents," Purchas8114 states that, in prepar
ing an unction for purposes of sorcery, " they did likewise grinde
with these ashes blacke and hairie wormes, whose haire onelie is
venomous : all which they mingled together with blacke, or the
fume of rosine, putting it in small pots, which they set before
their God, saying it was his meate, and therefore called it a Di-
uine meate." The statement that these hairy serpents were eaten
" to preserve them from the heat " seems, however, to indicate,
that Hwui Shan made a rude drawing of the " nopal de la tierra,"

* Or rather " At the Smoking Mountain," or " The Region of the Smoking
Mountain."— E. P. Y.

532 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

a species of cactus very common in Mexico, whose round, prickly
stems, straggling about upon the ground, would look in a draw
ing much like " hairy serpents." This species of nopal is often
eaten in the hot and arid districts of Mexico, and its juicy stems
serve to quench the thirst in many regions where water can not
be otherwise obtained.

Hernandez says that a species of rhododendron is called
quauhtlepatli, or " the fire-tree remedy," ] l" and he also mentions
the tlepatli, or " fire-remedy," 1502 which may be the same plant.
Ocotl, the name of the pitch-pine tree, was also applied to a
torch, lamp, or candle ;611 and hence ocotochtli^ the name of
the marten,2212 meaning literally the " pine-rabbit," might be
understood to mean the "torch-rabbit." The "hair" of the
" fire-rat " is evidently asbestos, once known as " salamander's-
wool," and as in Europe and Asia this substance, which " when
woven into cloth and thrown into the fire remains incombusti
ble,"1794 gave rise to the myth of the salamander, it may in
Mexico have led to similar stories of a species of " fire-rat."
The Ychcatetly or " cotton-stone," mentioned by Hernandez 1517 as
among the productions of Mexico, seems to have been a variety
of asbestos.

VII. To THE NORTH OF THIS KlNGDOM OF WOMEN IS THE

BLACK VALLEY (HE-KO, probably JS^, HOH, " black," and KUH, jj£,
" a ravine, gully, gorge, canon "), AND NORTH OF THE BLACK VAL
LEY ARE MOUNTAINS SO HIGH THAT THEY REACH TO THE HEAV
ENS. SNOW COVERS THEM ALL THE YEAR. THE SUN DOES NOT
SHOW ITSELF THERE AT ALL. IT IS THERE, IT IS SAID, THAT THE

DRAGON TCHO-LONG (the " Luminous Dragon" — probably jgj,
CHUH, "an illumination, a torch, to illumine," and ||, LUNG, "a
dragon") RESIDES.

North of Mexico is found the Canon of the Colorado River,
the most wonderful chasm in the world, with walls so steep,
high, and close together, that, as I once heard General Crook ex
press it, " it is necessary to lie down upon one's back in order
to see the sky." Into much of this deep gorge no ray of sun
shine ever falls, and it well deserves the name of the "Dark
Canon." North of this is found the Sierra Nevada, " the Snowy
Range." The reference to the Luminous Dragon is probably bor
rowed from some superstition of China, but it is not impossible
that the worship of Huitzilopochtli, who, according to Saha-

YU KIE'S STATEMENTS REGARDING FU-SANG. 533

gun, 2m " bore upon his escutcheon a frightful head of a dragon
vomiting flames," was, in later days, mixed with that of some
god who, in the fifth century, was adored only in the region
north of Mexico.

VIII. — AT THE WEST IS A FOUNTAIN THAT INEBRIATES, AND
HAS THE TASTE OP WINE. IN THESE REGIONS THERE IS ALSO

FOUND A SEA OF VARNISH, OF WHICH THE WAVES DYE BLACK THE
FEATHERS AND FURS THAT ARE DIPPED IN THEM J AND ANOTHER
SEA OF THE COLOUR OF MILK.

That which inebriates, and has the taste of wine, is probably
the liquor made from the juice of the agave, which Yu Kie erro
neously understood to be the product of a fountain. The " Sea
of Varnish " is thus described by Sahagun : 2207

" What is the chapopotli f It is a bitumen which comes
from the sea, and which resembles Spanish pitch when it is soft.
The waves of the sea throw it upon the shore, particularly on
certain days at the times of the waxing of the moon. It lies
spread out upon the waves like a great piece of cloth, and those
who reside near the shore gather it upon the coast. The chapo
potli is fragrant, and much esteemed by the women. When
thrown upon the fire its odour extends to a great distance."

Hernandez gives the following account of "chapopotli, or
the bitumen of the sea-shore of New Spain " : 1515 " Chapopotli is
a mineral which is of a dark yellowish colour, and from old
times has been called Jewish bitumen. When of a purple colour,
and exhaling a powerful odour like that of trefoil, asphalt, or
rue, it is considered very valuable. It flows forth by the North
ern Ocean, and the flowing liquid immediately runs along the
shores of this New Spain in sheets which are said to be sometimes
two miles in length, and when chance favours, two or three
spans in thickness. Such is its abundance in these regions that
it is of but little value. The Mexican women chew it, and not
without pleasure, as its cleanses the mouth, and restores the teeth
to their original brightness." Brasseur de Bourbourg describes
it as " a black matter, analogous to pitch, which is found in the
neighbouring seas, which is thrown up by the waves upon the
coast " ; 702 and Acosta * mentions a spring or fountain of bitu
men as occurring upon the Pacific coast. This native petroleum,
or bitumen, was one of the substances used by the Mexicans as
a means of producing a black colour.2184

534: AN INGLOEIOUS COLUMBUS.

I know of no sea " of the colour of milk " in Mexico, but the
western portion of the American Continent contains so many
springs and lakes of strange qualities, that the probability is
that one thoroughly acquainted with the country could point out
more than one lake or spring which would answer the descrip
tion. Sahagun says : " In regard to the springs, there are so
many in that land, and they are of such diverse qualities, that
they would merit a separate treatise, especially if we were to
enumerate those of the kingdom of Michoacan. There are an
infinite number of springs of mineral water, nitrous, sulphurous,
vitriolic, and aluminous." 1054 Squier 2063 says that, at the edge of
Lake Managua, in Nicaragua, there were hundreds of hot springs.
" In fact, for a considerable extent, the ground was covered with
white incrustations, resembling a field of snow ; and, as we walked
over it, the sound of the water beneath was like that of a vio
lently boiling cauldron."

IX. THE TERRITORY SURROUNDED BY THESE NATURAL MAR
VELS IS OF GREAT EXTENT AND EXTREMELY FERTILE.

This well describes Mexico and the neighbouring regions of
America, but would be wholly inapplicable to any other location
which has been suggested for Fu-sang.

X. — DOGS, DUCKS, AND HORSES OF A GREAT HEIGHT LIVE
IN IT ... THE RABBITS OF THIS COUNTRY ARE WHITE, AND AS
LARGE AS HORSES, THEIR HAIR BEING A FOOT LONG. THE
SABLES ARE AS LARGE AS WOLVES ; THEIR HAIR IS BLACK AND
OF EXTRAORDINARY THICKNESS.

Dogs and ducks were common in Mexico, as well as in other
parts of America. The question of the existence of " horses " in
the country has been considered in Chapter XXVI.

The rabbits of the western portion of America, commonly
called " jackass rabbits," while not " as large as horses," are the
largest of their race, and weigh at least four times as much as
the common rabbits of other countries. The " sables " may pos
sibly have been beavers.

XL — BIRDS WHICH PRODUCE HUMAN BEINGS LIVE IN THIS

COUNTRY. THE MALES BORN OF THESE BIRDS DO NOT LIVE.
THE DAUGHTERS ONLY ARE RAISED WITH CARE BY THEIR
FATHERS, WHO CARRY THEM WITH THEIR BEAK OR UPON THEIR
WINGS. As SOON AS THEY COMMENCE TO WALK, THEY BECOME
MISTRESSES OF THEMSELVES. THEY ARE ALL OF REMARKABLE

YU KIE'S STATEMENTS REGARDING FU-SANG. 535

BEAUTY, AND VERY HOSPITABLE, BUT THEY DIE BEFORE REACH
ING THE AGE OF THIRTY YEARS.

This appears like a remarkable perversion of the peculiarities
of the inhabitants of the " Country of Women." The name leads
to the myth that the males die and only the daughters are
raised. As soon as they are able to walk, they commence to
provide for themselves, and they die of old age " before reach
ing the age of thirty years." They are said to be born of "birds,"
because a monkey's " swiftness on the trees is said to be like the
flight of a bird," 2519 and being thus described as like a bird,
Yu Kie seems to have understood that Hwui Shan meant that
they were really birds. Traditions of men with wings exist in
many countries. Mackenzie mentions such a myth as current
among one of the Indian tribes met in his travels in Northwest
ern America ; me the Chinese give a similar account of the Mao-
tsz* aborigines in Kweichau ; 2549 and the religious books of the
Buddhists contain numerous tales of the kind.1261'1268'1352'1356'1358

On the whole, although Yu Kie's account contains many ab
surdities, most of them seem mere perversions or exaggerations
of the truth, or to be founded on a misunderstanding of Hwui
Shan's statements ; and some of the points referred to appear to
throw additional light upon the facts mentioned in the official
record.

CHAPTER XXX.

MEXICAN TEADITIONS.

Mexican hieroglyphics — The tradition regarding Wixipecocha — His arrival — His
appearance — His conduct — His teachings— Persecution — His departure —
Survival of the doctrines he taught — The " Wiyatao " — Another version of the
tradition — The written account preserved by the Mijes — The " Taysacaa " —
Identity of the term Wixipecocha with the name and title " Hwui Shin, bhik-
shu " — The Mexican language— Huazontlan — Quetzalcoatl — His history not a
myth — The epoch at which he lived — His arrival — His garments — His attend
ants — Their knowledge of arts -Another account — Customs introduced —
Religious penances — The foundation of monasteries and nunneries — Belief
that he was a Buddhist priest — Brahmanism and Buddhism — The worship of
Siva — The religion of Nepal — The goddess Kali — The worship of Mictlanci-
huatl — Quetzalcoatl's horror of bloodshed — The arts he taught — The calen
dar — His promise to return — His vow to drink no intoxicating liquor — His
temptation and fall — His sorrow — Etymology of his name — Its true meaning
not " the Plumed Serpent," but " the Revered Visitor "—Term applied to the
priests of Nepal — The Mexican " Cihuacoatl " — The arrival of Quetzalcoatl
from the east — Possible explanations — The crosses on his mantle — Explana
tion of occurrence of crosses in Yucatan — Intercourse with the West Indian
Islands — The god Hurakan — Oracles and prophecies — Veneration of the cross
in ancient times — Its occurrence in India and Egypt — Its use in Asia as a
symbol of peace — The patchwork cloaks of the Buddhist priests — Buddha's
commands — The mark of a foot-print in the rocks — Occurrence of such foot
prints in America and Asia — Veneration shown them.

WE have now finished our examination of the records found
in Asia of Hwui Shan's trip to Mexico, and shall next inquire
whether any record or tradition of the visit can be found in
America.

The hieroglyphics of the Mexicans were, at the best, but an
imperfect method of recording historical events ; but we might
have hoped to find, among the books or paintings in their posses
sion at the time of the Spanish conquest, some reference to a
visit having so important an influence upon their life and civili-

MEXICAN TRADITIONS. 537

zation as that of this Buddhist monk, if it were not for the
unfortunate fact that the Spanish priests — thinking the hiero
glyphic records of the Indians to be closely connected with the
superstitious worship of their idols — destroyed all their native
documents so thoroughly that scarcely one escaped their hands.

We are therefore thrown back on the still more unreliable
witness of tradition, and find that this furnishes us with a tale in
striking conformity with the account which we have been con
sidering. This story is thus narrated by the Abbe Brasseur de
Bourbourg : 681

"The construction of the great edifices at Yopaa, which has
since been so celebrated under the name of Mictlan (the Place
of the Dead), has been attributed to the disciples of Quetzal-
coatl. This place, however, has been rendered famous by the
appearance here, at about the same epoch, or in earlier times, of
an extraordinary personage, having a white complexion, to whom
tradition gives the name of Wixipecocha. This name is still
preserved for the statue of this person, which is erected upon a
high rock at the village of Magdalen a, about four leagues from
Tehuantep^c. It is not known to what race he belonged, or
from what region he came, when he presented himself to the
Zapotec people. A vague tradition states that he came from
the South Sea, a cross in his hand, and debarked in the neigh
bourhood of Tehuantepec. His statue at Magdalena represents
him as a man of a venerable appearance, having a white and
bushy beard. His garments are composed of a long robe, and
of a mantle in which he is enveloped, covering his head like a
cowl, in the manner of a monk. His statue represents him as
seated in an attitude of reflection, apparently occupied in listen
ing to the confession of a woman kneeling at his side. His
speech, to accord with his appearance, was of a remarkable
sweetness. He taught the people to detach themselves from the
things of this world, and to devote themselves to the practice of
penitence and mortification, and to abstain from sensual pleas
ures. Adding example to precept, he kept away from women,
and did not permit them to approach him, except for the purpose
of auricular confession, which was part of his doctrine.

" This extraordinary conduct inspired the respect of the wicked,
for they considered it an unheard-of thing that a man could dis
pense with marriage ; but he was often persecuted by those

538 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

whose views and superstitions he attacked. Pursued in one
province, he passed into another. Thus he arrived at the Zapo-
tec Valley, the greater part of which was then taken up by a
lake called Lake Rualo. Having finally entered into the country
of the Mijes, to work for their conversion, some of them sought
to put him to death. Those who had been sent to capture him
overtook him at the foot of Cempoaltepec, the highest peak
in the country ; but at the moment when they thought to seize
him he disappeared from their sight, and soon after, the tra
dition asserts, his form was seen upon the highest summit of the
mountain.

"Full of astonishment, they hastened to climb its sides ; but,
when they reached the top, Wixipecocha appeared to them again
for a few moments : but, like a phantom, he vanished for the
second time, leaving no other trace of his presence than the im
print of his feet engraved upon the rock which he left. Thence
forth Wixipecocha was seen no more ; but tradition adds, never
theless, that he was seen again upon the enchanted island of
Monapostiac, not far from Tehuantepec, where, perhaps, he em
barked for the purpose of going to make new proselytes.

" His doctrine lost nothing of its influence by the departure of
its first apostle. In spite of the silence of history concerning
the date of his appearance and the disciples whom he left, it can
not be doubted that the pontiff of Yopaa continued his work,
and that the ' Wiyatao,' who for several centuries exercised the
functions of high-priest and supreme pontiff of Zacotecapan,
was merely the vicar and successor of the prophet of Mona
postiac. It seems impossible to decide whether the worship of
Quetzalcoatl derived from him the innovation which the prophet
of Tollantzinco introduced among the Toltecs, or whether it is
from the latter that Yopaa received the institutions which are
found in the two religions ; but it is certain that, in spite of some
notable differences between their rites and customs, there are
striking resemblances which militate strongly in favour of a com
mon origin." Quotations are made from " Papeles Curiosos de la
Historia de las Indias, recogidos por Don Mariano Veytia " ;
" Rasgos y Senales de la Primera Predication en el Nuevo Mun-
do, MS. de Don Isidro Gondra" ; Carriedo, "Estudios Historicos
y Estadisticos del Estado Oaxaqueno," Mexico, 1850, tome i,
cap. i ; and Burgoa, " Geogr. Hist, de Guaxaca," etc., cap. Ixxii.

MEXICAN TRADITIONS. 539

This account of the tradition is repeated by Bancroft,173 who
in other places gives the following variation of the tale : ^

" However doubtful the tradition regarding Votan may be,
there is one among the Oajacans which to me has all the appear
ances of a mutilated version of the myth of Quetzalcoatl, de
formed still more by the orthodox Fathers. In very remote
times, about the era of the apostles, according to the padres, an
old white man, with long hair and beard, appeared suddenly at
Huatulco, coming from the southwest by sea, and preached to
the natives in their own tongue, but of things beyond their un
derstanding. He lived a strict life, passing the greater part of
the night in a kneeling position, and eating but little. He dis
appeared shortly after as mysteriously as he had come, but left
as a memento of his visit a cross, which he planted with his own
hands, and admonished the people to preserve it sacredly, for one
day they would be taught its significance. Some authors describe
a personage of the same appearance and character coming from
the same quarter, and appearing in the country shortly after ; but
it is doubtless the same old man, who, on leaving Huatulco, may
have turned his steps to the interior. His voice is next heard in
Mictlan, inveighing in gentle but firm accents against the pleas
ures of this world, and enjoining repentance and expiation. His
life was in strict accordance with his doctrines, and never, except
at confession, did he approach a woman. But the lot of Wixe-
pecocha, as the Zapotecs call him, was that of most reformers.
Persecuted by those whose vice and superstitions he attacked, he
was driven from one province to another, and at last took refuge
on Mount Cempoaltepec. Even here his pursuers followed him,
climbing its craggy sides to lay hands upon the prophet. Just
as they reached the summit, he vanished like a shadow, leaving
only the print of his feet upon the rock.

" The Mijes had this tradition written in characters on skin.
(Burgoa, 'Geog. Descrip.,' tome i, pt. ii, fol. 299.)

"It is in Zapotecapan that the disciples of Quetzalcoatl ap
pear most prominently. There they are said to have founded
Mitla or Yopaa, and to have diffused their arts and religious
teachings throughout the whole country, as far as Tehuantepec.
The mysterious apostle Wixipecocha, of whom a full account has
already been given, is said to have appeared in these regions.
He was generally respected, but was sometimes persecuted,

54:0 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

especially in the Mije country, whither he went after passing
through the Zapotec Valley.

" Nothing definite is known of the early history of the Miz-
tecs (or Mijes) and Zapotecs. All that has been preserved is
some account of their spiritual rulers. Thus, we are told that
the Kingdom of Tilantengo, which comprised Upper Mizteca,
was spiritually governed by the high-priest of Achiutla, who
bore the title of t Taysacaa,' and whose power equaled, if it
did not surpass, that of the king ; while in Zapotecapan the
' Wiyatao,' or sovereign pontiff, united in his person the supreme
sacerdotal and secular power." 436

Bancroft also makes several other references to this preacher
of strange doctrines,341 and to the statue 877 set up in his honour,3*2
and Brasseur de Bourbourg also refers again to the statue of
Wixipecocha,146 but nothing of importance is added to the fore
going statements.

As to the name, it should be noticed that the syllables
" Wixi " or " Wixe " express very nearly the same sounds that
occur in the name Hwui Shan. Nearly all other authors than
Professor Williams (and he himself elsewhere than in his dic
tionary) spell the last name of the Buddhist priest "Shin" instead
of " Shan." The " x " in " Wixe " or " Wixi " is intended to ex
press the sound " sh," and we would, therefore, spell the name
Wixi-pecocha, " Wi-shi-pecocha." The closing portion of the
term I imagine to be derived from the Sanskrit word, " bhik-
shu," which was used as the title of the wandering Buddhist
monks. It was customary to place this title after the name,
and Hwui Shan's full name and title would, therefore, have been
" Hwui Shan, bhikshu." Of "bhikshu " the Mexicans can hardly
have made anything else than "pecocha,"or "picoxa,"for they
had neither b nor bh in their language, and p is the letter which
they would naturally substitute therefor. It is against their rules
to permit two consonants to stand together, without the insertion
of an intermediate vowel (tl, tz, x, and ch being regarded as sin
gle sounds), and they would, therefore, insert o or some obscure
vowel sound between k and sh ; and they seem to have seldom,
if ever, permitted a word to end with o or u.

With the exception of the dropping of the terminal nasal of
Hwui Shan, or Hwui Shin, the term Wi-shi-pecocha is as faithful
a preservation of " Hwui Shin, bhikshu " as could be expected.

MEXICAN TRADITIONS. 541

As to this terminal nasal, it should be remarked that, in the
Aztec language, such a nasal played nearly the same part as the
"anuswara" of the Sanskrit, and was often either assimilated to
the following consonant or else dropped. Thus the word for
" one," when standing by itself, is ce ; but " one stone " (" stone "
being tetl) is centetl, and "one tally" ("tally "being poalli) is
cempoalli, "twenty." A similar fluctuation of the terminal nasal
sound is seen in the Maya language of Yucatan, some authorities
writing Chilan Balam for the same words which others spell
Chilam Balan or Chilam Balam™

Upon the Pacific coast of Mexico, near the mouth of the
Tehuantepec River, is a town called Huazontlan, or " the Place of
Huazon," which may possibly preserve the name of our Buddhist
explorer in a slightly different shape.

The statements made in regard to Wixipecocha show that
there was some confusion in the native traditions between this
prophet and Quetzalcoatl, the so-called " Plumed Serpent " ; the
civilizer who was afterward deified, to whom the legend attrib
utes all the doctrines, all the arts, and all the industries which
characterize the Toltec period.1426

The history of Topiltzin Ceacatl Quetzalcoatl is one of the
most interesting episodes of the annals of Mexico.628 His mys
terious appearance, his glory, and his misfortunes have popular
ized his name, which is indissolubly connected with that of the
Toltecs in all the countries in which the Nahuatl language is
used. His triple reign in Anahuac, at Cholula, and in Yucatan is
not one of the least singular phenomena of the life of this extra
ordinary personage, whom all the traditions of North America
have celebrated, and regarding whom so many authors have
written since the discovery of the Western Continent. This his
tory is not only interesting, however, but also contains much that
is difficult to explain.

Too frequently confounded with the mythical creations which
are found in the ancient theogonies, Quetzalcoatl, in the eyes of a
great number, is merely an allegorical figure, symbolizing, like
many others, certain attributes of the divinity ; but careful study
of the Mexican histories and traditions gives positive proofs to the
contrary. Living at an epoch contemporaneous with that of Charle
magne and Haroun-al-Raschid, Quetzalcoatl, in America, united
in his person all the splendours of the civilization of his century.

542 AN INGLOEIOUS COLUMBUS.

He was made the instrument and the personification of all that
was most august, as was the case with the two rulers of Europe
and Asia above named. High-priest of the nation of which he
was the supreme chief, if he did not change the dogmas of the
Toltec religion, he at least modified them considerably, clothed
them with the veil of mystery, added new feasts and ceremonies
to the ritual, and surrounded the worship of their ancient relig
ion with pompous display. Far from being merely a personified
symbol, he identified with himself the pre-existing symbols, and
prepared the apotheosis of the heroes of his family by personify
ing the ancient myths in them. Finally, he surrounded himself
with so much mystery, and enveloped himself in an exterior so
solemn, that while some deemed him a true god, others, irritated
by his pride, were repelled from him, and commenced the great
Toltec schism which, at the close of a civil and religious war of
which he was the object, and of which his intolerance was the
cause, ended by the destruction of the empire.

More than fifteen years after the death of Totepeuh Nonohu-
alcatl, the news of the appearance of Quetzalcoatl was spread
throughout the provinces of the Toltec dominion. He was a
person of an honourable deportment, large, well made, of a pre
possessing countenance, white of colour, withJ^IflBiJgji^ and
with a beard that was bushy and well trimmed. Like his com
panions, he wore long and flowing garments ; his robe being of a
white stuff strewed with black flowers. Several authors say that
his robe was decorated with red crosses,310 and still others state
that the crosses were black. We, however, accept the testimony
of las Casas that the ornaments were black flowers.

The sleeves of his robe were large, but were fastened above
the elbow.

His suite was numerous, all composed of men equally skillful
in the works of art and in the combinations of science : architects,
painters, sculptors, masons, goldsmiths, jewelers, mathematicians,
astronomers, musicians, and men of all other trades and profes
sions, even those who by their art were able to add to the pleas
ures of the table. They were a true colony of artists, who appear
to have purposely sought these countries. They were seen for
the first time in the neighbourhood of Panuco, where they had
debarked, but no one ever knew whence they had come.628

Bancroft condenses a passage from Torquemada as follows :

MEXICAN TRADITIONS.

812 " Certain people came from the north by way of Panuco. These
were men of good carriage, well dressed in long robes of black
linen, open in front and without capes, cut low at the neck, with
short sleeves that did not come to the elbow ; the same in fact
that the natives use to this day in their dances. From Panuco
they passed on very peaceably, by degrees, to Tulla, where they
were well received by the inhabitants. The country there, how
ever, was already too thickly populated to sustain the new-comers ;
so these passed on to Cholula, where they had an excellent re
ception. They brought with them, as their chief and head, a
personage called Quetzalcoatl, a fair and ruddy-complexioned
man with a long beard. In Cholula, these people remained, and
multiplied, and sent colonies to people Upper and Lower Mixteca,
and the Zapotecan country ; and these it is said raised the grand
edifices, whose remains are still to be seen at Mictlan. These
followers of Quetzalcoatl were men of great knowledge and cun
ning artists in all kinds of fine work ; not so good at masonry
and the use of the hammer as in casting metals, in the engraving
and setting of precious stones, in all kinds of artistic sculpture,
and in agriculture."

Sahagun says that he was represented as wearing upon his
head a miter spotted like a tiger's skin, and ornamented with a
plume of the feathers called quetzalli.™6 A small image of
Quetzalcoatl, contained in the Parisian Museum of Ethnography
(see Fig. 22, Chapter XXXII), represents him as wearing a
plaited conical bonnet, fastened in front by a large band, orna
mented with great buttons, and which, according to Hamy,1427
" reminds one of the bonnets worn by the Lama priests."

Quetzalcoatl seems to have been the leader of the party of
five Buddhist priests referred to by Hwui Shan, from whom
the latter, in some way, became separated. Yon Humboldt says
of him that he was without doubt the most mysterious being of
all the Mexican mythology. He was a white and bearded man,
like Bochica, the hero of the Muyscas of South America. He
was the high-priest of Tollan, a legislator, and the chief of a re
ligious sect which, like the Sonyasis, and the Buddhists of Hindo-
stan, imposed the most cruel penances upon themselves. He
introduced the custom of piercing the lips and ears, and of dis
figuring the rest of the body, with the thorns of the leaves of the
century-plant, or with tlje spines of the cactus, and of introduc-

544 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

ing reeds into the wounds, so as to cause a more abundant flow
of blood. One fancies that he sees one of the Rishis, hermits
of the Ganges, of whom the Puranas celebrate the pious aus
terity.1583 He adds that 1584 he permitted no other offerings to the
divinity than the first-fruits of the harvest.

Nearly all the accounts tell us that Quetzalcoatl was never
married, and that he held himself aloof from all women in abso
lute chastity.829 Following the example of their master, many of
the priests of his cult refrained from sexual relations, and, as a
mortification of the flesh, they practiced a painful rite by trans
fixing the tongue with the sharp thorns of the maguey-plant, an
austerity which, according to their traditions, he was the first to
institute. There were also in the cities where his special wor
ship was in vogue, houses of nuns, the inmates of which had
vowed perpetual virginity, and it was said that Quetzalcoatl
himself had founded these institutions.

Yon Tschudi is led, by the general resemblance of the dress
and doctrines of this teacher to those of the devotees of the re
ligions of India, to state his belief that he, as well as Manco
Capac of Peru, was a missionary of the worship either of Brahma
or Buddha (" Peruv. Antiq.," pp. 17-20).407 Von Humboldt is in
error in his statement that the Buddhists impose cruel penances
upon themselves ; these penances belong rather to the Brah-
manic than to the Buddhist religion. It is a fact, however, that
the truth of the Brahmanic mythology was not denied by the
founder of Buddhism or his followers,1263 and that Brahmanic
ideas form a strong element in Buddhism.1270 It is a religion,
contemplative, mild, a little sad, and eclectic. Propagandistic by
nature, it converts by reason and example, never by force. It
appropriates, with the greatest facility, all that it finds good in
the religions which it meets, and, pushing this principle to ex
tremes, it finds no difficulty in adopting and placing in its pan
theon the gods of the nations among which it is transplanted,
making these deities subordinate to Buddha.1884 Hence it did not
suppress the gods of Brahmanism, 1881 and, by the latter part of
the fifth century, its doctrines had become mixed with the incon
gruous teachings of the Brahmanic religion, 1341 and the term
" A Brahman Buddhist " is an expression that occurs more than
once.1342 It is particularly in what is called Northern Buddhism
that Brahmanic ideas are most prevalent,1742 and the religion in-

MEXICAN TRADITIONS. 545

troduced into Thibet was much corrupted by Sivaism — a mixture
of witchcraft and Hindu philosophy.1302 In Java, also, the wor
ship was that of Siva united to Buddhism ; m2 and Crawfurd holds
that the testimony afforded by the relics of Hinduism, in the
principal temples of Java, may be considered as a proof that the
religions of Brahma and Buddha are essentially the same, the
one being nothing but a modification of the other. "* Dr. Ste
venson, of Bombay, in an article contributed to the seventh vol
ume of the " Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society," mentions a sect
in the Marhatta country, in Guzerat, Central India, and the Carna-
tic, who combine the worship of Buddha with that of Vishnu.1354
It is well known that the Buddhists of India admitted a great num
ber of Indian idols into their temples, and that even now, in the
countries in which Buddhism is the ruling religion, they do not
exclude the local divinities from their places of worship ; but that
now, as formerly, they unite the doctrines of the local religion
with those properly pertaining to their own system, or subordi
nate the former to the latter.1608 All accounts agree that, when
gods that are plainly and decidedly Brahmanic are found in
connection with Buddhistic ideas, it is usually Siva and the
mythical beings connected with that worship that are found, and
very seldom either Brahma or Vishnu, or idols of this branch of
the Indian pantheon. Schmidt notices this fact, especially, also,
in regard to the nations of Central Asia.1609

Convincing proofs of a connection between Buddhism and
the worship of Siva are furnished by the ruins of Buddha-Gaya,
and the religious situation in Nepal. In the first, so many of
the sculptures are connected with the worship of Siva, that
Buchanan-Hamilton thought it probable that the former Bud
dhists of this region worshiped more especially Siva and the ac
companying destroying feminine power. The number of these
remains is as great as those of the images of Buddha, and some
are so large and remarkable that they can not be considered as
mere decorations. In Nepal, the worship of Siva is so mixed
with Buddhistic customs and ideas, in the views and religion
of the people, that the pure teachings of Buddha can only be
learned from the religious books.1610

Two scholars who have studied this subject with a thorough
knowledge of Oriental writings, MM. Schmidt and "W. von Hum.
boldt, have asked why Buddhism allies itself rather with Sivaism
35

546 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

than with Vishnuism, and the conclusion is reached that there
has not been a complete fusion of the two religions, but that there
has been merely the practice of diverse ceremonies, and an adora
tion by the Buddhists of different gods belonging properly to the
worship of Siva ; the worshipers being but little disquieted by
the discordance between their ancient faith and their new super
stitions.869

Count Stolberg is of opinion that the two great religious
sects of India, the worshipers of Vishnu and those of Siva, have
spread over America, and that the Peruvian cult is that of Vish
nu, when he appeared in the form of Krishna, or the Sun, while
the sanguinary religion of the Mexicans is analogous to that of
Siva, in the character of the Stygian Jupiter. The wife of Siva,
the black goddess Kali, or Bhavani, symbol of death and destruc
tion, wears, according to Hindu statues and pictures, a necklace
of human skulls. The Vedas ordain human sacrifices in her
honour. The ancient cult of Kali, continues Humboldt, presents,
without doubt, a marked resemblance to that of Mictlancihuatl,
the Mexican goddess of hell. (Quoted from Humboldt, " Vues,"
tome i, pp. 256-257, and " Geschichte der Religion Jesu Christi,"
tome i, p. 426. )405

Bancroft adds that, not only does the worship of Mictlanci
huatl preserve the most perfect analogy with that of the sangui
nary and implacable Kali, but the legends of the Mexican divin
ity Teoyajniqui recall with equal force the formidable Bha
vani ; both these Indian deities were wives of Siva Rudra.406

M. Viollet-le-Duc notes a similar analogy between the
Brahmanic ideas concerning the divinity and certain passages'
of the Popol- Vuh, or Sacred Book of the Quiches of Central
America.1217

The Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg suggests 756 that Quetzalcoatl
introduced the drawing of blood by thorns as a hygienic meas
ure, rather than as an act of religious worship. It seems more
probable, however, that the five Buddhist monks were devotees
of an impure form of Buddhism, more or less mixed with the
worship of Siva, and that they introduced into Mexico religious
penances somewhat similar to those which they had practiced in
their distant home north of India.

The analogy between the religion introduced into Mexico by
Quetzalcoatl and that prevalent in Eastern Asia, and between the

MEXICAN TRADITIONS. 547

arts of these two regions of the world, will be considered here
after. For the present, it is sufficient to note that all the tradi
tions represent this missionary to have been of an exceedingly
chaste and quiet life, and of great moderation in all things. The
people had at least three reasons for the great love, reverence,
and devotion with which they regarded him : first, he taught the
silversmith's art, a craft the Cholulans greatly prided themselves
on ; second, he desired no sacrifice of the blood of men or ani
mals, but delighted only in offerings of bread, roses, and other
flowers, or perfumes, and sweet odours ; third, he prohibited
and forbade all war and violence,310 and even covered his ears
when the subject was mentioned.317

He taught not only the art of casting metals,1068 but also
that of cutting gems,1067 and, as some say,697 taught them the
arrangement of their seasons and calendar.1854 He also taught
the people agriculture.317

The influence of his teachings was so great that the predic
tion which he made when he left them, that in the future his
descendants (or the people of his nation) would return 741 to
moderate the laws of the country and put its government in or
der,8348 was firmly believed in, both by Montezuma and his peo
ple, at the time of the coming of the Spaniards ; and much of the
ease with which they conquered the country was due to the fact
that their arrival was regarded as a fulfillment of this predic
tion.416

In the legends regarding Quetzalcoatl it is usually stated that
when he became oppressed with the weight of old age he was
induced to drink,2188 as a medicine, of the intoxicating liquor 818'
prepared from the juice of the agave,309 notwithstanding the fact
that when first urged to taste it he replied, " No ; I can not drink
it : I can not so much as taste it." 3n Much is said of the sorrow
which he evinced at having thus weakly yielded to temptation.
Now, although it can not be claimed that this doctrine of " total
abstinence " is peculiar to the Buddhist religion, it seems at least
worthy of notice that on this point, as on so many others, the
principles by which this teacher professed to be governed were
in strict accordance with the doctrines of the Buddhists. Accord
ing to their teachings, of the five crimes, the taking of life, theft,
adultery, lying, and drinking, the last is the worst ; for, though a
man be ever so wise, when he drinks he becomes foolish, and like

548 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

an idiot. It is therefore the cause of all other sins, and for this
reason it is the greatest crime.1461

Possibly the true etymology of the name Quetzalcoatl may
be of assistance in forming a conclusion as to the character of
the man to whom it was applied. As quetzatti is the name of a
species of feathers much valued by the Mexicans ; as coatl means
" serpent " ; and as the Aztecs wrote the name by picturing a ser
pent with feathers — it has been thought that the meaning was
"Plumed Serpent," and no other derivation has been sought.
The French editors of Sahagun's work, however, give the follow
ing definition of the term quetzalli : 2m " This is a very long and
beautiful feather from the tail of the bird (tototl) called quetzal
tototl. It is so valued that the Mexicans metaphorically address
a beloved child by the word noquetzale, ' Oh, my beautiful feather! '
They also designate by this term a chief, a superior, a father, a
mother — in one word, any powerful person" By reference to
the Aztec dictionaries it will be seen that coatl not only means a
serpent, but from its compounds it is evident that the word once
also had the meaning of a guest or a visitor. The compound
Quetzalcoatl is therefore susceptible of the meaning " the revered
guest," or " the honoured visitor," and I am strongly of the
opinion that the term should be so translated, rather than by the
absurd rendering of " the Plumed Serpent." *

In this connection it should be noticed that the Buddhist
priests of Nepal are frequently referred to in their religious books
by the term Vadjra dtchdrya, meaning " the diamond teacher,"
or " the precious teacher," 858 and it can not be considered strange
that the leader of this party of missionaries should have been
given a name- which is practically a translation of the title which
he had borne in his own country.

The most serious objection that can be urged against the
theory which identifies Quetzalcoatl with the leader of the party
of Buddhist monks mentioned by Hwui Shan is that Quetzal-

* One of the highest officers of the Mexican government bore the title of
" Cihuacoatl." This has usually been translated " the Woman-Serpent." I would
suggest that its true meaning is " the women's guest," or « the wives' guest." In
some of the islands of the Pacific Ocean there is an officer, standing next in rank
to the chief, who, during the absence of the latter on military expeditions, filla
his place at home in both governmental and domestic affairs. The rank and title
of the Mexican Cihuacoatl suggest that his duties were the same, when the office
was first established, if not at the time of the Spanish conquest. — E. P. V.

MEXICAN TRADITIONS. 549

coatl is said to have come from the east. All the incidental cir
cumstances that are mentioned, however, agree so closely with the
theory that this reformer came from Asia, and are so incompatible
with the belief that he came from Europe, that the mere mention
of the east is not sufficient to outweigh them all. I can only
suggest as possible explanations, the following :

First.— The party may have crossed the western portion of
the American Continent by some one of the routes pointed out
by Mr. Morgan,1944 and have reached the Gulf of Mexico by way
of the Mississippi River, and hence have arrived at Mexico from

the east, while Hwui Shan, who seems to have become separated

from the rest, came down the Pacififi-C£ast.________---

Second. — As the party left Asia by way of Corea and Japan,
their references to these countries as "the Land of the Freshness
of the Dawn,"2528 and "the Land of the Rising Sun"2323 (these
phrases being translations of the names of the countries in ques
tion), may have led to the impression that the country from
which they came lay to the east ; Chivim™ the term preserved
in Guatemala as the name of the land from which Yotan came,621
is at least as near to the name of Japan as the form Sipangu,
which is given by Marco Polo.

Third. — The old traditions may have had this statement
added to them after the arrival from the east of the Spaniards,
who were supposed to be the descendants of their former prophet
and teacher. Bandelier calls attention to the fact, that it was
not until many years after the conquest that the detail that
Quetzalcoatl came from or sailed to the east was added to the
earlier accounts regarding him, and he reaches the conclusion
that 49T there is absolutely no evidence to prove that this return
was expected by sea, rather than by land, or, in general, from
any quarter or country whatever in preference to any other.

The reference to crosses upon the mantle of Quetzalcoatl may
have been another addition to the legend that was made after
the arrival of the Spaniards ; and the fact that some versions of
the story refer to the figures as flowers, rather than as crosses,
would seem to favour this belief. It is undeniable, however, that
crosses were actually found in Mexico and Central America by
the Spaniards. Signer Zamacois gives both the following ac
count of the discovery of a cross and a theory which seems to
give a reasonable explanation of its existence:

550 AN" INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

"When the expedition of Grijalva reached the island of
Cozumel, near the coast of Yucatan, he called the attention of
the Spaniards to the solidity of the houses, and the beautiful
construction of a number of temples, all of lime and stone.
Among the last there was one surpassing all the rest, of a pyra-
midical form, surrounded by a wall, in the spacious lower porch
of which a stone cross, three yards in height, and perfectly
worked, was conspicuous.

"The sight of this cross, and of many others which were
afterward found in the peninsula of Yucatan, has caused many to
suppose that the apostle St. Thomas came to preach the Gospel in
these remote countries. Other writers suspect that in 1517 the
Governor Don Francisco Montejo reached a point only fourteen
leagues distant from Merida, and that the inhabitants, when the
Spaniards, whom they took for celestial beings, had retired,
adopted the cross among their divinities. But no one of the sup
positions that have been made regarding the origin of the sign
of the cross in Yucatan rests upon a secure basis, and they are
all open to question. If I may be permitted to enter the vast
field of simple conjecture, I will venture to state my opinion in
respect to the manner in which, as I conceive, the cross may
have been planted in that part of the New World, while it was
not encountered in any other part of America.

"The island of Cuba was occupied by Velasquez in 1511, when
the Indians embraced Catholicism almost immediately. Various
insurrections set on foot by the caciques, and crushed out by the
Spaniards, obliged many Indians to emigrate from the island ;
but it is reasonable to suppose that they would not seek countries
under the rule of the Europeans. It being then impossible for
them to seek a home in San Domingo, it might easily happen
that, floating aimlessly on the sea, they should be thrown by
the currents upon Cozumel, or some other place upon the coast
of Yucatan. Being admitted among the inhabitants, and con
tinuing the adoration of the cross of the new religion, of which
they had scarcely any true knowledge, it might easily happen
that the inhabitants, hearing of the prodigies which they related
regarding it, should have admitted it into the list of their divini
ties, while having no knowledge whatever of that which it sym
bolized.

"This is merely a conjecture, although it seems to be based

MEXICAN TRADITIONS. 551

upon some probability. In any case, it is true that the cross
figured in the religion of various tribes of the peninsula of Yu
catan, and that it represented the god of Rain." 2585

Bandelier thinks, however, that the crosses, which were fre
quently used previously to the conquest by the aborigines of
Mexico and Central America, were merely designed as ornaments,
and were not the objects of worship among them, while the so-
called crucifixes, like that on the " Palenque tablet," were only
the symbol of the "new fire," or close of a period of fifty-two
years. He believes them to be merely representations of "fire-
drills," more or less ornamented.498

The theory of Signor Zamacois, that there was more or less
communication between the natives of the West India Islands
and those of Yucatan, prior to the time that the Spaniards
reached this last-named country, is confirmed, however, both by
the fact that a god named Hurakan, the deification of the power
of the tempest, was worshiped alike in these two regions,803 and by
the circumstances that the natives of Espanola are said to have
received an oracle, shortly before Columbus's arrival, announcing
the coming of bearded men with sharp, bright swords. (Yilla-
gutierre, " Hist. Conq. Itza.," p. 33.) The Yucatec records abound
in predictions to the same effect, more or less clear. The most
widely quoted is that of Chilam Balam, high - priest of Mani,
and reputed a great prophet, who foretold that, ere many years,
there would come from the direction of the rising sun a bearded
white people, bearing aloft the cross which he displayed to his
listeners. Their gods would flee before the new-comers, and
leave them to rule the land, but no harm would fall on the peace
ful, who admitted the only true God. The priest had a cotton
mantle woven, to be deposited in the temple at Mani, as a spe
cimen of the tribute required by the new rulers, and he it was
who erected the stone crosses found by the Spaniards, declaring
them to be the true tree of the world. Cogalludo, " Hist. Yu-
cathan," pp. 99-101, gives the prophecy at length.452

These prophecies can hardly be accounted for on any other
theory than that their authors had obtained some knowledge of
the arrival of the Spaniards in the neighbouring islands, and that
they thought it safe to predict that these wonderful strangers
would soon find their way to Yucatan.

If it be thought that the mantle of Wixipecocha was really

552 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

embroidered with crosses, their presence may possibly be ac
counted for by remembering that the cross was venerated as
the object of religious worship in regions of Asia where the
light of Christianity had never risen. 20" That it was of pagan, not
of Christian origin ; M8 that in the earliest times it was the most
sacred symbol in the eyes of our Aryan ancestors (see " Edin
burgh Review " for October, 1870) ; M9 that it was the sign used
to seal the jars of holy water taken from the Nile and Ganges ; 16n
that it was the monogram of Vishnu and Siva,12" and was used in
India before the Christian era as a symbol of Buddha,846 and a sign
of recognition of orthodoxy in Buddhism.847 The form of cross
most frequently used for these purposes is known as the Swas
tika 1"52 fylfot, or gammadion, and this same form was frequently
used by the Christians of the Middle Ages as a decorative de
vice.1503

Mr. Godfrey Higgins, in his " Celtic Druids," p. 126, says :
" Few causes have been more powerful in producing mistakes
in ancient history than the idea, hastily taken up by Christians
in all ages, that every monument of antiquity marked with a cross,
or with any of those symbols which they conceived to be mono
grams of Christ, were of Christian origin. . . . The cross is as
common in India as in Egypt and Europe." M5

If crosses were actually worn upon the mantle of Wixipeco-
cha, they may have been used, as they still are in the curtains of
the windows of Buddhist monasteries in Thibet, as symbols of
quietness or peace.2232 In Japan the loop-holes of the forts are,
in times of peace, covered with such curtains embroidered with
crosses ; when a war breaks out they are removed. This mis
sionary may, therefore, have worn them as a traveler might now
carry a white flag : as a sign of peaceful intentions.

The disagreement between the several versions of the tradi
tion, as to the nature of the ornaments with which his mantle
was adorned, seems rather to indicate, however, that the story
owed its origin to the fact that the outer garment of Buddhist
priests is, in accordance with the commands of the founder of
their religion, made of patchwork.

The physician Juvaka, having given two magnificent robes
to Gotama Buddha, the sage reflected that if the priests were
allowed to receive robes of this description they would be in dan
ger from thieves, and he therefore intimated this danger to his

MEXICAN TRADITIONS. 553

attendant, Ananda, who cut them into thirty pieces, and then
sewed them together in five divisions, so that the robe resembled
the patches in a rice-field divided by embankments.1434 On see
ing this contrivance, Buddha made a law that his priests should
only have three robes at one time, and that they should always
be composed of thirty pieces of cloth.1456 Buddhist ascetics have
three kinds of dresses : First. The SENG-KIA-LI, so called from a
Sanskrit word (sanghdti\ signifying " joined or doubled," be
cause it is made of pieces cut and united together again. As to
its use, it is called " a dress to enter the palace of kings," or " a
dress for a public place," because it is worn on the occasion of
preaching the law in palaces, as well as begging in the cross-
ways. Second. YU-TO-LO-SENG (uttarasangMti), a Sanskrit
word signifying the "upper garment," "surtout"; it consists of
seven pieces, and is worn on the occasion of ceremonies, prayers,
festivals, and preaching. Third. AN-THO-HOEI : this word means
an inner vesture used in sleep and worn next the body. A
Buddhist work calls it " the nether garment," and states that it
is composed of five pieces. Its use is defined to be " a garment
formed of several pieces worn in-doors by those who practice the
law." Its Sanskrit name is antaravdsaka.1339

A mantle so patched that it " resembled the patches in a
rice-field divided by embankments " may easily have given rise
to the story that it was embroidered with crosses.

It should be noticed that the tradition states that when
Wixipecocha disappeared he left the imprint of his feet engraved
upon the rock on which he had stood ; it is also said of Quetzal-
coatl that, in a valley near Tlalnepantla or Tanepantla, he
pressed hand and foot into a rock with such force that the im
pression has remained down to the latest centuries.182 Similar
statements are also made regarding the mysterious teachers men
tioned in the legends of several nations of South America, and
referred to in the following chapter. I can hardly think it a mere
coincidence that a favourite form of relic worship among the
Buddhists consists of respect paid to the impressions of Gotama's
foot, called Sri-pdda. On the third visit of the sage to Ceylon,
in the eighth year after he obtained the Buddhaship, he left
such an impression on the summit of the mountain, usually
known by the name of Adam's Peak, seven thousand four hun
dred and twenty feet above the level of the sea, intended as " a

554: AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

seal to declare that Lanka would be the inheritance of Buddha."
In the same journey he left other impressions of a similar kind
in different parts of India.1445

Buddhists mention a great many foot-prints of this kind ; the
veneration these receive, scarcely inferior to that paid to Bud
dha himself, has no doubt contributed to augment the number. It
is quite plain that every country must have its own, and that each
sect pretends to honour in it the divinity it adores, or the head
of the doctrine it has embraced. All, therefore, do not belong to
Sakya Muni ; indeed, the Pali texts recognize but five genuine
ones, named Pancha pra patha, " the five divine feet." Captain
Low has devoted an article to this subject in the " Translations
of the Royal Asiatic Society of London." 1362

Foot-prints of this nature are mentioned by Fa Hian as exist
ing near Palibothra,1353 and in the kingdom in the north of India
which he designates as Ou-chang,1337 as well as in Ceylon.1360

CHAPTER XXXI.

VARIOUS AMERICAN TRADITIONS. — BUDDHISM.

White and bearded men wearing long robes — The great numbers of countries in
which such traditions exist — Non-intercourse between them — Traditions of
Yucatan — Zamna and Cukulcan — The introduction of the alphabet — Attend
ants — The name Cukulcan — The three brothers of Chichen Itza — The build
ings erected — The teachings of Cukulcan — His departure — The survival of his
doctrines — Votan — His long-robed attendants — Resemblance of name "Vo-
tan " to Asiatic perversions of " Gautama " — The time of these visits — The
" katuns " of Yucatan — South American traditions — The Muyscas— Their civil
ization — The arrival of a white stranger — His names — The arts he taught — His
doctrines — The veneration of the people for him — Resemblance of his names
to Buddhist title8— A Pachcheko— The Updsakas— The Chinese Ho Shang—
Tradition of the Guaranis — Tamoi, Tamu, Tume, or Zume — His teachings —
The impress of his foot-prints — The tradition in Paraguay — His promise to re
turn — Adventure of the fathers de Montoya and de Mendoza — The Brazilian
tradition — The great road — Foot-prints — Another tradition — The story in
Chili — Tonapa in Peru — His appearance — His mildness — His teachings — His
departure — Viracocha — The pyramids of Peru — Con, or Contice — The Bud
dhist decalogue — Avoidance of women — Buddhist practices — The dress of the
priests — Hats not worn by the Indians — Resemblance of teachings of the
American culture-heroes to those of the Roman Catholics — Resemblances be
tween Buddhism and Roman Catholicism — Their monasteries — Their doctrines
— The costume of the Grand Lama — Belief in an early mixture of Christianity
and Buddhism — A Central American image — The calendar — The arts prac
ticed by Buddhist priests — The art of casting metals— Sculptured vases.

IT is a remarkable fact that, throughout all the American Con
tinent south of the United States, there were traditions of a visit
by one or more white and bearded men, dressed in long robes,
who taught the people all the religious precepts as well as all the
arts with which they were acquainted at the time that they were
first visited by Europeans. These tales are so similar that the
first impulse is to believe that they must have been borrowed by
one nation from another ; and yet there was so little possibility

556 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

of intercourse between the tribes of Yucatan, Central America,
New Grenada, Brazil, Peru, Chili, and Paraguay, that this theory
seems wholly untenable. Barney says that while some portions
of the legends of New Grenada bear so close a resemblance to
those of Mexico that one is led to suspect invention and collu
sion among historians or their informers, yet it is very difficult
to see how such could have been, or what object was to be gained
by the deception.630 The only other reasonable explanation of
the existence of these stories, among tribes so widely separated, is
that each nation actually preserved some recollection of a visit
from a missionary who taught the doctrines which were still
enshrined in their hearts, and, if so, the missionary can hardly
have been any other than one of the party described by Hwui
Shan. These devoted men seem to have become separated, and
some of them continued to push on farther and farther into the
unknown land to which they had found the way, until they at
last wandered as far as Chili and Paraguay.

In Yucatan, nearly or quite every tribe had its traditions of
teachers who came in the distant past to seek new homes, escape
persecutions, or introduce new ideas.155 The most popular names
were Zamna and Cukulcan, both culture-heroes, and considered
by some to be identical. The tradition relates that, some time
after the fall of the Quinamean empire, Zamna appeared in Yu
catan, coming from the west, and was received with great re
spect wherever he stayed. Besides being the inventor of the
alphabet, he is said to have named all points and places in the
country.343 He was also called Itznamna, and the Indians gave
the same name to the characters which they used as letters (Co-
golludo, " Hist. Yuc.," p. 185).879 He was accompanied by a band
of priests and artisans, and was the first temporal and religious
leader of the people,439 and, like Votan, united in himself the
qualities of ruler, law-giver, educator, and priest.266

Cukulcan appeared in Yucatan from the west, with nineteen
followers, two of whom were gods of fishes, two gods of farms,
and one of thunder, all wearing full beards, long robes, and san
dals, but no head-covering. This event is supposed to have oc
curred at the very time that Quetzalcoatl disappeared in the
neighbouring province of Coatzacoalco, a conjecture, which, in
addition to the similarity of the names, character, and work of the
heroes, forms the basis for their almost generally accepted iden-

AMERICAN TRADITIONS. 557

tity.344 The name Cukulcan is merely the Maya translation of
the Aztec term Quetzalcoatl.

At Chichen Itza, ten leagues from Itzamal, the ancients say
there reigned three lords, brothers, who came from the west, and
gathered together many people, and reigned some years in peace
and justice ; and they constructed large and very beautiful edi
fices. It is said that they lived unmarried and very chastely ;
and it is added that in time one of them was missing, and that
his absence worked such bad results that the other two began to
be unchaste and partial ; and thus the people came to hate them,
and slew them, and scattered abroad, and deserted the edifices,
especially the most stately one, which is ten leagues from the sea.

" Those who established themselves at Chichen Itza call them
selves Itzas : among these there is a tradition that there ruled a
great lord called Cukulcan, and all agree that he came from the
Vest ; and the only difference among them is as to whether he
came before, or after, or with the Itzas ; but the name of the
building at Chichen Itza, and what happened after the death of
the lords above mentioned, show that Cukulcan ruled the coun
try jointly with them. He was a man of good disposition ; was
said not to have had either wife or children, and not to have
known woman ; he was devoted to the interests of the people,
and for this reason was regarded as a god. In order to pacify
the land, he agreed to found another city, where all business
could be transacted. He selected for this purpose a site eight
leagues farther inland from where now stands the city of Merida,
and fifteen leagues from the sea. There they erected a circular
wall of dry stone, about a half-quarter of a league in diameter,
leaving in it only two gate- ways. They erected temples, giving
to the largest the name Cukulcan, and also constructed around
the wall the houses of the lords among whom Cukulcan had di
vided the land, giving and assigning towns to each." *

Bancroft believes that Cukulcan should be identified with
Quetzalcoatl, and he regards his appearance, and the rule of the
three "holy princes" at Chichen and Mayapan, as the first intro
duction of the Nahua influence in Yucatan.440 The teachings of
Cukulcan forbade the sacrifice of human victims,269 and he intro
duced the practice of confession.347

* Translated from Herrera's " Historia de las Indias Occidentales," dec. iv,
lib. x, cap. ii.822

558 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

Another singularity is presented in his history : it is his ab
dication and departure from Yucatan. Nothing in the short
fragments that we possess indicates the motives which induced
him to take this course. No other reason can be seen than his
great age, or the fear of drawing the arms of his enemies upon
the Mayas.642

After the mysterious departure of Cukulcan from Yucatan,
the people, convinced that he had gone to the abode of the gods,
deified him, and built temples and instituted feasts in his honour.268

The first seven sovereigns who reigned after Cukulcan, upon
the throne of Mayapan, continued, in emulation one of the others,
to render services to their country which surrounded the reign
of the Cocomes with a glorious aureole. Without excepting the
re-establishment of justice, and the exact observance of the civil
and religious laws so strongly recommended by Cukulcan as the
only basis of national prosperity, tradition, usually so vague,
mentions fully their benefactions to their subjects, and the mon
uments which they erected in so many places. Fountains, roads,
palaces, temples, schools, hospitals for the old and infirm, retreats
for widows and orphans, inns for travelers and pilgrims, baths,
and artificial ponds : such were the titles of the Cocomes to the
public remembrance.643

In Guatemala a story is told of a culture-hero named Votan,
623 very similar in its details to those which have already been
given regarding Wixipecocha, Quetzalcoatl, Cukulcan, and Zamna.
He brought with him, according to one statement, or, according
to another, was followed from his native land by, certain attend
ants or subordinates, called in the myth tzequil, " petticoated,"
from the long and flowing robes they wore.881 Bancroft thinks
that he was probably a companion of Zamna.265

To me the name Votan seems to be a possible corruption of
" Gautama," which in Chinese is changed to Kiu-tan, in Thibetan
to Geoutam™* in Siamese to ITocZom, and in Manchu and Mongo
lian to Godam; 1357 while Zamna may possibly be the Sanskrit
Sramana, the Siamese Somona, an epithet often attached to the
name Gautama,1857 and a term afterward applied to those of his
disciples who devoted their life to his service. It is the Chinese
SHA-MAN already referred to, which appears in English in the
same form, and which is the usual designation of Buddhist priests.

As to the time when these missionaries visited Yucatan and

AMERICAN TRADITIONS. 559

Guatemala, the only clew that we have is contained in the records
known as the Books of Chilan Balam, which have been preserved
in Yucatan. The total period of time, from the earliest date
given to the settlement of the country by the Spaniards, is sev
enty-one " katuns." If the katun is estimated at twenty years,
this equals 1,420 years ; if at twenty-four years, then we have
1,704 years.

All the native writers agree, and in spite of the contrary
statement of Bishop Landa we may look upon it as beyond
doubt, that the last day of the eleventh katun was July 15th,
1541. Therefore one of the above calculations would carry us
back to A. D. 121, the other to B. c. 173.

The chief possibility of error in the reckoning would be from
confusing the great cycles of 260 (or 312) years, one with an
other, and assigning events to different cycles which really
happened in the same. This would increase the number of the
cycles, and thus extend the period of time they appeared to
cover. This has undoubtedly been done in at least one case.821

Thomas believes that,2448 if we assume that these great periods
were numbered in regular order, 1, 2, 3, 4, which is more than
probable, as they were but seldom referred to, then we have evi
dence that the Itza record ran back three great cycles — 936 years
before the year A. D. 1519, that is, to the year 583 of the Chris
tian era.2448 He also fixes the date when the Itzas set out upon
their travels from Tulapan to Chichen Itza as between the years
486 and 510.2449

Bancroft thinks that these visits occurred " within the first
two centuries of the Christian era." m The Abbe Brasseur de
Bourbourg thinks the year 174 A. D. to be the earliest historical
date named in the records of Yucatan ;696 and Lenoir 1729 mentions
660 A. D. as the year in which Huematzin, a celebrated Toltecan
astronomer, wrote the divine book Teoamoxtli, containing the
history of the heavens and the earth, the cosmogony, the descrip
tion of the constellations, the divisions of time, the migrations
of the people, the mythology, and the moral law.1729

It will be seen that, while the exact date can not be deter
mined from the traditions or records of Yucatan, they seem to
fix the time of the introduction of civilization into the country,
by these white, bearded, and long-robed teachers, at about the
same era as the dates mentioned by Hwui Shan — 458 and 499 A. D.

X"\

or THE X

( UNIVERSITY )

\ OF S

560 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

In South America there are numerous traditions of a visit by
civilized strangers. On the lofty plateau of the Andes, in New
Grenada, where, though nearly under the equator, the tempera
ture is that of a perpetual spring, was the fortunate home of the
Muyscas. It is the true Eldorado of America — every mountain-
stream a Pactolus, and every hill a mine of gold. The natives
were peaceful in disposition, skilled in smelting and beating the
precious metal that was everywhere at hand, lovers of agricul
ture, and versed in the arts of spinning, weaving, and dyeing cot
ton. Their remaining sculptures prove them to have been of no
mean ability in designing, and it is asserted that they had a form
of writing, of which their signs for the numerals have alone been
preserved.

The knowledge of these various arts they attributed to the
instructions of a wise stranger, who dwelt among them many
cycles before the arrival of the Spaniards. He came from the
east, from the llanos of Venezuela, or beyond them, and it is said
that the path he made was broad and long, a hundred leagues in
length, and led directly to the holy temple at his shrine at Soga-
moso. In the province of Ubaque his foot-prints on the solid rock
were reverently pointed out long after the conquest. His hair
was abundant, his beard fell to his waist, and he dressed in long
and flowing robes.832

His names were various, but one of the most usual was Chimi-
zapagua, which we are told means a messenger from Chimini-
gagua ; other names applied to this hero-god were Nemtereque-
teba, Bochica, and Zuhe or Sua, the last mentioned being the
ordinary word for the sun. He was reported to have been of
light complexion.833 He it was who invented the calendar and
regulated the festivals.401 He also taught them how to build
and to sow, formed them into communities, gave an outlet to
the waters of the great lake, and, having settled the government,
civil and ecclesiastic, retired into a monastic state of penitence
for two thousand years.314

"The matters that Bochica taught," says the chronicler Pie-
drahita, " were certainly excellent, inasmuch as these natives
hold as right to do just the same that we do." " The priests of
these Muyscas," he goes on to say, " lived most chastely and
with great purity of life, insomuch that, even in eating, their food
was simple and of small quantity, and they refrained altogether

AMERICAN TRADITIONS. 561

from women and marriage. Did one transgress in this respect,
he was dismissed from the priesthood.835

Barney relates the legends regarding this teacher, as fol
lows : 53° " The * culture-hero,' who, according to one of their tra
ditions, was the originator and organizer of their religion and
laws, was generally designated by two names, Nemterequeteba,
or " the sent from God," and Xue-Chimzapaque, which had a
similar signification. . . . He taught the people not only to spin
and weave, but to colour their cloths red and blue, yellow and
brown, etc., that they should not forget his teachings. He also
instructed them in government and a system of religious faith,
which bears much resemblance to the doctrines of Christ, not
withstanding the many perversions which crept in during the
lapse of the ages after his departure. ... So great was the ven
eration of the people for him that, to facilitate his return, they
constructed and paved a road that he might ascend again to the
plain with ease. He was not worshiped by the Chibchas as a
god, but was greatly venerated as a man of wonderful purity of
life and of great usefulness. The early priests of the Catholic
faith seem to have believed that this culture - hero could have
been none other than St. Bartholomew or St. Thomas."

In the name Nemterequeteba, the last three syllables seem to
be a corruption of "Gautama." Bochica may possibly be for
the Sanskrit " Pachcheko," which is a term applied to an inferior
being, or saint, who is never co-existent with a supreme Buddha ;
1453 or it may represent the term " Upasaka," 1431 a title applied to
lay devotees of Buddha,854 whose duties are thus described : 144

" The class of persons called Upasakas, in some districts, and
especially in the neighbourhood of Matura, go about from house
to house, after the manner of the Scripture-readers, reading works
on religion that are written in the vernacular Singhalese, accom
panied with familiar expositions. It is by this means that Bud
dhism is, in many places, principally supported."

The Upasakas were under vows of chastity, etc., but not so
completely as the Bhikshus. A Bhikshu, or full Buddhist monk,
was forbidden to labour in the field, but the Upasaka was not ;
the Bhikshu wore yellow robes, the Upasaka wore white gar
ments.562

The expression HO-SHANG, much used in China, is explained
in the ordinary dictionaries as " priest of Foe, bonze." It is for-
36

562 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

eign to the Chinese language, and belongs to that of Khoten, in
which it represents the Sanskrit word Upasaka. The Chinese
interpret it as fortes, robore nati, in m viventes; also zspurissimi
doctores, and officio proximi, which is further explained by say
ing that these are men who by their purity approach the state
necessary for the reception of the doctrine of Foe. Upasaka
means simply "faithful," in a religious sense, and is the general
name of the Buddhists of Ceylon and Pegu. But this word more
particularly designates the laics,1319 although in Eastern Turkes
tan it was extended to all monks.12*8

The Guaranis,2000 from the Rio de la Plata to the Antilles, and
from the shores of Brazil to the foot of the Bolivian Andes, rev
erence, without fearing him, a beneficent being, their first father,
Tamoi, or "the Venerable Man from Heaven," who appeared
among them, and taught them agriculture, and finally disap
peared in the east, from whence he protected them. Among the
Guarayos prayers were addressed to him in octagonal cabins,
but never either offerings or sacrifices. The Payes, or Piaches,
" sorcerers," were his diviners, his interpreters.2001'2002'2003

Wherever the wide-spread Tupi-Guaranay race extended, the
early explorers found the natives piously attributing their knowl
edge of the arts of life to a venerable and benevolent old man
whom they called "our Ancestor," Tamu, or Tume, or Zume.
The legend was that Pay. Zume, as he was called in Paraguay
( Pay = magician, diviner, priest),* came from the east, from the
Sun-rising, in years long gone by. The spot where he stood is
still marked by the impress of his feet.834

Purchas gives the name as Paicume, and states that in Brazil
the people say that they were taught by him to shave their heads.
2120 Brinton says that he was called " Grandfather " and " Old
Man of the Sky." 807 Dobrizhoffer mentions the tradition as ex
isting in Paraguay; 1909 and Charlevoix 946 gives the following full
account of the legend :

" There had been current, for a long time past, in the adja
cent provinces, a tradition, to which perhaps more credit has
been given in some relations than it really deserves ; but which,
however, it is, I believe, as difficult to refute as to prove. As
soon as the Fathers Cataldino and Maceta had removed to a
greater distance from the Spanish settlements, in order to meet
*Pay, father, is a word for priest introduced into America by the Portuguese.1213

AMERICAN TRADITIONS. 563

with fewer obstacles to the conversion of the Guaranis, some of
the principal men among these Indians assured them that they
had been informed by their ancestors that a holy man called
Pay Suma, or Pay Tuma, had preached in their country the
faith of Heaven (so they expressed themselves) ; that numbers
had put themselves under his conduct ; and that, at his de
parture, he had foretold that they and their descendants would
abandon the worship of the true God, whom he had made known
to them ; but that, after some hundreds of years, new envoys of
the same God would appear among them, armed with a cross
like that which he carried, and would re-establish the same wor
ship among their descendants.

" Some years after this, the Fathers de Montoya and de Men-
doza, having penetrated into the canton of Tayati, the inhabit
ants, seeing them come with crosses in their hands, received
them, to their great surprise, with uncommon demonstrations of
joy and affection, and, on the fathers expressing their surprise,
related to them the same passages that the Fathers Cataldino
and Maceta had heard from other Indians, adding, that the holy
man was, likewise, called Pay Abara, or " the Father, who lives in
a State of Celibacy." The tradition of the Brazilians tallies with
that of the Guaranis, even to adding that the father landed in
the port of Saints, opposite to the bar of St. Vincent, and that
he instructed the inhabitants in the arts of cultivating manioc,
and making bread of it.

" There is a great road leading from Brazil to Guayra, which,
though very seldom used, is never overgrown with any but small
weeds ; and the natives call it the road of Pay Suma. In short,
there is, above the Assumption, a rock, whose summit forms a
terrace, where some people imagine they can perceive the tracks
of human feet ; and the Indians say that it was from this spot
Pay Suma used to preach the Law of God to their forefathers.
The Peruvians, who give him the same name, show some simi
lar vestiges in their country, and relate a great many wonders,
which, they say, the saint wrought among them. Be this as it
will, several Spaniards have given credit to the tradition, and
pretend that Pay Suma was the apostle Saint Thomas."

This account is quoted in the proceedings of the Second Ses
sion of the Congress of Americanists, 1092' and the following re
marks are added :

564: AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

" The committee of publication call attention to the facts :
1. That the tradition in question was first made known by Fathers
Cataldino and Maceta more than a hundred years after the
discovery of Paraguay. 2. That Father Charlevoix, a priest of
the Society of Jesus, was evidently not well convinced of the
truth of this tradition.

" The second tradition is also reported by Father Charlevoix
(tome ii, livre xv, p. 274).

" This nation is very superstitious. An ancient tradition
states that the apostle Saint Thomas had preached the Gospel
in their country (that of the Manacicas), where some of his dis
ciples had been sent ; this at least is certain, that among the gross
fables and the monstrous dogmas of which their religion is com
posed, some traces of Christianity may be discovered. It ap
pears especially, if what they say is true, that they have a clear
idea of a God made man for the good of the human race ; for
one of their traditions is that a virgin, gifted with a perfect
beauty, without having known any man, conceived a very beau
tiful son, who, when he had arrived at the age of manhood,
worked great prodigies, resuscitating the dead, making the lame
walk and giving sight to the blind. Having one day assembled
a great multitude of people, he was raised into the air, and trans
formed into the sun which gives light to us. The Maponos say
that if he were not at so great a distance all the features of his
countenance might be distinguished."

In Chili, also, a similar tradition existed, which is thus re
peated by Bancroft : 403>

In former times, as they (the Chilians) had heard their fa
thers say, a wonderful man had come to that country, wearing a
long beard, with shoes, and a mantle such as the Indians carry
on their shoulders, who performed many miracles. (Quoted
from Resales inedited " History of Chili," in Kingsborough's
" Mexican Antiquities," vol. vi, p. 419.)

In Peru the following version of the story was current : 2'83
" There came to these provinces and kingdoms of Tabantinsuyo,
a bearded man of medium size, with long hair and with moder
ately long robes, and they say that he was a man who had
passed the age of youth, having gray hairs, and being thin, and
traveling with a pilgrim's staff, and that he taught the natives
with great love, calling them all sens and daughters, a thing

AMERICAN TRADITIONS. 565

never before known among the natives, and that he went through
the provinces performing many miracles and wonderful works ;
he cured the sick merely by touching them, and they say that he
spoke all the languages of the country better than the natives,
and he was called Tonapa or Tarapaca ( Tarapaca means ( eagle '),
Vlracochan pacJiayachicachan or Pacchacan and Bicchhayca-
mayoc Cunacuycamayoc. The old men say that the command
ments which he preached were very nearly the same as those of
God, principally the seven precepts. There was lacking only the
name of God our Lord, and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord,
which was a fact well known to the elderly people of those days ;
and the punishments were severe for those who transgressed
those commandments. They say that the said Tonapa went
along the river Chacamarca until he came to the sea, and it is
understood that he went by the passage* toward the other sea.
This was investigated and established by the ancient Incas."

Viracocha, under any and all his surnames, is always described
as white and bearded, dressed in flowing robes, and of imposing
mien. His robes were also white, and thus he was figured at the
entrance of one of his most celebrated temples, that of Urcos.
His image at that place was of a man with a white robe fall
ing to his waist, and thence to his feet.830

The Abbe* Brasseur de Bourbourg makes the following state
ment regarding some of the monuments found in Peru : 724

" M. L. Angrand, formerly Consul-General in Guatemala, and
more lately in Peru, who has carefully examined the archaeo
logical remains of this country, has called our attention to a mat
ter of great interest from the double point of view of the art
and the religion of the American nations. ' In the provinces of
Huamanga and Abancay, situated to the north of Cuzco, which
were formerly inhabited by several tribes, of which the princi
pal was that of the Huilcas, there are found numerous monu
ments of a pyramidal form, composed of several superposed
terraces, constructed with more or less care. A stair-way mounts
to the summit of the edifice, and occupies one of the faces. The
number of terraces varies from three to five, and their total
height varies from five to thirty metres. These edifices are
isolated, and there is never more than one in a place, but they
are always surrounded by other constructions which served as

* This may be a mountain-pass or a strait.

566 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

habitations, and some of which were very extensive.' We have
seen designs of several of these pyramidal edifices ; they are
true teocalliSy like those of Mexico and Central America. These
designs, taken in connection with the preceding observations,
confirm the views which we have always held regarding the
propagation of the civilization and religion of the Toltecs in
South America, even far beyond the neighbouring provinces of
the Isthmus of Panama, from which those of Abancay and Hua-
manga are distant more than four hundred leagues to the south.
This conviction is supported by the fact that, before the religion
and the rule of the Incas existed in Peru, there was, according
to the historians of this country, another more ancient religion,
which had been preached by a divine personage named Con, or
Contice (probably the Comitl or Huey-Comitl of the heroic tra
ditions of Mexico), who had come to preach the doctrines and the
knowledge of one God alone, from far beyond the high mount
ains of the north. The time, the name of the preacher, and the
circumstances of his preaching, seem to indicate a disciple of
Quetzalcoatl, who set forth, perhaps from Cholula, at the same
time as those whom the prophet sent into Mixteca and Mictlan."

A full description of the teocallis of Mexico, showing their
resemblance to the pyramids raised by the Buddhists of Asia,
will be found in a following chapter.

The Buddhists have a decalogue which is in some respects
curiously like that of the Bible. According to the commentators
upon the Pilgrimage of Fa Hian, the five precepts are :

1. Not to kill any living being.

2. Not to steal.

3. Not to commit adultery or to marry.

4. Not to lie.

5. Not to drink wine.

These five precepts answer to the five corresponding virtues :
humanity, prudence, justice, sincerity, and urbanity.

Three others are added to these, making eight :
^ 6. Not to sit on a large bed, or a large or lofty seat.
/ 7. Not to wear flowers or ribbons on the dress.

8. Not to become fond of songs, dances, or comedies.

The two following are likewise enumerated, completing the
number of ten :

9. Not to wear on the arms ornaments of gold or silver.

BUDDHISM. 507

10. Not to eat after noon.

Such are the precepts which the aspirant to the rank of the
Shamans should observe. They are called " the Ten Precepts
of the Ascetics." 134°

The order of the last five does not seem to be settled, as Pro
fessor Williams gives them, with some variations in the wording,
in the order, seventh, eighth, sixth, tenth, and ninth,2516 and Mr.
Hardy in the order tenth, eighth, seventh, sixth, and ninth.1461

The first five of these obligations are called " the pancha-sil."
They are repeated by some persons every day at the " pansal,"
especially by the women. The first eight are called " the ata-sil,"
and they are repeated only on " poya" days, or festivals. When
taken by a laic, they involve the necessity of his living apart
from his family.

Among the commands of Buddha was the following which
he addressed to the Shamans : " Beware of fixing your eyes upon
women ! If you find yourselves in their company, let it be as
though you were not present." 1575 The tradition as to the care
with which these teachers avoided the society of women is there
fore in strict accordance with the commands of the Buddhist re
ligion.

The priests, from the commencement of their novitiate, are
shaved ; 1433 but the shaving is often confined to the crown of the
head, while the remainder of the hair is allowed to grow to its
full length, and the hair of the Buddhist hermits is allowed to
grow entirely unshorn,1261 the custom being so general that the
typical representation of a hermit is always that of a man with
long uncut hair and beard,2228 while in Chinese the phrase " to let
the hair fall" means to become a priest or nun.2"8

When first entering the priesthood the Buddhist monks wear
black robes ; 1485 these are sometimes succeeded by yellow gar
ments, or, in Corea, by long white robes.1997 In Tartary the priests
wear miter-shaped caps,1572 similar to the one which Quetzalcoatl is
represented to have worn. Schlagintweit thus describes the caps
of the Thibetan lamas : lt They are conical, with a large lap,
which is generally doubled up, but is let down over the ears in
cold weather. Some head-priests have a kind of miter of red
cloth, ornamented with flowers of gold worked in the stuff. This
latter kind of cap bears a remarkable resemblance to the miters
of the Roman Catholic bishops." 223° Hats or caps are not worn

568 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

by any Indian tribe, the nearest approach to them being in the
case of the Mexicans, who at the most wore merely an ornamental
head-dress. This fact was seized by most of the Indians of the
United States as forming the easiest and most characteristic
means of distinguishing between whites and Indians in their rude
drawings ; the former always being represented with hats, and
the latter without.

The dress of the teachers mentioned in the traditions, and
the doctrines which they were stated to have taught, were so
much like those of the Roman Catholic priests, that the Spaniards
believed that St. Thomas, or some other missionary of the Chris
tian faith, had succeeded in carrying the Gospel into this un
known quarter of the world. Even at the time of the conquest,
there were so many analogies between the dogmas and rites of the
Roman Catholics and those of the Mexicans, which struck Monte-
zuma742 and the other chiefs of the land,753 as well as the Span
iards, that the latter were often led to ascribe them to imitation
by Satan of the rites of the Christian Church.15 It is not sur
prising that this resemblance should be noticed, if the teachers
referred to in the traditions were Buddhist missionaries, as the
same resemblance has been remarked between Roman Catholi
cism and Buddhism in Asia — a resemblance so striking that the
first Roman Catholic missionaries in Asia, like their brethren in
Mexico, thought that it must be an imitation by the devil of the
religion of Christ.1303 Every one who visits their monasteries can
at once discover the resemblance.965

Their celibacy, their living in communities, their cloisters,
their service in the choirs, their string of beads, their fasts, and
their penances, give them so much of the air of Christian monks
that it is not surprising that a Capuchin should be ready to hail
them as brothers.1797

Father Grueber was much struck with the extraordinary
similitude he found, as well in the doctrine as in the rituals, of
the Buddhists of Lassa to those of his own Romish faith. He
noticed : 1. That the dress of lamas corresponded with that
handed down to us in ancient paintings as the dress of the apos
tles. 2. That the discipline of the monasteries, and of the dif
ferent orders of lamas or priests, bore the same resemblance to
that of the Romish Church. 3. That the notion of an incarna
tion was common to both, as also the belief in Paradise and Pur-

BUDDHISM. 569

gatory. 4. He remarked that they made suffrages, alms, prayers,
and sacrifices for the dead, like the Roman Catholics. 5. That
they had convents, filled with monks and friars, to the number of
thirty thousand, near Lassa, who all made the three vows of pov
erty, obedience, and chastity, like Roman monks, besides other
vows. 6. That they had confessors, licensed by the superior
lamas, or bishops ; and empowered to receive confessions, impose
penances, and give absolution. Besides all this, there was found
the practice of using holy water, of singing service in alternation,
of praying for the dead, and a perfect similarity in the costumes
of the great and superior lamas to those of the different orders
of the Romish hierarchy.2092 The Buddhists also use rosaries for
counting the number of their prayers.2231

Father Hue says that he and his companion one day had an
opportunity of talking with a Thibetan lama for some time, and
the things he told them about religion astounded them greatly.
A brief explanation of the Christian doctrine, which they gave
to him, seemed scarcely to surprise him ; he even maintained
that their views differed little from those of the grand lamas
of Thibet.1567 He adds that, if the person of the grand lama
did not particularly strike them, his costume did, for it was
strictly that of their own bishops ; he bore on his head a yellow
miter, a long staff in the form of a cross (or crosier) was in his
right hand, and his shoulders were covered with a mantle of
purple-coloured silk, fastened on the chest with a clasp, and in
every respect resembling a cope.1573

Hue was led by these resemblances to the belief that the
modern form of Buddhism in Thibet arose from a mixture of
Christianity with that religion.1264 The following quotation from
Marsden shows that he too was inclined to adopt the same opin
ion:

" The belief of an early spreading of the Gospel in these
parts derives some additional strength from an opinion enter
tained by some of the best informed missionaries that the lama
religion itself is no other than a corrupted species of Christianity ;
and although this may be too hasty an inference from what they
had an opportunity of observing in the country, it will not be
found upon examination so unlikely as it may at first appear.
In its fundamental principles the religion of the country which
bears the names of Butan, Thibet, and Tangut, is that of the Bud-

570 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

dhists of India ; but at the same time the strong resemblance
between many of the ceremonies and those of the Christian
churches, both East and West, have been pointed out by every
traveler who has visited Tartary — from Carpini and Rubruquis,
by whom it was first noticed, to our countrymen and contempo
raries, Bogle and Turner, who resided at the court of one of
the grand lamas. We find it avowed even by the Jesuit mis
sionaries, whom we can not suppose to have been influenced in
their observation by any undue bias." ""

A more probable opinion is, however, that sundry of the
observances of the Roman Catholic Church were derived from
Buddhistic sources,1893 the chain of evidence that establishes the
greater antiquity of these practices by the Buddhists being com
plete.8098

Isaac Taylor drew attention, in his " Ancient Christianity," to
the knowledge of Hindoo monasticism possessed by Clement of
Alexandria, and traced the origin of the monasticism of Chris
tianity to that of India.1241

On the supposition of the pre-existence of Buddhism, such
as their sacred books describe, and its professors still preach, the
rapid spread of Christianity in the first and second centuries of
our era is not surprising. To a mind already impressed with
Buddhistic belief and Buddhistic doctrines, the birth of a Sav
iour and Redeemer for the Western World, recognized as a new
Buddha by wise men of the East, that is, by Magi, Shamans, or
Lamas, who had obtained the Arhat sanctification, was an event
expected, and therefore readily accepted when declared and an
nounced. It was no abjuration of an old faith that the teachers
of Christianity asked of the Buddhists, but a mere qualification
of an existing belief, by the incorporation into it of the Mosaic
account of the creation, and of original sin, and the fall of man.
The Buddhists of the West, accepting Christianity on its first
announcement, at once introduced the rites and observances
which for centuries had already existed in India. From that
country Christianity derived its monastic institutions, its forms
of ritual, and of church service, its councils or convocations to
settle schisms or points of faith, its worship of relics, and work
ing of miracles through them, and much of the discipline and of
the dress of the clergy.2100

As a description of the robes of Buddhist priests is given in

BUDDHISM.

571

some of the foregoing quotations, the following engraving of an
image found in Campeachy is inserted as showing how accurate a
knowledge of their appearance has been preserved by tradition.

The legends assert that the Mexicans and natives of Yuca
tan and Central America owed their
calendar to the same strangers to
whom they were indebted for nearly
all the arts which they possessed. It
is not necessary to attempt to add
anything to the remarks of Hum-
boldt on this subject, which are quoted
in Chapter IX, the resemblance be
tween the Asiatic and Mexican cal
endars being so great, that he was
convinced, by this one fact alone, that
there must have been some early con
nection between the two regions of
the world. Attention may, however,
be called to the fact that both the
Javans 2123 and the Mexicans 241 had a
week of five days, 6" by which their
markets or fairs were regulated.1133
Just as in Mexico we find Asiatic
names for the months, but not in their
proper order, so in Java the names
of the Hindoo months have been wan
tonly transposed,1135 and Crawfurd is

therefore led to the belief that the Bugis year is the relic of
an indigenous calendar, which was modified by that of the
Hindoos ; an explanation which will account equally well for the
similar transpositions found in the Mexican calendar. Sahagun
states that the Mexicans attributed their calendar to four sages,
who "invented judicial astrology, and the art of interpreting
dreams, established the reckoning of the years, the night, the
hours, and the differences of the seasons ; all things which were
preserved under the government of the kings of the Toltecs, the
Mexicans, the Tepanecas, and the Chichimecas." 221°

The men who accompanied Quetzalcoatl were said to have
been cunning artists, especially in casting metals, in the engrav
ing and setting of precious stones, and in all kinds of artistic

. — An image found in
Campeachy.

572 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

sculpture. These were precisely the arts which a party of Bud
dhist priests would have been able to teach. Hue says of the
lamas of Tartary that they are not merely priests, but are also
the painters, poets, sculptors, architects, and physicians of the
land;1564 and de Milloue states that, when the first Buddhist mis
sionaries arrived in Japan, they carried with them many indus
tries previously unknown in that country, which were necessary
to their worship. They made rich sacerdotal cloths, sacred ves.
sels of pottery- ware or bronze, gilded idols and luxurious tem
ples ; and, finally, the priests advanced as sculptors, as chisel ers,
as gilders, as painters, as weavers, as potters, as founders : a
complete invasion of mechanics with shaven heads, of artists writh
lowered eyes, of labourers in frocks and chasubles.1886

Elsewhere in North America nothing was known of the art of
melting or casting metals. In cases in which gold or copper was
used, the northern Indian simply took a stone and by physical
force hammered the metal into the required shape.2451 The Mexi
cans, however, to make jewelry, idols, and other objects of art,
melted the metal in crucibles, and cast it in moulds made of clay
or charcoal.689

The so-called " lost art " of casting parts of the same object
of different metals was known : 496 thus fishes were modeled with
alternate scales of gold and silver ; copper and other metals
were gilded by a process which would have made the fortune of
a goldsmith in Europe ; furnaces, perhaps of earthen-ware, and
blow-pipes, are depicted on native paintings in connection with
gold-working. This art of casting metals was the one which was
held by them in the highest esteem.718 Cortez admitted that in
this the Mexican smiths far excelled those of the Spaniards.1096

Their miracles in that art would not be believed if it were
not for the fact that, in addition to the testimony of those who
saw them, many of these curiosities were sent to Europe.1081 The
works of gold and silver sent as presents to Charles V, by the
Conqueror Cortez, filled the goldsmiths of Europe with astonish
ment, who, as several writers of that period testify, declared that
they were altogether inimitable.2597

Herrera, who says they could also enamel, commends the skill
of the Mexican goldsmiths in making birds and animals with
movable wings and limbs, in a most curious fashion. ("Hist.
Gen.," dec. ii, lib. vii, cap. 15.) Sir John Maundevile, as usual,

BUDDHISM. 573

u . . . With his hair on end
At his own wonders,"

notices the " gret marvayle " of similar pieces of mechanism at
the court of the grand Chane of Cathay. (See his " Yoiage and
Travaile," chap, xx.)8068

The Aztecs not only knew how to cast gold and silver, and
how to make the casting take any shape that they desired, but
they also worked all species of gems very dexterously ; and this
was, more than all others, the particular art which rendered their
name the most celebrated.1060

M. Lenoir makes the following statement in regard to sculpt
ured vases found in Mexico :

" As to these vases, ornamented with fantastical figures and
made of granite, of green or black basalt, of jade, or of glazed
terra cotta, a great resemblance is noticeable between them and
the vases of the Japanese made of jade, of soft stone, of rice
paste, or of porcelain. My opinion has been confirmed by M.
Baradere who, on seeing in my cabinet an old Japanese vase
of white jade, mistook it for a valuable vase which he had seen
in the Museum of Mexico, the form and the details were so simi
lar. It is very remarkable to observe such a resemblance be
tween two of the works of art of nations so widely separated by
the seas, and between which there seems to have never been any
communication. In the collection of designs executed by M.
Franck, of the objects contained in this same Mexican Museum,
several of the jade vases have a great analogy, a resemblance al
most perfect, to some I possess which are of Japanese origin.
He has also drawn a small figure, carefully worked from some
hard substance, of which the head, the pose, and the costume are
evidently Chinese. This, therefore, raises a new presumption
that some ancient communication may have existed between Asia
and America." 173°

Had M. Lenoir been acquainted with all the proofs of a visit
to America by Buddhist priests (priests of the same faith being
also the introducers into Japan of many of the arts of civiliza
tion), and with the fact that the traditions of Mexico uniformly
attributed to these missionaries the knowledge which the natives
possessed of the arts of casting the metals and of cutting gems,
he might have omitted the statement that there seemed never to
have been any communication between the two nations.

CHAPTER XXXII.

RELIGIOUS CUSTOMS AND BELIEFS

The incongruity of the religious system of the Aztecs — The Toltecs — Contentions
between rival sects — Monasteries — The " Tlamacazqui " — The herb-eaters —
Their asceticism — The monastery and nunnery attached to the chief temple of
the city of Mexico — The duties of the devotees — Their clothing — The discipline
— The differences in rank — Other ascetics — Probation of candidates — Vows not
for life — Married priests — The monastery of the Totonacas — The pontiff of
Mixteca — The title " Taysacaa " — Auricular confession — The practice of bear
ing a calabash — The dress of the priests — Continence — Prayers — Fasting — The
early disciples of Sakya Muni — The Buddhist monasteries — Candidates for the
priesthood — Education of children — Food and clothing — Penances — Nunneries
— Life of the inmates — Punishment of incontinence — Time for meals — Cloth
ing of idols — Absence of vital points of Christian doctrine — Marriage of the
priests — Vegetarianism — Failure of the Buddhists to strictly comply with the
tenets of their religion — The eating of flesh — A curious anomaly in Buddha's
teachings — Religious terms — The name Sakya — Its occurrence in Mexico —
Otosis — Gautama — Guatemala — Quauhtemo-tzin — Tlama and lama — Teotl
and Deva — Refutation of a negative argument — Religious tenets — The road
to the abode of the dead — The divisions of the abode of the dead — Transmi
gration — Yearly feast for the souls of the dead — The tablet at Palenque —
The lion-headed couch — Seated figures— An image of Quetzalcoatl — The story
of Camaxtli — Preservation of his blonde hair.

IN contemplating the religious system of the Aztecs, one is
struck with its apparent incongruity, as if some portion of it had
emanated from a comparatively refined people, open to gentle in
fluences, while the rest breathes a spirit of unmitigated ferocity.
It naturally suggests the idea of two distinct sources, and author
izes the belief that the Aztecs had inherited from their predeces
sors a milder faith, on which was afterward engrafted their own
mythology.2061 Tradition imparts to the Toltecs a higher civiliza
tion than that found among the Aztecs,414 who had degenerated
with the growth of the warlike spirit,152 and who destroyed much
of the culture of their predecessors ; ™ and it is plain that much

RELIGIOUS CUSTOMS AND BELIEFS. 575

of the religion of this earlier nation may now be unknown — their
temples and altars having been appropriated for the worship of
a different religion, modificative or subversive of the first.1226 It
seems to have been an ineradicable Toltec tendency to indulge
in religious controversy, to the prejudice of their national pros
perity,419 and these struggles over religious creeds would naturally
result in numerous and radical changes in the current belief.
Tradition states that in early days there was bitter contention
between the rival sects of Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca, and that
with the growth of the Aztec influence the bloody rites of the
latter sect had prevailed, under the auspices of the god Huitzilo-
pochtli ; and the worship of the gentler Quetzalcoatl, though still
observed in many provinces and many temples, had with its
priests been forced to occupy a secondary position.429 Still, even
at the time of the Spanish conquest, there were many traces re
maining in the land of the pure and gentle faith taught by Wixi-
pecocha and Quetzalcoatl. In nothing was the influence of these
teachings more apparent than in the monasteries or colleges for
the two sexes, which existed throughout the land, and the first
of which were said to have been founded by Quetzalcoatl.629
In these the doctrines of the prophet were preserved, and his dev
otees occupied themselves in the study of science, and in prayer
to heaven for the abolition of the bloody sacrifices, and the
scourges which afflicted the land.736

The Toltec civilization, intrenched behind the mountains of
Zapotecapan and of Mixtecapan, was much better preserved
from contact with barbarism than in the provinces near Ana-
huac. The people of these states were, therefore, given the special
designation of the children of Quetzalcoatl.689 Still, even in the
city of Mexico and its neighbourhood, some knowledge of the
earlier faith was preserved, although mixed with the savage rites
by which it had been nearly superseded.

To each temple was attached a monastery, the members of
which enjoyed privileges similar to those of our canons. The
Tlamacazqui, " deacons " or " ministers," and the Quaquacuiltin,
" herb-eaters," were those who dedicated themselves to the service
of the gods for life. They led a very ascetic life ; continence was
imposed upon them, and they mortified the flesh by deeds of pen
ance, in imitation of Quetzalcoatl, who was their patron deity.

Some dedicated their whole lives to the service of the gods ;

576 AN INGLOKIOUS COLUMBUS.

others vowed themselves to perpetual continence. All were poorly
clothed, wore their hair long, lived upon coarse and scanty fare,
and did all kinds of work. At midnight they arose and went
to the bath ; after washing, they drew blood from their bodies
with spines of the maguey-plant ; then they watched, and chanted
praises of the gods, until two in the morning. Notwithstanding
this austerity, however, these monks could betake themselves
alone to the woods, or wander through the mountains and des
erts, there in solitude to spend the time in several ways.169

The monastery and nunnery attached to the chief temple of
the city of Mexico are thus described by Purchas : 2113 " Within
this great Circuit of the principall Temple were two houses, like
Cloisters, the one opposite to the other, one of men, the other of
women. In that of women they were Virgins only, of twelve or
thirteen yeares of age, which they called the Maids of Penance ;
they were as many as the men, and liued chastely, and regularly,
as Virgins dedicated to the seruice of their God. Their charge
was to sweepe and make cleane the Temple, and euery morning
to prepare meate for the Idoll and his Ministers of the Almes
the Religious gathered. . . . These Virgins had their haire cut,
and then let them grow for a certaine time ; they rose at mid
night to the Idol's Mattins, which they dayly celebrated, perform
ing the same exercises which the Religious did. They had their
Abbesses. . . . Their ordinary habite was all white. . . . They
did their penance at midnight. ... If any were found dis
honest, they were put to death without remission, saying, shee
had polluted the house of their God. . . . This profession con
tinued a yeare, during which time their fathers and themselues
had made a vow to serue the Idol in this manner, and from thence
they went to be married.

" The other Cloyster or Monasterie was of yong-men, of eigh-
teene or twenty yeares of age, which they called Religious.
Their crownes were shauen, as the Friers in these parts ; their
haire a little longer, which fell to the middest of their eare, except
on the hinder part of the head, where they let it grow to their
shoulders, and tied it vp in trusses. These serued in the Tem
ple, liued poorely and chastely, and (as the Leuites) ministered
to the Priests, Incense, Lights, and Garments, swept and made
cleane the holy Place, bringing wood for a continuall fire, to the
harth of their God, which was like a Lampe that still burned be-

RELIGIOUS CUSTOMS AND BELIEFS. 577

fore the Altar of their Idoll. Beside these, there were other
little boyes that serued for manual vses, as to decke the Temple
with Boughs, Roses, and Reedes, giue the Priests water to wash,
Rasours to sacrifice, and to goe with such as begged Almes, to
carrie it. All these had their superiours, who had the governe-
ment ouer them, and when they came in publike, where women
were, they carried their eyes to the ground, not daring to beholde
them. They had linnen garments, and went into the Citie foure
or sixe together, to aske almes in all quarters, and if they gote
none, it was lawfull for them to goe into the Cornefields, and
gather that which they needed, none daring to contradict them.
There might not aboue fiftie Hue in this penance ; they rose at
midnight and sounded the Trumpets, to awake the people. Euery
one watched by turne, least the fire before the Altar should die.
They gave the censer with which the Priest at midnight incensed
the Idoll, and also in the morning, at nooue, and at night. They
were very subiect and obedient to their Superiours. . . . This
austeritie continued a yeare. The priests . . . drunke no wine,
and slept little. . . . Gomara speaketh of others . . . whicft
liued in those Cloysters . . . euery one abode there as long as
they had vowed, and after vsed their libertie."

Of the several religious orders, the most renowned for its
sanctity was the Tlamacazcayotl, which was consecrated to the
service of Quetzalcoatl. The superior of this order, who was
named after the god, never deigned to issue from his seclusion
except to confer with the king. Its members, called Tlamacaz-
qui, led a very ascetic life, living on coarse fare, dressing in sim
ple black robes, and performing all manner of hard work. They
bathed at midnight, and kept watch until an hour or two before
dawn, singing hymns to Quetzalcoatl ; on occasions, some of them
would retire into the desert, to lead a life of prayer and penance
in solitude.328

Acosta makes mention of certain ascetics who dedicated
themselves for a year to the most austere life ; they assisted the
priests at the hours of incensing, and drew much blood from their
bodies in sacrifice. They dressed in white robes, and lived by
begging. (« Hist de las Ynd.," pp. 341, 342.)

The only food of the candidate for the priesthood, during the
year of probation, was herbs, wild honey, and roasted maize ; nl
his life was passed in silence and retirement, and the monotony
37

578 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

of his existence was only relieved by waiting on the priests, tak
ing care of the altars, sweeping the temple, and gathering wood
for the fires. When four years after his admission to the priest
hood had elapsed, during which time he seems to have served a
sort of apprenticeship, he was permitted to marry, if he saw fit,
and at the same time to perform his priestly functions. If he
did not marry, he entered one of the monasteries, which were de
pendent on the temples, and, while performing his regular duties,
increased the austerity of his life. If one of them violated his
vow of chastity, he was bastinadoed to death.

In spite of the austerity of their retreat, the monks neverthe
less sometimes repaired alone to the woods, to wander in the
mountains and deserts in a spirit of contemplation.704

The title of "Teopixqui," or sacred guardian, designates in
differently all the members of the priesthood.630 Some of the
number are married, and live an ordinary life in the world, with
out retiring therefrom except when engaged in the service of the
temple. Others, following the example of Quetzalcoatl, who in
stituted ecclesiastic celibacy, bound themselves by a vow to
continence, either perpetual or for a term ; these taking the
title of " Tlamacazqui," which corresponds to that of deacon or
priest. The conduct of all these men, consecrated to the altars
of their gods, is extremely reserved and austere. Whenever they
meet women, in the streets or in the houses, they bend their eyes
upon the ground. They never drink any intoxicating liquor ; all
their exterior announces mortification, gravity, and circumspec
tion, and their maintenance is imposed upon the people ; they
are considered as beings superior to the rest of mortals, and as
of a divine perfection, and a blind confidence is felt in the truth
of everything that they say.

Centeotl (the goddess of maize) is the principal divinity of
the Totonacas ; they have among them a college of priests who
are specially consecrated to her. Their life is passed in a suc
cession of austerities, analogous to those of the East Indian an
chorites ; but they do not admit into their monastery any others
than aged priests, more than sixty years old, of good habits and
especially of an irreproachable continence. The number of
these priests is fixed, and a new member can not be admitted
except at the death of one of the community. They give them
selves constantly to works of penitence and mortification, pray-

RELIGIOUS CUSTOMS AND BELIEFS. 579

ing to the goddess and the other gods for the prosperity of the
people, and supplicating them to put an end to human sacri
fices. They never go forth into the world, and never speak to
any one, except for the purpose of giving advice as to the con
duct of those who come to consult them upon the subject. On
such an occasion they sit upon a bench, and, with eyes humbly
lowered, they listen to that which is said to them, and reply with
kindness to all that is asked of them, consoling the afflicted, and
resolving the difficulties which are proposed to them. All the
world has so great consideration for them, that the highest and
most dignified pontiffs, and even the king himself, resort to them
for counsel as if to living oracles.

Except for the hours passed in prayer and contemplation, they
occupy their time in drawing up and writing out the annals of
the country, and in composing sermons, which the high-priest
finally reads in public.700 (Torquemada, " Monarq. Ind.," lib.
viii, cap. 5, and lib. ix, cap. 8.)

They dressed in skins and ate no meat.331 (Las Casas, " Hist.
Apologetica," MS., cap. cxxxii.)

The kingdoih of Tilantongo, which comprehends Upper Mix-
teca, is governed spiritually by the high-priest of Achiuhtla, who
has the title of " Taysacaa," and whose power equals, if it does
not exceed, that of the sovereign. The title is probably derived
from tay, a man, and sacaa, pontiff. (" Vocab. of the Mixteca
Language.")

The supreme pontificate is preserved, to all appearance, in the
royal family, and is transmitted in the male line ; but the "sacaas,"
or simple priests, may be chosen indifferently from among any of
the free families. All, even to the successor of the pontiff, render
a rigorous novitiate of a year, from which no one of them can be
excused. Up to this moment they are required to have con
stantly lived in a state of perfect chastity, and he who has before
this time known any woman is considered unworthy of the gods.
Their food, during the novitiate, consists of herbs, of wild honey,
and of roasted maize ; their life is austere, and they pass it in
silence and " in retreat " ; their sole occupation being to serve the
priests, to have the care of the altars, to sweep the sanctuary,
and, to provide the wood necessary for the sacrifices.683

Among the rites in use in Nicaragua was that of auricular
confession. It was not an ordinary priest who was charged with

580 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

the duty of hearing such confessions, but a venerable man,
chosen usually from among the wisest and the most venerable of
the country. At his death another was chosen in his place. He
must be a celibate, of pure and austere life, living in his own
house, where he listened to those who came to him. This office
was much esteemed, and, as a mark of the office, he carried a cala
bash suspended from his neck. Those who had committed any
grave fault approached him with fyumility, and remained stand
ing in his presence, confessing their sins to him, persuaded that
after this avowal their conscience should be entirely eased. The
venerable man guarded their secret scrupulously, and imposed a
penance for the profit of the temple, such as the sweeping of it, or
the bringing of wood for its use, and finally dismissed them, say
ing, " Go and sin no more." 654

The ordinary dress of the Mexican priests differed little from
that of other citizens ; the only distinctive feature being a black
cotton mantle, which they wore in the manner of a veil thrown
back upon the head. Those, however, who professed a more
austere life, such as the Quaquaquiltin and Tlamacazqui before
mentioned, wore long black robes ; many among them never cut
their hair, but allowed it to grow as long as it would ; it was
twisted with thick cotton cords, and bedaubed with unctuous
matter, the whole forming a weighty mass, as inconvenient to
carry as it was disgusting to look at. The high-priest usually
wore, as a badge of his rank, a kind of fringe which hung down
over his breast, called Xicolli ; on feast days he was clothed in
a long robe, over which he wore a sort of chasuble, or cope,
which varied in colour, shape, and ornamentation, according
to the sacrifices he made and the divinity to which he offered
them.170-

The usual dress of the Zapotec priests was a full white robe,
with openings to pass the arms through, but no sleeves ; this
was girt at the waist with a coloured cord. During the ceremony
of sacrifice, and on feast days, the Wiyatao wore, over all, a
kind of tunic with full sleeves, adorned with tassels, and em
broidered in various colours with representations of birds and
animals. On his head he wore a miter of feather- work, orna
mented with a very rich crown of gold ; his neck, arms, and
wrists were laden with costly necklaces and bracelets ; upon his
feet were golden sandals, bound to his legs with cords of gold

RELIGIOUS CUSTOMS AND BELIEFS. 581

and bright-coloured thread. The Toltec sacerdotal system so
closely resembled the Mexican that it needs no further descrip
tion in this volume. Their priests wore a long black robe reach
ing to the ground ; their heads were covered with a hood, and
their hair fell down over their shoulders and was braided. They
rarely put sandals on their feet, except when about to start on
a long journey. The common Totonac priests wore long black
cotton robes with hoods ; their hair was braided like that of
the other common priests of Mexico, and was anointed with the
blood of human sacrifices. The common priests of Michoacan
wore their hair loose and disheveled ; a leathern band encircled
their foreheads, their robes were white, embroidered with black,
and in their hands they carried feather fans. In Puebla they
also wore white robes, with sleeves, and fringed on the edges.
The papas, or sacrificing priests of Tlascala, allowed their hair
to grow long, and anointed it with the blood of their victims.175
The pontiff at Mietlan, in Salvador, who stood on nearly the
same level as the king, bore the title of Teoti, " divine," and
was distinguished by a long blue robe, a diadem, and a baton
like an episcopal cross ; on solemn occasions he substituted a
miter of beautiful feathers for the diadem.349'

Continence was strictly imposed on the Zapotec priests,159
but in Yucatan,348 as well as in Mexico, many of the priests were
married.

Their prayers were standard compositions, learned by rote at
school ; while reciting them they assumed a squatting posture,
usually with the face toward the east ; on occasions of great
solemnity they prostrated themselves.335

Fasting was observed as an atonement for sin, as well as a
preparation for solemn festivals. An ordinary fast consisted in
abstaining from meat for a period of from one to ten days, and
taking but one meal a day, at noon ;, at no other hour might so
much as a drop of water be touched.336 The female recluses also
made it a practice to fast strictly, eating but once a day, and
never before noon, and taking but a meager collation after
noon.705

All the Tlamacazqui were required to sleep in their monas
tery ; they occupied four hours in the morning in sweeping and
cleaning, and they were all bound by vows to live chastely, to
be temperate and truthful, to live devoutly, and to fear God.219J

582 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

To one at all familiar with the accounts of the life of Buddhist
ascetics in the different countries of Asia, the foregoing relation
of the duties and practices of the priests and nuns of Mexico will
recall many analogies between the beliefs and customs of the two
regions of the world ; and in fact much of the account of the
Mexican ascetics might with equal truth be applied to their breth
ren in Asia, and with only a few changes might be thought to be
the relation of some Asiatic traveler.

The early disciples of Sakya Muni are generally represented as
wandering about with their royal master ; others, in consequence
of his frequent exhortations to lead a solitary life, are said to
have retired to the forests and woods which surround the settle
ments, or to have lived in solitary and forsaken houses, which
they only left at certain periods in order to betake themselves to
Sakya Muni and listen to his words.2226 Monasteries were almost
immediately established, however.

The tenets of Buddhism require a renunciation of the world,
and the observance of austerities to overcome evil passions, and
fit its disciples for future happiness. Avow of celibacy is taken,
and the priests dwell together, for mutual assistance in attaining
perfection by worshiping Buddha and calling upon his name.
They shave the entire head as a token of purity, but not the
whole body, as the ancient Egyptian priests did ; they profess to
eat no animal food, wear no skin or woolen garments, and get
their living by begging, by the alms of worshipers, and the cul
tivation of the grounds of the temple.2614

The bonzes are taken young into the service ; and, if there
are no volunteers, young boys are bought ; their heads are then
shaven ; they wear a yellow dress ; and commence the recitation
of short prayers, while at the same time they perform the duties
of scullions and menial servants. Finally they are ordained.1419

In Arrakan, candidates for the priesthood are received with
out any regard to their country, caste, or previous religion. If
the age of the postulant does not exceed fifteen years, he is
appointed to the performance of menial duties, and gradually
instructed about the duties he will afterward be required to
attend to, until he arrives at twenty years of age, the period
appointed for ordination. It is not unusual for young men to
enter the order for a limited period, that they may acquire merit,
or expiate some crime. The children of the laity are educated

RELIGIOUS CUSTOMS AXD BELIEFS. 583

at the monasteries, no distinction being made between the rich and
the poor ; and no remuneration is received by the priests beyond
their usual allowance of alms. Some of the boys are allowed to
go home to their meals, but they are obliged to sleep in the
monastery, as the lessons they have learnt during the day are
repeated in the evening, or at daybreak on the following morn
ing.1448- In Mexico, also, the children are educated by the
priests, and are allowed to go home to their meals, but required
to sleep in the establishment. 2194t

The priests of Thibet are permitted to eat treacle, to cook for
themselves in time of famine, to cook in ten kinds of places, to
eat meat under certain restrictions, and to accept gifts from the
laity. They are to wear not more than three pieces of cloth, of
a red colour, to wear cotton garments when bathing, to be clean
in their dress and in their bedding, and never to go naked.1437

They do nothing but keep the vigils. There are convents
containing from fifty to one hundred, whose sole occupation
consists in reading mass and observing vigils.1420'

The principal exercises of penance appear to be sweeping the
court-yard, and sprinkling sand under the bo-tree, or near the
dagobas.1436-

In the commencement of Buddhism there was an order of fe
male recluses,1438 and there still are a number of nunneries, but
they are not so numerous as the monasteries, and the inmates are
comparatively few. The rules are nearly the same, adapted to
the peculiarities of the sex.1421- The novice is not admitted to
full orders till she is sixteen, though previous to this she adopts
the garb of the sisterhood ; the only difference consists in the
front part of the head being shaved, and the hair plaited in
a queue, while the nuns shave the whole. . . . The Chinese
nun ... is required to live a life of devotion and mortification,
to eat only vegetables, to care nothing for the world, and to think
only of her eternal canonization, keeping herself busy with the
services of the temple. " Daily exercises are to be conducted by
her ; the furniture of the small sanctuary, that forms a part of the
convent, must be looked after and kept clean and orderly ; those
women or men who come to worship at the altars, and seek guid
ance and comfort, must be cared for and assisted. When there
is leisure, the sick and poor are to be visited ; and all who have
placed themselves under her special directions, and spiritual in-

584 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

struction, have a strong claim upon her regard. That she may
live the life of seclusion and self-denial, she must vow perpetual
virginity." 2515

If a monk and a nun happen to succumb to the temptations
of the flesh, the one is expelled from the convent, sent back
ignominiously to her family, and dishonoured for life ; the other
is driven out of the order, branded upon the forehead with a red-
hot iron, and exiled to the mountains, to live with the wild beasts
for several years, in a temperature so frigid as to cool the pas
sions. But if neither of the two culprits has been fully admitted
to the order, they are permitted to repair their fault by marriage.
In case of refusal, the monk is publicly bastinadoed, and is sent
away from the place which he has scandalized.2387

What the Buddhists call time in reference to meals is thus ex
plained : The time of the gods is the early morning, the hour
chosen by the gods to take their repast. The time of the law is
noon, the hour selected by the Buddhas, past, present, and to come,
for their refection. The time of brutes is evening, when animals
feed. The time of the genii is night, during which good and evil
spirits eat. Thus all meals taken after midday are unseasonable
for ecclesiastics, and all who observe the precepts rigorously
abstain from such.855 Those, however, who are sick, observe no
such distinction, but eat when they please.1343

In addition to the analogies which may be observed in the
preceding accounts, it should be observed that the most scrupu
lous modesty is observed in the invention and the execution of
the Mexican idols, as well as in the arrangement of their drape
ries. The care in this respect gives them a great resemblance to
the paintings of the gods and goddesses of India, who are repre
sented with almost precisely the same styles of head-dresses and
the same vestments as those of the Mexican divinities.1731

Buddhism does not sanction shocking rites or Bacchanalian
orgies, like the other idolatrous systems of Asia. Xor have we
to complain of indecency in its representations of idol gods ;
they may be hideous, but they are never repulsive to the feelings
of modesty.966

We add, with Mr. Wilson, that the obligation of the priests
of being always covered furnishes to archaeology a character of
the first importance, by which to determine the authenticity of
statues or sculptured scenes, as to which there is doubt whether

EELIGIOUS CUSTOMS AND BELIEFS. 585

they should be considered Buddhistic or not. The scenes in
which the religious personages are clothed pertain, very prob
ably, to Buddhism ; but this can not be said of those in which
they are nude.856

Many of the facts which have been mentioned recall Roman
Catholicism as strongly as they do Buddhism, and may well have
been considered by the first Catholic missionaries as furnishing
strong confirmation of the belief that America had, in the early
centuries of the Christian era, been visited by a traveler of their
own faith.

These are all points, however, in which, as has already been
explained, Roman Catholicism and Buddhism strongly resemble
each other. That the missionary who exerted so great an influ
ence on their customs and beliefs could not have been of the Ca
tholic Church is shown by the entire absence of any reference to
the Christian Sabbath ; by the lack of any mention of the Virgin
Mary ; by the fact that the adoration of the cross was not car
ried to the extent which would have been taught by a Catholic
priest ; by the failure of all reference to a Trinity, or to the name
of the Saviour ; and by the fact that the ascetics were allowed to
take their vows for a limited length of time, instead of for life.

When my attention was first called to the subject, it seemed
to me that the permission to marry, enjoyed by the Mexican
priests, and the fact that although some of them were called
"herb-eaters," nevertheless the greater part of them also ate
flesh, militated against the belief that they were the represen
tatives of the Buddhist faith, which had been introduced into
the country more than a thousand years before. I found, how
ever, on investigation, that even the Buddhists of Asia were not
governed very strictly by the laws by which they professed to be
guided. Even the prohibition of intoxicating liquors is but little
regarded 954 by the lamas of Mongolia.956 In Burmah the priests
make their mantles of cloth of the finest quality,1435 instead of
from the coarse material prescribed by Buddah ; and, in Ceylon,
caste exists among the disciples of this religion, although directly
contrary to the tenets of its founder.

Although celibacy was enjoined on the priests of Buddah, it
is by no means universal,1800 and married priests are found in
China, Japan,970 Nepal,857 Thibet,1798 and Ceylon.1440

Gautama's teachings present the curious anomaly that, al-

586 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

though he absolutely forbade the taking of life, yet he nevertheless
permitted his disciples to eat the flesh of animals which had been
killed by others ; m2 and to this day his followers will not admit
that by purchasing the flesh they make themselves partakers in
the sin of killing.951 They, therefore, do not refuse any kind of
food that is offered them, and whatever dies of itself they con
sider to be killed by God, and they therefore feel at liberty to
eat it.1732

One of Buddah's disciples suggested to him that it would be
well to issue an order that no priest be permitted to eat flesh of
any kind. " There are others who observe this ordinance," said he,
" and, as there are many persons who think it is wrong to eat
flesh, the non-observance of this ordinance by the priests causes
the * dharrna ' to be spoken against." But Buddha replied, " I
can not consent to the establishment of such an ordinance.
The Buddhas are not like the blind, who require to be led by
another ; they do not learn from others, or follow the example
of others. The faithful give to the priests flesh, medicines, seats,
and other things, and thereby acquire merit. Those who take
life are in fault, but not the persons who eat the flesh ; my
priests have permission to eat whatever food it is customary to
eat in any place or country, so that it be done without the indul
gence of the appetite or evil desire. There are some who be
come rahats at the foot of a tree, and others in pansals ; some
when they are clothed in what they have taken from a cemetery,
and others when clothed with what they have received from the
people ; some when abstaining from flesh, and others when eat
ing it. If one uniform law were enforced, it would be a hindrance
in the way of those who are seeking nirvana ; but it is to re
veal this way that the office of the Buddhas is assumed." 1457

Hence, although Buddhism teaches that man should view all
animated beings as his brethren and relations, and not kill them,
and although there is a proverb which says, " To eat flesh is
equal to eating one's relations," 2229 many of the Buddhist priests
eat whatever is offered them in alms ; and the fact that Gautama
Buddha himself died from indigestion, produced by eating pork,
has been a circumstance too well known to be set aside by the
more rigid of his disciples, who might otherwise have been ready
to insist upon a dietetic discipline more extensive in its prohibi
tion.1032

RELIGIOUS CUSTOMS A3D BELIEFS. 587

It therefore appears that neither the marriage of the Mexican
priests, nor the fact that they were permitted to eat meat, is any
proof that they were not the representatives of Buddhism.

It would appear that if Buddhism were preached in Mexico,
and if it had sufficient influence upon the people to produce any
changes in their customs or beliefs, some traces of the name or
names of its founder, of its chief religious terms, and of the
images which were brought by the missionaries, should be found
in the land.

Although " Buddha " is the name by which the founder of
this Asiatic religion is best known among us, this word is mere
ly an epithet, meaning " the Enlightened," and in Asia he is
usually designated either by his patronymic, " Gautama," or
by the name of his race, " Sakya " ; and it is these names which
we might expect to find in Mexico. It has already been men
tioned that the high-priest of Mixteca bore the title of Tay-
sacaa, or "the Man of Sakya" — Tay meaning "man," and sacaa
having no meaning in the language, but being merely the term
which was applied to a priest. We also find the term Zaca-tlan,
or " Place of Sakya," applied to the state of Chiapas,651 and Zaca-
tepec, or " Mountain of Sakya," applied to one of the most beauti
ful departments of the Republic of Guatemala.665

It is true that other explanations are given of these names —
the " Zaca " in the last two cases being supposed to be connected
with Sacatl, the term applied to herbage or fodder for animals ;
but it is well known that otosis, or the substitution of a familiar
word for an archaic one of similar sound but wholly diverse
meaning, is a very common occurrence and easily leads to myth-
making. For example, there is a cave near Chattanooga which
has the Cherokee name Nik-a-jak. This the white settlers have
transformed into Nigger Jack, and are prepared with a narrative
of some runaway slave to explain the cognomen.826

So, too, the fruit of the Persea gratissima, known by the Mex
icans as the Ahiiacatl™ after having its name changed to the
" avocado pear," 2243 came to be known by sailors as the " alligator
pear," 2242 and the explanation that it is so called because of the
fact that alligators are exceedingly fond of it is always ready.

It is therefore evident that the fact that some kind of an ety
mology may be found for a name, in the language in which the
term is used, is not conclusive proof that it may not be a foreign

588 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

word, adopted into the language and possibly more or less
changed, and we should not feel debarred from seeking the true
meaning of the term in the language from which it was bor
rowed.

In addition to the names Zacatlan and Zacatepec, already
mentioned, we also find the towns of Sacapulas, Sacatecoluca,
Saco, Zacapa, Zacapata, Zacatecas, Zacatula, and Zacoalco, nearly
all these names being found in one small district upon the Pacific
coast, near the boundary-line between Mexico and Guatemala, the
exact district which Wixipecocha is said to have visited. The
name Guatemala I believe to be from Gautama-flan, " the Place
of Gautama." Bancroft gives the following account of the futile
attempts that have been made to find a meaning for the word in
the language of the country : " The name Guatemala is, accord
ing to Fuentes y Guzman, derived from Coctecmalan, that is to
say, Palo de leche, milk-tree, commonly called Yerba mala, found
in the neighbourhood of Antigua Guatemala. See also Juarros,
* Guatemala,' ii, pp. 527, 528. In the Mexican tongue, if we
may believe Vasquez, it was called Quauhtimalli, l rotten tree.'
(* Chronica de Guatemala,' p. 68.) Others derive it from TJTiatez-
malha, signifying * the hill which discharges water' ; and Juarros
suggests that it may be from Juitemal, the first king of Guate
mala, by a corruption, as Almolonga from Atmulunga, and
Zonzonate from Zezontlatl. The meaning of the word would
then be ' the Kingdom of Juitemal.' " 481

It is scarcely necessary to say that no one of these derivations
is satisfactory, and that they have merely been suggested in
the absence of any other clew to the meaning of the word.

In Michoacan we find a town called Huatamo, and in Jalisco
one called Huazamala, both of which seem to preserve the term
Gautama. The name seems to have survived as a personal
designation up to the time of the Spanish conquest. After the
death of Montezuma, the strongest candidate for the Mexican
throne was the former high-priest Quauhtemo-tzin.462 The native
authorities incline to the form " Quauhtemoc " ; but the Spanish
generally add the "tzin," the "c" being elided, and the "Q"
changed to " G," making the name Gautemotzin.463 Solis spells
the word Guatimocin?m and Diaz, Quauhtemoctzin.im Prescott
explains that the Aztec tzin was added to the names of sover
eigns and great lords as a mark of reverence.2090 It therefore

RELIGIOUS CUSTOMS AND BELIEFS. 589

appears quite as probable that the name meant " the Great Gau
tama " as that it meant " the Eagle that Stoops." 463

The title " Tlamacazqui " of the Mexican priests has already
been mentioned. Of this the radical part is " Tlama," 503 a term
which was also used alone as the appellation of a "medicine
man " or physician. De Paravey called attention to the similar
ity of this word to the title of " lama," applied in Thibet to the
Buddhist priests. It appertains by right to the superior priests
only, but it has come to be regarded as a title which courtesy re
quires one to give to every Buddhist priest.2227

The Mexican language has no word with an initial " 1," and
"tlama" is the form which a foreign word "lama" would inevi
tably take if adopted into the Aztec tongue.

The religious establishments of the priesthood in India are
called Viharas.mi In ^apotecapan the supreme pontiff was
called the Wiyatao™ a term which may possibly be connected
with it. Burgoa writes this word Hitijatoo, and translates it as
" Great Sentinel." The Zapotec vocabulary translates it by the
word " pope " or " priest." 26S Wiyana was a term applied to
priests of a lower order.174

The resemblance to " Deus " of the term " Teotl," applied by
the Mexicans to the Divine Being, of whom they seem to have
had some indistinct ideas, almost eradicated by the idolatry
which they practiced, may be accounted for by the introduction,
by the party of Buddhist priests from Cophene, of the Sanskrit
" Deva," 2128 or some word very similar, from the Pali or other
language closely connected with Sanskrit.

I do not claim any very great value for these efforts to point
out resemblances to names used by the Buddhists. There is no
one of the cases as to which the explanations that are given may
not be erroneous ; and yet it does not seem probable that so
many resemblances can be wholly accidental. They have been
mentioned, however, mainly in refutation of the negative argu
ment which might be urged if the names " Sakya," " Guatama,"
etc., were not found in the country, that therefore the religion
of this sage could never have been jso preached in the land as to
have had any effect upon the belief of its people.

Several of the religious tenets and practices of the Aztecs,
which bear a striking analogy to those of the Buddhists, may be
mentioned.

590 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

Among these may be named the belief as to the road to the
abode of the dead.

The officiating priests laid passports with the body, which
were to serve for various points along the road. The first papers
passed him by two mountains, which, like the symplegades,
threatened to meet and crush him in their embrace. The second
was a pass for the road guarded by a big snake ; the other
papers took him by the green crocodile, Xochitonal, across
eight deserts, and over eight hills. Then came the freezing
itzehecaya, " wind of knives," which hurls stones and knives upon
the traveler, who now more than ever finds the offerings of his
friends of service. How the poor soul escaped this ordeal is not
stated. Lastly he came to the broad river Chiconahuapan, " nine
waters," which could be crossed only upon the back of a dog of
reddish colour, which was killed for this purpose by thrusting an
arrow down its throat, and was burned with the corpse. Accord
ing to Gomara, the dog served for a guide to Mictlan ; but other
authors state that it preceded its master, and, when he arrived at
the river, he found it on the opposite bank, waiting with a num
ber of others for their owners. As soon as the dog recognized its
master, it swam over, and bore him safely across the rushing
current.362

The Buddhists also speak of a mountain in Hades, near which
passes the road which the souls of the dead must travel to reach
the place of judgment, and of a river which must be crossed on
the way.1489

It is possible that the nine divisions of the abode of the
dead, which are mentioned as having had an existence in
the Aztec faith, were the eight places of torment of the Bud
dhists,1451 added to the one land of darkness of their earlier
faith.

A belief in transmigration, so firmly rooted and widely prop
agated in Oriental countries, also existed in Mexico.1065 In both
regions it was the practice to adorn the temples with hangings of
paper,1486 and in both a belief in enchantments and magic played
a great role.663 It is possible that if the details as to the belief
in lucky and unlucky days, and other superstitious notions as to
good and evil fortune, could be brought to light, as it has ex
isted in the two regions of the world, a comparison would go far
toward a settlement of the question as to whether these beliefs

RELIGIOUS CUSTOMS AND BELIEFS. 591

had a common origin, or had grown up in each region independ
ently of the other.

One of the most striking analogies between the religious tenets
of the two regions is that in Mixtecapan or Zapotecapan they are
convinced that the souls of the dead wander about for a certain
number of years, before they enter into the sojourn of the
blessed, and that they return, once each year, to visit their fami
lies. This opinion has given rise to a singular feast, conse
crated to the reception of these returning spirits, which is held
in the twelfth month of the Zapotec year, corresponding to the
month of November.684 It is also a practice of the Buddhist
priests to celebrate every year a great nocturnal feast of the
dead, summoning the hungry ghosts by beat of gong and sound
of bells.1740

Fio. 18.— Sculptured tablet at Palenque.

592

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

In the translation of d'Eichthal's "Study," contained in
Chapter VIII, an engraving is given (Fig. 2, page 128) of a bas-
relief found at Palenque, which contains a figure seated in the
characteristic attitude of Buddha, upon a lion-headed couch.
Figs. 18 and 19 are reproductions of the same design as drawn
by different artists.

FIG. 19. — Another representation of the sculptured tablet at Palenque.

I am indebted for both cuts, as well as for most of those
which follow, to the courtesy of Mr. H. H. Bancroft, from whose
great work, entitled "The Native Races of the Pacific States,"
they are borrowed.

It will be seen that while the several artists have differed
somewhat as to a number of the details, the general resemblance
to the usual Asiatic representations of Buddha, as shown in Fig.
1, page 128, and Fig. 9, page 135, is equally striking in all the
copies.

.RELIGIOUS CUSTOMS AND BELIEFS.

593

The representations of Buddha by the Asiatics, when he is
drawn as occupying the central part of a picture, present him, as
a rule, as seated upon " the throne of lions " (in Sanskrit, Sim-

FIG. 20. — Beau-relief in stucco at Palenque.

hdsana ; in Thibetan, Sengti, or Senge chad ti, " the seat of eight
lions "). The throne is so called from the eight lions which sup-
38

594

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

port it ; in the drawings, however, two lions only are seen in
front.2235 Fig. 20 (see last page) represents a cross-legged figure
found at Palenque, seated upon a similar couch,375 upheld by the
heads and forelegs of two of the American animals which most
nearly resemble the lion, and which are often called by that
name.

Above the doors of the " House of the Monks," at Uxmal,
there are niches containing seated figures (see Fig. 21) which

FIG. 21.— Detail of facade of a building at Uxmal.

bear a great resemblance to the statues of Buddha, which are
placed in similar niches in the walls of many Asiatic temples.

Taken by itself, the similarity might be considered as acci
dental ; but when consideration is given to the nature of the
building in which the American figure is found, and to its won
derful resemblance to the religious structures erected by the
Buddhists of Asia, much weight is added to the assumption that
both figures are the product of the same religious belief.

If these resemblances are accidental, why is it that the ac
cident occurs nowhere in the world except in the region de
scribed by Hwui Shan ?

RELIGIOUS CUSTOMS AND BELIEFS.

595

Perhaps the most remarkable similarity to the Asiatic images
of Buddha which is found in any Mexican object is, however,
exhibited in a small image now contained in the museum of the
Ethnographical Society of Paris, and said to be a representation
of Quetzalcoatl.

FIG. 22. — A Mexican image, said to represent Quetzalcoatl.

Fig. 22, which (as well as the cut of the elephant-mound in
the following chapter) is copied by permission of Messrs G. P.
Putnam's Sons, from the translation published by them of the
Marquis de Nadaillac's " Pre-Historic America," shows the com
plete identity of this image with those which are found in Asia.

The Chinese character for Buddha is ^ Fo, which consists
of the Chinese representation of a "bow," ;=J, KUNG, and four
nearly vertical lines. On each side of the seated figure, of which

596 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

an illustration is given on the last page, there may be seen a
number of hieroglyphics ; and the one in the upper left-hand
corner consists of an exact reproduction of the Chinese " bow "
(except for the reversal— which may exist only in the engrav
ing, not in the original figure), together with four vertical lines.
It certainly does not seem impossible that the Chinese character
Fo, copied blindly by one generation of Indians after another,
may, in the course of centuries, have degenerated to the form
shown in this image ; and it is at least a surprising coincidence
that a figure which so closely resembles the representations of
the Asiatic Buddha should bear a hieroglyph so similar to the
one by which he was designated by the Chinese.

If any reliance can be placed upon the story in regard to
Camaxtli, who is said to have been the father of Quetzalcoatl,743
it may be considered as adding something to the proofs which
have already been adduced of an early visit to Mexico by a parly
of men of the Caucasian race.

This story is thus told by Bancroft : 4C5 " It is stated that
when the Mexicans were practically forced into a nominal ac
ceptance of Christianity, 'the people secretly hid the adored
images, and while accepting baptism still retained the old wor
ship in secret.' Among the idols and relics saved from the
general destruction were the ashes of Camaxtli, the chief god of>
the tribe, said by some to have been the brother of Tezcatlipoca,
by others the father of Quetzalcoatl. They were jealously
guarded by the chief Tecpanecatl Tecuhtli, of Tepeticpac, till
1576, when, tired of the temporal injuries which were falling
upon him, owing to their presence in his house, he turned to the
Church and surrendered the relic, and died the same week, on
Holy Thursday, while penitently lashing himself before the
Madonna. On opening the envelope of the relic, a mass of
blonde hair fell out, showing that tradition was true in describ
ing the god as a white man." (Camargo, " Hist. Tlax.," pp. 151-
159, 178, 179.)

Having thus called attention to many analogies between the
religious belief and practices of the Aztecs, and those of the
Asiatic Buddhists, the following chapter will be devoted to an
examination of the similar analogies existing in the pyramids,
temples, and other buildings, and in the arts and customs of the
two regions of the world.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

THE PYRAMIDS, IDOLS, AND ARTS OF MEXICO.

Temples built upon truncated pyramids — Mounds antedating Aztec occupation —
Speculations as to the date of their erection — The Place of the House of
Flowers — The monuments of San Juan Teotihuacan — Their size — Their con
struction — Mexican " teocallis " — Their proportions — Resemblances to the
pyramids of India — Pyramids found wherever Buddhism prevails — The tumu
lus or tope — Its occurrence at Nineveh, in China, and Ceylon — Resemblances
noticed by several authors — The temple of Boro-Budor in Java — The palace
at Palenque — Dome-shaped edifices — The dome at Chichen — The construc
tion of the pyramids — The layer of stone or brick — The layer of plaster
— The false arch — Decorative paintings — The priests the artists — The orna
ment upon the breast — The name Chaacmol — Cornices — Friezes— Representa
tion of curved swords — An elephant's head as a head-dress — Other ornaments
in shape of an elephant's trunk — The elephant the symbol of Buddha — The
tapir — Remains of the elephant or mastodon in America — Their possible con
temporaneity with man — Pipes carved in the shape of elephants — Their dis
covery — An inscribed tablet — The elephant mound of Wisconsin — A Chippe-
wa tradition — Ganesa — Teoyaomiqui — Their resemblance — The conception of
Huitzilopochtli — The story of Cuaxolotl — Tezcatlipoca — The mirror held by
him — Similar idols in Asia — The imprint of the hand — The cataclysms by
which the human race has been destroyed — The cardinal points — Their con
nection with certain colours — The temples of Thibet — The palace of Quetzal-
coatl — A small green stone buried with the dead — Sweeping the path before
the monarch — The use of garments and dishes but once — The breech-cloth —
Quilted armour — Suspension-bridges — Books — Marriage ceremonies and cus
toms — Tying the garments together — Postponement of the consummation of
marriage — Polygamy — Children carried on the hip — Children's toys — The
cakes used as food — A game — Practices of many Asiatic countries — Milk
not used — Authors led to believe in a connection between Asiatic and Mexican
civilization — Differences between the Mexicans and other American tribes —
Erroneous criticism.

WHEN the Spaniards first pushed their way into the Mexi
can country, they found in each Aztec settlement one or more
temples or places for the worship of the natives' gods. The idols

598 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

and the buildings containing them were uniformly placed upon
the summit of a truncated earthen pyramid. Some of these
structures were of immense size, and the ruins of many are still
to be found in Mexico, Central America, and Yucatan. Although
some of the smaller mounds may have been built by the tribe
then occupying the country, they were, if so, merely imitations
of the larger and more perfect pyramids erected by some more
civilized nation which had been displaced by the Aztecs. It is
the uniform testimony of travelers that the most ancient archi
tecture is in the highest style, and shows " marvelous workman
ship," while the later additions are much inferior, and seem to
be the work of a people less advanced in culture and skill.93

That the mounds of Mexico antedate Aztec occupation is
proved by records that the Aztecs did not enter the valley until
the close of the thirteenth century, and by investigations showing
that the mounds contain skulls that are not Aztec, and that they
contain specimens of the plastic art which could not have come
from the hand of an Aztec ; 1323 while the tradition, still existing
among the natives in many places, also credits these monuments
to an earlier race.647 An old Indian, living near Uxmal, in 1586,
told a traveler that, according to the native traditions, the struct
ures there found had been built nine hundred years, and that
their builders had left the country nearly that long ago.823 The
editor of the " Antiquites Mexicaines " thinks that the temples at
Palenque " may antedate the beginning of the Christian era," 1226
and Brasseur de Bourbourg refers to them as " antediluvian," 771
while the very name Palenque means " a thing that is decayed." 1397

There is therefore reason for believing that these pyramids
may have been built for the worship of a gentler and purer relig
ion than that which was dominant in the country in the early
part of the sixteenth century. Humboldt remarked that one of
these ancient sacred structures bore the name of Xochicalco,
meaning "the Place of the House of Flowers," and asked
whether this name might not have been given it "because the
Toltecs, like the Peruvians, offered nothing to the divinity but
fruits, flowers, and incense." 1585

The monuments of San Juan Teotihuacan, said to be, with
the exception of Cholula, probably the most ancient remains
on the Mexican soil, are thus described : 675 " They were found
by the Aztecs, according to their traditions, on their entrance

MEXICAN PYRAMIDS. 599

into the country, when Teotihuacan (the Habitation of the Gods),
now a paltry village, was a flourishing city, the rival of Tula,
the great Toltec capital. The two principal pyramids were
dedicated to Tonatiuh, the Sun, and Meztli, the Moon. The
former, which is considerably the larger, is six hundred and
eighty-two feet long at the base, and one hundred and eighty
feet high, dimensions not inferior to those of some of the kin
dred monuments of Egypt. They were divided into four stories,
of which three are now discernible, while the vestiges of the
intermediate gradations are nearly effaced. The interior is com
posed of clay mixed with pebbles, incrusted on the surface with
light porous stone. Over this was a thick coating of stucco, re
sembling in its reddish colour that in the ruins of Palenque. Ac
cording to the traditions, the pyramids are hollow ; but hitherto the
attempt to discover the cavity in that dedicated to the Sun has
been unsuccessful. In the other an aperture has been found in the
southern side at two thirds of the elevation. It is a narrow gal
lery, which, after penetrating several yards, terminates in two pits,
or wells, the largest about fifteen feet deep, the sides faced with
unbaked bricks ; but to what purpose devoted, nothing is left to
show. It may have been to hold the ashes of some powerful chief,
like the solitary apartment in the great Egyptian pyramid. That
these monuments were dedicated to religious uses there is no doubt,
and it would only be conformable to the practice of antiquity, in
the Eastern Continent, that they should have served for tombs as
well as temples. Distinct traces of the latter destination are said
to be visible on the summit of the smaller pyramid, consisting of
the remains of stone walls, showing a building of considerable
size and strength. There are no remains on the top of the pyra
mid of the Sun. The summit of this larger mound is said to have
been crowned by a temple. . . . Around the principal pyramids
are a great number of smaller ones, rarely exceeding thirty feet
in height." (Copied from Prescott.)

The Mexican teooalUs were very numerous. There were sev
eral hundred in each of the cities, and the towns, villages, and
districts had their share, many of them, doubtless, but humble
edifices. They were masses of earth cased with bricks or stone,
about one hundred feet square, and in their form resembled the
pyramids of Egypt, except that they were truncated. The as
cent was by four or more stories, by a flight of steps turning at

600 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

the angles of the pyramids, so that one or more circuits had to
be made before reaching the top, or, in other cases, the steps led
directly to the summit ; the top was a broad area with one or
two towers forty feet or more high.574 The base was either
circular or quadrangular ; the pyramids sometimes consisted of
only a single story, but were usually of several, each smaller than
that below it.1227 None of them terminated in a point. They
always had a platform of greater or less extent, which served,
without doubt, as a foundation upon which to place the statues
or the sacrificial altars of their divinities.1233 At the first view
one is not only struck by their conical or pyramidical form, but
also by the slight elevation of the edifices as compared with their
extent, as well as by the solidity of their construction.725 The
main teocalli of the city of Mexico, as well as others elsewhere,
stood in the midst of a vast area, encompassed by a wall of stone
and lime.573

These pyramids have often been compared with those of
Egypt ; but the resemblance is more in the name than in the ap
pearance, the material or style of construction, the proportions of
the structure, or the purposes for which it was erected. The
Egyptian pyramids were of stone ; the Mexican mainly of earth.
The Egyptian pyramids were carried up to a point; the Mexican
were always truncated. The Egyptian were nearly as high as the
diameter of their base ; the Mexican were usually very much
broader than their height. Stephens urges the following addi
tional facts in proof of their radical dissimilarity : 2381

" The pyramids of Egypt are peculiar and uniform, and were
invariably erected for the same uses and purposes, so far as those
uses and purposes are known. They are all square at the base,
with steps rising and diminishing until they come to a point.
The nearest approach to this is at Copan ; but even at that
place there is no entire pyramid standing alone and disconnected,
nor one with four sides complete, but only two, or, at most, three
.sides, and intended to form part of other structures ; all the rest,
without a single exception, were high elevations, with sides so
broken that we could not make out their form, which, perhaps,
were merely walled around, and had ranges of steps in front and
rear as at Uxmal, or terraces or raised platforms of earth, at most
of three or four ranges, not of any precise form, but never square,
and with small ranges of steps in the center. Besides, the pyra-

MEXICAN PYRAMIDS. 601

mids of Egypt are known to have interior chambers, and, what
ever their other uses, to have been intended and used as sepul-
chers. These, on the contrary, are of solid earth and stone. No
interior chambers have ever been discovered, and probably none
exist ; and the most radical difference of all is, the pyramids of
Egypt are complete in themselves ; the structures of this country
were erected only to serve as the foundations of buildings.
There is no pyramid in Egypt with a palace or temple upon it ;
there is no pyramidal structure in this country without, at least
none from whose condition any judgment can be formed.

" But there is one further consideration, which must be con
clusive. . . . There is no doubt that originally every pyramid in
Egypt was built with its sides perfectly smooth. The steps
formed no part of the plan. It is in this state only that they
ought to be considered, and in this state any possible resemblance
between them and what are called the pyramids of America
ceases."

If the American pyramids do not resemble those of Egypt,
have they any similarity to any found elsewhere, or do they
stand alone in the world ?

Mr. Squier has answered the question, though in a manner
somewhat contrary to what seems his own predilection for the
theory of an aboriginal civilization, by stating that " in India are
found the almost exact counterparts of the religious structures of
Central America ; analogies furnishing the strongest support of
the hypothesis which places the origin of American semi-civiliza
tion in Southern Asia." 1645 Wherever the religion of Buddha pre
vails, temples of a pyramidal form, both with square and circular
bases, are to be found,1806 in some instances rising to an elevation
that has only one parallel among the works of man.1441 The ear
liest Buddhist temple was the tumulus (tope). Outside was a
circle of rude stone monoliths, like those of Avebury, Stennis,
Stonehenge, etc., and within this circle was the principal edifice,
the tope, a gigantic hemisphere of brick or stone, and earth, con
taining a tiny little secret chamber in the center. Huge statues,
and sumptuous railings of stone and marble, with gateways at
intervals, were erected around the tope.1739 Truncated earthen
pyramids are found throughout Central and Eastern Asia. There
is one near the ruins of Nineveh.1443 They were erected in China
in early days, as is shown by the character T'AX, J[J,2569 which is

602 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

defined as " an open altar on which to offer sacrifice, a high ter
race for worship." In Ceylon, the principal dagobas (as these
religious structures are sometimes called) are at Anuradhapura ;
and though time has divested them of a part of their original
majesty, they are yet most imposing in their appearance. The
Abhayagiri was originally four hundred and five feet high, being
only about fifty feet less than the highest of the pyramids of
Egypt, or the dome of St. Peter's at Rome, and fifty feet higher
than St. Paul's at London. Its elevation is not now more than
two hundred and thirty feet. The wall around the platform
upon which it is built extends to the distance of one mile and
three quarters. The Jaitawanarama, completed A. D. 310, was
originally three hundred and fifteen feet high, but is now reduced
to two hundred and sixty-nine feet. It has been calculated that
the contents of this erection are 456,071 cubic yards, and that a
brick wall twelve feet high, two feet broad, and ninety-seven
miles long might be built with the materials that yet remain.1442

It will be seen that in size, proportions, materials, uses, and
appearance, these Asiatic structures closely resemble those of
Mexico and Central America. Von Tschudi mentions, with sur
prise, " the characteristic likeness which exists between the pa
godas of India and the teocallis of Mexico." 406 Hardy says
upon the subject :

" The ancient edifices of Chichen, in Central America, bear a
striking resemblance to the topes of India. The shape of one of
the domes, its apparent size, the small tower on the summit, the
trees growing on the sides, the appearance of masonry here and
there, the style of the ornaments, and the small doorway at the
base, are so exactly similar to what I had seen at Anuradhapura,
that when my eye first fell upon the engravings of these remark
able ruins, I supposed that they were presented in illustration of
the dagobas of Ceylon." 1444

The writer of an article in the " Edinburgh Review," for
April, 1867, says :

" The great temple of Palenque corresponds so exactly in its
principal details to that of Boro-Budor, situated in the province
of Kedu (in Java), that it is impossible to reasonably dispute the
community of the origin and of the purpose of the two monu
ments." 19

It should be observed that these two writers had no theory

MEXICAN PYRAMIDS.

603

to serve, and that they were probably unaware of any other
reason for believing that there had been early communication
of any kind between the two continents. In order that the won
derful resemblance last mentioned may be seen by the reader,

FIG. 23.— The temple of Boro-Budor in Java.

Figs. 23 and 24 have been inserted : the first being a copy of
the frontispiece of Volume II of Crawfurd's "History of the
Indian Archipelago," illustrating the temple of Boro-Budor, in

FIG. 24.— The "palace" or temple at Palenque, Yucatan.

604: AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

Java ; and the second being a plate of the so-called " palace "
at Palenque, Yucatan, enlarged from an illustration found on
page 394 of the second volume of the ninth edition of the " En
cyclopaedia Britannica " — American reprint.

If these engravings are compared with a representation of
the pyramids of Egypt, the dissimilarity of the latter to the
structures of Asia and America will be very apparent, and the
close resemblance of these last to each other will be brought out
by the contrast.

Most of the Buddhist edifices in Asia are dome-shaped.
Again we find the coincidence that, while most of the temples of
Mexico were quadrangular,1069 those which were specially dedi
cated to Quetzalcoatl were completely circular, "without an
angle anywhere," 827 and were surmounted by a dome.252 Chief
among the temples of Cholula was the semi-spherical structure
devoted to Quetzalcoatl, standing upon a quadrilateral mound
nearly two hundred feet, ascended by one hundred and twenty
steps, and with a larger base than any Old World pyramid.457 A
similar dome at Chichen is thus described by Norman : 197a

" This building stood upon a double foundation, as far as I
could judge, although I was unable, to satisfy myself complete
ly, owing to the fallen ruins, which once formed a part of its
structure, but which now almost concealed its base from the view.
I found, on the east side, broken steps, by which I ascended
to a platform, built about thirty feet from the base, the sides of
which measured each about one hundred and twenty-five feet.
The walls were constructed of fine hewn stone, beautifully fin
ished at the top, and the angles, parts of which had fallen, were
tastefully curved. In the center of this platform, or terrace, was
a foundation work, twelve feet high, and in ruins ; the four
broken sides measuring about fifty feet each, upon which is built
a square of a pyramidical form fifty feet high, divided off into
rooms, but inaccessible, or nearly so, owing to the tottering con
dition of the walls. I could discover, however, that the inside
walls were covered, and the wood that supported and connected
the ceilings was in good preservation. In the center of this square
is the DOME, a structure of beautiful proportions, though par
tially in ruins. It rests upon a finished foundation, the interior
of which contains three conic structures, one within the other, a
space of six feet intervening, each cone communicating with the

MEXICAN PYRAMIDS. 605

others by doorways, the inner one forming the shaft. At the
height of about ten feet the cones are united by means of tran
soms of zaporte. Around these cones are evidences of spiral
stairs, leading to the summit."

The pyramids of Asia are either of brick,1442 or else of earth,
covered with a layer of stone or brick, the whole overlaid with a
plaster or stucco, which, according to Hardy, is composed of
" lime, cocoanut water, and the juice of the paragaha." 1442

The pyramid upon which stood the temple of Mexico was
composed of well-hammered earth, stones, and clay, covered with
a layer of large square pieces of " tetzontli " (a species of stone
or lava), all of equal size, hewn smooth, and joined with a fine
cement, which scarcely left a mark to be seen ; it was, besides,
covered with a polished coating of lime or gypsum.250

Nearly all the pyramids of which the material is described
were similarly constructed,1223 among them one near San Andres
Chachicomula,1-24 and one near Tehuantepec,1232 but some were
partly built of the sun-dried brick of the country. One of the
mounds of Cholula was known by the name Ixtenextl™ or " Lime-
faced" ; evidently derived from ixtti, "face," and tenextli, "lime."
This " lime " was a native carbonate which was not burned, and
which still gives a strong effervescence when treated with
acids.501 The stucco with which nearly or quite all the pyramids
were originally covered is said to have been composed solely
of this native carbonate of lime, mixed with water in which the
bark of a certain tree had been steeped. (See Brasseur de Bour-
bourg's "Relation des Choses de Yucatan, de Diego de Landa,"
p. 335.) 761 This is nearly the same composition as that used in
Asia.

Another similarity is found in the fact that the stones of the
ancient Buddhist temples of Java " overlap each other within, so
as to present to the eye the appearance of the inverted steps of
a stair." * This peculiarity is found in nearly all the ruins of
Mexico, Central America, and Yucatan. The nations of Amer
ica were not acquainted with the principle of the arch, and the
species of false arch above described is the nearest approach to it
that they ever made.

We are informed that in Asia the inner surface of the walls
of Buddhist temples is whitewashed, or covered with a kind of
plaster. This is then generally decorated with paintings rep-

606 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

resenting episodes taken from the life of the Buddhas, or images
of gods of dreadful countenance.2234 The lamas are the only art
ists who contribute to the ornament and decoration of the tem
ples. The paintings are quite distinct from the taste and princi
ples of art as understood in Europe, the fantastical and the
grotesque predominating inside and out, both in carvings and
statuary.1565 At Palenque, as well as elsewhere in the neighbour
ing region of America, the walls and roofs of the temples were
covered with stucco,1234 and the excellence of this material, which
was also employed for making bas-reliefs, is said to be difficult
to describe, for neither sand nor powdered marble can be distin
guished in its composition, and, in addition to its hardness and its
fineness, it is of a beautiful white colour.1236 The paintings, bas-
reliefs, and statues well come under the description of " fantas
tical and grotesque."

Le Plongeon states that the ornament hanging from the breast
of the American figure, shown in Fig. 2, page 128, is a badge of
his rank ; that the same is seen at the breast of many other per
sonages in the American bas-reliefs and mural paintings, and
that a similar mark of authority is yet in usage in Burmah.2049
The name Chaacmol, mentioned by him, is as good a preservation
of the epithet Sdkya Muni (I and n often being interchanged in
American languages) as could be expected to have come down
through the vicissitudes of fourteen centuries.

Above one of the ruins at Mictlan there was a projecting cor
nice, ornamented with capricious sculptures, which formed a sort
of diadem placed upon the summit of the edifice. This crown,
which still existed in the times of Burgoa, who gives an incom
plete description of it, seems to resemble, as far as we can judge,
those of certain temples of Hindostan.685 It may also be noticed
that the frieze which surrounds one of the stories of the pyramid
of Xochicalco presents a series of small human figures, seated in
the Eastern manner, with the right hand crossed on the breast
and the left resting on a curved sword, whose hilt reminds us of
ancient swords ; a thing the more worthy of attention since no
tribe descended from the Toltecs or Aztecs has made use of this
kind of arms.384

Stephens, in his " Incidents of Travel in Central America,"
etc.,2379 Humboldt, in his " Vues des Cordilleres," plate 15, figure
4,1590 and the Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg, in "Monuments

MEXICAN PYRAMIDS.

GOT

Anciens du Mexique," figure 2, plate 13,575 give an engraving
of a bas-relief in stucco, on the west side of the palace at Pa-
lenque. The resem
blance of the head-dress
to an elephant's head and
trunk is somewhat strik
ing.371 (See Fig. 25.)

At Uxmal, in Yuca
tan, an ornament of the
walls, in the shape of a
curved projection, has
been " supposed by more
than one traveler to be
modeled after the trunk
of an elephant." 364 The
trunk is yet visible on
the east side, though the
whole figure is much
broken on the west
side.1973 The elephant
trunk reappears in the
interior steps at Kabah,
Yucatan,363 and again in
the wall at Zayi, Yuca
tan.369 The resemblance
is hardly so close as to
make it absolutely cer
tain that the ornaments
were intended as representations of an elephant's trunk, although
many seem to think that there can be no question on the subject.
Waldeck says that the head-dress first mentioned "is evidently an
elephant's head," and that the same figure is also found in other
reliefs and among the hieroglyphical characters.767 He also men
tions another building as possessing "a small chancel containing
two birds perched upon elegant scroll-work, in adoration before
an elephant's head " ; 766 and Le Plongeon states that the mas
todon's head forms a prominent feature in all the ornaments of
the edifices of Yucatan.2050 Lillie also claims that " the elephant
is everywhere " 1743 in the drawings of the Abbe Brasseur de
Bourbourg (I admit, however, that I am unable to find it), and

FIG. 25. — The elephant's- head head-dress.

608 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

he gives an engraving, of which Fig. 26 is a copy, as repre
senting a sculpture at Palenque.1745 This is a perfect elephant's
head, and, if the drawing is correct, may be considered as settling
the question of the existence of this orna
ment in the temples of America. He does
not give his authority, however, and there
seems a possibility that the original sculpt
ure may not settle the point so decisively.
The question is one of interest, since any
knowledge on the part of the Mexicans of
even one species of animal peculiar to the

FIG. 2G.-Lillte's drawing old continent, and not found in America,
wouM> if distinctly proved, furnish a con-
at Palenque. vincing argument of a communication hav

ing taken place in former ages between the

people of the two hemispheres.408 It is of the greater interest, as
the elephant is in Asia the usual symbol of Buddha,1738 and a
Guatemalan tradition asserts that Votan, who was probably one
of our party of Buddhist priests, created,831 or brought with him,622
the tapir — the nearest American representative of the elephant —
which was therefore considered in Guatemala, as the elephant is in
Siam and other Buddhist countries, as a sacred animal.

If the sculptures of Yucatan are really intended for elephants'
trunks, a possible explanation of their existence may, however,
be found in the theory that some species of elephant or masto
don existed in America until a comparatively recent date, and
has become extinct in what may be called modern times. Re
mains of the mastodon are occasionally disinterred in the Mexi
can Valley2069 (see Latrobe's "Rambler in Mexico," p. 145), and
Professor Newberry, some years ago, made the following state
ments on the subject : 1968

" We know that both these great monsters— the elephant and
mastodon— continued to inhabit the interior of our continent long
after the glaciers had retreated beyond the upper lakes, and
when the minutest details of surface topography were the same
as now. This is proved by the fact that we not infrequently
find them embedded in peat, in marshes which are still marshes,
where they have been mired and suffocated. It is even claimed
that here, as on the European Continent, man was a contemporary
of the mammoth, and that here, as there, he contributed largely

MEXICAN PYRAMIDS.

609

to its final extinction. On this point, however, more and better
evidence than any yet obtained is necessary, before we can con
sider the contemporaneity of man and the elephant in America
as proven. The wanting proof may be obtained to-morrow, but
to-day we are without it."

FIG. 27. — Elephant-pipe, found in a field in Iowa.

Since the above was written, the lacking evidence seems to
have been obtained. There are in the possession of the Academy

FIG. 28.— Elephant-pipe, found in a mound.

of Natural Sciences of Davenport, Iowa, two carved stone
pipes, of which representations are given in Figs. 27 and 28.
89

610 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

The first was found in Louisa County, Iowa, about the year 1870,
by Mr. Peter Mare (now living in Kansas), while planting corn
on his farm.1182 The discovery of the second is thus described
by the Rev. Ad. Blumer, in a letter dated Geneseo, Illinois,
March 27, 1880 :1184

"Having formerly resided in Louisa County, Iowa, ... I
visited that place, during the first week of the present month, in
company with Rev. J. Gass. . . . We visited several groups of
mounds, . . . and finally determined to open those of a group
situated two miles east of Grand View, and three miles south of
the boundary of Muscatine County. . . . Our work was begun
on the farm of Mr. P. Haas, S. W. J, N. E. £, Sec. 25, Twp.
75, N., R. 3. . . . The first mound we opened, and the only one at
the exploration of which I was present, proved to be a sacrificial
or cremation mound. . . . An opening of five by ten feet was
made. The surface was a layer of hard clay, about one and a
half foot thick. Beneath this layer, which exhibited here and
there the effects of fire, we found a layer of red burned clay, about
as hard as a rather soft-burned brick. This layer was of an
oval form, five feet in the shortest diameter, one foot thick in the
center, and gradually diminishing to three inches at the circum
ference. Under this was a bed of ashes thirteen inches deep in
the middle, and also gradually diminishing to the edges, where
it terminated, with the burned clay above. ... In the midst of
this bed of ashes, a few inches above the bottom, were found
... a carved stone pipe, entire, and representing an elephant,
which was first discovered by myself."

The illustrations given upon the last page were copied by a
photo-engraving process from photographs of the pipes in ques
tion. They seem to be unmistakable representations of an ele
phant or some closely allied quadruped, and their makers must
have been acquainted with the animal.

The Davenport Academy of Natural Sciences also have a
tablet, found in a mound near their city, containing some thirty
rude pictures of animals, most of which can be recognized, and
among them there are two that seem intended for elephants.1181
It may be worthy of notice that in these drawings, in the pipes,
and in the sculptures of Yucatan, the animal's head is uniformly
represented without any trace of tusks. In that otherwise truth
ful representation of the mastodon, the elephant-mound of Wis-

MEXICAN IDOLS. 611

consin (see Fig. 29), the artist has also totally omitted the tusks,
and shortened the trunk to very moderate dimensions. Surely

FIG. 29.— The " Elephant-Mound " of Wisconsin.

not for want of space, for the whole animal has a length of over
one hundred feet, and a proportionate height. There, therefore,
seems some reason for believing that an animal much resem
bling the elephant, but destitute of tusks, existed in America up
to a comparatively recent date.

Schoolcraft mentions a Chippewa tradition which was nar
rated by Maidosegee, an aged chief of that tribe, regarding the
former existence of an animal from whose skin the wind had
blown the hair.2240 When first found he was very small, but he
began to shake himself, and at every shake he grew. His body
became heavy and massy ; his legs thick and long, with big,
clumsy ends, or feet. He still shook himself, and rose and
swelled ; a long snout grew from his head, and two great, shin
ing teeth out of his mouth. His skin remained as it was, naked,
and only a tuft of hair grew on his tail. He was enormous. " I
should fill the earth," said he, " were I to exert my utmost
power, and all there is on the earth would not satisfy me to
eat."

This may possibly be a genuine tradition of the compara
tively recent existence in America of some elephantine quad
ruped.

Fig. 30 is a copy of the frontispiece of the second volume
of Sir Thomas Raffles's " History of Java," 2I25 and represents the
elephant god Bitara Gana, or Ganesa, worshiped in that island.
Fig. 31 is a picture of one of the gods of the Mexicans, said to
be Teoyaomiqui, copied from the plate given on page 513 of
the fourth volume of Bancroft's " Native Races of the Pacific

612

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

States." 3S5 A comparison of the two will show so many resem
blances that the conclusion hardly seems far-fetched that the lat-

FIG. 30.— Bitara Gana, or Ganesa.

ter is merely a modification of the former, brought about by
gradual changes, which have accumulated through many cent
uries. In both we see skulls and encircling serpents. The po-

MEXICAN IDOLS.

613

FIG. 31. — An Aztec god — said to be Teoyaomiqui.

614 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

sition of the four hands and feet is nearly the same in both,
with an additional pair of hands appearing near the shoulders ;
and the distorted head of the Mexican idol may possibly have
been made by workmen who, knowing nothing of the existence
of the elephant, or any other animal with a long proboscis, there
fore, by gradual changes, shortened up the trunk and split it, as
shown in the protruding tongue of the engraving, and changed
the tusks into the two projections at each side of the tongue.
A god with four or six hands, as here shown, is an anomaly
in Mexican and Central American mythology,2447 and its counter
part can be found only in Asia.

There was a tradition current in Mexico of the miraculous
conception of Huitzilopochtli, which closely resembles the Asiatic
stories of the conception of Buddha, and which Clavigero relates
as follows : 319 " In the ancient city of Tulla lived a most devout
woman, Coatlicue by name. Walking one day in the temple, as
her custom was, she saw a little ball of feathers floating down
from heaven, which, taking without thought, she put into her
bosom. The walk being ended, however, she could not find the
ball, and wondered much, all the more that soon after this she
found herself pregnant."

The Mexican story of Cantico, or Cuaxolotl, who, having sac
rificed after having eaten fried fish, was changed into a dog, as a
punishment for not having kept fast until after sacrifice,1406 also
closely resembles an East Indian tale.

Tezcatlipoca, one of the principal deities worshiped in Mexi
co,1852 was represented as holding in his hand a great circular
mirror of gold, bordered, like a fan, with precious feathers,
green, and azure, and yellow ; the eyes of the god were ever fixed
on this, for therein he saw reflected all that was done in the
world.308 A similar story is told in Thibet, of Shinje, " the Lord
of the Dead," " the King of the Law," who is said to possess a
wonderful mirror which shows him all the good and bad actions
of men.222' In Japan, also, the same tale is told by the Buddhists
regarding a great judge, before whom the souls of the dead are
tried, before whom stands a large mirror in which the actions of
all men are imaged forth.968

Dr. Le Plongeon says that the tribes of Yucatan, and
several of those that dwell in Hindostan, have in common
the custom of printing the impress of the human hand, dipped

MEXICAN ARTS. 615

in a red-coloured liquid, on the walls of certain sacred edi
fices.2051

In Chapter IX have been given the remarks of von Humboldt
upon the analogy which the Mexican mythology presents, in its
fable regarding the system of the universe, of its periodic de
structions and regenerations, to the account contained in the
sacred books of the Hindoos of the four ages, and of the pralayqs,
or cataclysms, which, at different epochs, have caused the de
struction of the human species. It will, therefore, be unneces
sary to repeat these legends here, although it may be stated that
the traditions of the two countries so closely resemble each other
that both speak of four ages, each terminating by a general
catastrophe, and each catastrophe exactly the same in both. At
least that is the doctrine of one of the Shastras. The race, it
teaches, has been destroyed four times : first, by water ; second
ly* by winds ; thirdly, the earth swallowed them ; and, lastly,
fire consumed them. (Sepp, " Heidenthum und Christenthum,"
i, p. 191.)809

In Mexico,2203 as in China, the leading one of the four points
of the compass was the south ; Gemelli and Sahagun both follow
ing exactly the same order in the enumeration of the quarters of
the world : first, the south, then the east, and finally the north
and the west ; 933 and one point, as to which there seems much
reason for believing that the American custom was influenced by
communication with some of the nations of Asia, is the employ
ment, in both regions of the world, of definite colours to symbol
ize the points of space.931

Schlagintweit says that in Thibet the walls of the temples
look toward the four quarters of heaven, and each side should be
painted with a particular colour : the north side with green, the
south side with yellow, the east side with white, and the west
side with red ; but this rule was not strictly adhered to, as many
temples were seen with all sides of the same colour, or simply
whitewashed.2233 If the Mexican traditions may be believed, the
sacred palace of that mysterious Toltec priest-king, Quetzalcoatl,
had four principal halls, facing the four cardinal points. . . .
That on the east was called the Hall of Gold, because its walls
were ornamented with plates of that metal, delicately chased
and finished ; the apartment lying toward the west was named
the Hall of Emeralds and Turquoises, and its walls were pro-

616 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

fusely adorned with all kinds of precious stones ; the hall facing
the south was decorated with plates of silver, and with brilliant
coloured sea-shells, which were fitted together with great skill.
The walls of the fourth hall, which was on the north, were red
jasper, covered with carving, and ornamented with shells.
Another of these palaces or temples, for it is not clear which they
were, had also four principal halls decorated entirely with feather-
work tapestry. In the eastern division the feathers were yellow;
in the western they were blue, taken from a bird called Xiuh-
tototl ; in the southern hall the feathers were white; and in that
on the north they were red.162

The colours used to symbolize the points of the compass varied
among different races. In Java the divisions of the horizon and
the corresponding colours were named in the following order :
first, white and the east ; second, red and the south ; third, yel
low and the west ; fourth, black and the north; and fifth, mixed
colours and the focus or center.1134 Among the Mayas of Yucatan
the east was distinguished by yellow, the south by red, the west
by black, and the north by white.804 In Mexico, according to
the declaration of Gemelli, the hieroglyph of the south is a hare
upon a blue field ; that of the east, a reed upon a red field ; that
of the north, a lance upon a yellow field ; and that of the west, a
house upon a green field.932 The order of the first three colours
is the same as that of the colours mentioned by Hwui Shan — blue,
red, and yellow. It is true that a difference appears in the colour
appropriated to the west, but it is not at all improbable that
Gemelli was mistaken as to that point, as the Mexicans desig
nated blue and green by the same term, and had no way of dis
tinguishing between the two colours ; it, therefore, seems not im
probable that the hieroglyph of the west was painted upon a
field which the Mexicans intended for white, but which, from
some cause, was of so dingy a colour that Gemelli mistook it for
light green. The colour black, of which we are not able, other
wise than as a matter of conjecture, to establish the employment
among the Mexicans as symbolizing any point of space, plays as
important a part as any of the other colours in the account of
Fu-sang, and appears to correspond to the central region. Here
there are traces of archaism, easy to explain among a. people
whose civilization goes back to a much earlier date than that of
other American races.934

MEXICAN ARTS. 617

Another practice of the Mexicans, to which attention should
be called, was that of interring a small green stone with the
dead.811 This was also done in Yucatan,2582 and the custom is in
striking accord with the Chinese belief that smooth and clean
jade-stone has the power to harmonize the hundred spirits of
Nature, and that it should be placed in the tomb to illuminate the
path of the spirits.1266

It has been a common Asiatic practice to " prepare the way,"
and " make the path straight," before any great ruler when he vent
ured abroad. Thus a mandate was issued by the king, the father
of Buddha, throughout his dominions, that, wherever the prince
should go, the roads and streets should be swept and watered,
perfumes should be burned, and tapestries, flags, and canopies
hung up.1351 A similar custom existed in Mexico ; and it is
said that when the prince Cacumatzin, lord of Tezcuco, and a
nephew of Montezuma, came to visit Cortez, as soon as he
alighted from the litter in which he was borne, some of his serv
ants ran before him to sweep the ground upon which he was
about to tread.2347

Mention has already been made of the repeated statements
of the Spanish conquerors, that Montezuma never used either the
same garments or the same dishes twice.734 The same thing is
said of the Dairi of Japan. " He and his wives wear new gar
ments every day. Everything necessary for their meals, and
everything for their personal use, is renewed every day." 1686

In India the common native dress consists of a large piece of
cloth, which is rolled around the waist, one end being passed be
tween the legs, and then drawn up and fastened to the girdle.
This method of covering is very ancient, for we find it repre
sented in numerous ancient figures.2236 This was precisely the
dress adopted by the Aztecs. An early English translation of
Herrera describes it as follows :

"The prime men wore a Rowler eight fingers broad round
about instead of Breeches, and going several times around the
waste, so that one end of it hung before and the other be
hind."2382

Gabriel de Chaves, in a report preserved in the publications
of M. Ternaux-Compans, gives the following description of. the
clothing of the natives : " All classes cover their nakedness with
a long band of cloth, similar to an almaizar, which they wind

618 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

several times about the body and then pass between the legs, the
extremities falling in front down to the knees." 244°

This article of clothing was known as a maxtli, of which
Bancroft says that it was about twenty-four feet long, and nine
inches wide, and was generally more or less ornamented at the
end with coloured fringes and tassels, the latter sometimes nine
inches long. The manner of wearing it was to pass the middle
between the legs and to wind it about the hips, leaving the ends
hanging one in front, and the other at the back, as is done at this
day by the Malays and other East Indian natives.207

While speaking of the dress, it may also be noticed that the
Mexicans wore an armour of quilted cotton, which, while it an
swered its purpose of protecting the wearer from arrows, was
useless against the musketry of the Spaniards. A similar quilted
dress was worn by the Tartars as a defensive armour.997

It is well known that the Chinese used suspension-bridges
for many centuries before they were known in Europe. The
Mexicans also, as well as the Peruvians, used bridges of this
kind, which are thus described by Clavigero : " They are
woven of certain ropes or natural ligaments of a tree more
pliant than the willow, but larger and stronger, called in
America the Bejucos. The extremities of these are attached to
the trees on opposite sides of the stream, and the network is sus
pended in the air between them like a swing. Some bridges had
their ropes so tightly drawn that they did not undulate, and they
all had their side supports made of these same ropes. Over some
rivers, bridges of this nature are still found." 1079

The books of the Mexicans and Mayas also resembled those
of some of the nations of Asia ; being written " on a large leaf,
doubled in folds, and inclosed between two boards, which they
made very fine [decorated], and they wrote on both sides in col
umns according to the folds." 28° The paper was folded back and
forth in a particular manner, almost like the paper or other
material of our fans. In this respect the Mexican paintings
offer a close analogy to the Siamese manuscripts, which have been
preserved in the Imperial Library of Paris, which are also folded
" en zigzag." 1589

One of the most remarkable peculiarities in which the Mexican
customs resembled those of some of the Buddhist nations of Asia
was connected with the ceremony of marriage. In Mexico, the

MEXICAN ARTS. 619

priest, after the arrival of the bride at the house of the bride
groom, tied the gown of the one to the mantle of the other ; and
in this ceremony the matrimonial contract chiefly consisted.1849

The newly married couple sit upon a mat together during the
first four days after their marriage, not leaving it until midnight,
when they go together to burn incense before the domestic gods.
. . . For the young married couple these four days are a time of
penitence, during which they clothe themselves with the orna
ments of the gods for which they have the most devotion. They
pass the nights separated from each other, each upon a separate bed
prepared by the priests. These beds consist of mats covered with
superstitious symbols, having at the side some ears of maize, and
some maguey-thorns, with which to draw blood in honour of the
divinity. It is not until the fourth day that they are permitted
to consummate their marriage, any anticipation being considered
as unlucky for the future.707

The marriage ceremonies of the Hindoos are remarkably simi
lar to those of the Mexicans in some leading particulars (" Asiat.
Res.," vii, p. 309 ; Ward's " View of the Hindus," i, p. 173),
and which, to avoid a tedious description, we shall but recapitu
late. The bridegroom goes in procession to the house of the
bride's father, and is there welcomed as a guest. The bride is
then given to him in the usual form of any solemn donation,
and their hands are bound together with grass ; the bride
groom then clothes the bride with an upper and lower garment ;
then the skirts of their mantles are tied together, the bridegroom
makes oblations to the fire, and the bride drops rice upon it, and
after several inconsiderable ceremonies the company is dismissed ;
the marriage being now complete and irrevocable. In the even
ing of the same day, the bridegroom points out to her the pole
star, as an emblem or figure of constancy ; during the three subse
quent days the married couple must live chastely and austerely,
and after these three days, which is the fourth from the celebra
tion of the marriage ceremony, the bridegroom conducts the bride
to his own house. The custom of tying the garments of the bride
and bridegroom together was also practiced in the marriage of the
ancient Persians. (Hyde, "De Religio Vet. Pers.," p. 405.) 1849

In some parts of India marriage is not consummated until the
husband and the wife, sleeping apart, have for seven days eaten
together seven times a day.1734

620 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

In the Mexican empire, as in most Asiatic countries, polyg
amy was tolerated, the kings and princes taking a great number
of wives ; but in general they had only one who was regarded as
their legitimate spouse, and of whom the marriage was cele
brated according to the customary rites.708 In both Yucatan
and India it was customary to carry young children astride on
the hip ; 2051 and in Mexico, as in China, it was the practice to place
in the hands of a child, at a festive gathering, held a few days
after its birth, toy instruments of war, of craft, or of household
labour,325 symbolical of those with which it was expected that
its after-life would be engaged.

Among the minor coincidences between Mexican and Asiatic
life, it may be mentioned that the thin oval cakes of meal which
formed the principal food of the Aztecs, as well as of the Mexi
cans of the present day, closely resemble the chapati of India,1319
and that a Mexican game called patolli, which is described in the
Spanish chronicles as played with coloured stones moved on the
squares of a cross-shaped figure, according to the throws of beans
marked on one side, corresponds closely with the Hindoo back
gammon called pachisi. (See Tylor, in " Jour. Anthrop. Inst.,"
vol. viii, p. 116.) 1318

In presenting these coincidences between the religious prac
tices, the arts and the customs of the Mexicans and the na
tives of Yucatan in America, and those of the Asiatic Buddhists,
many countries in Asia have been mentioned. This has seemed
legitimate, as the five Buddhist priests must have been acquainted
with many Asiatic countries before they reached America.
Moreover, a large part of the civilization of Asia is Buddhistic in
its origin, and the same practices, customs, and arts were intro
duced by the Buddhist priests throughout nearly all Asia. Many
practices mentioned by travelers as existing in a certain country
may also exist in others, without having been mentioned by
any explorer ; and arts and customs once introduced into many
lands may now survive in only one.

It may be said that not only did the Mexican civilization so
closely resemble that of Asia as to make it almost incredible
that the two can have grown up entirely independent of each
other, but that even the arts and useful customs known to the
Europeans, and not known to the Mexicans, were either equally
unknown to the Asiatics or were not practiced by them.

MEXICAN ARTS. 621

Milk, and food made from it, were, for instance, formerly
unknown to the Americans as articles of diet.1581 If the Mexi
can civilization had been founded upon any introduction of Euro
pean ideas, there can be no doubt that the use of these articles
would have been known. Humboldt pointed out, however, that
several nations of Eastern Asia equally ignored their use.15sl
Milk, butter, and curds are all insupportably odious to a Chi
nese,1570 and the Buddhists of Java, who are so little scrupulous in
diet as to eat not only the flesh of the cow, but even that of
dogs and other animals, never use milk as an article of food.2121

Before closing this chapter, it may not be out of place to
again call attention to the fact that many independent observers
have been led, by some one or more of the coincidences that have
been noted, to the belief that they could be most easily accounted
for on the supposition that the practices or arts in question were
borrowed by the Mexicans from Asia. The authors of the arti
cle upon Mexico in the Encyclopaedia Britannica (Tylor and
Keane) say that these details of Mexican civilization do not
seem ancient enough to have to do with a remote Asiatic origin
of the nations of America, but rather to be the results of com
paratively modern intercourse between Asia and America, prob
ably since the Christian era.1318 In other words, these gentle
men, paying no attention to the story of Hwui Shan, have been
led, by the study of Mexican civilization, to the belief that there
was a visit of some kind from Asia to America, at just about the
time that Hwui Shan says the party of Buddhist priests visited
Fu-sang.

More than a century ago there sprang up a school of critics
who disputed the unanimous testimony of the ecclesiastics, the
soldiers, and the historians who first witnessed the remarkable
civilization of Mexico. No such arts, customs, or religious prac
tices were found elsewhere in America ; the Americans were in
reality one homogeneous people, and therefore those who bore
witness of the peculiar civilization of Mexico were either them
selves deceived or else deliberately attempted to deceive others,
and their stories were either without foundation, or else were
gross exaggerations or perversions of the truth.

This was the course of reasoning adopted by these critics.
The facts were all against them, it is true — so much the worse for
the facts. Clavigero, meeting this species of criticism, when he

622 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

commenced the publication of his " Ancient History of Mexico,"
replied to it as follows :

" Those who foolishly claim to know all about the ancient
Mexicans by their descendants, or else by the nations of Canada
or of Louisiana, will consider as fables, invented by the Spaniards,
what we have to say of their knowledge, their laws, and their
arts. But that we may not violate the laws of history, nor the
fidelity due to the public, we shall candidly set forth all that we
have found to be true, without fear of censure." 1071

Of late there has been a revival of the same species of criti
cism as that of which Clavigero complained, and there are not
wanting those who are rea'dy to deny the unanimous testimony
of innumerable independent witnesses, in order that their own in
ferences may take the place of the proven facts. Mr. Bancroft's
" Native Races of the Pacific States " has been attacked by several
of this ilk, on the ground that he, like other historians, has been
guided by the statements of eye-witnesses, rather than by the
customs of " the nations of Canada."

The grain of truth contained in the views of these critics
renders their argument all the more dangerous. The natives of
Mexico were Indians, of the same race as other American In
dians. Many of their customs were undoubtedly founded upon
practices existing before their lives had been swayed by any for
eign influence. Upon these, the discoveries of Morgan and hi&
followers, in regard to the organization and customs of other In
dian tribes, will undoubtedly throw much light ; and many things,
which the early Spanish historians understood but imperfectly,
may in this way be now more fully explained. There is only one
theory, however, which will account for all the facts. That is
that, at some time in the past, the nations of Mexico, Yucatan, and
Central America were powerfully affected by the introduction
of Asiatic arts, customs, and religious belief ; that, when this
region was rediscovered by the Europeans, many evidences of
this influence still existed in these countries, and that the state
of civilization found by the Spaniards was the result of this
adoption of Asiatic customs and beliefs, which were mixed with
or engrafted upon such civilization as the natives themselves had
previously been able to attain.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

THE HISTORY OF JAPAN.

Records reaching back nominally to 660 n. c. — Gaps in the history — Great age of
sovereigns — A giant — Absence of .exact dates — The introduction of writ
ing — Manufacture of paper — Chinese records of embassies — Mention of a
Japanese sovereign whose name does not appear in the Japanese annals —
Translation of extracts from the Japanese history — Intercourse with Corea
and China — Embassies — Wars — Introduction of Buddhism — Titles of nobility
— Copper, silver, and gold — Intercourse of Corea with Japan and China — The
Chinese account of Japan — The route from China to Japan — The distance —
Cattle and horses not raised — Tattooing— Clothing — Cities — Polygamy — Laws
— Burial of the dead — The " Chi-shuai " — An envoy — A later embassy — A
Japanese princess — The kingdom of Kiu-nu ; that of Chu-ju — The Eastern
Fish-People — A Chinese expedition to seek for P'ung-lai — Tan-cheu — Route to
Japan — The divisions of Japan — Titles of the officers — Embassies — Tattooing
— Absence of writing-^Mourning-garments — Buddhism — Route to Japan —
Discovery of gold, silver, iron ore, and copper — The Country of Women —
Reasons why Fu-sang can not have been situated in Japan — Consideration
of other theories — Proof that Hwui Sha"n had visited some unknown land —
Had the Chinese any earlier knowledge of America ? — The Shan Hai King.

As it has been thought by some that the country visited by
Hwui Shan was situated in some part of Japan, it will be perti
nent to examine the history of that kingdom, and the accounts
regarding it possessed by the Chinese in early ages, to see
whether any such coincidences can be found in the manners and
customs of the people, and in the plants and animals of the coun
try, with those of the land of Fu-sang, as to make this theory
tenable.

The Japanese possess a concise history of their country,
which gives a short account of the principal events pouring in
the land, and which runs back, nominally, as far as the year 660
B. c. There are numerous gaps in the record for the first thousand
years, however, and as late as A. D. 435 there is a hiatus from that

624 AN INGLOKIOUS COLUMBUS.

date until the year 453. It is evident that until this time, or a
little later, the record is of little value, and is merely a compilation
at some later date of the traditions then current in the country
as to its early history. From the earliest date that is named
(660 B. c.), up to the year 399 A. D., we are presented with a list
of sovereigns, almost all centenarians, some of whom are said to
have attained the age of one hundred and forty years, and one
of whom is stated to have been ten feet tall ; it is also notice
able that neither the month, nor the day of the month, on which
any event occurred is mentioned prior to the year 643 A.D.,1684
but that after that time they are frequently named.

The date of the introduction of the art of writing, and that of
the first manufacture of paper in the country (which will be re
ferred to farther on), also indicate that their history was not re
duced to writing prior to the third century A. D., and more prob
ably not until about the sixth century.

It is the long life attributed to their early sovereigns, how
ever, which more than any other cause tends to throw sus
picion upon their historical records. Such a chronology imme
diately inspires more than doubt, and the idea at once presents
itself that the memory of a good many of the ancient sover
eigns has been lost, and that the gaps which would be so caused
in Japanese history are filled up. by extending the reigns of
which the remembrance has been preserved. Klaproth evi
dently had this suspicion when he wrote, "From the year
660 B. c. to 400 A. D., the history of Japan mentions only sev
enteen emperors, a number too small for so great a length of
time." But that which for Klaproth was merely a probable
hypothesis has been placed by M. d'Hervey beyond all reason
able doubt. Ma Twan-lin, in his writings, mentions all the em
bassies sent by Japan to China, naming the Japanese emperors
from whom they bore homage or tribute, and also stating the
dates. Among others, he mentions that in the year 107 A. D.
envoys came to China, from the king of Japan, named Shui Shing.
The Japanese chronology indicates that at this date a prince was
reigning aged one hundred and seventeen years, named Kei Ko
(or, in Chinese, King Hang), who lived to the age of one hundred
and forty years, and it does not mention the king Shui Shing of
whom Ma Twan-lin reveals the existence and preserves the name.
It is therefore evident that the early portion of the record can

THE HISTORY OF JAPAN. 625

not be relied upon, any further than that it is probably a faithful
preservation of the recollections and traditions of the country
as they existed about the sixth century A. D. The account of
events that happened as late as the date of Hwui Shan's visit to
China (499 A. D.) seems, however, to be deserving of entire credit,
as there was then some little knowledge in the country of writing
with Chinese characters, and the official history of the kingdom
was reduced to writing either about this time or within a cent
ury after.

The following extracts are presented from the translation of
these records, which was made by Siebold, as having a bearing,
more or less direct, upon Hwui Shan's story :

B. c. 87. Many immigrants arrived from foreign countries.2251

B. c. 81. By command of the Mikado, ships were built in 2262 dif
ferent districts.

B. c. 33. Japan received the first visit from Mimana, a land
in the southern part of the Corean peninsula.2253

B. c. 27. A son of the king of Sin-ra * came to Japan and
brought many valuable things, f 2254

A. D. 57. A deputation went from Japan to Han (China). J An
account of this visit is contained in the Chinese
history of the later Han Dynasty.2255

A. D. 59. Kijofiko, a descendant of the prince who came from
Sin-ra in the year 27 B. c., presented to the court of
the Mikado the curiosities which had been brought
into the country by the prince. They were es
teemed as objects of great value, and carefully pre
served in the treasury.2266

A. D. 61. Tatsima Mori left Japan, by order of the Mikado, in
order to bring back the " fragrant fruit." 2257

A. D. 71. Tatsima Mori returned to Japan from Toko jono
Jcuni (the Land of Eternity), bringing with him the
" fragrant fruit " (i. e., the pomegranate).5

2258

*The ancient kingdom of Sin-ra (or "Sin-lo," as the Chinese pronounce the
name) occupied the province of Corea, now called K'ing Chang,1659 which is situ
ated in the eastern part of that country.1672

f These presents are said to have consisted of mirrors, Oriental jade, sabers,
cutlasses, and other valuable articles.1673

\ This embassy reached China in the last year of the reign of the emperor
Kwang Wu Hwang Ti.16T4
40

626 AN" INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

A. D. 193. In this year EJung Man~wang, a descendant of the
Chinese emperor Shi Hwang Ti, came to Japan.2260

A. D. 201. The fifteenth Mikado was Zin-gu Kwo-gu, known in
her life-time as Oki naga tarasifimeno mikoto,
great-granddaughter of the Mikado Kai JTwa,
daughter of the prince Okinaga Sukune. In the
third month she conquered the race of JKuma-oso,
in Kiusiu, with her troops, and annihilated the
robber Kuma-wasi with his followers, and peace
and order were restored in Kiusiu. In the tenth
month she with her large army undertook a plun
dering expedition against Sin-ra, whose king im
mediately surrendered to her. Kao-li * and Pe-tsi \
also came and submitted themselves to her, so that
the three Kara state all became subject to the
Japanese empire. In the twelfth month, after re
turning to Japan, she bore a son in Tsukusi who
afterward succeeded her upon the throne of the
Mikado.2261

A. D. 239. An embassador was sent to the Wei dynasty WM (of
Ohina)4

A. D. 240. The Wei dynasty sent an embassy in return.2263

A. D. 246. Embassadors were sent to Toksiu.mi

A. D. 249. A Japanese expedition went to Toksiu, and from that
country attacked Sin-ra.™*

A. D. 250. By command of the government, stations were intro
duced throughout the kingdom for the change of
post-horses.2260

A. D. 262. A Japanese expedition attacked iSm-ra.2267

A. D. 266. A Japanese embassy visited Tain (China).226*

A. D. 272. The country of Pe-tsi neglected to pay tribute to Ja-

* Kao-li (pronounced " Ko-rai " by the Japanese) was a province of Corea,1653
from which the whole country has since taken the name by which it is known to
Europeans.1677

f The ancient kingdom of Pc-tsi was situated in the province of Corea, now
called Ts'iuan.1658

\ The " History of China " speaks of this embassy as follows : " The second of the
years king t'su (238 A. D.), under the emperor Ming Ti, of the Wei dynasty, Pi Mi
Hu, queen of the country of Wo (Japan), sent to the capital one of her noblemen,
who bore tribute. The emperor gave him a golden seal in an envelope of purple
silk.1679

THE HISTORY OF JAPAN. 627

pan. In retaliation Kitsuno Siikune was sent with
an expedition against it. The inhabitants of the
country slew their king. The Japanese placed
AJcwa upon the throne and returned home.2269

A. D. 276. San Kan and Mimana brought tribute.7270

A. D. 284. The king of Pe-tsi sent his son Atogi with horses to
Japan. Atogi laid in Japan the first foundation of
a knowledge of Chinese writing.2271

A. D. 285. The Chinese philosopher Wang Shin came from Pe-tsi
to the Japanese court and gave the first instruction
in Chinese literature.2"'"2

A. D. 289. Immigration of two Chinese families.2273

A. D. 324. An iron shield and target were sent to Japan from
Kao-li, and an officer of the shield-bearers pierced
them with an arrow-shot.2274

A. D. 368. The people of Jesso revolted. Damitsi undertook
an expedition against them, suffered defeat, and re
turned."75

A. D. 414. A Chinese physician was called from Sin-ra in order
to cure the Mikado of a disease.2276

A. D. 462. Strangers from the land of Wu brought presents to
the court.*2277

A. D. 464. A deputation was sent to the land of TFw.2278

A. D. 465. A Japanese expedition made war upon Sin-ra, and
suffered a defeat.2279

A. D. 467. Kui /Sin, a native of the land of Wif, came from Pe-tsi
to Japan.3280

A. D. 463. Musano-awo and a learned man of FinoJcuma went
as an embassy to the land of TFw.2281

A. D. 475. JTao-li conquered Pe-tsi.'™

A. D. 477. Pe-tsi, under King Monsu, recovered its independ
ence.2283

A. D. 493. Fitdka no Jcisi (falconer), of Ndniva^ returned from
a mission to Kao-li, with two architects.2284

A. D. 543. Pe-tsi sent a valuable apparatus, which pointed out
the south 2295 (i. e., a magnetic compass).

A. D. 546. The embassadors from Pe-tsi returned home with a
present of seventy horses and ten ships.228*

* China was at this time divided into three kingdoms, called Wei, Shu, and Wu.

16T9

628 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

A. D. 552. Pe-tsi sent a statue of Buddha to the Japanese court,
and also Buddhistic utensils and books ; but as a
contagious disorder broke out among the people at
this time, the statue was, by order of the higher
authorities, sunk in the river, and the temple built
for it was burned.* 2287 (Although these last facts
are entered under the year 552, they did not take
place until 585, thirty-three years later. See the
record for this last-named date.)

A. D. 553. Two colossal statues of Buddha were made by high
authority.2288

A. D. 562. Ohodomono Sadefiko undertook an expedition against
Kao-li, with several legions of men, conquered it,
and returned to Japan with rich booty, among which
were many books in the departments of Chinese
Buddhistic and medicinal literature, and also many
images of Buddha, and musical instruments.2289

A. D. 577. The king of Pe-tsi sent books and writings, two Bud
dhist priests, a nun, and a sculptor.2290

A. D. 579. Sin-ra sent tribute ; among the rest an image of Bud
dha.2291

A. D. 584. Two Japanese, Ka fukano wonnoko and Sae 'kino
murazi, brought images of Buddha from Petsi.
Sogano Mumako built a temple in which they were
placed. The religion of Buddha constantly spread
more and more throughout the country.2292

A. D. 585. A contagious disease broke out, which carried off a
great part of the people. Oho murazi Monono
beno juke morija gave the command to lay the
temple of Buddha in ashes, and to throw Buddha's

* The following account is given in another place : 1683 This embassy pre
sented to the emperor an image of Buddha, tents, parasols, and the classical books
of the religion of Buddha. These presents were very agreeable to the Dairi. The
minister Ihame attempted fco persuade him to adore this god ; but Mono no-be no-
oyosi dissuaded him, saying, "Our kingdom is of divine origin, and the Dairi
already has many gods to adore. If we worship those of foreign countries, our
own gods will be angry." Intimidated by this argument, the Dairi presented the
image to Iname, who with joy pulled down his house, and constructed upon its
site the temple of Hiang-yuan-szu. Here he placed the idol, and constantly paid
his worship to it. It is from this time, that tlie introduction of the religion of
Sakya (Buddha) into Japan dates.

THE HISTORY OF JAPAN. 629

images into the canal Fori-je, of Naniva. Three
months later Sogano MumaJco asked for permis
sion to profess the Buddhist faith, and the Mikado
refused to give his consent.2293

A. D. 588. The minister Mumdko built the Buddhist temple
F6-Jci6-sl, i. e., the Temple of the Reception of the
Law.22"

A. D. 590. Several nuns, at the head of whom was Sen Sin, " the
Virtuous, the Believing," came from Pe-tsi to Ja
pan.2295

A. D. 593. Prince Mumajadono miko founded the Buddhist
temple called the " Temple of the Four Heavenly
Kings."2296

A. D. 594. An order was issued to extend the Buddhist doctrine
and to build Buddhist temples.2297

A. D. 603. The twelve ranks or titles of nobility, with distin
guishing caps, were introduced.2299

A. D. 604. Prince Mumajadono miko composed the seventeen
Buddhist precepts, and introduced innovations in
the court creemonies.2300

A. D. 608. The colossal copper image of Buddha was set up in
the Temple of the Reception of the Law.2301

A. D. 612. Music was taught for the first time.2302

A. D. 624. The Buddhist clergy were organized, and placed un
der the supervision of a high-priest. Mos

A. D. 625. Kao-li sent the Buddhist priest Jei IKwan to Ja
pan.2304

A. D. 708. The first silver was received from the province of
Musasi. The copper mint Wa-do-kai-tsin was
established.2305

A. D. 709. A law was established against the private coinage of
silver money.2306

A. D. 749. The province of Mutsu delivered the first gold to the
emperor.2307

A. D. 750. The prince of the province of Suruga brought gold,
which he had found, to the court of the Mikado.8308

A. D. 760. New copper, gold, and silver mints were established
and set in operation.230*

A. D. 792. The learning of the Chinese language according to
the Han dialect was commanded.2310

630 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

A. D. 861. The calendar which had been in use in China since

821 was introduced into Japan.2311

A. D. 1034. The study of the Chinese literature became a means
of obtaining a livelihood."12

Fortunately, we are not compelled to rely upon this record
alone for our knowledge of the early condition of Japan. Corea
and Japan have had constant relations with each other from a
date prior to the commencement of the Christian era, as have
also Corea and China. The Chinese must have, therefore, had
some knowledge of Japan, even at the time, in the year 57 A.
D., when the first recorded embassy from that country visited the
Chinese emperor. After that date, visits back and forth be
tween the two countries were of frequent occurrence.

In accordance with their usual custom, the Chinese historians
reduced to writing such information regarding the country as
they were able to obtain, and as they thought of interest. These
accounts were collected and condensed by Ma Twan-lin, and ex
tracts from the translation of his work made by M. the Marquis
d'Hervey de Saint-Denys are given below. It may be pre
mised that the Chinese author arranged his authorities in chro
nological order, and the first statements are therefore drawn from
the oldest authorities.

The country of Wo, Japan, is southeast of the country of the
Han, and of the government of Tai-fang™ It is formed of a
collection of islands situated in the midst of the Great Sea. The
distance of the journey to it from the districts of Lo-lang or
Tai-fang is about twelve thousand li.* It contains more than a
hundred kingdoms. At the time when the emperor Wu-ti, of the
Han dynasty, conquered Chao-sien (Corea), more than thirty of
these kingdoms maintained steadfast relations with the Chinese
empire by embassies, or by messages.

Each kingdom has its hereditary king. The great king of

* This distance seems to have been given by the Coreans, and adopted by the
Chinese. M. de Rosny thinks, however, that he has found the original document
from which Ma Twan-lin drew his geographical descriptions, and calls attention to
a variation in the reading which gives the distance of one of the divisions of the
journey (that from Kiu-ye-Jian to Tsu-sima) as one thousand li instead of seven thou
sand. This correction removes most of the confusion regarding the length of the
ft, which has arisen from the fact that the journey to Japan was described as being
twelve thousand li in length. See d'Hervey's " Ethnography."— E. P. Y.

THE HISTORY OF JAPAX. 631

Wo resides in the kingdom of Ye-yen-tai (now pronounced
Ye-mo-toy i. e., Yamato), which kingdom is found twelve thou
sand li from the frontiers of the government of Lo-lang and
more than seven thousand li from the kingdom of Kiu-ye-han
(a small kingdom situated at the southeastern extremity of
Corea), which is toward the northwest. Its territory is almost to
the east of Kuei-ki and Tong-ye. It is near Chu-yai and Tan-
eul, and the customs and laws of these different regions are very
similar to each other.

The soil is suitable for the cultivation of rice and hemp, and
of mulberries, which are used to feed silk-worms. The people
know how to spin and weave ; they make the silk cloth called
kien-pu. They have white pearls and green jade. Their mount
ains furnish cinnabar. The climate is temperate. In winter,
as in summer, they reap crops. Neither cattle, horses, panthers,
sheep, nor fowls are seen.

The arms of the Japanese are the lance, the shield, the
wooden bow, and bamboo arrows, the heads of which are some
times made of bone. All the men have the face marked with
black spots, and the body tattooed. According as the tattooing
is upon the right or left side, large or small, it indicates the
nobility or the humbler position of the person. The men clothe
themselves by placing cloth about their bodies and holding it to
gether by means of knots. The women at first let their hair fall
about them, and then coil it up and fasten it in place. Their
robe is like a simple covering, or piece of cloth, with a hole
through which the head is passed. They smear their bodies
with a red powder, just as the Chinese women do with paint.

The Japanese have cities surrounded by an inclosure of
palisades and great houses. The father, the mother, the elder
brothers and the younger brothers live separately, but the boys
and girls show themselves freely in public. They eat with
their fingers, but they use vases similar to those which in China
are called pien-teu (a species of vases made of bamboo). It is
a general custom with them to go barefoot. They do not con
sider it impolite to sit without attention to their position, leaning
upon their elbows with their legs extended, or even holding
their knees with their hands. They love to drink wine. They
often live to a great old age, many of them being more than
one hundred years old. In their country there are many girls

032 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

(i. e., more girls are born than boys ; a fact said to be true at
the present day). The great personages have generally four
or five wives. Others possess two or three. The women are
neither debauched nor jealous. The men are not inclined
either to robbery or brigandage. They have few legal forms.
If any one violates the law, his wife and children are reduced to
servitude. If the crime is very grave, his entire race is extermi
nated. The bodies of the dead are preserved for ten days or
more, the people of the house lamenting, and abstaining from eat
ing and drinking ; then their friends come singing and dancing
to drive away their sorrow. The bones of the dead are burned,
to be used in sorcery, good or evil omens being drawn from
them.

The sailors take with them a man, who is forbidden to comb
or wash himself, to eat food, or to approach any woman. This
man is called Chi-shuai. If the voyage is fortunate, he is re
warded with rich presents ; but if unfortunate, if they have met
with accidents, or suffered from disease, it is thought that the
Chi-shuai has not been attentive to his duties, and they all join
in putting him to death.

In the year A. D. 57 the kingdom of Japan sent an embassador,
bearing its homage, and its felicitations, and carrying presents.
This embassador gave himself the title of Ta-fu. His master
resided in the southern portion of Japan. The emperor Kwang-
wu gave him an official seal with its silk envelope.

In the year 107 A. D. the envoys of the king of Japan, named
Shui Shing, came offering slaves to the number of a hundred
and sixty, and soliciting an audience of the emperor.

At about the time when Hiao Ling-ti inherited the throne of
his father (168 A. D.) great troubles burst upon Japan. Civil
war coloured the waves with blood, and for a number of years
the country remained in a state of anarchy. There was then a
princess named Pi-mi-hu (the same whom the Japanese call Zin-
gu Kwo-gu, or the empress Zin-gii). When she became of age
she would not marry, but devoted herself to the worship of
demons and spirits, and astonished the people with her sorceries ;
and hence they all recognized her as their queen. She had a thou
sand servants. She allowed herself to be seen but seldom, and
had an attendant who carried food to her, and who conveyed her
orders. She lived in a palace fortified with towers several stories

THE HISTORY OF JAPAK

in height, and surrounded by palisades, and always guarded by
soldiers. Her laws were severe.

From the kingdom of this queen, in an easterly direction, and
across the sea at a distance of more than one thousand lit the
kingdom of Kiu-nu was to be found ; of which the inhabitants,
although they were all of the same race as the Japanese, were
nevertheless not submissive to the authority of the queen.

From the kingdom of this queen, toward the south, at a dis
tance of more than four thousand li, is the kingdom of Chu-ju, of
which the people are of the height of three or four Chinese feet.
To the southeast of Chu-ju, by sailing a year, the Kingdom of Lo,
or the Naked People, is found, and the Black-Teeth Kingdom,
countries with which periodical relations have been maintained.
No one has ever been farther.

Beyond the sea of Kwei-Jci (the sea from the mouth of the
Hoang-ho or the Yang-tse-kiang to the strait of Formosa, now
called Tong-hai, or the Eastern Sea) are the Tong-ti-jin* (the
Eastern Fish-People). They form more than two thousand
kingdoms.

Y-cheu and Tan-cheuare also to be found. Tradition reports
that formerly Tsin Shi Hwang Ti sent a priest, of the name of
Sin-fw, with some thousands of young people, boys and girls, to
explore the sea and seek for P'ung-lai, the home of the immortals.
Not being able to discover this marvelous place, and fearing the
punishment which Tsin Shi Hwang Ti might inflict upon him,
Sin-fu did not dare to return. He remained in the islands which
bear his name. In the course of generations they were peopled
with several scores of thousands of families, and from time to time
the people of this country have come to Kuei-ki for the purposes
of commerce.

It is also stated that inhabitants of Kuei-ld and of Tong-ye,
sailing upon the sea, have been driven by the winds until they
reached Tan-cheu ; but the distance is so great that (as a rule)
it is impossible to go or return.

* Williams, p. 884, defines the Tong-ti-jin as the Chusan Islanders. D'llervey
adds this note : " Ma Twan-lin does not say anything more about these people ;
but if we remember that beyond this Eastern Sea there is the Pacific Ocean, we
may suppose that this term is used to designate the numerous islanders, as to which
the Chinese lacked precise information, although they were not ignorant of their
existence in the midst of the Great Sea."

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

(Plere follow the accounts of a country situated at a great
distance southwest of Japan inhabited by naked black people, as
given in the description of CHU-JU. Also the accounts of WEN-
SHIN — or the land of " Marked Bodies " — and Great HAN. )

We read in the " Chronicles of the Wei Dynasty " : " To reach
Japan, starting from the government of Tai-fang, the coast
should be followed. The country of the Han is passed and left
behind, at first to the south, and then to the west, and in this
way the northern coast is reached, where the country of Kiu-ye-
han is situated. After having gone seven thousand lit the coun
try of Tid-hai is reached.* . . . Then, turning to the south, a
sea of more than one thousand li, called the Han-hai, is crossed
(the name Han-hai is also, according to M. de Rosny, given to
an island situated near the southern coast of Corea), and a great
country is reached, about three hundred li square. . . . Crossing
a sea of more than one thousand li, the country of Mo-lu is
reached. . . . Then, going by land about five hundred li to the
southeast, the country of Yn-tu is reached. . . . One hundred
li to the southeast is the kingdom of Nu. One hundred li to
the east is the kingdom of Pu-mi. ... By sailing along the
southern coast for twenty days, the kingdom of Teu-ma is
reached. . . . Finally, by sailing toward the south for ten days,
or else by a land voyage of a month, the kingdom of Ye-ma-y
is reached, which is that in which the queen resides. From the
kingdom of this queen, toward the north, the population and
the distances are known with approximate accuracy, but those of
the distant kingdoms situated in other directions are not accu
rately known. The kingdoms which are known are those of
Sse-yen, Ifi-pe-chi, Y-ye, Kiun-cTii^ Mi-nu, Hao-ku-tu, Pu-hu,
Tsie-nu, Tui-su, Su-nu, Hu-y, Hoa-nu-su-nu, JKicei, Wei-u,
Kwei-nu, Ye-ma, Kong-chin, Pa-li, Chi-wei, U-nu, and J¥u,
which is the boundary of the sovereignty of the queen. To the
south of this last kingdom is that of Kiu-mi. It is governed by
a king. His functionaries are called I£eu-ku~clii-pi-keu. From

* The name means "a country which faces the sea." According to M. de Ros
ny, it is the island of Tsu-sima. See a former note for an account of a varia
tion in the reading, discovered by M. de Rosny, in what he thinks to be the
original document from which Ma Twan-lin drew his account, which reduces the
distance from Kiu-ye-han to Tsu-sima to one thousand li instead of seven thou
sand.

THE HISTORY OF JAPAN. 635

the capital of this kingdom, to the kingdom of the queen the dis
tance is at least twelve thousand U."

The titles of the mandarins or officers of most of the coun
tries above named are then given. None of them at all resemble
the titles found in Fu-sang. Next in order come accounts of the
visits of embassies from Japan to China, in the years 238, 242,
246, 265, some time between the years 397 and 418, in 421, 425,
444, 452, 463, 478, and at later dates.

"A great number of the men and women have the back
tattooed in black, the face marked in the same way, and
the entire body often tattooed. They plunge into the water
to fish. They have no writing, but merely cut certain marks
upon wood, arid make knots in cords ; but, in order to study
the Buddhist religion, books were brought from the king
dom of Pe-tsi, and they thus became acquainted with written
characters. . . . The dead are inclosed in a double coffin.
The relatives and friends come singing and dancing to visit
the body. The wife, the children, and the brothers wear mourn
ing-garments of white cloth. . . . Some time between the
years 581 and 588 A. D. a Japanese embassy was sent to China
by the direct maritime route, in order to obtain the Buddhist
books called * The Books of the Flowers of the Law.' ... In
653 A. D. Lu-sse-tao went to China to study the Buddhist relig
ion. He studied three years under the bonze Hiuen-chong,
and the books called Lu-lun were given him. ... In 701 a
bonze called So-tien was sent officially to China, to obtain the
Buddhist books of which Lu-sse-tao had previously learned, and
his mission was successful. . . . About the middle of the eighth
century an embassy was sent to China, which included several
priests, whose mission it was to procure a complete collection of
Buddhist books, and to learn the deepest mysteries of the doc
trine of Fo."

The historians of the empire have written : " To go to the
kingdom of Japan, setting forth from Tai-fang, the kingdom of
Chao-sien (Corea) is passed ; and sailing first toward the south
and then to the west, three seas are crossed, and seven countries
are visited ; and after having traveled a total distance of twelve
thousand li, the capital is reached."

The historians say again : " In order to reach it (the capital of
Japan) from Lo-lang, or Tai-fang, the distance from either is

636 AN INGLOKIOUS COLUMBUS.

twelve thousand li. Japan is situated to the east of Kwei-ki, and
it is not very far from Tan-eul. The route is therefore extremely
long via Leao-tong, but it is quite short by the direct route,
from the coast of Min or of Che."

In addition to the foregoing extracts from the " Ethnography "
of Ma Twan-lin, the following statements, derived from a num
ber of different sources, will assist in throwing light upon the
state of affairs in Japan during the fifth century of the Christian
era:

Gold was first discovered and melted in Japan in the year
749 A. D., during the reign of the emperor Shomu ; 1313 it came
from the department of Oda, in the province of Oshiu, and in the
following year more was found in the province of Suruga.

Silver ore was discovered accidentally in the year 667 A. D.,
in the island of Tsu-sima ; this ore produced the first Japanese
silver metal, in the year 674.

Loadstone was discovered in the year 713, in the province
of 6mi. The exact date of the first manufacture of iron is un
known. . . . Japanese legends assert that the first sword was
forged in the reign of the emperor Seijin (97-30 B. c.) ; but
this statement is, of course, open to considerable doubt. Copper
was, it is said, smelted in Japan for the first time in the year
698, at Inaba, in the province of Suwo ; and in the year 708 the
first Japanese copper coin was cast in the province of Musahi.

We read in the history of Japan called Ni-pon Ki: "The
third year of the reign of Ten-bu-ten-o, white silver was offered
to him, the seventh day of the third month, by the prince of
Tsu-sima. It is the first time that the mines of this metal had
been worked in the empire." 1685 Klaproth adds to this transla
tion the statement that it is from this time that the use of silver
in Japan dates.

In a Japanese work entitled " Ko Dou Dzu Roku," or " A
Memoir on Smelting Copper," it is said that for about a thousand
years the copper from every district was chiefly of the third qual
ity, as the Japanese had not learned how to extract the silver ;
so that they might be called deficient in manipulation. This is
known from the fact that if broken copper utensils, made in the
reign of Tenshei, and before him, be smelted, silver can always
be extracted from them. The silver used in those days was all
obtained from mines. At the end of Tenshei's reign certain for-

THE HISTORY OF JAPAN. 637

eign merchants came to Sakai, in the country of Shen, and taught
the mode of extracting silver to Sumitomo Zhiyusai ; this was
in the year 1591.1015

In 1708 an influential minister of Japan brought the subject
of the currency before the government, in an able memorial, of a
portion of which the following is a translation : "A thousand
years ago, gold, silver, and copper were unknown in Japan, yet
there was no want of necessaries. The earth was fertile, and this
is undoubtedly the most desirable species of wealth. After the
discovery of these metals, the use of them spread but slowly, and
so late as the time of Gongin they were still very rare. That
prince was the first who caused the mines to be diligently
wrought. ... In ancient times, as I have said, when the people
were unacquainted with gold, silver, and copper, they knew no
want, and were good and virtuous. Since those metals were dis
covered, the heart of man has become daily more and more de
praved." 1004

From a statement made by Fischer,1025 it appears that even at
a comparatively recent date the Japanese did not understand
the art of separating gold-dust from the sands of the rivers
which contained it.

The art of writing did not exist in Japan before the reign of
the Mikado O-zin (270 to 312 A. D.).2156 It is stated that it was
in the year 284 1554 that a prince of Corea brought the first knowl
edge of the art, and that immediately after, the tutor to that
prince, a Chinese, named Wang Shin, having been invited, the
Japanese courtiers applied themselves to the study of the Chinese
language and literature. According to the Japanese historians,
Wang Shin was the first teacher of the Chinese language in
Japan. He brought the Lun yu (one of the books of Confucius)
and other books, which he presented to the emperor, whose son he
taught to read and write. Then were also introduced the arts of
spinning, weaving, and sewing. He came from the kingdom of
Wuy in Southern China. Since his time the ideographic characters
of the Chinese have remained in use in Japan ; . . . but as the
construction of the Japanese language differs materially from
that of the Chinese, the syllabaries, called kata-kana and^ra-
Jcana, were invented during the first half of the eighth cent
ury.1880

In China, silk or cloth was used for writing before paper was

638 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

made. This was invented by Ts'ai King-chung, alias Ts'ai Lun,
about A. D. 100, who made it of the bark of the Broussonetia,
old rags, and fishing-nets, all cut and rasped together.2584

In Japan, however, the introduction of writing-paper dated
from the reign of the Mikado Sui-Jco (593 to 628), with which
an embassy bearing presents had been sent from the kingdom
of Kao-li (in Corea) ; but this paper lacked solidity and was bored
by insects. The hereditary prince therefore tried the black mul
berry (Broussonetia), which has since continued to be the chief
material used in the manufacture of Japanese paper.2160

The tree from which paper is made 1035 is the Broussonetia
papyrifera^ commonly known as the paper-mulberry. The
Chinese call it |ff, CH'U, or, more specifically, $g ||, CH'U SANG. A
coarse kind of cloth is also made of it by the Coreans, but the
paper itself is much used for garments.2529

Among the titles applied to the rulers and noblemen of
Japan are " Mikado " and " Siogoun." The potentate bearing
the first of these two titles is also designated by a great number
of others : among them being Kubo, Kubo sama (i. e., " Lord
Kubo "), Kinri Wori or Wori sama, Dairi, Sora Mikado, and
Kinri. The Siogoun is also called Tenka or Tenka sama™'* and
the title Kubo is also sometimes applied to him.1030 Tylcoon,
Itoogih, Daimio, and Hata moto are terms applied to various
grades of Japanese officials,1943 as are also Koku-sU, Sai-mio, and
Kie-nin™

As the fact that a certain region of Japan was known as
"the Country of Women" has been considered to add some
weight to the theory that the country visited by Hwui Shan was
situated in Japan, it may be of interest to learn to what portion of
the kingdom this name was applied, and the reason of the desig
nation.

At about the end of the first century of the Christian era, the
Japanese Dairi sent his officer, called " the Prince of the War
riors of Japan," to crush out an insurrection of the Eastern
Barbarians. While at sea, he was assailed by a great tempest,
and one of his wives, believing the god of the sea to be angry
with him, threw herself into the sea to appease him, and the tem
pest ceased. Afterward the prince, when he came to the top
of the mountain called Hsu fi toghe, from which there is a
beautiful view to the south and east, recalled the death of his

THE HISTORY OF JAPAN. (539

wife, and cried with a deep sigh "Akatsuma" (i. e., "my wife,"
" ma femme "), and hence the eastern provinces of the empire
received the name of " Atsuma," or " the Country of Women." 1676
With the foregoing information as to the early history of
Japan, we are now prepared to consider the question whether this
could by any possibility have been the country which Hwui
Shan visited, and of which he attempted to give a description.
The following facts seem to make this theory wholly incredible :

1. Japan was not an unknown country, or land of mystery, as
to which marvelous tales would be likely to be told. It had had
relations with Corea before the beginning of the Christian era,
and had sent an embassy to China in 57 A. D., fully four cent
uries before the party of Buddhist priests mentioned by Hwui
Shan started on their travels. Since that time the visits back
and forth had been numerous, and the Chinese of the fifth cent
ury were well acquainted with the country, its history, and its
customs.

2. Fu-sang was said to be situated twenty thousand li easterly
from the country of Great Han (or rather, as is shown by other
statements, southeasterly). This was five thousand li or more
east of the country of " Marked Bodies," which in turn was seven
thousand li or more northeasterly from Japan. How can it be
believed that a traveler, starting from Japan, going seven thou
sand li to the northeast, then five thousand li to the east, and
then twenty thousand li to the east or southeast, would at the
end of his journey find himself in Japan, in the neighbourhood of
the district from which he had set out ? If Great Han was
twelve thousand li from Japan, how could Japan be twenty
thousand /* from Great Han ? It should also be remembered that
Ma Twan-lin expressly declares that Japan is situated directly
to the east of China, and that Fu-sang is situated directly east of
Japan, and at a distance of thirty thousand li from China. (This
is in a direct line, while the total distance of forty-four thousand
li, which was traveled in going from one country to the other,
shows that the route was indirect.)

3. The most reliable histories of Japan emphatically deny
that their country was ever called Fu-sang, or that any such region
as that described by Hwui Shan was ever to be found in it.

4. A country which lay both to the east of Great Han (a
country twelve thousand li northeasterly from Japan) and to the

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

east of China, must have been of great extent, or else situated at
a great distance, or both, and hence could not have been a
province of any of the islands constituting the kingdom of
, Japan.

5. The country visited by Hwui Shan derived its name from
a wonderful plant or tree growing there. Neither Japan nor
any of its districts derived its name from any plant or tree, and
nothing at all answering to the fu-sang tree is found in that
country. The only tree which answers the description in any
respect is the CH'U SAXG, or paper-mulberry, and, although
the people now make paper from its bark, this art was not
known until at least a century after the days of our Buddhist
priests. Furthermore, its first sprouts do not in the most re
mote degree resemble those of the bamboo, and the people never
eat them. Its fruit is not a red pear, and no fruit of the kind
is found in the country.

6. The Japanese were not destitute of citadels and walled
cities, or of military weapons or armour, and they were almost
constantly engaged in military enterprises.

7. Although they had some knowledge of the Chinese char
acters, they had no system of writing of their own until some
centuries later.

8. The titles of the ruler and of his nobility do not in any
way resemble those of the kingdom of Fu-sang.

9. Although they probably knew something of the value of
gold and silver, they mined none themselves and they had no
copper. They probably had iron, or at least knew something
about it, and about sabers and shields made from it, several
centuries before.

10. It was their custom to wear mourning-garments.

11. Although there was a region of Japan which was some
times called the Country of Women, this region was well known,
and did not contain any such inhabitants or plants as those
described by Hwui Shan.

12. The strongest argument against the location of Fu-sang
in America — that it is said that horse-carts, cattle-carts, and deer-
carts are found in the country — may be urged with equal force
against the identification of that country with Japan. Ma
Twan-lin states distinctly that neither cattle nor horses were
raised in the country, and, up to the present day, carts or wagons

THE HISTORY OF JAPAN. 641

are not used, and it is doubtful whether there is a road in the
country upon which they could be used.

13. Nothing at all corresponding to the southern and north
ern place of confinement ; to the great assembly of the people to
judge a guilty nobleman ; to the infliction of the death -penalty
by smothering in ashes ; to the change of the colour of the
king's garments from year to year ; to the use of immense
horns ; to the practice of raising deer, or to the peculiar method
of courtship mentioned by Hwui Shan — has ever been stated to
exist in Japan.

14. Perhaps the most convincing proof, however, that Japan
and Fu-sang could not possibly have been the same country, is
found in the fact that the Buddhist religion was introduced into
Fu-sang in 458 A. D., while the testimony is uniform and over
whelming that it was not until the year 552 that the first knowl
edge of the Buddhist religion reached Japan.

If the argument is made that Fu-sang was situated in some
remote region of Japan, not then under the sovereignty of the
ruler of that country, and which had not previously been visited
by the Chinese, or by the natives of the known portion of Japan,
the facts that the people of Fu-sang were acquainted with the art
of making paper, with the use of copper, and with the doctrines
of the Buddhist religion, will be sufficient to overthrow the argu
ment ; for it can hardly be believed that any wild tribe in a
remote corner of the country can have been further advanced in
civilization than the people of the great empire of Japan, who
for many centuries had visited, and been visited by, the people
of the Asiatic Continent.

As the hypothesis that Fu-sang was a portion of Japan seems
to be wholly untenable, we are therefore thrown back upon the
theories that Fu-sang was situated in America, or else that Hwui
•Shan invented the whole story. This last hypothesis is incredible
to one who will read his account with any care. The motives which
led to his journey, the credence which he succeeded in obtaining
from all to whom he told his story, the so-called " silk " and the
strange mirror that he brought back with him, the lack of the
marvelous or impossible in his tale, the numerous little points in
which his account is just such as would have been given by an
eye-witness, and which no impostor has ever been able to success
fully imitate, all place it beyond question that he had been some-
41

642 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

where, and that he attempted to give a truthful account of the
land that he had found.

This country must have been either in Japan or America.
It is evident that it was not in Japan. No explanation of his
story is therefore left us except that he had actually visited
America.

Before concluding this work, the inquiry may be made whether
the Chinese had any earlier or other knowledge of America than
that given them by Hwui Shan. It seems unquestionable that
they had some earlier knowledge of a land which they called
Fu-sang : but I hope to be able to show that this was a different
country ; that it took its name from the plantain or banana tree
(called pisang by the Malays), and that it was situated in the
Philippine Islands, or in some of the islands in their neighbour
hood, southeast of China. As, with the exception of the extracts
translated by M. the Marquis d'Hervey de Saint-Denys, the prin
cipal account of this land of Fu-sang is found in the SHAN HAI
KING, or Chinese " Classic of Mountains and Seas," I have at
tempted to translate all that part of the work which relates to
the regions east of China. I am well aware of the fact that some
errors will probably be found in the translation, by those who are
more conversant than myself with the Chinese language. Never
theless, as no one else has undertaken to translate it, and as it
seemed important that some light should be thrown upon the
knowledge possessed by the Chinese regarding the countries lying
east of them, I have ventured to do the best that I could with it,
believing that I could at least give a correct general idea of the
work, and that -those who are able to rectify my errors will most
deeply appreciate the disadvantages under which I have la
boured, and will be disposed to view with leniency such mistakes
as I may make.

This translation will be found in the following chapter.

CHAPTER XXXY.

THE CHINESE

Preface — SUH-CHU Mountain — The Mountain of Creeping Plants — Aspen Mountain
— Hairy birds — The Foreign Range — KAN fish — KU-MAO, KAO-SHI, Lofty,
Wolf, Lone, Bald, and Bamboo Mountains — K'CNG-SANG, TS'AO-CHI, YIH-KAO,
and Bean Mountains — An excessively high peak — TU-FU, KANG, LU-K'I —
KU-SHE, Green Jade-stone, WEI-SHI, KU-FUNG, FC-LI, and YIN Mountains —
SHI-HU, K'I, CHU-KEU, Middle Fu, HU-SHE, MANG-TSZ', K'I-CHUNG, MEI-YU, and
WU-KAO Mountains — The Fu-Tree (or FU-SANG) — North HAO, MAO, Eastern
SHI, NU-CHINO, K'IN, TSZ'-TUNG, YEN, and T'AI Mountains— The CHA Hill—
The Great Men's Country — SHE-PI'S body — The Country of Refined Gentlemen
— HUNG-HUNG — The Valley of the Manifestation of the Dawn — The Green Hills
Country — The journey of SHU-HAI — The Black-Teeth Country — The Warm
Springs Ravine — FU-SANG — The Place where the Ten Suns bathe — An ac
count of the Ten Suns — Yu-sm's concubine — The Black-Hip Country — The
Hairy People's Country — A boat upon the sea-shore — The Distressed Peo
ple's Country — K'EU-WANS — A great valley — SHAO-HAO — PI-MU-TI Hill — Place
where the Sun and Moon rise — The Great Men's Country — Giants and dwarfs
—The Great People's Market— The Little People— KUEH Mountain— The
Country of Plants — HOH-HU Mountain — The Mountain of the Eastern Pass —
The Mountain of the Bright Star— The White People's Country— The Green
Hills Country— The Nation of Courteous Vassals— The Black-Teeth Country-
Summer Island — The KAI-YU Country — CHEH-TAN and the Place of the Rising
of the Sun — YU-KWOH — Quaking Mountain — The Black-Hip Country — The
Needy Tribe — King HAI — NU-CHEU — YEH-YAO-KIUN-TI Mountain — The Fu-
tree — Warm Springs Valley — I-T'IEN-SU-MAN Mountain — The YIXG Dragon —
The Mountain of the Flowing Waves.

THE CLASSIC OF MOUNTAINS AND SEAS.

PEEFACE.

THE edition of the (book written by Confucius entitled)
" Spring and Autumn," which was edited by Ltf-SHi, says that
(the domain of the emperor) Yti (who reigned about 2205 B. c.)
reached on the east to the " Country of the Fu-tree," the nine
" Places where the Sun Rises," the " Green Shepherds' Plains," the

AN INGLOKIOUS COLUMBUS.

" Land of Numerous Trees," the " Mountain which Touches Heav
en," the " Valley of Birds," the " Region of the Green Mounds,"
and the " Black-Teeth Country."

THE CLASSIC OF MOUNTAINS AND SEAS.

FOUKTH BOOK.

The Classic of the Eastern Mountains.

1. The beginning of the " Classic of the Eastern Mountains "
says that SUH-CHU Mountain* on its northern side adjoins KAN-
MEI Mountain (or Sunless Mountain), f SHIH River (or " drinkable
water ") is found here, a stream that flows northeasterly into the
sea. In it there are many water animals called YUNG-TUNG.
These look like brindled cattle [i. e., they resemble cattle that
are striped like tigers]. Their voices sound like the grunting of
swine.

2. And it says that, three hundred II to the south, LEI Mount
ain (or the Mountain of Creeping Plants) is to be found. Upon
this there are gems and below it there is gold. Hu River is found
here, a stream that flows easterly into SHIH River. In this there
are many HWOH-SHI. [These are tadpoles ; the book entitled
the RH'-YA calls them HWOH-TUNG.]

3. And it says that, three hundred li to the south, KEU-CHWANG
Mountain (or Aspen Mountain) is to be found. Upon this there
are many gems and much gold, and below it many green jade-
stones. Wild animals are found there which look like dogs with
six legs. These are called TS'UNG-TS'UNG, the name being given
them in imitation of their cry. Birds are also found there which
look like domestic fowls, but which have hair like a rat. These
are called TSZ' rats. When they are seen, the country is subject

*The character translated "mountain," in this and other cases, may mean
"island" instead of "mountain." All islands are described as "hills" or
" mountains," under the terms SHAN and TAU. (See F. Porter Smith's " Vocab. of
Chin. Prop. Names," p. 66.)

f The words included in parentheses ( ) are possible variations in the transla-
tion, or additions necessary to complete the sense. Those included in brackets
[ ] are notes by the Chinese commentator, in the original work. The paragraphs
are not numbered in the original, numbers being used in the translation for con
venience of reference. Many of the following notes have little or no bearing on
the work ; but it was thought best to give everything that the translator could find
which could be of any possible aid.

CHINESE "CLASSIC OF MOUNTAINS AND SEAS." 645

to great drought. The CHI River is found here, a stream flowing
northerly into Hu River. In this there are many lancet-fish.
These are of a dark colour, spotted (or striped) with blue, and
have a bill like a lancet. [These were originally found in the
Eastern Sea,* and they are now found in the KIANG-TUNG f River
also.] Those who eat them are not subject to epidemic diseases.

4. And it says that, three hundred li to the south, PUH-T'SAN
Mountain is found. It has no grass or trees, and no water.

5. And it says that, three hundred li to the south, FAN-T'IAO
Mountain (or the Foreign Range) is to be found. It has no grass
or trees, but has much sand. The KIEN J (Diminishing) River is
found here, a stream flowing northerly into the sea. In this
there are many KAN fish. (The KAN fish is described as a fish
three feet long, that is found in the YANG-TSZ' River, having a
large mouth and yellowish gills, and a greenish back.) [One
authority names these " the yellow-jawed fish."]

6. And it says that, four hundred li to the south, KU-MAO
Mountain (or the Mountain of the Maiden) is found. Upon this
there are many lacquer-trees, and below it many mulberry-trees,
and silk-worm oaks. KU-MAO River is found here, a stream flow
ing northerly into the sea, in which there are many KAN fish.

7. And it says that, four hundred li to the south, KAO-SHI *
Mountain is to be found. Upon this there are many gems and
below it many sharp stones. [From these they are able to
make smooth lancets to cure boils and swellings.] CHU-SHING
River is found here, a stream flowing easterly into a marsh, and
in it there are many gems and much gold.

8. And it says that, three hundred li to the south, YOH || (Lofty)
Mountain is found. Upon this there are many mulberry-trees,

* The " Eastern Sea " is the sea off the southeast coast of China. (See " Yocab.
of Chin. Prop. Names," p. 58.)

f KIANG-TUXG is a term applied to the right bank of the river YANG-TSZ' in its
course through HU-PEH. This name is also applied to SU-CHAU. (" Yocab. of Chin.
Prop. Names," p. 20.)

\ There is a river in CHIH-LI bearing this name. (See Williams's Diet., p. 383.)

* KAO-SHI was the name of a man who usurped the kingdom of Corea, during
the HAN dynasty (between 202 B. c. and 25 A. D.), and named it after himself.
(" Vocab. of Chinese Prop. Names," p. 17.)

| This is a term applied to five mountains in China, the easternmost one being
the T'AI Mountain, in SHAN-TUNG, mentioned a little farther on. (See Williams's
Bict., p. 1117.)

646 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

and below it many ailantus-trees. LOH * River is found here, a
stream flowing easterly into a marsh, and in it there are many
gems and much gold.

9. And it says that, three hundred li to the south, Wolf Mount
ain is to be found. Upon this there is no grass and there are
no trees, and below it there is much water (or there are many
streams), in which there are many KAN-TSZ' fish. [These are not
fully described.] They have wild animals, which look like the
(quadrumana, called) KW'A-FU, but they have hair like that of
swine, and their voice is like an expiration of the breath. When
these are seen, then heaven sends down great rains.

10. And it says that, three hundred li to the south, Lone
Mountain is found. Upon this there are many gems and much
gold, and below it many beautiful stones. MOH-T'U (Muddy)
River is found here, a stream flowing southeasterly into a mighty
flood, in which there are many T'IAO-YUNG. These look like yel
low serpents with fish's fins. They go out and in. They are
bright (or smooth). When these are seen, then that region is
subject to great drought.

11. And it says that, three hundred li to the south, TCAI f
(Bald) Mountain is found. [Then the mountain was called the
Eastern YOH or T'AI-TSUNG, which is now called T'AI Mountain.
It is in the northwestern part of FUNG-KAO district, and the dis
tance from the foot of the mountain to its summit is forty-eight
li and three hundred paces.] Upon this there are many gems,
and below it there is much gold. Wild animals are found here
which look like sucking pigs, but they have pearls. They
are called TUNG-TUNG, their name being given them in imita
tion of their cry. The HWAN J River is found here, a stream
flowing easterly into a river (or into the river, i.e., the YANG-
TSZ' River ).* [One authority says that it flows into the sea.]
In this there are many water-gems (quartz crystals).

* This is the name of a river near the city of TSI-NAN in the north of SHAN
TUNG. (Williams's Diet., p. 554.)

f This is the high peak in T'AI-NGAN FU, in SHAN-TUNG. (See Williams's Diet.,
p. 848.)

t There is a district known as the HWAN district, among the mountains in
the east of KAN-SUH, on a branch of the River KING. (See Williams's Diet., p.
245.) There are several rivers in China named KING (Williams's Diet., p. 405),
and the " Vocab. of Chin. Prop. Names » (p. 22) states that the name is applied to
the YAXG-TSZ' River for a part of its length. « See Williams's Diet., p. 362.

CHINESE "CLASSIC OF MOUNTAINS AND SEAS." 647

12. And it says that, three hundred li to the south, Bamboo
Mountain is found, bordering on a river (or the river). [One
authority says that it is on the shore— or that it is at the bound
ary-line. ] There is no grass or trees, but there are many green-
jasper and green-jade stones. The Km * River (or water im
peded in its course by rocks) is found here, a stream flowing
southeasterly into TS'U-TAN River (or body of water). In this
(country) there is a great abundance of dye-plants.

13. The first section of the " Classic of the Eastern Mount
ains " thus gives the entire distance along the twelve mountains,
from SUH-CHU Mountain to Bamboo Mountain, as three thousand
six hundred li. Their gods all have human bodies and dragons'
heads. When they are offered a sacrifice of animals having hair,
a dog is used. In other sacrifices the blood of a fish is used to be
smear the things offered. [To use blood in besmearing the things
offered in sacrifice is called "NI." KUNG- YANG'S "Chronicles"
say that in offering sacrifices of creatures having flesh and blood,
to the god of the land, and of grain, they besmear with blood the
being that is sacrificed. The name of this species of sacrifice is
pronounced " NI."]

1. THE beginning of the second section of the " Eastern Clas
sic " says that KCUNG-SANG Mountain (or the Mountain of the
Empty Mulberry-Trees) on the northern side adjoins the Sum
River. [This mountain rises from the KIN-SEH Forest (the For
est of Lutes and Lyres) — see the book called " CHEU-LI."] On
the eastern side (it adjoins the states of) Tsii f and Wu ; \ on the
southern side a number of sandy mounds, and on the western side

* A country to the south of FU-NAN, whose people usurped the kingdom of
FU-NAN, was called the Km country. (See "Vocab. Chin. Prop. Names," p. 21.)

f Tsu is the name of an affluent of the YANG-TSZ' River, west of K'ING-CHAU
FU, in HU-PEH ; a branch of the river HAN, and the name of an ancient district
near their basins, now the extreme south of SHEN-SI in HAN-CHUNG FC ; also a
branch of the River WEI in Western SHEX-SI, which it joins near LIN-TUNG HIEN.
(Williams's Diet., p. 1009.)

\ AVu was the eastern of the " Three States," A. D. 250, comprising CHEH-KIANG,
and extending north and west. (Williams's Diet., p. 1060.) Wu, in Confucius's
time, included the north of CHEH-KIANG (IIu-CHAU, YEN-CHAU, and KIA-HING-CHAU)
Province, and the southern part of KIANG-SU. In the triarchy of the " Three
States "it included the SAN-KIANG Provinces, or 61 prefectures. The kingdom
of Wu was merged into that of the conquering state of YUEH in the same prov
inces. (" Vocab. of Chin. Prop. Names," p. 62.)

64:8 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

the MIN (or Muddy) Marsh. Here there are wild animals which
look like cattle, but which are striped like tigers. Their voices
resemble the sound of a person stretching and yawning. [Per
haps rather the sound of one moaning.] These* are named
LING-LING, and this name is an imitation of their cry. When
these are seen, then heaven sends down great rains.

2. And it says that, six hundred U to the south, TS'AO-CHI *
Mountain is found. Below this there are many paper-mulberry
trees, but there is no water (or river). There are many birds and
wild animals.

3. And it says that, four hundred U to the southwest, Ym-
KAO f Mountain is found. Upon this there are many gems and
much gold, and below it there is much white plaster-rock. The
YIH-KAO River is found here, a stream flowing easterly to the
KiH-NtrJ River. In this there are many clams with pearly
shells. [These are clams or mussels with pearly shells, as beauti
ful as gems, these pearly shells belonging to a species of mussel
called SHAN -PAN.]

4. And thence going to the south, five hundred U by water,
and three hundred U over shifting sands, * one end of the KOH
(or Bean) Mountains is reached. There is no grass and there are
no trees here, but there are many smooth whetstones.

5. And it says that, three hundred and eighty U to the south,
the other end of the Bean Mountains is found. There is no grass
and there are no trees here. The Li || River is found here, a
stream flowing easterly into the Ytf Marsh. In it there are
many CHU-PCIEH fish (or water-animals). These look like lungs,
but have eyes, and six feet, and they have pearls. They taste

* TS'AO was a small feudal state, conferred on a brother of WU-WANG, B. c.
1122 ; it had a separate existence under fifteen rulers, from B. c. 756 to 486, when
it was annexed by SUNG ; its capital was in the present TSAO-CHEU FU, in the south
west of SHAN-TUNG, along the Yellow River. (Williams's Diet., p. 955.)

f YIH is the name of a hill in TS'AO-HIEN in SHAN-TUNG, and of another in PEI-
HIEN, in the north of KIANG-SU. (Williams's Diet., p. 1094.)

\ The character Km used here means " water impeded in its course by rocks,"
and is used as the name of one of the rivers mentioned in the preceding section.
The character Nii used here means a woman.

* The term " shifting sand " is applied to quicksands, and in the " Book of
Records " is applied to the Gobi Desert. (Williams's Diet., p. 730.)

I The Li River is one of the affluents of the TUNG-TING Lake, which drains the
northwestern portion of HU-NAN. (Williams's Diet., p. 520.)

CHINESE "CLASSIC OF MOUNTAINS AND SEAS." 649

sour, but pleasant, and are eaten without producing sickness.
[They do not cause diseases at any time. LU-SHI'S edition of
the book of Confucius, called " Spring and Autumn," says that
the Li River contains fish called CHU-PIEH, which have six feet,
and which are beautiful as the " vermilion " fish.]

6. And it says that, three hundred and eighty li to the south,
YU-NGO Mountain (or an excessively high peak) is found. Upon
this there are many japonica- trees and JAN-trees, and below it
there is much prickly succory. The TSAH-YIJ River is found
here, a stream flowing easterly into the Yellow River. Here
there are wild beasts which look like rabbits, but which have a
crow's bill, an owl's eyes, and a serpent's tail. When they see
a man, they pretend to sleep. They are called CHIU-YU, this
sound being an imitation of their cry. When these are seen,
grasshoppers or locusts cause great destruction. [Grasshoppers
are a species of locusts. It says that they ruin the herbage.
Their name is pronounced CHUNG.]

7. And it says that, three hundred H to the south, TU-FTJ
Mountain is found. There is no grass and there are no trees
here, but there is much water (or there are many streams).

8. And it says that, three hundred li to the south, KANG *
Mountain is found. There is no grass and there are no trees
here, but there is much water, and there are many green- jade
stones (or there are many water-jade stones). [These are a spe
cies of water-gems — i. e., rock crystals.] There are many great
serpents, and there are also wild beasts which look like foxes, but
which have fish's fins. These are named CHU-JU, and derive
their name from their cry. When, these are seen, the country
has reason to fear disasters.

9. And it says that, three hundred li to the south, LU-K'I f
Mountain is found. There is no vegetation, and there are no trees,
but there are many stones and much sand. The Sand River is
found here, a stream flowing southerly into the CH'AN J River

* KANG was the name of the capital of the empire of the SHANG period, an
swering to the present P'ING-YANG FD (SHAN-SI). (" Vocab. of Chin. Prop. Names,"
p. 17.)

f A wild tribe that anciently occupied some parts of HU-PEH was called Lr.
(Williams's Diet., p. 554.)

J There is a river of this name in HAN-CHUNG FU in SHAN-SI, a branch of the
river HAN. (Williams's Diet., p. 21.)

650 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

(or into a limpid river). In this there are many LI pelicans ;
these look like ducks, but have men's legs. They derive their
name from their cry. When these are seen, then the country will
see great literary achievements. [These pelicans have long legs,
which somewhat resemble human shanks.]

10. And it says that, three hundred and eighty H to the south,
KU-SHE Mountain is found. There is no grass and there are no
trees there, but there is much water (or there are many streams).

11. And it says that, going to the south, three hundred li by
water and one hundred li over shifting sand, the Northern KU-
SHE Mountain is found. There is no grass and there are no
trees there, but there are many stones.

12. And it says that, three hundred li to the south, Southern
KU-SHE Mountain is found. There is no grass, and there are no
trees there, but there is much water (or there are many streams
there).

13. And it says that, three hundred li to the south, Green-
jade-stone Mountain is found. There is no grass here, but there
are many trees. Many great serpents are found here, and there
are also many green-jade stones and quartz crystals.

14. And it says that, five hundred li to the south, WET-SHI*
Mountain is found. There is no grass, and there are no trees
here, but there are many gems and much gold. YUEN f River
is found here, a stream flowing easterly into Sand Marsh (or
into a sandy marsh). [One authority states that the name of the
mountain is pronounced KIAH-SHI instead of WEI-SHI.]

15. And it says that, three hundred li to the south, KU-FUXG
Mountain is found. There is no grass, and there are no trees
here, but there are many gems and much gold. Wild beasts are
found here which look like foxes, but which have wings (or
fins). Their voice sounds like that of a wild goose, and they
are called PI-PI. When these are seen, then heaven sends down
a great drought.

16. And it says that, five hundred li to the south, Fu-LiJ

* WEI-TANG was the name during the middle period of the MING dynasty of the
province now called YANG-CHAU FU. (" Vocab. of Chin. Prop. Names," p. 61.)

f The term " Middle YUEN " at first denoted HO-NAN, but now means all China.
(Williams's Diet., p. 1133.)

\ A large department in the northwest of YUN-NAN, through which the YANG-
TSZ' River flows, is called the Li River District. (Williams's Diet., p. 524.)

CHINESE "CLASSIC OF MOUNTAINS AND SEAS." 651

Mountain is found. Upon this there are many gems and much
gold, and, below it, many lancet-stones. They have wild beasts
which look like foxes, but which have nine tails and nine heads,
and tigers' claws. They are called LUNG-CHIH. Their voice is
like that of an infant child, and they eat men.

IT. And it says that, five hundred li to the south, YIN Mount
ain is found. To the south the YIN River is to be seen, and to
the north the Hu * Marsh (or lakes and marshes). Here they
have wild beasts which look like horses, but they have sheep's
eyes, four horns, and cattle tails. Their voice is like the howl
of a dog, and they are called YIU-YIU. When these are seen, the
country will be visited by many crafty foreigners. They have
birds which look like ducks, but they have rats' tails, and can
climb trees. They are called CHIE-KEU. When these are seen,
the country will have much sickness.

18. The second section of the " Classic of the Eastern Mount
ains" thus gives the entire distance along the seventeen mount
ains, from K'UNG-SANG Mountain to YIN Mountain, as six thousand
six hundred and forty li. Their gods all have wild beasts' bodies,
but human faces. They bear the KOH f fish. [With a species of
stags' or deers' horns they catch (or hold) the KOH fishes.]
When they are offered a sacrifice of living beings having hair or
feathers, a fowl is used. When the people pray to them for off
spring, they retire to a screened place.

1. The beginning of the third section of the " Eastern Classic "
says that SHI-HU J Mountain on the north adjoins SIANG Mount
ain. Upon it there are many gems and much gold, and below
it there are many thorny plants. Here there are wild beasts
which look like elks, but which have fish eyes, and they are called
WAN-HU (or YUEN-HU), deriving their name from their cry.

2. And it says that, going to the south by water for eight
hundred li, K'i * Mountain is found (or a mountain with two

* HU-KWANG is the old designation of HU-PEH and HU-NAN. (" Vocab. of Chin.
Prop. Names," p. 12, and Williaras's Diet., p. 222.)

f For a description of the KOH fish, see p. 653.

\ The term Hu is applied to the Mongols, Huns, and other tribes of Central
Asia, and hence it is used for " foreign " or " Turkish." (Williams's Diet., p. 221.)

* There is a state of this name in the present FUNG-TSIANG FU, in the south
west of SHAN-SI, not far from the river WEI. (Williams's Diet., p. 345.)

652 Atf INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

peaks). Upon this there are many peach-trees and plum-trees.
There are also wild beasts and many tigers.

3. And it says that, going to the south by water for five hun
dred li, CHU-KEU Mountain is found. There are no trees or
grass here, but there are many stones, and much sand. The
distance around the mountain is one hundred li. There are
many MEI (or sleeping) fish here. [These MEI fish are of excel
lent flavour.]

4. And it says that, going to the south by water for seven
hundred li, Middle Fu Mountain is found. Here there are no
trees or grass, but there is much sand.

5. And it says that, going to the east by water for one thou
sand li, HU-SHE * Mountain is found. Here there are no trees or
grass, but there are many stones and much sand.

6. And it says that, going to the south by water for seven
hundred li, MANG-TSZ' (the Eldest Child) Mountain is found.
Here there are many trees ; japonicas and T'ONG trees, and also
many peach-trees and plum-trees. In the grass there are many
mushroom-rushes (or mushrooms and rushes, or KitiN rushes).
[These are not fully described. They are called KW'UN.] They
have wild beasts, and many elks or deers. The distance around
the mountain is one hundred li. Upon it there is a flowing
stream called PIH-YANG (or the River of Clear Jade-stone).
In this there are many sturgeons and mud-sturgeons. [These
mud-sturgeons are a species of eel. They resemble sturgeons,
but have a long body like an eel. One authority says that they
are a species of herring.]

7. And going to the south by water for five hundred li, and
over shifting sand for five hundred li, a mountain is reached
which is called K'I-CHUNG Mountain, the distance around which is
two hundred li. There is no grass and there are no trees here, but
there are great serpents, and upon the mountain there are many
precious stones. It has a body of water, the distance around
which is forty li, all bubbling up and running off.f [Now, to the

* The character Hu here used is the same as that used in the first paragraph
of this section in the name SHI-HU, and the character SHE is the same as that used
in the name KU-SHE.

f An affluent of the YANG-TSZ' River, in the north of HU-PEH, is named YUNG,
the character meaning " bubbling up and running off," and being the same that is
used here. (Williams's Diet., p. 1148.)

CHINESE "CLASSIC OF MOUNTAINS AND SEAS." 653

east of the Yellow River is the FAN * River, and in the YIN
(Dark) District it has the FUN f River's Spring (or source). In
this place the water rushes out, overflowing, bubbling up, and
running rapidly. It is deep, and it can not be restrained. This
is of the same class as the water above referred to.] This is
called SHAN-TSEH (or the Deep Marsh). In it there are great
tortoises. [They have beaks like the common tortoise, the tor
toise being a great turtle ; the shell has variegated marks, like
those of the precious tortoise-shell, but it is thinner.] Here there
are fish (or water-animals) which look like carp, but which have
six feet and a bird's tail. These are called KOH-KOH fish, deriv
ing this name from an imitation of their cry.

8. And it says that, going to the south by water for eight
hundred li, MEI-YU Mountain [or MIN-TSZ'] Mountain is reached.
Upon this there are many trees and much grass, and an abun
dance of gold and gems, and also much ocher. Here there are
wild beasts which look like little cattle, but which have horses'
tails, and which are called TSING-TSING, deriving their name from
an imitation of their cry.

9. And going to the south by water for five hundred liy and
over shifting sand for three hundred li, WU-KAO (or Not Lofty)
Mountain is reached. Here the Yiu (Young) Sea may be seen.
[This is now called the " Little Sea." HWAI-NAN-TZ' J says that
the great island of the Eastern Region is called the "Little Sea."]
To the east the Fu-tree may be seen [or FU-SANG]. There is
no grass and there are no trees here, and much wind is found
upon the mountain. The distance around it is a hundred li.

10. The third section of the " Eastern Classic " thus gives the
entire distance along the nine mountains, from SHI-HU Mountain
to WU-KAO Mountain, as six thousand eight hundred li. Their
gods all have human bodies and sheep's horns. When a sacrifice
is offered to them, a ram is used. They use millet for food.
When these gods are seen, then wind, rain, and floods cause ruin.

1. The beginning of the fourth section of the "Eastern
Classic " says that the Northern HAO Mountain slopes down to the

* The FAN River is the chief river of SHAN-SI, which joins the Yellow River
at LUNG-MAN. (Williams's Diet., p. 130.)

f FUN is the old name of a stream in PU-CHEU FU in the southwest of SHAN-SI,
whose headwaters spout up as a fountain. (Williams's Diet., p. 132.)

\ For note regarding HWAI-NAN-TZ', see page 47.

654 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

North Sea.* It has trees which look like aspens, but which have
red flowers. The fruit is like the jujube, but it has no pit. It
tastes sour, but delicious. It is eaten without causing any ill
results. The SHIH River (or drinkable water) is found here, a
stream that flows northeasterly into the sea. Here there are
wild animals which look like wolves, but which have red heads
and rats' eyes. Their voices sound like those of sucking pigs,
and they are called HIEH-TSF. They eat men. There are birds
here which look like domestic fowls, but they have white heads,
rats' legs, and tigers' claws. They are called KWEI [or K'I] birds,
and they eat men.

2. And it says that, three hundred U to the south, MAO
Mountain is found. Here there are no trees and no grass. The
TS'ANG-T'I River is found here, a stream flowing westerly into
the CHEN River (or into an extensive body of water). In this
there are many siu fish. [These are shrimps, or the eels in
dicated by the character TS'IU, and possibly the character siu
was then pronounced the same as TS'IU.] These look like the
carp, but have a larger head. Those who eat them have no
swellings.

3. And it says that, three hundred and twenty U to the south,
the Eastern SHI Mountain is found. Upon this there are many
green gems. Here there are trees which look like aspens, but
which have red veins. Their sap is like blood, and they have
no fruit. These are called K'I. They can break horses t>y its
use [i. e., by rubbing them with this sap, horses become tame
and gentle]. Clear River f is found here, a stream flowing north
easterly into the sea. In this there are many delicious cowries
and many cuttle-fish. These look like a goby, and have only one
head with ten bodies. They smell like sedge-grass or a jungle.
Those who eat them have no asthma. [It says that they cure
the disease which consists of a difficulty in breathing.]

4. And it says that, three hundred U to the southeast, Nir-
CHING Mountain is found. Upon this there are no trees, grass, or
stones. KAO (Rich, Fertilizing) River is found here, a stream
flowing westerly into LIH (Cauldron) River. In this there are

* The " North Sea " is a name given by the Chinese to the Gulf of PEH-CHIH-LI,
but usually assigned in foreign works to Lake Baikal, in Irkutsk. (" Vocab. of
Chin. Prop. Names," p. 39.)

f This is an old name of a stream in HU-NAN. (Williams's Diet., p. 1034.)

CHINESE "CLASSIC OF MOUNTAINS AND SEAS." 655

many thin fish which look like herring, but have only one eye.
Their voice sounds like vomiting [i. e., like the sound of a man
retching and vomiting]. When these are seen, then heaven sends
down a great drought.

5. And it says that, two hundred li to the southeast, the K'IN
(Imperial or Majestic) Mountain is found. Here there are many
gems and much gold, but no stones. The SHI River is found
here, a stream flowing northerly into KAO * marsh. In this there
are many eels and many beautiful cowrie-shells. Here there are
wild animals which look like sucking pigs, but which have tusks.
These are called TANG-K'ANG, deriving their name from their cry.
When these are seen, then heaven causes the earth to produce
much grain.

6. And it says that, two hundred li to the southeast, TSZ'-T'UNG
Mountain is found. TSZ'-TCUNG River is found here, a stream flow
ing westerly into Yii-jir Marsh. In this there are many HWAH f
fish. These look like fish, but have birds' wings. They go out
and in. They are bright. Their voices sound like those of
the YUEIST-YANG.! When these are seen, then heaven sends down
a great drought.

7. And it says that, two hundred li to the northeast, YEN
(Sharp-pointed) Mountain is found. Here there are many pre
cious stones and much gold. There are also wild beasts which
look like swine, but which have men's faces and yellow bodies,
but red tails. These are called HOH-YIT. Their voices sound
like that of an infant child. These wild animals eat men, and
eat vermin and serpents. When these are seen, then heaven
sends down great rains.

* The character KAO used here is not the same as that used in the name of the
KAO River, mentioned in the last paragraph, but is the same as that used in the
name of the WU-KAO Mountain, in the ninth paragraph of the third section of the
fourth book.

f HWAH, a reptile with four feet, found in marshes, resembling a snake, and
having wings, which feeds on fish. Probably the basilisk lizard. (Williams's
Diet., p. 242.)

\ The YUEN- YANG is an aquatic bird, frequenting ponds and marshes ; it is of
the size and form of the wild duck, but its beak, instead of being flat, is round ;
its red head is sprinkled with white, its tail is black, and the rest of its plumage
a fine purple ; its cry is exceedingly loud and mournful, not the song of a bird,
but a sort of deep, prolonged sigh, resembling the plaintive tones of a man under
suffering.1568

656 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

8. And it says that, two hundred li to the east, T'AI * (Im
mense) Mountain is found. Upon it there are many precious
stones and much gold, and there are also many wax-trees. [These
wax-trees do not shed their leaves in winter.] Here there are
wild animals which look like cattle, but which have a white head,
one eye, and a serpent's tail. They are called FEI. When they go
upon the water they dry it up, and when they go upon the grass
they kill it. When these are seen, then heaven sends down a
great pestilence. [It says that its body is full of a» poisonous
principle. The book called " K'I-KIN " says that it is a locust
or cricket called K'IUNG. Its body looks harmless, but it causes
the veins to wither and dry up, being more poisonous than the
CHAN.| All creatures fear it, and wish to keep at a great dis
tance from it.] The KEU River is found here, a stream flowing
northerly into the LAO J River. In this are many fish.

9. The fourth section of the "Eastern Classic" thus gives the
entire distance along the eight mountains, from HAO Mountain
to T'AI Mountain, as one thousand seven hundred and twenty li.

10. The above record of the " Classic of the Eastern Mount
ains" thus gives the distance along these forty-six mountains as
eighteen thousand eight hundred and sixty li.

THE NINTH BOOK OF THE CLASSIC OF MOUNTAINS AND SEAS.
THE CLASSIC OF THE KEGIONS BEYOND THE EASTEKN SEA.

In regard to the Regions beyond the Sea, from its Southeast
Corner to its Northeast Corner.

1. The CHA Hill. [Pronounced CHA or perhaps FAH.] It is
said that this country produces i gems, green horses, SHI-JUH,
common willows, delicious cherries, sweet flowers, and excellent
fruits. It is in the Eastern Sea, between two mountains. Upon
the hill there are lofty trees. One authority says that its name is

* This is not the same character as that used for the name of the T'AI Mountain
formerly mentioned.

f The Chinese describe the CHAN as a bird like the secretary-falcon, with a long
black neck and red bill ; it eats snakes, and is supposed to be so noxious that
fish die where it drinks, the grass around its nest withers, and its feathers steeped
in spirits make a virulent poison. (Williams's Diet., p. 18.)

\ The term LAO appears in the twelfth paragraph of the ninth book as the
name of the " Distressed " People's Country.

CHINESE "CLASSIC OF MOUNTAINS AND SEAS." 657

CHA-KIU, and one says that the Country of a Hundred Fruits lies
east of YAO'S* burial-place.

2. The Great Men's Country is north of this. Because the
nien are great they sit and seize passing boats. One authority
says that this country is north of CHA-KIU.

3. SHE-PI'S Body is north of this. [This is the name of a
god.] He has a wild animal's body and a man's face. He has
large ears, and for ear-ornaments has two green serpents [i. e.,
he has ear-ornaments like serpents strung in his ears]. One
authority says that KAN-YU'S Body lies north of the Great Men's
Country.

4. The Country of Refined Gentlemen lies north of this.
They have clothing, caps, sashes, and swords. They eat wild
beasts, and have two great tigers, one on each side. They are
very gentle, and do not quarrel. They have fragrant plants.
[Perhaps " clay " should be read instead of " fragrant plants."]
They have a flowering-plant which produces blossoms in the
morning which die in the evening. One authority says that it
is north of KAN-YU'S Body.

5. HUXG-HUNG lies north of this. They all have two heads.
[The name is pronounced the same as that of the character HUNG,
which means the rainbow.] One authority says that it is north
of the Country of Refined Gentlemen.

6. The god of the Valley of the Manifestation of the Dawn
(CHAO-YAXG) f is called TIEN-WU. He is the god of the water.
He dwells north of HUXG-HUXG, between two bodies of water.
When he appears as a wild animal he has eight heads with
human faces, eight legs, and eight tails, and is all green and yel
low. [The " Classic of the Great Eastern Waste " says he has
ten tails.]

7. The Green Hills Country is situated north of this. [The
people eat all kinds of grain, and have silken clothing.] Here
there are foxes with four legs and eight tails. One authority
says that it is situated north of the " Manifestation of the Dawn."
[KIH-KIUN'S " Bamboo Book " says that PCOH-SHU-TSZ' went on a
military expedition in the Eastern Sea for fully three years, and

* YAO was a celebrated sovereign, who is said to have reigned one hundred and
three years, from B. c. 2357 to B. c. 2255.

f CHAO-SIEN (the Brightness of the Dawn) is the Chinese official name of Corea.
(" Vocab. of Chin. Prop. Names," p. 3.)
42

658 AX INGLOKIOUS COLUMBUS.

found a fox with nine tails, which, perhaps, was a species of the
fox above described.]

8. The sovereign ordered SHU-HAI to walk from the farthest
limit of the East to the farthest limit of the West, five hundred
thousand and ten times ten thousand paces [SHU-HAI was a
dauntless traveler] and nine thousand eight hundred paces. SHU-
HAT grasped an abacus in his right hand and with his left hand
he pointed to the north of the Beautiful Green Hills. One
authority says that it was the emperor Yii * who commanded
SHU-HAI ; one says that the distance was five hundred thousand,
ten times ten thousand, nine thousand and eight hundred paces.
[The poem TS'ANG-SHAN-WU says that heaven and earth, from east
to west, are three hundred and thirty- three thousand li, and from
south to north, two hundred and one thousand five hundred li.
To inspect heaven and earth, go one hundred and fifty thousand
U.]

9. The Black-Teeth Country lies north of this. [The "His
tory of the Eastern Barbarians " f says that forty li J and more
east of Japan there is a country called the Naked People's Coun
try, and that southeast of this lies the Black-Teeth Country. A
ship can reach it by sailing for one year. The " Account of Strange
Things " says that the Western Butchers dye their teeth and
are like these people.] The people are black, and eat rice. They
also eat serpents, some red and some green. [One authority men- ,
tions only the green serpents.] It is very great. One authority
says that it is north of (the country of) SHU-HAI, and has peo
ple with black hands, who eat rice, and who use serpents, one ser
pent being red. Below it is the Warm Springs (T'ANG) * Ravine.
[In the ravine there is hot water.] Above Warm Springs Ra
vine is FU-SAXG [i. e., the FU-SANG tree, or the useful mulberry-

* The Great Yu reigned about twenty-two hundred years before the Christian
era. (See Summer's "Handbook of the Chin. Lang.," part i, p. 205.)

f By the " Eastern Barbarians " the Chinese mean either the Coreans *532 or
else the uncivilized races of Eastern Japan.1675

\ Here the character "thousand" has probably been changed to "ten" bqtween
" four " and " ft." The account that is given can not be applied to a country only
forty li (some thirteen miles) from Japan. Ma Twan-lin states that the distance
is four thousand li and that the direction is to the south. (See d'Hervey's " Eth
nography," p. 410.)

* There is a river named T'ANG in the southwest of CHIH-LI. (Williams's
Diet., p. 860.)

CHINESE "CLASSIC OF MOUNTAINS AND SEAS." 659

tree]. The place where the ten suns bathe lies north of the
Black-Teeth (Country). In the water there is a large tree having
nine suns in its lower branches and one sun in its upper branches.
[CHWANG-CHEU * says that formerly these ten suns rose all to
gether, and the grass and trees were burned and withered. HWAI-
NAN-TZ' says that (the emperor) YAOJ then commanded (the
prince) I to shoot nine of the ten suns, and the bird in the suns,
until dead. The " Dissipation of Sorrows " says in reference to it
that 1 1 brought the sun-bird * to an end, and that it dropped some
of its feathers, and that I took them home and kept them. The
CHING-MU Classic says that formerly this I shot skillfully, and
brought these ten suns to an end. KIH-KIUN'S " Bamboo Book "
says that when YIX-KIAH ascended the throne and dwelt at SI-HO
there were strange prodigies. Ten suns rose and shone together.
This is a wonder of nature, but there is proof of it. Tradition
says that there were ten suns in the sky, the number of suns being
ten. This account says that nine suns dwell in the lower branches
and one sun in the upper branches. The " Classic of the Great
Waste " says that when one sun sets, another sun rises and lights
heaven and earth, and, although there are ten suns, they rise alter
nately, and so revolve and shine ; but at the time referred to they
all rose together, and so heaven sent down supernatural calami
ties. Therefore I, having asked for YAO'S instructions, and thor
oughly understanding his heart's desire, looked up to heaven, and
pulled the bow-string, and nine suns retired and concealed them
selves. ... If we examine into this in a common-sense way we find
that it is not reasonable, but if we investigate the principles of des
tiny we find that nothing is impossible. You, who stand by and
see ought to try to comprehend this mystery. Those things which
relate to the mysterious and obscure are hard to understand, but
nevertheless they go on their course without obstruction.] Yu-

* CHTVANG-CHEC may possibly be CBHVANG-TSZ', one of the most eminent of the
Chinese writers of antiquity; he flourished about B. c. 368. (Summer's "Hand
book," part ii, p. 7.)

f YAO was a celebrated sovereign, said to have reigned B. c. 2357 to 2255.
(Williams's Diet., p. 1076.)

\ I, the prince of KIUNG, was a famous rebel in the Hi A dynasty, a mighty
archer, who drove T'AI-K'ANG beyond the Yellow River, about B. c. 2169, and kept
the power till his death. (Williams's Diet., p. 283.)

* Wild geese are sometimes called " sun-birds." (See Legge's " Sacred Books
of China," part i, p. 67.)

660 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

SHI'S Concubine dwells north of this. [Yu-sm is the same as
PCING-I, the God of Rain.] He, as a man, is black, and in each
of his hands he holds a serpent. In his left ear there is a green
serpent, and in his right ear a red serpent. One authority says
that he dwells north of (the country of) the Ten Suns, that as a
man he has a black body and a human face, and that each (hand)
holds a tortoise.

10. The Black-Hip Country lies north of this. [So called be
cause the people are all black below the waist.] These people
make clothing from fish or water-animals — [i. e., they make cloth
ing from the skins of fish — or water-animals]. They eat gulls.
[Gulls are water-birds. Their name is pronounced YIU.] They
use two birds, carrying them in their arms. One authority says
that this lies north of Yu-sm's Concubine.

11. The Hairy People's Country lies north of this, and has
people upon whose bodies hair grows. [At the present time, by
leaving the region of the LIN Sea, and going two thousand li to
the southeast, the place of residence of the Hairy People is found
upon the Great LOH Island.] Upon this island there are people
with short, small faces, and with their bodies entirely covered
with hair, like a hog or a moose. They live in caves, and have
no clothing or garments. [In the reign of the Ts'in dynasty in
the fourth year of the period distinguished by the appellation
YUNG-KIA (or "Perpetual Excellence" — i. e., in the year 310,
A.D.) an officer named TAI, having charge of the salt at Wu-
KIEN, found upon the sea-shore a boat containing men and
women, four people in all. These all looked alike and spoke a
language which was not intelligible. They were sent to the
prime-minister's palace, but before they had reached it they
all died on the way, except only one. The ruler gave him a
wife, who bore children to him. Going to and coming from
the market and wells, he advanced slowly in acquiring the lan
guage. His native place was the Hairy People's Country. The
" Classic of the Great Waste " says that the Hairy Tribe eat a
species of millet for food.] One authority says that this country
is north of the Black-Hip Country.

12. The Distressed (LAO *) People's Country lies north of this.
It has people who are black [and who for food eat the fruits of

* See the reference to the River LAO in the eighth paragraph of the fourth sec
tion of the fourth book.

CHINESE "CLASSIC OF MOUNTAINS AND SEAS," 661

trees and plants ; they have a bird with two heads]. Perhaps
the name should be read " the KIAO * People," instead of the Dis
tressed (or LAO) People. One authority says that it lies north
of the Hairy People, and has people having their face, eyes,
hands, and feet entirely black.

13. The KCEU-WANG of the Eastern Regions has a bird's
body,f and a human face, and he rides upon two dragons. [He
is the God of Wood, and has a square face, and wears plain ap
parel. MOH-TSZ' says that formerly, in the TS'IN dynasty, MUH-
KUNG was of illustrious virtue. The Supreme Ruler caused
K'EU-WANG to lengthen his life by nineteen years.]

THE CLASSIC OF MOUNTAINS AND SEAS.

FOURTEENTH BOOK.

The Classic of the Great Eastern Waste.

1. The Great Canon beyond the Eastern SeaJ [the poem
called TS'ANG-SHAN-WU says that in the east there is a stream flow
ing in a bottomless ravine. It is supposed to be this caiion. The
" Dissipation of Sorrows " calls it KIANG-SHANG'S Great Canon]
is SHAO-HAO'S Country. [The emperor SHAO-HAO, * of the
" Golden Heaven " family, gave it this designation.] SHAO-
HAO'S Descendant, the emperor CHWEN-SUH || [of whom no fur
ther description is given], left there his lute and lyre. [It says
that his lute and lyre are in this canon.] It has a beautiful
mountain, from which there flows a delightful spring, producing
a charming gulf. [The water accumulates and so forms a gulf.]

2. In the southeastern corner of the Great Eastern Waste
there is a mountain called the PI-MIT-TI Hill.

3. In the Great Waste beyond the Eastern Sea there is a
mountain which by hyperbole is called " the Place where the Sun
and Moon Rise." It has rolling valleys and mountains. This is

* The term KIAO sect is applied to the Mohammedans. (" Vocab. of Chin.
Prop. Names," p. 20.)

f The account of a being or beings with a bird's body and a human face may
have arisen from the fact that the Aleutian islanders im dressed in the skins
of birds.1118

| The " Eastern Sea " is the term applied to the sea off the southeast coast of
China. (" Vocab. of Chin. Prop. Names," p. 58.)

* Who reigned about 2500 B. c. (Summer's " Handbook," p. 205.)
I The successor of SHAO-HAO. (Williams' s Diet., p. 117.)

662 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

the Great Men's Country. [In the reign of the Ts'ix dynasty, in
the second year of the period distinguished by the designation
YUNG-KIA ("Perpetual Excellence," i. e., in 308 A. D.), there were
ducks collected in NGAO-PO, twenty li south of the district of
SHI-NGAN. A man by the name of CHEU-FU-CHANG picked up a
wooden arrow with an iron point, which was six feet * and a half
long. Reckoning from the length of the arrow, the shooter
must have been a rod f and five or six feet tall. The Coreans
say that formerly some people from the kingdom of Japan,
who encountered bad weather upon a voyage, were blown across
the "Great Sea,"J and beyond it they discovered a country
where the people were all a rod tall, and moreover, in their
form and appearance, they looked like Mongols. They were tall
savages of a foreign tribe. The arrow came from this coun
try. The WAI-CHWEN says that the shortest of the Scorched
Pigmy * People were only three feet high, and the tallest of
these did not exceed ten rods. In HO-TU'S "Album of Gems"
it is said that ninety thousand li north of the KWUN-LUN (Range
of Mountains) the LUNG-POH Country is found, where the peo
ple are thirty rods tall, and live for eighteen thousand years,
but they then die. East of the KWUN-LUN (Mountains) || TA-
TSIN A is found. The people are ten rods tall, and all wear plain
garments. Ten times «ten thousand li to the east the country of
the T'IAO People is found. They are thirty rods and five feet
tall. East of this, ten times ten thousand li, is the Central TSIN
Country, whose people are one rod tall. The KUH-LIANG His
tory says that the body of a tall savage, measured crosswise,
covered nine Chinese acres. When riding, his head and shoul
ders reached above the cross-bar of the chariot. This man must
therefore have been several rods tall. In the time of the Ts'm

* The Chinese " foot " is equal to about fourteen of our inches,
f Of ten Chinese " feet."

t The term " Great Sea " is loosely applied to the Pacific Ocean and the China
Sea. (" Vocab. of Chin. Prop. Names," p. 50.)

* The character YAO, here translated " Pigmy," is applied to a nation of Pig
mies said to be three feet in height, called YAO-TAO, found southwest of China ; the
Negritos or Papuans of New Guinea may be intended. (Williams's Diet., p.
1076.)

|| For an account of these Mountains, see Chapter XV of this book.
A The Roman Empire, or some portion of it. (Williams's Diet., p. 991 ;
" Vocab. of Chin. Prop. Names," p. 61.)

CHINESE "CLASSIC OF MOUNTAINS AND SEAS." 663

dynasty a giant was seen in LIN-T'AO * who was five rods tall,
and his foot-prints were six feet long. If the above accounts
can be considered to be true, then there is no limit to the height
of these tall men.] It has the Great Men's Market, which is
called " the Great Men's Mansion." [This is a mountain which
is so named because of its resemblance to a large mansion.
The Great Men collect near it at market-times, and hold a
market upon and about it.] It has a great man crouching upon
both of its sides. [Perhaps the character translated "crouch
ing " formerly meant " sitting erect." CHWANG-TSZ' f says that
he sat in HWUI-K'IAI.] It has a country of " Little People "
who are called the TSING People. [The poem called TS'ANG-
SHAN-WU says that the farthest region to the northeast is in
habited by people who are only nine inches high.] Its god has
a human face and a wild beast's body, and he is called LI-LING'S
Body.

4. There is also a mountain named KUEH, from which the
Aspen River flows.

5. There is also a Country of Plants, where millet is used for
food. [It says that millet grows in this country. The name of
the country is pronounced WEI.] They employ (or have) four
(species of)- birds (i. e., they have numerous varieties of birds) ;
also tigers, panthers, .brown bears, and grizzly bears.

6. In the Great Waste there is a mountain called HOII-HU.
It is the place where the sun and moon rise. It has CHUNG-
YUNG'S Country. TI-TSUN (or the emperor TSUN) begat CHUNG-
YUNG. The people of CHUNG-YUNG eat wild beasts and the fruits
of trees. [In this country there are red trees with dark wood,
which have delicious flowers and fruit. See Lu-sm's edition of
the work of Confucius called " Spring and Autumn."] They
use four birds (i. e., they have numerous species of birds), and
also panthers, tigers, brown bears, and grizzly bears.

7. There is also the Mountain of the Eastern Pass, and here
is the "Country of Refined Gentlemen." These people have
clothing, caps, sashes, and swords. [They have tigers and pan
thers, which are gentle and give way.] Here is the Country of
the Presiding Spirits. TI-TSUN begat YEN-LUNG, who begat the

* A former name of MIN-CHEU, in the north of SZ'-CH'UEN, where a great goat
nearly as large as a donkey is produced. (Williams's Diet., p. 869.)

f A famous philosopher of the CHEU dynasty. (Williams's Diet., p. 112.)

664: AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

Presiding Spirits. The Presiding Spirits have offspring, but the
pure-minded male has no wife, and the pure-minded female has no
husband. [It says that these people are pure in their thoughts,
and are not affected by passion, and do not mate, but that
they conceive children with -all purity, like white doves looking
steadfastly into each other's eyes, each being affected by the
purity of the other.] They eat millet and wild beasts, and have
numerous varieties of birds. Here is TA-O Mountain (or the
Mountain of the Great Ridge).

8. In the Great Waste there is a mountain named MING-SING
(or the Bright Star). It is the place where the sun and moon
rise.

9. There is also the White People's Country. TI-TSUN begat
TI-HUNG, who begat the White People. The White People have
no surnames. They eat millet, and have numerous varieties of
birds, as well as tigers, panthers, brown bears, and grizzly bears.
[And they have teams of yellow wild beasts, which they drive,
using them in order to reach a great age.]

10. There is also the Green Hills Country. Here there are
foxes with nine tails. [When they are very little disturbed they
come out (of their holes), and this is considered a good omen.]
It has the JEU-PUH * (or Courteous Vassal) Country. They live
in a country of luxuriant land. [It is luxuriant as if irrigated.
The name is pronounced YiNG.f] It has the country of Black
Teeth. [Their teeth are like lacquer.] TI-TSUN begat the Black
Teeth. [As the teachings and example of the sage do not reach
all regions, therefore in after ages his descendants differ in their
pursuits and outward appearance. Every one says that those
who are now living are his descendants ; but they surely can not
be posterity which he himself begat.] The KIANG J tribe eat
millet for food, and have numerous varieties of birds. Here is
also the HIA-CHEU * (Summer Island) Country. Here is also the

* JEU Country was an ancient principality on the coast of SHAN-TUNG. It is
said in the annals of the Eastern HAN to have belonged to LANG-TA ZIUN, the
present NI-CHAU FU.

f YINQ was the family surname of TSIN CHI HWANG-TI, derived from SHAO-
HAO, B. c. 2597. (Williams's Diet., p. 1107.)

\ KIANG was the surname of SHIN-NUNG. (Williams's Diet., p. 362.) SHIN-
NTTNG was an emperor who reigned about 2700 B. c., just before the Yellow Em
peror. (Summer's " Hand-book," i, p. 205.)

* The term Hi A is the name of the dynasty which reigned from B. c. 2205 to

CHINESE "CLASSIC OF MOUNTAINS AND SEAS." 665

KAI-YU * Country. It has a god with eight heads, with human
faces, a tiger's body, and ten tails. He is called TIEN-WIT. [He
is the God of the Water.]

11. In the Great Waste there is a mountain called KUH-LING-
YU-T'IEN. It is at the farthest limit of the east with Li and
MEU. [These are the names of three mountains.] At the place
where the sun and moon rise [there is a god] called CHEH-
TAN. In the Eastern Region he is called CHEH. The " coming
wind" is called CHAN. [It is not fully described where the
Place of the Coming Wind is situated.] He dwells at the
farthest limit of the east, and produces the eight winds. [It
says that this man is able to regulate the proper times for the
winds to come forth and return.]

12. In an island of the Eastern Sea there is a god with a hu
man face and a bird's body, having two yellow serpents for ear-or
naments. [These serpents are passed through his ears.] He treads
upon two yellow serpents, and is called YU-KWOH. HWANG-TI be
gat Yii-KWOH, and YU-KWOH begat YU-KING. [Y IT-KING is the
same as YU-KIANG.] YU-KING dwells in the North Sea, and Yu-
KWOH dwells in the Eastern Sea. They are sea-gods. [They
are each called the god of that particular sea over which they
rule. One original authority reads HAO instead of KWOH.]

13. There is also the CHAO-YAO (Quaking) Mountain, where
the YUNG (Melting) River flows. Here there is a country called
the Black-Hip Country. [From the hips down they are black like
lacquer.] They have millet for food, and have numerous varieties
of birds. Here is also the country of the KW'UN (Needy) Peo
ple, whose surname is KBIT, who eat (these birds). Some say that
King HAI held a bird in his two hands, and, when he had eaten its
head, King HAI sent it to YIU-I, HO-POH, and PUH-NIU [Ho-POH
and PUH-NIU are both names and surnames— see KIH-KIUN'S
" Bamboo Book "]. YIU-I slew King HAI, and captured PUH-NIU.
[The " Bamboo Book " says that HAI, the son of the emperor YIN,
went as a visitor to the house of YIU-I, and committed adultery
there. Therefore YIU-I'S sovereign, MIN-CH'AN, slew him, and

1706. The term " Cultivated Hi A " is still used for China, denoting the country, not
its government ; while Cnu-IIiA (all the HIAS) for the same has become obsolete.
(Williams's Diet., p. 184.)

* The character KAI is used in the name of KAI-P'ING HIEN, in SHIN-KING, a
district town in FUNG-TIEN FU. (" Vocab. of Chin. Prop. Names," p. 16.)

666 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

thus made an example of him. Therefore the Emperor YIN
KIEH-CHING borrowed troops of HO-POH, with which to punish
YIU-I, overthrow his country, and slay his sovereign MIN-CH'AN.]
Ho pitied YIU-I, and allowed him to leave the country secretly,
and go to a region of wild beasts ; and because he ate the wild
beasts, he was called a YAO man. [Yiu-i was originally a friend of
HO-POH, and a good scholar ; but because KIEH-CHING, who was
then the emperor of the YING Country, had a good and rightful
reason for borrowing troops to punish crime, HO-POH could not
do otherwise than help to overthrow his country. It was be
cause he pitied Y^IU-I that he allowed him to leave the country
secretly. After he had left he became a YAO man.] The sover
eign SHUN * begat Hi, and Hi begat the YAO (Quaking) People.
In the sea there are two people. [These are the people to whom
YIU-I went.] They are called NU-CHEU. [They are the same as
NU-CHEU'S Body. There is no certainty as to the time when, or
the kind of being into which, she (Nii-CHEu's Body) may be
metamorphosed ; for at one time she walks on water, and at
another time she vanishes into earth. There is no place which
she could not reach if she desired to reach it. We hear also
that the ways of the class of FAN-LIS are similar to those of
NU-CHEU'S Body.] NU-CHEU has great crabs. The breadth is
ten li.

14. In the Great Waste there is a mountain called YEH-YAO-
KIUN-TI. Upon it is the Fu-tree, having a trunk of three hun
dred li. Its leaves are like mustard. [It resembles a pillar rising
to a great height, and its leaves are like mustard-greens, f ] It
has a valley called the Warm Springs Valley. Above the Warm
Springs Valley is the Fu-tree [i. e., FU-SANG lies above]. When
one sun sets another sun rises. [It says that they alternate with
each other.] They all contain a bird. [In them there is a two-
footed bird.] Here there is a god with a human face, dogs' ears,
and a wild beast's body. For ear-ornaments he has two green
serpents. He is called SHE-PI'S Body. They have birds varie
gated with all colours. TI-TSUN condescended to be their friend.
Ti descended two high terraces (for worship) which were ruled
by the variegated birds. £ [It says that below the mountain were

* A monarch who reigned B. c. 2255 to 2205. (Williams's Diet., p. 784.)

\ Sinapis. (See Williaras's Diet., p. 360.)

% It is a custom in some Chinese monasteries to feed a bird with a few grains

CHINESE "CLASSIC OF MOUNTAINS AND SEAS." 667

SHUN'S two high terraces for worship, and that the variegated
birds ruled over them.]

15. And in the Great Waste there is a mountain called I-T'IEN-
SU-MAN.* It is the place where the sun and moon were born, and
here is the HUEN (a pipe, a musical instrument) People's Coun
try. Here is also the K'I (Dark Gray) Mountain, the YAO
(Quaking) Mountain, the TSANG Mountain, the MAN-HIT (or
Household) Mountain, the SHING (Fertile) Mountain, and the
TAI Mountain. Here there are variegated birds.

16. In the Eastern Waste there is a mountain called HOH-
MiNG-TsttN-TsiH. This is the place where the sun and moon rise.
There is also the KIH-YUNG Country, northeast beyond the sea.
They had three blue (or green) horses, and three horses that
were black with white spots, sweet flowers, YUEN-YIU, i gems,
three green (or blue) horses, and three black horses with white
spots like eyes on their flesh, sweet flowers, delicious cherries,
and numerous varieties of grain in this place. [It says that these
are produced spontaneously.]

17. There is also the country of NU-HWO-YUEH-MU, having
a man called YUEN. In the northern regions they say that YUEN,
who brings them the wind, is called YEN. [It is said that he has
these two names.] He dwelt at the extreme eastern corner, for the
sun and moon dwelt there. They did not have a uniform time
for rising and setting, and he controlled them as to whether the
time should be short or long. [It says that YUEN had the man
agement of the observations of the rising and setting of the sun
and moon. He did not let them run out of order, and he knew
the length of the days.]

18. In the northeast corner of the Great Waste there is a
mountain called HIUNG-LI-TI Hill. The YING Dragon dwells at
its extreme southern limit. [The YING Dragon is a dragon hav
ing wings.] He killed CH'I-YIU,! together with KWCA-FU [Cn'i-
YIU was a soldier]. He could not ascend again. [The YING
Dragon therefore dwells below the earth.] Formerly, when be
low, he was the occasion of dry weather [then it did not rain

of rice just before the morning meal has commenced.1262 Some such custom may
have given rise to this story.

* SU-MIN-TAH-LAH Txu is the island of Sumatra. (" Vocab. of Chin. Prop.
Names," p. 49.)

f CH'I-YIU lived B. c. 2637. (Williams's Diet., p. 63.)

668 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

above], but when the YING Dragon made his appearance there
was a very great rain. [The dragon that is in heaven now was
produced by the vapour ascending from the YING Dragon. This
is the work of the mysterious and obscure, and man is not capa
ble of accomplishing it.]

19. In the Eastern Sea is the Mountain (or Island) of the
Flowing Stream, seven thousand li distant in the sea. Upon
this there are wild beasts which look like cattle, with green (blue or
hoary) bodies, but they have no horns, and only one foot. When
they come out of or go into the water, then there is wind and
rain. They are bright like the sun and moon, and their voice is
like thunder. They are called KW'EI. The Yellow Emperor *
obtained them and made drums of their skins, beating them
with drum-sticks made from the bones of wild beasts. [The
Thunder-beast is the God of Thunder. He has a man's face and
a dragon's body. He drums his abdomen, beating it with drum
sticks.] The sound might be heard for five hundred li, terri
fying all beneath heaven.

* The Yellow Emperor is said to have ruled 2597 B. c. (Summer's " Hand
book," i, p. 205.)

CHAPTER XXXVI.

COMMENTS UPON THE "CLASSIC OF MOUNTAINS AND SEAS."

The oldest geography of the world — Article by M. Bazin, Sr. — Its divisions —
Groups of mountains — Taoists of the fourth century — The spirits governing
the earth — Extravagancies of the work — First mention of the book — The
Familiar Discourses of Confucius — Thought to be apocryphal or corrupted —
Tseu-hia — Sse-ma-ts'ien — Sse-raa-ching — Chao-shi — Wang-chong — Tso-sse —
The " Book of Waters " — Chang-hoa — Consideration of the western and south
ern kingdoms — Summaries of the geography of Tu-yu — Lo-pi — Kia-ching-shi
— Chen-pang — Tsu-tse-yu — The Encyclopaedia of Tu-yeu — Conclusion of M.
Bazin — The imperial academy of the Han-lin — The Shan Hai King read as a
romance or pastime — Particularly by young men — Opinions of commenta
tors — Notes — Gaps or omissions — The " Bamboo Books " — Length of the work
— No translation heretofore made — M. Burnouf's intention to translate it —
Change of opinion among scholars as to its value — Monsters mentioned by
other writers — Tacitus — Men clothed in skins — A river with eight mouths —
The compass — The T'ien Wu : Lord of the Water — Seals, sea-lions, and sea-
otters — The Islands of the Flowing Stream — Cuttle-fish — Birds with hairy
legs — Serpents as ear-ornaments — The Shan Hai King a compilation of a
number of distinct accounts — Regions mentioned twice or more — Description
of Japan — The genii who once ruled the earth — The state of civilization —
Tigers and bears — A poisonous insect — The Ravine of the Manifestation of
the Dawn — The Hairy People — Fu-sang and the Black-Teeth Country — The
Malay custom of blackening the teeth — The Philippine or Luzon Islands —
The banana or plantain (pisang) — The "ten suns."

THE SHAN HAI KING, or Chinese "Classic of Mountains and
Seas," extracts from which are translated in the last chapter, is
not only claimed to be the most ancient geographical work which
the Chinese possess, but is also thought by some to be the oldest
geography of the world.2155 It originally contained thirty-two
books or divisions, but in the fifth century A. D. they were re
duced to eighteen.2024

M. Bazin, Sr., in 1839, contributed an article to the "Journal
Asiatique " which contained translations of some fragments of

670 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

the work, and also gave an account of its history, and of the
views regarding it held by Chinese scholars.651 This article,
somewhat condensed, is copied below :

" The Shan Hal King, ( The Book of Mountains and Seas,'
contains a fabulous description of the world which is, by some
historians of the sect of the Taoists, attributed to the great Yu
and to Pe-y, ministers of the emperor Shun (2255 B. c.).

" This cosmography, founded upon a system peculiar to China,
and which has its origin in the religious traditions of the em
pire, is divided into eighteen books, which treat respectively of
the mountains to the south, to the west, to the north, to the
east, and of the central mountains ; of the regions beyond the
sea to the south, to the west, to the north, and to the east ; of
the regions on the nearer side of the sea to the south, to the
west, to the north, and to the east ; of the eastern, southern,
western, and northern portions of the great deserts ; and of the
islands of the sea.

" The authors of the cosmography hold that there are five
principal groups of mountains upon the earth, being the groups
of the south, west, north, east, and centre, respectively. From
each of these groups, as a common point, great ranges of mount
ains proceed toward the south, the west, the north, and the
east. All the rivers of the earth have their sources in these
mountain ranges, which, for the greater part, are covered with
the products of an extraordinary vegetation. Quadrupeds, birds,
reptiles, and fabulous monsters with a tiger's claws and a leop
ard's tail, appertaining to the three hundred and sixty varieties
of the Ifi-lin, to the three hundred and sixty varieties of the
Fong-hoang> of the dragon, or of the turtle, have their abode
upon these gigantic mountains.

" The probable origin of this systematic division is as fol
lows : In the fourth century of our era, the writers of the mod
ern sect of the Taoists, wishing to strike the imagination of the
multitude, or to impose upon the credulity of the simple, in or
der to obtain credence for the cosmography which they pub
lished, borrowed the great names of Yu and Pe-y. These writers
had neither any idea of the structure of the earth, nor any
knowledge of foreign lands ; but, as among all the mountains of
the Celestial Empire there are five which the Chinese geogra-

"CLASSIC OF MOUNTAINS AND SEAS." 671

phers since the days of the Cheu dynasty have placed in the
first rank, and have designated by distinct titles, the authors of
the Shan Hai King, in order to find a base or point of depart
ure, imagined five principal groups, or five great ranges of
mountains, to take the place of these five mountains which had
been consecrated by tradition, by religious ceremonies, and by
history.

" Whether this conjecture is accepted or rejected, it is none
the less true that the Shan Hai King does not present a positive
and credible cosmography, and that it should not be imagined
that it is possible to determine the situation of the places which
the authors, whoever they may have been, announce as existing.
The truth of this assertion can easily be seen by reading a few
extracts from it.

" The last thirteen chapters of the Shan Hai King contain a
description of foreign countries — that is to say, of the countries
inhabited by spirits and by some of the three hundred and sixty
varieties of the human race.

" The spirits which governed or dwelt upon the surface of
the earth in the days when the great Yu and Pe-y, ministers of
the emperor Shun, both laboured for the draining off of the
waters of the deluge (about the year 2255 B. c., according to the
chronology of the Tseu-chit'ong-kienoi Sse-ma-kuang), differed
from the spirits which lived under the reigns of Fu-hi, Hoang-
ti, Chao-hao, Chuen-hio, and Ti-ko. The spirits of the sun, the
moon, and the five planets, which are mentioned in the twelfth
book of the Shin-yi-tien (History of the Gods and of Prodigies),
are not referred to in the Shan Hai King, and its authors have
turned the spirits of the earth (ling-Jci) into monsters or fantas
tic animals, and on this account there is some temptation to
regard the description which they have transmitted to us as a
malicious parody, invented by a writer of but medium capacity,
to bring derision upon the beliefs of the Taoists.

" As extracts from the work will sufficiently demonstrate the
fact that the Shan Hai King does not present a true cosmogra
phy from which modern science could derive information, but
that it is instead merely a document which contributes to the
history of the errors and extravagancies of the human mind, I
will pass to the second part of my essay (which seems to me
more worthy of interest), and show what were the opinions of

672 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

the principal Chinese writers concerning the origin of this strange
book, its contestable authority, its presumed authors, and its
pretended antiquity.

" It is mentioned for the first time in the Kia-yu (Familiar
Discourses) of Confucius. This book is thought to be authentic
by the Taoist authors. If the testimony of a chronicler is to be
believed, it was found on the demolition of the house of Confu
cius, together with the Lun-yu (the Book of Exhortations), the
Hiao King (the Book of Filial Piety), a part of the dictionary
'Rh-ya, etc., and offered to the emperor Hiao-wu-ti by Kong
Ngan-kue, who was a descendant of the great philosopher. The
writers of the orthodox school rank the Kia-yu among the an
cient books which were interpolated, altered, or corrected by the
writers of the Han dynasty. Others, in greater number, regard
the Kia-yu as an apocryphal book. However it may be, the work
merits our attention, and, if it is admitted that it was composed
during the Han dynasty, or about the commencement of the
Christian era, it is still the most ancient work that mentions the
Shan Hai King.

" Tseu-hia, a disciple of Confucius, whose family name was
Po-yang, who wrote a commentary upon the Y King, expresses
himself in these terms in the Kia-yu :

" ' During the reign of the Shang dynasty (1783 to 1134 B. c.)
mention was made of a Book of the Mountains (Shan King)?

" Tseu-hia says again :

" ' In this book the east and the west are designated by the
term icei ; the south and the north by the term king?

" We can not fail to recognize the Shan Hai King in the
Shan King of which Tseu-hia speaks. The words wei (woof)
and king (warp) are terms of nomenclature, or of classification,
of which the real meaning is lost. They are found now among
the astronomical terms of the Chinese, the five planets being
called wei, and the twenty-eight constellations king.

" Ss6-ma-ts'ien, the most celebrated of the Chinese historians,
expresses himself thus in the Ss'e-ki:

"'The Book of the Mountains (Shan King] is attributed to
the great Yu ; but such extraordinary things are contained in
this book that I do not dare to speak of them.'

" I do not approve the position taken here by Sse-ma-ts'ien,
and I believe that the renown which he acquired as the founder

"CLASSIC OF MOUNTAINS AND SEAS." 673

of historical criticism in his country has caused his silence on
this subject to be the means of exciting indecision on the part
of later writers. Nevertheless, I hasten to say that his skepti
cism can hardly be considered as a fault, as the biographers of
this great man attest that he did not exhibit it until after long
and painful researches.

" In the seventh century of our era a Chinese historian called
Sse-ma-ching undertook to trace the history of the primitive
times, which was lacking in the Ss'e-ki of Sse-ma-ts'ien ; and, in
a general explanation of the book entitled Kuo-yen-nien-sse, the
following is found :

" * The great historian did not dare to speak of the Shan Hal
King, either good or evil. It is assuredly a book composed dur
ing the Ts'in dynasty. The facts that are reported are in part
credible and in part doubtful.'

" After Sse-ma-ts'ien comes Chao-shi (Chao-hoa), who lived
during the reign of the Han dynasty. In his commentary upon
the Chronicle of the Kingdoms of Wu and Yue, a work of
which the authority is very doubtful, he states that Yu, after
consulting the spirits of the mountains and the lakes, and ob
taining information from them as to the mountains and rivers
which contained gold and jade ; as to the birds, quadrupeds,
reptiles, and living creatures which were to be found there ; as
to the customs of the peoples of the eight divisions of the world ;
and, finally, as to the extent of the foreign kingdoms and coun
tries — ordered Y to note all these details, to add a commentary,
and to compose the book entitled the Shan Hai King.

" The complete account of Chao-shi abounds in errors. With
out speaking of its fabulous details, it contains anachronisms of
a kind which are never found in the better class of Chinese works.

" Wang-chong, who lived during the reign of Hiao-ho-ti, of
the Han dynasty, who ascended the throne in the year 89 A. D.,
in the work which contains his astronomical dissertations, makes
the following statement :

" * The great Yu received the order to labour for the drainage
of the waters ; Y was charged to write the history of extraordi
nary events. These two men visited all the provinces, ascended
the highest mountains, and visited the countries situated beyond
the seas, and, from all that they had seen and heard, they com
posed the Shan Hai King?
43

674 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

" A poet, who lived during the epoch of the San Km (221-
265 A.D.), and who has the reputation of being the ablest man
of his times known to historians, a man named Tso-sse, mentions
the Shan Hai King in a piece of verse entitled Wu-tu-fu (Verse
on the Five Capitals).

"Mention is made of it in the preface of a commentary on
the Shui King (Book of the Waters), a work composed during
the epoch of the San Kue. The author says :

" ' Formerly the great Yu composed the Shan Hai King.
He collected the material for this book in his long voyages.1

" Another commentary of the Shui King says :

" 'The Shan Hai King is a mutilated history ( Choang- Chi)',
but, nevertheless, the great Yu gave a description of foreign
countries.'

"Chang-hoa, who lived during the reign of the Ts'in dynasty
(265-420 A. D. ), in the preface to the Po-we-chi (Fabulous En
cyclopaedia), says :

" ' Two of the most ancient books still exist ; these are the
Herbal of Chin-nong (the Pen-ts'ao), and the Shan Hai King,
which several writers attribute to the great Yu.'

" In the ( Consideration (Lari) of the Western and Southern
Kingdoms,' a book published during the dynasty of the Later
Han (947-951 A. D.), the following passage occurs :

" ' The Book of Mountains contains a description of the world,
from the country where the sun rises to the place where it
sets.'

" Finally, in the summaries of the Geography of Tu-yu we
read :

" ' The twenty-eight constellations of heaven have long been
designated by special titles ; the mountains and the streams of
the earth long ago received special names. All these titles and
names are found abridged in the Yu Kong and the Shan Hai
King, monuments bequeathed by the men of ancient times to
the following generations ; but if it is desired to go deeper into
the matter, and learn the names of the kingdoms and cities more
in detail, the Chun-tsieu of Confucius should be read.'

" Without stopping to discuss a multitude of assertions, which
hardly seem worthy of the trouble, I come to the opinion of Lo-
pi, who in 1190 A. D. published a book called the IM-SSC, in which
he states that Y established a classification of living beings, dis-

"CLASSIC OF MOUNTAINS AND SEAS." 675

tinguishing those which were harmful from those which were of
use to mankind, and composed the Shan Hai King.

" Among more modern works we read in the Ku-yany-tsa-tsu
of Kia-ching-shi :

" ' All the operations of heaven and earth are mysterious and
incomprehensible, and withdraw themselves from the investiga
tion of men. This is why the Shan Hai King and the diction
ary 'JRh-ya are books which can not be comprehended.'

" In the collection of poems of Cheu-pang-yen, it is said :

" ' The Book of the Mountains is a book of which the origin
is not known ; the kingdom of Tsi is a kingdom which no one
has ever seen.'

" Finally, the book entitled Tsu-tse-yu mentions this work in
the following terms :

" * Heaven and earth are great ; what do they not contain ?
The Shan Hai King is full of doubtful statements, but who can
affirm that the assertions which seem doubtful to us are abso
lutely false ? '

" That which we think the best opinion is expressed in the
book entitled Tu-yeu T*ong-tien (the Encyclopedia of Tu-yeu), a
work which was first published under the T'ang dynasty. Tu-
yeu, whose opinion is universally received by the orthodox school,
expresses himself as follows :

" ' As to the Yu Pen-Id (the History of Yu), and the Shan
Hai King, I do not know under which dynasty they were com
posed. They contain statements which are strange and whimsi
cal, and directly in opposition to the facts reported in the classical
authorities known as the King. I suspect that these two works
were written, after Confucius had revised the Shi King and the
Shu King, by some man who loved the marvelous. It is pos
sible, however, that the Yu Pen-Id and the Shan Hai King ex
isted before the days of Confucius, and that the fables which
they contain were interpolated by writers of following genera
tions, such as those who composed the Ku-cheu-shu, the Chron
icle of the Kingdoms of Wu and Yue, the Yue-tsiuei and the
Chu-wei-shu*

" I do not think that it is necessary to go beyond the state
ment of the author of this encyclopaedia, to come to the conclusion
that the Shan Hai King is a fabulous book, of which the origin
is not really known, and for my part I declare this to be my

5Y6 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

opinion. When, one after another, I have questioned the Chi
nese writers of the sect of the Taoists, whose conjectures are so
vague and whose hypotheses are so confused ; when I have added
new testimony to that which I have reported — the most imposing
authority can not balance that of the imperial academy of the
Han-lin ; and the editors of the Ko-chang-tiao-li (the Code of
Competitive Public Examinations), in placing the Shan Hai
King upon the index, have proved that they are of the same
opinion as Tu-yeu. In spite of this, however, scholars always
read this book, but they are careful not to seriously quote the
traditions which it contains. They read it rather as a romance
is read, as an agreeable pastime, and because it is best to be
acquainted with all that has been written. 'The Shan Hal
King has almost always been studied,' says the author of a
work entitled Lieu-fong-tsa-tsu, ' and even now among the best
scholars there are many who read and study it, but who regard
it as a book in which the marvelous dominates.'

" It serves to stimulate the imagination of the youthful Chi
nese, who read this fabulous cosmography with avidity, and
hence phrases like the following are often found in prefaces :

" ' In my youth, I read the Shan Hai King, and I remember
that the monstrous animals of which it speaks nearly all had
whimsical names.' (Kuei-yeu-Jcuang-shi.)

' When I was young, I loved to copy books, and I twice
transcribed the dictionary 'Rh-ya, the Shan Hai King, and the
JPen-ts'ao.' (Preface of the book entitled Nan-sse-wang-yun-
chuen.)

" After having brought together all that I could, but perhaps
in too narrow a circle of Chinese erudition, as to the opinions
which the writers of the Celestial Empire have expressed concern
ing the Shan Hai King, I will now briefly examine the opinions
of the commentators.

These, Kuo-p'o, Jin Chin-ngan, etc., generally reproduce the
opinions of the original writers. They sometimes add notes ; but
these notes, although instructive to the Chinese, have no interest
for us. The famous philosopher Lie-tseu, he who lived forty
years in a desert, attributes the editing of the Shan Hai King
to Meng-kien. He says : < The great Yu discovered (the mount
ains and the seas) in his voyages ; Pe-y remembered (that which
the holy man had described), and gave them their names. Meng-

"CLASSIC OF MOUNTAINS AND SEAS." 677

kien understood (the narration of the voyages from, the mouth
of Pe-y) and consigned it to writing.' Other commentators con
fine themselves to a citation of the extraordinary facts mentioned
in the book. Some pass in review the foreign nations that live
beyond the seas. They insist particularly upon the divisions of
the book and upon the terms of nomenclature. They almost all
differ from one another as to the number of chapters which it had
during such or such a dynasty. Kuo-p'o states that in the days
of the Ts'in dynasty each chapter was followed by a summary in
which everything of interest contained in it was recapitulated.
A fact worthy of notice is that there were formerly gaps or
omissions at the beginning and end of the book, and that under
the Lesser Tsi dynasty (479-502 A. D.) a scholar called Kiang-
yen wished to add a supplement, just as Li-shi, under the Ts'in
dynasty, added a supplement to the Po-we-chi. The commenta
tors have not submitted the geographical names of foreign coun
tries to judicious criticism, but they endeavour to prove that such
a mountain of the Shan Hai King corresponds to such another
of the Yu Kong. Finally, two commentators place this book
among the Chu-shu, or the * Books written upon Bamboo Tab
lets,' and found in the tombs the first year Tai-shi of the reign
of Wu-ti of the Ts'in dynasty (265 A. D.). The Chu-shu are evi
dently apocryphal books, and nothing could more enfeeble the
authority of the Shan Hai King than this assertion of the two
commentators.

" The book contains over thirty thousand characters in the
text, and over twenty thousand are found in the commentaries,
which is a great number for a book containing such extrava
gancies, and which does not merit deep study in a country like
China, in which the amount of true geographical knowledge is
far from despicable."

It will be seen from the foregoing remarks of M. Bazin that
he considers the work to be unworthy of serious attention ; and
founds this belief largely upon its stories of the existence of
fantastic monsters. There is reason to believe, however, that
the accounts of these monsters are partly interpolations by the
Taoists, who have attempted to bolster up their belief in the
existence of innumerable spirits, which animate the works of
Nature, by incorporating descriptions of these " supernatural be-

678 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

ings " with the accounts of foreign lands, and are partly crude
and unscientific or poetical descriptions of existing beings.

For some reason (perhaps because of M. Bazin's belief that
the work was unworthy of serious study) no translation of it
into any European language has been made. M. fimile Burnouf
has recently published a few short extracts from it, however,
and has announced his intention of translating the entire work.
The editor of the " Proceedings of the Provincial Congress of
French Orientalists " makes the following comments upon this
announcement ;

"This book has been treated with too little attention by
Orientalists ; but their opinions in regard to it are now daily
being changed. Bazin saw nothing in it but a tissue of absurd
legends-; but the opinion of this Sinologue was based merely
upon the grotesque pictures which ornament the popular editions
of this book. A more careful examination of the original text
of the Shan Hai King demonstrates, beyond question, that this
' Sacred Book of Geography ' contains not only fabulous tales,
such as might be expected in a work of such great antiquity, but
also precise scientific statements from which the scholarly world
can obtain much knowledge of the archaic period of the Chinese
monarchy."

The strange monsters of the Shan Hai King are not more
absurd and grotesque than many that are mentioned in other
early histories. Tacitus, for instance, concludes his "Germa-
nia " with a reference to the story that the Oxiones have the
head and face of a man, and the body and limbs of a beast.
Zeus has ingeniously explained that these animals with human
faces could have been nothing else than men clothed in
skins.2452

In the Japanese traditions, mention is made of a terrible ser
pent having eight heads and eight tails, called " the eight-headed
serpent." The same monster is described in the Shan Hai King,
and we should be at a loss to know what was meant if the Ja
panese commentators did not explain that this is the name of a
rapid river having eight mouths.1669

It is stated that a Japanese army was guided in its march by
a " crow with eight feet." The Chinese divide their compass
by eight points— the four cardinal points and the intermediate
points ; and it is therefore probable that the " crow with eight

"CLASSIC OF MOUNTAINS AND SEAS." 679

feet " was the name given to the compass by which Zin mu
was guided in his expedition.1670

It does not seem impossible that the same explanation may
account for the story of the TIEX wu, the " Lord of the Water,"
having eight heads, eight tails, and eight legs.

The animals, which are variously described as resembling
striped cattle ; cattle with blue bodies, no horns, and one foot ;
dogs with six legs ; foxes with fishes' fins, and swine with men's
faces, are probably seals, sea-lions, sea-otters, and other phoca-
ceans. The Chinese describe their voices as resembling the grunt
of a hog ; that of a person stretching and yawning, or rather
moaning; that of an infant; the cry of a wild goose, or an expira
tion of the breath. Pinart says that the otter, when attacked,
utters heart-rending cries, which almost resemble the groans of
a human being ; 2047 and the 4£ History of Kamtchatka " says that
the cry of the old sea-calves resembles that of a person endeavour
ing to vomit, and the young ones cry like a person in pain.1639

Seals may be said to look like a dog with six legs, for the
fore-flippers may be counted as two legs, and the hind-flippers,
held out straight behind, look as the legs of a dog would look
who dragged an extra pair behind those with which his race are
furnished. Other describers might fancy the sea-lions to be like
cattle with one foot. In this case the fore-flippers would be con
sidered as "fins," and the hind-flippers, fastened together and ex
tended behind, would be regarded as one member.

In the last paragragh of our extract from the Shan Hai King
mention is made of an animal found in the " Islands of the
Flowing Stream," situated in the sea at a distance of seven thou
sand li. The "flowing stream" may be the gulf -stream of the
Pacific, the Kuro Siwo ; and the islands are probably either the
Kurile or the Aleutian Islands. The animals found upon them
are said to look like cattle with blue bodies, but no horns, hav
ing one foot, and coming out of and going into the water. This
description should be compared with that given by Klaproth of
the sea-otters : 166° " The largest are about ten feet long, and are
of a purple colour. Although the Chinese call them sea-cattle,
they have no horns."

We should hardly know what to make of the description of
the fish with one head and ten bodies if it were not stated that
the cuttle-fish is meant ; and the account of a fish that looks

680 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

like a lung, but which has eyes and six feet, is probably another
attempt to describe the same creature.

The animal like a rabbit, with a crow's bill, owl eyes, and
serpent's tail, is probably some species of large lizard ; the bird
with two heads may be the horn-bill, or some species of swan
with a large tubercle at the base of the bill ; and the fox with
eight or nine tails may have been the beaver. The bird with
rats' hair or rats' legs is mentioned by Hue as follows :

" We remarked in Tartary another species of migratory bird
about the size of a quail ; its legs, instead of feathers, are covered
with a sort of long, rough hair, like that of the musk-deer." 1569

The wearing of serpents in the ears, as ear-rings, has probably
been a custom of more than one savage tribe. Purchas describes
its existence in America in these words : " In each eare com
monly they haue three great holes, whereat they hang chaines,
bracelets, or copper ; some weare in those holes a small snake,
coloured greene and yellow, neare halfe a yard long, which,
crawling about his neck, offereth to kisse his lippes."2107

It should be noted that the Shan Hai King seems to be a
compilation of a number of distinct accounts of the countries
which are described. Thus the first, second, and fourth sections
of the fourth book all begin with a description of the country
near the SHIH River. The ninth and fourteenth books both give
accounts of the Great Men's Country ; of the Land of Refined
Gentlemen ; of the Land of People with Black Hips ; of the Dis
tressed People's Country, and the Green Hills Country ; while
the description in the ninth book of the CHA Hill is in the four
teenth book applied to a country called KIN-YUNG.

It is probable that a scholar thoroughly versed in Chinese
geography could, with the aid of a native student, identify most
of the eastern mountains (or islands) and countries that are
described.

The statements regarding the mountain or island of the
"Eastern Pass," the Land of Refined Gentlemen, and the Coun
try of the Presiding Spirits, evidently refer to Japan. See pp.
663 and 664, and compare the statement on the last-named page
with the traditions current in Japan, as to the seven successive
genii who ruled the earth before men were placed upon it. Of
these the first three were self -en gendered, and were masculine.
The fourth celestial spirit had a female companion, and since

"CLASSIC OF MOUNTAINS AND SEAS." 681

that time there have been males and females. These two, how
ever, were not husband and wife, in the gross, earthly sense, and
they and the three following pairs of genii followed the laws of
heaven and earth,1668 and produced offspring in all purity, con
ception taking place only by a sort of contemplation of each
other on the part of each couple, by supernatural means which
the degradation of mankind prevents them from comprehend
ing.21"8 The statement, that they have clothing, caps, sashes,
and swords, shows that they had attained a state of civilization
greater than that of the nations north and south of them, and
approximating that of the Chinese. Even to this day the Japan
ese are noted among the neighbouring nations for their custom
of wearing swords or sabers.1371

The gentle tigers that slink away at the sight of a human
being may be now exterminated, but tigers' skins are among the
articles which were formerly exported from Jesso,1662 and bears
are still found in the forests of the country.1661 Tigers and leop
ards were also once found in Corea.1655 The poisonous locust,
mentioned in the eighth paragraph of the fourth section of the
fourth book (see page 656), is probably the insect referred to in
the traditions of Japan, which assert that, when the land was first
settled, the province of Fiouga, near that of Satsuma, was infested
by flying insects, two inches in length, named tsu-su-ga, of which
the bite was mortal, but that as the country was cleared up and
cultivated the insects disappeared.1665

CHAO-YANG (The Ravine of the Manifestation of the Dawn)
is probably Corea, which is now known as CHAO-SIEN (The Bright
ness of the Dawn). The " Hairy People " are unquestionably
the Ainos of Jesso and Northern Japan, whose hairiness has
attracted the attention of all travelers in that region.

The best clew to the location of the land of Fu-sang, or of
the Fu-tree, that is mentioned in the Shan Hai King, is found in
the fact that it is nearly always mentioned in connection with
the Black-Teeth Country, and that it is said to adjoin that land
on the north. This Black-Teeth Country must have been some
region inhabited by the Malays, whose practice it is to file and
blacken their teeth. The custom, as it exists in Sumatra, is thus
described by Marsden :

" Both sexes have the extraordinary custom of filing and
otherwise disfiguring their teeth, which are naturally very white

682 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

and beautiful. Many, particularly the women of the Lampong
Country, have their teeth rubbed down quite even with the
gums ; others have them formed in points ; and some file off no
more than the outer coat and extremities, in order that they may
the better receive and retain the jetty blackness with which they
almost universally adorn them." 182°

This fashion exists throughout the Indian Archipelago and as
far to the northeast as the Philippine or Luzon Islands.1823 It is
therefore in these islands, or in their neighbourhood, that we
must look for the Fu-sang of the Chinese " Classic of Mountains
and Seas." These islands were probably known to the Chinese
before they discovered the much nearer island of Formosa, as
they lay in the direct course of the monsoons, and afforded some
of those commodities of their peculiar luxury, in quest of which
they made still more distant voyages to the islands farther
west.1144 The banana or plantain (Musa paradisiaca, L.) 1821 is
known to the Malays by the name pisang,™ and, as it is the
most valuable and remarkable tree or plant found in that region,
it seems that this must have been the plant which first gave to
the Chinese the name Fu-sang. The description of its fruit that
is given in the Shin I King (see Chapter XV, p. 250), where it
is said to be three feet and five inches long, adds to the likelihood
that this is the plant that was meant, as the "hand," or bunch, is
about three feet in length, and the individual fruits about five
inches. The description of the leaves, as being ten feet long and
six or seven broad, is also in fair accordance with this view.

There seems a possibility that the apparently absurd story of
the "ten suns" may assist in determining the true location of the
land ; for if we consider that the word " branches " is used by
the Chinese to designate divisions of time, it will appear that the
statement, that nine suns are contained in the lower branches and
one sun in the upper branches, may have been an archaic or
poetical way of saying that nine tenths of the time the sun, when
it crossed the meridian, was south of the zenith, and one tenth
of the time it crossed to the north ; a statement which would
indicate that the land lay in about 20° north latitude.

I therefore believe that the Chinese had, before the Christian
era, some knowledge of the Philippine Islands, and of the pisang
or banana tree found upon them, and that this was the source of
their first legends regarding Fu-sang, and the fu-sang tree.

UNIVERSITY
OF

"CLASSIC OF MOUNTAINS AND SEAS." 683

When Hwui Shan returned from Mexico, the name " MS-shi-co "
was thought to sufficiently resemble the appellation Fu-sang-
kwoh (i. e., Fu-sang country) to indicate that the land was the
one referred to in their old legends ; and the facts that both
countries lay to the east, or to the south of east, and that both
derived their names from a remarkable plant or tree, were thought
to make it certain that the country which he had visited was the
one mentioned in their traditions. After his days the two coun
tries were therefore assumed to be one and the same, and Hwui
Shan's description of the agave was mixed and confused with the
earlier accounts of the plantain.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

[RECAPITULATION.

Summary of reasons for thinking that Hwui Shfin visited Mexico — The command
of Buddha — The ease of the journey — The " silk " and mirror brought back
by him — The belief of his contemporaries — Fu-sang must have been in Japan
or America, and was not in Japan — Hwui Sh&n's story paralleled with ac
counts of the countries by other authors — The Country of Marked Bodies —
Great Han — Fu-sang — The Country of Women — Summary of facts mentioned
by Hwui Shan — The transparent mirror could not have been obtained else
where than in Mexico — The Mexican tradition of Hwui ShSn's visit — Coinci
dences between Asiatic and American civilizations — Pyramids — Architect
ure — Arts — Religious structures — Religious customs and beliefs — Idols —
Marriage ceremonies — Dress — Food — Books — Games — The working of metals
— Suspension-bridges — The calendar — Civilized nations of America all upon
the Pacific coast — Allowances to be made — Errors of first explorers — Hwui
ShSn not a Chinaman — Errors of manuscripts — Changes in language —
Changes in customs — Our imperfect knowledge of Mexican civilization — The
argument stronger than its weakest parts — Conclusion.

HAVING, in the foregoing pages, given in extenso the reasons
for believing that Hwui Shan visited Mexico, this work will be
concluded with a brief summary of the grounds upon which this
belief is based, as their united weight, when all are brought
together, will be found much more convincing than any argu
ment founded upon only one or a few of the points that have
been presented.

The command of Buddha to his disciples, to preach his doc
trine to all men without exception, constituted a reasonable mo
tive for the journey. His disciples penetrated all parts of Asia,
and probably reached Europe also, and in their wanderings made
many journeys nearly or quite as long, difficult, and hazardous
as the voyage from Asia to America. If, therefore, there was a
practicable route from Asia to America, it is not improbable per
se that some of these devotees should have found and followed it.

RECAPITULATION. 685

ii.

The route via China, Corea, Japan, the island of Saghalien,
the Kurile and the Aleutian Islands to Alaska, and thence down
the American coast, is a practicable route for one man or a small
party of men to take it* an open row-boat or small sail-boat.
There is but one place at which the voyager would be out of
sight of land, and then only for a few hours. Furthermore, each
step of the journey is well known to the natives, so that an ar
dent missionary, determined to carry his doctrines to the utmost
limits of the earth, would merely have to press on from one
island to another — being told in each of another island lying
farther to the east — to ultimately find himself in America.

in.

Hwui Shan had evidently visited some unknown eastern
land. The so-called " silk," which differed from any that the
Chinese had ever seen, and the wonderful mirror which he
brought back with him, sufficiently prove this fact.

IV.

- In addition to this tangible proof, the fact that he succeeded
in inspiring all whom he met with confidence in his story is a
reasonable ground for the belief that he was honest in his ac
count, and told the truth in regard to his journey. No impostor
who pretended that he came from an unknown foreign land has
ever escaped detection, and even most explorers who are now
known to have been honest in their statements were derided by
those to whom their tale was first told. Moreover, the nature of
his story is such that no one can read it carefully without a con
viction of its truth. When properly translated, it contains noth
ing marvelous or unnatural, and the internal evidence of truth- '
fulness is such that very few have ever adopted the theory that
his account is but a figment of the imagination.

The only eastern countries which it has ever been thought
possible to identify with Hwui Shan's land of Fu-sang are Japan
and America ; but that the country could not have been Japan
is shown by the facts presented in Chapter XXXIV. No other

686

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

hypothesis is therefore left to us than that Fu-sang must be
sought in America.

VI.

Hwui Shan's story gives a faithful and accurate account of
the Aleutian Islands, of Alaska, and of Mexico ; and it is still
possible to prove that nearly every one of his statements was
true. This can be shown most succinctly and convincingly by
giving his account in one column, and in a parallel column pre
senting statements of well-known facts, and extracts from vari
ous authors who have described the lands in question. In the
following columns, quotations are distinguished by being printed
in italics, and the references will, as in other cases, be found in
the Appendix :

The country of " Marked
Bodies " is situated seven thou
sand li (about 2,300 miles) and
more to the northeast of the
country of Japan.

Its people have marks upon
•their bodies like wild beasts.

• In front (or upon their fore
heads) they have three marks.

If the marks are large and
straight, they indicate that those
who have them are of the high
er classes ; but if they are small

The Aleutian Islands are sit
uated about two thousand miles
northeasterly from Japan.

Tattooing was very custom
ary in former times in the Aleu
tian Islands.1698

Pigments of various dye are
applied (to the skin of the peo
ple), both painted outwardly
and pricked into the shin.m

The women have on their
chin a vertical line about half
an inch broad in the center, ex
tending from the lip, with a
parallel but narrower one on
either side of it, a little apart™
On Behring's Isle, men qs well
as women tattoo. Many men
have the face tattooed.™

At Point Barrow some of
the women had two vertical
lines protruding from either
angle of the mouth, which is a

RECAPITULATION.

687

and crooked, then their possess
ors are of the lower classes.

The people of the land are
of a nierry nature, and they re
joice when they have an abund
ance, even of articles that are
of little value.

Traveling visitors do not
prepare food for their journeys,
and they have the shelter of
their (the inhabitants') dwell
ings.

They have no fortifications
or walled cities.

The residence of the king
(or kings) of the country is
adorned with gold and silver,
and precious and beautiful ob
jects about the dwelling.

mark of their high position
in the tribe.™

Originally the Aleutian
tribes were active and sprightly,
fond of dances and festivals™*
Whole villages entertained other
villages, receiving the guests with
songs and dances. If a whale
was cast ashore, the natives as
sembled with joyous and remark
able ceremonies.1151

They meet every stranger
at the landing-place. If the
stranger has a relative or inti
mate friend, he goes to him.
If not, no one will invite him,
but all are ready to receive him.
He can choose his quarters him
self. There he is entertained in
the best manner. TJiey never
think of asking their guest for
anything, but let him stay as
long as he may ; they even pro
vide him with food of every
kind when he departs.1151

It is a well-known fact that
the Aleutians have no fortifica
tions or walled cities.

In the Aleutian Islands,
every island, and, in the larger
islands, every village, has its
toy on or chief. no '

Among the Haidah Indi
ans, carved posts or pillars are
raised in front of the houses
of the chiefs or principal men.
Some of the best ones cost sev
eral thousand dollars ; conse
quently only the most wealthy
individuals of the tribe are able

688

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

They make a ditch of a
breadth of one rod, which is
filled with "water -silver."
When it rains, then the rain
flows upon the surface of the
"water-silver."

In their traffic they use pre
cious gems (or valuables-, as the
standard of value, instead of
gold or silver).

" Great Han " is situated
five thousand li (some sixteen
hundred miles) or more east of
the country of " Marked Bod
ies."

to purchase the best specimens.
Tfie Sitka tribes have this style
of carved posts.™'

The term " water-silver " is
a good descriptive term for ice.
The country is intolerably rainy,
and the rain, which accumulates
in ditches or hollo w places, must
often be frozen into thick ice,
having the transparency of wa
ter and the purity and glitter
ing hardness of silver.

No money was current in
the country. The custom of
bartering existing among the
Aleuts was of great age.170? Am
ber formed an important article
of commerce with the natives,106
and extraordinary value was set
upon it, a single bead repre
senting in value a good many
sea-otter skins.1174

Alaska is situated some fif
teen hundred miles easterly of
the most westerly of the Aleu
tian Islands. The name Alaska
is derived from a root meaning
a great country or continent.1™
The Chmese character Han is
composed of two parts, mean
ing respectively "water" and
" hardship." It is applied to a
river noted for its "swirling
waters," 2533 and also applied to
the Milky Way, thus indicating
that its original meaning was
"foaming or dashing water."
If :t was used with this mean
ing, jx is particularly applicable
to Alaska or the Aleutian Isl-

EECAPITULATIOK

689

ands, the coasts of which are
rocky and surrounded by break-

Its people have no military
weapons and do not wage war.

The rudeness of their cus
toms is the same as that of
the people of the country of
"Marked Bodies," but the
words of their language are
different.

Fu-sang is situated twice ten
thousand li (some seven thou
sand miles) or more to the east
of the country of Great Han.
That land is also situated to
the east of the Middle King
dom (China).

That region has many fu-
sang trees, and it is from these
trees that the country derives
its name. The leaves of the
f u-sang resemble ?

ers.

Alaska is inhabited by Es
quimaux ; and these people are
noted, wherever they are found,
for their peaceful and unwar-
like disposition, differing in this
respect from nearly all other
tribes of Asia and America.

The people are undeniably
of the same race. The lan
guage is different. The cus
toms, manners, methods of liv
ing, means of sustenance and
the clothing, however, are al
most exactly the same.™

Mexico is situated some five
thousand miles southeasterly
from Alaska, and is also direct
ly east of the southern portion
of China. It is evident that
Hwui Shan's course from Great
Han to Fu-sang was southeast
erly rather than easterly, as the
first part of his journey from
Japan lay in a northeasterly
direction, and he must there
fore have worked to the south
in order to come to a country
east of China.

"Mexico" means "the Land
of the Century-plant," and there
is, therefore, the same connec
tion between the name of the
country and this plant that
there was between Fu-sang and
the remarkable plant or tree
found in it. The Chinese would
probably apply the character

690

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

The first sprouts are like
those of the bamboo.

The people of the country
eat them.

And the (or a) fruit, which
is like a pear (in form) but of
a reddish colour.

They spin thread from their
bark,

from which they make cloth, of
which they make clothing.
They also manufacture a finer
fabric from it.

In constructing their houses,
they use planks such as are gen
erally used when building adobe
walls.

which we translate "tree" to
the century-plant, so that its
use is no proof that this plant
was not the " tree " referred to
by Hwui Shan.

The first sprouts of the cent
ury-plant or agave are wonder
fully similar to those of the
bamboo.

They not only eat the tender
rooty but also the central shoot,
keeping its soft and fleshy con-
sistence.u™

Upon this plant alone the
Indians can live.lm

The prickly-pear, the fruit
of a species of cactus native to
Mexico, is of the shape of a pear.
There are species of many dif
ferent colours,1386 but the com
mon variety is red. The army
of Cortez lived for a long time
upon it.1204

Nequen is a species of coarse
hemp, which the Mexicans draw
from the lark of the aloe or
maguey (i. e., the agave or cent
ury -plant), of which they make
cloth.659 From the maguey they
made two kinds of cloth, one of
which was like hempen cloth,
and a, finer kind, which resem
bled linen.™*

The habitations of the great
er part of the people were of
clay hardened in the sun, and
of earth?™ The walls of the
so-called "Casas Grandes" are
laid with large square blocks of
mud, prepared for the purpose

RECAPITULATION.

691

They have no citadels or
walled cities.

They have literary charac

ters,

and make paper from the bark
of the fu-sang.

They have no military
weapons or armour, and they
do not wage war in that king
dom.

According to their rules (of
government or of religion) they
have a southern and a northern
place of confinement. An of
fender who has transgressed
but slightly enters the south-

by pressing the material into
large boxes about two feet in
height and four feet long.
When the mud became suffi
ciently hardened, the case was
moved along and again filled,
and so on, until the whole edi
fice was completed.™*

The truth is that there can
not be found in any quarter
the least trace of an inclosure,
of an adjoining defense of any
kind, or even of exterior forti
fications.1™

No nation ever reduced pic
tography more to a system. In
these records we discern some
thing more than a mere sym
bolic notation. They contain
the germ of a phonetic alpha-
bet.m Their paper ica$ made
for the most part of maguey
fiber.™

The Toltecs were much
milder and gentler than the
Aztecs, who conquered them
and wrested their country from
them. It is reported that the
nations of Yucatan learned the
art of war from these Aztecs,
having been an altogether peace
ful people before the Nahua in
fluence was brought to bear on
them.™

There is here some confu
sion between the criminal laws
of the Mexicans and their re
ligious belief as to punishments
after death.

They had two species of

692

AN INGLOEIOUS COLUMBUS.

ern place of confinement, but
if he has sinned heavily he en
ters the northern place of con
finement. If there is pardon
for him, then he is sent away
to (or, possibly, from) the south
ern place of confinement, but if
he can not be pardoned, then
he is sent away to the northern
one. /

/VAX C.f ,

[ffltffJ

Those men and women
dwelling in the northern place
of confinement when they mate
(or have mated) and bear (or
have borne) children, the boys
are made slaves at the age of
eight years and the girls at the
age of nine years. The crimi
nal (or the criminal's body) is
not allowed to go out up to (or
at) the time of his death.

prisons — one for those who had
not merited the punishment of
death, and the other for the
prisoners who were to be sacri
ficed, and those who were guilty
of capital crimes.1016

The Aztec hero was borne
(after death) to the bright
plains of the 8un-house.im

After four years of this life,
the souls of the warriors pass
into birds of beautiful plum-
age.™ Children balked of their
life by death or sacrifice were
allowed to essay it again. Mic-
tlan, the Mexican hades, signi
fies "northward" or "toward
the north" It was a dark and
gloomy region, a place of pun
ishment,™ from which there
was no escape.

The children referred to
were probably either illegiti
mate children or orphans, and
there is reason to believe that
these classes 1992 were often re
duced to slavery.1692

At the age of seven years
the father brings his son to the
priest™

The young girls are also
brought to the temple at the age
of eight years.m

Children whom the Span
iards would describe as seven
and eight years of age respect
ively would be said by the Chi- •
nese to be eight and nine years.
old.1681 Hence the ages above
seated are the same as those

RECAPITULATION.

693

When a nobleman has com
mitted a crime, the people of
the country hold a great assem
blage and sit in judgment on
the culprit, in an excavated tu
mulus. They feast, and drink,
and bid him farewell when
parting from him, as if taking
leave of a dying man.

mentioned by Hwui Shan, and
it is reasonable to suppose that
children who were made slaves
would be obliged to commence
their work at the same age that
more fortunate children were
first sent to school, or taken to
the temples.

Each pueblo contains an
estufa, which is used both as a
council-chamber and a place of
worship. It is built partly
under ground. Here they hold
all their deliberations on public
affairs, and transact the neces
sary business of the village.™
It is a singular fact, resulting
from the structure of Indian
institutions, that nearly every
transaction, whether social or
political, originated or termi
nated in a council™* The
" Council of the Kin " exercised
power over life and death.™

A difference was made in
the punishment of criminals ac
cording to their rank, the king
saying that he who was the
most elevated in rank merited
the most rigour ous treatment.™

In Darien, if a noble com
mitted a crime punishable with
death, notice was given to all
the people, so that they should
assemble and witness the execu
tion. The chief then, in the
presence of the multitude, recit
ed the offense and the culprit
acknowledged the justice of the
sentence.™

694

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

Then they surrounded him
with ashes there.

For a single crime (or a
crime of the first magnitude)
only one person (the culprit)
was hidden (or sent) away. For
two crimes (or a crime of the
second magnitude) the children
and grandchildren were includ
ed in the punishment.

For three crimes (or a crime
of the third magnitude) seven
generations were included in
the punishment.

The title of the king of the
country is "the chief of the
multitude."

The noblemen of the first
rank are called " Tui-lu,"

those of the second rank, " Lit
tle Tui-lu,"

and those of the third rank,
" Nah-to-sha."

Criminals of a certain class
were bound to a stake, com
pletely covered with ashes, and
so left to die.m

The robbery of sacred things,
profanation of the temple, in
sult to the ministers of religion,
or to the person of the mon
arch, were considered as high
treason, and the culprit was
punished with death, his goods
icere confiscated to the public
treasury, and his family de
clared infamous*^

The children and relations
of the traitor were enslaved till
the fifth generation.™

Montezuma's title was
Tlaca-tecuhtli,™ meaning
" Chief of Men," 50T or Tecatecle
Tetuan Intlacatl^ meaning
" the Nation's Lord of our Peo
ple."

The rank of Tecuhtli was the
highest honour that a prince or
soldier could acquire.m This
title is spelled by others,
Tecutli,1™ Teuchtli,™ Teuctli,
1072 Tecle,™ Teutley™ Teuhtli?
Teuli,™ and Teule.™3

The words tepito1™ or
tontli,m* meaning little or
petty, are suffixed to the title
Tlatoca, to express a lower
rank of nobility than is indi
cated by the title without these
suffixes.1921

The Mexican title Tlatoque
or Tlatoca is probably the one
which Hwui Shan attempts to

KECAPITULATION.

695

The king of the country,
when he walks abroad, is pre
ceded and followed with drums
and horns.

The colour of his garments
is changed according to the
mutations of the years. The
first and second years (of a ten-
year cycle) they are blue (or
green), the third and fourth
years they are red, the fifth
and sixth years yellow, the
seventh and eighth years white,
and the ninth and tenth years
black.

They have cattle-horns, of

transcribe with the Chinese
characters pronounced JVah-to-
sha.

The pomp and circum
stance which surrounded the
Aztec monarch was most im
pressive.1*9 The kings did not
often appear among their peo
ple. Whenever they did appear
abroad, however, it was with a
parade that corresponded icith
their other observances™ The
Mexicans had instruments of
music, consisting of drums,
horns, and large sea-shells. *n
Each chief of a city or village
arrived at the head of his men,
accompanied by the sound of in
struments.™ Tangaxoan, king
of Michoacan, was preceded by
the music of his palace, and
accompanied by a brilliant
court.™5 The king of Guatema
la icas surrounded by a cortege
of noblemen and musicians.™

The names of the Jive main
colours are constantly recurring
as signs and metaphors. They
are white, black, red, green, and
yellow.™

Montezuma was dressed
every day in four different
suits™4 and had a different
dress for every occasion.^ Sa-
hagun, who mentions numerous
different varieties of mantles
worn by the king, says that the
said mantles are worn because
of superstitious ideas.™'

Coronado reported that in

696

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

which the long ones are used
to contain (some of their) pos
sessions, the best of them reach
ing (a capacity of) twice ten
times as much as the capacity
of a common horn.

They have horse-carts, cat
tle-carts, and deer-carts.

The people of the country
raise deer as cattle are raised
in the Middle Kingdom (China).

From milk they make kou
miss.

or near Cibola he found certain
sheep as big as a horse, with
very great horns.™1 He adds :
I have seen their horns so big
that it is a wonder to behold
their greatness?™

They have long horns,™3*
and they say that every horn
of theirs iceigheth fifty pounds
weight*™

Buffalo-horns yield them
vessels.™1

This in its literal sense is
untrue of any and every coun
try in the world. It is proba
ble that Hwui Shan referred to
the " three carts " or " three ve
hicles" a term used by the
Buddhists to indicate three
modes of crossing Sansara to
Nirvana, as if drawn by sheep,
oxen, or deer, which shadow
forth the three degrees of saint- l
ship, and this term is further
used for three developments of
Buddhist doctrine?m

The Icings and nobles of the
Chichimecas kept forests of
deer.196 Certain natives of Gua
temala kept deer in so tame a
state that they were easily kitted
by the least active soldiers.m

Milk is, in the Aztec lan
guage, designated by the word
" memeyallotl," 1906 which means
literally " agaves' sap." Their
principal and national drinJc
is pulque, made from the Agave
Americana, from the sap of the
plant. The liquor obtained is

KECAPITULATIO^.

697

They have the red pears
kept unspoiled throughout the
year;

and they also have TO-PU-

TAOCS.

The ground is destitute of
iron,

but they have copper.

Gold and silver are not
valued. In their markets there
are no taxes or fixed prices.

When they marry, it is the
custom for the son-in-law to
go and erect a bouse (or cabin)
outside of the door of the
dwelling of the young woman
(whom he desires to marry).
Morning and evening he sprink
les and sweeps (the ground)
for a year : and if the young

at first of a thick white colour,
and is at all times very intoxi
cating.™

They make many preserves
from tunas (i. e., prickly-pears),
the juice of which is so sweet
that it preserves them perfectly
without adding any syrup.™

This seems to be intended
for a transcription of the Mexi
can word tomatl,m* from which
our own word " tomato " was
derived. The plant was raised
by the Mexicans, and its fruit
formed a part of many of their
dishes.

The use of iron, though its
ores are abundant in the coun
try, was unknown to the na
tives™ while copper could be
obtained in abundance.™

They made their purchases
and sales by barter, each giving
that of which he had an excess
for such goods as he might
need™1* A very large square
was set apart in all the princi
pal cities of the kingdom for
the exhibition and sale of the
various articles of merchandise
brought to market™*

Among the Apaches the
lover stakes his horse in front
cf the young woman's house,
and then retires and awaits the
issue. Should the girl favour
the suitor, his horse is taken by
her, fed, and secured in front
of his lodge ; but should she
decline the proffered honour, she

698

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

woman is not pleased with him,
she then sends him away ; but
if they are mutually pleased,
then the marriage is completed,

the marriage ceremonies being
for the most part like those of
the Middle Kingdom (China).

For a father, mother, wife,
or son, they mourn for seven
days, without eating ; for a
grandfather or grandmother
they mourn for five days with
out eating ; for an elder broth
er, younger brother, father's
elder brother, or father's
younger brother, or for the
corresponding female relatives,
or for an elder sister or young
er sister, three days without
eating.

They set up an image of

will pay no attention to the suf
fering steed.1148 Among the Co-
co-Maricopas, the lover takes
his flute, and, seating himself
beneath a bush near her dwell
ing, keeps up a plaintive noise
for hours together. m In Yu
catan it was the custom of new
ly married pairs to live in cab
ins built in front of the house
of their father or father-in-law,
during the first few years after
their marriage™1 The exist
ence in Mexico of the custom
of sweeping the path of one to
whom it was the desire to do
homage, is shown by the fre
quent mention made by the
Spanish chroniclers of the
sweeping of the path before
the king.2347

For a full statement of tire
numerous and striking resen>
blances between the marriage
ceremonies of Mexico and Chi
na, see Chapter XXVI.

When they have lost a rela
tive, they weep for four days
together*** They observed ab
stinences and fasts for the de
ceased, especially in the case of
a husband who mourned the
loss of his wife.im The fifth
day a priest comes to say that
it is time to proceed with the
funeral.™ In Michoacan, all
remained seated for five days
with bowed heads?™

In case of the death of a

EECAPITULATION.

699

the spirit (of the deceased per
son), and reverence it and offer
libations to it morning and
evening.

In their mourning usages
they do not wear mourning-
garments or mourning-badges.

A king who inherits the
throne does not occupy himself
with the affairs of the govern
ment for the first three years
after his accession.

Mexican king, his ashes were
placed in an urn or casket. On
the top of this was placed a
statue of wood or stone, attired
in the royal habiliments, and
bearing the mask and insignia,
and the casket was deposited at
the feet of the patron deity in
the chapel. For four days the
mourners paid constant visits
to the shrine, to manifest their
sorrow, and to present the offer
ings of food, clothes, or jewels.™
In Yucatan, people of condition
made wooden statues of their
parents. They preserved these
statues, icith much veneration,
among their idols, and kept
both statues and idols in the
oratories of their houses. Upon
all feast-days, and days of gen
eral rejoicing, they made offer
ings of food to them.H9i

As no reference to the use
of mourning-garments in Mexi
co is made by any of the his
torians, it is evident that the
Mexicans did not wear them.

.Before the coronation of a
new monarch could be celebrat
ed with fitting solemnity, vic
tims for sacrifice must be capt
ured in large numbers,™ and
it was always required that the
king should obtain some victory
over his enemies, or reduce some
neighbouring or rebellious prov
ince to subjection, before he
could be crowned or ascend the
royal throne.™

700

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

The Country of Women is
situated a thousand li east of
Fu-sang.

Its people's manner of ap
pearance is straight erect (or is
very correct), and their colour
is (or their countenances are) a
very pure white.

Cihuatlan (meaning " the
Place or Land of Women ") is
the name from which the south
wind takes its designation, and
is applied to an old place upon
the Pacific Ocean, somewhat
southerly from Zacatollan.
This place was said by some to
lie at a distance of ten days'
journey,1106 and by others to be
only three days' journey, from
the city of Mexico.2222

These " people " are the
monkeys of Southern Mexico.

Where monkeys are found,
the idea seems often to have oc
curred to men to account for
the resemblance of the monkey
to mankind by making of the
first a fallen or changed form
of the latter.m This error of
considering monkeys as be
longing to the human race gave
rise to the numerous tales of
a land of pygmies. In the Ha-
pale (Edipus, one of the monk
eys of Southern Mexico, the
breast, the arms, the abdomen,
the forepart of the legs, and
the four extremities are white.™
The capuchin monkey varies
as to colour. The white-throated
species has a flesh-coloured face,
and hair of a beautiful white
colour over the cheeks, the fore
arms, and the breast.™ The
largest, when they stand erect,
as they sometimes do, upon two
feet, almost equal a man in
stature™™ Possibly the name

RECAPITULATION.

701

Their bodies are hairy, and
they have long locks, the ends
of which reach to the ground.

At the second or third
month, bickering, they enter
the water (come down to the
low-lands, or to the streams,
or perhaps "enter upon a mi
gration," the character SHUI
meaning not only " water," but
also " a trip from one place to
another").

They then become preg
nant.

They bear their young at
the sixth or seventh month
(probably of gestation, but pos
sibly of the year).

The female-people are des-

of the mountain, Iztaccihuatl
(i.e., "the White Woman"),
gave rise to the story that the
inhabitants of the Land of
Women were of a very pure
white colour.

Their "long locks" or
queues are their tails.

They go in troops in the
trees, and it is particularly
during the rainy season that
they are found thus collected to
gether."11

The Mexican year probably
commenced some time during
the latter part of February (or
about the time that the Chinese
year commences), and the sec
ond or third month therefore
nearly coincides with our
month of May. In Mexico the
rainy season begins, as a rule,
in the first half of May. m

Pliny says of the pygmies
that they in the spring-time
all descend together in an army
to the sea.™

The "bickering" or chat
tering mentioned by Hwui
Shan is characteristic of monk
eys.

Monkeys, in common with
most other animals, have a rut-
ting-season in the spring.

In the lower Simiadce ges
tation lasts about seven months,
but in the Hapalinw only three
months.™

In the female quadrumana

702

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

titute of breasts in front of
their chests, but behind, at the
nape of the neck (or back of
the head), they have hair-roots
(short hair, or a bunch of hair,
or a hairy organ), and in the
midst of the white hair it is
pleasing to the taste (or there
is juice).

They nurse their young for
one hundred days, and they
can then walk. When three or
four years old, they become
fully grown.

there is no protrusion of the
breast, as in the human being, lzw
and Hwui Shan may have been
led to make this curious state
ment by seeing the females
leaping among the trees with
their young clinging to their
backs and holding fast about
their necks. They sJcip from
bough to bough with the young
ones hanging at the old ones''

The young ones are carried
about on the backs of .their
mothers, round whose necks
they put their arms like in
fants.1™

As to the head, long hair is
found thereon in Hapale GEdi-
pus, and long hair is devel
oped from the shoulders in Ha-
%>ale Humeralifer.1™ The top
of the head of the Hapale (Edi-
pus is ornamented with long
white hair, which forms a spe
cies of plume (falling down upon
the nape of the neck and back
of the head), which is all the
more remarkable from the fact
that the rest of the head is bare.™

The accounts of the pyg
mies say of them :

Their females bear young
when five years old, and they
become aged at the age of eight
years.1156

They are married when they
are only half a year old, and
get children; and they live
only six years, or seven at the

RECAPITULATION".

703

When they see a human
being, they are afraid and flee
to one side.

They venerate (or are de
voted to) their husbands (or
mates).

They eat the "salt-plant."
Its leaves resemble (those of
the plant called by the Chinese)
the SIE-HAO (a species of ab
sinthe or wormwood), but its
odour is more fragrant and its
taste is saltish.

most, and he that liveth eight
years, men think him right
passing old.m*

A characteristic description
of monkeys that "flee to one
side " and then peep out to see
the passer-by, when they think
that they have attained a place
of safety.

Monkeys are noted for their
faithfulness and devotion to
their mates.

The Mexican dictionaries
define " Iztauhyatl " as ab
sinthe,1904 or wormwood.861 This
word is a compound, of " Iz-
tatl," salt1905 (the tl being
dropped in the compound, as is
the rule in such cases), with a
form of the verbal root "hue-
ya," to grow,619 with the termi
nation " tl." It is a sweet-smell
ing herb.m Bisons,1613 horses,
and cattle feed upon species of
artemisia, and in winter they
form the principal food of the
herds of the Kalmucks and the
Kirguis of Asia.2009

In' the nineteenth chapter, fifteen facts were enumerated
which were mentioned by Hwui Shan, and which were of such
a nature that it seemed impossible that he could have known
anything about them unless he had actually made the journey
which he said that he had taken. To those statements we may
now add the following :

16. The country found some six or seven thousand miles
southeasterly from the land of Great Han (Alaska) received its
name from a remarkable plant or tree growing there.

17. The first sprouts of this plant resembled those of the
bamboo.

704 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

18. They were edible.

19. Thread was spun from its fiber.

20. Two kinds of cloth, one coarse and one finer, were made
from this thread.

21. And paper was also made from the fiber.

22. An edible fruit was also found in this land which was
of the shape of a pear, but which was red in colour.

23. It was of such a nature that it could be preserved and
kept throughout the year.

24. In constructing their houses, they used boards for hold
ing the mud or adobe in shape until it was dry, similar to the
boards used for the same purpose in China.

25. They had no citadels or walled cities.

26. They had a species of writing.

27. Either in their laws or in their religious beliefs, or in
both, they had two places of confinement.

, 28. The place reserved for the worst criminals was in the north.

29. Children commenced the active duties of life, the boys
at the age of eight (as the Chinese reckon age) and the girls at
nine years.

30. The people had the custom of holding great assemblages
at which serious crimes were judged.

31. These were held in an " excavated tumulus."

32. The custom existed of inflicting capital punishment by
suffocating the criminals in ashes.

33. The relatives were punished, as well as the criminal, in
cases of heinous crimes.

34. The highest rank of noblemen were known by the title
of " Tui-lu " (Teuli or Teule, as it is spelled by some Spanish
authors).

35. The king was accompanied by musicians when he walked
abroad.

36. Whose instruments were horns and drums.

37. He had the custom of wearing garments of different col
ours at different times " because of superstitious ideas."

38. Very large and long horns were found in the country.

39. The people raised deer.

40. They made a drink resembling koumiss.

41. Either from milk or from something that was given that
name.

RECAPITULATION. 705

42. They had no iron.

43. But had copper.

44. They did not value gold or silver.

45. The marriage ceremonies resembled those of China.

46. They kept statues of deceased relatives, to which they
offered food, etc.

47. They did not wear mourning-garments.

48. The king did not fully succeed to the throne until some
length of time after the death of his predecessor.

49. Some three hundred miles southeasterly from this land
there was a place known as " the Country of Women."

50. Which was inhabited by peculiar beings, whose bodies
were hairy, and who had long locks, queues, or tails hanging to
the ground.

51. They had a rutting-season in the spring.

52. The period of gestation was six or seven months (or pos
sibly only three or four months).

53. They carried their young upon their backs.

54. They had long hair at the back of the head, which was
whitish at the roots.

55. They were able to walk when one hundred days old.

56. They became fully grown when three or four years
old.

57. They were faithful and affectionate to their mates.

58. A plant called the " salt-plant " grew in the country, de
riving its name from its taste.

59. This plant resembled a species of absinthe,

60. But its odour was more fragrant.

It passes the bounds of belief that Hwui Shan could have in
vented all these statements, many of them true of no other coun
try in the world than the one lying at the distance and in the
direction from China that he said that the land visited by him
was to be found ; and his story can not be explained upon any
other theory than that he had actually made the journey which
he so truthfully and soberly described.

VII.

The fiber and the transparent mirror, which he brought back
with him, were just such articles as a traveler would be likely

706 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

to take from Mexico, and the latter, at least, could not have
been obtained from any other country in the world.

VIII.

There exists in Mexico a tradition of Hwui Shan's visit. This
gives his name and title of Hwui Shin, bhikshu, as Wi-Shi-peco-
cha ; tells the district of the Pacific coast upon which he landed ;
describes his complexion, his beard, and his dress ; relates the
doctrines that he preached ; mentions the success that he met in
his mission, and states the reason for his return to Asia. Tra
ditions also exist of the visit of the party of Buddhist priests
mentioned by Hwui Shan, from whom he seems in some way
to have become separated.

IX.

The religious customs and beliefs of1 the nations of Mexico,
Yucatan, and Central America, their pyramids, their architect
ure, their arts, their calendar, and almost innumerable little prac
tices of their daily life, as they existed at the time of the Spanish
conquest, show such surprising coincidences with the details of
Asiatic beliefs and Asiatic civilization that many independent
observers, who have either known nothing of the story of Hwui
Shan, or who have paid no attention to it, have become con
vinced, from these coincidences alone, that there must have been
communication of some nature between the two regions of the
world, and that this communication had probably taken place
since the beginning of the Christian era.

Among these coincidences the following may be noted, i. e. :

1. The existence of monasteries and nunneries, said to have
been founded by Quetzalcoatl, the " Revered Visitor."

2. The vows of continence taken by their inmates.

3. The fact that these vows were not necessarily for life.

4. The daily routine of life of these ascetics, consisting of
watching, of chanting hymns to the gods, of sweeping the tem
ples and their yards, etc.

5. These priests were the educators of the children.

6. They were divided into orders, and some portion of their
number were of superior rank, and governed the others.

7. They lived upon alms.

8. They occasionally retired alone into the desert, to lead a
life of prayer and penance in solitude.

KEOAPITULATIOK

9. They were known by the title Tlamacazque or Tlama, cor- /
responding to the title of Lama given to the Buddhist priests of * I V
Asia.

10. It was thought best to eat but once a day, and then at
noon.

11. They celebrated once each year a "feast of the dead,"
at which they supposed that the hungry spirits of their deceased
friends returned to be fed.

12. They worshiped upon large truncated earthen pyramids.

13. These were covered with a layer of stone or brick, and '
the whole covered with plaster or stucco.

14. They used the false arch of overlapping stones, but not
the true arch.

15. The inner walls of their temples were coated with stucco -
or plaster, which was ornamented with grotesque paintings.'

16. A seated cross-legged figure was found in one of their
temples, resembling in its attitude, in the lion-headed couch (3^
upon which it was seated, in the niche in which it was found,

and in its position in the temple, the statues of Buddha found in
Buddhist temples.

17. The tradition of the conception of Huitzilopochtli closely
resembles the Asiatic stories of the conception of Buddha.

18. They represented one of their gods as holding a mirror
in his hand, in which he saw all the actions of men.

19. They believed that the inhabitants of the world had been
four times destroyed — by water, by winds, by earthquakes, and
by fire — and re-created after each destruction.

20. They had the custom of placing the walls of their tem
ples facing the four cardinal points, and decorating each wall
with a distinctive colour.

21. They buried a small green stone with the corpses of the
dead.

22. Their idols were always clothed, and were never offen
sive to modesty.

23. The custom of tying the corners of the garments of the
bride and groom together constituted one of the most important
of the marriage ceremonies.

24. Marriage was not consummated until the fourth day after
the ceremony.

25. They placed in the hands of young children, a few days

708 AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

after their birth, toys symbolical of the instruments of craft or
of household labour which it was expected that they would use in
after life.

26. The long band of cloth worn about their waist was pre
cisely like that worn by the natives of India.

27. They wore quilted cotton armour similar to that worn in
Asia.

28. Their cakes of meal were similar to those made in India.

29. Their books were folded back and forth like those of
Siam.

30. They played a game called patolli, which seems to have
been substantially the same game as the pachisi of the Hindoos.

31. They understood the arts of melting and casting the
precious metals and of working jewels, attributing their knowl
edge to Quetzalcoatl.

32. But they knew nothing of the use of milk or of any food
prepared from it.

33. Their anchors were like those used in Asia, with four
hooks without a barb.

34. They understood the art of constructing suspension-
bridges ; and

35. Their calendar showed so many resemblances to that used
by many of the nations of Asia, that from this fact alone Hum-
boldt was convinced that there was some connection between
the civilizations of the two regions of the world.

Almost any one of these coincidences might be fortuitous, but
it se«bs impossible that so many coincidences could have existed
unless the civilization of one continent was, to some extent, bor
rowed from that of the other.

The fact that the civilized, or partly civilized, nations of
America were all found upon or near the Pacific coast, indicates
that their civilization was derived from Asia.

XI.

For any difficulties or seeming untruths in the statements of
Hwui Shan the following allowances should be made :

1. The first explorers of any newly found land are usually
deceived as to some one or more points, being misled by tales of

RECAPITULATION. 799

the natives, often but imperfectly understood, and having no
possibility of rectifying their errors by comparing their experi
ence with that of any other person.

2. Hwui Shan was probably a native of Cophene, and under
stood Chinese but imperfectly at the time that he tried to de
scribe to Yu Kie the countries that he had visited, so that the
latter probably failed to correctly understand some of the state
ments that he attempted to make.

3. The account was written down before printing was in
vented, and some errors have crept in in copying it, as is evident
from the variations in different texts.

4. Although the Chinese language changes more slowly than
almost any other, it is probable that there have been many im
portant changes in the last fourteen centuries, and that many of
the characters do not now express precisely the meaning which
they were then used to convey.

5. Many changes must have occurred in the countries visited
by Hwui Shan during the thousand years that elapsed after his
visit before America was rediscovered by Columbus ; and

6. The indigenous civilization was so soon replaced by that
of the Spaniards, and the only chroniclers who had an opportun
ity of seeing it, as it existed when the country was first explored,
felt so little interest in the details of the daily life of the people,
and of their knowledge, their arts, and their religious belief, that
the accounts which we possess on these points are, at the best,
exceedingly imperfect, and many proofs which then e

the truth of Hwui Shan's story may now have been long

out of existence, leaving no evidence behind that they were ever

to have been found.

Attention may be called, in conclusion, to the fact that the
different points presented in support of the credibility of Hwui
Shan's account are not connected together like thejjnks of a
chain, which is no stronger than its weakest part, and the rupt
ure of one of which severs the whole chain. They are rather
like the ten thousand threads with which Gulliver was fastened
to the earth, many weak in themselves, many easily^broken ; but,
after breaking numbers of them, thousands still remained, bind
ing him to the earth as firmly as ever. Doubtless, errors will be
found in the arguments that have been urged, and many of them,

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

when considered by themselves alone, will seem but weak ; and
yet, after breaking here one cord of connection and there an
other, it will be found that numerous links remain, whose united
strength binds together the civilizations of Asia and America
with a power that can not be overcome.

Nearly fourteen centuries have passed since Hwui Shan — led
by his religious faith to carry the feeble rush-light that shone
upon his path to illuminate the lives of those who lay in darkness
— pressed on from one unknown land to another, preaching the
faith by which his life was guided. Of the toils and dangers that
he underwent, we can catch but a glimpse, through the mists of
these fourteen hundred years, but we have reason to believe that,
of the company of five that started, he alone returned to Asia ;
that he was an old man when he reached China, and that he
probably never saw his native land again. The Chinese believed
his story, but knew nothing more of the land which was visited
by him. European and American scholars have for many years
known something in regard to his statements ; but for lack of
sufficient careful investigation many have been inclined to dis
credit them.

It is the hope of the author that the proof herein presented,
that Hwui Shan discovered America a thousand years before it
was known to Europeans, will })e found sufficient to induce the
world to give to this faithful missionary of the Buddhist faith
the honour to which he is entitled, so that he may no longer
remain

AN INGLORIOUS COLUMBUS.

APPENDIX.

LIST OF AUTHORITIES AND REFERENCES.

IN the following table, the numerators of the pseudo-fractions (which,
as will be seen, follow one another in regular order, with the exception of
some omitted numbers) indicate the number of the reference ; while the
denominators indicate the page of the work, below the title of which the
fraction is placed, upon which the quotation may be found.

Thus, for instance, the first reference in Chapter I is given by the
number 1880. Turning to the Appendix, and looking along the numera
tors of the fractions until that number is found, it will be seen that its de
nominator is 5, and that the fraction in question is found below " Le
Bouddhisme : son Histoire," etc., by L. de Milloue ; thus indicating that
the quotation or reference may be found on the fifth page of that work.

The Natural & Moral History of the Indies. By Father Joseph de
Acosta. Eeprinted from the English translated edition of Edward
Grimston. 8vo. London, 1880. Vol. I.

To~F' ~21T2> "21T3"'

Histoire Naturelle et Morale des Indes. Par Joseph Acosta. Traduite
en Franc, ois par Robert Regnault Cauxois. 8vo. Paris, 1600.

Congress International des Ame>icanistes — Compte-Rendu de la Premiere
Session. Nancy, 1875. Vol. I. 8vo. Paris, 1875.
An article read by M. Lucien Adam — condensed translation.
Reference No. 17.

Congres International des Ame>icanistes— Compte-Rendu de la Seconde
Session. Vol. I. 8vo. Luxembourg, 1877.

Extract from an article entitled "La Tres-Ancienne Amerique,"
by Mr. Francis A. Allen.
Reference No. 19.

The American Bisons, Living and Extinct. By J. A. Allen. 4to. Cam
bridge, 1876.

¥> ¥> ¥, W, tt, W, f i tt» M,

712 APPENDIX.

The New American Cyclopaedia. Published by D. Appleton & Co. 16
vols., 8vo. New York, 1872.
Keference No. 41.

American Philological Magazine. August, 1869.

An Account of the Importation of American Cochineal Insects into Hin-
dostan. By James Anderson, M. D. Madras, 1795.
Reference No. 53.

Yocabulario Manuel de las Lenguas Castellana y Mexicana. Por Pedro
de Arenas. 16mo. Pueblo, Mexico, 1831.

tt-

Atlas zur Entdeckungsgeschichte Americas. Aus Handscriften der K.
Hof- und Staats-Bibliothek der K. Universitaet und des Hauptsconser-
vatoriums der K. B. Armee. Herausgegeben von Friedrich Kunst-
mann, Karl von Spruner und Georg M. Thomas. Atlas folio.
Mtinchen, 1859.
(The references indicate the number of the map, not the page.}

v> ¥>«>«-

Histoire Naturelle des Singes et des Makis. Par J. B. Audebert. Folio.
Paris. 8th year.
The Sai (Simia Capucina).

Reference No. 71.

The Pinche — Simia (Edipus (Hapale (Edipus).
Reference No. 72.

Description G6ne"rale de l'Ame>ique. ParM. d'Avity. Folio. Paris, 1637.
Reference No. 76.

Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, for the year 1798.
Letter from Mr. Stephen Badger.

Prehistoric Nations. By John D. Baldwin, A. M. 8vo. New York, 1873.

~ST$> "3"^ 5, TDT'

The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft :

The Native Races of the Pacific States of North America. 5 vols.,
8vo. New York, 1878.

Vol. L, W-, iff, VA W> W> W, W, W, W, iH,

m m, i-H, m ifi, iff, m iff, w- Yo1- n., w,

W, tti, -HI, m W, ill, «i, iff, «f, iU, Ht, itt,

S 0 0 , 203, ~Z 0 1 , 2 08, 209, 209, 212, 213, "21 T» 218, 220, ~2~S 1 ,

itt, Hf , Hi, m, W, Mi, «i, iff, ttti Hi, «i» Ml,

m, «*, «*, i H, IH, in, Hi, fw, m,

APPENDIX.

m, HI, Hf , H4, HI, Hi HI, HI, HI, Hi, HI, HI.

Hi Iff, Hi, I**, Hi, Ml, Iff, HI, H4, IH, fit, m,

iff, MI, til, HI, -m, m, m, HI, if i, m, in, HI,

HI, HI, fit, HI, m, fit, «t, «i, HI, Hi, «t, Hf,

HI. voi. m., %s % w> m m lit> M> m ltt>

ttl, fit, tH, fU, Hi, HI, Hi, Hi, Iff, -IH, M, lit,

HI, HI, HI, iff, HI, m, *H, HI, Hi, in, iff, m,

M, itt, i«, 141, HI, Mf, Hi, IM, IH, «t, m Mf
Vol. iv., w, M, HI, W, HI, IS, Hi, Hi, HI, Hi,
*H» fll, HI, HI, Iff, IW, Iff, Hi, Ifi HI, Hi, HI-
Vol. V., ^, w, W, W, W, W, W, W, Hi 4if,
, tifc iff, «i, HI, «4i tt*i ill, Hi. m iff, HI.

The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft :

History of Mexico. 2 vols., 8vo. San Francisco, 1883.
Vol. I., 4^, f||, f f|,

f* m, «

History of Central America. 2 vols., 8vo. San Francisco, 1883.
Vol. L, m- Vol. II, «f ttf

History of the North Mexican States. 8vo. San Francisco, 1884.
(Quotation from advance sheets, by the kindness of the author, and his
assistant, Mr. Henry L. Oak.)

Vol. I, 4&L.

The Early American Chroniclers. By Hubert Howe Bancroft. 8vo.
San Francisco, 1883.

Papers of the Archaeological Institute of America. American Series. II.
Report of an Archaeological Tour in Mexico in 1881. By A. F.
Bandelier. 8vo. Boston, 1884.

Hi> "HI, fit, far-

Reports of the Peabody Museum of American Archeology and Ethnol
ogy. Vol. II. 8vo. Cambridge, 1880.

Article entitled " On the Art of War and Mode of Warfare of the
Ancient Mexicans," by Ad. F. Bandelier.

m, m, m, M, w, m, m-

Article entitled " On the Distribution and Tenure of Lands, and the
Customs with Respect to Inheritance, among the Ancient Mexicans,"
by Ad. F. Bandelier.

", "38 F,

714 APPENDIX.

Reports of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnol
ogy. Vol. II. 8vo. Cambridge, 1880.

Article entitled " On the Social Organization and Mode of Govern
ment of the Ancient Mexicans," by Ad. F. Bandelier.

*H» tti ttfc «f» Wfi Hf

The American Antiquarian and Oriental Journal. Yol. V., No. 2. April,
1883.

Article entitled " The Native Races of Colombia," by E. G.
Barney.

Personal Narrative of Explorations and Incidents in Texas, New Mexico,
California, Sonora, and Chihuahua. By John Russell Bartlett. 2 vols.
8vo. New York, 1854.

Vol. L, ffi, Iff, flu, f if . Vol. II, ftfc

, f «>

Travels through North and South Carolina, etc. By William Bartram.
8vo. London, 1792.

Reference No. 550 — Introduction, p. xix.

Journal Asiatique. Third Series, Vol. VIII.: number for November,
1839.

Article entitled " An Account of the Shan Hai King, a Fabulous
Cosmography attributed to the Great Yu," by M. Bazin, Sr.

m, m-

The Fo-sho-hing-tsan-king : a Life of Buddha. Translated from Chinese
into English by Samuel Beal. 8vo. Oxford, 1883.

AjA, 4JJL, W, JL5JL.

Abstract of Four Lectures on Buddhist Literature in China, Delivered at
University College, London, by Samuel Beal. 8vo. London, 1882.
Reference No. 561, p. xii. Reference N"o. 562, p. xv.

A Trip to Mexico. By H. 0. R. Becher. 8vo. Toronto, 1880.
S f}f ,

New Tracks in North America. By William A. Bell, M. A. 8vo.
ond edition. London, 1870.

i wt, m m M, m-

The Kansas City Review of Science and Industry. Vol. V., No. 7. No
vember, 1881.

Article entitled " The American Horse," by E. L. Berthoud.
Reference No. 596.

APPENDIX.

The Kansas City Review of Science and Industry. Vol. V., No. 10.
February, 1882.

Article entitled "Explorations in Idaho and Montana," by E. L.
Berthoud.

Reference No. 598.

Glossarium Azteco-Latinum et Latiuo-Aztecum. Cura et Studio Bernar-
dini Biondelli Collectura ac Digestum. Quarto. Milan, 1869.

w> w, w. w, w> w, w, w* w, w> w, w.

"VsS Trf> TITS > AS ~TO~> "V^> "%°"'

Histoire des Nations Civilisees du Mexique et de TAinerique-Centrale.
Par M. l'Abb6 Brasseur de Bourbourg. 4 vols., 8vo. Paris, 1857.

voi. L, w, w, w> m, m, m, m, i«. m, m-

Vol. II., 4£L, w, w, w, ^, w, W, W, W, f«-

w, m, m, HI in, w. m w, w, m itt, -HI,
m, w, wj- voi. in., Afj-, w, w, w, w, w, w,
, m w, M, m, HI, m, m, m, m, m,
, m, m, m, m, m, wt, *H> m, m, m, m,
m, m, m, m, m, m- VOL iv., ^, m, w, w,
w, m, m, m, m, m, ttf, m, m, m, -m, m

Monuments Anciens du Mexique. Texte redige par M. TAbbe" Brasseur
de Bourbourg. Atlas folio. Paris, 1866.

Introduction, 3f£-, *f£. 'Reference No. Y63 ; Avant Propos, p.
xix. References Nos. Y66 and 767; Explication des Planches,
par M. de Waldeck, pp. iv. et v.

Lettre a M. Leon de Rosny sur la Decouverte de Documents Relatifs d la
Haute Antiquite Americaine. Par M. FAbb6 Brasseur de Bourbourg.
8vo. Paris, 1869.

iji.

The Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal. Vol. III., No. 5. Foo-
chow, October, 1870.

Article entitled "Fu-sang, or Who Discovered America," by E.
Bretschneider, M. D.
Reference No. 774.

On the Knowledge Possessed by the Ancient Chinese, of the Arabs, etc.
By E. Bretschneider, M. D. 8vo. London, 1871.

Hf-

Notes on Chinese Medieval Travelers to the West. By E. Bretschneider,
M. D. 8vo. Shanghai, 1875.
Reference No. 781, p. ii,

716 APPENDIX.

The Myths of the New World. By Daniel G. ferinton, M. D. 8vo. New
York, 1876.

The Names of the Gods in the Kiche Myths. By Daniel G. Brinton, M. D.
8vo. Philadelphia, 1881.

The Books of Chilan Balam. By Daniel G. Brinton, M. D. 8vo. Phila
delphia [1882].

H*.

The Maya Chronicles. Edited by Daniel G. Brinton, M. D. 8vo. Phila
delphia, 1882.

82_t 82.2. 8.23
~~8~3 > 11 8> 11TT'

American Hero-Myths. By Daniel G. Brinton, M. D. 8vo. Philadel
phia, 1882.

w, m m, m, m, m, m, m, m, m-

Contributions to American Ethnology. Vol. V. Quarto. Washington,
1882.

Article entitled " A Study of the Manuscript Troano," by Cyrus
Thomas ; introduction by Daniel G. Brinton, M. D.
Reference No. 841, p. xxxii.

La Croix Pai'enne et Chretienne. Traduction faite sur la Deuxieme Edi
tion, par Mourant Brock, M. A. 16mo. Paris, 1881.

The American Philological Magazine. No. for August, 1869.

Article entitled " Where was Fusang?" by the Rev. Nathan
Brown, D. D.

Essai sur le Pali. Par E. Burnouf et Chr. Lassen. 8vo. Paris, 1826.

Introduction a 1'Histoire du Buddhisme Indien. Par E. Burnouf. Sec
ond ed. Large 8vo. Paris, 1876.

Congres Provincial des Orientalistes Francais. Compte-Rendu de la Ses
sion Inaugurale. Levallois, 1874. 8vo. Paris, 1875.

Article entitled "Le Chan-hai-king (Livre des Montagnes et des
Mers)." Traduction du Chinois, par Emile Burnouf

Hi-

APPENDIX.

Ueber die Aztekiscben Ortsnamen. Von Hrn. Buschrnann. Read before
the German Academy of Sciences, Nov. 11 and Dec. 9, 1852. Quarto.

861 862 8 6 3 864 8 6 8 869 870 811 872 873 874 877 878
612 ' 6 la > 61 T ' 6195 6 31' 635' 63 5 ' 635"' 637' 63 IT' 639' 663' 6 6 If'

m.88 -0- -8-81 882 883 884 8 8 5 8 86 887 890 89 2 894
> 1f$¥> TOO ' TOT' T <>2' TO 2 ' TOT' T 15' T29"' TTT' T8 0' T9T'

Die Spuren der Aztekiscben Sprache. Von Job. Carl Ed. Buschmann.
Quarto. Berlin, 1859.

JLPI .9 04 905 906 908 909
6 1 ~> 7 8 » S3 ' ~~9 7 ' 1 0 7» TTo*

C. Julii Csesaris, Commentarii de Bello Gallico.

References Nos. 916 to 919, inclusive. Bk. V., cb. 12; Bk. V.,
ch. 14; Bk. VI., ch. 26; and Bk. VI., ch. 27.

Compendio del Arte de la Lengua Mexicana del P. Horacio Carochi. Por
el P. Ignacio de Parades. Small quarto. Mexico, 1759.

(Euvres de Don Barth61emi de las Casas, Ev6que de Cbiapa. Accom-
pagn6es de Notes par J. A. Llorente. 2 vols., 8vo. Paris, 1822.
Vol. L, W, W-

Des Affinites de la Langue Basque avec les Idiomcs du Nouveau-Monde.
Par M. H. de Cbarencey. 8vo. Paris, 1867.

Des Couleurs consider^es comme Symboles des Points de 1'Horizon chez les
Peuples du Nouveau-Monde. Par H. de Cbarencey. 8vo. Paris, 1877.

*¥-, W, W, W-

Cbronologie des Ages ou Soleils, d'apres la Mythologie Mexicaine. Par
M. de Charencey. 8vo. Caen, 1878.

The History of Paraguay. "Written originally in Frencb, by tbe celebrated
Father Cbarlevoix. 2 vols., 8vo. Dublin, 1769.

voi. L, w, w. m, m, m-

The Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal. 8vo. Shanghae.

Vol. V., JftL. Vol. VI., -aftS W-
The Chinese Repository. 8vo. Canton.

, in, m m m- Vo1-
m w> Hf Vo1- IV-

. Vol. V., W. Vol. VI., W, ^W- Vo1- VIL,

. vol. ix., HF> H^» H^, HF, W>
, Wf, W^- Vol. x, HF,

Vol. XL, 1^. Vol. XII.,

APPENDIX.

Storia Antica del Messico. Opera dell' Abate D. Francisco Saverio Clavi-
gero. 4 vols., quarto. Cesena, 1780.

Vol. I., JJfcti, ijff*, HJi, ijf>, ijf A, H

-. Vol. II., 14^ Jjp*, JJiM, jjjgL, JLJJJL, 10

Narrative of a Pedestrian Journey through Russian and Siberian Tartary.
By Captain John Dundas Cochrane, R. N. 2 vols., 8vo. Second
edition. London, 1824.

Vol. L, W, W

Colmeiro — Diccionario de los Di versos Nombres Vnlgares de Much as
Plantas Usuales 6 Notabiles del Antiguo y Nuevo Mundo.
Reference No. 1089.

Congres International des Ara^ricanistes. Corapte-Rendu de la Premiere
Session. 2 vols., 8vo. Nancy, 1875.

See Lucien Adam, Leon de Rosny, and M. Godron.

Congres International des Ame"ricanistes. Compte-Rendu de la Seconde
Session. 2 vols., 8vo. Luxembourg, 1877.

Vol. L, J^ftL , *£££. See also Francis A. Allen and V. A.
Malte-Brun.

The Despatches of Hernando Cortes. Translated by George Folsom.
8vo. New York, 1843.

The Pre-Columbian Discovery of America by the Northmen. By B. F.
de Costa. 8vo. Albany, 1868.
Reference No. 1110, p. vii.

The Northmen in Maine. By the Rev. B. F. de Costa. 8vo. Albany,
1870.

Account of the Russian Discoveries between Asia and America. By Will
iam Coxe, A. M., F. R. S. 8vo. Third edition. London, 1787.

W, HF,

History of the Indian Archipelago. By John Crawfurd, F. R. S. 3 vols.,
8vo. Edinburgh, 1820.

Vol. L, Vr3f , \W, W/, WoS ^3^, %¥• Vol. II., W/>
W/, Wf , WA %¥, Wr4- Vol. Ill, \V¥-

Life among the Apaches. By John C. Cremony. 8vo. San Francisco,
1868.

1148
247 *

APPENDIX.

719

Annual Report of Brigadier-General George Crook, U. S. A., Command
ing Department of Arizona. 12mo. 1883

Alaska and its Resources. By William II. Ball. 8vo. Boston, 1870

HIS W, W» W, W> W, W, W, W, W,
VAS W, W, W, W, W-

Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge. 318.

On the Remains of Later Pre-Historic Man obtained from Caves in
the Catherine Archipelago, Alaska Territory, and especially from the
Caves of the Aleutian Islands. By W. H. Dall. Quarto. Washing
ton, 1878.

JJjJLL, ^UL, ill 3/JLJ2A

Nouveau Voyage Autour du Monde. Par Guillaume Dampier. 5 vols.,
18mo. Pvouen, 1715.
Vol. III., W

Proceedings of the Davenport Academy of Natural Sciences. Yols. II.
and III. 8vo. Davenport, Iowa, 1877-1880.
Vol. II, -Vi^, itff. Vol. Ill, ifff..

El Gringo ; or, New Mexico and her People. By W. W. H. Davis. 8vo.
New York, 1857.

The Folk-Lore of China, and its Affinities with that of the Aryan and
Semitic Races. By N. B. Dennyss, Ph. D. 8vo. Hong-Kong, 1876.

HI1* -ft9/-

Le Bouddhisme et 1'Apologetique Chre"tienne. Par 1'Abbe A. Deschamps.
8vo. Paris, 1860.

1 19 £>

De la Discipline Bouddhique. Par l'Abb6 A. Deschamps. 8vo. Paris,
1862.

on Livre des

Merveilles de 1'Inde. Traduction Francaise, par L. Marcel Devic.
Quarto. Leide, 1883.

Die Entdeckung nnd Eroberung von Mexico, nach des Bernal Diaz del
Castillo gleichzeitiger Erzahlung: bearbeitet von der Uebersetzerin
des Vasari. 12mo. Hamburg, 1848.

720 APPENDIX.

An Account of the Abipones, an Equestrian People of Paraguay. From
the Latin of Martin Dobrizhoffer. 3 vols., 8vo. London, 1822.

Vol. L, HP, -VW- Vol. ii., WA W-

Vocabulary and Hand-Book of the Chinese Language. By Eev. Justus
Doolittle. 2 vols., small quarto. Foochow, 1872.
Vol. I, HF-

Cit6s et Ruines Ame>icaines. Photographies par Desir6 Charnay, avec
un Texte par M. Viollet-le-Duc. 8vo. Paris, 1863.

AHJ» iH^

Antiquites Mexicaines. Relation des Trois Expeditions du Capitaine
Dupaix. Folio. Paris, 1834.

First Expedition, i^a, J^i, if p, HP, HP- Third ExPe-

dition, i-2^-, -Up, HK Hift HP-
Chinese Buddhism. By Rev. Joseph Edkins, D. D. 8vo. Boston, 1880.

Reference No. 1241, p. viii. HfS ^ffS HP, HP, "H P,

H I ^ Ht ^ HB ^IF, ^W4-, ^IF, iMJL,

Etude sur les Origines Buddhiques de la Civilisation Ame>icain0i Par M.
Gustave d'Eichthal. Premiere Partie. 8vo. Paris, 1865.
Reference No. 1277.

A Chinese Dictionary in the Cantonese Dialect. By Ernest John Eitel.
8vo. Hong-Kong, 1877.

Part L, ifff.-
Thirtieth Congress, First Session. Ex. Doc. No. 41.

Notes of a Military Reconnoissance from Fort Leaven worth, in Mis
souri, to San Diego, in California. By Lieutenant-Colonel W. H.
Emory. 8vo. Washington, 1848.

W, H**, HF, HH Vff-> Vff--

The Encyclopaedia Britannica. Ninth edition (American reprint).

Vol. I, W Vol. II., if^, *f&, ¥AS J^1, W Vol.

iv., Wf, *m, W- Vol. v., wf., Wf-- Vol. VL,

W- Vol. XII., W- Vol. XIII., ^f, J^1- Vol.
XIV., iff}. Vol. XVI, Jtfft i/&, ifffi.

The Kansas City Review of Science and Industry. Vol. V., No. 11.
March, 1882.

Article entitled " The Mound-Builders and the Aztecs," by Mr. S. B.
Evans.

Reference No. 1323.

APPENDIX.

721

The Pilgrimage of Fa Hian. From the French edition of the Foe Koue
Ki of MM. Remusat, Klaproth, and Landresse, with Additional Notes
and Illustrations. 8vo. Calcutta, 1848.

HF* *m W, W, W> W,

Lettres . . . sur 1'Archipel Japonais, et la Tartarie Orientale. Par le P.
Furet. 18mo. Paris, 1860.

A New Survey of the West Indies. By Thomas Gage. Quarto. Lon
don, 1655.

On the Indian Tribes and Languages of Costa Rica. By William M. Gabb.
(Read before the American Philosophical Society, Aug. 20, 1875.)
8vo. Philadelphia, 1875.

Silabario de Idioma Mexicano. Por el Lie. D. Faustino Chimalpopocatl
Galicia. 16mo. Mexico, 1849.

Transactions of the American Ethnological Society. Vol. I. 8vo. New-
York, 1845.

Article entitled "Notes on the Semi-civilized Nations of Mexico,
Yucatan, and Central America," by Albert Gallatin.

Nouvelle Journal Asiatique. Paris, 1832.
Letter from P£re Gaubil.

Annales des Voyages de la Geographic, de 1'Histoire, et de 1'Archeologie.
Tome 4. 8vo. Paris, 1868.

Article entitled " Une Mission Buddhiste en Amerique au Ye Siecle
de 1'Ere Chretienne," par Dr. A. Godron.

14JLL.

Congres International des Americanistes. Compte-Rendu de la Premiere
Session. Nancy, 1875. Vol. I. 8vo. Nancy, 1875.
Article on the Maguey (Agave Americana), by Dr, A. Godron.

722 APPENDIX.

Memoires de Litterature, tires des Registres de TAcad^mie Royale des
Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. Tome XXVIII. Paris, 1761.

Article entitled "Recherches sur lea Navigations des Chinois du
Cote de l'Am6rique, et sur quelques Peuples situes & 1'Extremite
Orientale de 1'Asie," par M. de Guignes.

On the Present State of Buddhism in China. By the Rev. Dr. C. Gutz-
laff. 8vo. London [no date].

Colleccion de Documentos para la Historia de Mexico. Publicada por
Joaquin Garcia Icazbalceta. 2 vols., 8vo. Vol. II. Mexico, 1866.

Primera Relacion Andnima de la Jornada que hizo Nufio de Guz
man a la Nueva Galicia.
Reference No. 1422.

Stranger than Fiction. By the Rev. J. J. Halcombe, M. A. 12mo.
London, 1882.

Les Tolteques. Par M. E.-T. Hamy.

Extrait du Bulletin hebdomadaire No. 118 de 1'Association Scienti-
fique de France. Conference du 25 Mars, 1882.

HF, -4F-

Eastern Monachism. By R. Spence Hardy. 8vo. London, 1860.

A Manual of Buddhism, in its Modern Development. By R. Spence
Hardy. Second edition. 8vo. London, 1880.

Contributions to the Ethnography and Philology of the Indian Tribes of the
Missouri Valley. By F. V. Hayden, M. D. Quarto. No place or date.

Preliminary Report of the United States Geological Survey of Wyoming.
By F. V. Hayden, M. D. 8vo. Washington, 1871.

-oi^ \W- See also J. S. Newberry, Thomas C. Porter, and
Dr. C. C. Parry.

Nouvelle Decouverte d'un Tres Grand Pays. Par le R. P. Louis Ileune-
pin. 16mo. Utrecht, 1697.

A Japanese and English Dictionary. By J. C. Hepburn. 8vo. London,
1867.

APPENDIX. 723

W, W, W> W,

Rerum Medicarum Novae Hispaniao Thesaurus ... ex Francisci Her
nandez. Small folio. Rome, 1651.

, HP, HF,

. Supplement,

Exploration of the Valley of the Amazon. By Lieutenant William Lewis
Herndon. 8vo. Washington, 1854.

'HpoSdrou rou 'A.\iKapvr)$eos 'IsTopiT], '17 'isTopi&v B//3\oi 0, '
MoOrat.

References Nos. 1535, 1536, 1537, 1538, and 1540. Bk. III., ch.
102; Bk. HIM ch. 107; Bk. IV., ch. 25; Bk. IV., ch. 31; Bk.
IV., ch. 191.

Catalogo de las Lenguas de las Naciones Conocidas. Su Autor el Abate
Don Lorenzo Hervas. 6 vols., 8vo. Madrid, 1800.

Vol. I, w, W, W-

Me"moire sur le Pays connu des Anciens Chinois sous le Norn de Fou-sang.
Par M. le Marquis d'Hervey de Saint-Denys. Extrait des Comptes-
Rendus des Stances de I'Acad^mie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres.
8vo. Paris, 1876.

Reference No. 1544.

Ethnographie des Peuples etrangers 4 la Chine. Onvrage compose au
XIIP Si^cle de noire Ere, par Ma-Touan-lin. Traduit pour la pre
miere fois du Chinois, avec un Commentaire Perp6tuel. Orientaux. Par
le Marquis d'Hervey de Saint-Denys. Small quarto. Geneva, 1876.

> M **>

A Japanese Grammar. By J. J. Hoffmann. 8vo. Leyden, 1868.

1564t

Traces de Buddhisme en Norv6ge. Par M. C. A. Ilolmboe. 8vo. Paris,

1857.

The Six Scripts. A translation by L. C. Hopkins. 8vo. Amoy, 1881.
Reference No. 1558, p. xxi.

Georgi Horni. De Originibus Americanis. 16mo. Lugduni Batavorum,
1652.

724 APPENDIX.

Travels in Tartary, Thibet, and China. By M. Hue. Translated from the
French by W. Hazlitt. 2 vols., 8vo. London, 1851-'52.

Vol. I, HfS W, W, W> W> W> W- Vol. II.,

HP, HP* HF> W

Vues des Cordilldres et Monumens des Peuples indigenes de l'Ame*rique.
Par Al. de Hiimboldt. Large folio. Paris, 1810.

References Nos. 1579 to 1584, inclusive, pp. i., xi., xiii., xx., xxx.,
and xxxi. IfBJL, iJ|JL, 16^ 16|JL, JLJ^ W, 1JL9JL,

Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain. By Alexander de Hum-
boldt. Translated from the original French by John Black. 4 vols.,
8vo. London, 1811.

Vol. II, if^, Jflfc ifff*

Ueber die Kawi-Sprache auf der Insel Java. Von Wilhelm von Hum-
boldt. 3 vols., quarto. Berlin, 1836.

J 6 0 8 160 9 1610
287~> "T¥T"> ~2"8~J~*

Joaquin Garcia Icazbalceta. See de Guzman.

Ancient Faiths embodied in Ancient Names. By Thomas Inman, M. D.
Second edition. 2 vols., 8vo. London, 1872.
Vol. L, W-

Account of an Expedition from Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains, under
the Command of Major Stephen H. Long. Compiled by Edwin James.
2 vols., 8vo. Philadelphia, 1823.
Vol. I, Jfltf., W.

Thirtieth Congress. First Session. Ex. Doc. No. 41.

Notes of a Military Reconnoissance from Fort Leavenworth, in Mis
souri, to San Diego, in California. Journal of Captain A. R. Johnston.

Memoires sur les Gentries Occidentales. Traduit du Sanscrit en Chinois
en 1'An 648 par Hiouen-Thsang, et du Chinois en Fran§ais par M.
Stanislas Julien. 2 vols, large 8vo. Paris, 1858.

Me"thode pour D4chlffrer et Transcrireles Noms Sanscrit que se Rencontient
dans les Livres Chinois. Par M. Stanislas Julien. 8vo. Paris, 1861.

Syntaxe Nouvelle de la Langu-e Chinoise. Par M. Stanislas Julien. 2
vols., 8vo. Paris, 1869.
Vol. Li*aJk

APPENDIX.

Histoire de Kamtschatka, des Isles Kurilski, et des Gentries Voisines.
Traduite par M. E. 2 vols., 18mo. Lyons, 1767.

Vol. I., ifAA, jyyyi. Vol. IL,

Essays : Ethnological and Linguistic. By the late James Kennedy. 8vo.
London, 1881.
Essay on the Probable Origin of the American Indians.

Antiquities of Mexico. By Lord Kingsborough. 9 vols., imp. folio.
1830-'48.

Vol. VI.,

Nouvelles Annales des Voyages. Tome LI. Paris, 1831.

Article entitled " Eecherches sur le Pays de Fou Sang, mentionne
dans les Li vres Chinois, et pris, mal a-propos, pour une Partie de PAin6-
rique," par M. J. Klaproth.

M*1-

Fragmens Bouddhiques. Par M. J. Klaproth. 8vo.

Extrait du Nouveau Journal Asiatique, Mars, 1831.

San Kokf Tsou Ran To Sets, ou Aperc.u Ge"ne*ral des Trois Royaumes.
Traduit de 1'original Japonais-Chinois, par M. J. Klaproth. 8vo.
Paris, 1832.

J JA,

Nipon O Dai Itsi Ran, ou Annales des Empereurs du Japon. Accom-
pagn6 de Notes, et pre"c6de d'un Apercu de 1'Histoire Mythologique du
Japon. Par M. J. Klaproth. Quarto. Paris, 1834.

References Nos. 1665 to 1670, inclusive, pp. ii., iv., vi., xi., xix.,
and xxviii. ±^LL, J^lA, J^p, ifiA ifji, ifjJL, i^JL, ±f ^,

i^> HP, HP, HP, Vjtf-

Die Beiden Aeltesten General-Karten von Amerika. Ausgeffihrt in den
Jahren 1527 und 1529. Auf Befehl Kaiser Karl's V. Erlautert von
J. G. Kohl. Atlas folio. Weimar, 1860.

Johannes de Laet. Nota3 ad Dissertationem Hugonis Grotii De Origine
Gentium Arnericanarum. 18mo. Amstelodami, 1643.

Relation des Choses de Yucatan, de Diego de Landa. Traduction Fran-
c.aise par PAbb6 Brasseur de Bourbourg. 8vo. Paris, 1864.

169.1 j 6 92 1 6_9 3

nn~> loi > 191 >

726 APPENDIX.

Bemerkung auf einer Reise um die Welt. Yon G. H. von Langsdorff. 2
vols., quarto. Frankfurt am Mayn, 1812.

Vol. II., i«A, -HF, HP, HP, HP, HP, Hf1, HP,

The Natural History of the Varieties of Man. By Robert Gordon Latham.
8vo. London, 1850.

The Sacred Books of China. The Texts of Confucianism.' Translated by
James Legge. Part I. 8vo. Oxford, 1879.

HP-

Preliminary Report of the United States Geological Survey of Wyoming,
etc. By F. V. Hayden. 8vo. Washington, 1871.

Special Report by Joseph Leidy, LL. D., on the Vertebrate Fossils
of the Tertiary Formations of the West.

Who Discovered America ? Evidence that the New World was known to
the Chinese Fourteen Hundred Years Ago.

(From the " Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal " for May,
1870, Vol. II., p. 344. Copied from the "Gentleman's Magazine."
Probably by Charles G. Leland.)
Reference No. 1711.

Fusang, or the Discovery of America by Chinese Buddhist Priests in the
Fifth Century. By Charles G. Leland. 12mo. London, 1875.

HP, HfS HP, W, W, W, W-

Parallele des Anciens Monuments Mexicains avec ceux de 1'figypte, de
1'Inde, etc. Par M. Alexandre Lenoir. Folio. Paris, 1834.
References Nos. 1726, 1727, 1728, 1729, 1730, and 1731.

The Hill Tracts of Chittagong. By Captain T. H. Lewin. 8vo. Cal
cutta, 1869.

Buddha and Early Buddhism. By Arthur Lillie. 8vo. London, 1881.

Zachariaa Lilii— Orbis Breviarum. Small quarto. Florence, 1493.

References Nos. 1751 to 1757 inclusive, pp. b. ii., c. viii., f. iii., g.
iv., 1. ii., m. i., and m. viii.

Grammar of the Chinese Language. By the Rev. W. Lobscheid. In two
parts. 8vo. HoDg-Kong, 1864.
Part I.,

APPENDIX. 727

Voyages and Travels of an Indian Interpreter and Trader. By J. Long.
Quarto. London, 1791.

3t JR 5§ %, WAN-HIES T'UXG-K'ATT, or "A Thorough Examination into
Antiquity," by ,^ ^fifi fiwi, MA TWAN-LIX.

Keferences Nos. 1764, 1765, 1766, and 1767.

Voyages from Montreal . . . through the Continent of North America.
By Sir Alexander Mackenzie. 8vo. Philadelphia, 1802.

Keferences Nos. 1771, 1772, 1773, and 1774, pp. xci., xci., cxii.,
and cxiv.

The Voyages of the Venetian Brothers Nicolo & Antonio Zeno. By
Richard Henry Major, F. S. A. 8vo. London, 1873.
Reference No. 1778, p. xxxiv.

Congres International des Americanistes. Compte-Rendu de la Seconde
Session, Luxembourg, 1877. 2 vols., 8vo. Luxembourg, 1877.

Article entitled "Tableau de la Distribution Ethnographique des
Nations et des Langues au Mexique," par M. V. A. Malte-Brun.
Vol. II., iJI*.

Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers, U. S. A., for 1878. 8vo. Wash
ington, 1878.

Appendix NN. Article entitled " Notes upon the First Discoveries
of California, and the Origin of its Name," by Professor Jules Marcou.

uuut.

Thirty Years of Army Life on the Border. By Bvt. Brig.-Gcn. R. B.
Marcy, U. S. A. 8vo. New York, 1874.

The Travels of Marco Polo. Translated from the Italian, with Notes, by
William Marsden, F. R. S., etc. Quarto. London, 1818.

References Nos. 1788 and 1789, pp. xxiv. and xxxix.

W, W> W, -VW-,

The History of Sumatra. By William Marsden, F. R. S. Third edition.
Quarto. London, 1811.

The Chinese : their Education, Philosophy, and Letters. By W. A. P.
Martin, D. D., LL. D. 8vo. New York, 1881.

The Voiage and Travaile of Sir John Maundevile, Kt. 8vo. London, 1866.

, w,

728 APPENDIX.

Researches, Philosophical and Antiquarian, Concerning the Aboriginal
History of America. By J. H. McCnlloh, Jr., M. D. 8vo. Balti

more, 1829.

A Dictionary of the Hok-keen Dialect of the Chinese Language. By W.
H. Medhurst. Quarto.' Macao, China, 1832.

Second Recueil de Pieces SUP le Mexique. Published by M. Ternaux-
Compans. 8vo. Paris, 1840.

Letter of Don Antonio de Mendoza, First Viceroy of Mexico, to the
King of Spain.

Le Bouddhisme : son Histoire, ses Dogmes, son Extension, et son Influence.
Par L. de MillouS. 8vo. Lyon, 1882.

J^UL, JJUU). i^^ rjjA^ I|f3) 1||A, i||JL, ij|JL.

The Indian Saint ; or Buddha and Buddhism. By Charles D. B. Mills.
8vo. Northampton, Mass., 1876.

HP> HP-, HF, HP, HF, HF, HfS HF-

Grammaire Palie. Par J. Miuayef. Traduite du Russe par M. Stanislas
Guyard. 8vo. Paris, 1874.

HP-

Vocabulario de la Lengua Mexicana. Compuesto por el P. FT. Alonso de
Molina. Publicado de Nuevo por Julio Platzmann. Quarto. Leip
zig, 1880.

HB HF, HF, HP. HB HF, HIA ^W4, HF, HF,
HP, HF, ^JF, Hi1, HP> HF, H*A, HP, H^, HP,

Travels in Central America. . . . From the French of the Chevalier
Arthur Morelet, by Mrs. M. F. Squier. 8vo. New York, 1871.

League of the Hodenosaunee, or Iroquois. By Lewis II. Morgan. 8vo.
Rochester, 1851.

> W,

Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family. By Lewis
H. Morgan. Quarto. Washington, 1871.

APPENDIX. Y29

The Indian Miscellany. Edited by W. W. Beach. 8vo. Albany, 1877.
Article entitled "Indian Migrations." By Lewis H. Morgan.

Reports of the Peabody Museum. Vol. II. 8vo. Cambridge, 1880.

Article entitled " On the Ruins of a Stone Pueblo on the Animas,
in New Mexico ; with a Ground Plan." By lion. Lewis H. Morgan.

Contributions to North American Ethnology. Vol. IV. Quarto. Wash
ington, 1881.

Houses and Rouse Life of the American Aborigines, by Lewis II.
Morgan.

IWL, ^r, *m, w, w, w> w. Wi1-

Buddhism and Buddhist Pilgrims. By Max Miiller, M. A. 8vo. London,
1857.

**& HP, HfS HP-

Der Mexikanische Nationalgott Huitzilopochtli. Von Professor Dr. J. G.
Muller. Small quarto. Basel, 1847.

1963 1964 1 965
1 5 > 1 6 > S5 *

Zeitschrift fur Allgemeine Erdkunde. New Series, Vol. XVI.

Article entitled " Ost-Asien und West-Amerika nach Chinesischen
Quellen ausdem Funften, Sechsten, und Siebenten Jahrhundert." Von
Karl Friedrich Neumann.

Reference No. 1966, p. 305.

Prehistoric America. By the Marquis de Nadaillac. Translated by N.
D'Anvers. Edited by W. H. Dall. 8vo. Published by G. P. Put
nam's Sons, New York and London, 1884.
Reference No. 1967, pp. 125 and 273.

Preliminary Report of the United States Geological Survey of Wyoming.
By F. V. Hayden. 8vo. Washington, 1871.

Article entitled " The Ancient Lakes of Western America." By J. S.
Newberry, LL. D.

History of South America and Mexico. By lion. John M. Niles. 2 vols.,
8vo. Hartford, 1844.

Vol. I., ifff-.
Rambles in Yucatan. By B. M. Norman. 8vo. New York, 1843.

Indigenous Races of the Earth. By J. C. Nott, M. D., and George R.
Glidden. 8vo. Philadelphia, 1857.
Reference No. 1975, p. xxiii.

730 APPENDIX.

Grammaire de la Langue Nahuatl on Mexicaine. Composed en 1547 par
le Franciscain Andre" de Olmos, et Publie"e avec Notes, Eclaircissements,
etc., par E6mi Simeon. 8vo. Paris, 1875.

A Forbidden Land : Voyages to the Corea. By Ernest Oppert. 8vo.
New York, 1880.

HF> -HI A> ^W» W, W-

L'Honime Ame"ricain. Par Alcide d'Orbigny. 2 vols., 8vo. Paris, 1839.

Vol. L, %°3°-> W, *fft-> ¥A3-- Vol. IL, AJHJA.
Geografia de las Lenguas, y Carta Etnografica de Mexico. Por el Lie.
Manuel Orozco y Berra. Quarto. Mexico, 1864.
ij}J&. Reference No. 2007, map.

On the Anatomy of Vertebrates. By Eichard Owen, F. E. S. 3 vols.,
8vo. London, 1868.
Vol. III., *ff£..

Voyages de M. P. S. Pallas, en DifFe"rentes Provinces de 1'Empire de Eus-
sie, et dans 1'Asie Septentrionale. Traduits de 1'Allemand, par M. Gau-
thier de la Peyronie. 5 vols., quarto. Paris, 1788.
Vol. I,

Memoire sur 1'Origine Japonaise, Arabe et Basque, de la Civilization des
Peuples du Plateau de Bogota. Par M. de Paravey. 8vo. Paris, 1835.

Origine Asiatique d'un Penple de 1'Amerique du Sud. Par M. de Para
vey. (Extract from No. 15, Vol. III., of the Annales de Philosophie
Chr6tienne.)

Dissertation sur les Amazones dont le Souvenir est Conserve" en Chine.
Par M. le Cher de Paravey. 8vo. Paris, 1840.

2JLLJ1.

L'Ame>ique sous le Nom de Pays de Fou-sang. Par M. de Paravey. 8vo.
Paris, 1844.

Reference No. 2015.

Nouvelles Preuves que le Pays du Fou-sang mentionne" dans les Livres
Chinois est 1' Ame>ique. Par M. de Paravey. 8vo. No place or date.
Reference No. 2017.

Preliminary Eeport of the United States Geological Survey of Wyoming.
By F. V. Hayden. 8vo. Washington, 1871.

" A List of Plants collected by C. Thomas." By Dr. C. C. Parry.

APPENDIX.

731

Journal Asiatique. October and November, 1839.

Article entitled " A Methodical Examination of Facts Concerning
T'ien-chu, or India." Translated from the Chinese by M. Pauthier.

Catalogue des Livres Chinois, composant la Bibliotheque de feu M. G.
Pauthier. 8vo. Paris, 1873.

W-
Revue Orientale et Americaine. Vol. VIII. Paris, 1862.

Article entitled " Memoire sur les Relations des Anciens Americaines
avec les Peuples de FEurope, de FAsie, et de 1'Afrique." Par M. Jose
Perez, D. M.

Reference No. 2026.

Congres International des Americanistes. Compte-Rendu de la Premiere
Session, Nancy, 1875. 2 vols., 8vo. Nancy, 1875.
Article entitled " The Dene-Dindjies." By M. Petitot. Vol. II.
Iff*.

Transactions of the Anthropological Society of Washington. Vol. I. 8vo.
Washington, 1882.

Summary of a paper entitled " Amphibious Aborigines of Alaska."
By Ivan Petroff.

A||a.

Premier Voyage autour du Monde. Par le Chevr Pigafetta. 8vo. Paris.
Year IX.

Cuadro Descriptive y Comparative de las Lenguas Indigenas de Mexico.
Por D. Francisco Pimentel. 2 vols., 8vo. Mexico, 1862.
Vol. I, *fff., *fff-.

MSmoires de la Societe d'Ethnographie. Session de 1872. No. 63.

Tome XI.
Article entitled " Les Aleoutes et letir Origine." Par Alphonse Pinart.

Esquimaux et Koloches: Id6es Religieuses et Traditions des Kaniagmiou-
tes. Par M. Alphonse Pinart.

(Extract from La Revue d'Anthropologie, 4e numero de 1873.)

204 2 1

Notes sur les Koloches. Par M. Alph. Pinart. 8vo. Paris, 1873.

Reference No. 2045.
La Chasse aux Animaux Marins et les Pecheries chez les Indigenes de la

Cote Nord-Ouest d'Ame>ique. Par M. Alph. Pinart. 8vo. Bou-

logne-sur-Mer, 1875.

Y32 APPENDIX.

Vestiges of the Mayas. By Augustus Le Plongeon, M. D. 8vo. New
York, 1881.

Preliminary Eeport of the United States Geological Survey of Wyoming.
By F. V. Hayden. 8vo. Washington, 1871.
"A Catalogue of Plants." By Professor Thomas 0. Porter.

Wr4-

Contributions to North American Ethnology. Vol. III. Quarto. Wash
ington, 1877.

" Tribes of California." By Stephen Powers.

*H*» w, m m w, m w-

History of the Conquest of Mexico. By William H. Prescott. 3 vols.,
8vo. Philadelphia, 1871.

vol. L, *m AHA, m m w, m

. vol. IL, \0^, -WA W- vol. ni.,

Tibet, Tartary, and Mongolia. By Henry T. Prinsep, Esq. 8vo. Lon
don, 1852.

Researches into the Physical History of Mankind. By James Cowles
Pritchard, M. D. Fourth edition. 5 vols., 8vo. London, 1841.
Vol. III., AH^.

The Natural History of Man. By James Cowles Pritchard. Fourth edi
tion. 2 vols., 8vo. London, 1855.
Vol. L,

Purchas : his Pilgrimage. In foure Partes. By Samuel Purchas. Small
folio. London, 1613.

Part L, Wft W, W» W> W, Wf- ,

Second Eecueil de Pieces sur le Mexique. Published by M. Ternaux-
Compans. 8vo. Paris, 1840.

Letters of the Auditor Quiroga to the Empress of Spain.
See " Salmeron," Eeference No. 2222.

The History of Java. By Thomas Stamford Baffles. 2 vols., quarto.
London, 1817.

Vol. L, -VfV3-. Vol. II., Eeference No. 2125, frontispiece.
References Nos. 2127, 2128, and 2129, pp. c., clxvii., and
ccxxxix.

APPENDIX. 733

Antiquitates Americans. Edidit Societas Regia Antiqvariorum Septen-
trionaliura. Studio et Opera Carol! Christian! Rafn. Quarto. Copen
hagen, 1845.

References Nos. 2131 to 2137, inclusive, pp. xxx., xxxi., xxxii.,

xxxii., xxxii., xxxii., and xxxiii.

Second Recueil de Pieces sur lo Mexique. Published by M. Ternaux-
Compans. 8vo. Paris, 1840.

Letter of Sebastian Ramerez de Fuenleal, Bishop of San Domingo,
to the Empress of Spain.

Historical Researches on the Conquest of Peru, Mexico, etc. By John
Ranking. 8vo. London, 1827.

Relation des Voyages fait par les Arabes et les Persans, dans 1'Inde et & la
Chine, dans le IX siecle de 1'Ere Chr6tienne. Publie" avec des Correc
tions . . . et d'Eclaircissements, par M. Reinaud. 2 vols., 18mo.
Paris, 1845.

Vol. I., V#L.

B ?l ^ ®, 'Rn-YA Sff-TU. The 'Rn-YA (or "Ready Guide"), ar
ranged in Order, and Complete.

References Nos. 2145, 2146, and 2147.

Congrds International des Am6ricanistes. Compte-Rendu de la Premiere
Session, Nancy, 1875. 2 vols., 8vo. Nancy, 1875.

Vol. I., p. 140. Extracts from the Remarks of M. Le"on de Rosny
on a Note of M. Foucaux, Regarding the Relations which the Bud
dhists of Asia and the Inhabitants of America may have had with each
other at the Commencement of our Era.
Reference No. 2151.

Les Documents Ecrits de 1'Antiquite Ame>icaine. Par Leon de Rosny.
Quarto. Paris, 1882.
12..

La Civilisation Japonaise. Par Le"on de Rosny. 18mo. Paris, 1883.

Narrative of a Second Voyage in Search of a North- West Passage. By
Sir John Ross. Quarto. London, 1835.

Ueber den Doppelsinn des Wortes Schamane, und ueber den Tungusischen
Schamanen-Cultns am Hofe der Mandju-Kaiser. Von W. Schott.
Small quarto. 1842.

APPENDIX.

Histoire Generale des Choses de la Nouvelle-Espagne. Par le R. P. Fray
Bernardino de Sahagun. Traduite et annotee par D. Jourdanet et par
Remi Simeon. Quarto. Paris, 1880.
References Nos. 2171 and 2172, p. Ivi.

W, W, W W, W,

, W>

Second Recueil de Pieces sur le Mexique. Published by M. Ternaux-Com-
pans. 8vo. Paris, 1840.

Letters of the Auditors Salmeron, Maldonado, Ceynos, and Quiroga,
to the Empress of Spain.

Buddhism in Tibet. By Emil Schlagintweit, LL. D. 8vo. Leipzig, 1863.

Uranographie Chinoise. Par Gustave Schlegel. Quarto. Leyde, 1875.
Part I, A|fi.

History, Condition and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United
States. By Henry R. Schoolcraft. 6 vols., quarto. Philadelphia,
1851-'57.

Vol. VI, *fff..

Oneota ; or, Characteristics of the Red Race of America. By Henry R.
Schoolcraft. 8vo. New York, 1845.

Die Yolksnamen der Amerikanischen Pflanzen. Gesammelt von Berthold
Seem an. 8vo. Hanover, 1851.

2JLO,

ill f# $£• The SHAN HAI KING, or "Classic of Mountains and Seas."
References Nos. 2245 to 2248, inclusive : an extract from the
Preface, and the Fourth, Ninth, and Fourteenth Books in full.

Wa Nen Kei, sive Succincti Annales Japonici. Curante Ph. Fr. de Sie-
bold. Quarto. Lugduni Batavorum, 1834.

JLf J5.

B ^IF, ^M1, ^M^, Ml4, MB MB

APPENDIX. 735

Lui Ho, sive Vocabularium Sinense in Koraianum Conversum. By Ph.
Fr. de Siebold. Quarto. Lugduni Batavorum, 1838.
Reference No. 2314, character No. 1065.

Fusang ; or, the Discovery of America by Chinese Buddhist Priests in the
Fifth Century. 12mo. London, 1875.
Letter of Theos. Simpson.

A Vocabulary of Proper Names in Chinese and English. By F. Porter
Smith. 8vo. Shanghai, 1870.

Historia de la Conquista de Mexico. Par Don Antonio de Solis y Riva-
deneyra. Small quarto. Madrid, 1790.

Nicaragua : its People, Scenery, Monuments, etc. By E. G. Squier. 8vo.
New York, 1860.

Tropical Fibres : their Production and Economic Extraction. By E. G.
Squier. 8vo. London, 1863.

Chinese Repository, Vol. II. Quotation from Ta Tsing Leuh-le. Trans
lated from the Chinese by Sir George Thomas Staunton. London, 1810.

Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan. By John
L. Stephens. 2 vols., 8vo. New York, 1843.
Vol. II, W, W, W> W-

Summer Saunterings over the Lines of the Oregou Railway and Naviga
tion Co. 8vo. Portland, Oregon, 1882.

*M*.

Les Religieuses Bouddhistes. Par Mme. Mary Summer. 18mo. Paris,
1873.

A Handbook of the Chinese Language. Parts I. and II. By James Sum
mers. 8vo. Oxford, 1863.
Reference No. 2390, p. xx.
Part I,

II,

736 APPENDIX.

The Rudiments of the Chinese Language. By the Rev. James Summers.
16mo. London, 1864.

HF-

Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, No. 267.

The Haidah Indians of Queen Charlotte's Islands. By James G.
Swan. Quarto. Washington, 1874.

Vocabulary of the English and Malay Languages. By Frank A. Swetten-
ham. 2 vols., 12mo. Singapore, 1881.
Vol. L, *fp.

Voyages, Relations et M6moires Originaux pour Servir d 1'Histoire de la
D6couverte de I'AmSrique. Publies par H. Ternaux-Compans. Vol.
IX. First Series. 8vo. Paris, 1838.

Relation du Voyage de Cibola, Enterpris en 1540.

HF> ****. *«*» W, W, W, W

Voyages, Relations et Memoires Originaux pour Servir & 1'Histoire de la
Decouverte de l'Ame>ique. Publies par H. Ternaux-Compans. Sec
ond Recueil de Pieces sur le Mexique. 8vo. Paris, 1840.

%3-gS ^W"* $ee a^° Zumarraga, Salmeron, Ramerez, and Men-
doza.

Voyages, Relations et Me"moires Originaux pour Servir a 1'Histoire de la
Decouverte de l'Ame>ique. Publics pour la Premiere Fois en Fran-
cais, par H. Ternaux-Compans. Recueil de Pieces sur la Floride. 8vo.
Paris, 1841.

*4f^

Contributions to North American Ethnology. Vol. V. Quarto. "Wash
ington, 1882.

A Study of the Manuscript Troano, by Cyrus Thomas, Ph. D.

Les Migrations des Peuples, et Particulierement celle des Touraniens. Par
Ch. E. de Ujfalvy de Mezo-Kovesd. 8vo. Paris, 1873.

*H^

Mexican Paper— An Article of Tribute. By Ph. J. J. Valentini, Ph. D.
8vo. Worcester, 1881.

4tP-

Venegas, Miguel. — Histoire Naturelle et Civile de la Californie. Traduite
de 1'Anglois, par M. E. 3 vols., 18mo. Paris, 1767.
Vol. L, *#*-.

M. Viollet-le-Duc. See le Due.

APPENDIX. 737

L'Anne"e Ge"ographique. Third Year. 8vo. Paris, 1865.

Chapter entitled " Une Yieille Histoire Remise a Flot." By M.
Vivien de Saint-Martin.

A Vocabulary of the English, Bugis, and Malay Languages. 8vo. Singa
pore, 1833.

«i4*.

A New Voyage and Description of the Isthmus of America. By Lionel
Wafer. 8vo. London, 1699.

W, W, fft, W> W-

Report upon United States Geographical Surveys West of the 100th Me
ridian, in Charge of First Lieut. George M. Wheeler. Vol. VII.
Archaeology. Quarto. Washington, 1879.

Reports of Explorations and Surveys from the Mississippi River to the
Pacific Ocean. 12 vols., quarto. Washington, 1856.

Vol. III. Article entitled " Report upon the Indian Tribes." By
Lieut. A. W. Whipple, Thomas Ewbank, Esq., and Professor William
W. Turner.

Magazine of American History. Vol. IX., No. 4, April, 1883.

Article entitled "Concerning Fusang"; containing a letter from the
Rt. Rev. Channing M. Williams.
Reference No. 2483.

The Middle Kingdom. By S. Wells Williams. Fourth edition. 2 vols.,
8vo. New York, 1861.

Vol. L, vto m W. W, m W

Vol. II., *¥*, ^V*. *ir> ^iF, ZH-- ^I

¥?¥,

A Syllabic Dictionary of the Chinese Language. By S. Wells Williams,
LL. D. Quarto. Shanghai, 1874.

, W, W,

738 APPENDIX.

Notices of Fu-sang, and Other Countries Lying East of China. By Profes
sor S. Wells Williams. Presented to the American Oriental Society,
October 25, 1880.

Reference No. 2581.

Las Historias del Origin de los Indios de Esta Provincia de Guatemala.
Traducidas por el R. P. F. Francisco Ximenez. 8vo. Vienna, 1857.

Tres Relaciones de Antiguedades Peruanas. Publfcalas el Ministerio de
Fomento. 8vo. Madrid, 1879.

Article entitled "Relacion de Antiguedades deste Reyno del Piru.""
Por Don Joan de Santacruz Pachacuti Yamqni.

Historia de Mejico. Por D. Niceto de Zamacois. 11 vols., 8vo. Barce
lona and Mexico, 1877-'80.

vol. IL,

Second Recueil de Pieces sur le Mexique. Published by H. Ternaux-
Compans. 8vo. Paris, 1840.

Letters to the King of Spain ; written by Juan de Zumarraga, Bishop
of Mexico.

• Quotations made by other writers, from the works of the
authors named below, are repeated in this bookj i. e. :

Abeel, Rev. David, 243. Biedma, Luis Hernandez de, 169.

Acosta, Joseph de, 32, 33, 101, 112, Boturini Bernaducci, Cavaliere Lo-

500, 577. renzo, 145, 393.

Allen, Francis A., 200. Bradford, Alex. W., 168.

Aratus, 145. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Abb6, 111,

Armstrong, Alex., 245, 346, 347. 128.

Audubon, J., 429. Bretschneider, Dr. E., 242.

Baer, K. E. von, 81. Brickell, John, 429.

Bailly, Jean Sylvain, 146, 147, 158. Buchanan-Hamilton, Francis, 545.

Bancroft, H. H., 199, 231, 241, 245. Buffon, Georges Louis Leclerc,

Bartolli, P. Dan., 163. Comte de, 49.

Beechey, Capt. F. W., 102. Burgoa, Francisco de, 538, 539, 606.

Bell, John, 112. Burnouf, Eugene, 71, 72, 124, 126.

Berlandier, Dr. 428. Bustamante, Carlos Maria de, 169.

APPENDIX.

739

Cabrera de Cordove, L., 116.

Cabrillo, Juan Rodriguez, 427.

Carbajal Espinosa, Francisco, 500.

Carriedo, Juan B., 538.

Oasas, B. de las, 542, 579.

Castaneda de Nagera, Pedro de, 74,
115, 116, 169, 170.

Castaneda, Luciano, 132.

Catherwood, F., 129, 134.

Catlin, George, 123, 199.

Charlevoix, Fr. Xav. de, 35, 427.

Chateaubriand, Viscount de, 75.

Chezy, A. L. de, 152.

Choris, Louis, 346.

Ciec a de Leon, Pedro de, 170.

Clavigero, Francesco Saverio, 96,
97, 145, 500, 614.

Cogolludo, Diego Lopez, 551.

Coleman, C., 134.

Coronado, Francisco Vasquez de,
31, 430.

Coxe, Wm., 346.

Crawfurd, John, 72, 127, 128, 135.

Cronise, Titus Fey, 489.

Davis, W. W. H., 436.

Diaz del Castillo, Bernal, 99.

Drake, Francis, 370.

Dupaix, Capt. Guillermo, 72, 199.

Duran, F. Diego, 467, 500.

Edrisi, Abu Abdallah M. Ben, 94.

d'Eichtal, Gustave, 199.

Forster, John Reinhold, 83.

Fuentes y Guzman, 588.

Gallatin, Albert, 500.

Garcia, Gregorio, 112.

Gaubil, Pere, 20, 82, 147.

Gemelli Carreri, Giovanni Francis
co, 500, 615, 616.

Geminus, 45.

Gentil, M. le, 147.

Gobineau, Count de, 179.

Gomara, Francisco Lopez de, 115,
145, 154, 167, 169, 430, 493, 508.

Gondra, Don Isidro R., 538.

Greaves, John, 499.

Grotius, H., 112.

Guignes, Jos. de, 425.

Hamy, M. E-T., 543.

Hanlay, J., 171, 172.

Heckewelder, Rev. John, 349.

Hennepin, Louis, 427.

Herrera, Antonio de, 98, 420, 427,

454, 493, 523, 557, 572, 617.
Hesiod, 158.

Hieronimus d'Angelis, 102.
Higgins, Godfrey, 552.
Hodgson, B. H., 124.
Hoffman, J., 176.
Home, George, 31, 34.
Hugo, J., 112.
Humboldt, Alex, von, 14, 69, 100,

112, 158, 167, 168, 210, 500, 546.
Humboldt, Wm. von, 545.
Hyde, Thos., 619.
Icazbalceta, Joaquin Garcia, 398.
Ixtlilxochitl, F. de Alva, 365.
James, Edwin, 428.
Jarves, J. J., 102.
Jaubert, Chevalier, 71.
Juarros, Domingo, 588.
Kaempfer, Engelbrecht, 29.
Kalm, Peter, 426.
Keane, A. II., 621.
Keating, Wm. H., 427.
Kennon, Col. Barclay, 8, 171.
Kingsborough, Lord, 132, 136, 365.
Klemm, Gustave. 500.
Koeppen, C. F., 141.
Laet, Joannes de, 427, 500.
Landa, Diego de, 167, 168, 420.
Langsdorff, G. H. von, 122.
Latrobe, Chnrles Joseph, 608.
Lawrence, William, 426.
Lay, G. T., 338.
Led yard, John, 345.
Leidy, Dr. J., 429.
Leland, C. G., 200, 231, 247.
Lenoir, Alex., 127, 136, 199.

740

APPENDIX.

Leon, Martin de, 500.
Leon y Gama, A. de, 500, 501.
Lewis and Clarke, Capts., 75, 349,
Long, Maj. S. H., 428.
Lopez, Geronimo, 493.
Lorenzana, Arzobispo F. A., 501.
Loureiro, J. de, 94, 195.
Low, Capt. Jas., 133, 554.
Lubbock, Sir J., 118.
Maldonado, Juan Alvarez, 496.
Martin, Pere, 427.
Martyr, Peter, 98, 472.
Maundevile, Sir John, 159.
Maury, Lieut. M. F., 121, 122, 131.
Mendieta, Geronimo de, 398.
Miles, Colonel W., 82.
Mofras, Duflot de, 68, 75.
Molina, Alonso de, 65.
Morrison, M. C., 243.
Motolinia (Toribio de Benavente),

197, 398, 500.
Mueller, J. W. von, 500.
Niza, Fra Marcos de, 170.
Oviedo y Valdes, G. F. de, 493.
Pauthier, G., 74.
Piedrahita, Don Lucas F., 560.
Pinto, F. Mendez, 243.
Plan-Carpin, J. du, 570.
Polo, Marco, 159.
Pratz, Le Page du, 426.
Prescott, William H., 96-99, 158,

172, 210.

Rafn, C. Christian, 116.
Rennell, J., 445.
Richardson, John, 346.
Rio, Antonio del, 133.
Riviero, Mariano Eduardo, 162.
Rosny, L6on de, 174.
Rubruquis, G. de, 570.
Sabin, M. de, 126, 188.
Sahagun, Bernardino de, 169, 237,

365, 500, 615.

Saint Pierre, Bernardin de, 68.

Schmidt, I. J., 545.

Schoolcraft, Henry R., 453.

Siebold, P. F. de, 86.

Simpson, James H., 436.

Smith, Capt. John, 349.

Soto, Fernando de, 169, 431.

Squier, E. G., 133.

Stephens, John L., 127, 134, 199.

Stevenson, Dr. J., 545.

Stolberg, Count, 546.

Swift, Dean J., 243, 709.

Taylor, Isaac, 570.

Ternaux-Compans, Henri, 62, 74,

115, 169, 617.
Titsingh, I., 85.
Tonti, Chevalier de, 31.
Torquemada, Juan de, 101, 145,

369, 430, 500, 542, 579.
Trigault, P., 499.

Tschudi, John James von, 544, 602.
Turner, Capt. S., 570.
Tylor, Edward B., 522, 620, 621.
Valades, P. F., 145.
Valmont de Bomare, 59.
Vasquez, Antonio, 588.
Vater, Johann Severin, 143, 158.
Venegas, Miguel, 427.
Veniaminoff, Ivan, 6, 121, 350, 356.
Vetancnrt, Augustin de, 500.
Veytia, Don Mariano, 365, 500,

538.
Villagutierre Soto-Mayor, Juan de,

551.

Viollet-le-Duc, M. , 199, 546.

Waldeck, Frederic de, 134, 199,

200.

Whipple, A. W., 123.
Wrarigell, Admiral F. von, 121.
Yule, Col. H., 111.
Zuago, Alonzo, 475.
Zurita, Alonzo de, 99.

INDEX.

Transcriptions of Chinese words, in SMALL CAPITALS ; English, in Roman ; and
other languages, in Italics.

Abancay, pyramids in, 565.

Abara, a name of Tuma, 563.

Abbassides, an Arabic dynasty, 37.

Abhayagiri, a pyramid in Ceylon, 602.

Abhyavakdshika, definition of. 443.

Abode of the dead, Aztec road to, 590.

Absinthe, a plant resembling, 30 ;
Mexican, 508 ; sage-brush so called,
509 ; eaten by animals, 511. See,
also, Artemisia.

Abuya, an Amazon town, 493.

Abyssinia, idols in, 71.

Acalan, tame deer kept in, 431.

Acatl, a Mexican sign, 150.

Achiotl, seeds of, 471.

Achiutla, high-priest of, 579.

Adam, M. Lucien, article by, 192.

Adam's Peak, Buddha's foot-prints
on, 72, 553.

Adams County, Ohio, bones found in,
429.

Adobes, used in construction of pyra
mids, 605.

Adobe walls, boards used in con
structing, 419 ; in Fu-sang, 268 ; in
Country of Women, 314 ; in Cali
fornia, 518.

Adultery, punishment of, in Mexico,
437.

Afghanistan, Cophene situated in,446.

Africa, conquests in, by Arabs, 37;
unknown to Europeans, 454.

Agates, found in Alaska, 356.

Agate-gem, a mythical tree, 416.

Agave (American aloe, maguey, metl,
or century-plant); peculiarities of,
400; description of, 98, 195, 384;
illustration of, 385 ; abundance of,
in Mexico, 98, 394; reproduction
of, 400; Mexican name for, 375,

376 ; a double species, 236 ; resem
blance to cacti, 394 ; called a this
tle, 398; called hemp, 173; called
a tree, 384; indifference to soil,
386; value to the Aztecs, 98, 172,
375, 379 ; sprouts, 390 ; resem
blance to those of bamboo, 389;
edibility, 390 ; thorny leaves, 388 ;
used as fuel, 525 ; lye made from
its ashes, 525 ; thorns used in pen
ance, 544 ; not mentioned in ac
count of Fu-sang, 195 ; plants used
as hedges, 399 ; size of flowering-
stalks, 383; used as beams, 386;
period for blossoming, 400 ; de
scription of fiber, 393; its value,
521 ; called " silk," 521 ; the leaves
the " silk-worms " of Fu-sang, 525 ;
preparation of fiber, 526 ; uses, 98 ;
paper made therefrom, 392 ; cloth
made therefrom, 392 ; sap called
" milk," 397 : liquor made from
sap, 98, 196, 384, 397; now called
" pulque," 384, 397 ; said not to be
mentioned in account of Fu-sang,
235; called uitztli, 380; or ocfli,
397 ; described as wine, 533 ; whit
ish like whey, 397 ; plant identified
as the fu-sang tree, 165 ; said not
to be the fu-sang tree, 194 ; did it
exist in Corea ? 401 ; its introduc
tion in China, 173. See, also, Ma
guey and Fu-sang tree.

Age, great, of Japanese, 631 ; of Japa
nese sovereigns, 624.

Age at which inhabitants of Country
of Women became adult, 306.

Age to which pygmies live, 494.

Age of mines near Lake Superior, 118.

Age of Mexican pyramids and tem
ples, 598.

Age, how reckoned by Buddha, 464.

742

INDEX.

Age, how reckoned in China and
Japan, 464.

Ages, four, Hindoo account of, 615.

Agnese, Baptiste, map drawn by, 370.

Agriculture, taught by the Toltecs,
430.

Ahuacatt, a Mexican fruit, 587.

Ainos, description of, 83, 85; de
scribed as ' " Hairy People," 681 ;
growth of hair upon, 84 ; home of,
84; tattooing, 84; dwellings, 86;
differences between, and Tartars,
187 ; resemblance to American
tribes, 143 ; accompanied a Japa
nese embassy, 85 ; identified as the
WIN SHAN, 84, 186.

Akafsuma. See Atsuma.

Akwa, king of PE-TSI, 627. ^

Alabaster used for ornamenting build
ings, 528.

A-LAN-JO, definition of, 441.

Alarcon, expedition of, 169.

Alaska, meaning of the name, 339;
communication between, and Asia,
9 ; visited from Kamtchatka, 183 ;
distance from Kamtchatka, 164;
from Central America, 183 ; at dis
tance stated from Fu-sang, 189;
excursion to, from Oregon, 447 ; as
much west of Mexico as north, 361 ;
breakers near, 340 ; Japanese crew
wintered near, 101 ; Hwui Shan's
description of, 324, 326; precious
stones found in, 356 ; climate, 121,
354; identified as Great HAN, 92,
336.

Alaskans, religious ideas of, 6 ; hospi
tality, 348 ; kindness, 350 ; merry
nature, 347 ; fondness of orna
ments, 352 ; tattooing, 345 ; inunda
tions of dwellings, 354; lack of
fortifications, 351 ; trials of medi
cine-men, 357; punishment of
witches, 357 ; language, 344 ; word
" Shaman " in, 6 ; customs same as
those of Aleuts, 344.

Albinos in America, 506.

Aleutian Islands, skirted by Pacific
gulf-stream, 9; peaks of a sub
marine mountain-chain, 9 ; connect
Asia and America, 8, 9, 39 ; route
to Fu-sang passed via, 447 ; bound
ary between two seas, 8; climate,
9, 121 ; breakers upon, 340 ; ship
wrecks upon, 10; large wild ani
mals exterminated in, 357 ; descrip
tion of, 122; identified as land of
WXN SnXx, 92, or " Marked Bodies,"
335; Ainos in, 84; population of, 341.

Aleutian family, members of, 90.

Aleuts, tradition as to former home,
340 ; voyages made by, 171 ; de
scription of, 86 ; hospitality, 348,
350 ; merry nature, 347 ; tattooing,
92, 345, 346; boring of nose, etc.,
92 ; fondness of ornaments, 352 ;
hats made by, 352 ; dwellings, 353 ;
lack of fortifications, 351 ; chiefs
of, 351 ; all ^Esquimaux, 344 ; lan
guage, 344 ; customs same as those
of Alaskans, 344 ; no money used
by, 356.

Alexander the Great, fables regard
ing, 95.

Aliman, a Mexican province, 491.

Alkalies, used in preparing agave-
fiber, 526.

Alligator-pear, a Mexican fruit, 587.

Allowances to be made for errors in
Hwui Shan's story, 335, 708.

Almaizar, a garment, 617.

Aloe. See Agave.

Alpacas, possibly called " horses," 59.

Alphabet introduced into China, 440.

Alphabet of Yucatan, inventor of, 556.

Altars, Buddhist, 133.

Altars upon pyramids, 600.

Alum used as a mordaunt, 471.

Alvarado, welcomed with music, 424.

Amanam, designation of priests, 74.

Amarsinh, reference to works of, 144.

Amazons, Hwui Shan's account of,
93; mention by MaundevLe and
Marco Polo, 244; by Lily, 454;
tales regarding, 213, 487, 488, 489,
490, 491, 492, 493 ; explanation re
garding, 226; derivation of name,
489. See, also, Women, Country of.

Amber, prized by Aleuts and Chinese,
357.

America, Buddha's command a suffi
cient reason for visiting, 8, 684 ;
Who Discovered? 171 ; several dis
coveries, 193 ; thought to be Mero-
pide, 55 ; visited by Northmen, 49 ;
and by Irish, 92 ; ancient relations
of other nations with, 56 ; western
coast of long unexplored, 54, 55 ;
discovery by Russians, 22.; its
northwestern coast, 28 ; its pecul
iarities, 447 ; trend of the coast,
360 ; suggestion that Chinese came
from, 220 ; natural marvels, 233 ;
routes by which crossed, 549 ; made
for Americans, 201 ; its oldest his
tory, 95 ; Chinese transcription of
the name, 406 ; pygmies in, 496 ;
animals of, 115 ; different from

INDEX.

743

those of Old World, 426 ; but given
names of those of Europe, 33 ; cat
tle brought to, by Columbus, 427 ;
horses and mammoths in, 203 ;
elephants in, 608 ; deer, 69 ; flora
connected with that of Asia, 97 ;
imperfect knowledge of flora of,
165 ; vines in, 94, 110, 116, 211,
212, 415 ; no fu-sang tree in, 189 ;
identified as Fu-sang. 118, 140 ;
not Fu-sang, 189 ; no other large
country east of China and Japan,
57 ; ease of voyage to, from Asia,
8, 121, 139, 155, 171, 183, 193, 194,
447, 685 ; difficulties of voyage,
190 ; reached by Pacific gulf-
stream, 9 ; winds 'toward, 63 ; dif
ferent steps of route to, known by
natives, 685 ; Chinese and Japanese
may have drifted to, 241 ; Chinese
voyage to, 19, 168 ; known by Chi
nese and Japanese, 104 ; and by
other Asiatic tribes, 87 ; migration
to, very early, 159, 160; probable
communication with Asia, 158 ; be
lief therein, 621 ; lack of proof, 122,
351 ; communication with, by Bud
dhists, 7, 113, 162, 197; how peo
pled, 34, 35, 81, 231 ; Asiatic tribes
transplanted to, 153 ; not peopled
by Asiatics, 180. See, also, Alaska,
Oregon, California, Arizona, New
Mexico, Mexico, Yucatan, Guate
mala, Anahuac, Palenque, Peru,
Bogota, and South America.
American tribes, not autochthones,
76 ; civilization of, 168 ; confined
to Pacific coast, 173, 708 ; resem
blance of, to Asiatics, 35, 36, 81, 87,
110, 111, 155, 158, 172,184, 516 ; all
of same race, 622 ; wars of, 198 ;
cruelty of, 33 ; extermination of
some tribes, 33, 95 ; decadence of,
132, 153 ; fondness for wandering,
348 ; reliance upon hospitality, 349 ;
councils of, 436; tattooing, 345,
346 ; serpents worn as ear-orna
ments, 680; arch not known by,
605 ; milk not used by, 190 ; paper
made by, 194 ; copper used by, 117;
iron unknown to, 117, 194; work
ing of stone by, 151 ; fortifications
of, 198 ; ruins' left by, thought to
be like those of Asia; 72 ; customs
and arts of, like those of Asia, 112,
142, 160, 200, 706, 707; traditions
of, explained in different ways, 199,
201 ; religion of, 157 ; Christian in
fluence thought to be found among,

199; languages of a common origin,
81 ; similarity to those of Asia, l.">i; ;
inscriptions might be read by Chi
nese, 156 ; introduction of appella
tion " Shaman," 6 ; cities of, with
Asiatic names, 111.

American Oriental Society, article
read before, 230.

American Philological Magazine, quo
tations from, 16, 161.

Amethysts found in Alaska, 356.

Amoor River, exploration of valley of,
187 ; nature of country near, 24 ;
Buddhist monuments ' near, 126 ;
tribes near, 82, 87, 187 ; Hyperbo
reans lived near, 55, 63 ; ease of voy
age from, to America, 194 ; distance
from LIEU-KUEI,^, 87; on route
to Great HAN, 126 ; which was near
mouth of, 137, 186, 188.

Anadir, gulf of, 82.

Anahuac, meaning of term, 96 ; arrival
of Aztecs in, 96 ; civilization of, in
fluenced by Asia, 160 ; reign of
Quetzalcoatl in, 541 ; languages of,
111 ; Aztec languages spoken in,
366.

Ananda, garments made by, 553.

Anchitherium, an equine genus, 482.

Anchors of Mexico and China, 155.

Anderson, Major, essay by, 76.

Androgynae, descriptions of, 451, 454.

Angara River, Chinese name of, 24,
45 ; Great HAN near, 247.

ANG-KO-LA, Chinese name of the An
gara, 24, 45.

Anian, strait of, 14, 28.

Animals, floated on cakes of ice, 36.
American, 115 ; different from those
of Old World, 426 ; figures of, in
pairs, 129 ; none used by Aztecs,
99 ; fantastic descriptions of, in
SHAN HAI KING, 678 ; gods with
bodies of, 651, 665.

Annals of Voyages, articles from,
16.

Annual Registers of China and Japan,
84, 85, 86, 87. See, also, NAN-SSE,
LIANG-SSE, and Nipon-Ki.

Antaravdsaka, a Buddhist robe, 553.

Antelopes, gait of, 452 ; migrations
of, 512 ; possibly called " horses,"
484.

AN-T'O-HOEI, a Buddhist robe, 553.

Ants larger than foxes, 451.

Anurddhapura, pyramids of, 602.

Anuswara, nasals resembling, 541.

Apaches, courtship of, 433; expedi
tion against, 390.

744

INDEX.

Apes, mistaken for men, 516; worship
of, 495. See, also, Monkeys.

Apianus, map drawn by, 370.

Apollo, offerings to, by Hyperboreans,
55.

Apollonius, life of, 59, 69.

Apples, said to exist in Fu-sang, 212.

Ara, a tribe of Ainos, 85.

Arabia, pygmies in, 494.

Arabs, knowledge by, of Cape Verde

Islands, 38 ; knowledge of eastern

lands, 94 ; accounts by, of land of

Amazons, 94, 488 ; explorations of,

^ 37 ; voyages of, to China, 446.

Aranyaka, definition of, 441.

Aratus, reference to, 146.

Arawack, grammatical peculiarities
of, 111.

Arch, not known to Americans, 605 ;
a species of false, 605.

Archipelago on American coast, 448.

Architecture of Mexican monuments,
96 ; similarity to that of Asia, 136,
155.

Arctic Ocean, entered by Pacific gulf-
stream, 9 ; visited by Tartarian
tribes, 25 ; Chinese knowledge of,
82.

Arctic region, Herodotus's descrip
tion of, 451.

Ardahnari, group attributed to, 129.

Argippeans, a peaceful tribe, 59.

Arikaras, dwellings of, 354.

Ariki, kings of Oceanica, 61.

Arizona, vines in, 415 ; mirrors in,
522 ; not Fu-sang, 196.

Arms of Japanese, 164, 631, 640.

Arms not used in Great HAN, 216,
324 ; or in Fu-sang, 207, 270.

Armour of quilted cotton, 420, 618.

Arrakan, candidates for priesthood in,
582. '

Arrian, works of, 95 ; description of
Cophene River, 445.

Art, American, analogies of, 200.

Arts taught by Quetzalcoatl, 542.

Arts taught by Buddhist priests, 572,
620.

Arts, East Indian, existing in Fu-
sang, 76.

Artemisias, eaten by animals, 511;
aroma of, 510; varieties of, 510.
See, also, Absinthe.

Artemisia Laciniata, an Asiatic plant,

Artocarpus. See Bread-fruit tree,

165.
Asbestos, or "Salamander's wool,"

225, 532.

Ascetics, found in many lands, 198.

Asceticism of Aztec monks, 575.

Ashes, criminals smothered in, 208,
276, 435, 437.

Ashes of the fu-sang used for lye,
224.

Ashes of dead collected in a vase,
159.

Asia, ease of voyage from, to America,
8, 121, 139, 155, 171, 183, 193, 194,
447, 685 : belief in communication
with America, 351, 621 ; communi
cation very remote, 160; connection
of civilization with that of Amer
ica, 706, 707; no room in, for Great
HAN, 216; or Fu-sang, 105; un
known to Europeans, 454; Hawaii-
ans said to have come from, 102 ;
pyramids in, 601 ; veneration of the
cross in, 552 ; punishment of crime
in, 464.

Asiatics, common civilization of, 620 ;
use of arms by, 216 ; milk not used
by, 621 ; civilization of, similar to
that of Americans, 112,142; resem
blance of, to Americans, 35, 36, 81,
87, 110, 111, 155, 158, 172, 184, 516 ;
civilization of, introduced into Fu-
sang, 456, 470 ; names of their cities
applied to American citieJs, 111.

Asiatic coast, Chinese knowledge of,
82. m

Asiatic ecliptic, 144.

Asiatic Society, foundation of, 66.

Asiatic zodiac, its names repeated in
those of the Mexican months, 143.

Asoka, death of, 5.

Aspen Mountain, 644, and River, 663.

Assyrian art, analogies of, to that of
America, 200.

Astree, her place in the zodiac, 150.

Astronomer Hi-Ho, 250.

Astronomers of HWANG-TI, 221.

Astronomical globes, invention of,
221.

Astronomical ideas of Mexicans and
Asiatics, 148.

Astronomical observations — Chinese
never measured distances by, 330.

Ata-sil, eight Buddhist command
ments, 567.

Ateles, a species of Mexican monkey,
496.

Atemoztli, a Mexican month, 512.

Athena3um, account published by,
202.

Atka, language of people of, 344.

Atl, Aztec word for water, 150.

Atlantis, tales regarding, 56, 58.

INDEX.

745

Atlcahualco, a Mexican month, 512.

Atogi introduces writing into Japan,
627.

Atsowm-a, or

Atsuma, the Japanese Country of
Women, 178, 639.

Attou Island, distance of, from other
islands, 9.

Atzacuatco, a ward of Mexico, 369.

Aubin. Mexican books of, 167.

Aukland, Lord, Director of Asiatic
Society, 66.

Aureola, about head of Buddha, 131,
132.

Aureola, origin of, 132.

Author's translations, reasons for, 259,
642.

Avatcha, a Kamtchatkan port, 22,
28.

Avebury, monoliths of, 601.

Avezac, de, conversations with, 68.

Avocado-pear, a Mexican fruit, 587.

Axum, idols at, 71.

Azores, wood from America thrown
on, 38.

Aztecs, resemblance of, to Japanese,
62 ; said to have come from Asia,
34, 74; migrated from north, 32,
149; arrival at Anahuac, 96; at
Mexico, 362 ; migrations before
Toltec era, 366 ; flight at time of
conquest, 32 ; warlike nature, 190 ;
cruelty, 74, 96 ; degeneration of,
574 ; not builders of Mexican pyra
mids, 598 ; history of, does not run
far back, 95 ; civilization derived
from Toltecs, 365 ; coincidences
with Asiatic civilization, 17, 706 ;
explanation of civilization of, 622 ;
religion, 157, 172 ; bloody nature
of, 77, 162 ; incongruity of, 574 ;
Noah called Coxcox, 146 ; mytholo
gy, 154 ; resemblance of religion to
that of Asia, 170, 615 ; to Bud
dhism, 97 ; to Roman Catholicism,
568 ; absence of Christian doctrines,
585 ; superstitions, 590 ; Hades of,
459, 590; religious orders, 198;
duties of, 576 ; discipline, 577 ; as
ceticism, 575 ; food, 577 ; garments,
580 ; marriage, 581 ; resemblance to
Buddhist priests, 582; a god of,
613 ; modesty of idols of, 613 ; be
lief in return of Quetzalcoatl, 547 ;
hieroglyphics or picture-writing, 34,
168, 421, 536 ; books, 167, 618 ; pa
per, 98 ; astronomical ideas like
those of Asia, 148 ; zodiac resem
bling that of Asia, 149; not con

fined to Mexican animals, 149;
months same as divisions of Asiatic
zodiac, 143 ; cycles, 143 ; divisions
of time, 475, 476 ; chronological sys
tem of, 159 ; calendar, 144 ; new-
year, 500 ; months of, used at Nut-
ka, 168; week of five days, 475,
571 ; day Atl, 145 ; laws, 99 ; pris
ons, 459 ; punishment of criminals,
437, 464, 465 ; councils, power of,
436 ; monarchs, pomp of, 421, 423 ;
mantles worn by, 472 ; marriage
ceremonies, 479 ; slavery, 462 ; cot
ton armour, 618 ; resembling that
of Tartars, 420; architecture resem
bling that of Chinese, 155 ; monu
ments near Gila River, 149; metals
known, 431; iron unknown, 431;
art of casting metals, 572; working
gems, 416, 573 ; vases resembling
those of Japanese, 573 ; mirrors,
522 ; paints and dyes, 471 ; symbol
ism of colours. 616; dwellings, 419;
garments, 617; cakes, 620, 708;
markets, 432 ; barter, 432 ; uses of
century-plant, 386; game of, 620;
toys given by, 620 ; music, 422 ;
mourning, 466 ; dogs, 147 ; tamed
deer, 430 ; language, rules of, 540 ;
abbreviations in, 376 ; extension of,
366, 367 ; language same as that of
Toltecs, 365 ; place-names, exten
sion of, 366 : words resembling Asi
atic words, 150, term for milk, 397;
its meaning, 398. See, also, Mexi
cans.

Aztlan, civilization of, 149 ; meaning
of name, 506.

Azure Sea, Fu-sang in, 236.

Bacchacan, traditions regarding, 565.
Backgammon or pacJiisi, 620.
Bad Lands, beds of fossils in, 203.
Baikal, Lake, 24, 45, 126, 187, 215.
Bajucos, Mexican trees, 618.
Balang-ko, Hindoo altars, 133.
Bald Mountain, 646.
Bamboos, shape of leaves of, 195.
Bamboo-sprouts, illustration of, 389 ;

edibility of, 390 ; mulberry-sprouts

do not resemble. 164.
Bamboo books, 659, 665, 677.
Bamboo Mountain, 647.
Banana, leaves and fruit of, 682 ;

called pisang, 58, 405; identified

with the fu-sang tree, 642.
Bancroft, II. II., comments of, . on

INDEX.

story of Fu-sang, 17; criticisms of,
622.

Baptize, Chinese transcription of, 404.
Baracjere, opinion of M., 573.
Barbarians, Chinese name for for
eigners, 81. See, also, Eastern and

Northern Barbarians.
Bark, fiber produced from, 391 ; used

for making paper, 167; extract

used for mixing stucco, 605.
Barking,, by Tasncas, 106; language

of Apaches compared to, 517.
Bar many, pagodas of, 112.
Barter, by Aleuts, 356 ; by Mexicans,

432.
Basques, visits of, to Newfoundland,

113.
Basque language, 111. See, also, Eus-

karian.

Bazin, M., article by, 670.
Beans, eaten in Country of Women,

213, 314; raised by Aztecs, 517.
Bean Mountains, 648.
Bears, in Jesso, 681 ; exterminated in

Aleutian Islands, 357.
Beards, difference of, among different

nations, 35 ; lack of, by Chinese, 84.
Bearded men, traditions of, 490, 555.
Beasts of burden, none in America,

170, 190, 196, 481.
Beautiful Green Hills, 658.
Beavers, possibly described as sables,

534.
Begging, commanded to Buddhist

monks, 441.

Behring, discovery made by, 120.
Behring's Island, 9 ; tattooing on,

346.

Behring's Strait, prediction of its ex
istence, 14; Mongolians near, 82;

Pacific gulf-stream flows through,

9 ; easily crossed, 183.
Benares, Chinese transcription of,

404.

Bengal, nopal growing in, 76.
Bhdgavat Parana, 152, 154.
Bhavani, wife of Siva, 546.
Bhikshu, title of Buddhist monks,

42, 540 ; meaning of term, 440.
BJiikshus, observances imposed on,

440.
Bibliography of discussion regarding

Fu-sang, 13, 205.

Big-bone Lick, bones found at, 428.
Bignonia tomentosa, said to be the

TUNG tree, 387.
Binapa, an Amazon town, 493.
Birch, Mr., Secretary of Royal So
ciety, 29.

Birds, monkeys compared to, 535.
Birds which bear human beings, 222,

239, 534.

Birds with hair, 644 : with rats' legs,
654, 680 ; with rats' tails, 651 ; with
two heads, 661.
Birds, Valley of, 644.

Bisons found in America, 59, 69, 115 ;
herds of, 169; description of, 427;
in Montezuma's garden, 427 ; for
mer range of, 427; not found on
Pacific coast, 196; use as draught
animals, 169, 190; horns of, 428;
weight of, 429; called vaccas, 115;
or " cattle," 426.

Bison latifrons, an extinct species,
428, 429.

Bitdra Gdna, or Ganesa, 611, 612.

Bitumen on Mexican coast, 533.

Black dye, bitumen used as, 533.

Black-haired race, Chinese so called,
498.

Black-Hip Country, 660, 665.

Black-People's Kingdom. 495.

Black River, or Black-dragon River,
the Amoor, 87.

Black Stream. See Kuro-Siwo.

Black-Teeth Country, 182, 633, 644,
658, 664, 681.

Black Valley, 225, 532.

Blue and green confounded, 209, 471,
616.

Blumer, Rev. A., discovery of ele
phant-pipe by, 610.

Boa-constrictor, a symbol of the sun's
course, 73.

Boards used in constructing adobe
walls, 419.

Boats, of Alaskans, 29 ; with pelicans
at bow, 168.

Bochica, the hero of the Muyscas,
543 ; teachings of, 560 ; came from
Asia, 143 ; a Buddhist priest, 162 ;
fabulous, 198 ; derivation of name,
561.

Bodhi-dharma, journey of, 440.

Bodhi-sattwa, a class of Buddhists,
485 ; title of KWAN YIN, 4 ; defini
tion of, 485.

Bodleian Library, Chinese maps in,
50 ; Mexican manuscript in, 464.

Bogota, people of, 60 ; possibly visited
by Buddhists, 62, 74 ; Japanese ori
gin of, 63 ; civilization of, derived
from Asia, 15.

Bokhara, said to be KI-PJN, 123, 213.

Bonito, estufas at, 435.

Book of Changes. See Y KING.

Book of Exhortations- See LUN-YU.

INDEX.

74T

Book of Filial Piety. See HIAO KING.

Book of the Flowers of the Law, 635.

Book of Mountains and Seas. See
SHAN HAI KING.

Book of the Waters, 674.

Books burned in China, 220.

Books of Mexicans, 167, 618 ; of Tol-
tecs, 96; made from agave fiber,
391.

Border about seated figure, 132.

Borgian Museum, manuscript of, 145.

Borneo, voyages of people of, 36.

Boro-Budor, temple of, in Java, 61,
71, 135, 602.

Bos Americanus. See Bison.

Bos moschatus. See Musk-oxen.

Botany of Chinese, 213.

B6rpvs, Japanese transcription of, 42.

Boun-zin. See WAN SH!N.

Bows and arrows, in Kamtchatka, 90 ;
may have been used in Fu-sang,
208.

Brahma, Chinese transcription of,
404.

Brahmanic hermit, Buddha a, 3.

Brahmanism, its persecution of Bud
dhism, 5, 143, 446: mixture with
Buddhism, 124, 126, 544 ; cruel rites
of, 162, 544; practices similar to
those of American tribes, 112, 198.

Branches, divisions of time so called,
682.

Brasseur de Bourbourg, references to,
16, 167, 500, 607.

Brazil visited by Scandinavians, 49,
63 ; road from, 563.

Brazos River, bones found near, 428.

Bread, of the Aztecs, 620.

Bread-fruit tree, 165, 166.

Breakers, about Aleutian Islands, 341.

Breasts, women destitute of, 306 ; fe
male monkeys destitute of, 501, 502.

Bretschneider, Dr. B., letter from, 174.

Bricks, used in pyramids, 605.

Bridal processions in China, 478.

Bridges, suspension, in China and
Mexico, 618.

Bright Star Mountain, 664.

Britains, Caesar's account of, 335.

British Columbia, Chinese coins found
in, 184 ; carved posts of Indians of,
352.

British Islands, a possible route to
America, 37.

Bronze, used by the Aztecs, 98.

Broussonetiapapyrifera, 177 ; identi
fied as the fu-sarig tree, 235 ; not
found in Mexico, 236; used for
making paper, 638.

Brown, Rev. Nathan, Essay by, 161.

Buache, Philippe, map made by, 191.

Buddha, birth of, 1 ; his father, 1 ;
education 2 ; abandonment of his
family, 3 ; his supposed discovery,
3 ; his universal charity, 2, 3, 4 ; his
command to teach his doctrine to
all the world, 4, 125; dress pre
scribed by, 552, 553; his death,
586 ; meaning of the appellation,
2 ; his names, 1, 2, 587 ; his name
in Chinese, 123, 404, 595 ; wide dis
tribution of images of, 171 ; images
in Japan, 628, 629; image in Lon
don, 5 ; supposed images of in Yu
catan, 61, 71, 72, 77, 127, 128, 134,
199, 594; foot-prints of, 553; pyra
mids devoted to worship of, 601 ;
symbolized by the elephant, 608;
and by the cross, 552 ; anomaly in
teachings of, 585 ; his command a
sufficient motive for journey to
America, 684 ; means for attaining
the rank of, 3 ; similarity of Quet
zal coatl to, 6, 112.

Buddhism, gentle nature of, 74, 162;
its acceptance of dogmas of other
faiths, 97, 124 ; its respect of the
gods of India, 124 ; of caste, 124 ;
its proselyting spirit, 4, 80, 125 ; its
mixture with Brahmanism, 124,
126, 544; and with Sivaism, 72,
124; persecution by Brahmans, 61,
63, 143, 446 ; expulsion from Cen
tral India, 5 ; persecution in China,
447; spread in China, 440; its in
troduction throughout Asia, 5, 80 ;
in Japan, 47, 110, 121, 164, 628, 635,
641; in Corea, 62; in Eastern Si
beria, 153; in Fu-sang, 296; traces
of in Alaska, 6; in Europe, 5; in
Mexico, 96; its three jewels, 125;
morality preached above ritualism,
125; permitted only fruits and
flowers as offerings, 133; recom
mended penance, 126; books of,
asked for by Coreans, 527; trans
lated into Chinese, 440 : brought to
Japan, 635 ; decalogue, 566 ; thought
to have been influenced by Chris
tianity, 569; resemblance to Roman
Catholicism, 568, 585; attempt to
connect doctrines of LAO-TSE with,
79; resemblance of Aztec religion
to, 172, 582.

Buddhists, failure of to comply with
their rules, 585; eat flesh, 69, 586;
but no milk, 69, 621.

Buddhist monks, travels of, 7, 80, 193 ;

748

INDEX.

records of journeys of, 8, 10; visits
to Northeastern Asia, 138, 188;
route north of China, 18/> ; possible
journeys to America, 113, 143; ob
ject of their travels, 10, 11, 80, 125;
division into classes, 7 ; requirement
to travel in companies, 446 ; their
character, 10; credit due to their
accounts, 11, 80; garments of, 567;
vows and duties of, 440, 582 ; pen
ances of, 583 ; punishment of for in
continence, 584 ; arts taught by, 572,
620; councils of, 5; monasteries,
569 ; nunneries, 583.

Buddhist structures, temples in Ja
pan, 628 ; monasteries and convents,
125 ; monuments near Amoor River,
126, 138; resemblance to Mexican
pyramids, 601-606 ; sanctuary at
Palenque, 127; altars, 133, 134.

Buddha 6rayd, ruins of, 545.

Buffaloes. See Bisons.

Buildings upon pyramids, 601.

Bull, the bison so called, 427.

Burets Teno, Emperor of Japan, 164.

Burial of dead, by American tribes,
159.

Burlingame, Mr., Chinese embassador,
179.

Burmah received Buddhists, 5 ; dress
of priests of, 585 ; badge of rank
used in, 606.

Burning Mountain, 225, 239, 530.

Burning of books in China, 220.

Burning of dead in Asia and Amer
ica, 159.

Burnouf, Bmfle, 67, 678.

Butter, made from milk of hinds, 100 ;
in Fu-sang, 395 ; not used in China,
396 ; or many other Asiatic coun
tries, 621.

Cabul. said to be Cophene, 446 ; nopal-

plant found in, 76.

Cabulistan, the country of KI-PIN, 77.
Cabul River, said to be the Cophene,

445.
Cacao, used as a medium of exchange,

98, 432.

Cacique, title of Indian chiefs, 60.
Cactus, Mexico its native home, 394 ;

introduction of from America, 77.
Cacumatzin, visit to Cortez, 433 ; path

swept before, 617.
Caesar, his account of the Britains,

335 ; repeated by Maundevile, 336 ;

mistakes of, 451.
Cakchiquels, garments of, 391.

Cakes made by the Mexicans, 620.

Calabash, carried by priests, 580.

Calcutta, cochineal insects in, 76.

Calendar of Mexicans, 143, 144, 501,
571 ; introduced by Quetzalcoatl,
547; introduction of Chinese in
Japan, 630.

California, route to from China, 22;
gulf -stream on coast of, 9; Chi
nese and Japanese vessels on coast
of, 9, 31, 101, 168 ; Fu-sang situated
near, 20, 33, 55, 163 ; but not Fu-
sang, 196 ; bisons in, 427 ; deer of,
100; vines of, 415; Wellingtonia
of, 219 ; climate of, 75 ; tales of
Amazons in, 489 ; Indians of, 501 ;
their dwellings, 518.

Calli, Aztec word for house, 150.

Calmucks, zodiac of, 149.

Camaxtli, name of Huitzilopochtli,
381 ; story regarding, 596.

Gamboge, received Buddhists, 5.

Campeachy, image found at, 571.

Camphor-plant, eaten by animals, 511.

Camphor-wood trees, thrown on Un-
alaska, 9.

Canada, moccasins used in, 75 ; monu
ment with Tartarian characters in,
112; reindeer of, 76; resemblance
of natives to Tunguses,' 112.

Canadian voyageurs, their name for
sage-brush, 510.

Canary Islands, visited by Arabs, 37 ;
voyages of natives of, 38.

Canassatego, an Onondaga chief, 349.

Candahar, said to be KI-PIN, 445, 446.

Cannibalism, in Asia and America,
158.

Canoes of the Aleuts, 122.

Cafion of the Colorado River, 532.

Cantico, Mexican story of, 614.

Canton, ice seldom found at, 354;
distance of from Pekin, 330.

Cape of the Women of Yucatan, 489.

Cape Verd Islands, visited by Arabs,
38.

Cappelen, M. van der, drawing of, 71.

Capricornus, a marine monster, 145.

Capuchin monkeys, 498 ; origin of
name, 506.

Caracorum, the Mongolian capital, 44,
187; on route to Great HAN, 23;
Chinese transcription of, 404.

Carbonate of lime, use of by Aztecs,
605.

Caribs, defense of homes by women,
489.

Carnelians, found in Alaska, 356.

Carolinas, called Great Ireland, 92,

INDEX.

749

Carthaginians acquainted with At
lantis, 56.

Carts in Fu-sang, 24, 286, 480 ; none
in Japan, 640; or America, 190;
"the three," a Buddhist term, 484.

Carvings of Haidah Indians, 352.

Casas Grandes, construction of, 419.

Cashmere, said to be KI-PIN, 445.

Caspian Sea, known to Chinese, 218,
240.

Cassiar, Chinese coins found at, 184.

Caste, existing in India, 2.

Castelnau, M. de, oxen found by, 69.

Casting metals, art of, 572.

Cataldino, Father, removal of, 562.

Cathay, boats from, 169; mechanism
made in, 573 ; name contained in
Quatu-zaca, 74.

Cattle, of America, 33, 35, 114 ; intro
duced into Mexico, 427; not raised
in Japan, 631, 640 ; term applied to
other animals, 426 ; striped like
tigers, 644, 679; with a serpent's
tail, 656 ; with a horse's tail, 653 ;
with one foot, 667 ; probably pho-
caceans, 679.

Cattle-carts of Fu-sang, 286, 480 ; of
India, 64 ; metaphoric use of term,
485.

Cattle-horns of Fu-sang, 210, 284,
424.

Catualcans, commerce of, 31.

Cayotes, a tribe of the Apaches, 517.

Celestial Mountains, visits to, 8.

Celibacy of Buddhist priests, 582;
not universal, 585.

Cempoalfepec, a Mexican mountain,
538, 539.

Centaurs, description of, 454.

Centenarians in Japan, 624, 631.

Centeotl, goddess of maize, 578.

Centli, Aztec term for maize, 315.

Central America, belief of people of,
461 ; colours distinguished in, 471 ;
volcanoes of, 531 ; mirrors used in,
524; false arch in ruins of, 605;
monuments, 71 ; pyramids, 598 ;
analogies to those of Asia, 601, 602,
603 ; analogies of arts, 706 ; ex
planation of civilization, 622.

Central Flower, China so called, 80.

Century-plant. See Agave.

Ceres, place of, in zodiac, 150.

Cervus Mexicanus, 69, 75.

Cetu, an imaginary planet, 72.

Ceylon, origin of, 488; conquest of,
495; visited by Buddha, 553; re
ceived Buddhists, 5 ; religion of,
125; caste in, 585; pyramids of,

602 ; married priests in, 585 ; em
bassy from, 446 ; Adam's Peak, 72.

CHA Hill, 656.

Chaacmol, an American figure, 606.

Chacahua, 76, 77.

Chacamarca, journey of Tonapa along,
565.

Chain, arguments not like links of,
709.

CHA-KIU country, 657.

Chalcas, expedition against, 469.

Chalchihuitl, a Mexican gem, 416;
and a title, 417.

Chaldea, radiation of civilization
from, 131.

Chambers in pyramids, 599, 601.

Chametla, Guzman's army at, 491.

Chan, an American tribe, 111.

CH!N, a poisonous bird, 656.

CHAN, a wind, 665.

CH'AN River, 649.

Chances, application of doctrine of,
359.

CHANG-HOA, a Chinese author, 674.

CHANG-JIN, Kingdom of Giants, 36.

CHANG-K'IAN, a Chinese general, 42.

CHAO-HAO, spirits of, reign of, 671.

CHAO-HOA, commentary by, 673.

CHAO-SHI, commentary by, 673.

CHAO-SIEN, or Corea, 178, 630, 635,
681.

CHAO-YANG, or Corea, 657, 681.

CHAO-YAO, mountain, 665.

Chapati, cakes made in India, 620.

Chapopotli, description of, 533.

Charlemagne, fables regarding, 95.

Charles IV, Duke, globe of, 370.

Charlevoix, Father, 564.

Charnay, M. de, photographs by, 135.

Chattering of monkeys, 498.

Chaves, Gabriel de, 617.

CHE, Chinese characters for, 405.

CH'E, character for " cart," 481.

Chedshen, members of Aleutian fam
ily, 90.

Cheese, of Fu-sang, 395 ; not made in
America, 59, 190; not used in
China, 396.

CHEH-TAN, a god, 665.

CHEN River, 654.

Chepewyans, an American tribe, 346.

Chettro Kettle, estufas at, 435.

CHEU dynasty, 83.

CHEU - PU - CHANG, arrow found by,
662.

CHEU-LI, a Chinese book, 647.

CHEU-PANG-YEN, a Chinese poet, 675.

CHI River, 645.

Chiapas, or Zacatlan, 200, 501, 587.

750

INDEX.

Chibchas, a South American tribe,
561.

Chichen, edifices of, 602, 604.

Chichen-Itza, bas-relief at, 136 ; three
brothers of, 557.

Chichilticale, animals found near,
115.

Chichimecas, history of, 32, 62, 363 ;
deer kept by, 430.

Chiconahuapan, a river in Hades,
590.

CHIE-KEU, a species of bird, 651.

CHIH, or foot, length of, 331.

Chihuahua, bisons in, 428.

Chilan Balam, 551, 559.

Children, manner of carrying, 620;
toys given to, 620 ; school age, 463 ;
sold as slaves, 463; treatment of
illegitimate, 463.

Chili, tradition in, 564.

Chimaltizatl, a species of stone, 471.

Chimizapagua. See Bochica.

Chimsean Indians, 352.

CHIN, Fu-sang tree said to resemble,
219.

CH'IN, a Chinese dynasty, 40.

China, called the Land of HAN, 338 ;
the " Central Flower," 57 ; capital
of, 82 ; introduction of Buddhism,
5, 7, 62; history of Buddhism in,
440; marriage of priests in, 585;
travels of monks from, 80 ; condi
tion in days of Hwui Shan, 440;
emigration from, 83 ; pyramids in,
601 ; ice in, 354 ; adobe walls, 419 ;
vines in, 110; conquest of, by'Mon-
gqls, 34 ; Fu-sang east of, 329 ; dis
tance to, 228 ; route from, to Great
HAN, 126; relations with Kam-
tchatka, 123, 183 ; with Corea, 527 ;
with Japan, 639: with Pacific isl
ands, 101 ; journeys from, to India,
10, 113, 446; voyages to America,
169.

China, Great Annals of, 260.

Chinese, mystery of origin of, 220;
not credulous, 226; liberal with
numbers, 175; precepts, 78, 79;
vanity, 78, 80; insults to foreign
nations, 80, 88; travels of, 18, 19,
79 ; knowledge of foreign lands, 19 ;
may have visited America. 36, 104,
168, 241; no proof, 12^2; traces in
British Cohimbia, 184; fragments
of ship, 101; acquaintance with
Japan, 178rl80, 229; with Ainos,
84 ; with LIEU-KUEI, 87 ; with Ha
waii, 100; knowledge of Fu-sang,
12,,, 254, 642; of Kamtchatka, 180:

of Asiatic ^oast, 82 ; of Pacific isl
ands, ,83j ,$>33> mistakes as to for
eign nafions781 ; inquiries regard
ing foreign nations, 420, 519 ; de
mand for tribute, 520 ; custom of
giving toys, 620 ; non-use of dairy
products, 100, 396, 621 ; marriage
ceremonies, 476 ; mourning - gar
ments, 468 ; method of arranging
hair, 498 ; salt, 508 ; koumiss, 396 ;
visits of foreigners, 79 ; horses, 484 ;
roads, 330 ; suspension - bridges,
618 ; knowledge of compass, 113 ;
not acquainted with glass, 524 ; em
peror's garments, 471 ; laws punish
ing family of criminals, 64 ; nuns,
583 ; persecution of Buddhism,
447 ; cycles, 221 ; zodiac, 145 ; cal
endar, 630; new-year, 499; stand
ards of measure, 329 ; li not used
in Japan, 331 ; customs in Fu-sang,
65, 212, 234; architectui^ similar
to that of Mexicans, ft55 ; resem
blance to American trite, (12,. 1.84,
516; maps show Fu-sang, 50, 94;
jiccftunt of pygmies, 495 ; of '"fairies,
401 ; of monkeys, 514 ; of flying-
men, 535 ; botanical classifications,
213 ; accounts of Amazons, 488,
489 ; of kingdoms of women, 213 ;
of fu-sang tree, 399 ; engraving of
native of Fu-sang, 75 ; burning of
books, 220; Geography of the
World, 242.

Chinese language, peculiarities of, 256,
403 ; characters, how composed,
337 ; meaning of phrases, 256 ;
deficiencies of dictionaries, 257;
transcriptions of foreign words,
253, 257, 404, 414 ; inability to ex
press certain sounds, 234, 403, 413 ;
changes in, 709 ; changes in sound
of characters, 404 ; method of writ
ing Sanskrit words, 440; love of
brevity, 355; lack of punctuation,
353 ; difficulty of translating, 255 ;
etymologies, 339 ; substantive verbs,
444 ; signs of plural, 481 ; transla
tions of names, 339 ; grammar, 17 ;
use in Japan, 629 ; not connected
with American languages, 14;
names in America, 111 ; term for
Gautama, 558 ; for Buddha, 123,
404, 495 ; names of constellations,
523 ; authorities for account of Fu-
sang, 260 ; account of Fu-sang, 262 ;
of Country of Women, 302 ; of land
of " Marked Bodies," 316 : of Great
HAN, 324 ; differences between dif-

INDEX.

751

ferent versions, 261 ; unreliability
of texts, 180; Hwui Shan imper
fectly acquainted with, 709.

CHING, a Chinese Buddhist term, 484.

Chinggis Chakan, reference to, 82.

CHING-MU classic, 659.

CHIX-NONG, Herbal of, 674.

Chinook Indians, description of, 75.

Chippewa language, 398; traditions,

Chiquito language, 111.

Chiriquanos. resemblance to Asiatics,
112.

CHI-SHUAI, duties of the, 632.

CH'I-YIU, a soldier, 667.

CHIU-YU, a species of animal, 649.

Chivim, land from which Votan came,
549.

CHI-WU-MIXG-SHI-TU-K'AO, 176, 177.

CHO-LONG, the Luminous Dragon,
225.

Chocolate, used by Aztecs, 432.

Cholollan, monuments of, 363.

Cholula, reign of Quetzalcoatl at, 197,
541, 543 ; monuments of, 142, 363,
604, 605 ; entrance of Cortez, 154,
423.

Chorhan. See KO-LI-HAN.

Christianity, spread of, 570; influ
ence of Buddhism upon, 570 ; ab
sence of its doctrines in Mexico,
585 ; influences on American tribes,
199 ; its slight effect upon the Az
tecs, 457.

Chronicle of the kingdoms of Wu and
YUE, 673.

Chronological systems of Asia and
America, 159.

CH'U or CHU-SANG, the paper-mulber
ry, 638 ; not the f u-sang tree, 640.

CHUEN-HIO, deluge in time of, 145 ;
spirits of reign of, 671.

CHU-JU, or Pygmy Country, 495, 633.

CHU-JU, a species of animal, 649.

CHU-KEU Mountain, 652.

Chulotecas, a tribe of Nicaragua, 489.

Chumuc Akab, Maya term for mid
night, 476.

CHUNG, a species of locust, 649.

CHUNG NAM SHAN, account given by,
254.

CHUNG-SHEU-KIANG-CH'ING, a city, 23,
44.

CHUN-TSIEU. See "Spring and Au
tumn."

CHUNG-YUNG'S Country, 663.

CHU-PIEH fish, or cuttle-fish, 648.

Chusan Islanders, 633.

CHU-SHING River, 645.

CHU-SHU, or " Bamboo Books," find
ing of, 677.

CHU-SHU, Land of, 84.

CHWA'NG-CHEU, an author, 659.

CHWANG-TSZ', an author, <>.">!), 663.

CHWEN-SUH, a Chinese emperor, 661.

Cibola, description of, 170 ; meaning
of name, 427 ; bisons of, 115, 196 ;
sheep of, 430 ; vines of, 116 ; prick
ly-pears preserved in, 395 ; Palenque
not situated in, 200.

Cicuye, welcome of Alvarado at, 424.

Ciguatan. See Cihuatlan.

Cihuacatzin, an Aztec general, 491.

Cihuacoatl, an Aztec official, 467, 548.

Cihuatl, Aztec word for woman, 514.

Cihuatlampa ehecatl, the west wind,
490.

Cihuatlan, the Mexican " Place of
Women," 490, 491, 492.

Cihuatlanque, Aztec marriage bro
kers, 479.

Cinaloa, distance of, from Mexico, 427.

Cinteotl, the Mexican Ceres, 150.

Cintli, Aztec term for maize, 517.

Cipactli, description of, 145.

Circular pyramids, 600, 601 ; and
temples, 604.

Cities in Asia and America with the
same names, 111.

Civilization, radiation of, from Chal-
dea, 131 ; on banks of Amoor, 138,
187; of American tribes, 168; of
New Mexico, 123 ; of Toltecs, 190 ;
of America on Pacific coast, 31,
173, 708; connection of American
and Asiatic, 14, 17, 119, 142, 156,
160 ; of Mexico, explanation of, 622.

Clams, with pearly shells, 648.

Classic of the Eastern Mountain?, 644.

Classic of Mountains and Seas. See
SHAN HAI KING.

Clavigero, reliability of, 96 ; reply to
criticisms, 622.

Clear River, 654.

Clement of Alexandria. -">70.

Climate, of Kamtchatka, 89 ; of Aleu
tian Islands, 121 ; and Alaska, 122 ;
of northwest coast; of America, 9.

Cloth made by Aztecs, 392; from
fiber of century-plant, 384.

Clothing, of people of Country of
Women, 314. See, also, (Janiicnts.

Co, meaning of Aztec termination,
373, 406.

Coahuila, bisons in, 428.

Coatl, definition of, 548.

Coatlicue, mother of Huitzilopochtli,
614.

752

INDEX.

Coatzacoalcos River, 367, 368.

Coaxayacayo tilmatli, an Aztec man
tle, 472.

Cochin-China, embassy from, 114.

Cochineal, 76, 77, 471.

Cocoa-nut water, use of, 605.

Coco-Maricopa courtship, 434.

Cocomes, reign of, 558.

Cocoons, not made by silk-worms of
Fu-sang, 524.

Code of Competitive Examinations,
676.

Codex Borgianus, 152.

Codex Troano, 168.

Coins, Chinese, found in British Co
lumbia, 184.

Colimonte, a Mexican province, 491.

Collars, an indication of slavery, 465.

Colon, Fernando, map drawn by, 370.

Colopeus, king of Amazonia, 488.

Colorado, Village Indians of, 501.

Colorado River, country near, 74 ;
defensive works near, 108.

Colorado River Canon, 532.

Colours, in Asia, 470; in Central
America, 471 ; in Mexico, 472 ; blue
and green confounded, 471 ; con
nection with divisions of time, 99,
470; used to designate years, 209,
234 ; connected with days of week^
475; with points of compass, 475,
615 ; colours of garments of king
of Fu-sang, 282, 470 ; of priests of
Salvador, 472 ; placed upon corpses,
475 ; of courier's dress, 475 ; of
walls of temples, 615; of inhab
itants of Country of Women, 505 ;
of Mexican monkeys, 506.

Columbia River, Fu-sang near, 55,
68; Lewis & Clark's journey to,
75 ; bar at mouth of, 69 ; villages
near, 60 ; customs in valley of, 501.

Columbus, preceded in America, 49 ;
reasons for expecting to find land,
38 ; called American tribes " In
dians," 230 ; brought cattle to
America, 427.

Comitl, a Mexican hero, 566.

Comitlan, music at, 424.

Companions of the Moon, zodiacal
divisions, 144.

Compass, knowledge of, by Chinese-,
101, 113 ; introduction into Japan,
627 ; colours connected with points
of, 475, 615, 616; leading point of,
615 ; described as a crow with eight
feet, 678.

Con, a Peruvian tradition about, 566;

" Concerning Fu-sang," 181.

Conclusions to which Hwui Sh&n's
story should lead, 341.

Confession, practiced by Buddhists,
126, 569; in Mexico, 198; and in
Nicaragua, 579.

Confinement, places of, 270. See,
also, Prisons.

Confucius, difficulty of understand
ing, 256; CHUX-TSIEU, or "Spring
and Autumn" of, 643, 649, 663,
674; KIA-YU, or "Familiar Dis
courses " of, 672 ; demolition of
house of, 672.

Conifers, called CHIN, 219 ; their
resemblance to the century-plant,
219.

" Considerations Geographiques," 14.

"" Consideration of the Western and
Southern Kingdoms," 674.

Consistency, need of, in interpreta
tion, 342.

Constantinople, Chinese transcription
of, 404.

Constellations, designation of, 523.

Contice, a Peruvian tradition about,
566.

Continence of Mexican priests, 575,
581.

Continental Magazine, an article from,
15.

Convents established by Buddhists,
125.

Cook's Voyages, vocabularies in, 14.

Copan, a colony of Toltecs, 365 ; pyra
mids at, 600 ; bas-relief at, 200.

Cophene, description of, 123, 233 ;
identification of, 445, 446; called
KI-PIN by Chinese, 42 ; Buddhism
in, 446 ; Hwui Sha"n, a native of, 709.

Copper, found in Japan, 47 ; first use
of, 629, 636 ; imperfect purification
of, 636; in America, 58, 117, 432;
used by Aztecs, 98, 431 ; in Fu-
sang, 288, 431; leaves of fu-sang
tree said to resemble, 387.

Copper bells made in America, 74.

Copper Islands, near Kamtchatka, 9.

Coppermine River, 58.

Coral -tree, a mythical tree, 416.

Corea, names of, 681 ; named CHAO-
SIEN, 178, 630, 635, 657, 681 ; CHAO-
TANG, 657, 681 ; Valley of Sunrise,
243 ; origin of name, 549, 626 ; in
tercourse with Japan, 332, 625, 630,
639 ; route to Japan, 634 ; and dis
tance, 65; conquered by Chinese,
178, 630 r intercourse with China,
527; Ma Twan-lin's account of,
209 ; Hyperboreans situated near,

INDEX.

753

55 ; Mongolians near, 82, 87 ; writ
ing used by, 527; old records, 172;
their small value, 527 ; tigers once
found in, 681 ; Hwui Shan journey
ed through, 527; silk-worm eggs
from Fu-sang taken to, 224, 238,
525 ; introduction of Buddhism, 5,
62 ; dresses of Buddhist priests,
567 ; journeys from, 80 ; horses in
troduced, 100 ; route to Great HAN,
53 ; same title found in, as in Fu-
sang, 209; knowledge of Fu-sang
in, 12 ; a story told in, 250 ; not
Fu-sang, 402 ; length of li or ri used
in, 332 ; Corean fishing-boats, 515.

Cornice, upon temple at Mictlan, 606.

Corpse, wrappings of, in Mexico, 475.

Cortez, expedition of, 169; entrance
into Cholula, 154; welcomed by
music, 423 ; visited by Cacumatzin,
433, 617 ; use of name " Mexico "
by, 372 ; presents sent by, to Charles
V, 572; title bestowed on, 417;
army of, fed on prickly-pears, 395.

Cosmogonal traditions of Mexico, 158.

Cosmogonies of America and Asia,
143.

Costa Rica, light-coloured inhabitants
of, 506.

Cotton, description of plant, 450;
Chinese name of flower-bud, 415 ;
cloth made by Aztecs, 517; armour
made of quilted, 420, 618.

Councils, for judging criminals, 435 ;
of American Indians, 436.

Courier, symbolism of dress of, 475.

Courteous Vassals, country of, 664.

Courtship, customs of, in Fu-sang,
60, 290, 432; in America, 60; in
Mexico, 99; among Apaches, 433;
among Coco-Maricopas, 434.

Cousin, Jean, of Dieppe, discovery of
America by, 193.

Cowmull, or Cophes River, 445.

Coxcox, the Aztec Noah, 146.

Cozumel, cross at, 550.

Crabs, of Fu-sang, 225 ; of Japan, 84 ;
of NU-CHEU, 666.

Crab-Barbarians. See Ainos.

Creamy dishes of Fu-sang, 395.

Creeping Plants, mountain of, 644.

Cremation in Mexico, 467.

Criminals, punishment of, in Fu-sang,
208, 274, 434, 457, 464 ; in Japan,
632 ; in land of " Marked Bodies,"
357; by Aztecs, 465; families in
cluded in, 64.

Critica, a zodiacal sign, 150.

Criticisms of Mexican historians, 621.
48

Crocodile, resemblance of Cipadli to,
145.

Crook, General, statement of, 532.

Crosier, carried by Buddhist lamas,
569.

Cross, veneration of, in Asia, 552 ; a
sign of peace, 552; on robe of
Quetzalcoatl, 542 ; in America, 549 ;
as an ornament, 551 ; emblem of
god of rain, 551 ; theory regarding
existence of, 550.

Cross-legged figure at Palenque, 127,
199 ; and at Copan, 200.

Crow with eight feet, 678.

Cuaxolotl, Mexican story of, 614,

Cuba, occupation of, 550.

Cuepopan, a ward of Mexico, 370.

Cuernavaca, horns found at* 69.

Cukulcan, culture-hero of Yucatan,
556, 557, 558.

Culba, or

Culhua, name of a gold-producing
region, 370.

Culiacan, worship of serpents in, 530.

Cundinamarca, visited by Buddhists,
63.

Currant-bush sprouts, eaten by monk
eys, 511.

Curtains, hung before doors, 518.

Curved swords, in Mexico, 606.

Cuttle-fish, Chinese, description of,
654, 679.

Cuzco, monuments of, 143.

Cycles, characters used for, 209 ;
names of years of, 41, 470; colours
used to designate, 209 ; ten-year,
60, 194 ; sixty-year, 64, 234 ; begin-
ning of, 221 ; of Mexicans and
Asiatics, 143 ; of Aztecs, 99.

Cynocephali. 244, 451, 517.

Cyprus, sculpture from, 129.

Ddgobas, of Ceylon, 602.

Dairi, a Japanese ruler, 638 ; gar
ments worn by, only once, 617.

Damitsi, expedition of, against Jesso,
627.

Dancing, of Alaskans, etc., 347.

Daourian region, tribes of, 187.

Darien, punishment of criminals in,
437.

Darkness, explorers stopped by, 37.

Davenport Academy of National Sci
ences, 609, 610.

Days, divisions of, by Mexicans, 475,
476.

Day's journey, length of, 329, 334.

754:

INDEX.

Dead, a stone interred with the, 617 ;
feast of the, 591.

Death, ceremonies at, among Aztecs,
466.

Decadence of art, in America, 132.

Decalogue of the Buddhists, 566.

Decipherers, tricks of, 106.

Deer, of Fu-sang, 286, 424 ; thought
to have been milked, 395 ; supposed
to be reindeer, 196 ; used as draught
animals, 169 ; not reared by Japa
nese, 164 ; possessed by Americans,
169 ; said to have been milked, 59 ,
description of, 69 ; kept in Florida,
431 ; tamed by Mexicans, 430 ; range
of, 100 ; gait of, 452 ; horses so called,
483 ; metaphoric use of the term,
485 ; Island of, 75. See, also, Hinds.

Deer-carts, said to be used in Fu-sang,
480.

Delos, Temple of, 129.

Deluge, traditions regarding, 131 ; in
time of CHUEN-HIU, 145 ; draining
the waters of, 671.

Demons, Chinese term for foreigners,
81.

Deneb Kaitos, a star, 145.

Dene-dindjies, nursing of children by,
501.

Denmark, scholars of, 49.

Details, necessity for examination of,
343.

Deucalions, celebrated among Scyth
ians, 146.

Deva, introduction of the word into
Mexico, 589.

Devils, Chinese term for foreigners,
88.

Dhamma-pada, the Pali scriptures,

Dharma, the Buddhist " Law," 458.
Dictionaries, deficiencies of Chinese,

257.

Difficultiesof translating Chinese, 257.
Difficulties, to be expected, 12, 342,

454 ; which theory has least f 358.
Digambaras, or gymnosophists, 443.
Diminishing River, 645.
" Dissipation of Sorrows," 659, 661.

See, also, LI-SAO.
Distances, not measured accurately,

163, 186, 189, 243, 334; but given

with approximate accuracy, 334.
Distressed People's Country, 660.
Ditches, in land of " Marked Bodies,"

322 ; about dwellings of Arikaras,

" Divine Book," a possession of the
Toltecs, 96.

Djourdje, the Mantchoos, 187; or
their ancestors, 45.

Doctrine of Chances, application of,
359.

Dogs, in Fu-sang, 225, 239, 534; in
Kamtchatka, 89 ; in America, 169,
170 ; in Mexico, 147 ; used as
draught animals, 32 ; and beasts of
burden, 179, 481; a Chinese term
for foreigners, 81 ; kingdom of, 226 ;
guides to Hades, 590; change of
Cantico into, 614 ; six-legged, 644 ;
possibly seals, 679 ; sacrifice of,
647.

Dog's heads, men and monkeys with,
312, 517. See, also, Cynocephali.

Dog-rib Indians, tattooing of, 346.

Dome-shaped edifices, 602, 604.

Don, the River, 487.

Doors, none used by American tribes,
518.

Doorways of California dwellings,
518.

Dragon, descriptions of, 450, 455 ;
varieties of, 670; the Luminous,
225, 239, 532 ; the cause of eclipses,
72, 73, 157 ; figure of, at Uxmal,
73; worship of, in Mexico, 157;
gods with heads of, 64 7. j

Dragon-horses, description of, 450.

Draught animals, none in America,
170, 190, 196, 481.

Dresden Manuscript, 167.

Dress, of people of Fu-sang, 75; of
Indians near Columbia River, 75 ;
of Buddhist monks, 442. See, also,
Garments.

Driftwood, said to float to HAN, 341.

Drinkable water. See SHIH River.

Drought, omen of, 645, 646, 650, 655.

Drums, of Mexicans, 421, 422.

Drunkenness, punishment of, 437.

Dryanda cor data, or cor di folia, 176,
195, 387.

Ducks, in Fu-sang, 225, 534 ; in Mexi
co, 440.

Dumont d'TJrville, opinion of, 53.

Durango, vines in, 415 ; bisons in,
428.

Durga, cruel rites of, 162.

Dwarf, Vishnu as a, 152.

Dwarfs, Land of. See CHU-JU.

Dwellings, of Fu-sang, 207, 268, 418 ;
of land of " Marked Bodies," 320,
327 ; of Country of Women, 314,
315 ; of the Chinese, 419 ; of the
Ainos, 86; of the Ko-li-han, 83;
of the Kamtchatkans, 88; of the
Aleuts, 353; of theHaidah Indians,

INDEX.

755

351 ; of Indians of Oregon and
Washington Territory, 420 ; of Cali-
fornians, 518 ; of Arikaras, 354 ; of
New Mexicans, 168, 196 ; of Mexi
cans, 419 ; of newly married pairs
in Yucatan, 434.

Dyes, used by Mexicans, 471.

Dyeing purple, a Phrenician art, 76.

Eagles said to produce dogs, 450.

Earthquakes, destruction by, 615.

Ease of voyage from Asia to America,
171, 183.

East, symbolized by the lotus, 58 ; and
the banana, 58 ; the hieroglyph for,
56 ; Fu-sang means the extreme,
57 ; Quetzalcoatl said to have come
from, 549 ; Tume said to have come
from, 562.

East and West, distance between,
658.

East India. See India.

East Indians, garments of, 618.

Eastern Barbarians, 82, 638, 658.

Eastern Classic — first section, 644;
second section, 647 ; third section,
651 ; fourth section, 653.

Eastern Mountains, Classic of, 644.

Eastern Ocean, a term for the Pacific,
82.

Eastern Pass, Mountain of the, 663,
680.

Eastern Sea, 26, 661 ; fish of, 645 ; ex
pedition in, 657.

Eastern SHI Mountain, 654.

Eastern YOH Mountain, 646.

Ecacozcatt, a Mexican flower, 474.

Ecapatli, the Laurus Indica, 509.

Eclipses, caused by a dragon, 72, 157.

Ecliptic, divisions of, 144, 153.

Eggs of silk-worms of Fu-sang, 224,
238, 525.

Egypt, symbolized by the lotus, 57 ;
veneration of cross in, 552; idols
of, 71 ; divisions of zodiac in, 144 ;
communication with Hindostan,
144 ; analogies of art of, to that of
America, 200; winged globes of,
found in America, 100; resem
blance of pyramids of, to those of
America, 96 ; differences, 600.

d'Eichthal, " Study " of, 119 ; followed
de Paravey, 67.

Eight vessels, used to hold Buddha's
ashes, 96.

Eight-footed crow, 678.
Eight-headed serpent, 678.

Eitel's identification of the fu-sang
tree, 401.

Ekapdnika, definition of, 441.

Eldest Child Mountain, 652.

Elements, the five, of the Chinese,
234.

Elephant, a symbol of Buddha, 608 ;
pictured on a tablet, 610; tradition
of, 611 ; possible recent existence in
America, 608, 611.

Elephant's head, at Palenque, 607.
608.

Elephant-mound of Wisconsin, 610.

Elephant-pipes, discovery of, 610.

Elephant's trunk, in Yucatan, 200,
607.

Elien's Meropide, 55.

Elks, Caesar's account of, 452 ; called
cattle, 426, 483; used as draught
animals, 169 ; animals resembling,
651.

El-Kurud, stars so called, 147.

Ellora, figure of Buddha at, 135.

Elceococca verrucosa, 176, 387.

Eloquent Nation, Chinese account of,
495.

Embassies to China, from Japan, 84,
85, 178, 624, 625, 626, 627, 632, 635 ;
from Corea, 527, 630 ; from Ceylon,
446; from Kolihan, 82; from Co-
chin-China, 114; from Pacific isl
ands, 83 ; from KAO-LI, 638 ; from
LIEU-KUEI, 26, 90 ; from Great HAN
of the North, 215, 246 ; from Fu-
sang, 179, 221, 222, 223, 519.

Endogenous plants, sprouts of, 389.

England, Chinese name for, 406 ;
shipwrecked Japanese sent to, 102.

Epiceriniens, neighbours of the II u-
rons, 31.

Equus fraternits, 482.

Erect attitude of inhabitants of Coun
try of Women, 505.

Erigone, her place in the zodiac, 150.

Erikson, Leif, discovery of America
by, 193.

Errors, in translating from Chinese,
257; origin of, in account of Fu-
sang, 449.

Espadarte, or narwhal, 145.

Esquimaux, in Aleutian Islands, 344 ;
in Alaska, 30 ; allied to Ainos, 84 ;
and Tartars, 81 ; said to have lived
in Vinland, 453 ; meaning of name,
88 ; characteristics of, 183 ; religion
of, 6 ; peaceful nature of, 357 ; hos
pitality of, 350; tattooing of, 346;
dancing of, 347; doorways of, 518;
practice of nursing children, 501 ;

756

INDEX.

crossing between Asia and America,

183.

Eatafiate, or Mexican absinthe, 508.
Estufas, description, 435 ; and uses of,

436.

Eternity, the Land of, 625.
Ethiopia, communication of, with

Egypt, 144.

Ethnography of Foreign Nations, 16.
Ethnology, Chinese system of, 80.
Etruria and Mexico, same fables in,

155.

Europe, visited by Buddhists, 5 ; Chi
nese not acquainted with, 180;

Quetzalcoatl not from, 143.
Europeans, ignorant of Asia and

Africa, 454.

Euskarian language, 366.
Explorations by the Arabs, 37.
Explorers, errors of, 450, 483, 708.

Fables, told only of unknown lands,
121, 163; truth contained in, 105,
336; related by Tacitus, 56; by
early explorers, 94, 450, 708 ; same
in Asia and America, 155 ; destruc
tion of universe, 615; regarding
Vishnu, 152 ; Alexander and Char
lemagne, 95 ; flying-men, 535 ; sala
manders, 532 ; in Mexico, 490 ; in
SHAN HAI KING, 181 ; regarding
tree of stone, 416 ; regarding HAN,
341; regarding FU-SANG, 48, 56,
163, 174, 224, 243; and the FU-
SANG ^ tree, 219 ; origin of, 218 ;
none in Hwui SH!N'S account, 224.

Fabulous Encyclopedia, 674.

FA HIAN, journey of, to India, 10;
mistakes made by, 450 ; companions
of, 444.

FAH, meaning of, 457.

FAH Hill, 656.

Fairies of the Chinese, 401.

Fairy Hills, the Three, 241.

Fairy-land, in the KWUN-LUN Mount
ains, 253; a tree of stone in, 254.
See, also, P'ANG-LAI and LANG
YUEN.

FA-KHEU KING, a Chinese translation,
458.

FA-KIAI-NGAN-LI-TU, a Chinese book,
94.

" Familiar Discourses " of Confucius,
672.

Family of criminals punished, 64,
464.

FAN River, 653.

FAN-LIS, the way of, 666.

FAN-T'IAO Mountain, 645.

F'ANG-CHANG, an island of the genii,
251.

Fasting, in Fu-sang, 292 ; and Mexi
co, 466, 581 ; by Buddhist monks,
441 ; punishment for not, 614.

Feathers, snow described as, 450.

Feather-work, temple adorned with,
616.

FEI, a poisonous insect, 656.

Females, Island of, 488.

Females, excess of, born in Japan,
632.

Festivals, at Norton Sound, 347 ; of
Peruvians, 210.

Fiak-sai. See PE-TSI.

Fiber of agave, value of, 98, 521 ;
woven into brocade, 236.

Fig, Chinese name for, 415. See, also,
Bread-fruit tree and Prickly-pear.

Finns, influenced by Buddhism, 5.

Fir-tree, Aztec name for, 219.

Fira-kana, invention of, 637.

Fire, destruction of mankind by, 615 ;
Island, trees and rats, 225, 530.

Fire-drills, representations of, 551.

Fish with ten bodies, 679.

Fish-eaters, or Esquimaux. 68.

Fish-skins, tribes clothed in, 90.

Fishing-boats, Corean, 515.

Fitaka no kisi, mission of, 627.

Five ages, accounts of, 154, 158.

Flora, of Asia and America connect
ed. 97.

Florida, called " Great Ireland," 92 ;
woman from, met in Tartary, 35 ;
deer kept in, 431.

Flowers offered to Buddha, 133 ; to
the gods, 598; the Place of the
House of, 598.

Flowing-stream, Islands of the, 668.

Flutes of Mexicans, 422.

Flying-people, traditions of, 535 ;
origin of stones of, 514.

Fo, Chinese name of Buddha, 28, 77,
123, 595.

FO-KIO-SI, the Temple of the Recep
tion of the Law, 629.

Fomahaud, name of a star, 145.

FONG-HOANG, varieties of, 670.

Food, derived from century-plants,
98, 384 ; prepared by Alaskans for
travelers, 348, 350.

Foot-prints, worship of, 72, 553, 560,
563.

Forehead, lines tattooed upon, 346.

Foreign Range, 645.

Forest of agaves. 384.

INDEX.

Formosa, Chinese colonies in, 84.

Fort Simpson, Chimsean Indians at.
352.

Fortifications, in America, 198 ; none
in Alaska or the Aleutian Islands,
351 ; in Mexico or Central Ameri
ca, 420.

Foucaux, M., note by, 183.

Fountain of wine, 225, 239.

Four ages, Hindoo account of, 154,
158, 615 ; Aztec account of, 151, 158.

Fourth day, consummation of mar
riage postponed to, 619.

Fou-so, Japanese pronunciation of
FU-SANG, which see.

Foxes with nine tails, 651, 657, 658,
664.

Fox Islanders, tattooing of, 346 ; hos
pitality of, 350.

France, Chinese transcription of, 404.

Franck, M., drawings of, 573.

Frontispiece, reference to, 361.

Fruits offered to Buddha, 133; and
to the gods, 598.

Fu, its pronunciation and meaning.
408.

Fu Mountain, 652.

Fu-tree, or FU-SANG tree, 182, 653,
666.

FU-HI, spirits of, reign of, 671.

FU-LI Mountain, 650.

FU-LIN, Chinese term for the west, 57.

FU-NAN, Chinese term for the south,
57.

FU-SANG, Chinese characters for, 399 ;
Fu-su sometimes used for, 400;
original sound, 405 ; possibly a
transcription of pisanff, 405, 642 ;
and used for " Mexico," 406 : mean
ing of term, 46, 56, 57, 219, 399 ;
used for the extreme east, 57, 76 ;
derived its name from a plant or
tree, 94, 173; description of, 20,
40, 260, 262, 264 ; its situation, 203,
360, 653, 658 ; its distance and di
rection from China, 105, 163, 192,
228, 329, 639; route to, 360, 447;
distance from Great HAN, 19 ; clew
to location of, 300, 681 ; in same
direction as HIA-I, 233 ; in Eastern
Asia, 235, 359 ; on western side of
the Pacific, 243 ; one of the Kurile
Islands, 243; Saghalien, 179, 242;
in Philippine Islands, 682; in Ja
pan, 46, 174, 191 ; not in Japan, 58,
108, 164, 178, 333, 402, 639, 641,
685; term applied to Japan, 46,
242, 249 ; never applied to Japan,
109 ; east of Japan, 227, 242, 639 ;

place in Chinese maps, 50, 94 ; in
America, 118, 140, 336; not in
America, 189, 191 ; included South
America, 59 ; not in South Ameri
ca, 194; in Alaska, 189; in Ore
gon, 55, 163 ; or California, 20, 163 ;
near San Francisco, 68, 177; not
New Mexico, Arizona, or Califor
nia, 196; in Mexico, 12, 95. 399;
not in Mexico, 189; the place of
sunrise, 252, 342 ; not a sun-myth,
226, 341 ; used as name of Fairy
land, 240 ; compared to Laputa,
243 ; its great size, 52, 63, 220, 534,
640; a small island, 243; position
can not be determined, 242; two
countries so called, 406, 409 ; early
knowledge of, by Chinese, 12, 207,
218, 221, 642 ; and by Greeks, 56 ;
TONG FANG-SO'S account of, 219;
KIU-YUEN'S reference to, 218; Yu
KIE'S account of, 224, 519 ; visited
only once, 94; how the account
reached us, 448 ; no further infor
mation regarding, 233, 246 ; varia
tions in texts regarding, 709 ; errors
made in copying, 709 : knowledge
of, preserved in China, 254 ; ac
counts of, have a common origin,
107; analogy between, and Great
HAN, -216; called the Vinland of
Asiatic explorers, 168 ; figure of a
native of, 58, 69, 75 ; statue of a
native of, 254; stanza regarding
him, 254 ; peculiarities of, 418 ;
marvels contained in, 48 ; dwell
ings in, 418 ; prisons of, 457 ; pun
ishment of crime in, 435; 464 ; slave-
children, 457, 462; animals, 239,
534 ; deer, 424 ; horse-carts, 480 ;
oxen, 425 ; horns, 424 ; silk-worms,
223, 524 ; metals and markets, 431 ;
mirrors, 522; liquor, 397; mourn
ing, 466; fasting, 466; courtship,
432; titles of noblemen, 411,413;
and of king, 409 ; delay after coro
nation, 466 ; colour of his garments,
99, 470 ; music attending him, 421 ;
his palace, 224, 528 ; former igno
rance of people of, 456 ; introduc
tion of Buddhism, 126 ; Asiatic civ
ilization, 456, 470; East Indian
arts, 76 ; Chinese customs. 65, 212,
234; an envoy from, 179, 221, 519;
fables regarding, 56, 163 ; not wor
thy of credit, 194 ; account should
be consistently explained, 342 : re
capitulation of arguments regard
ing, 684.

758

INDEX.

Fu-sang, Notices of, by Professor S.
Wells Williams, 200.

Fu-sang, or, Who Discovered Ameri
ca? 174.

Fusang, Where was I 161.

FU-SANG tree, meaning of the name,
236; descriptions of, 264, 382; in
the SHAN HAI KING, 182, 249; in
the SHIH CHAU Ki, 236 ; by TONG
FANG-SO, 219 ; reference to it by
SO KI-Y(J, 243 ; Chinese traditions,
399; called JOH-MUH, 400; Nm,
400; or "a great cloud of blos
soms," 401 ; leaves of, variations in
texts regarding 386, 389 ; its red
pears, 211, 395, 449 ; its silk and
silk-worms, 223, 224, 238, 520; in
island of KI-SHU, 182 ; east of the
KWUN-LUN Mountains, 252 ; its pet
rified wood, 249 ; connection of its
name with that of the country,
383; attempts to identify it, 33;
inability to do so, 117, 194, 195 ; its
possible extinction, 97; identified
as the Hibiscus rosa Sinensis, 40,
57, 175, 249 ; not the hibiscus, 117,
195 ; identified as the mulberry, or
Morns papyri/era, 190 ; not the
mulberry, 164 ; the Broussonetia
papyri/era, 177, 235 ; not the Brous
sonetia, 117 ; the prickly- poppy,
64 ; no such tree in America, 187 ;
the pisang, banana, or plantain, 58,
682 ; the agave, aloe, maguey, or
century-plant, 383 ; or possibly in
tended to include the cacti and
agaves, 394; not the agave, 174,
175, 194, 195; Eitel's definition, 401.

Fu-su, a variant of FU-SANG, 400.

FU-YU, Chinese term for the north, 57.

FUH-KIEN, marriage festivities in, 477.

FUN River, 653.

FUNG-KAO, mountain in, 646.

FUNG-SHWIN, the source of the, 253.

Fylfot, a species of cross, 552.

Gage, welcomed by music, 424.
Gallatin, researches of, 81.
Galoches. See Koljushes.
Gama, Don Jean de, Island discovered

by, 22.
Games played in Mexico and India,

620.

Gammadion, a species of cross, 552.
Ganesa, head-dress of, 135 ; figure of,

612.
Ganges, Chinese transcription of, 414.

GANG-KO-LA, Chinese name of the
Angara, 24.

Gaps in Japanese history. 623.

Garments, prescribed by Buddha, 554 ;
of Buddhist priests, 567; priests
of Burmah, 585 ; Updsakas, 561 ;
Mexican priests, 580 ; priests of
Salvador, 472 ; of Chinese emperor,
471 ; of king of Fu-sang, 282, 470 :
of Montezuma, 472 ; not worn twice,
617; placed on images of the dead,
467; on corpses, 475; worn by
Quetzalcoatl, 542 ; of Aztecs, 617 ;
of East Indians, 617; of Japanese,
631 ; made of paper, 638 ; those of
bride and groom tied together, 480,
619.

Garnets, found in Alaska, 356.

Gass, Rev. J., explorations of, 610.

Gaubil, Pere, letter by, 14, 51, 99,
180; identification of LIEU-KUEI
by, 52 ; denies that Fu-sang was in
America, 63.

Gautama, family name of Buddha, 2 ;
corruptions of, 558, 561.

Geese, worshiped in China, 478 ; kept
by Mexicans, 430.

Gelius, his account of Pygmies, 494.

Gems used as standard of - value, 322,
356 ; worked by Aztecs, 573.

Genealogy of Asiatic nations, 82.

Generations, the seten, definition of,
464.

Genii, who ruled the earth, 680 ; Isl
ands of, 251 ; country inhabited by,
488 ; mentioned in Chinese account,
42.

Geographical Annual, article from, 16.

Geographical relations between Asia
and America, 119.

Geography, importance of study of,
191 ; Chinese system of, 80, 242 ; of
TU-YU, 674.

Geoutam, Thibetan term for Gau
tama, 558.

German races, relationship between,
82.

Germania. See Tacitus.

Gestation, length of, in Country of
Women, 304 ; in monkeys, 498, 499.

Ghiliaks, on Asiatic coast, 187 ; their
Village of the Tower, 138.

GM-wa, a virgin, 163, 250.

Ghi-wa-kokf, an eastern land, 163,250.

Ghizneh, said to be KI-PIN, 445.

Ghosts, the feast of the, 591.

Giants, Chinese accounts of, 662 ; in
Patagonia, 455 : Vishnu's visit to,
152 ; among Japanese rulers, 624.

INDEX.

759

Gibraltar, food of monkeys of, 510.

Gifts, Chinese custom regarding, 80.

Gila River, 428; country near, 62;
bisons not found near, 427 ; civiliza
tion of tribes near, 168 ; Buddhist
monks near, 143 ; Aztec monu
ments near, 149; defensive works
near, 198.

Glass, Chinese term for, 355 ; Chinese
long unacquainted with, 524.

Gloomy Sea, a name of the Atlantic,
37.

Go-betweens, or marriage - brokers,
476, 479.

Gobi, desert of, 44, 648.

Godam, the Mongolian term for Gau
tama, 558.

Godron, Dr. A., article by, 16, 113, 194.

Gods, mirrors held by, 614 ; of East
ern Mountains, 647; with birds'
bodies, 661, 665 ; with beasts' bod
ies, 666 ; with tiger's body — see
T'IEN-WU ; with sheep's horns, 653 ;
of Thunder, 668.

Gold, in Fu-sang, Chinese text regard
ing, 288 ; not valued, 172, 431 ; used
merely as an ornament, 351 ; valued
by Japanese, 164; not separated
from sand, 637 ; discovery of, in
Japan, 636, 640 ; its first use, 629 ;
used by Aztecs, 431; but not as
money, 98 ; weight of a load of, 417.

Golden Age, merely a popular fancy,

Goldsmiths of Mexico, 572.

Gomal River, 445.

Goncalves, his definition of the fu-

sang tree, 64.

Gorgons, description of, by Lily, 454.
Gotama. See Gautama, and Buddha.
Grammar of the Chinese Language,! 7.
Grammatical peculiarities of several

languages, 111.
Grand Khan, court of, 159.
Grand View, Iowa, elephant - pipes

found near, 610.
Grapes, characters used by Chinese

for, 211; found in America, 110;

in Mexico, 415 ; but little used, 415.

See, also, Vines.

Grasshoppers, damage done by, 649.
Graves, pyramids used for, 599, 601.
Gray, Professor Asa, statements of,

401, 508.

Great, the word prefixed to titles, 412.
Great Annals of China, 39, 193, 260.
Great Britain, Chinese name for, 406.
Great Canon beyond the Eastern Sea,

661.

Great Eastern Waste, Classic of the,
661.

Great HAN. See HAN, Great.

Great Island, a portion of America,
92 ; colonists of, 199.

Great Men's Country, 657. 662.

Great Men's MarkeCand Mansion,663.

Great Spirit, worshiped by American
tribes, 157.

Grecian art, analogies to American
art, 200.

Greece, should not be sought in
America, 201.

Greeks, thought to have colonized
Asia, 55; their knowledge of Fu-
sang, 56 ; four ages of, 158.

Green and blue confounded, 209, 471,
616.

Green Hills Country, 657, 664.

Green-iade-stone Mountain, 650.

Green Mounds, Region of, 644.

Green Shepherds' Plains, 643.

Greenland, reached from Iceland, 37.

Greenlanders, connected with Alas
kans, 344.

Grellon, Pere, travels of, 35.

Grijalva, named Yucatan " New
Spain," 97 ; expedition of, 550.

Ground, Buddhist priests sit upon,
443.

Gualle, Francois, prediction by, 29.

Guanacos, found in Florida, 431.

Guarani language, peculiarities of,

Guaranis, traditions of, 562, 563.

Guatemala, derivation of the name,
588; Aztec place-names in, 367;
Aztec language spoken in, 366 ;
traditions of, 558, 608; calendar,
501 ; tame deer kept in, 431 ; king
of, accompanied by music, 423 ;
monuments of, 56 ; analogy of civil
ization with that of Mexico, 362.

Guatimofin, a Mexican high-priest,
588.

Guatusos, a tribe of Costa Rica, 506.

Guaxaca, pearl-fishing near, 76 ; name
contains name " Sakva," 77.

Guayra, road to, from Brazil, 563.

Guetzlaff, Carl, attempts to visit Ja
pan, 102.

Guignes, M. Jos. de, references to,
50, 105 ; his studies, 120 ; his tk His
tory of the Huns," 13; map fur
nished by, 121 ; article by, 18 ;
translation of account of Fu-sang,
26, 263; of Country of Women,
303 ; of the land of " Marked Bod
ies," 317; of Great HAN, 325; title

760

INDEX.

of his article incorrect, 39, 119;
gave first information of the Chi
nese account, 13, 204 ; quoted from,
by Buache and others, 14 ; justice
rendered to, 64 ; merit of his works,
137, 185 ; had best of the argument,
192.

Gulf-stream of the Pacific, would
carry Chinese to Mexico, 167. See,
also, Kuro-siwo.

Gulliver, threads by which bound,
709.

Gulls, eaten, 660.

Guzman, Nuno de, expedition of, 491,
530.

Gymnosophists, or digambaras, 443.

Gypsum, used for window-glass, 529.

Haas, P., elephant-pipes found on
farm of, 610.

Hades, the Mexican, 460, 590.

HAI, king, adventures of, 665.

Haidah Indians, 345, 351.

Hair, of Aztec priests, 580 ; of Bud
dhist priests, 567; of inhabitants
of the Country of Women, 106,
304; of Hapales, 502 ; ofCamaxtli,
596.

Hairy People, or Ainos, 21, 84, 186,
660, 681.

Hakas, ancestors of the Kirgtiis, 246.

Hall, Prof. Asaph, discovery of, 243.

Hammocks, made from agave fiber,
386.

HAN, meaning of the character, 337,
338 ; the river, 339 ; the duke, 339 ;
the dynasty, 20, 51, 672 ; the state,
164, 165 ; China so called, 338 ;
description of the three, 165 ; fable
regarding, 341 ; dialect, 629.

HAN, Great, meaning of the name, 25,
92, 214, 215, 246, 337, 338, 340; ac
count of, 301, 324 ; Hwui Shan its
author, 301 ; route to, 25, 44, 53, 65,
137, 360; its distance from W!N
SH!N, or the land of "Marked
Bodies," 19, 328, 336; from Japan,
639; its location, 22, 163; interest
therein, 185 ; nearer to Japan than
to Fu-sang, 333; no such country
between Japan and China, 109 ; no
country mentioned between it and
Fu-sang, 188; situated on north
eastern coast of Asia, 137 ; in Sibe
ria, 22, 178 ; near mouth of Amoor
River, 137, 186, 188; in Saghalien,
44, 45, 186 ; in Japan, 165 ; in Kam-

tchatka, 20, 25, 52; not in Kam-
tchatka, 45, 207, 228 ; in Alaska, 92,
336 ; a continent, 207 ; examination
of its customs, 343 ; their analogy
with those of Fu-sang, 216; two
countries bearing thig name, 215,
246, 359.

HAN, of the North, Great, account of,
215.

HAN, of the East, Great, account of,
215 ; not in Asia, 216 ; peaceful
character of its people, 216.

HAN-HAI, a sea and island near Corea,
634.

HAN-LIN, the Imperial Academy, 676.

Hands, prints of, 614 ; of idols, 614.

HAN-KOW, custom of shopkeepers of,
240.

Hanuman, worship of in India, 135,
147, 495.

HAO Mountain, 653.

Hapale, a species of monkey, 497,
502, 506.

Hardy, unprejudiced opinion of, 603.

Hares, of Fu-sang, 239 ; of Mexico,
430 ; in the disk of the moon, 147.

Hats, made by Aleuts, 353 ; not worn
by American tribes, 568.

Hawaii, Chinese and Japanese in, 100;
resemblance of natives to Asiatics,
102.

Hawaiian Spectator, quotations from,
101.

Hawks's translation of Riviero, 162.

Head-dresses, of Chinese and Mexi
cans, 156; of East Indian idols, 135;
of Buddhist priests, 567 ; of an ele
phant's head, 607.

Hedges, of century-plants, 386, 400.

Hellwald, M. F. de, remarks of, 202.

Hens, turkeys so called, 115.

Herbal of CHIN-NONG, 674.

Herb-eaters, or Quaquacuiltin, 575.

Herodotus, reference to, 55 ; account
of the Argippeans, 59^ marvelous
tales of, 450.

d'Hervey de Saint-Denys, M. le Mar
quis, notes of, 204 ; his translation
literal, 205; appendix by, 217; cor
rection of error by, 222 : his trans
lation of the account of Fu-sang,
263; of the Country of Women,
303; of the land of "Marked Bod
ies," 317; of Great HAN, 325.

HEU-TSI, said to be Chinese name of
Shem, 72.

Hi, a Chinese prince, 666.

HIA-CHEU Island, 664.

HIA-I, Fu-sang near, 233. See, also,

INDEX.

761

Amos, Crab-Barbarians, and Hairy

People.

HIANG, confusion of, with TING, 502.
Hiang-hioung, language of the Oto-

mis, 111.

HIANG-YUAN-SZU, Temple of, 628.
HIAO KING, or Book of Filial Piety,

672.
HIAO LING-TI, a Chinese emperor,

632.
HIAO WU-TI, a Chinese emperor, 42,

108, 672.

Hiaqui, a Mexican river, 427.
Hibiscus, brought from Persia, 57;

confounded with mulberry, 46, 110;

not the fu-sang tree, 117.
Hibiscus rosa Sinensis, 46, 176, 195;

thought to be the fu-sang tree, 57,

175, 190, 249.

Hibiscus Syriacus, 175, 195.
Hic-sos, the Egyptian Shepherd Kings,

HIEH-TS€*, a species of animal, 654.

Hieroglyphic writing, of Asia, 143 ;
and America, 143, 156 ; of the Az
tecs, 144, 145, 363, 536 ; derived from
the Toltecs, 365 ; nearly all de
stroyed, 364; on image of Quetzal-
coatl, 596.

HI-HO, an astronomer, 250 ; a virgin,
250; land of, 250.

Hills, islands so called, 644.

Hindoos, zodiac of, 144 ; Nakchairas
or Lunar Houses of, 144, 149, 150;
divisions of the day, 475 ; four ages
of, 158, 615; legend of, 152; arts,
analogies in to those of America,
200; altars, 133; marriage ceremo
nies, 619 ; backgammon, 620.

Hindostan, communication with Eu
rope, 144; cornices upon temples
of, 606 ; prints of the hand in, 614.

Hinds, of Fu-sang, 58, 69 ; of Ameri
ca, 59, 76. See, also, Deer.

Hipparion, an equine genus, 482.

Historiographers, Chinese, 11.

History of the Eastern Barbarians,
658.

History of the Gods and of Prodigies',
671.

History of the South, 39, 46, 182, 260,
357. See, also, NAN-SSE.

HIUEN-CHONG, a Buddhist devotee, 635.

HIUEN-TS'ANG, travels of, 10, 125, 126,
257, 340, 488.

Ho, a measure of capacity, 210.

Ho, or HO-KOUE, a nanie of Japan,
250.

HO-MOU, or trees of fire, 530.

HO-POH, adventures of, 665.

HO-SHANG, Chinese Buddhist priests,
561.

HO-T'AO, the Country of the Ordos,
44.

HO-TCHEOU, the Island of Fire, 530.

HO-TCHIN, a Lord of the Liang dy
nasty, 222.

HO-TU'S " Album of Gems," 662.

HOANG-HO, cities upon, 44.

HOEI-KE, Tartarian tribes, 23, 44.

HOEI-SHIN. See Hwui SnXN.

Hoffman, translation by, 86.

HOH-HU Mountain, 663.

HOH-MING-TSUN-TSIH Mountain, 667.

HoH-Yti, a species of animal, 655.

HOK-KEEN, adobe walls in, 419.

Hollanders, the discoverers of Jesso,
21.

Hondius, map in account of, 370.

Honey, extracted from century-plant,
386 ; not to be eaten after mid-day,
442.

Honolulu, shipwrecked Japanese in,
101.

Horary cycle of the Chinese, 523.

Horns, in Fu-sang, 210, 284, 424; in
Mexico, 69, 100, 210 ; of American
animals, 100; of Rocky Mountain
sheep, 450 ; of bison, 428 ; of extinct
bison, 428 ; as instruments of mu
sic, 421, 422; as vessels, 430; gods
with, 653.

Horn-bill, described as bird with two
heads, 680.

Horses, of Fu-sang, 32, 225, 239, 534;
possibly some other animal, 33, 59,
100, 162, 483; of China, 484; of
Tartary, 32; of Great HAN of the
North, 215, 246; limits of native
country of, 100 ; not found in some
parts of Siberia, 32 ; method of tam
ing, 654; not raised in]Japan, 178;
631, 640; introduced into Japan,
100, 627; used as post-horses, 626;
myth of creation of, 47; none in
America, 47, 99, 175; bones of in
America, 203, 482; may have sur
vived in America, 59, 70, 162, 482 ;
especially in South America, 483 ;
said to have existed in Newfound
land, 483 ; brought to America from
Europe, 43, 115, 196, 481; called
"tapirs" and "deer," 483; use of
in Apache courtship, 433.

Horse-carts of Fu-sang, 286, 480.

Horse-deer, elks so called by Spaniards,
116.

Horus, an Egyptian god, 58, 72.

762

INDEX.

Hospitality, of people of land of
"Marked Bodies," 320; of Aleu
tians, 350 ; of American tribes, 348.

Hot-springs, in Nicaragua, 534 ; Val
ley of. See TANG-KU.

Hu Marsh, 651.

Hu River, 644.

HU-KUANG, a Chinese district, 206.

HU-PE, a Chinese province, 40.

HU-SHE Mountain, 652.

Huaraanga, pyramids in, 565.

Huatamo, a town in Michoacan, 588.

Huatulco, appearance of Wixipeco-
cha at, 539.

Huazamala, a town in Jalisco, 588.

Huazontlan, a Mexican town, 541.

Hudson's Bay, cattle found near, 33 ;
customs of tribes near, 34, 75.

Hudson's Bay Company, 102.

Huematzin, a Toltec astronomer, 559.

HUEN People, 667.

Huetlapan, home of the Toltecs, 364.

Huey-Comitl, a Mexican hero, 566.

Hueya, an Aztec verb, 508.

HUH, a measure of capacity, 210, 425.

HUIEN-HIAO, a Chinese zodiacal sign,
145.

Huilcas, a Peruvian tribe, 565.

Huitl, the termination dropped, 378.

Huitzillan, temple at, 380.

Huitzilopochtli, meaning of the name,
379 ; conception of, 97, 614 ; the god
of war, 373, 374; bloody rites of,
575 ; feast in honor of, 526 ; a drag
on on his escutcheon, 533 ; son of
the god of plants, 380 ; the god of
vegetation, 380 ; worshiped in green
garments, 472 ; a deification of the
century-plant, 379 ; names given to,
381.

Huitztli, or uitztli, fresh pulque, 380.

Human sacrifices in Mexico, 32.

Humboldt, Alex, von, believed Ameri
can tribes came from Asia, 49 ; in
fluenced by Pere Gaubil, 51, 181 ;
views as to connection of Asiatic
and American civilizations, 63 ; quo
tations from, 142.

Humming-birds, said to die and re
vive, 454.

HUNG-HUNG, land of, 657.

HUNG-LI-TI Hill, 667.

Hungarian verbs, conjugation of, 111.

Huns, History of the, 13.

Hurakan, worship of, 551.

Ilurons, reference to, by Home, 31 ;
a woman of, found in'Tartary, 35.

Husbands, of women of the Country
of Women, 308; of the so-called

Amazons, 504; serpents taken as,
529.

Huttman, Mr., sec'y of Asiatic Soc.,
51, 67.

Hvitramannaland, White Men'sLand,
199.

HWA-KIAU, or marriage sedan, 477.

HwAH-fish, 655.

HWAI-NAN-TSZ', a Chinese philosopher,
47, 226, 653, 659.

HWAI SENG, journey of, to India, 10.

HWAN River, 646.

HWANG-TI, a Chinese emperor, 221,
250, 665, 671.

HWOH-SHI, or

HWOH-TUNG, tadpoles, 644.

Hwui, meaning of, 443 ; its common
occurrence, 443.

Hwui SH^N (HoEi SHIN, or Hwui-
SHIN), meaning of name, 205 ; na
tionality of, 444; our imperfect
knowledge of, 710 ; one of a party
of five, 233, 237; not a native of
Fu-sang, 223 ; not a native of China,
206 ; but a native of Cophene, 709 ;
probably understood Chinese but
imperfectly, 448, 709 ; Yu Kie's mis
understanding of, 521, 525 ; journey
through Corea, 527; preservation
of his story, 222'; the Chinese text,
262 ; variations in different texts,
261 ; circumstances under which the
account was given, 221, 439 ; ques
tioned by representative of the em
peror, 420; author of the account
of the Country of Women, 244 ; as
well as Jihat of " Marked Bodies,"
and Great HAN, 301 ; proof that he
had visited some unknown land,
641, 685; evidence of honesty of,
685 ; interest excited by his story,
11 ; convinced Chinese emperor and
scholars, 12 ; truths told by, 12, 358,
686 ; difference between his account
and other tales of Fu-sang, 217 ; no—"
fables told by, 224 ; courage of, 334 ;
lack of care in examining his story,
493 ; should not be assumed to be
dishonest, 335; allowances to be
made for, 450, 455, 708 ; principle
adopted in translating his story,
255, 355 ; used li in its usual mean
ing, 333 ; reasonably accurate in his
estimates, 334 ; did not describe
countries on the route, 234; may
not have visited Fu-sang, 140 ; did
not visit Country of Women, 213 ;
repeated stories of Chinese sailors,
202 ; rejection of his story, 175, 194,

INDEX.

763

202, 233, 300 ; guided by old tradi
tions, 220; not first discoverer of
Fu-sang, 204, 207 ; the envoy from
Fu-sang, 223, 237, 520; traditions
in Mexico of his visit, 706; his
name and title preserved as Wixi-
pecocha, 540 ; his story should lead
to one of three conclusions, 341 ;
which is attended with fewest diffi
culties f 342.

Hyacinth, Father, verdict of, 175.

Hyperboreans, country of, 55, 63.

Hypochlorite, found in Alaska, 356.

I, the prince named, 659.
I-HAN, a Chinese astronomer, 86.
I-TIEN-SU-MAN Mountain, 667.
Ice, people and animals floated upon,

36 ; but little formed in China, 354 ;

wonder of the change of water into,

354; described as "water-silver,"

327.
Iceland, wood and animals floated to,

36 ; a possible route to America, 37.
Icelandic sagas, credibility of, 100.
Icelanders, America discovered by,

193 ; and named Vinland, 452.
Icy Cape, tattooing of people near,

"Icy-silver," ice possibly so called,

OKK

Idols,'of Egypt, 71 ; of Java, 612 ; of
Mexico, 597, 613.

Igurians, New- Year's day of, 499.

Iliad, described as a sun-myth, 341.

Illegitimate children, treatment of,
463.

Images, of Buddha, in Fu-sang, 298 ;
in London, 5 ; resembling Buddha,
in America, 200, 591, 592, 594, 595 ;
in Buddhist temples, 606 ; of spirits,
exposed in Fu-sang, 212, 294 ; in
Asia, 235 ; of dead, made in Mexi
co, 467; and Yucatan, 468.

Imperial Library of Paris, 618.

Impregnable, Chinese transcription
of, 404.

Iname, a Japanese minister, 628.

Incas, ritual of, 210.

Incense, offered to the gods, 598.

Incense-burner of Chinese emperor,
520.

Incombustible fabric, 225.

Incontinence, punishment of, 584.

India, intercourse between, and China,
10, 113, 440, 446; traces of, should
not be sought in America, 201 ;

veneration of cross in, 552 ; pyra
mids of, 601 ; marriage ceremonies,
619; divisions of zodiac in, 144;
architecture of, 96; inhabited by
pygmies, 494 ; garments of people
of, 617; manner of carrying chil
dren in, 620 ; cakes made in, 620 ;
wopaZ-plant in, 76.

Indians, name given to American
tribes by Columbus, 230.

Indian Bulletin, article from, 16.

Indian corn. See Maize.

Indian fig. See Prickly-pear and No
pal.

Indigo, preparation of, 471.

Indra-Saba, temple of, 135.

Inferno, described by Lily, 454.

ING-CHEU, an island of the genii, 251.

Inhabitants of the Country of Women,
493.

Innuit. See Esquimaux.

Inscriptions at Palenque, 421.

Intemperance, view of, by Buddhists,
547 ; of lamas of Mongolia, 585.

Interment, practiced by Toltecs, 467.

International Congress of American
ists, 16.

Intlacatl, definition of, 410.

Iowa, elephant-pipes found in, 610.

Iris-plant, said to be found in Fu-
sang, 41, 211.

Irish, discovery of America by, 92.

Iron, lack of, in Fu-sang, 288, 431 ;
not known to Mexicans, 98, 431 ; or
other American tribes, 117, 159, 172,
194; or in some Asiatic countries,
177; or in Loo Choo Islands, 194;
its introduction into Japan, 627,
636 ; its use in Japan, 117, 164, 640 ;
rare in Japan, 47.

Iroquois, hospitality of, 349 ; councils
of, 436.

Isis, place of, in the zodiac, 150.

Islands, of the Pacific, 36, 101; of
Fire, 225 ; of Females, 488 ; of the
Flowing Stream, 679 ; described as
mountains, 644.

1'Isle, M. de, letter to, 14, 180 ; map
by, 29.

Istayata, a Mexican town, 509.

Italmen. See Kamtchatkans.

Itineraries, references to, 10, 137.

Itoa, definition of, 413.

Itzas, traditions of, 557; length of
records of, 559.

Itzamna, or Zamna, 556.

Jtzcalli, a Mexican month, 512.

Itzcoayo tilmatli, a mantle, 473.

Itzcuintli, or dog, 147.

764

INDEX.

Itzehecaya, or "Wind of Knives,"
590. '

Ivory, found near Kolyma River, 35 ;
and in Alaska, 356.

Ixneztlaciulolli, a mantle, 474.

Ixtenextl, a mound at Cholula, 605.

Ixtli, meaning of, 605.

Ixtlilxochitl, quotations from, 62, 420.

Jyo, a Japanese province, 249.

iza-naki-no-mikote, a Japanese divin
ity, 47.

Iztaccihuatl, or " the White Woman,"
a Mexican mountain, 506, 507.

Iztatl, Aztec word for salt, 508.

Iztauhyapatli, a Mexican plant, 509.

Iztauliyatt, a species of Artemisia,
508, 509.

Iztli, or obsidian (q. v.), 151, 529.

Jack-tree, of India, 166.

Jackass rabbits, size of, 534.

Jacob, history of, a sun-myth, 341.

Jade-stone, placed in tombs, 617 ; tree
of, 416.

Jaitdwanardma, a pyramid, 602.

JAN, meaning of, 503,

jAN-trees, 649.

Japan, meaning of the name, 174, 178,
549; situation of, 630: route to,
from China, 634, 635; distance
from China, 630; from LIAO-TONG,
19; f rom Corea, 65 ; direction from,
of " Marked Bodies," 316, 328 ; of
Great HAN, 639; of Fu-sang, 227,
242, 328 ; of CHU-JU, 495 ; on route
from China to Fu-sang, 63 ; and
from China to America, 22 ; nearer
Great HAN than Fu-sang is, 333 ;
no country like Great HAN between
it and China, 109 ; the Pacific gulf-
stream flowing from, 9 ; its people
acquainted with lands north, 29;
and other foreign countries, 633;
connected with Kamtchatka by the
Kurile Islands, 8 ; journey from, to
Aleutian Islands, 335 ; map drawn
in, 29 ; communication with Pacific
islands, 101; ship of, wrecked on
Oahu, 101 ; one wrecked near Queen
Charlotte's Island, 102 ; discovery
of a great continent, 101 ; its sailors
may have drifted to America, 168,
241 ; no proof of such voyages, 122 ;
a " Country of Women " in, 178, 638,
640 ; no place east of, for " Country
of Women," 110, 120; called Fu-
sang, 242, 249; reason for name,

57; denial that it was ever called
Fu-sang, 109, 120 ; identified as Fu-
sang, 46, 174, 191 ; said not to be
Fu-sang, 58, 65, 108, 109, 164, 178,
402, 639 ; no fu-sang tree in, 640 ;
customs not same as those of Fu-
sang, 641 ; points of resemblance to
Fu-sang, 47; well known to Chi
nese, 178, 229 ; too well known for
fables, 163, 639 ; thought to be the
eastern limit of the world, 94 ; called
WA or Ho, 250; history of, 13, 178,
623 ; Ma Twan-lin's account of, 247 ;
Li YEN-SHAU'S description of, 332 ;
how founded, 165 : colonized by
Chinese, 84, 180, 251 ; settlement of
SiN-fu in, 633 ; expedition men
tioned by Japanese historians, 252 ;
first sovereigns of, 624; early rec
ords, 623 ; mythical stories, 252 ; of
genii, 681 ; inhabited by Ainos, 84 ;
non-intercourse with foreign na
tions, 102; attacks upon SIN-RA
and PE-TSI, 626, 627; conquest of
KAO-LI, 628 ; of Jesso, 85 ; colonies
from, 63 ; intercourse with Corea,
332, 636, 639 ; with Wu, 627; with
Continent of Asia, 625-629 ; embas
sies to and from, 84, 625, €26 ; par
ticularly to China, 624, 626, 632,
635 ; introduction of Buddhism, 5,
62, 110, 121, 164, 174, 628, 629, 635,
641 ; arts introduced by Buddhist
priests, 572 ; religion, 125 ; worship,
157 ; married priests in, 585 ; cross
es used as sign of peace, 552 ; be
lief regarding the judge of the
dead, 614 ; altars, 133 ; journeys of
Buddhist monks from, 80 ; visit of
architects to, 627; petrified wood
in, 249 ; great age of sovereigns,
624; length of the li or ri, 331;
sea-crabs in, 84 ; no stags reared in,
164 ; its capital, 21 ; outbreak of a
contagion, 628 ; poisonous insects,
681; excess of females, 632; the
CHI-SHUAI, 632 ; iise of knotted
cords as records, 635 ; introduction
of the compass, 627 ; the pomegran
ate, 625; titles of nobility, t>29,
640 ; music, 629 ; iron, 627 ; use of
iron, 117, 164; and other metals,
636, 637, 640 ; of gold, silver, and
copper, 164, 629 ; vine indigenous
to, 58 ; its names, 42 ; arms used in,
164, 631 ; custom of wearing swords,
681 ; civil war in, 632 ; walled cities
of, 631, 640 ; no horses in early days,
178; introduction of horses, 100,

INDEX.

Y65

627; use of post-horses, 626; no
carts in, 640 ; or wagon roads, 480 ;
animals of, 631 ; products of, 631 ;
the reign of an empress, 626 ; called
Zin-gu Kwo-gu, 632 ; tattooing, 631,
635 ; cycles, 143 ; zodiac, 144 ; Chi
nese calendar, 630; Chinese litera
ture, 629, 630 ; introduction of art
of writing, 624, 637, 640; and of
writing-paper, 638 ; customs of, 631 ;
polygamy in, 632 ; punishment of
crime in, 632; garments of Dairi
worn only once, 617; garments of
people, 631 ; mourning-garments,
468, 635, 640 ; mourning customs,
632, 635 ; home of the Toltecs, 62 ;
and of the natives of Bogota, 63 ;
resemblance of people to American
tribes, 62, 155 ; their knowledge of
America, 104; words in American
languages, 157; its people might
decipher American inscriptions,
156 ; resemblance of their vases to
those of the Mexicans, 573 ; embas
sy from, to the IT. S., 103 ; its people
in Hawaii, 100 ; their resemblance
to Hawaiians, 102.

Japan, Annual Register of. See Ni-
pon Ki.

Japan, Sea of, 139.

Japanese Encyclopaedia, 107. See,
also, Wa-kan-san-sai-dzo u-ye.

Japanese junks. See Junks.

Java, religion of, 124, 545 ; Buddhists
of, 5 ; temple of Boro-Budor in, 61,
135, 602 ; week of five days in, 475,
571 ; symbolism of colours in, 616.

Jebis, account of, 83, 84.

Jefferson, Thomas, a letter to, 112.

JEI KWAN, a Buddhist priest, 629.

Jemes, estufa at, 435.

Jenghis Khan. See Chinggis Chakan.

Jesso, its discovery by Hollanders, 21 ;
account of, 21 ; customs, 44; bold
ness of its people, 103 ; its north
ern coast, 46 ; tiger-skins exported
from, 681 ; Chinese voyages to, 19,
180; attacks upon people of, 86;
their conquest by Japanese, 85 ;
their revolt, 627; they drive out
the Japanese, 86 ; said to be WAN
SnXN, or the land of " Marked Bod
ies," 20, 21, 44, 186; this statement
denied, 92, 335.

Jesso, Sea of, on route to California,
22.

Jesso, Upper, name of Kamtchatka,
25.

Jesuits, remembrance of, by Japanese,

102 ; their change of the length of
the li, 330.

Jesus, Chinese characters used for,
400.

JE-TSCHAY, meaning of name, 88;
distance from Kamtchatka, 88.

JEU-PUH country, 664.

Jewels, the three, of Buddhism, 125.

JIN-CHIN-NGAN, a Chinese author, 676.

JIN TSUNG, a Chinese emperor, 231.

JOH-MUH, a term for the fu-sang tree.
400.

Joly, Professor, remarks of, 202.

Jomard, M., refutation of his opinion,
76.

Jones, Rev. N. \V., argument by, 16.

Journal Asiatique, article from, 669.

Jouschanu, name for absinthe, 511.

JU-CHE, or Djourdje, 45, 137.

JU-PI, or " Fish-Skins," 90.

Juitemal, king of Guatemala, 588.

Julien, M. Stanislas, reference to trans
lation by, 188 ; his preparation for
translating, 257 ; his translation of
account of Fu-sang, 263; of land
of " Marked Bodies," 317 ; of Great
HAN, 325.

Junks, Japanese, wrecked upon the
Kurile Islands, 10 ; on the Aleutian
Islands, 10; drifted to California,
9 ; picked up at sea, 156.

Juvaka, robes presented by, to Bud
dha, 552.

KA, interchanged with SHA, 414

Ka fukano wonnoko, 628.

KA-SHI-MIE, or Cashmere, 446.

Kabah, elephant's trunk at, 607.

Kadiak, near the American coast,
340 ; amber found in, 356 ; popula
tion of, 341 ; Esquimaux, 344 ;
dwellings, 353; tattooing, 346; its
people can not understand Unalas-
kans, 344.

KAI-YU Country, 665.

Kali, wife of Siva, 546.

Kalidasa, works of, 144.

Kalmucks, food of herds of, 511.

Kaloshes. See Koljushes.

Kamtchatka, description of, 86 ; dis
tance from China, 87, 183 ; Chinese
knowledge of, 19, 180; suzerainty
exercised over, by China, 123 ; called
Upper Jesso, 25 ; distance from JE-
TSCHAY, 88; Ainos near, 84; isl
ands near coast, 9; islands con
necting it with Japan, 8, 22 ; ship-

766

INDEX.

wrecked Japanese in, 101 ; said to
be Great HAN, 20, 52; not Great
HAN, 45 ; identified with LIEU-KUEI,
52, 54, 87 ; which was confounded
with Loo Choo Islands, 248 ; its sea
receives the Ouda River, 25; dis
tance from, to Alaska, 164 ; visited
by Alaskans, 183 ; winds blow from,
to America, 62 ; climate, 28, 33, 89 ;
animals of, 89, 90; reindeer of, 59, 64.

Kamtchatkans, 26, 33; their dwell
ings, 88, 353; their merry nature,
347; their songs, 91; their mar
riage ceremonies, 99 ; their punish
ment of thieves, 358.

KAN-fish, 645.

KAN-MEI Mountain, 644.

KAN-SHUI, or « Sweet Waters," 163.

KAN-TSZ' fish, 646.

KAN-Yti's Body, 657.

KING Mountain, 649.

K'ANG, definition of, 435.

KANG-HI, Encyclopaedia of, 86, 246.

KANG-WHA, Admiral Roze's visit to,
528.

Kaniagmioutes, religion of the, 6.

KAO Marsh, 655.

KAO River, 654.

KAO-KIU-LI. See Corea.

KAO-LI, conquered by Japan, 628
intercourse with Japan, 626-629
paper carried from, to Japan, 638
Corea (q. v.) a transcription of, 47.

KAO-SHI Mountain, 645.

Kapilapura, Buddha, son of king of,
80.

Kapilavastu, Buddha's birthplace, 1.

Kaptchak, said to be KI-PIN, 445.

Kargaules, at a fair in Asia, 8.

Karlsefne's adventures, 453.

Karok squaws, tattooing of, 347.

Xata-kana, invention of, 637.

Katuns of Yucatan, length of, 559.

Kazwini, references to, 146, 147.

KE-KIA-SSE, an Asiatic tribe, 215.

Kedu, temple in, 602.

Kei-ko, a Japanese prince, 624.

Kentucky, bones found in, 428.

Kerkis, or Kergis, 24.

Kesmacoran, Island of Females near,
488.

KEU, a character resembling that for
copper, 388.

KEU River, 656.

KEU-CHWANG Mountain, 644.

K'EU-WANG, description of, 661.

KEU-YAO, the " barbed exotic," 388.

Key West, preparation of agave fiber
at, 526.

Khalkhas, visited by Buddhists, 7.

Khalupaswaddhaktinka, definition
of, 442.

Khi, king of a province of Corea, 251.

KHI-TAN, an Asiatic tribe, 24, 45.

K'I, meaning of, 410, 444.

K'I Mountain, 651, 667.

K'l-trees, 654.

K'I-CHUNG Mountain, 652.

K'I-KIN, a Chinese book, 656.

KI-LIN, varieties of, 670.

KI-PIN, Chinese text regarding, 296 ;
identification of, 123 ; identified as
Cabalistan, 77 ; as Samarcand, 108,
212, 213 ; as Kaptchak, 445 ; as Co-
phene (q. v.), 42, 233.

KI-SHU, fu-sang tree in, 182.

KIA-CHING-SHI, a Chinese author, 675.

KIA-SHA, definition of, 442.

KIA-SHE-MI-LO, or Cashmere, 446.

KIA-Y Island, 31.

KIA-YU, a book of Confucius, 672.

KIAH-SHI Mountain, 650.

KIANG River, 40.

KIANG Tribe, 664.

KIANG-CHANG'S Great Cafion, 661.

KIANG-JONG, a race of barbarians, 226.

KIANG-TUNG River, 645.

KIANG- YEN, a Chinese scholar, 677.

KIAO People's Country, 661.

KIEH-KIAH-SZ' Country, 246.

KIEN River, 645.

KIEN-KANG, capital of China, 206.

KIH River, 647.

Km-KitiN's " Bamboo Book," 657, 659,
665.

Km-Ntt River, 648.

KIH-YUNG Country, 667.

Kijofiko, presents made by, 625.

Kiki-zin, title of ruler of Fu-sang, 108.

KIN, description of, 236, 391.

K'IN Mountain, 655.

KIN-SEH Forest, 647.

KING, definition of, 499, 672.

KING River, 646.

K'ING-CHANG, a province of Corea,
625.

KING-CHEU, capital of China, 40, 206,
222.

KING HANG, a Japanese prince, 624.

King of Fu-sang, title of, 280, 409 ;
musicians of, 282, 421 ; changes of
garments, 282 ; mourning of, 296,
466 ; his palace, 224, 528.

King of Mexico, title of, 410 ; musi
cians of, 423 ; pomp of, 421, 423 ;
ceremonies at death of, 467 ; delay
before crowning his successor, 469 ;
palace of, 529.

INDEX.

767

King of Chichimecas, deer kept by,

King of the country of " Marked

Bodies," 320.

Kings of Japan, age of, 624.
Kings of Asia, paths swept before,

Kingsborough, Lord, 71, 77.

Kinri, a Japanese title, 638.

Kio or KIAI, an Asiatic country, 215,
216.

Kirkis,Kirghis or Kirguis, 45, 246, 511.

K'I-TSU, the first Chinese prince in
Corea, 43.

Kitsuno Sukune, expedition of, against
PE-TSI, 627.

Kituy, a junk wrecked upon, 10.

KIU-NU, a Japanese province, 633,
634.

KIU-SIN, visit of, to Japan, 627.

KIU-TAN, Chinese transcription of
Gautama, 558.

KIU-YE-HAN, a place between China
and Japan, 630, 631, 634.

KIU-YUEN, a Chinese poet, 47, 207,
218, 240.

KIUN, definition of, 481.

KitiN rushes, 652.

KIUNG, a poisonous insect, 656.

Klaproth, J., article by, 39 ; refer
ences to, 51, 106, 182, 624 ; his at
tack upon de Guignes's theory, 14 ;
motive for, 106 ; its weakness, 120,
228 ; alone in his views, 229 ; pos
sibly communicated with, by Mr.
Huttman, 51 ; informed as to Chi
nese knowledge of compass, 113,
114; his suppression of a clause,
468 ; account of petrified wood,
249 ; of a Corean story, 250 ; an at
tempt to claim Titsingh's transla
tion, 85 ; works from which he
translated, 182; his translation of
the account of Fu-sang, 263.

Knapp, Mr., superintendent of a Min
ing Co., 117.

Knickerbocker Magazine, an article
in, 15.

Knistenaux, tattooing of women, 346 ;
hospitality of, 350.

Knotted cords used as records, 635.

KO-CHANG-TIAO-LI, the Code of Com
petitive Public Examinations, 676.

Ko Don Dzu Roku, a Japanese mem
oir, 636.

KO-LI-HAN, a Tartarian tribe, 23, 24,
44, 45, 82.

Kodom, the Siamese name for Gau
tama, 558.

KOH or KOH-KOH fish, 651, 653.

KOH Mountains, 648.

Koliman, resembles a Chinese name,

Koljushes, belief of, 6 ; customs of,
83.

Kolyma River, 8, 35.

KONG-NGAN-KUE, a description of Con
fucius, 672.

Koi ai (or Corea, q. v), 47, 626.

Ko-rei-ten-o, a Japanese Dairi, 251.

Kotzebue Sound, people near, 346.

Koukounoor, visited by Buddhists, 7.

Koumiss, made in China, 396 ; from
milk, 395 ; a similar liquor made in
Mexico, 396 ; Chinese text regard
ing it, 286.

JCoung, a native of Corea, 251.

Krishna, the Hindoo Apollo, 152.

KU-FUNG Mountain, 650.

KU-KIN-TU-SHU-TSI-CHIXG, an Ency
clopaedia, 208, 211, 212, 221, 226.
395.

KU-KUNG, king of CHOU. 165.

KU-MAO Mountain and Itiver, 645.

KU-SHE Mountain, 650.

KU-TU-MOEI, an Asiatic tribe, 70.

KU-YANG-TSA-TSU, a Chinese book,
675.

KUAN-MEI, quotation from, 221.

Kubo, a Japanese title, 638.

Kuchin Indians, 245.

Kudic races, influenced by Buddhism,
5.

K(;EH Mountain, 663.

KUEI-KI, intercourse between, and
TAN-CHEU, 633.

KUEI-YEU-KUANG-SHI. a book, 696.

KUH, an Asiatic country, 246.

KUH-LIANG History, 662.

KCH-LING-YC-T'IEN Mountain, 665.

Kulgun, a Mongolian term, 484.

Kume-wasi, defeat of, 62(5.

KUNG, meaning of 523, 595; length
of, 331.

KUNG MAN-WAXG, visit of, to Japan,
626.

K'UNG-SANG Mountain, 647.

KUNG-YANG'S " Chronicles," 647.

KUO-P'O, a Chinese author, 676.

KUO-YEN-NIEN-SSE, a Chinese book,
673.

Kurile Islands, between Japan and
Kamtchatka, 8 ; the Pacific gulf-
stream flowing past, 9 ; junk
wrecked on, 10; Ainos in, 84; route
to Fu-sang passed near, 447; Fu-
sang one of, 243; Country of Wom
en in, 245.

768

INDEX.

Kuro-siwo, the Pacific gulf -stream, 9,

10, 121.
Kuskoquim women, tattooing of,

346.
KW'A-FU, 646 ; death of, 667.

K WAN- YIN, VOW Of, 4.

KWANG-WU, a Chinese emperor, 625,
632.

KWEI, a species of bird, 654.

KW'EI, or cattle with one foot, 668.

KWEI-KI, sea of, 633.

Kwo, definition of, 394.

KWOH, definition of, 406.

KW'UN People, 665.

KWUN-LUN, a range of mountains,
252 ; countries near, 662 ; a tree of
stone in, 254 ; a possible transcrip
tion of quauhtla, 254 ; an island so
called, 253 ; meaning of the charac
ters, 253.

Kyska, one of the Aleutian Islands, 9.

L and N interchanged, 413, 606.
Labna, elephant's trunk at, 201.
Lac insect, used in Cabul, 77.
Lahore, nopal-plant found in, 76.
Lakchrni, statuette of, 136.
Lake Superior, copper mined near,

Lama, title of Buddhist priests, 65,
589 ; its form in Aztec, 589 ; as art
ists, 606. See, also, Buddhist
priests.

LANG-YUEN, Chinese account of, 252.

Languages, of Asia, differences be
tween, 153 ; of Aleutian Islands and
Alaska, 344; Esquimaux, 81; re
semblance of Asiatic and American,
111, 150, 156, 171, 172; American,
of common origin, 51 ; Mexican, all
connected, 96 ; unintelligible, 516.

Lancet fish, 645.

Land in Pacific Ocean, 336.

Land and Sea Classic. See SHAN HAI
KING.

Lanka, or Ceylon, 554.

LAO Country, 661 ; River, 656.

LAO-TSE, his journey to the west, 79.

Lapps, influenced by Buddhism, 5.

Laputa, Fu-sang compared to, 243.

Laquenons, signs of zodiac, 146.

Laurus Indica, Aztec name for, 509.

Lead known by Aztecs, 431.

LEAO-TONG, port of embarkation, 19,
20,43.

Leaves of f u-sang tree, 386, 388, 389.

Ledyard, letter to Jefferson, 111.

Legumes, Chinese classification of,
213.

LEI Mountain, 644.

Leland, C. G., early article by, 15,
231; his book " Fusang," 13, 15,
170, 229 ; his criticism of Dr. Bret-
schneider, 179.

Lemon, Chinese name for, 415.

Leopard-headed couch. See Lion-
headed.

Lew-chew. See Loo Choo.

Li, length of, 20, 44, 54, 65, 86, 163,
328, 329, 330, 332; variable, 186,
330; uncertain, 227; Klaproth's
estimate, 228 ; about one third of a
mile, 332 ; error in number between
China and Japan, 630 ; Chinese and
Japanese, not same length, 331,
332.

Li River, 648 ; Mountain, 665 ; peli
cans, 650.

LI-LING'S Body, a god, 663.

LI-SAO, or " The Dissipation of Sor
rows," 47, 56, 207, 218, 220, 240.

LI-SHI, a Chinese author, 677.

Li T'AI-PI, a Chinese poet, 47, 226.

LI-YEN, or Li YEN-SHAU, a Chinese
historian, 19, 40, 45, 163, 192, 221,
226, 260, 332.

LIANG dynasty, establishment of, 40,
222, 440 ; Great HAN first known in
time of, 92; Hwui Snlx's story
contained in books of, 222 ; length
of LI in time of, 20.

LIANG-SHU, or Records of the LIANG
Dynasty, 92, 93, 260.

LIANG-SSE-KONG-KI, or Memoirs of
Four Lords of the Liang Dynasty,
179, 221, 223.

LIANG WU-TI, founder of the LIANG
dynasty, 222.

Libations, offered images, 212.

LIE-TSEU, a Chinese philosopher, 676.

LIEU-FONG-TSA-TSU, a book, 676.

LIEU-KUEI, meaning of name, 88 ; de
scription of, 26, 86, 87, 206 ; a pen
insula, 54, 228 ; its distance from
China, 54 ; identified as Kamtchat-
ka, 26, 52, 54, 87; with Taraikai,
45 ; not Great HAN, 207, 228 ; Chi
nese colonies sent to, 84 ; Loo Choo
Islands confounded with, 248.

Lm River, 654.

LIK-PIT, pygmies of, 495.

Lime used in Mexico, 605.

LIN-T'AO, a giant in, 663.

Lines, tattooed on face, 346, 347.

LING-GOEI. See LIEU-KUEI.

LING-KI, or spirits of the earth, 671.

INDEX.

769

LING-LING, or striped cattle, 648.

Lions, groups of, 129.

Lion-headed couches of Buddha, 129 ;
in Yucatan, 127, 593.

Liquor, drunk in Fu-sang, 276, 397 ;
made from agave sap, 98, 196, 533 ;
not mentioned in account of Fu-
sang, 235 ; use prohibited by Bud
dha, 547; not drunk by Quetzal-

. coatl, 547; drunk by lamas, 585;
drunk at Chinese weddings, 479.
See, also, Pulque.

Lisbon, voyage from, by Arabs, 37.

Literary characters of Aztecs, 421.

Lizard, Chinese description of, 680.

Llamas, use of, 170 ; called " sheep,"
115 ; possibly called " cattle," 202 ;
or "horses,"' 59.

Lo, or koumiss, 211, 396.

Lo, kingdom of, 633.

LO-LANG, a district of Corea, 43, 630,
635.

LO-PI, a Chinese author, 674.

Lobscheid, Rev. W., Chinese Gram
mar, 155.

Locks. See Hair.

Locusts, eaten in Fu-sang, 225 ; dam
age by, 649 ; poisonous, in Japan,
681.

LOH River, 646.

Lok, Michael, map drawn by, 370.

London, Buddhist image found in, 5.

London Illustrated News, 134.

Lone Mountain, 646.

Long-armed People, 495.

LONG-WEI-PI-SHU, a Chinese book,
206, 213, 221, 228.

Loo Choo Islands, various names for,
248; iron not known in, 177, 194;
confounded with LIEU-KUEI, 248.

Lotus, an emblem of the East, 58 ; of
Egypt, 57 ; offered to Buddha, 128.

Louisa County, Iowa, elephant-pipes
in, 610.

Louisiana, account of, by de Tonti,
31, 34.

Lu, sounds of the character, 411.

LU-KI Mountain, 649.

LC-Ki, the Chinese Book of Rites, 60.

LU-LUN, Buddhist books, 635.

LC-SHi, a Chinese author, 643, 649,
663.

LU-SSE-TAO, a Buddhist devotee, 635.

Lucky and unlucky days, 590.

LUN-YU, a book by Confucius, 637,
672.

Lunar Houses, 144, 149, 150. See,
also, Nakchatras.

LUNG-CHIH, or nine-tailed foxes, 651.
49

LUNG-POH Country, 662.

Lutes and lyres, 647, 661.

Luzon Islands. See Philippine Isl
ands.

Lye, from ashes of the fu-sang, 224,
525.

M and V interchanged, 408.

MA TWAN-LIN, a Chinese historian, 28,
64, 193, 231, 440; source of his ac
count, 86, 223, 260; merit of his
work, 217; changes in text, 260;
omissions, 357; account of Corea,
209: of CHU-JU, 495; embassies
mentioned by, 624; statement that
Fu-sang is east of Japan, 242 ; first
studied by de Guignes, 204.

Macana, a weapon, 437.

Macassar, Chinese transcription of,
404, 407.

Maceta, Father, removal of, 562.

Macgowan, Mr. , paper by, 182.

Madura. See Bread-fruit tree.

Magazine of American History, 181.

Magdalena, statue at, 537.

Magellan, strait of, CHANG-JIN near,
36.

Magic, belief in, 590.

Magnetic chariots and fish, 114.

Maguey, described as a product of
the agave (q. v.), 235.

Mahd, Chinese translation of, 340.

Mahara, a fabulous fish, 146.

Mahavanso, accounts preserved in, 5.

Maiden, Mountain of the, 645.

Maidosegee, a Chippewa chief, 611.

Mailla, Pere, translations by, 39.

Maize, called "wheat," 117; Aztec
term for, 517; said to be indige
nous to both continents, 97 ; possi
bly described as " little beans," 31,
213, 315.

Malacca, Chinese transcription of, 407.

Malay, language, 68 ; name of bana
na, 58, 405, 642; garments, 618;
custom of blackening the teeth,
681.

Males, Island of, 488.

Mammoth, or mastodon, ea^ly exist
ence of, in America, 203, 008 ; ivory
from, 35 ; its head as an ornament,
607.

MAN-HU Mountain, 667.

Mafiacicas, tradition of, 564.

Managua Lake, springs near, 534.

Manco-Capac, 143, 162, 198.

Mandans, belief of, 123, 127; tortures
of, 198 ; doorways of, 518.

770

INDEX.

Mountain, 652.

Mani, high-priest of, 557.

Mantchoos, ancestors of, 45, 187 ; lan
guage of, 111; garments of, 90;
term for Gautama, 588 ; cyclic
years distinguished by colours, 99 ;
their zodiac, 144, 149.

Mantchooria, visited by Buddhist
priests, 7 ; Great HAN in, 186.

Mantles, worn by Aztec kings, 472;
from superstitious ideas, 474.

Manuscripts, liability of error in copy
ing, 449.

MAO Mountain, 654.

MAO-JIN, or Hairy Men (q. v.), 21. See,
also, Ainos and Crab- Barbarians.

MAO-TSZ' aborigines, 535.

Maps, furnished by de Guignes, 121 ;
unreliability of those made by Chi
nese, 242 ; use of name " Mexico "
upon, 370; exhibited to Congress
of Americanists, 371 ; errors in old,
490.

Maponos, tradition of, 564.

Marble, found in Alaska, 356.

Mare, Peter, elephant-pipe found by,
610.

"Marked Bodies," land of (WXN
SHiN), description of, 21, 301, 316 ;
meaning of term> 245 ; its distance
from Japan, 19, 21, 328; and from
Great HAN, 324, 336 ; identified as
Jesso, 20, 21, 22, 44, 186; denial,
92, 335; as the Aleutian Islands,
91, 335 ; as a land of Ainos, 84,
186 ; difficulty in identifying, 214 ;
a further account of, 357; Hwui
Shan the author, 301 ; examination
of customs of, 343.

Markets of Fu-sang, 288, 431; of
Mexico, 432; of land of "Marked
Bodies," 322.

Marriages, among Hindoos, 619; in
China, 476; among the SHE-GOBI,
25 ; in Mexico, 99, 479, 618 ; in Fu-
sang, 292 ; of prisoners, 196, 272 ;
consummation of, postponed, 619 ;
of Buddhist priests, 585 ; of Mexi
can priests, 578, 581 ; celebrated by
tying garments, 157.

Masaya, volcano of, 531.

Massachusetts, as described by North
men, 452.

Mastodon. See Mammoth.

Matlalxihuitl, a Mexican plant, 471.

Matsumai, a name of Jesso, 21, 186.

Maundevile, his account of Amazons,
244 ; his repetition of Cassar's story,
336.

, thought to be American
tribes, 56.

Maxtli, a Mexican garment, 618.

Mayas, mourning customs of, 466;
divisions of day by, 476 ; symbolism
of colours among, 616; books of,
618.

Mazapili, spoke Aztec language, 366.

Mazatecas, kept tame deer, 431.

Mazatl, Aztec word for " deer," 481.

Me, meaning of the syllable in Aztec,
376.

Meals, hour at which eaten, 441, 581,
584.

Mecatl, definition of, 508.

Media, definition of, 147.

Mecitl, an early Aztec chief, 373.

Medicine-men, called by same title as
Buddhist lamas, 65 ; trials of, 357.

Mediums of exchange, used by Az
tecs, 98.

MEI fish, 652.

MEI-JIN, or "go-betweens," 476.

MEI-Y€T Mountain, 653.

Melendez, Pierre, statement of, 31.

Men with tails, account of, 451.

Mendoza, Father de, journey of, 563.

MENG-KIEN, a Chinese author, 676.

Menu, traditions of, 146.

Mercator's atlas, name " Mexico " up
on, 370.

Merhamhir, the Cophes River, 445.

Merida, city founded near, 557.

Meropide of Elien, 55.

Merry nature, of people of " Marked
Bodies," 318; of Alaskans and
Aleuts, 347.

Merychippus, an equine genus, 482.

Mescal, a name for the agave, 377.

Mescalero Apaches, expedition
against, 390.

Messigo, a variant of " Mexico," 371.

Metals, in Japan, 640; in Fu-sang,
431; in Mexico, 98, 431; art of
casting, 572.

Metamorphosis, of Xolotl, 237; of
Cantico, 614; of NU-CHEU'S Body,
6/56.

Metempsychosis, belief in, in India, 2 ;
and among Alaskan tribes, 6'.

Metl. See Agave.

MEU Mountain, 665.

Mexico, meaning of the name, 373-
381; its pronunciation, 372 ; region
to which applied, 369-372 ; the first
hearing of the name, 370; uncer
tainty as to its application, 370 ;
reason for misunderstanding, 381 ;
other place-names from same root,

INDEX.

771

372; possibly transcribed by Chi
nese as FU-SAXG-KWOH, 406; the
country called " New Spain," 370 :
the city called " Tenochtitlan," 368 ;
it agrees with the description of
Fu-sang, 399 ; and is in region in
dicated, 361 ; identified as Fu-sang,
12, 95 ; distance from Alaska, 183 ;
as much east as south, 361 ; said to
be too distant for Fu-sang, 189 ;
its early inhabitants, 96 ; inhabited
successively by different tribes, 362 ;
inhabited by the Toltecs, 364 ; his
tory of, 13 ; criticisms upon its
historians, 621 ; means of inves
tigating its early history, 362 ;
our imperfect kno\yledge, 709 ;
changes in, 709 ; traditions of, 536,
615, 706; analogies between arts
and customs of, and those of Asia,
154, 155, 706 ; non-intercourse with
South America, 556; intercourse
with Central America, 362 ; ' its peo
ple -of same race as other American
tribes, 622 ; its people of to-day the
descendants of the lower classes,
156; civilization of other tribes
same as that of the Aztecs, 368 ; its
languages all connected, 96; its
place-names nearly all Aztec, 366 ;
its rainy season, 511 ; the days of
its months, 148 ; its priests named
Amanam, 74 ; monastery and nun
nery of, 576; its pyramids, 597:
analogy of its religion with that of
Peru, 566; date of foundation of
the empire, 19, 32 ; its limits, 367 ;
titles of its nobility, 411, 413 ; of
its ruler, 410 ; music played before
him, 423 ; ceremony of marriage in,
619; suspension -bridges of, 618;
false arch used in, 605 ; salt, 508 ;
copper, 432 ; obsidian mirrors, 522 ;
the only country in which such
mirrors were made, 706 ; its char
acteristic vegetation, 510 ; cacti arid
agaves, 394 ; nothing like the T'uxo
tree in, 176 ; Broussondia not found
in, 236 ; monkeys of, 496, 506 ; deer
of, 69 ; buffaloes of, 427 ; law of,
393 ; manuscript of, No. 2, 167. See,
also, Aztecs.

Mexitli (or Huitzilopochtli, q. v.), the
Aztec god of war, 373 ; possibly a
deification of the century-plant,
379 ; temple of, 599.

Mice, migrations of, 8.

Michoacan, inhabited by Toltecs, 365 ;
included in Mexico, 371; Aztec

place-names in, 367; its resem
blance to Chinese names, 111 ; mu
sic played before king of, 423;
dress of its priests, 581 ; its mar
riage laws, 479; its mourning cus
toms, 466 ; springs of, 534.

Micos, Spanish name for monkeys,
497.

Mictlampa ehecatl, the north wind,
461. J

Mictlan, the Mexican Hades, 460,
537; situated in the north, 461.

Mictlan, or Mitla, ruins of, 95, 606 ;
arrival of Wixipecocha at, 539;
analogy of its civilization with that
of Mexico, 362 ; dress of the pon
tiff, 581.

Mictlan - cihuatl, resemblance of, to
Kali, 546.

Mictlan teuctli, Lord of Hades, 411.

Midnight, Aztec name for, 476.

Migrations of monkeys, 498.

Mijes, spiritual rulers of, 540 ; arrival
of Wixipecocha among, 538 ; writ
ten account of, 539.

Mikado, a Japanese title, 638.

Military qualities, Chinese interest in,
420.

Military weapons, used by all Asiatics,
357.

Milk, in Fu-sang, 58,286; not used
by many nations, 621 ; not used by
American tribes, 159, 169, 190; who
have no term for it, 398 ; said to be
used by American tribes, 59; not
used in many parts of Asia, 159;
rarely used in China, 100, 169 ; or
Sumatra, 396 ; koumiss made from,
395 ; the Aztec term for, 397 ; the
term used figuratively, 398; and
applied to the milky juice of a
plant, 398 ; particularly to that of
the century-plant, 397, 398 ; reason
why its nature was not explained,
449 ; a sea the colour of, 225, 239,
533.

Milky Way, compared to a foaming
stream, 339 ; drift-wood said to
float to, 341.

Mimana, intercourse of, with Japan,
625, 627.

Mix Marsh, 648.

MIN-TSZ' Mountain, 653.

Mines, of ancient inhabitants of
America, 117; near Lake Superior,
118.

Mineral springs in Mexico, 534.

MING-SIXG Mountain, 664.

Minnesota Mining Co., 117.

YT2

INDEX.

Mints established in Japan, 629.

Mirage, on American plains, 483.

Mirrors, none but metallic made by
Chinese, 524; brought to Japan,
625; held by gods, 614; concave
and convex, 523 ; made by Aztecs,
522 ; Mexican house of, 529 ;
brought from Fu-sang, 223, 238,
522, 685; must have come from
Mexico, 705.

Missionaries, Buddhist, countries vis
ited by, 5.

Mississippi River, cattle near, 33 ;
customs of tribes near, 34 ; fortifi
cations near, 198.

Missouri River, Buddhists near, 143.

Miters, worn by Buddhist lamas, 567,
569 ; and by Mexican Wiyatao,
580.

Mithridates, references to, 88, 99.

Mitla. See Mictlan.

Mixcohuatl, a name of Mexitli, 381.

Mixteca, colonized by followers of
Quetzalcoatl, 543; high-priest of,
579, 587; vines in, 416.

Mixtecapan, preservation of Toltec
culture in, 575; feast of dead in,
591.

Mixture of nations, effects of, 153.

MO-HO, or MO-KO, country of, 45, 87.

MO-LU, a place near Japan, 634.

MO-SIN. See Ainos.

Moccasins not used in Oregon, 75.

Modesty of Buddhist idols, 584.

Mog, a name of the Mongolians, 82.

MOH-TSZ', a Chinese author, 661.

MOH-T'U River, 646.

Moluccas, voyages of their people, 36.

Monapostiac ," an island, 538.

Monasteries, of Buddhists, 42, 125,
569, 570 ; of Mexico, 143, 157, 575,
576 ; founded by Quetzalcoatl, 575 ;
at Uxmal, 594 ; of Totonacas, 578 ;
education of children at, 583.

Money, not used by Aztecs, 98, 432 ;
or Alaskans, 356.

Mongolians, genealogy of. 82 ; coun
try of , 87; their zodiac, 149; years
of their cycles, 99, 470 ; their name
in Chinese, 45; visited by Bud
dhist priests, 7 ; their lamas, 585 ;
their name for G-autama, 558 ; inva
sion of Corea, 242; conquest of
China, 34; history, 14; connected
with the Esquimaux, 81 ; resem
blance of, to American tribes, 87.
184.

Monkeys, considered as a fallen form
of mankind, 494; the inhabitants

of the Country of Women, 493;
their peculiarities, 498 ; their timid
ity, 503 ; devotion to their mates,
504 ; young carried on back, 501 ;
food of, 510, 512 ; of Mexico, 496 ;
their colour, 506; said to exist in
Virginia, 483; a Chinese account
of, 514; compared to birds, 535;
found in zodiacs, 147, 149. See,
also, Quadrumana.

Monoliths, about Buddhist tumuli,
601.

Monono beno ogosi, a Japanese, 628.

Monsu, a king of PE-TSI, 627.

Monte jo, Don Francisco, expedition
of, 550.

Monterey, bisons near, 428.

Montezuma, title of, 410 ; expedition
by, 469 ; belief in return of Quetzal
coatl, 547 ; which caused his ruin,
197; pomp of, 422; like that of
the Grand Khan, 159 ; reverence
shown'toward him, 412 ; path swept
before his nephew, 617; palace of,
62, 529; his garments, 472; said
not to use same article twice, 617 ;
a buffalo kept in his gardens, 427 ;
immense horns shown to Spaniards,
210; his interview with Cortez,
422 ; presents to the ruler of Spain,
416.

Months, not mentioned in early Japa
nese records, 624; Mexican names
for, 512 ; same as those of an Asiatic
zodiac, 143 ; transposition of names
of, 571 ; first, of Mexican year, 501.

Montoya, Father de, journey of, 563.

Monuments, with Buddhist inscrip
tions, 187; of Asia and America,
143.

Moon, " Companions " of the, 144 ;
temple of the, 599; figured as a
disk containing a hare, 147.

Moose, termed " cattle," 426.

Morambecs, de la Hontan's account
of, 32. /

Morgan, L. II., discovery by, 622.

Mormons, at Salt Lake City, 177.

Morus papyrifera, confounded with
hibiscus, 46; identified as the fu-
sang tree, 190. See, also, Paper-
mulberry, and Bread-fruit tree.

Moska language, 111.

Motive for visiting America, 684.

Mounds, in Mexico, 598; in Iowa,
610 ; in Wisconsin, 610.

Mound-builders, 171.

Mountains and Seas, Classic of. See
SHAN HAI KING.

INDEX.

773

Mountain which Touches Heaven,
644.

Mountain of the Gods, 79.

Mountains, groups of, mentioned in
the SHAN HAI KING, 670.

Mountains, term applied to islands,
644.

Mountain-goat, found in America,
116.

Mourning, customs of Fu-sang, 235,
292, 466 ; garments not worn, 294 ;
customs of Mexico, 99, 466; cus
toms of Japanese, 632, 635 ; gar
ments of the Japanese, 468, 640;
garments of the Chinese, 468.

Moyotlan, a ward of Mexico, 369.

Mud-walls, boards used in making,
419.

Muddy Marsh, 648.

Muddy Kiver, 646.

MUH-KUNG, renowned for virtue, 661.

Mulberry-trees, illustration of, 387;
of Fu-sang, 48, 56 ; not fu-sang
trees, 164 ; Mountain of, 647. See,
also, Paper-mulberry, and Bread
fruit tree.

Mumajadono miko, a prince, 629.

Mumako. See Sogano Mumako.

Murder, councils held regarding, 436.

Murex, purple dye of, 76.

Musa paradisiaca, the fu-sang tree,
682.

Musano awo, an embassador, 627.

Musasi, a Japanese province, 629.

Music, attending king of Fu-sang,
282, 421 ; and kings of Mexico,
423 ; Spaniards welcomed with, 423,
424; priests welcomed with, 424;
accompanying bridal processions,
478; used in courtship, 434; of
Mexicans, 99, 422.

Musimon montanus, found in Ameri
ca, 116.

Musk-oxen, found in America, 114;
horns of, 69.

Mussel-shells, prized in Alaska, 356.

Mussulman, Chinese transcription of,
404.

Mustard, the leaves of the fu-sang
said to resemble, 387, 666.

Mutsu, a Japanese province, 629.

Muyscas (Muscas or Moskas, q. v.),
article regarding, 63 ; ten-year cycle
of, 60 ; tradition of, 560.

Mycetes, a species of monkey, 497.

Myths, analogy of Mexican and Asi
atic, 615 ; ^ regarding the fu-sang
tree, 236 ; of birth of Huitzilopoch-
tli, 97; of the sun, '341; tales of

Fu-sang not, 226 : of the Mexicans,
154. See, also, Fables.
Mythriac monuments of Asia, 56.

N and L interchanged, 413, 606.
NA, Sanskrit syllables transcribed by,

Naas Indians, carved posts of, 352.

Nacapan, prickly-pears preserved in,
395.

Nachan, City of the Serpents, 111.

Nagas, tribes so called, 111.

NAH-TO-SHA, title of nobles of Fu-
sang, 27, 41, 280 ; transcription of
a Mexican title, 413.

Nahuatalcas, early inhabitants of
Mexico, 32.

Nahuatl language. See Aztecs.

NaisTiadika, definition of, 443.

NakcJiatras, or " Lunar Houses," 144,
146.

Naked People's Country, 495, 633,
658.

Nakhorchan, the City of Serpents, 111.

Names, how bestowed by discoverers,
94 ; old names applied to new ob
jects, 97, 100, 111, 115, 426; prac
tice of changing, 443 ; of Asiatic
cities found in America, 111.

Nancy, globe in library of, 371.

NAN-KING, capital of China, 206 ; why
Hwui SnXN did not stop at, 221.

NAN-SSE, or History of the South, 92,
193, 260; its account of Fu-sang,
260; of Kingdom of Women, 93;
of " Marked Bodies," 214 ; de Guig-
nes's translation of, 65 ; not written
until after Liang dynasty, 246.

NAN-SSE-WANG-YUN-CHUEN, a book,
676.

Napoleon, life of, described as a myth,
341.

Narwhal, called espaclarte, 145.

Nasals, introduced by Chinese, 253,
407 ; in Aztec language, 541.

Navigation, by people of Jesso, 102 ;
by Aleuts, 122, 139.

Negative argument, refutation of,
589.

Negritos, account of, 83.

Nemterequeteba. See Bochica,

Nepal, visited by Buddhists, 5; re
ligion of, 97, 545; title of its
priests, 548 ; their marriages, 585 ;
an insect found in, 77.

Nequen, definition of, 391 ; mantles
made from, 392.

INDEX.

Neumann, Karl Friedrich, preceded
by de Paravey, 67 ; monograph of,
78 ; reference to, 103 ; a Chinese
ode mistranslated by, 258 ; account
of Fu - sang, 263 ; of land ot
"Marked Bodies," 317; of Great
HAN, 325.

New Annals of Voyages, 14.

New Biscay, vines in, 416 ; bisons in,
428.

Newfoundland, horses found in, 483.

New Galicia, or Northern Mexico,
367.

New Grenada, traditions of, 560.

New Guinea, visits to, 36 ; its people,
84

New Holland, visits to, 36.

New Leon, bisons in, 427.

New Mexico, civilization of, 123, 168 ;
customs of its people, 31 ; copper
found in, 432 ; gypsum used as win
dow-glass in, 529 ; mirrors found
in, 522 ; vines in, 415 ; bisons in,
196 ; not Fu-sang, 196.

N^w objects given old names, 97, 100,
111, 115, 426.

New Records of the Tang Dynasty,
246.

New Spain, Yucatan first so called,
97 ; term afterward applied to Mex
ico, 371.

New Zealand, visits to, 36.

Nezahualcoyotl, laws of, 437, 438.

Nezahualpilli, reforms of, 463.

NGAO-PO, ducks in, 662.

Ni, a Mexican suffix, 414.

Nr, a species of sacrifice, 647.

Nicaragua, hot springs of, 534 ; Ama
zons in, 489; confession in, 579;
calendar of, 501 ; mirrors of, 522 ;
Aztec language in, 366, 367 ; Mexi
can empire extended to, 367 ; Span
ish invasion of, 424.

Niches, with images of Buddha, 61,
71 ; of temple at Uxmal, 134.

NIE-YAO-KIUN-TI Mountain, 249.

NIEN-'RH-SHI, the Great Annals of
China, or the " Twenty-two Histori
ans," 260.

NIH, a fabulous tree, 400.

Nik-a-jak cave, 587.

Niki, a tribe of Ainos, 85.

Nineveh, pyramid at, 601.

Nipple, Chinese character for, 503.

Nipon-ki, or Annual Registers of
Japan, 86. 100.

Nirvana, 3, 485.

Nishney Kolymsk, Americans at, 8.

Nisiki, description of, 236.

Niskah Indians, carved posts of,
352.

Niter, used as a mordaunt, 471.

NIU-CHE, a Tartarian tribe, 24.

NIU-JIN-KWOH, or Country of "Wom
en, 213.

NIU-MOU-YO, or Land of Amazons,
489.

Noah, accounts of, 146.

Noblemen, titles of those of Fu-sang,
208, 280, 411, 413; among the Az
tecs, 99, 411, 413 ; of Japan, 629,
640 ; deer kept by those of Chichi-
mecas, 430 ; punishment of crimi
nals among, in Fu-sang, 274, 435 ;
in Mexico, 437 ; in Darien, 437.

Nochiztli, or cochineal, 471.

Noctli, or Nochtli, the prickly-pear,
394.

Noon, Aztec name for, 476.

Nopal, or Nopalli, the prickly-pear,
394 ; found in Asia, 76.

Nopal de la tierra, 531.

Nopaltzin, a Mexican chief, 430.

North, Mexican Hades situated at,
461.

North Carolina, bisons in, 430.

Northern Barbarians, 82.

Northern HAO Mountainr,653.

Northmen, Norsemen, Normans, or
Norwegians, discoverers of Ameri
ca, 94, 113, 116, 162, 452.

Northmen, named Esquimaux Skrael-
ings, 81.

Norton Sound, festivals at, 347.

Norway, visited by Buddhists, 5 ; a
possible route to America, 37.

Notes and Queries for China and
Japan, 16.

Notices of Fu-sang, by Professor Will
iams, 230.

Nou River, a branch of the Amoor,
45.

Nu, a place near Japan, 634.

Nft-CHEu's Body, metamorphoses of,
666.

Nti-CHixG Mountain, 654.

NU-HWO-YUEH-MU Country, 167.

NU-TSZ'-KWOH, or NU-WANG-KWOH, the
Chinese Country of Women, 178,
488.

Nudity, partial, of people of Fu-sang,
75.

Nuevo Leon, bisons in, 428.

Nuns, Chinese, duties of, 583 ; House
of, at Uxmal, 134.

Nunneries, Buddhist, 583 ; founded
by Quetzalcoatl, 544; of Mexico,
576.

IXDEX.

775

Nursing children over shoulder, 106,

501.
Nutka, Mexican month used at, 168.

Oahu, junk wrecked upon, 101.

Oaxaca, a repetition of Ohosaka, 111 ;
Aztec place-names in, 367 ; calen
dar of, 501 ; tradition of Wixipe-
cocha in, 539.

Obi River, called O-PU, 24, 45.

Object of this work, 11, 12.

Oblations offered to images, 212.

Obscure points, how cleared up, 218.

Obsidian, description of, 522 ; its glit
ter, 529; its use for ornamenting
buildings, 528; its Aztec name,
151 ; mirrors made by Aztecs, 522 ;
ring procured by Humboldt, 151.

Ocelotentlapalli, a Mexican mantle,
474.

Ocher, used by Mexicans, 471.

Ochotsk, distance to America, 87.

Oc na kin, name of sunset, 476.

Ocosingo, an ornament at, 130.

Ocotochtli, the Mexican marten, 532.

Ocotl, the Mexican pine, 471, 532.

Octli. See Agave.

(Eleococca, or the TUNG-tree, 235.

Offerings presented to Chinese em
peror by envoy from Fu-sang, 223,
238.

Ohio, fortifications near, 198 ; bones
of bison found in, 429.

Ohodomono Sadefiko, expedition of,
628.

Ohosaka, name repeated in Oaxaca,
111.

0 jibe way language, term for milk in,
398.

Oku-jesso, or Kamtchatka, 25.

Old names given to new objects, 97,
100, 111, 115, 426.

Old Stories Revived, 141.

Ollin, a zodiacal sign, 151 ; and a
mantle, 474.

Olmecs, vegetables raised by, 517.

Ome tetecomayo, a mantle, 473.

Ometochtli, a Mexican god, 411.

Ommiades, an Arabic dynasty, 37.

One-legged men, account of, 453.

Onondaga chief, Canassatego, 349.

Opium, Chinese name for, 414.

Opochtli, a Mexican god, 380.

O-PU, or Obi River, 24, 45.

Orang-utan, accounts of the, 495.

Orange, Chinese name of the, 415.

Orat, a Mongolian tribe, 44

Ordos, country of, 44.

Oregon, in the region named Fu-sang,
163 ; Pacific gulf-stream near, 9 ; its
climate, 75 ; its distance from Alas
ka, 164 ; route to, from Alaska, 447 ;
planks used in dwellings of, 420;
bones of horses discovered in, 483 ;
work on by Duflot de Mofras, 68.

Orkhon, an Asiatic river, 44, 187.

Orlando di Lasso, reference to, 91.

Ornaments, fondness of Alaskans and
Aleuts for, 352 ; upon breast, 606 ;
not worn by Buddhist monks, 442 ;
resembling elephants' trunks, 607.

Orocomay, an Amazon town, 493.

Orphans reduced to slavery, 463.

Ostphalians, and other tribes, 82.

Ostrich, said to eat fire, 450.

Ostrogoths, and other tribes, 82.

Otomi language, 111, 156.

Otosis, instances of, 587.

Otter, cries of the, 679.

Otumba, battle of, 491.

OU-CHAXG, foot-prints in, 554.

Ouda River, 25.

Ouke-motsi-no-kami, a god, 47.

Ouranghai, visited by Buddhists, 7.

Oussori, a branch of the Amoor, 138.

Oxen, of Fu-sang, 425 ; of America,
100 ; metaphoric use of term, 485.

Oxiones, said to have beasts' bodies,
678.

Oxyrinque, an astronomical sign, 145.

Oyametl, or fir-tree, 219.

Oysters, eaten by monkeys, 512.

Ozomatli, or Mexican monkeys, 147,
497, 514.

PA-YE-KU, an Asiatic tribe, 216.

Pachcheko, a Buddhist saint, 561.

Pachisi, or Hindoo backgammon, 620.

Pacific coast of America, peculiarities
of, 447 ; trends to east, 361 ; Ameri
can civilization confined to, 173,
708 ; colonies of Toltecs upon, 365.

Pacific gulf-stream, 121. See, also,
Kuro-siwo.

Pacific islands, how peopled, 36;
bread-fruit trees on, 165 ; Chinese
vessels wrecked upon, 106.

Pacific Ocean, Mongolians upon coast
of, 87; tradition pf trade across,
169; Palenque not situated near,
200 ; land in. 336.

Pagodas, like Mexican temples, 602.

P'AI-SHUE, a Corean river, 43.

Paicume. See Tume.

Paints used by Mexicans, 471 ;

776

INDEX.

Painted Men or Painted Bodies, trans
lation of name W!N SHAN, 21, 186.

Paintings on walls of temples, 605 ;
grotesque, 606.

Palace, of king of Fu-sang, 224, 238,
528 ; of Quetzalcoatl, 615 ; of rulers
of Mexico, 529 ; of Toltecs, 190 ; of
the sun — meaning of, 522, 523.

Palaf ox, account of Indian courtships,
60.

Palanquin, only conveyance in Japan,
480.

Palenque, meaning of name, 598 ; its
situation, 200; tribe in its neigh
bourhood, 111 ; ruins at, 56, 95 ; their
Buddhistic character, 127, 134, 602 ;
Buddhist paintings at, 199, 606 ; in
scriptions at, 421; tablet at, 591,
592 ; date of construction, 199, 598 ;
winged globe at, 130; analogy of
civilization at, with that of Mexico,
362; the elephant's head at, 201,
607, 608.

Pali, its peculiarities, 6.

Palibothra, foot-prints at, 554.

PAN, definition of, 419.

Panama, pearl-fishery near, 76 ; route
to, from San Francisco, 361 ; Albi
nos near, 506.

Pancha pro, patha, five divine feet,
554.

Pancha-sil, Buddhist commandments,
567.

P'XNG-KIU, a small island, 243.

P'XNG-LAI, its situation, 252 ; an ex
pedition to, 251, 633 ; a place where
treasure is kept, 252; a place in
SHAN-TUNG, 241 ; a name for fairy
land, 240.

Panuco, Quetzalcoatl at, 542. •

Papas, or sacrificing priests, 581.

Papaloyo tilmatli, a mantle, 474.

Papantla, monuments of, 363.

Paper, of Fu-sang, 268 ; invention of,
624, 638 ; description of Aztec, 393 ;
made from agave fiber, 98, 384, 392 ;
or from bark of a tree, 167, 194 ;
how made in China, 241 ; used to
adorn temples, 590 ; and idols, 386.

Paper-mulberry, confounded with hi
biscus, 46, 110; used for making
paper, 47 ; not the fu-sang tree, 117.
See, also, Broussonetia.

Papuans, called CHU-SHU, 84.

Papula cornuda, said to be the fu-
sang, 64.

Papyrus, paper made from, 393.

Paradise, described by Lily, 454 ; of
the Mexicans, 459.

ParagaTia juice, used for mixing stuc
co, 605.

Paraguay, tales of Amazons in, 489 ;
tradition in, 562.

Paravey, Chevalier de, America named
Fu-sang, 49 ; references to articles
by, 60, 63; his troubles, 64; New
Proofs, 66 ; his researches preceded
those of others, 67; Appendix A,
Buddhism in America, 71 ; Appen
dix B, 73 ; Appendix C, 75 ; Kefu-
tation of M. Jomard's Opinion, 76.

Paris, Corean records taken to, 528 ;
Ethnographical Museum at, 543,
595.

Parras, grapes at, 415, 416.

Parvati, figure of, 136.

Patagonians, always on horseback, 70 ;
giants, 455.

Patched garments of Buddhist priests,
553.

Patolli, a Mexican game, 620.

Paulownia imperialis, the T'uNG-tree,
176, 235, 387.

Pausanias, reference to, 55.

Pay, definition of, 562.

Payes, South American sorcerers, 562.

Pay Zume. See Tume.

PE-HAI, the North Sea, 87.

PE-TI. See Northern Barbarians.

PE-TSI (or Fiak-sai), a kingdom of
Corea, 47, 62 ; intercourse with Ja
pan, 626-629, 635.

PE-Y, author of the SHAN HAI KING,
670, 677 ; minister of SHUN, 671.

Peaceable nature of Toltecs, 420.

Peaches, of Fu-sang, 41, 211 ; fruits
so called by Chinese, 415.

Pears, red, said to be fruit of the fu-
sang, 211, 266, 288, 393; doubt on
subject, 395 ; reason for statement,
449; identified as prickly-pears,
394 ; none borne by mulberry-trees,
164; persimmons may be meant,
235.

Pearls, art of fishing for, 76 ; found
in pigs, 646.

Peccaries, called hogs, 115; said to
have navel on back, 454.

Pegu, temples of, 62.

P'EI, meaning of, 462.

PEI, a sign of the plural, 481.

PEI-WXN YIN Fu, a lexicon, 236.

Pelicans, description of, 650; borne
on bows of boats, 169.

PEN-TS'AO, the Herbal of CHIN-NONG,
674.

PEN-TSAO-KANG-MOUH, a book, 110.

Penances of Buddhists, 126, 583.

INDEX.

777

Pefiasca Blanca, estufas at, 436.

Penshinish Bay, 86, 89.

Perez, M. Jose, memoir by, 104.

Perouse, strait of, 46.

Persea gratissima, 587.

Persecution of Buddhism, 5, 446, 447.

Persepolis, columns at, 129.

Persia, visited by Buddhists, 5 ; its
distance from China, 54 ; the home
of the hibiscus, 57 ; the four ages
of, 158.

Persimmons, described as red pears,
235.

Peruvians, civilized by Asiatic visit
ors, 36 ; possibly by Buddhists, 62,
74 ; Vishnuism in religion of, 546 ;
analogy of their civilization to that
of Fu-sang, 209 ; and that of Mexi
co, 566 ; pyramids of, 565 ; offerings
to their gods, 598 ; did not distin
guish years by colours, 234 ; tradi
tions of, 563, 564; cycle used by,
194 ; beasts of burden of, 170 ; sus
pension-bridges, 618; copper, 58;
skulls of, 68.

Peruvian language, resemblance of, to
Malay, 68.

Peter and Paul's Haven, 87.

Petroleum in Mexico, 533.

Petty, a word affixed to titles, 412.

Philippine Islands, voyages of their
people, 36; Country of Women
situated near, 244 ; Chinese knowl
edge of, 405, 682 ; Fu-sang situated
in, 642, 682 ; custom of blackening
teeth in, 682.

Philostratus, quotations from, 58, 69.

Phocaceans, Chinese descriptions of,
679.

Phoanicians, acquainted with Atlan
tis, 56 ; their purple dye, 76.

Phonetics, portions of Chinese char
acters, 337 ; can not be inter
changed, 338 ; characters possibly
used as, 481.

PI-K'IU (or Bhikshu, q. v.), 440.

Pi Mi Hu, a Japanese empress, 626,
632.

PI-MU-TI Hill, 661.

PI-PI, a species of animal, 650.

Piaches, South American sorcerers,
562.

PIAN-Y-TIEN, or Chinese Geography
of Foreign Nations, 52, 58, 64, 69,
75.

Picietl, a species of tobacco, 509.

Picture-writing of the Mexicans, 421.

Pictured People. See " Marked
Bodies."

PIEX-TEU, or bamboo vases, 631.

Pigs, animals resembling, 646; hav
ing tusks, 655.

PIH-YANG River, 652.

Pillars, carved, in front of houses, 351.

Pilpatoe, a Mexican general, 412.

Pindapdtika, definition of, 441.

PING-I, the god of rain, 660.

PING-NGAN, a Corean province, 43.

PING-YANG, a Corean city, 43, 65.

Pintado, estufas at, 436.

Pipes carved in shape of elephants, 609.

Pipiles, language of, 3(55 ; mourning
customs of, 466.

Pisang, the Malay name of the banana,
58, 405, 682. '

Pita, cloth woven from fiber of, 392.

Place-names, proof afforded by, 366.

Plan of this work, 13.

Plan Carpin, errors made by, 33.

Planks, used in making mud walls,
419 ; houses built of, 420.

Plants, Country of, 663.

Plantain, the fu-sang tree, 642, 682.
See, also, Banana.

Plaster used on pyramids and walls,
605.

Platforms upon pyramids, 600.

Plato, his account of Atlantis, 58.

Pliny, marvelous tales of, 450, 494.

Plums, in America, 116.

Plumes, an American ornament, 199.

Plumed-serpent, Quetzalcoatl, 548.

Plural, Chinese signs of, 481.

PO-SSE, or Persia, 54.

PO-WE-CHI, or Fabulous Encyclope
dia, 674, 677.

PO-YANG, home of MA TWAN-LIN, 232.

PO-YAXG, a disciple of Confucius, 672.

Poem regarding native of Fu-sang,
254.

POH-SHU-TSZ', expedition of, 657.

Point Barrow, 245, 346, 347. .

Poisonous insects in Japan, 681.

PO-LO, temple of, near Canton, 254.

Polo. Marco, a contemporary of MA
TWAN-LIN, 231 ; incredulity regard
ing, 451 ; errors in his accounts, 33,
105 ; his account of Amazons, 244.

Polygamy, 620, 632.

Polytheistic worship of Mexico, 157.

Pralayas of the Hindoos, 154.

Pratyeka Buddhas, 485.

Prayers, not addressed to images, 212 ;
of Mexican priests, 581.

Presents from Fu-sang, 223, 237, 238,
520.

Preserves made from prickly-pears,
395.

7T8

INDEX.

Presiding Spirits, Country of, 663,

680. '

Prester John, fables regarding, 94.
Prickly-pears, native to America, 77 ;

description of, 395 ; identified as the

red pears of Fu-sang, 394; Chinese

term for, 401.
Prickly-poppy, said to be the fu-sang,

64.
Priests of Mexico, 198; called "tla-

mas," 65 ; welcomed by music, 424.
Primitives. See Phonetics.
Printing, invention of, in China, 449.
Prisons, of Fu-sang, 270, 457; of

Mexico, 459 ; of Japan, 164 ; future

punishment, 196.
Proboscis, representations of, 614.
Procyon, a star, 147.
Proper names, in Chinese, 257.
Prophecies of coining of Spaniards,

551.

Ptolemy, absurd stories of, 146, 487.
PU-MI, a place near Japan, 634.
PU-T'AO, definition of, 414.
Puebla, dress of priests of, 581.
PUH-NIU, adventures of, 665.
PUH-TS'AN Mountain, 645.
Pulo Condor Island, 253.
Pulque. See Agave.
PUN-TS'AO, a Chinese book, 175, 176.
Punctuation, not used by Chinese,

257, 353.

P'UNG-LAI. Se-6 FlNG-LAI.

Punishment of crime, 357, 437, 464,
465.

Purgatory, Chinese term for, 459.

Pygmies, account of, 494, 496, 662.

Pyramids of Asia, 601, 605 ; of Mexi
co, 597, 605 ; resemblance between
them, 61, 96, 605 ; of Peru, 565.

Quadrumana, described as pygmies,

494. See, also, Monkeys.
Quails, kept by Mexicans, 430.
Quaking Mountain, 665.
Quaquaquiltin, or " Herb-eaters," 575,

Quaqui Tonatiuh, sunset, 476.
Quartz crystals, 355, 646, 649, 650.
Quatu-zaca, a person so called, 74.
Quauhcalli, a Mexican prison, 459.
Quauhtemotzin, high-priest, 588.
Quauhtla, or mountains, 254.
Quauhtlepatli, a plant, 532.
Quauhxicalco, a temple, 467.
Quauhyetl, a species of tobacco, 509.
Queen Charlotte's Islands, 102, 344.

Quepopan, a ward of Mexico, 370.

Querechos, vines found in country of,
116.

Quetzal feathers on cap of Quetzal-
coatl, 543.

Quetzalcoatl, derivation of name, 548 ;
title bestowed upon, 417; said to
have come from the east, 197 ; must
have come from Asia, 143 ; a Bud
dhist priest, 162, 543, 544 ; resem
blance to Buddha, 112; doctrines
of, 547; penances taught by, 544;
temperance taught by, 547; arts
taught by, 547; gentle nature of
his religion, 575 ; dsscription of,
198, 542; an image of, 543, 595;
monasteries founded by, 575 ; edi
fices attributed to, 537; circular
temples of, 604 ; palace of, 529, 615 ;
contention with Tezcatlipoca, 575 ;
the cause of a war, 542 ; confusion
between, and Wixipecocha, 541 ;
promise to return, 197 ; belief there
in, 547 ; traditions regarding, 197 ;
late additions thereto, 549 ; survival
of his doctrines, 575 ; tribes called
his children, 575 ; disciples in Peru,
566 ; foot-prints of, 553 ; represent
ed as a bird, 198; thought to be
mythical, 198; not mythical, 541;
a god, 197.

Quetzalichtli, a species of agave,
392.

Quetzalli, definition of, 548.

Queues, introduction of, in China,
498.

Quiches, sacred book of, 546 ; belief
of, 494 ; music plaved before king
of, 423.

Quichua language, 68, 111.

Quicksilver, called " water-silver,"
354; absurdities involved in this
translation, 356 ; Chinese character
for, 355 ; a friable earth mistaken
for, 22 ; in a tomb, 245.

Quila, a town in Cihuatlan, 492.

Quilted-cotton armour, 618.

Quivera, said to have been founded
by Mexicans, 32 ; vessels wrecked
near, 31 ; vines found in, 116 ; bisons
found in, 33, 115 ; horns used as
vessels in, 430.

JR., suppressed in Pali, 6 : in languages

of American tribes, 157.
Rabbits, 225, 430, 534.
Raccoon, food of, 512.

INDEX.

779

Radicals, a part of Chinese charac
ters, 337.

Ragu, an imaginary planet, 72.

Rain, in Kamtchatka, 90 ; in Alaska,
354 ; omens of, 646, 648, 655.

Rainbow, as an escutcheon, 210.

Rainy season in Mexico, 511 ; the
time of migrations of monkeys,
498.

Rama, his conquest of Ceylon, 495.

Ramusio, map drawn by, 370.

Rank, indicated by tattooing, 245,
318, 347, 631; by carved posts,
352 ; by badges, 600.

Rats, birds resembling, 644, 651, 654,
680.

Ravine of Manifestation of Dawn,
681.

Recapitulation of arguments, 684.

Records of Japanese History, 423.

Records of Liang Dynasty, 260.

Records of the Ten Islands, 243.

Red-skins, or American tribes, 81.

Reeds or rushes in Mexico, 415.

Refined Gentlemen, Country of, 657,
663, 680.

Reindeer, in both Asia and America,
35, 175; in America, 59, 196; in
Siberia, 32 ; in Kamtchatka, 64, 83,
89 ; in Canada, 76.

Relatives of criminals punished. 278,
464.

Religion, in America and Asia, 706 ;
in Alaska. 6 ; in Mexico, 158, 198,
574.

Remedies used by Aztecs, 509.

Remusat, translated account of Fu-
sang, 67.

'Rn-YA, or " Ready Guide," a Chinese
book, 383, 387. 389, 644, 672.

Rhode Island, described by North
men, 452.

Ri, Japanese pronunciation of Lr,
332.

Ribera, travels of, in Paraquay, 489.

Ribero, Diego de, map drawn by, 370.

Ric, title of Gothic kings, 60.

Rio Janeiro, cochineal insects from,
76.

Rishis, hermits of the Ganges, 544^

Roc, Marco Polo's account of the, 451.

Rocky Mountain sheep, horns of, 430.

Roman Catholicism, affected by Bud
dhism, 570 ; its resemblances there
to, 568 : and to Aztec religion. 585.

Roman Empire, Chinese knowledge
of, 57, 662.

Rosaries, used by Buddhists, 569.

Rose of China. See Hibiscus.

Rosny, M. de, 107, 183, 265, 630.
Rossel, Admiral de, 68, 71.
Roucou, used by Mexicans, 471.
Royal Academy, memoirs of, 13.
Roze, Admiral, visit to Kangwha,

528.

Rualo, lake, 538.
Rubruquis, errors of, 33.
Rushes in Fu-sang, 212.
Russia, Chinese transcription of, 404 ;

Buddhism in, 5.
Russians, explorations by, of Amoor

valley, 187 ; and coast of America,

22.
Rutting-season, of monkeys, 498.

Sables of Fu-sang, 225, 239, 534.

Sacaa, or priests, 579.

Sacapulas, a Mexican town, 588.

Sacatecoluca, a Mexican town, 588.

Sacatl, meaning of, 587.

Saco, a Mexican town, 588.

Sacrifices, 647, 651, 653; prohibited
by Buddhism, 126.

Sae kino murazi, images brought by,
628.

Sagas, accounts of America, 92.

Sage-brush, 510, 511, 513.

Saghalien, identified as Fu-sang, 179,
242; as Great HAN, 44, 186; not
Great HAN, 52.

Sai, or capuchin monkey, 498.

Saint Bartholomew, in America, 199,
561.

Saint Christopher, music at, 424.

Saint Thomas, in America, 199, 550,
561, 563, 564, 568.

Siikya, or Sakya Muni, an appellation
of Buddha (q. v.), 2 ; its meaning,
2 ; Chinese transcription of, 77 ; his
conception, 97 ; early disciples, 582 ;
interment, 96; name contained in
various Mexican place-names, 77,
587 ; in Quatuzaca, 74 ; and Chaac-
mol, 606.

Salamander, myth regarding, 532.

Salt, of China and Mexico, 508 ; Chi
nese character for, 507.

Salt Lake City, Country of Women,
177.

Salt-plant, 30, 308, 507.

Salt-weed, of Arizona, 509.

Salvador, Aztec language in, 367;
dress of priests of, 472.

Samarcand, said to be KI-PIN, 108,
123, 212, 213, 445, 446 ; situation
of, 124 ; a center of Buddhism, 193 ;

780

INDEX.

missionaries from, 28, 126; com
merce with China, 446.

Samoyedes, customs of, 34.

SAN-KAN, pays tribute to Japan, 627.

SAN-MA-CELL-HAN. See Samarcand.

SAN-SAI-DZOU-YE, an encyclopaedia,
212.

SAN-SIEN-SHAN, the Three Fairy Hills,
241.

San Andreas Chachicomula, 605.

San Bias, Fu-sang near, 95.

San Domingo, estufa at, 436.

San Felipe, bones of bisons at, 428.

San Francisco, Fu-sang near, 68, 177;
east of center of United States,
361 ; century-plant in, 386.

San Juan Teotihuacan, 598.

San Lorenzo, river of, 492.

Sand River, 649 ; and Marsh, 650.

Sand, shifting, meaning of, 648.

Sandwich Islands, 68, 101, 156, 167.

SANG, pronunciation of, 400, 407.

Sanga, the Buddhist priesthood, 458,
485.

Sanga Pala, a Buddhist priest, 440.

Sanger, strait of, 85.

Sanghati, a Buddhist robe, 553.

Sanskrit, Chinese transcriptions from,
253, 404, 413, 440 ; its use in sun-
myths, 342.

Santa Rita del Cobre, 432.

Santarem, Viscount of, 67.

Su-to-wats, or horses, 482.

Satyrs, description of, 454.

Scandinavians, discoverers of Vinland,
49, 58, 63, 211.

Schotter, Nicholas, map of, 371.

Scorched Pygmy People, 662.

Scythia, the home of Amazons, 487.

Sea, of Varnish, 225, 239; of Milk,
225.

Sea-calves, cries of, 679.

Sea-cattle, or sea-otters, 679.

Sea-lions, 353, 679.

Sea-serpent, story of Fu-sang com
pared to, 202.

Sea-shells, as musical instruments,

Seals, given by Chinese emperor, 626,

Seals, Chinese description of, 90, 679.
Seated figure at Uxmal, 594.
SEN SIN, a Buddhist nun, 629.
Senegal, people of, 38.
SENG-KIA-LI, a Buddhist robe, 553.
Seng-ti, the lion-headed couch, 593.
Sepulchers, pyramids used as, 599,

Serpents, worshiped in Mexico, 157,

530 ; of Fu-sang, 225, 239, 530, 531 ;
of Country of Women, 529 ; taken
as husbands, 224 ; about idols, 612 ;
as ear-ornaments, 657, 660, 665,
680 ; tribes so called, 111 ; Quetzal-
coatl called the plumed, 548 ;
winged, 451, 454 ; two-headed, 455 ;
eight-headed, 678.

SHA, interchanged with KA, 414.

Shqfrat ul Atrak, or Genealogical
Tree, 82.

SHA-MO (Desert of Gobi, q. v.), 23.

Shaman, derivation of word, 5, 74;
belief that it is an American word,
6; may have given rise to title
" Amanam," 74 ; arts of, in Kam-
tchatka, 91 ; in Central Asia, 186.

SHAN, meaning of, 644.

SH!N, meaning of, 444.

SHAN-CHING, capital of Japan, 21.

SHAN HAI KING, or Chinese " Classic
of Mountains and Seas," references
to, 17, 47, 56, 218; its references
to Fu-sang, 182 ; description of the
leaves, 387; description of Ainos,
84; quotations from, 249, 250; its
fabulous accounts, 181 ; reasons for
translating, 642 ; translation of
parts of, 643 ; preface, 643'} fourth
book, 644; ninth book, 656; four
teenth book, 661 ; comments upon
it, 669 ; its divisions, 669, 677 ; in
terpolations, 677 ; gaps in, 677 ; age
of, 672 ; its authorship, 671-673 ; a
compilation, 680 ; not thought wor
thy of credit, 671-676; opinion
rapidly changing, 678.

SHIN-PAN, a species of mussel, 648.

SHAN-TSEH, or the Deep Marsh, 653.

SHAN-TUNG, wild tribes in, 241.

SHAO-HAI, the Little Sea, 87.

SHAO-HAO, the emperor, 661.

SHANG dynasty, reign of, 672.

Shaving, by Buddhist priests, 567.

SHE-GOBI, Tartarian tribes, 24, 25,
216.

SHE-PI'S Body, a god. 656, 657.

Sheep, in Great HAN, 215, 246 ; not

• raised in Japan, 178; gods with
horns of, 653 ; American animals
so called, 33, 115; llamas, 115;
Rocky Mountain sheep, 430 ; vege
table, 450 ; metaphoric use of term,
485.

Shem, references to, 72, 74.

SHEU, or cubit length, 331.

SHI River, 655 ; and Mountain, 654.

SHI, definition of, 444.

SHI-CHEU-KI, a book, 227.

INDEX.

781

SHI-EUL-T'EU-TO KING, a book, 441.

SHI-HU Mountain, 651.

SHI HWANG-TI, a Chinese emperor.

251, 626.

SHI-KIA, or Sakya, 77.
SHI TAO-AN, travels of, 10.
SHI-WE. See SHE-GOEI.
Shifting Sand, meaning of, 648.
SHIH, meaning of, 327, 394.
SHIH River, 644, 647, 654.
SHIH CHAU Ki, 236.
SHIN I KING, 240, 250.
SHIN Yi TIEN, 671.
SHING Mountain, 667.
Shinje, the Lord of the Dead, 614.
Shipwrecks, of Chinese vessels on a
Country of Women, 36, 106, 213,
251, 515; of Chinese emperor Ti-
PUN, 34; of an expedition to Japan,
252; of TSIN-NGAN men, 310; at
WU-KIEN, 660 ; on American coast,
122, 233; on coast of British Co
lumbia, 184 ; of California, 101 ; of
Quivera, 81; of Japanese junks,
156; on Queen Charlotte's Islands,
102 ; on Oahu, 101.
Shin Shing, a Japanese emperor, 624,

632.

SHO-TUAN, a Chinese lord, 222.
Shrawakas, a class of Buddhists, 485.
SHU, a division of China, 627.
SHU-HAI, journey of, 658.
SHU KING, references to, 83, 212.
SHUI KING, or Book oi the Waters, 674.
SHUN, an emperor, 666; ministers of,

670, 671.
SHY-WEI, country of, 45, 137. See,

also, SHE-GOEI.

SI-KOKF, an island of Japan, 249.
SI-NGAN, Chinese capital, 54, 82, 87,

446.

Siam, Buddhism in, 5; pagodas of,
62; similar to Mexican temples,
112 ; altars of, 133 ; manuscripts of.
618; disbelief in ice by king of,
354 ; term for Gautama 'in, 558.
SIANG Mountain, 651.
SIAO-CHING, the less translation, 484
SIAO-TEU, or "little beans," 314, 517.
Siberia, Chinese transcription of, 404;
inhabitants of, 216; Buddhism in,
5 ; sea gradually filling up, 70 ; Led-
yard's researches in, 112; animals
of, 32 ; Great HAN situated in, 22,
178.

Sibylline books, ages named in, 155.
Siddharta, name of Buddha, 1.
SIE-HAO, or Chinese absinthe, 30, 308,
507.

Siebold, translation of, 625.
Sierra Nevada Mountains, 532.
Silk, use of, by American tribes, 241 ;
of Fu-sang, 223, 224, 238, 520, 685;
could have come from Mexico, 705 ;
vegetable fiber so called, 521.
Silk-worms of Fu-sang, 48, 56, 223,

224, 238, 25t), 524; of Japan, 631.
Silver, in Fu-sang, 288, 431 ; in Mex
ico, 431 ; in Japan, 629, 636, 640.
Simson, Theos., letter from, 173.
SIN-FU, expedition of, to P'!NG-LAI,

633. See, also, SIU-FU.
SIN-LO, or Sinra, a province of Corea,

625-628.

Sinapis, fu-sang leaves resemble, 387.
Sipgoun, a Japanese title, 638.
Sipangu, Marco Polo's name for Ja
pan, 549.

Sisal hemp, the silk of Fu-sang, 521.
Sitka, climate of, 122; carved posts

in, 352.
SIU-FU, a physician, 251; deified by

the Japanese, 252.

Siva, representations of, 61, 71 ; the
cross a monogram of, 552 ; wives of,
546.

Sivaism, in Thibet and Java, 545;
cruel rites of, 162; mixed with
Buddhism, 72, 124, 126.
Skrellings, or Esquimaux, 81, 453.
Skulls of American races, 81 ; in

mounds, 598 ; on idols, 612.
Slave-children of Fu-sang, 274, 457,

462.

Slave Indians, tattooing of, 346.
Slavery, among the Mexicans, 462;
relatives of criminals reduced to,
465, 632.

Sloan, Hans, collection of, 29.
Smasanika, definition of, 442.
Smoking Mountain, 225, 531.
Snails, eaten by monkeys, 512.
Snow, described as feathers, 450.
Snowy Range, 532.
SO-TIEN, a Buddhist priest, 635.
Sogamozo, monuments of, 143.
Soqano Jlumako, temple of, 628,

629.

Somona, an epithet of Buddha, 558.
Sonora, vines in, 415; no bisons in,

427; metals in, 432.
Sounds of Chinese characters, 234.
Soitra, a fabulous fish, 146.
South, the leading point of the com
pass, 615 ; Mexican paradise in, 461.
South America, traditions of, 560;

non-intercourse with Mexico, 556.
Soy, derivation of the word, 508.

782

INDEX.

Spanberg, Capt., on coast of Japan,

22.

Spain, conquered by Arabs, 37; place-
names of, 366.
Spaniards welcomed by music, 423,

424.

Spinel, in Alaska, 356. .
Spirits, worshiped in Country of Worn-

en, 225 ; images of, worshiped, 212 ;

of the earth, and sun, 671.
"Spring and Autumn," a book by

Confucius, 643, 649, 663, 674.
Springs, numerous in Mexico, 534.
Sprouts, of endogenous plants, 389;

of currant-bushes, 511. See, also,

Bamboo-sprouts.
Squirrels, quadrumana compared to,

495.
Sramana, an epithet of Buddha, 558 ;

and his priests, 5 ; from which word

" shaman " has come, 74.
Sravana, or foot-prints of Vishnu,

152.

Sripdda, or foot-prints of Buddha, 553.
SSE-KI, a Chinese book, 672.
SSE-MA-CHING, book of, 673.
SSE-MA-KUANG, a Chinese author, 671.
SSE-MA-TS-'IEN, a Chinese author, 113,

672.

Stairs, Chinese transcription of, 404.
Stanton, Sir George, map of, 50.
Statuary of Buddhists, 606.
Statue of a man from Fu-sang, 254.
Statues upon pyramids, 600.
" Stems," the ten Chinese, 234.
Stennis, monoliths of, 601.
Sterculia plantanifolia, 176.
Stone, worked by Americans, 151 ; in
terred with the dead, 159, 617; a

tree of, 254, 416.
Stonehenge, monoliths of, 601.
Stucco, on pyramids, 599, 605; and

temples, 606.
Su, meaning of, 400.
Su FUH, expedition of, 243.
Su KI-YU, governor of FUH-KIEN, 242.
Sua. See Bochica.
Substantive verbs in Chinese, 444.
Suddhodana, father of Buddha, 1.
Suetoi-noss, a Kamtchatkan cape, 26.
Sugar extracted from century-plant,

386.

Sugar-cane, called P'U-T'AO, 415.
SUH-CHU Mountain, 644.
Suma. See Tuma.
Sumatra, 36, 245, 396, 681.
Sun, temple of the, 599 ; spirits of the,

671 ; children named after, 250.
Suns, the ten, 659.

Sun-bird, the shooting of, 659.

Sun-house, the Aztec paradise, 459.

Sunless Mountain, 644.

Sun-myth, Fu-sang not a, 226, 341.

Sunrise, place of, 250, 252, 643, 661,
663, 664, 667 ; valley of, 243 ; com
mencement of day with, 476.

Sunset, Mexican name for, 476.

Sun's Palace, meaning of, 523.

SUNG, a Chinese dynasty, 40.

SUNG-YUN, his journey to India, 10,
444.

Suruga, a Japanese province, 629, 636.

Survival of primitive customs, 362.

Surya, a god of India, 152.

Suspension-bridges, 618,

Swan, Chinese description of, 680.

Swastika, a species of cross, 552.

Sweat-house. See Estufa.

Sweden, Buddhism in, 5.

Sweeping the paths of monarchs, 433,

Sweet-herb, a species of sage, 513.

Swine, in Kamtchatka, 89, 90; pec
caries so called, 115; name be
stowed on foreigners, 81.

Swords, worn by Japanese, 681 ; rep
resentation of curved, in Mexico,
606.

Sz' I KAO, or Researches into the
Four Frontiers, 232.

SZ'-MA TSIEN'S description of a tomb,
245.

TA, definition of, 340.
TA-CHING, the great translation, 484.
TA-FU, a Japanese embassador, 632.
TA-HAN. See HAN, Great.
TA-MO, a Siberian tribe, 216.
TA-MO, a Buddhist, 440.
TA-O Mountain, 664.
TA-T'UNG-KIANG, a river, 43.
TA-TSIN, the Roman empire, 57, 662.
Taber, photograph by Mr., 386.
Table or altar at Palenque, 133.
Tacitus, fables related by, 56, 678.
Tadpoles, Chinese names of, 644.
Taencas of Louisiana, 31, 106.
Tagala language, 111.
Tagul, Chinese transcription of, 404.
Tahuas, worship of serpents by, 530.
TAX, a Chinese officer, 660.
T'AI Mountain, 646, 656, 667.

TAI-CHIN-TONG-WAXG-FU, a god, 219.

AI-FANG, :

634, 635.

TAI-FANG, route from

FU, a go
, to Chi

ina, 630,

Tai-kan. See HAN, Great.
T'AI-TSUNG Mountain, 646.

INDEX.

783

T'AI-WAN. See Formosa.

Tails, men with, 451, 495 ; of monk
eys, 498.

Tamoi, Tamu, Tume, or Zume, 562.

T'AN, meaning of, 601.

TAN-CHEU, a place near Japan, 633.

TANG, dynasty, 85, 91.

T'ANG Ravine, 658.

T'ANG-KU, or Warm Springs Valley,
56, 250.

TANG-K'ANG, a species of wild pig, 655.

Tangaxoan, a Mexican chief, 423, 491.

Tanner, a map by Mr., 429.

Tanzy, used to sweeten meat, 513.

TAG, definition of, 516.

TAO-SZU, expedition of, 252.

Taoists, authors of the SHAN HAI
KING, 670, 677.

Taos, estufas at, 436.

Tapia, or adobe, 419.

Tapir, references to, 201, 483, 608.

Taraikai. See Saghalien.

Tarapaca, tradition regarding, 565.

Tartars, Chinese accounts of, 23, 82 ;
history of, 14 ; relationship be
tween, 82; resemblance to Ameri
can tribes, 81 ; in customs, 143 ;
and armour, 420, 618 ; zodiac of,
144, 148, 149 ; years of cycles, 99,
470 ; commencement of year, 499 ;
dialects of, 111 ; lack of beard, 35.

Tartary, hares of, 147 ; horses of, 32 ;
American women met in, 35 ; dress
of priests in, 567 ; characters of, in
Canada, 112.

Tatsima Mori, travels of, 625.

Tattooing, in Eastern Asia, 245 ; by
Ainos, 84, 186 ; in Japan, 631 ; by
people of the land of "Marked
Bodies," 245, 318 ; of Aleuts, Alas
kans, and American tribes, 92, 345,
346 ; as a mark of rank, 245, 347.

TAU, definition of, 644.

Taxco, metals from, 432.

Taxes, none in Fu-sang, 431.

Tay, definition of, 579, 587.

Taysacaa, a high-priest, 519, 540, 587.

Tchuktchi, 83, 86, 87.

TCHO-LONG, the " Luminous Dragon,"
532.

Teca, or tecatl, definition of, 410.

Tecali, or gypsum, 529.

Teccizyo tilmatli, a mantle, 473.

Techichi, an animal, 430.

Tecpatl, a Mexican sign, 150, 151.

Tecuhtli, a Mexican title, 411.

Tehuantepec, 538, 605.

Teilpilojan, a Mexican prison, 459.

Temples, of Hindostan, 606; of Ja

pan, 629; of the Sun and Moon, 599 ;
on pyramids; 601 ; at Palenque,
598, 606 ; of Quetzalcoatl, 615 ; dec
orations of, 590, 605, 615 ; age at
which children are brought to, 463.

Ten suns, accounts of, 163, 182, 250,
659, 682.

Tcnextli, or Mexican lime. 605.

Tenochtitlan, or Mexico, 368, 375.

Teoamoxtli, the " divine book," 559.

Teocallis, or temples, 112, 566, 599.

Teo-cipactli, the Mexican Noah, 146.

Teo-Culhuacan, a city, 491.

Teopan, a ward of Mexico, 369.

Teo-pixqui, or Aztec priests, 578.

Teotihuacan, a town, 363, 599.

Teotl, resemblance of, to " Dem'1 589.

Teoyaomiqui, an Aztec god, 459, 546,
613.

TetzontU, a species of stone, 605.

Teuan, or tetuan, definition of, 410.

Teule, Teuli, or Teuhtli, 412.

Teutile, a Mexican general, 411.

Texas, fossils in, 428 ; vines in, 415.

Teyas, vines in country of, 116.

Tezcacalli, or House of Mirrors, 529.

Tezcatlipoca, a god, 526, 575, 614.

Tezcuco, punishment of criminals in,
437; path swept before kings of,
617.

Tharic, leader of the Arabs, 37.

Thatches of agave leaves, 384.

Theft, punishment of, 437.

Themistitan, the City of Mexico,
370.

TJien-balang, or Siamese altars, 133.

Theory, explaining Mexican civiliza
tion, 622 ; by which account of Fu-
sang must be explained, 64 ; which
has fewest difficulties, 342, 358;
facts perverted for, 104.

Thevenot, collections of, 60.

Thibet, visited by Buddhists, 8; re
ligion of, 97, 545; term for Gau
tama in, 558 ; priests of, 583 ; their
dress, 567, 569; marriages, 585;
use of crosses in, 552 ; walls of tem
ples of, 615 ; god Shinje of, 614 ;
zodiac of, 144, 149 ; cycles of, 143,
470 ; four ages of, 158 ; resemblance
of institutions of, to those of Mexi
co, 143, 154, 155.

Thistle, century-plant so called, 398.

Thlinkeets, carved posts of, 352.

Thorns of agave, 195.

Thread from fu-sang, 266 ; from fiber
of agave, 384.

Three Fairy Hills, 241, 243.

Three foot-prints of Vishnu, 152.

784:

INDEX.

"Three vehicles," a Buddhist term,
484.

Thunder, the god of, 668.

TI-HUNG, ancestor of the White Peo
ple, 664.

TI-KO, spirits of reign of, 671.

TI-PUX, a Chinese emperor, 34.

TI-TSIUN, who espoused HI-HO, 250.

TI-TSUX, an emperor, 663, 666.

TI-YUH, or Hades, 459.

T'IAO People, 662.

T'IAO-YUNG, description of, 646.

Tides, among the Aleutian Islands,
340.

TIEX-KIEX, period so called, 515, 519.

TIEN-WU, god of the water, 657, 665,
679.

Tigers, in zodiacs, 149 ; of Corea and
Jesso, 681 ; gentle, 657, 663.

Tilantengo, high-priest of, 579.

Tiles, in Mexico and China, 155.

Time, divisions of, 470, 475, 476;
changes occasioned by, 335.

Tin, known to Aztecs, 431 ; used as
medium of exchange, 98.

TING, confused with HIAXG, 502.

Tingry, Lake, 218.

Tititt, the month of "hard times,"
512.

Titles, of Fu-sang, 208, 234, 280, 409,
411, 413 ; of Mexico, 411, 413 ; of
Japan, 640 ; of several nations, 60.

Tizatlalu, a species of stone, 471.

Tla, definition of, 413.

Tlaca-tecuhtli, Montezuma's title,
410.

Tlaliac, a mineral, 471.

Tlalocan, the Aztec paradise, 460.

Tlalxicco, Mictlantecutli's temple, 461.

Tlama, priests or " medicine-men,"
65, 589.

Tlamacazqui, or deacons, 575 ; du
ties of, 577, 581 ; dress of, 580.

Tlanamiqui, definition of, 463.

Tlascala, punishment of a thief at,
437 ; entrance of Cortez, 423 ; dress
of priests of, 581 ; names for Hui-
tzilopochtli at, 381.

Tlascalans, emigrants from north,
149 ; called " women," 489.

Tlatelulco part of Mexico, 369.

Tlatoani, or

Tlatoca, a Mexican title, 413.

Tlepatli, a Mexican plant, 532.

To, definition of, 414.

TO-P'U-T'AO, 41, 211, 288 : said to be
grapes, 58, 65 ; or tomatoes, 414.

Tobacco, 97, 569.

Tollantzinco, the prophet of, 538.

Toltecs, meaning of name, 96 ; emi
grants from north, 143, 149; said
to have come from Japan, 62 ; date
of their arrival, 96, 363, 364; no
earlier inhabitants known, 363 ; in
Mexico in days of Hwui Shttn, 364 ;
spoke the Aztec language, 365;
colonized the Pacific coast, 365 ;
their civilization, 190, 363, 365,
574; its preservation, 575; their
peaceable nature, 420 ; offerings to
their gods, 598 ; writing of, 421 ;
their '' divine book," 96 ; priests,
581 ; resemblance of religion to
that of Peru, 566; religious wars
of, 575 ; caused by Quetzalcoatl,
542 ; capital of, 599 ; palaces of
kings of, 529 ; taught agriculture,
430.

Tomatoes, used by Mexicans, 415.

Tombs, pyramids used as, 599, 601 ;
homes of priests among, 442.

Tonapa, tradition regarding, 565.

Tonatiuh, temple of, 599.

TOXG-FANG-SO, a Chinese author, 219.

TOXG-HAI, the Eastern Sea, 633.

TOXG-HOEN-HEU, an emperor, 222.

TONG-KING, embassy from, 114.

TOXG-KING-FU, a poem, 226.

Tontli, definition of, 412.

Topes of Buddhists, 601.

Topiltzin Ceacatl. See Quetzalcoatl.

Tortures of Mandan Indians, 198.

Total abstinence, taught by Quetzal
coatl, 547.

Totepeuh Nonohualcatl, a chief, 542.

Totonacas, monastery of, 578.

Tourmalines, in Alaska, 356.

Towers, upon pyramids, 600, 602.

Toys, as symbols, 620.

Toy on, or chief, 351.

Traditions, of Aztecs, 362, 536; of
Guatemala, 608 ; of erection of
pyramids, 598 ; of trade across the
Pacific, 169 ; regarding Deluge, 131 ;
regarding elephant, 611 ; regarding
Quetzalcoatl, 615; interpreted in
different ways, 201.

Trawhivarika, definition of, 442.

Transcriptions of foreign words by
Chinese, 404, 414.

Translations, a Buddhist term, 484,
486.

Translations from Chinese, reasons
for, 255 ; principle followed in, 261.

Transmigration, belief in, 157, 590.

Travelers provided with food, 348,
350.

Trees, plants so called, 383, 384 ; of

INDEX.

785

stone, 254, 416 ; Buddhist priests to
sit under, 442 ; Land of Numerous,
644.

Tremblers, a tribe so called, 517.

Tricks of decipherers, 106.

Tri yana, the " three cars," 485.

Trumpets, 421, 422, 476.

Truths, told by Hwui Shan, 358, 686;
found even in wonderful tales, 336.

TSAH-YU River, 649.

TSAT, meaning of, 425, 444.

TS'AI-KING-CHUNG, inventor of paper,
638.

TSAN-YAI, Country of Women near,
226.

TslNG Mountain, 667.

TS'ANG-SHAN-WU, a poem, 658, 661,
663.

TSCANG-TI River, 654.

TS'AO, definition of, 446, 507.

TS'AO-CHI Mountain, 648.

TSEU-CHI-T'ONG-KIEN, a book, 671.

TSEU-HIA, a disciple of Confucius,
672.

Tsi dynasty, 40, 206, 222, 440.

TSIN dynasty, 40.

TSIN-NGAN, situation of, 244; ship
wreck of men of, ?510, 515.

TI'IN SHI HWANG Ti, an emperor,
241, 243, 245, 633.

TSING People, 663.

TSING-TSING, a species of animal, 653.-

TSO-SSE, a Chinese poet, 674.

Tsu, a Chinese state, 647.

Tsu-sima, 43, 630, 634, 636.

Tsu-su-ga, a poisonous insect, 681.

Ts'tJ-TAN River, 647.

TSU-TSE-YU, a book, 675.

TS'UNG-TS'UNG, or six-legged dogs,
644.

Tsz' rats, 644.

TSZ'-T'UNG Mountain and River, 655.

Tu Sea, 182.

TU-FU Mountain, 649.

Tu-p'o tribe, 23, 44, 45.

TU-YEU, an encyclopaedia by, 675.

TU-YU, Geography of, 674.

Tui-HAi, a place near Japan, 634.

TUI-LU, a title of Fu-sang, 27, 41,
280, 411 ; found in Corea, 528.

TUI-MA-TAO, an island, 20. 43.

Tula, Tulla, or Tulan, 415, 599, 614.

Tule, or reeds, 415.

Tuma, tradition regarding, 563.

Tumuli, of Buddhists, 601; assem
blies held in, 276, 434.

Tuna, or prickly-pear, 394.

Tung, a son of Turk, 82.

T'UNG tree, 27, 176, 235, 387.
50

TUNG FAXG-SOH, an author, 240.
TUNG-TUNG, a species of pig, 646.
Tunguses, 23, 34, 45, 81, 82, 112, 187.
Tupi-Guaranays, tradition of, 562.
Turks, 81, 82, 111, 414.
Turkestan, visited by Buddhists, 8.
Turkeys, called "hens," 115; kept by

Mexicans, 430.
Turtle, varieties of, 670.
Tusks, elephants lacking, 201, 610.
Tykoon, a Japanese title, 638.
Typhon, coupled with Horus, 72.
TS'ING-WANG, an emperor, 113.
Tzequil, the attendants of Votan, 558.
Tzin, meaning of, 588.

Ubaque, foot-prints in, 560.

Udonge, a great cloud of blossoms,
401.

Uixtocihuatl, a goddess, 508.

Ulugh Beig, work of, 499.

Unalaska, 9; meaning of the name,
34.

Unalaskans, Esquimaux, 344 ; can not
understand Aleuts, 344; their na
ture, 347 ; tattooing, 345 ; dwellings
of, 353.

Unicorn, 145, 451.

Unipeds, Northmen's account of, 453.

United States, Chinese name for, 406.

Unreliability of early Japanese rec
ords, 624, 625.

Updsakas, duties of, 561.

Urcos, statue of Viracocha at, 565.

Uries, strait of, 22.

Urtuezez, a tribe in Paraguay, 489.

Usu-fi-toghe, a Japanese mountain,
638.

UttarasangJidti, a Buddhist robe, 553.

Uxmal, traditions of Indians at,
598; pyramids at, 600; "House of
Monks " at, 594 ; seated figures re
sembling Buddha at, 71, 77, 129,
134, 200, 594 ; figure of dragon at,
73; elephant's trunk at, 200, 607;
paintings at, 199.

V and M interchanged, 408.
Vaccas, or cows, bisons so called, 115.
Vadjra dtchdrya, or " diamond teach
er," 548.

Valley of Birds, 644.
Valley of Manifestation of Dawn, 657.
Valley of Sunrise, 243.
Variations in texts, 260.

786

INDEX.

Varnish, Sea of, 225, 239, 533.

Vases of Mexico and Japan, 573.

VdtMpantari, definition of, 441.

Vatican, manuscripts of, 152.

Vegetable-sheep, description of, 450.

Vegetation characteristic of Mexico,
510.

Vehicles, none used by American
tribes, 481; "the Three," a Bud
dhist term, 484.

Velasquez, occupation of Cuba by,
550.

Vera Cruz, Gage welcomed at, 424.

Verbs, Chinese use of substantive,
444.

Vermilion fish, 649.

Victoria Weekly Colonist, 184.

Vicunas, used as draught animals,
170.

Viharas, religious establishments,
589.

Village of the Tower, of the Ghiliaks,
187.

Vine, Chinese name for, 41, 414; its
introduction into China, 42, 58, 110 ;
its Japanese name, 42 ; myth of its
creation, 47 ; indigenous to Ameri
ca, 49, 58, 94, 110, 116, 162, 169,
211, 212; and found in Mexico,
415 ; but not cultivated, 65 ; said
not to exist in America, 471 ; but
to have been brought from Europe,
416.

Vinegar, extracted from century-
plant, 386.

Vinland, reason for its name, 58, 94,
110, 116 : discovered by Scandina
vians, 63, 162; marvelous details,
452 ; Fu-sang compared to, 168.

Vira-Badhra, head-dress of, 135.

Viracocha, tradition regarding, 565.

Virginia, animals of, 483.

Vishnu, a legend regarding, 152;
head-dress of, 135; the cross a
monogram of, 552 ; worship mixed
with that of Buddha, 545 ; in the
religion of Peru, 546.

Vitim River, Great HAN near, 247

Vivien de Saint-Martin, M., article
by, 185 ; reply thereto, 136.

Volcanoes of Central America, 531.

Volcanic glass. See Obsidian.

Votan, a culture-hero, 558 ; land from
which he came, 549 ; date of visit
of, 559; brought the tapir, 608;
his name a possible corruption of
" Gautama," 558.

Vows of Aztec priests, 575.

Vrikshamulika, definition of, 442.

Wa-kan-san-sai-dzou-ye, a Japanese

encyclopaedia, 107, 108.
WA-KOKF (or WA), Japan, 250.
WAI-CHWEN, a book, 662.
Walcknaer, M., reference to, 67,
Waldeck, drawings of M. de, 56, 61,

67, 71-73, 77.

Walls about pyramids, 600.
Walled cities of Japan, 631, 640.
WAN-HU, or elks, 651.
W!N SnXN. See " Marked Bodies."
WANG-CHONG, a Chinese author, 673.
WANG-SHIN, a Chinese philosopher,

627, 637.

WANG YUNG, remarks of, 226.
War, waged by Mexicans, 190.
Warm-Springs Valley, 250, 658, 666.

See, also, T'ANG-KU.
Washington Territory, dwellings of,

420.
Water, destruction of mankind by,

615; its transformation into ice,

354.
Water -crystal, quartz - crystals so

called, 355.
Water-gems, quartz-crystals and glass

so called, 355, 646, 649.
Water-silver, Chinese text regarding,

322 ; quicksilver so called, 354 ;

absurdity involved in this transla
tion, 356 ; possibly meant for " icy-
silver," 355 ; a descriptive term for

ice, 327, 354; reason for its use,

449.

Weaving, by Mexican women, 474.
Weeks, of five days, 432, 434, 571;

Colours connected with days of, 475.
WEI, definitions of, 444, 504, 672 ; a

division of China, 627 ; a dynasty,

634 ; Mountain, 663.
WEI-SHI Mountain, 650.
WEI-YI, definition of, 441.
Weiser, Conrad, conversation with,

349.

Weltingtonia, of California, 219.
WEN-HIEN-TONG-KAO, a book by MA

TWAN-LIN, 64, 213, 228, 231.
WEN-SHIN. See " Marked Bodies."
West and East, distance between, 658.
Whales, feast held over, 347.
Wheat, in Vinland, 452; maize, so

called, 116.

Whistles of Mexicans, 422.
White, indicating a superior nature,

198.
White Land, the home of the Nahuas,

506.

INDEX.

787

White men, in New Mexico, 123 ; tra
ditions regarding, 490, 555.

White People's Country, 664.

White Woman, a Mexican Mountain,
507.

White inhabitants of Country of
Women, 302.

White-throated Mexican monkey, 506.

Wild beasts, criminals left to, 357.

Williams, Rt. Rev. C. M., letter from,
181.

Williams, Prof. S. Wells, " Notices of
Fu-sang," by, 230; translation of
account of Fu-sang, 263 ; of Coun
try of Women, 303 ; of the land of
"Marked Bodies," 317; of Great
HAN, 325 ; his knowledge of Chi
nese, 356.

Wind, destruction of mankind by,
615; blowing toward America, 62,
69 ; of knives, 590.

Wine, use of, in Japan, 631 ; a fount
ain resembling, 225, 533.

Wine-jar, the tree of the large, 400.

Winged-globe, found in America, 130.

Winged-men, myth of, 495.

Wintun squaws, tattooing of, 347.

Wisconsin, elephant-mound of, 610.

Witches, abandoned to wild beasts,
357.

Wixipecocha, tradition regarding,
507; variation thereof, 539; de
parture of, 538 ; survival of his
doctrine, 538, 575; foot-prints of,
553 ; confusion between, and Quet-
zalcoatl, 541 ; resemblance of name
to " Hwui Shin, bhikshu" 540.

Wiyana, title of Zapotec priests, 589.

Wiyatao, a Zapotec high-priest, 538,
540, 580, 589.

Wo, or Japan, 165, 178, 630.

og, the M
Wolf Mountain, 646.

Wog, the Mongolians, 82.

Woman, position of, in India, 2; in
Fu-sang, 433.

Women, Cape of, 489 ; River of, 492 ;
Buddha's command regarding, 567 ;
conduct of Aztec priests toward,
578 ; tattooing of, 345-347 ; sent to
propitiate strangers, 490, 516 ; un-
warlike tribes so-called, 213, 489 ;
the Mexican Celestial, 460.

Women, Country of, 30, 93, 106, 301,
302, 312, 700 ; Chinese tales regard
ing, 213, 224, 238, 514, 529; tales
of other nations, 93; its situation,
487; in Japan, 178, 638, 640; in
Kurile Islands, 245 ; near the Phil
ippines, 244; in the extreme east,

105,488; an island, 213,488; east
of Corea, 251 ; cast of San Fran
cisco, 177; no mom cast of Japan,
for, 110, 120; its inhabitants, 493,
505; supposed absurdities in ac
count of, 300; explanations, 94,
239, 489, 490, 514.

Wood, petrified, in Japan, 182, 249.

Wormwood, the Mexican, 508.

Wrangling People, Chinese account

Writing, in Mexico, 34, 168, 421 ; in
Japan, 624, 637, 640 ; not known by
American tribes, 190; or by Kam-
tchatkans, 34.

Wu, a division of China, 165, 627,
637, 647.

WU-KAO Mountain, 653.

WU-KO Mountain, 182.

WU-TI, emperors so named, 440, 519,
630.

WU-WANG, an emperor, 165.

Wylie, Mr., his opinion, 240.

X, sound of, 540.

Xi, pronunciation of, 407; meaning,

376, 378 ; abbreviations of, 377,

378.

Xicolli, a kind of fringe, 580.
Xicoteneatl, meeting with Cortez, 423.
Xihmtl, meanings of, 376, 377, 417;

abbreviations of, 377.
Xincas, of Guatemala, 366.
Xiuhtototl, a Mexican bird, 616.
Xochicalco, 598, 60(5.
Xochitl, Aztec word for flowers, 508.
Xolotl, a Mexican god, 237.
Xue-Chimzapaque, a name of Bochica,

561.

Y. the author of the SHAN HAI KINO,
673, 674.

Y-CHI, or Y-KI, title of king of Fu-
sang, 27, 41.

Y KIXG, or Book of Changes, 672.

Yakut language, 6.

YANG-KIANO, a Chinese author, 226.

YANG-KO, the Luminous Valley, 48,
226.

YANG-TSZ' River, 200. 045, 046.

YAO, an emperor, 659; his* burial-
place, 657.

YAO Mountain, 667 ; people, 002, 666.

Yaqui or Yaquimi, a river, 427.

Ychcatetl, or "Cotton-stone," 532.

Year, beginning of, in Mexico, 500 ; in

788

INDEX.

China, 499; length of, 143, 434,

475 ; designations of, 470.
Yebi-icadzoura, name of the vine, 42.
YEH-YAO-KIUN-TI Mountain, 666.
Yellow Emperor, the, 668.
Yellow-jawed fish, 645.
Yellow River, arrival at, 220.
YEN Mountain, 655.
YEN-KOUEN, or Burning Mountain,

530.

YEN-LUNG, ancestor of Japanese, 663.
Yenisei River, Great HAN, near, 247.
Yeso. See Jesso.
YIH, meaning of, 410.
YIH-KAO Mountain and River, 648.
YIH-TAO, definition of, 516.
YIN Mountain and River, 651.
YIN-KIAH, an emperor, 659.
YING Country, 664.
YING Dragon, 667.
YING-HWAN-CHI-LIOH, a book, 242.
YIT-K'I, title of king of Fu-sang, 41.
Yiu, definition of, 444, 447.
Yiu Sea, 653.
Yiu, or gulls, 660.
YIU-I, adventures of, 665.
YIU-YIU, a species of animal, 650.
YIU-T'AN-HWA, " a cloud of blossoms,"

401.

YOH Mountain, 645, 646.
Yohual Nepantla, or midnight, 476.
Yopaa, edifices at, 537; pontiff of,

538.

Young, Dr., approval of, 67.
Yu, SHAN HAI KING, attributed to,

670-676.

Yu, an emperor, 643, 658.
Yti Marsh, 648, 655.
YU-CHE, a Tartarian tribe, 25, 187,

188.
Yu KIE, 222, interrogated Hwui

SHAN. 222, 237, 519 ; his stories to

the court, 224, 520, 524; failed to

understand Hwui SHAN, 448, 521,

525, 709.
Yu Kill Glum, of Corean embassy,

401.

YU-KING and YU-KWOH, gods, 665.
YU-NGO Mountain, 649.
Yu PEN-KI, " The History of Yu,"

675.

YU-SHI'S Concubine, 660.
YU-TO-LO-SENG, a Buddhist robe, 553.
Yucatan, civilization of, 97, 622;

monuments of, 56, 61, 598, 605;

figures of Buddha in, 72; ele
phant's trunk, 607 ; crosses, 550 ;
traditions in, 541, 556, 558; wor
ship of dead, 468; calendar, 501;
mirrors, 522; peaceable nature of
its people, 420 ; details of civiliza
tion, 434, 463, 616, 620.

YUEN, an astronomer, 667; River,
650.

YUEN-KIEN-LUI-HAN, an encyclopedia,
64, 86, 215, 246.

YUEN- YANG, a bird, 655.

YUNG River, 665.

YUNG-YUNG, description of, 644.

Yztacchyatl, a plant, 509.

Zacapa, a town, 77, 588.

Zacatecas, a town, 366, 588.

Zacatepec, meaning of, 587.

Zacatlan, meaning of, 587.

Zacatula, a province, 432, 491, 588.

Zachilla, explorations at, 72.

Zachita, contains name Sakya, 77.

Zacoalco, a town, 588.

Zambos, or monkeys, 497.

Zamna, a culture-hero, 556, 558, 559.

Zapotecapan, disciples of Quetzalcoatl,
in, 539, 543 ; arrival of Wixipecocha
at, 538 ; Toltec civilization of, 575 ;
feast of dead in, 591; priests of,
540, 580, 581.

Zayi, elephant's trunk at, 201, 607.

Zeitschrif t fur Allgemeine Erdkunde,
15.

Zeno Brothers, errors of, 454.

Zeolites, in Alaska, 356.

Zeus, explanation by, 678.

Zig-zag folding of manuscripts, 618.

Zin-qu Xwo-ou, a Japanese empress.
626,632. "

Zin-mu, expedition of, 679.

Zodiac, Chinese, 145, 523 ; of Tartars,
144, 148 ; of Aztecs, 149 ; names of
signs repeated in those of Mexican
months, 143 ; signs represented by
heads, 146 ; of animals not confined
to temperate regions, 149; lunar
changed into solar, 152.

Zume. See Tume.

Zuhe. See Bochica.

Zumarraga de, use of name Mexico
by, 371.

Zuiiis, albinos among, 506.

THE END.

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