Show if i e Y 1 I t MEXICO T JH K LAND L OF OP i Y TREE G T D DIS DISCOVERED I The Th Chinese e Chin ese COVERED BY 0 i A A D t tr r 0 ti I j t Eo ONE THOUSAND D D Disco 8 vered d A m erica 0 U i f i 1 t TEARS Y e t t th c f j BY THOMAS R B DAWLEY DA Y I China claims clams almost everything In Inthis this th s world while hi e the rest of of the world worlds II is i s making claims in China China At Ic t the Chinese have claimed almost every everything eve thing thing that western civilization on has ha in introduced introduced I to them in modern times Gun powder Dowder the mariners compass I printing from movable blocks block playing cards chess and many other things thing Oh we e had that a a thousand years ear I ago a o H has been their inevitable reply upon seeing these things in the hands of the foreigner But their claim caim to the discovery discover of America Americ which is be believed l by every ever man and woman of ordinary education in China China is well wel founded and worthy of note The roe rec records re of China extend back further than ors those of any other country countr on the face of the globe The very ver date corre core corresponding spending to the te year when Joshua oshua Is said to have commanded the sun to stand stan still can be found on these rec ree records records If I we follow down the official chronologies to A A D we will wi find findan findan an account of one Shan who in 1 I that tat year returned to China with wit the statement that he had come from a country countr lying a great distance to the east eat His story so excited the interest of the te government that the historiographer was commanded commande to en enter entee tee ter it upon uon his official records Al Althou Although though thou h the Chinese and Japanese both bot are ar thoroughly familiar with wih the story stor of o Shims Shans discovery discover the cele celebrated celebrated I Chinese scholar Ma searched the original records and made madea a copy of the imperial historiographers original digest that it i might be proved beyond the shadow of or a doubt Hwu Shan Sh the Chinese Chese Columbus Shim Shan Sha was a Buddhist mission arv ar priest Driest With five brother mission missionaries aries arrs he left lef China sailing saing north by bythe the the peninsula of to the islands eastward to Alaska and thence to which is the name of the country countr he lie tells the most about He describes the people he en encountered encountered encountered countered on his voyage The Aleu Aleutian Aleutian tian tan islanders islander he said were ere a happy joyous people having the custom of tattooing their bodies and they re received received the stranger with wit a great geat show of hospitality East Eat of these thee islands was wa the te country countr he called cled the Great Gret Han Hun whose inhabitants had no im implements I pl ments of war nor carried carrie on a war with anyone but were content to live lve I by hunting and fishing This description description I tion of a n people people applies apples truly to the I inhabitants of Alaska Alak the who are a peaceable people never hav hay mu been known kon to have had ha wars war of I any an kind Mexico the Discovered Ld I literally The Land of the Mulberry Tree Is described as being situated twice ten iten Ien thousand li Ii I to the te east est of Great Great Han En By a glance glanc at athe athe atthe the he map mp It will wil wilLbe be seen sn that an east easterly est ester easterlY erly er course curse from that part of f Alaska I nearest the Aleutian islands would 1 bring the navigator to British Colum Columbia Columbia I bin bia bia but hut then the old Buddhist mis missionary missionary may have been careless creless in re regard gard to his sailing saing directions or the imperial historiographer may have I carelessly c Cs substituted east for south southeast southeast i eliot east east Twice ten thousand li U is i fig figured fg I used variously between and i miles mUe and nd that distance in a s mth i easterly direction from Alaska nearest neet the the Aleutian Islands would woud bring brine the thena thera na navigator gator ra off of the co cc at of f Mexico Shans ac un of and it its people when where h hi appears apper to have tarried some time applies to Mexico His particular attention was called to the fact that the inhabitants of the country countr had no walled cities cites or towns which would be the first natural observation of a Chinaman arriving in ina ina ina a thickly populated country from one w here everything is encompassed with witha wih a wall as in China roofs Proofs in i the Old Records Shan describes descries the houses ouse of as bems berng bemS constructed of adobes adobe I or sun dried bricks bricks similar to those thoe of the Pueblo Indians of the present day and then he gives a faithful description ion tion of the Mexican Agave that most useful u efu of all al plants plant to the native nate Mexican exi exic can c He said they made cordage and paper from its it fiber ber and ate the tender sprouts of its it young roots rot He Hd H speaks of a milk mik which was wa probably none I other than the fermented juice of the maguey the e pulque of the present day da I and calls tho the tuna the fruit frit of the II cactus which we call cU a prickly pear pa a ared ared ared red pear which if i not plucked re remains remains remains mains on the tree throughout the sea season se season son The people had no iron Irn but used copper in a variety of ways way and gold was vas of no value Speaking of the in inhabitants inhabitants habitants he said sid the children mar married married ried ned al a a very ver young age which is istre true tre of the aboriginal tribes of Mexico Buddha udd Religion Pounded The Te religion of Buddha was wa founded I in central India about the beginning of the Christian era era No Jew Je Greek Roman or Brahman had ever thought of converting any anyone one to his religion By B them te religion was wa considered a private private vate vats or national property with wih which no outsider had any way business to inter interfere interfere interfere fere But Buddha the founder of at Buddhism commanded his proselytes proselyte to go forth with his hi doctrines and preach peC them in every part of the world Thus with it religion East Eat Indian arts art were carried into China and Buddhism was a eventually accepted as a religion by hythe the Chinese who preserve in their records accounts account of journeys made by various devotees of the Buddhist re religion religion ligion lgon in A D and ad 62 These accounts are all al written by the Buddhists themselves whereas wheres the ac account account count runt of Shan Shah Is chronicled by bythe bythe bythe the imperial historiographer After Afe the destruction of the dynasty of Tsin n 40 China was wa divided Into int two empires that of the north and that of the south south Lienchen a Ch nese historian horan who wrote the te history of these thes two empires about the b be beginning ginning of or the seventh century gives an account count of Fung and describes how the land lad is reached by sailing saing along the te Aleutian islands and the coast coat of North Norh America By this U is route the te navigator is out of sight of sf f land but once and that but for a distance of mn miles The han the great get Chinese Cinese encyclopedia gives an account of the discovery discovers of usang by a Buddhist priest who ar ur arrived rived Thed in the village of Ring King Chow on his return return from a voyage age to t that that king dom The article artcle is illustrated with wit a picture of a native of milking a 3 a nd with wih white spots sot its it young oung Standing aning near also alo spotted The pic pie tut 13 probably Imaginary but it I is curious to note that this t is species of deer is s found in Mexico Mec Origin of Aztec Ate Civilization We have it that Shan returned to t China China that he was wa a missionary who baa hau ha been to some country countr far fa to o the te east eat where he be had left lef his five com corn companions compa passions pa l ns to carry cr out the missionary by Buddha Buddha the foun loan I 1 I der of their religion Whatever be cameo ese five missionaries we can cn only conjecture A thousand years year have passed since Shan arrived in the village of King Chow and related his wonderful discovery and the prows of ot otI the Spanish plough the Caribbean Caribbean bean sea and Mexican gulf They The find finda a people inhabiting the mainland pos possessing possessing possessing a civilization nearly equal to I their own The Aztecs inhabited well I I II built buit cities cites possessed written records and nd maps and made paper from the fiber of at the Agave Their advanced state of civilization n was wa marred mard only by their abominable human huma sacrifices The Mayas Mayan May of Yucatan had attained even een a greater geater degree de ee of civilization than tan the Aztecs especially in arts art and science as the remains of their cities cites and temples attest to this day The Spaniards In their blind zeal for the Catholic faith destroyed detroye nearly everything they could get their hands handson on which showed the peculiar civilization cilz tied tion ton of these people they got gottis this civilization has ha often ofen been asked ake The appear to be the first frt of ol i t fl fla t f i f I IJ J t a 1 1 j Ij iI I i 4 j J JH Jt 1 i H I II t I I I II I t v J Pj i fi f ff M ft I f fc ii H MAYO POTTERY SHOWING CHINESE i r Hi I I I I I 1 I I i I i i the the aboriginal races who had bad attained any degree of at civilization They inhabited inhabited the valley aley of Anahuac the te valley aley of Mexico built buit cities cites and temples and andI did not indulge any an fiendish desire for human sacrifices The Aztecs At a fierce warlike tribe came c down from the north ke desolated t d dc their cities and drove r the south into Central AeI Ameri America ca en c and Yucatan and took tok to themselves II some of their arts art and industries So that tat we see the civilization of the Aztec l was wa that tat of the Now we have haye havethe the tiie te remains of the te la who were evidently Toltec and ad what do we find Remarkable Evidence In the National museum at Madrid atonal Mard there is preserved one of the books bok of the Mayas Maya which escaped the general auto de fe of the Bishop Landa who buried bur ed these books bok whenever found The paper resembles very much the paper manufactured by the Chinese Chine and it consists consist of a long strip doubled d din in folds between two boards beards bords like their and picture writing which is the only thing about it i not resembling the Chinese It I is indeed a beautiful piece of aboriginal book bok making In Mexico there existed existe traditions of ot the visit isit of a strange people to the country countr who taught many man things thing sad and ad Alexander von yon Humboldt Fn in his Views of the Cordilleras mentions menton a number num r of surprising coincidences between the Mexican and ad Asiatic civilizations Re Recent Recent Recent cent travelers in Mexico and Central must have noted the fond fondness fondness fondness ness displayed by the native races for fireworks which they manufacture themselves and ad set off of in honor of ot their Catholic saints which were substituted ed edt e for their idols by the Spaniards Now Non where did they obtain their knowledge of fireworks if not from the Chinese Certainly they did not get et them from the Spaniards who care nothing for fireworks and like our ourselves ourselves ourselves selves if they ever had any got them from the Chinese Another thing thin which the modern moer Mexican Indian India indulge in which Is peculiar to the Chinese Chinee is the straw or rush mat mat They use it i in one form for or another as an umbrella an awning a a curtain curin a rug rg and final finally finally ly a cover to their couch cuch to sleep on And what is more Japanese or Chinese Chines than the te of the Central Amer American Amerlean lean ican Indian This Is a form of water waterproof waterproof proof prof cloak nade by b stitching long blades of the palm leaf one over the theother theother theother other like Uke the slats slat of a Persian blind or the shingles shingle on a house When Wen not in use ue it i is conveniently rolled and ear car carried cr earned ried ned by the Indian on his journeys and ad upon the appearance of rain rin he un unrolls Unrolls rolls it i holds one end up over his head and ad letting the rest of it hang down his back bk it sheds water completely The Mayas My of 61 f Yucatan and ad Chinese Cee Same Sae People Of course cour if old Shans Shans account I of is correct and that country Ii is i really r alY Mexico his five Buddhist mis missionaries mi missionaries left there would not be ex expected expected expected to change the physiological characteristics of the people though the te effect of religion education and and training is i evident in a a single gener generation generation aton of our own people Nevertheless the Mayas IYa of Yucatan closely cosely resemble ble his the Chinese Some years year ago an English company endeavoring to ag start st a sugar plantation in the of British Honduras Hondura Imported several sever hundred Indentured in for a number of years year to work their plants planta plantation plant tion It I was wa not long before these disappeared They had seen sen some of the Maya lIa Indians India and dis discovering discovering covering some sonic similarity sim arity between them and themselves had taken to the bush bsh with wih them Among the people inhabit inhabiting inhabitIng ing big the te lake le city of on the south southern era ern er borders of ot Yucatan the writer wrier of this article arCe discovered di dis overe a Chinaman Chaan whom he did not distinguish from any ay I of the natives although he was wa gen generally emIly called cale the Chinaman He was one of the survivors survivor of the co traffic t fic Sc fc to British Honduras and when ques questioned que questioned toned talked freely freel of the little he could remember of his past pt He did not seem to t be speculative enough to discuss any affinity between his h own race re and ad the Mayas Maya though he spoke their language legage probably better beter than he did Spanish He showed me the wooden ouide door of a house which oUide one of his had ha artistically painted with wit pigments and ad brushes of oJ his own discovery discover and invention Testimony of the te Temples Temple When Wen we come to t search serch the te remains of oJ the th or whoever the build builders bid bider builders ers er of ot o those tose cities cItes were wr now scattered In ruins throughout lower Mexico and Yucatan we w find In ln many may places place the counterpart of such suc temples L r en enas r t as a are found in Java ava and many may other oter p 1 Asiatic countries to which the i te f religion was as carried ce M H Desire Char Charnay Ch 4 f I Inay nay na in his Ancient r Cities Cite of ot the New NeW t I World gives give a drawing from a photo photograph ph t I f t graph of the Temple of the Sun at f Palenque and opposite a picture of O fa a J Japanese temple temple The one is almost a t i counterpart of oC the other but Mr Char Charnay Charnay nay na limits his remarks to asking aking how s this resemblance is to be b explained j M and stating that tat a theory ther might be e started with wih respect to the te probable S Asiatic origin of the Toltec Tote tribes In I t I I his beautiful work he does dos not appear S r to have any knowledge of Fung appal and its it historical discoverer old Shan Shea Shanor i or if it he does do he ignores igor him him He seems sees to believe that the Japanese I earned carried cae on a steady traffic formerly on I Ithe the te coast ct of North Norh America oa |