The Shasta courier., 1866-08-11
SHASTA COU URIER
What We Owe to Asia.

DR., Draper says: Asia has always been
regarded as the birthplace of man. The re
searches Of comparative philology afford
abundant evidence that the present inhabi-
tants of Europe are of Oriental descent
But the activity that existed in the early
history of the East has long ago given way
to stagnation. There is,'nothing to excite
locomotion. Vast multitudes during their
whole lives scarcely leave the place where
they were born. There are no improve
ments in food, in clothing or in habitations
AS their ancestors lived in past times, so do
they. They do not seek to get rid of tyranny.
The sense of political improvement is lost
The people only appreciate tranquility and
rest. 1t was not always thus in the East
g In times of which history has failed to
preserve any account, that continent must
have been the scene of prodigious human
activity. In it were first developed those
fundamental inventions and discoveries which
really lie at the base of progress of the hu-
man race-the subjugation of domestic ami
mails, the management of fire, the expression
of thought by writing. We are apt to over
look how much man must have done, how
much he must have added to his natural
powers in prehistoric times. We forget
how many contributions to our own comforts
are of Oriental origin. Their commonness
hides them from our view If the European
wishes to know how much he owes to the
Asiatiic, be has only to cast glance at an
hour of his daily life. The clock which
summons him from his bed in the moiring
was the invention of the East, as also were
clepsydras and sun dials The prayer for
his daily bread that he has said from his
infancy, first rose from the side Of Syrian
mountain. The lineas and cottons with
which he clothes himself though they may
be very fine, are inferior to those that have
been made from time immemorial in the
looms ofIndia. The silk was stolen by some
missionary for his benefit from China
He could buy better steel than that with
which he shaves himself in the old city of
Damascus. where it was first invented The
coffee he expects at breakfast was first grown
by the Arabians. and the natives of Upper
India prepared the sugar with which he
sweetens it. A school boy can tell the mean
ing of the Sanscrit words saccaharra canda.
If his tastes are light and prefer tea, the vir-
tues of that excellent leaf were first pointed
out by the industrious Chinese. They also
taught him how to make and use the cup and
saucer in which to serve it. His breakfast
tray was lacquered in Japan. There is
tradition that leavened bread was first made
of the waters of the Ganges. The egg he is
breaking was laid by a fowl whose ancestors
were first domesticated by Malaccans. unless
she may have been-though that will not
alter the case-a modern Shanghai. If
there ere preserves and fruits on his board,
let him remember with thankfulness that
Persia first gave him the cherry, the peach,
the plum. If in any of these pleasant pre-
parations he detects the flavor of alchohol,
let it remind him that that substance was
distilled by the Arabians. who have set him
the praiseworthy example which it will be
for his benefit to follow, of abstaining from
its use. When he talks about coffee and al
cohol, he is using Arabic words. A thou
sand years before it had occurred to him to
enact laws of restriction in the use of ntox-
icating drinks, the prophet of Mecca did the
same thing, and, what is more TO the Sur
pose, has compelled to this day all Asia and
Africa to obey them. We crafty our ia ties
for personal ornaments in the way the Orien-
tails have taught us-with pearls, rubies,
sapphires, diamonds. Of public amusements
it is the same. The most magnificent fire.
works are still to be seen in India and
China; and as regards the pastmes of pri
vate life, Europe has produced no inven
tion that can rival the game of chess. We
have no hydraulic construction as great as
the Chinese Canal, no Notifications as exten-
sive as the Chinese Wall we have no arte
sian wells that can approach in depth to
some of theirs. We have not yet resorted to
the practice of obtaining coal gas from the
interior of the earth they have been boring
for that purpose more than 5000 feet Deep
RrenOlOqicdi Journal.