Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1869-10-30
The Discovery of America by Chinese.

| World! 1t Is curious that this question
has not been more generally raised, for it
is very clear that one of the two things
must be true: Either the people whom
Columbus found in America must have de-
scended from emiyrants from the old
World, and therefore America was known
to the old World before Columbus time, or
else the aborigines of the western hemi-
sphere were the result of spontaneous hu-
man generation, the development of man
| from lower species of animal. or descend
ed from second Adam and Eve, whose
origin would be equally puzzling.
Unless we are prepared to cast aside ilo-
| ly Writ, and all our general notions of the
origin of the human race, we must believe
that there was at one time communication
between the Old World and the New.
Probably this communication took place on
| the opposite side of the world to ours. be-
tween the eastern coast of Asia and the
side of America most remote from Europe;
! AM, believe it is ;;nitc possible that the
inhabitants of Eastern Asia. may have been
aware Of the existence of America. and
kept mp Intercourse with it while our part
of the old World never drcamt Of its cxis-
tcncc.
The impenctrahlc barrier the Chinese
were always anxious to preserve between
themselves and the rest Of the nations of
the old World rendered it quite possible
that they should have kept their kuowl-
edge Of America to themselves. or, at any
rate, from Europc. The objection that the
art Of navigation in such remote times was
not sufficiently advanced to enable the Chi
| nc>e to cross the Pacific and land on the
western shore Of America is not conclusive,
ces which were once generally supposed to
be of quite modern origin existed in China
ages and ares before their discovery in
Europc. The arts of paper making and
printing, amongst others, had been prac-
rticcd in China lon- before Europeans had
any idea of them. Why then, should not
the Chinese have been equally, or more, in
advance Of us in navi cation? The stately
ruins of Baalbcr, withgigantic arches across
the streets, whose erection would luzzlc
our modern engineers. the Pyramids and
other remains of .ulcndous works, point
to state of civilization and the existence
of arts and sciences in times of which Eu-
rolcan historians give no acc c,unt.
One fact corrphoratvc Of the idea that
the Olh World. or at least. some of the in
habtan: of Asia, were once aware Of the
existence of America, before its discovery
by Columbus. l., that many of the Arabian
ucma with whom have conycr>cd on this
subject, are fully convinced that the an
cent geoyraphcr, knew of America. and in
support Of this opinion point to passages in
old works in which Il country to the west
Of the Atlantic is spoken Of An Arab
gentleman, Il friend Of minc Gen. llussc-
in PashA, IN II work he has just written
on America, called En-NeSv- IT, Iayr.
quotes from DjcIck aud other old writer's
to show this.
There *. however, amongst Chinese rec
ortls not merely vague references to Il coun-
try to the west of the Atlantic, but cir
cunlstantia account Of its discovery by the
Chinese long before Columbus was born.
\ competent authority on such subjects,
J. iIaulay, the Chinese interpreter in San
Francisco, has lately written an essay on
this from which we gather the following
startling statements drawn from Chinese
historians and Geographcrs:
"Fourtcen hundred years 100 even. Amer
lea had been discovered by the Chinese and
described by them. They stated that land
to be about 10000 Chinese miles distant
from China. About 500 years after the birth
of Christ, Buddhist priests repaired there,
and brought back news that they had met
with Buddhist idols and religious writing
in the country already. Their descrip-
tons, in many respects, resemble those of
the Sraniards, a thousand years later.
They called the country " Fusany," after
tree that grew there, whose leaves rcscm-
blcI that of the bamboo, whose bark the
natives made clothes and paper out Of and
whose fruit they ate. These particulars
correspond exactly and remarkably with
those given by the American historian,
Prescott, about the maquay tree, which
grows in Mexico. lie states that the Az
tees prepared pulp for paper making out
of the bark of this tree. Then even its
leaves were used for matching its fbrcs
for making ropes; its roots yielded nour-
ishng food, and its sap, by means of for
mcntatun, was made into an Intoxicating
drink. The accounts given by the Chi
ncsc and Spaniards, although Il thousand
years apart, agree in stating that the ma
tives did not possess any iron, but only cop
per, that they made all their tools for
working in stone and metals out of mix
turc of copper and tin; and they, in COM
parison with the nations of Europe and
| Asia, thought but little Of the worth of
silver aud gold. The religious customs
and forms of worship presented the same
| characteristics to the Chinese fourteen
hundred years agoas to the Spanlards four
hundred years ago
There is, moreover, a remarkable rescm-
blancc between the religion Of the AztccS
and the Buddhism Of the Chinese, as well
| u, between the manners and customs of the
-lziccs and those OF the people Of China.