The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1869-09-17

Bpect8tOIb.
Those who were nearest the spot where
shrek, full of the horror of despair, articu.
lated the name, Mary-Pack Montllv.
The Discovery Of America by the
Chinese.
Was Columbus the first discoverer Of
America, or did he only rediscover that
continent after it had, III remote ages,
been found, peopled and forgotten by the
Old World? 1t is curious that this ques-
ton has not been more generally raised,
for it is very clear that one of two things
must be true: either the people whom
Columbus found in America must have
been descended from emigants from the
Old World, and therefore America was
known to the Old World before Colum-
bus time, or else the aborigines of the
Western Hemisphere were the result of
spontaneous human generation, the de-
velopment of man from lower species Of
animal, or descended from a second Adam
and Eve, whose origin would be equally
puzzling. Unless we are prepared to cast
aside the Holy 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 CON-
munication took place on the opposite side
of the world to ours, between the eastern
coast Of Asia and the side of America
most remote from Europe; and / believe
it is quite possible that the inhabitants of
Eastern Asia may have been aware of the
existence of America, and kept up inter
course with it, while our part of the Old
World never dreamt of its existence.
The impenetrable barrier the Chinese
were always anxious to preserve between
themselves and the rest of the nations of
the Old World renders it quite possible
that they should have kept their knowledge
of America to themselves, or, at any rate,
from Europe The objection that the art
of navigation in such remote times was not
sufficiently advanced to enable the Chinese
to cross the Pacific and land on the west
ern shore of America is not conclusive, as
we have now found that arts and sciences
which were once generally supposed to be
of quite modern origin existed in China
ages and ages before their discovery in
Europe. The arts of paper-making and
printing, amongst others, had been
practised in China long before Europeans
had any idea of them. Why, then, should
not the Chinese have been equally, or
more, in advance of us in navigation? The
stately ruins of Baalbec, with gigantic
arches across the streets whose erection
would puzzle our modern engineers, the
Pyramids, and other remains of stupen-
dOus works, point to state of civilization
and the existence of arts and sciences in
times of which European historians give
no account.
One fact corroborative of the idea that
the Old World, or, at least, some of the in
habitants of Asia, were once aware of the
existence of America before its discovery
by Columbus, is that many of the Arabian
a;Lensd with whom have conversed on the
subject are fully convinced that the an
Gent Arabian geographers knew of Ameri-
ca, and in support of this opinion, point to
passages in old works in which a country
to the west of the Atlantic is spoken of
An Arab gentleman, friend of mine Gen.
eral Hussein Pasha, in a work he has just
written on America, called En-Nessr- Et
Idoir, quotes from Djeldeki, and other old
writers, to show this.
There is, however, among Chinese
records not merely vague references to 6
country to the west of. the Atlantic, but q
circumstantial account of its discovery by
the Chinese long before Columbus wa:
born.
A competent authority on such matters
J. Hanlay, the Chinese interpreter in Sar
Francisco, has lately written an essay OF
this subject, from which we gather the fol
lowing startling statements, drawn from
Chinese historians and geographers:
Fourteen hundred years ago even Amer
lea had been discovered by the Chinese
and described by them. They stated tina
land to be about 10000 Chinese miles dis
tant from China. About 500 years aftel
the birth of Christ, Buddhist priests re
paired there, and brought back the new!
that they had met with Buddhist idols anC
religious writings in the country already
Their descriptions, in many respects, re
semble those of the Spaniards thousand
years after They called the country
"Fusany," after tree which grew there
whose leaves resemble those of the BAN
boo, whose bark the natives made clothe
and paper of, and whose fruit they ate
These particulars correspond exactly ant
remarkably with those given by the Amer
lean historian, Prescott, about the maquay
tree in Mexico. He states that the Aztec
prepared pulp for paper making out o
the bark of this tree. Then, even it
leaves were used for matching; its fibre
= for making ropes; its roots yielded :
nourishing food, and its sap, by mean
of fermentation, was made into an intoX
icating drink The accounts given b,
the Chinese and Spaniards, although
thousand years apart, agree in stating
, that the natives did not possess any iron
, but only copper; that they made all thei
, tools for working in stone and metals on
, of mixture of copper and tin; and they
! in comparison with the nations of Europ
, and Asia, thought but little of the wort
! of silver and gold. The religious custom
, and forms of worship presented the sam
, characteristics to the Chinese l 400 year
ago as to the Spaniards 400 years ago.
$ There is, moreover, a remarkable resen
Q blance between the religion of the Aztec
y and the Buddhism of the Chinese, as we
as between the manners and customs {
the AZtecs and those ofthe people of Chin;
!, There is also a great similarity betwee
= the features of the Indian tribes of Middl
4 and South America and those of the Oh
!, nese, and as Hanlay, the Chinese interpr,
= ter, of whom we spoke above, states, b,
J, tween the accent and most of the mon,
!, syllable words of the Chinese and India
~ languages. Indeed, the writer gives Iii
|, of words which point to a close relation
:, ship, and infers therefrom that there mu
= have been emigration from China to Il
: Continent at a most early period indee
:, as the official accounts of the Buddhi
y priests fourteen hundred years ago mott,
!. these things as existing already. PcrhaI
~ now old records may be recovered in CT
:, 70 ma which may furnish full particulars
a this question.
"A 1t is, at any rate, remarkable, al
IL confirmative of the idea of emigratit
r from China to America at some reno
period, that at the time of the discove
f. of America by the Spaniards, the Indi;
,@ tribes on the coast of the Pacific, opposi
a to China, for the most part enjoyed
H. state of culture of ancient growth, viii
n. the inhabitants of the Atlantic shore we
= found by Europeans in state of origin
re barbarism. If the idea of America havil
&c been discovered before the time of Colul
70 bus be correct, it only goes to prove til
n there is nothing new under the sun, al
~ that Shelley was right in his bold b
~ beautiful lines: Thou canst not find o.
- spot whereon no city stood" Admittil
70 this, who can tell whether civilization d
&c not exist in America when we we
" plunged in barbarisms and, strang
~ still, whether the endless march of ages