The Greenville enterprise. [volume] (Greenville, S.C.) 1870-1873, 1870-07-20
JOHN C. T. EDWARD BAILEY, PR0RS.

"hich, ike tnoSe strange binary
stars which revolve about each
other and communicate mutual
powerful influences, but are each
a distinct sun, has moved in all
time, strangely connected with, yet
separate from, the world of our
ancestry and history.
Interesting as China NAV be TO
the other fations Of the world, it
is related to ours and to our con-
tinent by ties far closer than to any
others. The first and the last find
themselves most nearly allied.
There is, first, the bond of in
terest which is suggested in that
most fascinating and romantic sub.
ject of inquiry, the origin, history
and character of the aboriginal
races of the New World. That
they were Asiatic no honest and
unprejudiced mind, when thor
oughly informed upon the sub,
Jects which evince it, can doubt.
Physical geography, the literature
of China, the legends of the Amer
lean nations, and the records of
the Spaniards, all make it as man.
itest as any great historic question
can be which is not a matter of
direct testimony. .e. D..
Then We people of America may
be said, in some sense, to owe to
China the discovery of our cont.
nent by Europeans in the fifteenth
century. 1t is the mere use of q
general for particular appella.
ton which prevented our Indians
from being called by US "Chinese."
Columbus meant Chinese. They
were called "Indians," because ali
Eastern Asia was then called in
Europe the "Indias," or indies"
just as the Arabian and other Mo.
hammedan writer's style all the
countries east of the Indian Archi.
pelago, the "Ohinas." The ambi.
ton Of Columbus to cross the
Western ocean was kindled by,
Marco Polo's wondrous tales, writ
ten two centuries before, of the
bonndless riches and grandeur of
Cathay, Mangu or Mangi, and
Cipango. The first of these wo"ds
is the Mongol name for China
Proper; the second is the same
with the native name for tho Man
chu Tartars, who descended from
the shores of the ocean to the
north of China in the seventeenth
century, and yet hold the enviable
position of its supreme lords; the
third is easily recognized by a
Chinese scholar as Jih.pwan ko,
"the land of SUNRISE" which we
adoptin our abbreviation "Japan."
The doctors of Florence assured
Columbus that a voyage of four
thousand miles wonld bring him
to China. In the names and pro.
ductions of the tropical islands
which he discovered he endeavor-
ed to trace those he found men>
toned in the glowing narrative of
The Polos. And he died in the be.
lief that he had only found a new
path 10 the empire of China, and
that the islands he had visited
were upon the coasts of China.
We trace this same high vision
ary hope in the Journals of the
succeeding Spanish, English, Por
tuguese and French discoverers.-
The grand prize at which they all
aimed was China. Their long voy-
ages, north and south, amidst
strange archipelagoes, and up
rivers and deep arms of the sea,
were efforts to push their way
through to the Chinese waters.
They set Chinese names on some
of the divisions of land or sea, O
few of which still remain. They
explored vast forests, and under
went astonishing hardships and
sufferings, to discover the fountain
Of Immortality, whose waters the
Tauist priests of China have for
ages pretended to be under their
control. There is no more pathetic
picture in human history than that
Of the aged Pence de Leon, ex-
hausted by wars, selfindnlgence
and disappoiutments, fitting out
three ships at his own expense,
going forth westward in search Of
the way to the fountain that was
to renew the vigor and enjoyment
of youth, discovering our Florida,
and, upon the shore where he ex.
pected to find a roint of rest and
departure, pierced by the arrows
of the inhabitants of his far cied
paradise, and retreatiDg to the is
land of Cuba to die. 1tsa. -.
To tell all that this continent
owed in geographical explorations
over every portion of it, between
the Caribbean sea and the Arctic
zone, ITO the determined and oft
renewed efforts to penetrate bar
riers which Nature had made vast
beyond their supposition at that
time, would itself afford a snh;act