New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1885-08-23
DISCOVERY OF AMERICA.
THE TITLE OF THE eENoEsE DISPUTED
w.s AMERICA DISCOVERED BY BUDDHIST MoNKs

s .vypIcA DISCOVERED BY BUDDHIST MoNks
Az rxcr0RIOUs COLUMBUS; or Evidence that n w wa,
snan and Party of Buddhist Monks from MrshaD
Tan Discovered America In the tl,th Sen.u''' " "
az EDWARD r. VISING. ID. Appleton GO.
Tho nossibility that the travels of Hwui sban
.nd his companions in the fifth century may nave
lad them to this continent has been CONSUL
cred by several geographers, each OF whom ha'
had his favorlte theory to defend, out IL mas ie
manned for Mr. VIning to gather togetuer al ,""'
has been written on the question, and 10 anai'N0
and compare the arguments OF MS preoo0o''o
18th a care and thoroughness which ylrtuaily.eA-
honsts the subject. The difficulty In interpreting
these Chinese records consists IN the IacI Vna' o
Chinese names given to the countries Visi'eo ny
the Buddhist pilgrims are elther aroi,ra'y ""U
fanciful or relate to some local designations long
AGO obsolete and forgotten, 80 that the mouoin
student has to seek Identification as pest ne may
NV the descriptions of the people, FAUNA
and fora of the various regions reieiiou
70. And SINCE fifteen centuries ago. All
travellers we're apparently as credulous anu
os loose In their statements as Manuevihe'
~ ia necessary to winnow their narratives thor-
ourhly. and to separate the purely fabulous lroni
The actua This of course. is very dihcuit' anu ~
sanders the clarifcation OF the old travellers
stories dubious and uncertain business, no matter
what the diligence and patience oroughI W 'no
tack The uncertainty of the Chinese budohi''
descriptions is shown in the variety Oh tho con-
clusons reached by the modern Investigators as 10
the identity of the countries visited. Inc cru" %
inouirers has been the country caileo NY 'no
Chinese Fu-sang. Some have thought IL japan
others have sought in California analogles WIN
the descriptions of Hwui Shan; and MI. Vlnlng
has undertaken to prove that IL really was
30
the route of the march was from China to JAPAN
thence to the Aleutian Islands, and from there
acros. to the American coast above California, ana
90 down the shore-line to Mexico. In support OF
this itinerary he makes voluminous citations con-
corning the habits, customs and natural products
of those countries and compares the facts with the
narrative of the Buddhists
Though this narrative is painfully obscure Oh
many points and though not few OF the tnings
related will fit in with no country or people 10" vi
Mt any time known to civilized lnqulrers'
the general tendency of the analysis Is 10
strengthen the probability of the. authors
hypothesis The fu-sang tree, which has pnzziea
evervbody. does indeed seem to be irreconciiable
with ali known species save and except the Me1cah
maguey or agave, and this is a decidedly strong
point Another significant one is the 1act that
Hwui Shan speaks of the people OF Fu-sang as
having the peculiar custom of sufocating ther
criminals in ashes. Now this is plainly good ciew
since very few people can have had such custom.
In fact but one nation is known to have practsed
this punishment, and that Is the ancient Mexicans
Mr.. Vinipg makes brave endeavor to prove that
Tho Mexicans had a tradition of the visit OF Hwui
Shan and his companions. His evidence certainly
shows that there was tradition of the visit OF
some foreigners, but obviously 1t must be mpossi-
bic to show in anything more than conlecturai
way that specific persons were referred 10 IN the
laoand The growth of such records, indeed, which
NAV be traced at the present day among savage
and semi-cvIized people, makes it evident that no
reliance can be placed upon such matters viewed
as testimony though they may sometimes be ac-
ceptedn confederation ofbetter attestedfacts This
however, is but slight drawback. For the most
part Mr.. Winnings evidence Is both clear and cumu-
lative. The negative argument, to show that Flu
sang could not have been Japan, may be regarded
as nearly If not quite conclusive. The probability
that the country of marked bodies" was the
Aleutian Islandsis only weakened by doubt as to
whether the islanders could have possessed the
measure of civilization attributed to the people
with marked bodies STILL 1t is quite possible that
these islanders have remained stagnant, OF even
refrigerated somewhat in the past 1900 years. and
the increasing severity of the climate, if demon
strated, would account for this
Hwui Shans account of the part of thus CONT =
nent he must have first visited corresponds closely
enough with Alaska, but Mr.. Vining does not seem
TO have given much attention to the consideration
that the region referred to appears to have peen
very thiny if at all inhabited from 200 to LOU
years ago. 1t is when we come to the land OF
Fu.sang. however, that the strength and closeness
of the analogy is developed, and though OCCASION
ally some almost staggering difficulty is encoun-
tered ON the whole the comparison proceeds
smoothly and prosperousy and with satisfactory
results IL the Buddhist priests in describing the
religion of Fu-sang fell into errors which
render recognition of the creed so meta
morphosed almost impossible, 1T must be
remembered that similar mistakes have
often been made by Western travellers in attempt
ing TO give accounts of the cults of strange peoples
An educated Indian Buddhist, for example, would
scarcely recognize his own religion in the curious
trayesties of it which have until quite recently
been presented to the Western World. But when
we pass to matters of common observation and
natural products, the resemblance between Fu-sanf
aud Mexico grows more marked, and is often
striking.
As to Mr. Winnings attempt to show that Hwu
Shan in speaking of the Country of Women
refers to the monkeys OF Southern Mexico when III
says It's peoples manner of appearance is straight
erect and their color is a very pure white" WI
must consider 1t a strained Interpretation
Certainly monkeys do not walk erect. II
say that they are straight" in their carriage
would never occur to intelligent observer
Neither are they white, still less "a very pur
white" Nor can we believe that Hwui ShaI
would speak of white fur as of a complexion Som
remarks of the Chinese author are more capable Of
being given an air of correspondence, but the Who'll
monkey theory seems to us mistake arising from
excessive enthusiasm IN the pursuit of an other
wise happy idea IL is in regard to the Mexica
customs that the most remarkable coincidence
occur and there is no danger of overstatins the ev
Dental value of these correspoRdcnces. To say tina
Hwui Shan could not have said what he did con
other neanle than the Mexicaps Ia Il