Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1900-12-14
AMERICA
Did the Chinese First Discover This Cont
nent Interesting SttrleS.

account of one Hwu Shan, who in that
year returned to China with the state
ment that he had come from a country
lying great distance to the east, says
the st. Louis "Globe- Democrat" His
story so excited the interest of the gov
grapher was commanded to enter it
upon his official records. b. Although
the Chinese and Japanese both are fa-
millar with the story Of Hwui Shans
| discovery, the celebrated Chinese
scholar, Ma Twan Lin, searched the or
iental records and made a copy of the
imperial historiographer's original di-
gest that it might be proven beyond a
shadow Oe doubt.
Hwui shan was Buddhist mission
ary priest With five brother mission
aries he left China, sailing north by
the peninsula of Kamchatka. to the
| Aleutian Islands, eastward to Alaska,
and thence to Fusang, which is the
name of the country he tells the most
about. He describes the people he en-
countered on his voyage. The Aleu-"
| tian Islanders, he said, we're a happy,
| joyous people, having the custom of
tattooing their bodies, and thev re-
ceived the stranger with a great show
of hospitality. East of these islands
was the country he called the Great
Han" whose inhabitants had no imple-
ments of war. nor carried on war
with anyone. but were content to live
by hunting and fishing This descriD-
ton of people applies truly to the in
habitants of Alaska. the Eskimo. who
are "a peaceable people, never having
been known to have wars of any kind.
Fusang, literally THE Land of the
Mulberry Tree" is described as being
situated twice 10000 Ii to the east of
Great Han" By a glance at the map
1t will be seen that an easterly course
from that part of Alaska nearest the
Aleutian Islands would bring the navi-
gator to British Columbia. but then the
old Buddhist missionary may have
been careless in regard to his sailing
directions, or the imperial historic
grepher may have carelessly substitute
ed east for southwest. "Twce 10000
| il" is figured variously between 5000
and 1000 miles, and that distance in a
southeasterly direction from Alaska
nearing the Aleutian Islands would
\ bring the navigator off the coast of
Mexico. Now, Hwui Shan's account OF
FGsang and its people where it ap-
pears he tarried some time applies to
Mexico. His particular attention was
called to the fact that the inhabitants
of the country had not walled cities or
towns, which would be the first natural
observation of Chinaman arriving in
a thickly populated country from one
where everything is encompassed with
a wall as in China.
Hwui Shan describes the houses of
Fusang as being constructed of adobes
Of sun-drled bricks, similar to those of
the present day, and then he gives a
faithful description of the Mexican
agave, that most useful of all plants tc
the native Mexican. He said they
made cordage and paper from its fibre
and ate the tender sprouts of its young
roots. He speaks of a milk which was
probably none other than the ferment.
ed juice of the maguey, the pulque OIL
the present day, and calls the tuna, the
fruit of the cactus, which we call 6
prickly pear, red pear. which, if no
plucked, remains on the tree through
out the season. The people had nj
iron, but used copper in a variety O.
ways, and gold was of no value
Speaking of the inhabitants. he sale
the children married at very youni
age, which is true of the aborigina
tribes of Mexico.
The religion of Buddha was founded
, in central India about the beginning o
the Christian era. No Jew. Greek
Roman or Brahman had ever though
of converting any one to his religion
BY them religion was considered pri
vate or national property, with whicl
no outsider had any business to inter
fere. But Buddha. the founder. o
Buddhism, commanded his proselyte
to go forth with his doctrines ant
preach them in every part Of the world
Thus with religion East Indian art
were carried into China and Buddhism
was eventually accented as religion
by these Chinese, who preserve in thei
records accounts of journeys made b.
various devotees of the Buddhist re
ligion in 1856 A. D.. 399, 51S and 629
These accounts are all written by tn
Buddhists themselves. whereas the ac
count of Hwui Shan is chronicled ID.
the Imperial historiographer.
After the destruction of the dynast,
of Tsin in 420 China was divided int
two empires, that of the north and tina
of the south. LII Yen Chen. Chimes
historian, who wrote the history o