Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1901-02-04

Scendant to the seventh generation.
Deer are raised just as cattle are
in China, and cheese is made from the
milk of the females. A kind of red
pear is found there which is good at
all seasons of the year Grapevines
also are plentiful. There is no iron
but copper is met with. Commerce is
free and the people are not given to
haggling about prices.
"This is the manner of their mar
riages: When man wishes to wed
girl he erects his cabin just before the
door of hers Every morning and even
ing he waters and weeds the ground,
and this he continues to do for a
whole year. If by the end of that time
the girl has not given her consent to
the union his suit is lost. and he
moves away, but if she is willing he
marries her. The marriage ceremony
is almost the same as that observed
in China.
Images of the spirits Of the dead
are placed on kind of pedestal, and
prayers are addressed to them morn
ing and evening. The king does not
NEEDLE with affairs of government I'M
throne.
TN former times the religion of
Buddha was unknown in this country,
but in the fourth of the years tam
ing, in the reign of Hiao-wou-ti, of the
Soung dynasty, five missionaries from
the country Kipin went to Fusang
and there diffused the Buddhist faith.
They carried with them sacred books
and images;t hey introduced the rit-
ual and inculcated monastic habits
of life. By these means they changed
the manners of the people"
Prof. Otis T. Mason of the Smith
sonian Institution is disposed to think
it entirely possible that Cinnamon
may have found their way to Mexico
and Yucatan in very early days, long
before the first voyage of Columbus.
If they did so it would be easy to
imagine that the Maya and Aztec
civilizations were upgrowths from the
culture brought by these visitors
from across the Pacific Said Pro-
fessor Mason:
MANY plants now found in Mexico
are Enthusiastically derived from the
orient, and, according to some author
tiles the cocoanut is one of these,
though that point is disputed. In
southern Mexico, in a region south
ward of the City of Mexico, are found
numerous aboriginal people who
call themselves the Otomi. There are
about 100000 of them and they pos
sess the only true monosyllabic lang
uage-a language resembling in struc-
ture the Chinese, that is to say.
| found in that part of the world. AS
we know from their sbooks of the
hieroglyphic characters used in writ
| ing by the Mayas of ancient Yucatan
and Mexicoo somewhat resembled
| those employed by the early Chinese.
| The Chinese characters of today are
merely notifications of hiroglyphs
which were more or less Photographic.
"Ethnologists have learned that peo-
Piles widely separated geographically
and without acquaintance with each
other are apt to develop similar Gus
toms and like methods of doing things.
Hence it is not safe to assume, for ex-
ample, that the rain cloak used since
ancient times in Yucatan and Mexico
is of Chinese origin simply because it
is exactly like the Chinese rain cloak
and has precisely the same knot in
| the weaving of it's fabric Neverthe-
! less, it is strange coincidence.
| Authorities on the subject have found
other condolences in astronomical
ideas, games, and so forth. | myself
am conservative; | wish only to be
understood as finding no reason for
denying this alleged discovery Of
America by oriental voyagers."
| Naturally, the most striking remains
| left behind by the ancient people of
Yucatan and southern Mexico are
architectural, some of the ruins being
in very fair state of preservation.
Many of the buildings look like Bud
| dhist temples-vast caves of stones,
dark and windowless. They are
adorned with carvings, which, in
some cases, strikingly resemble
l
Chinese carvings. Even at the pres
ent time the descendants of the
Mayas of Yucatan are not wholly
subjugated, some of the tribes still
holding the temples of their fathers
as forts and defying all corners. Of
these lstrongholds the most notable is
that of Puloom. which is situated on
high bluff, facing the sea. 1t is in
reality a fortress, and in early times
was the strongest place held by the
aborigines.
The fanatical Spanish priests burned
all of the old Maya books they could
lay hands on, thus destroying records
of immense value which can never be
replaced.
A few volumes wer preserved, for
tunately, and one striking thing
about them is that they are made ex-
actly like Chinese books, each one
being composed of a long sheet, folded