Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-02-17
Geographic News
Bulletins BY the
National Geographic Society
TO HUNT HISTORY CLUES

Grains of corn, ~garnered along
the Tibet-Burma frontier of China,
may be the botanical Rosetta Stone
Of the earliest American history yet
recorded.
Just as a piece of black basalt I'M
locked the annals of hidden Egyp-
tain centuries, SO the corn kernels
sought by a National Geographic
Society expedition may reveal clues
of 100 per cent Americans long
years before Columbus came, or even
before denizens of Chaco Canyons
giant communal apartment houset
mysteriously disappeared.
Ancient Income Taxes
The facts which hold forth this
tenuous, but tenable, hope are these:
Indian ORR or maize, Is Of I'M
doubted American origin. But Chi
nese records show that corn was
grown in China before Columbus
time. Marco Polo did not mention
it: but then he also overlooked tea.
Chinese records-records which
might today be described as income
tax returns-show that long before
1892 tribute corr was as accept
able as the latter-day tribute silk.
In fact, it was nicknamed Imperial
wheat" One tribute list contains
the entry, "Of wheat called MayZ.
twentie millions two hundred and
fiftie thousand hanegs," which vas
about 80 million bushels.
The particular clue which the Ma
tional Geographic Society's expedi-
ton will work upon is that fur
nisaed by the mystery OF the waxy
endosperm. The tissue inside
grain Of American field corr o n
tains starch; that of sweet corn con-
tains sugar. In a few places of Chi
ma, western Yunnan among them,
this tissue is found to be waxy.
Sherlock Holmes of Botany
Hence the Sherlock Holmes of bo-
tany will study this variation. By
noting the localities where it appears
he may be able to tell the route by
which it entered China. 1t Is con-
ceivable he might estimate how long
it took a product as Indigenous to
America as the potato to develop in
it's new environment.
The corn quest is but one of the
missions of The Society's expedition
into little-known Yunnan. Scien-
fists will study the bark of the chest
nut tree and observe the fora of n
of the choicest flower garden spots
of the world. Plant life of west
ern China has been found generally
adaptable to the United States: and
it is confidently expected that new
varieties of flowers and fruits will be
imported which will be assimilated
readily among our plant and orchard
population.
The study of Chinese corr may ex-
tend the corn growing acreage OF
the United States considerably. For
the waxy maize has characteristics
which seem to adapt it for regions
where droughts occur. It's erect
leaf blades, their arrangement on
one side of the stalk, and its pro-
duction of silk before the ears I'm
erge, combine to prevent drying out
OF the silks before pollination. To
the south of Yunnan, in Burma, the
husks of waxy maize are used as
wrappers for cheap cigars; a fact
to which Kipling alludes in his
"Whackin' White Cheroot% OF
"Mandalay."
To Battle Chestnut Blight
or greatest economic import. per.
haps, will be the study of chestnuts.
y ! AZ WAiA$ LtAS
chestnuts in the eastern United
States has been found to be far older
In China; hence types of chestnut
trees surviving there are believed to
have a blight-resisting quality.
Western Yunnan is both the Bal
kan-land and the Belgium OF Asia.
Atuntzi, one Of the villages to be
visited by the expedition, was taken
and retaken five times before the
Chinese wrested it from the TibetanS.
Some inhabitants literally we're skin
ned alive: many and chill
dren were beheaded.
Curious customs arise from the
remnants of races that mingle there.
One traveller tells how greetings OF
various derivations are modulated
to fit VARIOUS occasions. When a
Chinese-Tibetan of the Tsu-Kou re-
gion would say Hello in roadside
salutation he spreads GU his hands,
palms up. The gesture is suggestive
of a society where notice of disarm-
ament Is the first principle of safe
ty first. Meet him in his village and
this same native will stick out his
tongue at o in orthodox Tibetan
fashion. When he would ask a fa-
vor, or show great reverence, stick
ing up his thumbs is his form OF
~obeisance.
An independent China
Yunnan and western Szechwan,
into which the expedition also will
go. r SO different from China in
their people, in their geography, and
in their interest that they const1-
tute an Independent China" in every
respect except political control.
Three rivers, the Sulwin, the Me.
kong and the Yangtze, cut parallel
valleys through a corrugated pla-
teau with mountain peaks as high
il not higher, than our W Mount
Whitney.
Nature and man disclose surprises
on every Misunderstanding monkeys.
snow-topped mountains. rope bridges
which swing protesting mules airily
across the frequent streams, green
parrots feeding on red berries, geor-
geous valleys of brilliant flowers.
me bedecked with beautiful jewels,
and novels where human dirtiness,
squaior and diseases reach their low
est level.
Joseph F. Rock, famous botanist,
who discovered the chattanooga
trees, oil from which now is used to
treat leprosy, will lead the expedi-
ton. Mr.. Rock previously has ex-
plored every island in the Hawaiian
group. conducted botanical expedi-
tons to Siam and Java, and already
has shipped not only thousands of
specimens for mounting but has
transmitted many living seeds and
- MO Shio OF "