Part 1

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Ancient Chinese Account of the Grand Canyon, or Course of the Colorado

(Copyrighted, Brooklyn, 1913) By ALEXANDER M'ALLAN

TEN SUNS IN THE SKY!

The ancient Chinese records tell of a "Place of Ten Suns," where "Ten Suns rose and shone together" (see Appendix, note 1).

Seven Suns were also seen shining together in the sky! and at night (if indeed we can call it "night") as many as seven moons! (What a haunt for lovers and poets!)

Five Suns were also beheld (see note 2).

What Liars those Chinese writers are!

Very good; but why not denounce all our own Arctic navigators as a pack of Liars? They all tell about more Suns than one! A picture of Five (see Figure 1) is furnished by a most eminent explorer (note 3). The dictionaries and cyclopedias of our careful publishers call the appearance of two or more suns (or moons) a =Parhelion=. The number of the multiplied "luminaries" never exceeds Ten (note 4). There actually is a "Place of Ten Suns."

Ten Suns say the Ancients.

Ten Suns say the Moderns.

AMERICA SHAPED LIKE A TREE.

The ancient Mexicans likened North America to a Tree--a stupendous =Mulberry Tree=--"planted in the land known to us today as South America" (n. 5).

The Chinese geographers or mythologists teach that at a distance of 30,000 =le= (10,000 miles) to the east there is a land 10,000 =le= (over 3,000) miles in width.

Now the land referred to must be North America, for, 10,000 miles east from southern China brings us to California; and we further find that North America, now reached, is 10,000 =le=, or over 3,000 miles in width, measuring from the Pacific to the Atlantic.

The Chinese accounts further call our eastern realm a =Fu-Sang= (or Helpful =Mulberry=) land.

A =Mulberry= land (3,000 miles wide) is =There=, say the Chinese.

The =Mulberry= land (3,000 miles wide) is =Here=, say the Mexicans.

Like the Mexicans, the Chinese sages declare that there is an enormous Tree--the =Fu= (or helpful) =Sang= Tree--in the eastern Mulberry land 3,000 miles wide.

As just remarked, the Chinese call the enormous Eastern Tree a =Sang=, and the Mexicans call their enormous Tree a =Beb= (both terms standing for the =Mulberry=,--a fact to which no writer hitherto has directed, or called, attention.)

Observe (see Figure 2) that at Tehauntepec (a little west of Yucatan) our continent narrows down to a width of 100 miles (or 300 Chinese =le=).

The Mexicans say that North America is a Tree, and that it has a correspondingly enormous Trunk,--which at Tehauntepec measures 100 miles (or 300 Chinese =le=).

Now the Chinese writers declare that the enormous Mulberry in the region east of the Flowery Kingdom has "a Trunk of 300 =le=" (or 100 miles.) What a prodigious dimension! (see note 6.)

A Mulberry Tree, with a "Trunk of 300 =le=," is =There=, say the Chinese.

A Mulberry Tree, with a Trunk of 300 =le=, is =Here=, say the Mexicans.

Such a stupendous Tree ought to have enormous Branches to match the Trunk, and we are not surprised when informed that our monarch of the forest goes up--up--up even to the Place of the 10 Suns (in the Arctic zone.)

The One true sun is, of course, high above the mountain ranges, or "Branches" of our Continental Mulberry.

But the extra Nine are false or delusive and mere reflections of the true sun on fog or vapor. The Chinese account, truly enough, states that they bear =wu=, and this term stands for "blackness," "inky," or "dark" (Williams dict. p. 1058.)

This identical term =wu= also stands for black or dark =fowls=, such as the raven, blackbird, and crow; and one Oriental scholar, dwelling indeed in Japan, assures us that each of the Nine Suns bears a =Crow=! We are seriously informed, that "all bear--literally cause to ride--a =Crow=" (note 7.)

As well might it be asserted that because =wu= signifies "black," the Nine =Wu= borne by the Suns must be nine blacks or negroes! The supposition that Nine =Crows= are meant is absurd and contradicted by the luminaries themselves.

Strange to say, the "luminaries" emit no radiance! The light that is in them is darkness, and they are fitting symbols for commentators--black, white, yellow, and green--who have written learnedly and positively on them without understanding a thing about them. Perhaps it might be well, apart from its inconvenience, when writing about any nation, place, or natural object, to ascertain the position and name of the =continent= in which the subject of study is situated. Of course we are not so unreasonable as to insist that we must really comprehend a matter before getting up to explain it to others, but the positions of continents dealt with ought, as a rule, to be clearly ascertained. In the present instance we have faithfully followed the ancient directions and groped our way into the presence of the Nine blind suns. Gazing at their beaming disks we perceive how the term wu (black or dark) applies to them. The =color= of Crows is there, but not the living birds themselves. It is the story of the Three Black Crows advanced another stage on its career of misrepresentation, and magnified Threefold. The Nine Suns have neither swallowed nor disgorged Nine Black Crows. But they are certainly open to the charge of having feasted too freely on diet no less dark and deceptive.

They're the =color= of Crows, say the Ancients.

They =bear= Nine Crows, say the Moderns.

The truth is that the false suns furnish neither heat nor light and really consist of dark (=wu=) vapor.

The Nine are mere reflections of the low-declined, true sun on "surrounding" frozen haze or mist, in extremely cold weather. When this icy fog seems--merely seems, of course,--to touch and surround the true sun, the illusions known as false suns are apt to appear. They obey some optical code of laws or signals understood best perhaps by themselves, and will sometimes disappear in a moment like a flock of timid "sun birds" (or wild geese--see note 8.) Their design apparently is to cheer and escort their illustrious sire in his otherwise lonesome trip through a frozen, desolate zone. Some Chinese accounts call them "children"--"children of the sun," etc., etc.

There is a reference to this frozen mist, in Verne's "Fur Country," reading as follows: "It is not a mist or fog,' he said to his companions, 'it is frost-rime,' a dense vapor which remains in a state of complete congelation. But whether a fog or a frozen mist, this phenomenon was none the less to be regretted for it rose a hundred feet at least above the level of the sea, and it was so opaque that the colonists could not see each other when only two or three paces apart."--Danvers' translation, p. 288.

It should be remarked that the frozen haze which breeds the false suns is found only "at the bottom of," or "below," the mountain ranges or "branches" of our North American Mulberry Tree. The false suns speedily disappear from the view of the observer who climbs up out of the thick stratum of frozen fog or mist and ascends the nearest "Branch."

Such observations are completely in accord with the ancient Chinese declaration that Nine of the suns are to be seen "below" (=hia=) or "at the bottom of" the Branches, and One "above" the Branches. The suns (see note 9) are not said to be "in the Branches." Nine are "below" (=hia=) and One "above" (=shang=); a remark as true today as it ever was.

The "Morea" (about fifty miles long), in Greece, was so named because it was supposed to resemble the leaf of a =morus= or mulberry. And similarly North America was considered by Mexican and Chinese mythologists to exhibit some resemblance to a mulberry,--the Helpful Mulberry (or =Fu-Sang=). The one comparison is just as fanciful or reasonable as the other. Nor can it be denied that North America presents some likeness to a Tree,--towering aloft like the Tree of the Prophet Daniel, which was seen from the ends of the earth. Here Columbia lights up her Tree and welcomes the Neighbors with a smile.

The Chinese note concerning the extra suns and moons, which frequently flit about and disappear, like so many sun-birds, connects them with the "Branches" of the Fu (or Fu-Sang) Tree of amazing proportions, which flourishes in the Region east of the Eastern Sea. The Fu-Sang land, 10,000 =le= (or 3,000 miles wide) is said to be 30,000 =le= (10,000 miles) to the east of China; and this indeed is the distance from Canton to California. A lesser distance (20,000 =le=, or 7,000 miles) lies between Northern China and the American Mulberry land due east. It is in America that we are directed to search for the surplus assemblage of suns. And do we not find both them and Fu-Sang? (See note 10.) In what respect is the Chinese account inaccurate thus far? We are informed that "in the water is a large tree having nine suns," etc. The Trunk of this prodigious Tree, which is more or less immersed in the Eastern Sea, furnishes the surprising dimension of "300 =le=." And rising above a Valley of Hot Springs (readily found in Nicaragua) the Tree proceeds upward and rears aloft its exalted Branches in the "Place of the Ten Suns."

The vast mountain-system, with its tree-like "Trunk" and "Branches," on which the many suns and moons are seen to alight or gambol, is called the "Sun and Moon =shan=" (=shan= signifying "mountain or range") in both the Chinese text and the translation (see note 11.) It is identical with our continental stony Mulberry and constitutes the form of North America. Unfortunately our esteemed translator was utterly in the dark concerning the sense of the curious statements regarding the manifold suns and moons and even suggested that an explanation should be sought for in connection with the Philippine Islands. But the Tree, or range of the Sun and Moon, is plainly in North America. And here are the flocks of Suns roosting among the Branches.

NOTICE OF OUR GRAND CANYON.

According to the translation, a "Great Canyon" is to be seen in the "Great Eastern Waste" "Beyond the Eastern Sea." And this Great Canyon is placed in connection with the "Sun and Moon =shan=",--which possesses the Mulberry's Branches and exhibit of Suns already glanced at (note 12.)

We read that a stream flows through this canyon, "producing a charming gulf." We are further informed that "the water accumulates and so forms a gulf." A river flowing through the "Great Canyon," swells or widens out, displays a broadening expanse of water and becomes a Gulf, a "Charming Gulf."

Is not this the beautiful Gulf of California, which is a widening out or enlargement of a notable stream, the Colorado? Decidedly this mighty and famous river, whose "water accumulates and so forms a gulf," flows through a Canyon. Moreover, this Canyon is truly a "Great Canyon." It is the greatest and grandest on the planet. It is also found in the "Great Waste to the east of the Eastern Sea," which washes the coast of China. It is the Grand Canyon of the Colorado.

The translation informs us (note 13) that this stream which flows into, or becomes a gulf has a "delightful spring." The Canyon "has a beautiful mountain, from which there flows a delightful spring, producing a charming gulf. The water accumulates and so forms a gulf." Such is the translation; but no Chinese term for "spring" appears in the text. The original states that it is a =kan shui= which runs through the Canyon, and this identical compound is translated "Sweet River" by our author on page 163 of his large and comprehensive work. =Kan= indeed signifies sweet, sweetness; delightsome, pleasant, happy, refreshing; and =Shui= stands for "water or river" (see Williams dict. pp. 310, 781.) It is therefore evident that a =kan shui= should be remarkable for the sweetness of its water and should start from a "delightful spring" of =sweet= water, in order to be pure and deserve its reputation.

As a geographical fact, the Colorado flows out of the very fount which curiously enough, gives birth to the "Sweet Water." This stream becomes the Platte or Nebraska river, which joins the Missouri. And from the fount of the Sweet Water, exactly on the mountain divide, a head-stream of the Colorado bubbles out, enlarging into the affluent known as the "Green," the stream traverses the Grand Canyon and connects with the Gulf. (note 14.)

It should have a spring of =kan shui= or =sweet water=; and we find that it comes sparkling down the mountains from a =Sweet Water= spring.

The Sweet Water stream after traversing a Canyon, even a "Great Canyon" should connect with, or enlarge into, a gulf, described as "charming." Can the Gulf of California be regarded as charming?

One explorer expresses himself as charmed and delighted with the scenery of the gulf. A sample passage in his report reads as follows: "The island and mountain peaks, whose outlines, as seen from the gulf, had been somewhat dimmed by a light haze, appeared surprisingly near and distinct in the limpid medium through which they were now viewed. The whole panorama became invested with new attractions, and it would be hard to say whether the dazzling radiance of the day or the sparkling clearness of the night was the more beautiful and brilliant. (note 15.)

Truly a charming and beautiful Gulf is here.

Although the translation does not draw attention to the fact, the term employed in the Chinese record to describe the course of the stream which passes through the Great Canyon, is =chu=. Now this word is employed to designate water which is "shooting over a ledge" (Williams' dict. p. 89), and its use is entirely appropriate in a description of the course of the water in the channel of the Colorado. The bed of the stream is exceedingly irregular and consists indeed of a succession of =ledges=--producing a series of rapids, falls, or cataracts. Were the water to disappear, the exposed bed of the Colorado, with its ascending series of steps, might be likened indeed with truth to a stairway for giants or gods.

The falls caused by =ledges= (=chu=) are exceedingly numerous. One navigator's log contains many such entries as the following: "Still more rapids and falls today. In one, the Emma Dean [a boat] is caught in a whirlpool, and set spinning about (n. 16).

One subdivision of the Grand Canyon is known as Cataract Canyon, and this section "in its 41 miles, has 75 rapids and cataracts, and 57 of these are crowded into 19 miles, with falls, in places, of 16 to 20 feet" (n. 17.)

All accounts concur in representing the stream as remarkable for the fury and number of its falls. To ascend the Colorado is a sheer impossibility and even to descend the stream is an enterprise rarely indeed attempted or achieved. Only rafts or life-boats, backed by pluck and luck, stand a chance of getting through--in pieces. The mariners all wear life-belts and are just as often in the water as they are out of it. Evidently a River of =Ledges= is here. Surely the term =Chu= (or water shooting over =Ledges=) applies with peculiar force to the career of this "wildest of rivers"--the Colorado.

THE COLORADO--BOTTOMLESS?

Knowing quite well as we do, that our mighty river possesses a very substantial bottom composed of step-like ledges of rock, we learn with surprise that it is said to flow through a section described as =bottomless=! Is not such a statement or assertion absurd? But what did the ancient writer mean? What could he have meant?

The translation states that, according to a poem, the =Tsang-shan-wu=, "in the east there is a stream flowing in a =bottomless= ravine. It is supposed to be this Canyon"--the "Great Canyon of the Region beyond the Eastern Sea."

The Chinese term rendered "Canyon" is =Hoh=, which stands also for "a bed of a torrent, a deep gully or wady; a valley" (see Williams dict. p. 453.)

Of course, a =Ta= (or "Great") =Hoh= ought to be a Great Canyon, or a remarkable deep gorge or valley containing the bed of a torrent.

We have already been informed that a =Chu= (or river of ledges and falls) is in the =Ta Hoh=, or mighty gorge beyond the Eastern Sea. We also perceive that the title =Ta Hoh= applies properly to the mountain-hemmed course of our Colorado (which connects with Middle Park and runs to the Gulf.)

Somewhere in this immense and peerless =Ta Hoh=--somewhere among the majestic mountains--somewhere along the bed of the Colorado (either inside or outside of Middle Park,) the investigator should find a section which is =bottomless=. The ancient account locates it there. Nor are we to look for it in any Philippine Island. We are restricted to the bed or banks of the Colorado which we have identified as the =Chu= or plunging river that rushes downward to the Gulf. Our leaping stream flows into and out of Grand Lake (within Middle Park.) Now this Lake (or enlargement of the bed of the Grand Colorado) "has a beach, and far out into the body of the water a sandy bottom" and "in the center, covering an area of nearly a =mile= square the Lake to all appearance is =bottomless=."

We are further informed that "explorations of the edges of this great submarine cavern give the most positive evidences that it was once the crater of a great volcano" (note 18).

"The Lake to all appearance is bottomless. The deepest soundings that could ever be made have failed to reach bottom. Hence it is concluded that it has =no bottom=."

Turn these two words, "no bottom" into Chinese and we get =wu ti=,--the very terms employed in the Chinese account.

No bottom, say the Ancients.

No bottom, say the Moderns.

The old account puts the unfathomable abyss in a =Kuh= (valley or ravine) and it is within a Valley--the Valley of Middle Park--that we actually find it. Moreover, this bottomless valley is "supposed" (or reported) to belong to the =Ta Hoh=--a title which would cover both Valley and Canyon. Indeed, Middle Park, with its enormous mountain-walls connects directly with the system of the Grand Canyon. Moreover, the one stream flows through both. And here it may be remarked that the =Chu= (or River of Ledges and Falls) is not terminated or swallowed up by the Bottomless abyss in =Kuh= (or Valley of Middle Park.) It flows on through the =Ta Hoh= and ultimately enlarges into a Gulf (the Gulf of California).

The rocky floor of the =Kuh= (or Valley of Middle Park) evidently constitutes a support or bottom for an impetuous and important River of Ledges or rapids and yet, at the same time, is reported to be Bottomless. This seems contradictory. But reaching the precise locality referred to in the old account, modern scientists simply echo the declaration of the Ancients,--that this Valley or =Kuh=, traversed by a leaping, furious =Chu=, is unfathomable.

Bottomless! say the Ancients.

Bottomless! say the Moderns.

It thus appears that a statement seemingly calculated at first sight to drown the ancient claim in a flood of derision, turns out on examination to be overwhelmingly powerful evidence in support of the validity of the old record.

In no respect or degree is the ancient testimony contradicted or falsified by modern evidence. Take for instance the old assertion that the =shan= or mountain-range of the Great Canyon, is "beautiful." Nothing seems more natural than to conclude that such a laudatory term is grossly out of place and that the Mountain-range, with its Canyon and furious =Chu=, is a frightful, gloomy, dangerous, horrible, repulsive, bleak, and ugly mass of shattered and tottering heights. And, indeed, there is much truth in this view of the situation. Nevertheless, modern visitors unite in declaring that Beauty is a marked feature of the rocky heights that possess or direct the Colorado; and this is in agreement with the ancient account.

One traveler says: "The roar of its waters was heard unceasingly, ... but its walls and cliffs, its peaks and crags, its amphitheatres and alcoves, tell a story of =beauty= and sublimity" (note 19).

Another visitor, who was treated most disrespectfully by our =Chu=, has eyes only for its "beauty": "The Canyon grows more and more picturesque and =beautiful= the farther we proceed.... On many of the long stretches where the river can be seen for several miles, the picture is one of charming =beauty=.... As the clouds rose we were treated to scenes rare and =beautiful= in the extreme" (n. 20.)

Again: "Cataract and Narrow Canyons are wonderful, Glen Canyon is =beautiful=, Marble Canyon is mighty; but it is left for the Grand Canyon, where the river has cut its way down through the sandstones, the marbles, and the granites of the Kaibab Mountains, to form those =beautiful= and awe-inspiring pictures that are seen from the bottom of the black granite gorge, where above us rise great wondrous mountains of bright red sandstone capped with cathedral domes and spires of white, with pinnacles and turrets, and towers, in such intricate forms and flaming colors that words fail to convey any idea of their =beauty= and sublimity."

The translation informs us that the mighty gorge is the Canyon of =Kiang=, =Shang=, or Almighty God.

And a modern visitor declares that "here Omnipotence stands revealed," and that here is "a glorious creation of God." (n. 21.)

So impressed were the ancients with the beauty and grandeur of this region that they peopled it with the souls of illustrious sages, and declared that here was the Canyon of Almighty God. And those who enter it today, come reeling back from its portals,--declaring that no mortal can describe its glories, and that it is the Grand Canyon of Almighty God!

Words fail one in the attempt to describe this glorious creation of God. The impression it leaves upon the mind is overpowering. One feels as though he had been admitted into the presence of the Genii of the plutonic regions, had penetrated to the very heart of the inner world of elemental creations."

We need not wonder that the old account connects a revered ancestor with this glorious and celestial retreat in the Grand Canyon. He is called =Shao Hao=, and is furthur termed a =ju=, (or sucking child.)

=Shao= signifies "little" or "a little," and =Hao= is formed of the signs for "sun" and "heaven." It is therefore evident that the =ju= or infant at the Canyon is (or was) a little sun child, or child of the sun.

American rulers called themselves "Children of the Sun," and we should be careful not to confound our Arizona Prince with any Asiatic ruler. [The =Hao= or =Shao Hao= of supposed Chinese origin is represented by some different symbols: see Williams' dict. p. 172, columns 1 and 2.]

The little Child of the Sun at the =Ta-Hoh= or Great Canyon should not be--must not be--confounded with any early Chinese sun-worshiper. We are to look =far to the east of China= for both the Canyon and the little Child of the Sun referred to in the account before us.

We are informed that the country connected with the Great Canyon was called "=Shao Hao's= country" (or the land of the Sun-child) on account of the little Prince. He entered (=chi=) it, and this furnished the =reason= (or =chih=) for its title--Land of the Sun-child.

The infant (or =ju=) is distinctly called a ruler (or =ti=.) Moreover, although he was little (=shao=) or but a =ju= (suckling); he was a supreme king (or =chwen suh=). (Note 22.)

=Chwen= is formed by putting together the two words "only" and "head." And =suh= is a Chinese term composed of the two significant words "only" and "king" (see Williams' dict. pp. 117, 825, 1043.)

Evidently the baby ruler (or =ju ti=) was regarded by his people, in this region remarkable for its mountains, as the only or supreme head--the =chwen suh=, as Chinese historians might forcibly phrase it--of the people ruled.