Ancient Chinese account of the Grand Canyon, or course of the Colorado   By: Alexander McAllan (1847-)

(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!

[Illustration: Figure 1. Spectacle of Five Suns.]

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.)