aroundworldortra00peebiala-1

CHINA. 145
AMERICA LONG KNOWN TO THE CHINESE.
A scholarly writer in the " North China Herald " assures us
that a " superstition " in the provinces of Honan and Hupee
declares that America and China are to be sympathetically,
if not politically and religiously united. This is based upon
the testimony of Chinese visionists, who in their ecstatic
state see " an immense bridge over to the United States."
These clairvoyant visionists further teach that the " Chinese
and American nations were once brothers." The mandarins
say they have books under the name of Fusang^ written
long ago, that describe America and Occidental scenery with
a marvelous precision. Chinamen returning from California
tell their relatives that they found races in America —
the Indians — who could talk some of their own language.
These notions, with the admiration that China had for Mr.
Burlingame, give them a strong predilection in favor of
America, as well as constitute the animus of their emigration
to our shores.
The French ethnologist Baillet, in a letter to the Royal
Society of Antiquarians, makes certain statements, current
among the Ting-chause scholars of China, of which the following
is the substance —
:
" There was a great family, called Tooloong, which lived in
the land of Fukien, and became rich. When a mighty conqueror
came from the north, and the emperor Hia was not
able to protect his children, Tooloong and his
family joined
themselves with some barbarians, — Assyrians from the west,
— and abandoned their homes in grief. They gave themselves
into the hands of the gods. The great dragon
watched them by night, and Su-wang-Shangty by day. For
more than a thousand days, Tooloong wandered northward
and eastward until the icicles grew on the skirts of his garments
; still the gods said, Go ' on,' and Tooloong's heart
was stout. Then they found a great bridge as white as the
summer's cloud, and very strong. The barbarians hesitated,
10