aroundworldortra00peebiala-1

146 ABOUND THE WORLD.
but Tooloong was brave. They all crossed over. On the
other side was a new China, where no one lived. The trees
were beautiful, and the beasts kind. Tooloong wondered.
But they kept on till a land of flowers was seen in the distance.
The barbarians said, ' Let us not go farther : it will
burn us.' But Tooloong said, ' I stop not till the dragongod
stops.' So they entered the land of flowers. Here they
were blessed. The gods were very kind. Toolong wanted
dwellings and a pagoda. He built great cities in the flower
country, and died. After a long period, some of his children
tried to come back to China. But the great bridge was
gone. So they all, with the exception of Nung-yang, were
sent back to the flower-country by the gods. He, becoming
immortal by death, flew over on a cloud, and told his kindred
of the great things Tooloong had done."
The Americans, whom the Chinese hear of as living in a
great country to the north and east, are believed, says M.
Baillet, to be the descendants of Tooloong and the Assyrians
that accompanied him.
And Mr. Conwell, a Chinese traveler and author, suggests
that the " north and east " would very naturally refer to
the direction of Behring's Straits ; that the " bridge " might
have been ice, or an isthmus covered with snow, since submerged;
that the " flower-country " might be the land of
Mexico ; that the " pagoda, and blocks of stone dwellings,"
might relate to those wonderful structures, the ruins of
which, at Palenque and Uxnial, astonish the antiquarian, as
well as favorably compare with those of Upper Egypt and
Syria. And what, if possible, is more singular, the images
of gods manufactured at Bohea, near Ting-Chan, are the
exact counterparts of the idol-gods found in Southern California
and Mexico. A striking corroboration of the above
hypothesis is furnished by Gen. Crook, in his discovery of
ruins, while operating against the Apaches. And Capt. Manning,
of the regular army, writes from New Mexico under
date of July 14, 1874, touching the discovery of ancient