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. [Illustration: Figure 2. Our Continental American Tree.] The truth is that the false suns furnish neither heat nor light and really consist of dark (=wu=) vapor.