Ancient Chinese account of the Grand Canyon, or course of the ColoradoMcAllan, Alexander
History
Ancient Chinese account of the Grand Canyon, or course of the Colorado
McAllan, Alexander
America -- Discovery and exploration -- Chinese; Colorado River (Colo.-Mexico)
Now, =Pimo=--represented by the symbols for a maternal case and hill--is
mentioned on the very page of the Chinese book which notices our Grand
Canyon. Then, we are told that cliff-dwellings were here and a Sun
Prince (at first a mere =ju= or infant) called =Mu=, and that he or his
followers erected forts or fortresses.
And here we find no scarcity of ancient strongholds.
And when we ask the Indians for the name of the ruler who governed the
now decaying strongholds, their answer is--=Mu=.
The very title in the Chinese book.
=Mu=, say the Ancients.
=Mu=, say our Indians.
It may be said that some of the latter pronounce the title =Mo=. One of
our philologists speaks of "Montezuma, or more correctly,
=Mo=tecuhzoma." (note 82.)
Another authority says: "Montezuma, or more correctly, =Moc=tezuma."
(note 83.)
In his account of the Casa Grande, the old time Spanish traveler, Padre
Garces, says: On this river is situated the house which they call
=Moc=tezuma's. (note 84.)
It is evident that the two pronunciations =Mo= and =Mok= are preferred
to =Mon= (tezuma) and that =Mu= has also its advocates.
Curiously enough, these three sounds =Mu=, =Mo=, and =Mok=, are likewise
applied to the one character by the Chinese literati.
The identical symbol which Williams calls =Mu= is in another dictionary
(see Bailley's, iii, p. 246) termed =Mo=.
Morrison (vol. IV, p. 600-1) says that the two sounds =Mu= and =Mo= are
both applied, and that in Canton this selfsame character is called
=Mok=.
It thus appears that the builder or ruler of the fortresses in the
region beyond the Eastern Sea, might be called =Mu=, =Mo=, or =Mok=.
And in the region referred to--"the region beyond the Eastern Sea"--we
find many strongholds or forts (as well as cave-dwellings;) and when
antiquarians inquire of the Indians for the name of the ancient Builder
Prince, they are variously informed that he was the glorious =Mu=, =Mo=,
or =Mok=.
If the royal infant (or =ju=) became in process of time a ruler of
fortresses (=tai=) which "formerly held the Great Men's Country" (on the
Sun and Moon Shan) would be surprising to find that he himself had been
born within the shelter of a =tai= or fortress? And what is the
fortified hill at Pimo but a fortress? He counts it as the first of the
forts of =Mu= or =Mo-ti= in "the region beyond the Eastern Sea."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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