time, either by intentional colonization or by the accidents incident to navigation. The great number of shipwrecks which are continually being cast upon our Pacific coast by the Japanese current or Kuro-suvo are constant and substantial witnesses to the reasonableness of the claim.[200] The Chinese colonization theory, unfortunately, does not date far enough back to account for the oldest American civilization. It is nevertheless remote enough, were it proven true, to considerably antedate the Aztec and Inca periods. Upwards of a century ago the learned French sinologist Deguignes announced that he had found in the writings of early Chinese historians the statement that in the fifth century of our era certain adventurers of their race had discovered a country which they called Fusang.[201] He further expressed it as his opinion that the country described must be Western America, and probably Mexico. The original document on which the Chinese historians base their statements was the report of a Buddhist missionary named Hoei-Shin, who in the year 499 A. D., claims to have returned from a long journey of discovery to the remote and unknown east. This report, whatever may be its intrinsic value, was accepted as true by the Chinese, and found its way into the history of Li yan tcheon—written at the beginning of the seventh century of our era. In 1841, Dr. Neumann, Professor of Oriental Languages and History at Munich, after a residence of a couple of years at Canton, published a translation of the narrative of Hoei-Shin with comments upon it.[202] A few of the most striking passages of the account given by this Buddhist missionary are as follows: “Fusang is about 20,000 Chinese _li_ in an easterly direction from Tahan and east of the Middle Kingdom.[203] Many Fusang trees grow there whose leaves resemble the _Dryanda cordifolia_; the sprouts, on the contrary, resemble those of the bamboo tree, and are eaten by the inhabitants of the land. The fruit is like a pear in form, but is red. From the bark they prepare a sort of linen which they use for clothing, and also a sort of ornamental stuff. The houses are built of wooden beams; fortified and walled places are there unknown. They have written characters in this land, and prepare paper from the bark of the Fusang. The people have no weapons and make no wars, but in the arrangement of the kingdom, they have a northern and southern prison. Trifling offenders are lodged in the southern prison, but those confined for greater offences in the northern. The name of the king is pronounced Ichi. The color of his clothes changes with the different years. The horns of the oxen are so large that they hold ten bushels. They use them to contain all manner of things. Horses, oxen, and stags are harnessed to their wagons. Stags are used here as cattle are used in the Middle Kingdom, and from the milk of the hind they make butter. No iron is found in the land; but copper, gold,