the "Needles," there is in the spring a "most brilliant array" of
flowers; but, "after the ephemeral influence of the few spring showers
has passed, the annual plants are soon =burned= up by the sun's heat and
perfect sterility prevails throughout the remainder of the season."
(note 44.)
It is sufficiently apparent that the soil when properly watered can
produce abundant vegetation and sufficient nourishment for, of course,
limited numbers of human beings. Deprived of water, the soil is unable
to sustain desirable plants, and presents a sterile aspect. Surveying
its present condition or appearance of barrenness, a modern visitor
wonders how the ancient inhabitants contrived to exist, or find food,
within the withered, unfruitful chasm. But one of the ancients, Mr.
Chwang Tsze, writing about this very =Ta-Hoh= or Great Chasm, says that
they used water to irrigate the otherwise scorched or dried up soil.
Then, if such a somewhat belated answer is true, the question arises,
where are the proofs?
A chief of the Ethnological Bureau very properly furnishes the answer.
Standing in the abyss of the =Ta-Hoh=, on the bank of the roaring river,
he beholds some ancient buildings and perceives how their vanished
occupants formerly contrived to subsist. He says: "We can see where the
ancient people who lived here--a race more highly civilized than the
present--had made a =garden=, and =used= a great spring" [or feeder of
the Colorado], "that comes out of the rocks for =irrigation=," etc. (n.
45.)
We irrigated the soil, say the Ancients.
They irrigated the soil, say the Moderns.
Next comes the statement of some trusted early sage or scholar who was
certainly acquainted with our =Ta-Hoh= (containing the ruin and
irrigated soil just noticed.) It is an observer or scribe named
=Tu-tsan=, who says:--
10. =Seay= (to paint, to draw, to sketch.)
11. =yih= (to spread abroad, to diffuse.)
12. =tung= (a gorge, ravine, canyon, a cave, a grotto.)
13. =hueh= ("a hole in the earth or side of a hill,--they are used for
dwellings;" a den, a grotto, a cavern.)
Something called =seay= is here said to be spread abroad, or diffused
over rocky walls or caves. Williams (p. 796) says that =seay= (or =sie=
as it is also spelled) stands for a sketch or design, and adds that it
means to draw, to compose, to write. Morrison, in his dictionary, says
that =seay= signifies "to paint," etc.
Of course there is no use looking for anything so absurd as pictured or
painted rocky walls or caves; and we accordingly feel disappointed when
the ancient text seems to notice such. The pictures or paint should be
"spread abroad" freely or lavishly in the vicinity of caverns, and we
know positively that no "paint" or pigment of human composition can be
seen on the canyon walls. No artificial pictures are there, and we are
compelled to admit that the ancient account here stands falsified.
We have, however, found the caves. Music Temple, for instance measures
two hundred feet from floor to roof, and is "a vast chamber carved out
of the rock." There are caverns in all directions. And the noisy,
roaring river is certainly there as well. One explorer says: "Imagine a
chasm that at times is less than a quarter of a mile wide and more than
a mile deep, the bed of which is a tossing, roaring, madly impetuous
flood, winding its way in a sinuous course along =walls= that are
=painted= with all the pigments known to nature. What an imposing
spectacle!" (n. 46.)
Of course we must object that the "walls" are really not walls and that
the "paint" so lavishly spread upon them is not paint at all. The
ancient assertion is delusive, but equally so is the modern. Just
compare them.
The Virgin River enters the Colorado, and at the place of junction are
the "resplendently =painted= temples and towers of the Virgin. Here the
slopes, the serpentine ledges, and the bosses of projecting rock,
interlarded with scanty soil, display all the colors of the rainbow, and
in the distance may be likened to the =painter's pallete=. The bolder
tints are of maroon, purple, chocolate, magenta, and lavendar, with
broad bands of white laid in horizontal belts. (n. 47.)
Is this so-called "paint" =lavishly= "spread abroad"?
Certainly; one section of the mighty and wondrous gorge is known as "the
=painted= canyon."
Of course the chasm is not really "painted" by artists or human agents,
and we need not look for painted cliffs anywhere. Nevertheless modern
observers echo the language of the ancients, and we are told today of
"the =painting= of the rocks" and of "deep, =painted= alcoves" and
"=painted= grottos" (n. 48.)
The term =yih= (see Williams' dict. pp. 781, 1092) is composed of the
characters for "fluid" and "vessel," and signifies "A vessel full to the
brim; ready to overflow, to run over; abundant; to spread abroad, to
diffuse." As =seay=, the word which precedes =yih= in our Chinese note,
signifies "to paint," we perceive how the additional term =yih= teaches
that the =paint= made use of has been applied to extensive surfaces, so
that it presents the appearance of having "overflowed" or "run over" the
rocky walls and caverns dealt with.
Of course neither writing nor literal pictures could overflow or
drench--and adhere to--walls or cliffs. But =seay yih= might cover the
motion of applying =paint= in a most lavish, copious, overflowing
manner. Here are cliffs so "rich with parti-coloring as to justify the
most extravagant language in describing them."
It looks as though the gnomes on the job, in the Canyon, just emptied
their paint-pots down dizzy cliffs and then went back for more. And such
extravagance is in harmony with the symbols which stand for painting and
vessels and spreading abroad or overflowing! Mineral paints were freely
used and sometimes apparently with considerable care and skill. Thus we
read of a red sandstone cliff "unbroken by cracks or crevices or ledges"
exhibiting "extensive flat surfaces beautifully =stained= by iron, till
one could imagine all manner of tapestry effects."
Here are painted imitations of tapestry.
It should further be remembered that there are actual picture writings
spread abroad on extensive painted or stained surfaces. The author just
quoted beheld ancient dwellings which "exhibited considerable skill on
the part of the builders, the corners being plumb and square." And just
here "there were also numerous picture writings." (note 49.)
An amazed visitor exclaims: "Grand, glorious, sublime, are the Pictorial
cliffs of vermillion hue!"
"Pictorial" answers to =seay= (the 10th character in our list.)
Pictured and painted! say the Ancients.
Pictured and painted! say the Moderns.
We have seen that our Gulf (of California) has been called a =Puh-hai=,
or "arm of the sea."
Professor Hoith, the celebrated student of Chinese, in his work on
"Chinese History" (p. 49, footnote) says that a =puh hai= is "an
estuary."
Webster says that an "estuary" is "an arm of the sea; a firth; a narrow
passage, or the mouth of a river or lake, where the tide meets the
current, or flows and ebbs."
Plainly our Gulf of California is a =Puh hai= or Estuary.
It may further be remarked that =Puh= is written in Chinese by putting
together two characters, one standing for "water," and the other
signifying "Suddenly; hastily; flurried, disconcerted, as when caught
doing wrong; to change color, confused" (Williams' dict. p. 718.)
It is superfluous to say that our Gulf or Estuary is a very "confused"
or "flurried" body of water. It is truly a =Puh-hai=.
Moreover, it "changes color." As though "caught doing wrong," it changes
color and blushes at times a rosy red. This is the hue of multidunious
veins: "A thousand streams rolling down the cliffs on every side, carry
with them red sand; and these all unite in the canyon below, in one
great stream of red mud" (n. 50.) But sometimes the color below Yuma is
yellow or black (n. 51.)
The name "Colorado" is a Spanish term conveying the idea of redness, and
undoubtedly this hue predominates throughout the course of the
boisterous stream; but other colors due to the dye or wash of variously
painted cliffs, are also met with. Moreover a section may exhibit one
color to-day and something different to-morrow. And so it is with the
gulf, which receives the Colorado, and on which floating patches of
color are frequently seen. Truly our Gulf or Estuary is remarkable for
both its coloring, blue, red, etc., and its changes of color. In all
respects it is plainly a =Puh-hai=.
Our Gulf or Estuary is also called a =yuen=. Farther on (see Chinese
version) we read that the Canyon river produces or grows into (=shang=)
a beautiful (=kan=) =yuen=.
This term =yuen= stands for a "gulf, an abyss; an eddy, a whirlpool or
place where the back water seems to stop."
A whirling, violent, or impetuous body of water is evidently referred
to. Fernando Alarchon, in 1540, found the Colorado "a very mighty river,
which ran with so great a fury of stream that we could hardly sail
against it.
One voyager tells how his ark, the "Emma" was "caught in a =whirlpool=,
and set spinning about." Here is a =yuen=.
Again, "The men in the boats above see our trouble but they are caught
in whirlpools, and are spinning about in eddies."
What have we here but =Yuen=--multiplied whirlpools?
Through "Whirlpool Canyon" and all the way to the Gulf, the waters dance
around and about. We read of "dancing eddies or whirlpools." There are
more than 600 rapids and falls in the Colorado (n. 52.)
The waters =waltz= their way and even furnish their own "rippling,
rushing, roaring music." And we are in addition told of "innumerable
cascades adding their wild music" (n. 53).
Surely the entire inlet traversed by the bore or reached by ocean tides
is in precisely the condition of commotion which may well be designated
by the term yuen.
We are informed that the =kan= (or beautiful) =yuen= approaches (=tsih=)
with vapor (=hi hwo=) and bathes (=yuh=) the sun's place (=ji chi su=).
It is evident that the mighty stream which traverses the Great Canyon in
the region beyond the Eastern Sea, should flow from a Bottomless valley
to a Gulf, and reach to the Sun's Place. And we find that the current of
the Colorado extends to the Tropical line of Cancer, which crosses and
marks the mouth of the Gulf of California.
Vapor or fog is noticed in connection with the beautiful (even if
restless or reeling) =Yuen=.
Are fogs a noticeable feature along the coast of California? If so, they
might hide the entrance or mouth of the Gulf.
One visitor says: "Westward toward the setting sun and the sea," was a
"filmy fog creeping landward, swallowing one by one the distant hills."
Again, we read of "hilltops that thrust their heads through the slowly
vanishing vapor."
Here "you may bask in the sunshine of gardens of almost tropic
luxuriance or shudder in =fogs that shroud the coast=" (n. 54.)
We need not wonder that such vapors should appear within the confines of
the charming Gulf of California and at times veil its shores. A recent
visitor says: "The island and mountain peaks, whose outlines are seen
from the Gulf, had been somewhat =dimmed= by a light =haze=, appeared
surprisingly near and distinct in the limpid medium through which they
were now viewed. The whole panorama became invested with new
attractions, and it would be hard to say whether the dazzling radiance
of the day or the sparkling clearness of the night was the more
=beautiful= and brilliant" (n. 55).
Hazy and Beautiful, say the Ancients.
Hazy and Beautiful, say the Moderns.
The haze is not dense enough to blind our eyes to the manifest fact that
those people of old who were acquainted with the position of our Gulf of
California, must also have been acquainted with Mexico and its
inhabitants.
Tropical America was considered by its people to be particularly under
the influence of the Sun. Uxmal was in "the Land of the Sun" (n. 56),
and the Mexicans called themselves "Children of the Sun."
CAVE DWELLINGS IN THE GRAND CANYON.
It will be noticed that the 13th term in our list is =hueh=, which
stands for cave habitation. Are such to be seen in our Canyon?
Numerous =tung= (see 12th term,) in the shape of caves or holes are
undoubtedly there, but in addition the old account notices =hueh=. Have
such been found?
One explorer says: "Even more remarkable than the stupendous walls which
confine the Colorado river, are the ruined cave habitations which are to
be seen along the lofty and inaccessible ledges, in which a vanished
race long years ago evidently sought refuge from their enemies.... They
were reached by very narrow, precipitous, and devious paths, and being
extremely difficult to attain by the occupants themselves, presented an
impregnable front to invaders" (n. 57.)
Explorers decending into the =ta-hoh= come forth to-day with accounts of
gardens and irrigating streams, pictured cliffs, and cave dwellings,--in
complete agreement with the ancient record.
Following the term =hueh= we find a 14th, called =han=, which stands for
dry, heated air; too dry; parched as by drought; crisp.
Is there =han=, or dry heated air down in the Canyon?
One visitor entered the Grand Canyon "in the morning while darkness yet
covered the scene, but even then it was oppressively hot, and as the sun
got higher I felt as though I had been thrust into a dutch =oven= and
the mouth stopped up.... But, despite the terrible heat ... I was
compelled to wonder and admire ... the gorgeous cliffs and rock walls
showing all those varied colorings," etc. (n. 58).
It was the "terrible heat" which compelled the Ancients to resort to
irrigation in order to raise some food for themselves and little ones.
Destitute of water, the soil is scorched and barren.
It is said that "there are about 700 square miles of arable land between
the mouth of the Gila and the 35th parallel of N. latitude," along the
Colorado. And "in the valley" of this stream, where it is joined by the
Gila, "are traces of ancient irrigating canals, which show that it has
once been cultivated." And along the connected Gila are irrigating works
of remarkable construction and undoubted antiquity--antedating the
arrival of the Spaniards by centuries.
Where the soil is actually irrigated or cultivated the response of
nature is most gratifying and encouraging. We learn with regard to the
Colorado valley, that "portions are cultivated by the numerous tribes of
Indians who live along its banks, affording them an abundance of wheat,
maize, beans, melons, squashes," etc. (n. 59).
Such ground would be well worthy of attention; but the attitude of "the
numerous tribes of Indians" along the Colorado might interfere with the
plans of newcomers and even compel the latter to live in caves or on
ledges easily defended. And it is certain that soil insufficiently
watered presents a distressingly sterile aspect in the neighborhood of
the Colorado.
One traveler, already quoted, says with regard to a wide section, that
"the whole scene presented the most perfect picture of desolation I
have ever beheld, as if some Sirocco had passed over the land,
=withering= and =scorching= everything to crispness" (n. 60.)
Notice this word "crispness" used by our author. Turned into Chinese it
becomes =han= (crisp)--the very term applied in the ancient record to
the condition of the soil unwatered within the Canyon. It is curious how
the old and new visitors agree in their descriptions of the interior of
the mighty gorge, where vegetation is withered or dead.
Scorched and Crisp! say the Ancients.
Scorched and Crisp! say the Moderns.
The Canyon should be hot, and one of our own visitors says: "The sun
shone directly up the Canyon, and the glare =reflected from the walls=
made the heat intolerable (n. 61.)
The word =han= has, unfortunately enough, a perfect right to appear in
the old record. Following it we find additional terms:
15. A compound character consisting of the signs for "Sun" (=Jih=) and
"People" (=Min=.)
16. =lung= ("used for =nagas= or snake gods;" "a dragon," "imperial."
"It is often used for a man.")
17. =chuh= ("the illumination of torches; a candle; a light; to give or
shed light upon, to illumine")
The statement seems to teach that the Sun People--the men--were using
torches to illumine the depth of the hot Canyon.
We have already been informed that a =ju= or suckling, who was yet a
supreme King (like perhaps the last Chinese Emperor of the Manchu
dynasty, in 1912 A. D.) and a Child of the Sun, was down in the abyss,
so we are prepared to hear that his subjects--some Sun people--were down
there too.
Of course, for the greater part of the twenty-four hours, the darkness,
particularly in the cave dwellings should be most intense. One visitor,
quoted already, tells of "darkness thicker than that of Egypt." Such
gloom should be particularly and painfully felt by "Sun People," and we
are not surprised to find that they made use of torches or artificial
lights. Singularly enough, the chasm, as though remorsefully conscious
of the blackness of its character, produces no end of dried-up vegetable
stems or stalks fit to be ignited and used as firebrands. These it
places convenient to your hand, as though to invite inspection.
Indians today are in the habit of using such torches. We are informed
that "the custom still prevails among them of carrying a firebrand,"
which was noticed by Spanish explorers in the 16th Century, "and induced
those discoverers to give to the river the name of Rio del Tizon" (n.
62).
It will be noticed that the ancient Chinese account connects lights, or
"an illumination of Torches" (=chuh=), with the very stream which the
Spaniards of a later age, and of their own accord christened the Rio del
Tizon.
A Torch-lighted stream, say the Chinese.
A Torch-lighted stream, say the Spaniards.
The author or explorer last quoted says with reference to Indians
dwelling on the banks of the Colorado, that "the custom still prevails
among them of carrying a firebrand in the hand in cold weather," which
was noticed by the Spaniards.
Of course the flaming brands may well be used in winter to warm those
who hold them, but the Ancients who inhabited the cave or cliff houses
(which they built and which are now more or less in ruin, according to
exposure or original inherent strength) might have used the =chuh= or
torches as =lights=. These torches are mentioned in connection with
excessive =heat=, and it would be absurd to suppose that the Sun People
of old desired a still higher temperature. But mention is made of cave
dwellings, and such are actually there; and we can readily understand
why the ancient dwellers in the cave houses should have frequently used
the ready-to-hand torches when climbing to their dark and break-neck
abodes.
Even today the =chuh= or torches are used as =lights=. The withered
stalks or stems, so abundant in the Canyon, are a melancholy
illustration of the scorching power of the sun within the chasm. We have
not forgotten the fact that the Chinese term =han= is used in the
ancient text and that it stands for the "crispness" of scorched or dried
up plants. An actual visit to the =Ta-Hoh= or Great Canyon referred to,
shows that it is this =han=--or withered, scorched and crisp--vegetation
which provides no end of torches (=chuh=) for dwellers in the vicinity.
One stumbling visitor uses the following language: "We struck for it ...
through the thick night, the guide occasionally lighting a =torch of
grass=" (n. 63). Unable to directly or steadily illumine the angles or
recesses of the Canyon, the bright and clear-headed sun does the next
best thing and raises a bounteous harvest of firebrands. Nature here
concentrates her attention on the task of serving the necks (rather than
the bellies) of her children, and presents them with a crop of seasoned
and brilliant torches. Certain it is that most efficient firebrands are
raised here in profusion and constitute such a unique feature of the
stream that in order to distinguish it from others in the region, the
Spaniards called our river the Rio del Tizon. Torches have lighted the
Canyon in the past and they now throw light on the ancient record.
Mentioned in connection with withered vegetation and intense heat, the
natural inference is that the torches were used to =light= the steps of
dwellers in the Canyon. Of course they might in winter have been used,
like other vegetable produce, as fuel, but the old record now before us
does actually connect the =chuh= or torches with a high scorching
temperature; and our impression or deduction is that they were used as
lights amid the blackness of the chasm.
And the Torches (=chuh=) are used as lights still. One explorer says:
"We fear that we shall have to stay here clinging to the rocks until
daylight. Our little Indian gathers a few dry stems, ties them in a
bundle, lights one end, and holds it up. The =others do the same=, and
with these =Torches= we =find a way= out of trouble."
Observe that these torches (or =chuh= as the Chinese would call them)
were not ignited to =warm= the explorers. They were held aloft to find
or light the way among perilous cliffs. Without their aid it would have
been madness for the explorers to move. Practically they were as men
born blind, but the Indian guide, with knowledge derived from the depths
of antiquity, obtains the necessary torches and light at his elbow. With
one withered and hot stem he ties together a number, lights them and
then finds the way out of trouble for both himself and his bewildered
party. What have we here but a duplication of the "illumination of
torches" referred to in the ancient record?
17. =chuh= (the illumination of torches; a candle; a torch.)
18. =yuen= ("to lead or take by the hand, to cling to; to pull up
higher, to drag out; to put forward; to relieve, to rescue")
19. =yiu= (have, has; to get.)
20. =Ta= (Great.)
21. =Hoh= (Canyon.)
22. =hao= (a mark, classed, a signal.)
23. =wei= (said or declared; has; in the place of.)
24. =wu= (no; without; destitute of.)
25. =te= (bottom.)
It appears that within the bottomless =Ta-hoh= or Great Canyon (see
words 19 to 25) there is an illumination of torches (=chuh=) and a
pulling up higher, or a dragging about and clinging to (=yuen=).
Climbing is here referred to. The Sun people seem to have found
locomotion difficult and hazardous within the chasm.
The modern explorer who reached the irrigated garden plots and houses of
the ancient occupants, was himself compelled to resort to much climbing.
In one place he says: "I find I can get up no farther, and cannot step
back, for I dare not let go with my hands, and cannot reach foot-hold
below without. I call to Bradley for help.... The moment is critical.
Standing on my toes my muscles begin to tremble.... I hug close to the
rock, let go with my hand, seize the dangling legs, and with his
assistance, I am enabled to gain the top" (n. 64.)
It will be seen by the intelligent reader that the forgoing performance
is covered by the term =yuen= (No. 18) used in the ancient record. There
was a =rescue= by Bradley, and the desperate adventurer, a chief of the
Ethnological Bureau, was "pulled up higher," even to "the top" of the
cliff. All this constitutes =yuen=; and without intending it, our modern
climber--calling to Bradley for help--is a most eloquent and lucid
commentator on the ancient statement in the Chinese text.
But this climbing should be accomplished in connection with =chuh= (No.
17--the illumination of torches). Is it true that there is climbing by
torchlight (not =moonlight=, gentle reader) within the chasm?