especially of those whose fleeting sounds have never been fixed by any
graphic invention, makes it the more surprizing how Lord Kames, in his
sketch on the origin and progress of American nations, after observing
that no passage by land had been discovered between America and the old
world, should have given it as his opinion, that an enquiry, much more
decisive at to the former being peopled by the latter, might be pursued,
by ascertaining whether the same language be spoken by the inhabitants
on the two sides of the strait that divides the northern regions of
America from Kamskatka. And that, after finding this not to be the case,
he should conclude that the former could not have been peopled by the
latter. Had not Lord Kames written upon a system of a separate and local
creation, pre-established in his own mind, he would unquestionably have
laid more stress upon a resemblance in their physical characters, in
their superstitions and religious notions, than on similarity of
language; which, among the many acquirements of the human species, or of
human institution, is not the least liable to change by a change of
situation, especially where no written character has been employed to
fix it. His Lordship's conclusion is the more extraordinary, as he had
already observed that the resemblance between them was perfect in every
other respect.
Mr. Bailly, with some other learned and ingenious men, was of opinion,
that many fragments of the old and absurd fables of China are
discoverable in the ancient history of the Hindus, from the birth of
_Fo-shee_, the founder of the empire (_Fo-hi_, as the French write the
word,) until the introduction of Budha, or Fo. Like the Hindus, it is
true, they have always shewn a remarkable predilection for the number
_nine_. Confucius calls it the most perfect of numbers. But the
Scythians, or Tartars, have also considered this as a sacred number. It
is true, likewise, they resemble some of the Indian nations, in the
observance of solstitial and equinoxial sacrifices; in making offerings
to the manes of their ancestors; in the dread of leaving no offspring
behind them, to pay the customary obsequies to their memory; in
observing eight cardinal or principal points of the world; in the
division of the Zodiac, and in a variety of other coincidences, which
the learned Mr. Bryant accounts for by supposing the Egyptians, Greeks,
Romans, and Indians, to be derived from one common stock, and that some
of these people carried their religion and their learning into China. No
proof however is adduced, either by him or others, of such a
communication; and an assertion directly the contrary might have been
made with equal plausibility.
That the Chinese do not owe their origin to the same stock, their
physical character is of itself a sufficient proof. The small eye,
rounded at the extremity next the nose, instead of being angular, as is
the case in that of Europeans, its oblique instead of horizontal
position, and the flat and broad root of the nose, are features or
characters entirely distinct from the Hindu, the Greek, or the Roman;
and belong more properly to the natives of that vast extent of country,
which was known to the ancients by the name of Scythia, and, in modern
times, by that of Tartary. There is scarcely in nature two of the human
species that differ more widely than a Chinese and a Hindu, setting
aside the difference of colour, which however modern enquiries have
determined to have little or no relation to climate, but rather to some
original formation of the different species. The Mantchoo, and indeed
all the other Tartar tribes bordering upon China, are scarcely
distinguishable from the Chinese. The same colour, except in a few
instances as I have elsewhere observed, the same eyes, and general turn
of the countenance prevail, on the continent of Asia, from the tropic of
Cancer to the Frozen Ocean[36]. The peninsula of Malacca, and the vast
multitude of islands spread over the eastern seas, and inhabited by the
Malays, as well as those of Japan and Lieou-kieou, have clearly been
peopled from the same common stock. The first race of people to the
northward of Hindostan, that possess the Tartar countenance, so
different from that of the Hindus, are the inhabitants of Bootan. "The
_Booteeas_," says Captain Turner, "have invariably black hair, which it
is their fashion to cut short to the head. The eye is a very remarkable
feature of the face; small, black, with long pointed corners[37], as
though stretched and extended by artificial means. Their eye-lashes are
so thin as to be scarcely perceptible, and the eye-brow is but slightly
shaded. Below the eyes is the broadest part of the face, which is rather
flat, and narrows from the cheek-bones to the chin; a character of
countenance appearing first to take its rise among the Tartar tribes,
but is by far more strongly marked in the Chinese."
[36] It is sufficiently remarkable, that the Emperor _Kaung-shee_, in
giving, by public edict, some account to his subjects of the different
nations of Asia and Europe, should make the following observation. "To
the southward of the _Cossack_ country a horde of _Hoo-tse_ (Turks) is
established, who are descended from the same stock with _Yuen-tay-tse_,
formerly Emperors of China."
[37] The _exterior_ angles are here meant which, in the Chinese also,
are extended in the same or a greater proportion than the _interior_
ones are rounded off.
The heights of Tartary, bulging out beyond the general surface of the
globe, have been considered, indeed, by many as the cradle of the human
species, or still more emphatically, and perhaps more properly, as _the
foundery of the human race_. This opinion did not arise solely from the
vast multitudes of people corresponding with the Tartar character, that
are spread over every part of the eastern world, and who in countless
swarms once overran all Europe, but was grounded on a supposition, that
the whole surface of the globe, or the greater part of it, has at one
time been submerged in water, and that Tartary was the last to be
covered, and the first that was uncovered; and the place from whence, of
course, a new set of creatures were forged as in a workshop, from some
remnant of the old stock, to be the germs of future nations.
Almost every part of the earth, indeed, affords the most unequivocal
indications that such has actually been the case, not only in the
several marine productions that have been discovered in high mountains,
at a distance from any sea, and equally deep under the surface of the
earth; but more especially in the formation of the mountains themselves,
the very highest of which, except those of granite, consisting
frequently of tabular masses piled on each other in such regular and
horizontal strata, that their shape and appearance cannot be otherwise
accounted for, or explained by any known principle in nature, except by
supposing them at one time to have existed in a state of fluidity, by
the agency of fire or of water, a point which seems to be not quite
decided between the Volcanists and the Neptunists. The heights of
Tartary are unquestionably the highest land in the _old_ world. In
America they may, perhaps, be exceeded. _Gerbillon_, who was a tolerable
good mathematician and furnished with instruments, assures us, that the
mountain _Pe-tcha_, very inferior to many in Tartary, is nine Chinese
_lees_, or about fifteen thousand feet, above the level of the plains of
China. This mountain, as well as all the others in the same country, is
composed of sand stone, and rests upon plains of sand, mixed with rock
salt and saltpetre. The _Sha-moo_, or immense desert of sand, which
stretches along the north-west frontier of China and divides it from
western Tartary, is not less elevated than the _Pe-tcha_, and is said to
resemble the bed of the ocean. Some of the mountains starting out of
this _sea of sand_, which its name implies, cannot be less than twenty
thousand feet above the level of the eastern ocean.
The formation of the earth affords a wide field for speculation; and,
accordingly, many ingenious theories have been conceived to explain the
various appearances which its surface exhibits. The best modern
naturalists seem, however, to agree, that water has been one of the
principal agents to produce these effects. The great Linnæus, whose
penetrating mind pervaded the whole empire of nature, after many and
laborious enquiries, acquiesced in the truth of the sacred writings,
that the whole globe of the earth was, at some period of time, submerged
in water, and covered with the vast ocean, until in the lapse of time
one little island appeared in this immense sea, which island must have
been of course the highest mountain upon the surface of the earth. In
support of his hypothesis, he adduces a number of facts, many of which
have fallen within his own observation, of the progressive retreat of
the sea, the diminution of springs and rivers, and the necessary
increment of land. Among the most remarkable of these are the
observations made by the inhabitants of Northern Bothnia upon the rocks
on the sea coast, from whence it appeared that, in the course of a
century, the sea had subsided more than four feet; so that six thousand
years ago, supposing the rate of retiring to have been the same, the sea
was higher than at present by two hundred and forty feet. Such great and
sensible depression of the water of the sea must, however, have been
only local, otherwise, as I have elsewhere observed, the Red Sea and the
Mediterranean would have joined within the period of history. The sea,
it is true, in some parts of the world, gains upon the land, and in
others the land upon the sea, but these effects arise from a different
cause to that which is supposed to produce a general retreat. It is
true, also, that in the neighbourhood of mountains and great rivers,
very material changes have taken place in the course of a few ages. The
fragments of the former, worn away by the alternate action of the sun
and rains, are borne down by the torrents of the latter, and deposited
in the eddies formed by the two banks of the rivers where they join the
sea, producing thus alluvious land as, for example, the Delta of Egypt,
which has gradually been deposited out of the soil of Abyssinia and
Upper Egypt; the plains of the northern parts of China, which have been
formed out of the mountains of Tartary; and those of India from the
Thebetian mountains, and the other high lands to the northward and
westward of the peninsula. As, however, a much greater proportion of the
fragments borne down by rivers must be deposited in the bosom of the
deep than on its shores, the sea by this constant and effective
operation ought rather to advance than to retreat. We may therefore,
perhaps, conclude that, whatever the changes may have been which the
surface of the earth has undergone, with regard to the proportion and
the portion of land and water, the appearances we now behold in various
parts of the globe can only be explained by supposing some temporary and
preternatural cause, or else by assuming an incalculable period of time
for their production.
But to return from this digression to the more immediate subject of the
present section. It is sufficiently remarkable, and no inconsiderable
proof of the truth of the Sacred Writings, that almost every nation has
some traditionary account of a deluge, some making it universal, and
others local: presuming, however, the former to be correct, which is
not only justified by the testimony of the author of the Pentateuch, but
by natural appearances, it might perhaps be shewn, with no great
deviation from the generally received opinion, that, instead of Persia
being the hive in which was preserved a remnant of the ancient world for
the continuation of the species, those who have supposed Tartary to be
the cradle, from whence the present race of men issued, have adopted the
more plausible conjecture. If it be borne in mind that, in every part of
the Bible history, the expressions are accommodated to the
understandings of those for whom they were intended, rather than
strictly conformable to facts, and more consonant to appearances than
realities, it may be supposed, without any offence to the most rigid
believer, that by the mount Ararat was not strictly meant the identical
mountain of that name, which has been recognised in Armenia, but rather
the highest mountain on the face of the globe; for, if this were not the
case, the Mosaic account would be contradictory in itself, as we are
told that, "all the high hills that were under the whole Heaven were
covered." This concession being allowed, we may suppose that the ark,
instead of resting in Armenia, first struck ground in that part of
Tartary which is now inhabited by the Eleuths, as being the most
elevated tract of country in the old world. From these heights large
rivers flow towards every quarter of the horizon. It is here that the
sources of the Selenga are found, descending to the northward into the
lake Baikal, and from thence by the Enesei and the Lena into the Frozen
Ocean: of the Amour, which empties its waters to the eastward into the
gulph of Tartary: of the two great rivers of China flowing to the
southward, and of numberless lakes and rivers discharging their waters
to the westward, some burying themselves in deserts of sand, and others
working their way to the great lake of Aral and the Caspian sea.
From such a situation, admitting the earth to have been peopled in
succession, the two great rivers which took the southerly direction and
crossed the fertile and extensive plains of China, were fully as likely
to direct the few survivors of the deluge to this country, as that they
should follow any of the other streams; and probably more so, as these
led to a warmer and more comfortable climate, where fewer wants were
felt and those few more easily supplied. Considered in this point of
view, the opinion of the Jesuits will not appear so ill founded, which
supposes that Noah, separating from his rebellious family, travelled
with a part of his offspring into the east, and founded the Chinese
monarchy; and that he is the same person as the _Foo-shee_[38] of their
history. The words of scripture _from the east_, an ingenious
commentator has observed, ought more properly to be translated, _at the
beginning_. At all events, the fact I conclude to be irresistible, that
the Tartars and the Chinese have one common origin, and the question
then is simply this, whether the fertile plains of China were abandoned
for the bleak and barren heights of Tartary, or that the wandering and
half-famished Scythians descended into regions whose temperature and
productions were more congenial to the nature of man.
[38] As a corroborating proof of the Chinese being of Scythic origin, it
may be observed, that the adjunct character _Shee_ (to the family name
_Foo_) is composed of a _sheep_, _rice_, an _arrow_, and the conjunctive
character _also_, from whence may be inferred that he united the
occupations of _shepherd_, _agriculturist_, and _warrior_.
If, however, we allow China to have been among the first nations formed
after the flood, it does not appear to have kept pace in learning and in
arts with the Chaldeans, the Assyrians, or the Egyptians. Before the
time of Confucius, its progress in civilization seems to have been very
slow. He was the first person who digested any thing like a history of
the kings of Loo; for, in his time, the country was divided among a
number of petty princes, who lived at the head of their families, much
in the same manner as formerly the chiefs of the clans in the Highlands
of Scotland; or, perhaps, more properly speaking, like the German
princes, whose petty states are so many parts of one great empire. It is
now about two thousand years since the several monarchies were
consolidated in one undivided and absolute empire. There are several
reasons for supposing that, before this period, China made no great
figure among the polished nations of the world, although it produced a
Confucius, some of whose works demonstrate a vigorous and an enlightened
mind. From the commentaries of this philosopher on one of their
classical books[39], it would appear that a regular succession of
Emperors could be traced near two thousand years back from his time, or
more than four thousand years from the present period. The duration of
the dynasties, with their several Emperors, which he enumerates, and the
detail of occurrences in each reign, make the truth of the history
sufficiently plausible, though the chronology, from their total
ignorance of astronomy, must necessarily be defective. It is still an
extraordinary circumstance, that none of the ancient classical authors
should have had the least knowledge of such a nation. Homer neither
mentions them nor makes any allusion to such a people; and Herodotus
seems to have been equally ignorant of their existence; and yet,
according to the best chronologists, Herodotus and Confucius must have
been contemporaries. It may fairly be concluded then, that the early
Greeks had no knowledge of the Chinese. Even more than a century after
the father of history flourished, when the Persian empire was overthrown
by Alexander, it does not appear that the Chinese were known to this
nation; which in all probability would have been the case,
notwithstanding their aversion to any intercourse with foreigners, had
they constituted, at that time, a large and powerful empire; perhaps,
indeed, the ignorance of the Persians might arise from the intervention
of the civilized nations of India, whose numbers might have made it
prudent in the former to direct their arms constantly towards the west
rather than to the east.
[39] The _Shoo-king_.
It has been an opinion pretty generally adopted, that the people known
to the ancients by the name of _Seres_ were the same as the Chinese,
partly on account of their eastern situation, and partly because the
principal silk manufactures were supposed to be brought from thence,
which gave the Romans occasion name the country _Sericum_. The Romans,
however, received the trifling quantity of silk made use of by them from
Persia, and not from China, nor from the country of the Seres. Nor is it
probable, that the latter should be the Chinese, who are said to have
sent an embassy to Augustus, in order to court the friendship of the
Romans, it being so very contrary to their fundamental laws, which not
only prohibit any intercourse with strangers, but allow not any of the
natives to leave the country. The fact, indeed, of this embassy rests
solely upon the authority of Lucius A. Florus, who wrote his history, if
it may so be called, nearly a century after the death of Augustus: and,
as none of the historians contemporary with that Emperor, take any
notice of such an event, it is more than probable that no such embassy
was sent to Rome[40].
[40] Ptolemy, the Geographer, places Serica adjoining to Scythia, _extra
Imaum_, corresponding with Cashgar, Tangut, and Kitai, countries famous
for the cultivation of the cotton plant. It would seem, indeed, from all
the passages which occur in ancient authors concerning the Seres, that
cotton was the substance alluded to, rather than silk, and that these
people were not the present Chinese, but the Tartars of Kitai.
_Quid nemora Æthiopum molli canentia lana?
Velleraque ut foliis depectant tenuia Seres?_
Virg. Georg. ii. v. 120.
_----Primique nova Phaethonte retecti
Seres lanigeris repetebant vellera lucis._
Sil. Ital. 1. 6. v. 3.
_----Quod molli tondent de stipite Seres
Frondea lanigeræ carpentes vellera Silvæ._
Claudian.
_Seres lanificio Sylvarum nobiles perfusam aquá depectentes frondium
canitiem._
Plin. 1. 6. 17.
Horace makes the Seres expert in drawing the bow, a weapon in the use of
which the Scythians were always famous.
_Doctus Sagittas tendere Sericas
Arcu paterno?_
Hor. lib. i. Od. 29. v. 9.
It certainly cannot be inferred that by the _Seres_, in any of the above
quotations, was meant the same people as the present Chinese; on the
contrary, the probability is that it did not allude to this nation, and
that the ancients had not the least knowledge of its existence. It
appears from another passage in Pliny, that the best iron in the world
was in _Sericum_, and that the Seres exported it with their cloths and
skins. The iron of the Chinese, as I have had occasion to observe, is
remarkably bad, and all their articles of peltry are imported.
The first people that we know to have travelled into China was a colony
of Jews who, according to the records kept by their descendants, and
which I understood from some of the missionaries are corroborated as to
the time by Chinese history, first settled there shortly after the
expedition of Alexander had opened a communication with India. Nor is it
at all improbable that this adventurous and industrious people were the
first to carry with them, into their new country, the silk worm and the
mode of rearing it, either from Persia, or some of the neighbouring
countries. The Emperor _Kaung-shee_, in his observations on natural
history, takes notice that the Chinese are greatly mistaken when they
say that silk was an exclusive product of China, for that the upper
regions of India have a native worm of a larger growth, and which spins
a stronger silk than any in China. Although indeed ancient authors are
silent as to the article of silk, there are grounds for supposing it was
not unknown in Tangut and Kitai. Several expressions in the Bible
warrant the opinion that silk was used in the time of Solomon, and the
_vestes perlucidæ ac fluidæ Medis_ of Justin seem to convey a
description of silken robes. This mode of the first introduction of silk
into China is offered as mere conjecture, for which I have no other
authority in support of, than what is here mentioned, with the
circumstance of the Jews being settled chiefly in the silk provinces,
and of their being at this time in considerable numbers near
_Hang-tchoo-foo_, where they carry on the principal trade in this
article, and have acquired the reputation of fabricating the best stuffs
of this material that are made in China; nor do I know in what other way
they could recommend themselves to the Chinese, so far as to have
obtained the protection of this jealous government, and to be allowed to
intermarry with the women of the country. It is true they have practised
no underhand attempts to seduce the natives from their paternal
religion, and to persuade them to embrace their own; and although they
are not very famous for the cultivation of the sciences, yet they might
have rendered themselves extremely useful in suggesting improvements in
many of the arts and manufactures. Many of them, indeed, forsake the
religion of their forefathers, and arrive at high employments in the
state. Few among them, I understand, except the Rabbis, have any
knowledge of the Hebrew language, and they have long been so intermixed
with the Chinese, that the priests at the present day are said to find
some difficulty in keeping up their congregations. So different are the
effects produced by suffering, instead of persecuting, religious
opinions.
One of the missionaries has given an account of his visit to a synagogue
of Jews in China. He found the priests most rigorously attached to their
old law: nor had they the least knowledge of any other Jesus having
appeared in the world, except the son of Sirach, of whom, he says, their
history makes mention. If this be really the fact, their ancestors could
not have been any part of the ten tribes that were carried into
captivity, but may rather be supposed to have been among the followers
of Alexander's army, which agrees with their own account of the time
they first settled in China. They possessed a copy of the Pentateuch and
some other fragments of the Sacred Writings, which they had brought
along with them from the westward, but the missionary's information is
very imperfect, as he was ignorant of the Hebrew language[41].