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various colors-precisely similar to those used by the Chinese at that period. Their ceremonies-civil, military and religious-their music, weapons, names of their deities, food, ornaments, toys, their system of notation, and method for calculating time, their agricultural implements -even to the making of adobes-all were identical with those of China. The strange hieroglyphics found in so many places in Mexico, and from California to Canada, are all of Mongolian origin. Similar figures exist in Siberia, at Nepaul, in India, and in Thibet, which are known to have been made by the Mongolians. They were the usual signs made by that race to mark their subjugation of a country. Humboldt, many years ago, conjectured that these hieroglyphics were of Tartar origin. It is now positively known that they are.

But, by far the most interesting feature of these recent revelations about the ancient history of California and Mexico, is the strange fact that many of the Tartar invaders of these countries were Christians.

We have already shown the connection between the ancient Peruvians and Mexicans, and we must again refer to this connection to trace this fact. It is recorded by Vega, the best historian of Peru, that among the booty obtained by the Spaniards from the palace of the Incas, was a beautiful jasper, or marble cross, highly polished, three fourths of an ell in length, and three fingers in breadth, which was kept in the sacred chamber of the palace, and held in great veneration. (Vega-vol. ii: chap. 3.)

To account for this extraordinary discovery: Marco Polo says, there were many Nestorians in the service of Genghis Kahn, and it is probable that in the expedition sent to conquer Japan, a part of the troops were commanded by Nestorian officers. The mother of Kublia Kahn's brother, (the Kahns had many wives), who was uncle to Mango Capac― the first Inca of Peru-was a Christian. It is known that she had in her employ an English goldsmith of great skill, named William Bouchier, who made many of the gold and silver articles which fell into the hands of the Spaniards.

Humboldt refers to the Mexicans having some confused idea of Christianity-the origin of such ideas is here explained.

The New York Herald, in November, 1866, contains a communication from Mexico, concerning a discovery made by a person named Lyon, about three hundred miles to the north-east of Jalapa, of ruins of Christian places of worship, which had been abandoned before the conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards. Among these ruins were found a statuette of a man, with the emblems of Christianity-the cross, lamb, etc.-carefully carved.

Grixalva, who was in Yucatan in 1518, states that there were many great stone crosses in the country at that time, and that the people worshipped them. The Spaniards, under Cortez, found many such

crosses in Mexico.

In the Odd Fellows' library at San Francisco, there is an old book, published at Loraine, in 1579, which contains many strange stories about this country-then called Quivera. This curious book, written in Latin, contains the following remarkable passage, when referring to the efforts made at that time to find the straits of Anian: "The soldiers of Vasquirus Coronatus, having found no gold in Vivola, in order not to return to Mexico without gold, resolved to come to Quivera (California); for they had heard much of its gold mines, and that Tatarraxus, the powerful king of Quivera, was amply provided with riches, worshipped the Savior's cross, and the memory of the Holy Virgin."

In the museum at St. Petersburg, there is a great collection of gold, silver, copper, and stone articles, obtained from the tumuli of the ancient Moguls, in Siberia, which are identical in design, workmanship, and materials, to similar articles found under like circumstances in Peru, Mexico, and California.

The observations of the expedition to Alaska, in 1867, revealed the fact that the inhabitants of the Alutian islands are of unquestionable Mongolian or Japanese origin-thus substituting verity for conjecture as to the probable origin of the aborigines of the Pacific coast.

The curious casas grandes, or large stone houses which are known to exist near Culiacan, Mexico, and along the Gila river, the cause of so much astonishment to all Americans who had seen them, are the very counterparts of buildings erected by Mongolians in Thibet, where they remain at the present time.

The armor belonging to Montezuma, which was obtained by Cortez, and is now in the museum at Madrid, is known to be of Asiatic manufacture, and to have belonged to one of Kublai Kahn's generals.

We could furnish an almost endless number of facts to support the belief, that the Indians whom the Spaniards found in California, were of Asiatic origin; but, as our work is not published as a history, we are compelled to restrict our remarks on this point. We hope, however, that we have furnished sufficient detail to excite the interest of the reader in the subject.

The Chinese, who have become so numerous in California since the discovery of gold, bear a striking resemblance to the Indians, and are known to be able to converse with them, in their respective languages, to an extent that cannot be the result of mere coincidence of expres

sion. This also furnishes a strong confirmation of what we have stated above.

In 1857, a gentleman named Henley-a good Chincse scholar, who acted as interpreter in the courts of this State for some time—published a list of words in the Chinese and Indian languages to show that they were of the same origin. From this list we make an extract as supporting our remarks:

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Ti-yam, in the Indian language, is night. Ti-yam, in the Chinese, means the God of the moon, or night. Hee-ma, in Indian, is the Sun. Hee-ma, in Chinese, means the God of the Sun, or day. Wallae is a word commonly used among the Indians to designate a friend; it also means man. Walla, in the Hindostanee, means a man. Numbers of other words could be given, but the above are sufficient for our purpose. "Alta," the prefix which distinguishes Upper from Lower California, is a word of Mongolian origin, signifying gold.

In 1813 the British brig Forester, bound from London, England, to the Columbia River, fell in with a dismasted Japanese junk of about seven hundred tons burden, some one hundred and fifty miles off this coast, near Queen Charlotte's Island. There were three persons on board of her alive, who stated they had been eighteen months drifting about, during which time they had been in sight of the American continent, but were driven off by the winds and currents. In 1833, another Japanese junk drifted into the harbor of one of the Hawaiian Islands, having four of her crew alive, after being at sea for eleven months.

The early settlers in Oregon found the remains of a Chinese junk imbedded in the mud of the Columbia River, several miles from the coast. The Indians had a tradition about this junk-that it came "filled with strange men," many years previously, but nobody knew whence they came, or where they went.

These instances of Chinese and Japanese vessels reaching this coast so recently, is certainly a proof that they may have done so in earlier

times; as both China and Japan had larger fleets of vessels in those days than at present.

THE EARLY SETTLERS.

The advent of settlers, independent of the missions-the connecting links between the past and present civilization-furnishes material for an exceedingly romantic and interesting chapter of the early history of California.

Who would not like to know the nationality and name of the first adventurer whose eyes beheld the blue waters of San Francisco's noble bay, breaking over its sandy, crescent-shaped beach, now covered with long lines of stately structures-the seat of a commerce worldwide in extent; and of him who first, on some autumn eve, after the early rains had fallen, climbed the russet hills, and beheld the unequalled landscape that surrounds it, then so silent, now the center of so much activity? Was he some bold mariner cast away on the dreary coast, seeking food and shelter, or some wandering trapper from the western wilds, who had traversed the broad continent in search of peltries to barter for powder and lead? Unfortunately, there were no records kept of such "pathfinders," through whose enterprise and energy the world first heard of the natural wealth of California. It was they who spread abroad the stories about the beauty of scenery, fertility of soil, salubrity of climate, and abundance of game in this, then unknown country, which excited the curiosity of the bold frontiersmen of the west, and of the venturesome merchant of the north, which led to the settlement of the country by the Anglo-Saxon race.

At first, like the few plashing drops which precede the refreshing rain that falls in spring time, imparting vigor and beauty to the products of the earth, these wanderers appear on the scene. Received by the secluded missionaries as premonitions of a civilization opposed to that growing so rankly on the virgin soil, every means were used to keep their influence out of the mission folds; but, little by little, their numbers increased, until the few spattering drops became a shower, and the shower a deluge, which ultimately overwhelmed both missions and missionaries, and planted a new race, with more progressive institutions in their places.

How new the country seems, when we consider that there are men still living among us, hale and vigorous, who have stood face to face with those who first planted the standard of Christian civilization on its soil. Yet, how mature it is, when measured by its commerce, arts and manufactures, the order of its government, and refinement of its society.

To explain the causes which led the first citizens of the United States into the territory now forming the State of California, it is necessary to refer to the following events in the early history of the Pacific coast:

Vitus Bering, a Dane, was employed in the year 1728, by the Empress Catharine, of Russia, to explore the northwest coast of America and Asia, for the purpose of finding a connection between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, which was supposed to exist, but had not, at that time, been found. It was on this voyage that he discovered the straits which bear his name, and settled all doubts on that question. The skins of otters, sables, beavers, and other rare animals, which Bering collected on this coast during the voyage, and lay at the feet of the Empress on his return, were so valuable, and the abundance of the animals that produced them was represented to be so great, that the discovery excited the curiosity of the capitalists, navigators, and adventurers of Europe, and several nations established settlements on the Pacific Coast, for the purpose of collecting these valuable furs. The Russians selected the territory recently ceded by them to the United States. The Russian American Fur Company was organized in 1799, with power to hunt all over that territory. Sitka was founded in 1805, by this company. The Austrians and Danes were their neighbors for many years. The English soon followed. In 1784, a company was organized in London, called the King George's Sound Company, for the purpose of making a settlement on this coast, and trading for furs. Several ships belonging to that company arrived between 1780 and 1790. The English East India Company also sent several of their ships here between 1784 and 1790. About the year 1790, vessels from the United States began to make their appearance on the coast of the Pacific, in search of furs. As early as 1784, Thomas Jefferson, then acting as United States Minister to the Court of France, had become deeply interested in the subject, from reports of the country made by John Ledyard, a native of Connecticut, who had been on the coast with Captain Cook, the celebrated English navigator. Jefferson engaged this John Ledyard to make a journey through the Islands along Nootka Sound, for the purpose of obtaining accurate information of the country. The Russians, being made aware of Jefferson's object, had Ledyard arrested on the 24th of February, 1788, while making explorations on the borders of what is now Washington Territory.

On June 5th, 1791, the ship Columbia, from Boston, (Mass.), commanded by Captain Robert Gray, arrived on this coast, at a place called Clyoquot, near the entrance to the straits of Fuca, and traded

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