360 



Comparative History of 



AMERICAN HISTORY. 



Monde/ says, that Ambassadors, upon 

 elephants, v ere formerly sent to Mexico : 

 (this name is used for all periods of histor)', 

 and has created avowed confusion. See 

 C/av. ii. 202, and i. xxviii* ) 



In 1325 Mexico was founded, according 

 to all authors and Clavigero, vol. i. 123 : 

 this author acknowledges the impossibility 

 of reconciling the history regarding the 

 nations of Anahuac, and that he is reduced 

 to dcspairf. 



In 1324 the Mexicans first arrived at the 

 place of the city ; they advanced from the 

 gulf of California, having travelled many 

 years, but were not contented. Their army 

 had ten chiefs, named Tenuch, Ocepalan, 

 &c. They found the ground covered 

 ■with briars, like woods ; and in the water 

 there was a rock, and a bush of tunal 

 (opuntia), wherein was an eagle, and her 

 haunt was full of bones and feathers of 

 birds. Here they made themselves a 

 strong city, defended with banks and 

 ■walls, and called it Tenochtitlan, and after- 

 wards they named it Mexico. Tenuch 

 was selected as the chief of their senate. 

 They subdued and made tributary the two 

 towns of Colhuacan and Tenaincan. — 

 {Acosta in Purchas, iii, p. 106G.) 



Tenuch died in 1377, when Acamapich 

 was elected king, and Montezuma was the 

 ninth sovereign ; he died in 1520. — {^CoH' 

 quest by Mongols, eh. vii.) 



In Peru the Giants landed at Cape St. 

 Helens, from large barks; they dug wells, 

 caught fish with nets, and murdered the 

 natives. Mango and his wife appeared at 



• The elephant's bones, which have been found 

 in North and South America, are upon the places, 

 in general, about which there are traditions of 

 conflicts with giants, the description of which is 

 that of elephants ; and the skeleton of one was 

 found in a tomb in the city of Mexico, which had 

 bee* built on purpose.— Qwarlfer/y Journal of 

 Science, Jan. 1828, p. 359. Conquest of Mexico 

 and Peru by Mongols, ch. x. 



+ Clavigero's theory is, that the Mexicans are 

 from the populous North in America, aad that 

 Che skeletons of elephants are human. 



ASIATIC HISTORY. 

 Russia was tributary*. In 1272 Kublai 

 had conquered Eastern Bengal, Ava, Pegu, 

 Assam, &c. In the battle with the King 

 of Bengal there were 1000 elephants, of 

 which he captured above 200, and received 

 elephants, henceforth, as a part of the tri- 

 butes. Marco Polo relates that he had five 

 thousand. From the year 1272 he always 

 employed elephants in his wars. In 1280, 

 in a desperate conflict by land and sea near 

 Canton, the Chinese empire was wholly 

 vanquished. Kublai resolved on the con- 

 quest of Japan. An immense fleet and 

 army sailed from Kinsai and other ports in 

 1283. The Chinese history is confused 

 and uncertain as to numbers. Du Halde 

 says only three persons returned. The 

 Japanese history relates, that in 1283 the 

 Tartar general, Mookof, appeared on the 

 coast with 4000 sail and 240,000 troops ; 

 that their gods raised a storm, and destroyed 

 all this reputed invincible armada J. At 

 this period Chinese ships for sea voyages 

 had four masts, and 250 sailors §. The 

 interior is divided into numerous small 

 compartments and bulk heads, and are 

 double planked, so that in case of a leak, 

 or a blow from a whale, only one compart- 

 ment is aff"ected. The main and foresail 

 are made of mats, and fold like a screen. 

 The tackling and cables are made of ratan 

 cane, and the hards of the cocoa, called 

 Cairo; the ropes are of bamboo, and as 

 strong as hemp. 



* In 1525 the Moguls conquered Hindostan. 

 They had alarmed all Europe, and ravaged it 

 to the shores of Dalmatia. If we add their con- 

 quests in America, we may, indeed, with truth, 

 call this •' beyond all Greeh, beyond all Roman 

 fame." 



f The writer supposes the first Inca to be the 

 son of Kublai, whose brother's name was Mango, 

 or Mongko, (spelt both ways by Du Halde), and 

 the first Inca was named Manco, or Mango. It 

 is worth remarking, that the Incas dined be- 

 tween eight and nine in the morning, (Fe^a.ii. 5.) 

 and that Timur's dining liour was half after 

 ume.—{Sherefeddin, i. 355.) 



X Kaempfer, p. 187. 



§ Marco Polo sailed to the Persian gulf with 

 fourteen such ships.—.^anf^en's ^d^, likiroduc- 

 twn. 



