1894-95.] THREE CARRIER MYTHS. 27 



70 families, all of the same name, which were soon dispersed into several 

 cities, even in Peking^. At length, according to Strabo, who wrote in the 

 days of Pompey and Caesar, " the Jews were scattered into all the cities, 

 and it was not easy to find a spot on earth which had not received them 

 and where they were not settled." 



Speaking only of Asia, we find that in 878 of the Christian era, Hoang- 

 Tchas, the founder of a Chinese dynasty, having taken the town of 

 Kahn-Fou, which had shut its gates against him, he put to the sword 

 120,000 of its inhabitants, among whom Jews and Christians are men- 

 tioned.^ 



Describing his vast dominions, the famous and somewhat enigmatic 

 Prester John said in his letter addressed in 1165 to the emperor of Con- 

 stantinople, and regarded by some as authentic : " Beyond that river are 

 ten Jewish tribes who, although they choose their own kings, are never- 

 theless the slaves and tributaries of our Excellency^." 



The great Kublai-Khan, though a Buddhist by religion, is reported to 

 have been tolerant towards all creeds, notably that of the Jews. He said 

 that there were four great prophets, Jesus Christ, Mahomet, Moses and 

 Chakia-Mouni. His army, which was composed of troops from all the 

 countries that paid tribute to him, counted Jews and Mohammedans who 

 were numerous enough to be constantly mocking the Christians. Now 

 his empire comprehended the whole of China, Corea, Thibet, Tonquin 

 and Cochin-China, a great part of India beyond the Ganges, many islands 

 of the Indian Ocean, and the whole north of the continent of Asia from 

 the Pacific to the Dnieper, 



Lastly, Andre de Perouse wrote in 1326 that in the empire of the great 

 Khan, one of the latter's successors, there were men of all nations under 

 the sun, adding that among the Jews no conversions had been made*. 



Now, as the Biblical traditions accompanied the Jews in all their 

 migrations, and as the latter were then, as they are now, very tenacious of 

 their faith, if there were anything to be surprised at, it would be that after 

 this, people should manifest surprise at finding among the Asiatic nations, 

 and through them among the American aborigines, Biblical reminiscences 

 either in their customs or in their mythology. 



But I am drifting on to slippery ground. This is not the time to seek 



' M. d'Escayrac de Lanture, cjuotetl by La France jhiive, by Ed. Drumont, Vol. I., p. 47. 



* Christianism in China, etc., by the Abbe Hue, Vol. I., p. 85. 



'^Ibid, p. 93. 



* Wadding, Annates Minoru in. Vol. VI., p. 56. 



