116 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA 
and sailing thence southerly, close hauled on the wind, to the neighborhood 
of Tahiti in the South Pacific, which must then be crossed in an easterly direc- 
tion, south of the trade winds, which in turn enable them to make northing 
and reach the coast of Peru. Such a return voyage would require the most 
skillful knowledge of winds, coasts, and scientific navigation, such as we have 
only possessed in comparatively recent times, and would also require exceed- 
ingly strong and weatherly vessels. There seems, therefore, less likelihood 
that any Chinese ever reached Peru in pre-historic times by such a route. 
Intercourse appears to have existed more recently, but how far it was recip- 
rocal remains to be seen. If it was commercial it was more likely to have 
been, as reciprocity is the foundation of trade. 
In our search for objections to the theory we are exploring we however, 
find other possible channels of return communication. During the south- 
west monsoon a fleet of junks might possibly have left China and followed the 
Kuro-Shiwo, or warm stream that flows along the coast of Japan, with sum- 
mer winds across to the northwestern coast of America, near our own harbor, 
and thence gradually have worked its way southward to Central America, 
keeping along in sight of the coast until it reached the calm belt around Pan- 
ama. The Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg makes this statement: ‘‘ There was 
a constant tradition among the people who dwelt on the Pacific ocean, that 
people from distant nations beyond the Pacific formerly came to trade at the 
ports of Coatulco and Pechugui, which belonged to the kingdom of Tehuante- 
pec, in Central America. Baldwin tells us, in his ‘‘ Pre-historic Times,”’ that 
‘the traditions of Peru told of a people who came to that country by sea, 
and landed on the Pacific Coast. These may have been from the great mari- 
time empire of the Malays, whose dialects have permeated almost every island 
in the Pacific oceans. Lang says: ‘“‘ South Sea Islanders exhibit indubitable 
evidences of an Asiatic origin.”’ 
The continent of Asia affords more facilities for reaching Polynesia than 
America, although stragglers from the latter have doubtless added to its island 
races, and thus created a mixture of customs which, to some extent, may in- 
dicate a partial derivation from both. Probabilities favor Asia, both from 
certain affinities of tongue, striking resemblance in manners, idols, and phys- 
ical formation. 
Commercial intercourse, although not direct, existed and was maintained 
between China and Egypt, B. C. 2000. Chinese traditions claim for their 
people the first use in Asia, of ships and the earliest knowledge of navigation 
and astronomy. Their people first acquired the mariner’s compass and be- 
lieved the sacred magnetic influence proceeded from Heaven, which they 
located in the South, and from which they claimed to have come. To this 
day the heads of Chinese compasses point south. 
In Peru, the oldest civilization was the most advanced, and had the highest 
style of art and mechanical skill. ‘‘ Her people had an accurate measure of 
the solar year; a knowledge of the art of writing; and made paper of hemp 
or banana leaves B. ©. 1800.’? The aboriginal Peruvians have had their 
dark, as well as bright, ages in history. They may have retrograded while 
‘their possible offshoot, the Chinese, progressed. Young colonies often 
grow and prosper, while their progenitors reach a climax and die out. Dis- 
