860 
VOYAGE OF THE POTOMAC. 
have rested on some mountain in Great Tartary,* becoming justly 
offended at the impiety of his degenerate descendants, about two 
hundred and thirty years after the flood, separated himself from 
them ; and with a select number of adherents, travelled eastward, 
where he planted a colony which ultimately became the foundation 
of the Chinese empire. 
In the meantime, his disobedient and refractory descendants,, 
who, with those that accompanied him, comprised all the 
human race, took an opposite direction, and travelled to the 
west until they reached the banks of the Euphrates. Here a 
striking analogy is obvious between the tradition and that pas- 
sage in Genesis which says — " And the whole earth was of 
one language and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they 
journeyed /roOT the east, that they found a plain in the land of 
Shmar, and dwelt there." Here they attempted to " build a tower, 
whose top should reach to heaven," which impious enterprise 
was defeated by the miraculous confusion of tongues, which led 
to their dispersion over all the earth. 
Another argument, which has been adduced in favour of this- 
hypothesis, is derived from the fact that there is a striking resem- 
blance between the Chinese government and that which has been 
generally called the " patriarchal form," from which it is supposed 
to have originated.! 
But after all that has been conjectured and written on the sub- 
ject, the knowledge of the origin, history, and condition of this 
extensive and extraordinary empire, is still extremely imperfect 
and uncertain. It was only at a late period that the nations of 
Europe b 6C9.II1G aC quainted even with the existence of the coun- 
try ; and even, then the peculiar nature of the language, and the 
careful exclusion of foreigners by the government, prevented, and 
still in a great measure prevents, that degree of intercourse with 
* It is a curious fact, that the celebrated Swedish theologian, Swedenborg, asserts 
in his writings, that the ■" Book of Enoch," quoted by Moses, still exists in Tartary. 
This he says was a divine revelation made to the antediluvians. 
t " The Emperor of China possesses the rnost iinlimited authority, and can issue 
new laws, or abrogate old ones, as he pleases. He is tlie undisputed master of the 
lives of his subjects. To his revision every verdict is subject, and is of no force un- 
til it receives his confirmation. All his own sentences are executed without delay ; 
and all his edicts are acknowledged throughout the empire, as if they were the man- 
dates of Deity,"— JSmc.' 
