ABSTRACT
"The Chinese notices of Fusang," says Dr Bretschneider, "are all derived from the same source, and each and all rest upon the statements of a lying Buddhist priest." Judged by such a standard, all the travels of Buddhist monks to the West must be entirely thrown out of history, Herodotus set down as the father of lies, and every one of the Old World pilgrims discredited with him. The correction will be cheerfully admitted by all who believe it possible that the Buddhist monk was in America. "Carl Neumann," says Dr Bretschneider "appears to base his hypothesis on the assumption that the tree Fusang is synonymous with the American aloe." Time will probably show whether these Buddhist monks ever existed, and whether they ever were in America— "The truth, which long in darkness lay, Will come with clearness to the day."
