it happened that in the second year-naming 'Great
Light,' of song, (A.D. 458,) five beggar monks, from the kingdom
Kipin, went to this land, extended over it the religion of Buddha,
and with it his holy writings and images. They instructed the
people in the principles of monastic life, and so changed their
manners.'

Such is the account of Mexico, as given by the old Buddhist monk
Hoei-schin. What is there authentically known of ancient America and its
inhabitants which confirms his account?

In the Fusang tree we have, according to the opinion of Neumann, the
_Agave Americana_ or Great American Aloe, called by the Indians Maguey,
which is remarkably abundant in the plains of 'New-Spain,' and which
supplies so many of the wants of its inhabitants even at the present
day. An intoxicating drink, paper, thread, ropes, pins, and needles,
(from the thorns,) and clothing, are all furnished by it, so that a
traveler, observing the ease with which these are obtained, declares
that in Mexico the Maguey plant must first be exterminated ere the sloth
and idleness which now so generally afflict them, can be checked. Such a
curious plant, supplying to such an extent, and so exclusively, so many
of the needs of life, would naturally be the first object noted by an
explorer.

Very remarkable is the observation that 'in this land no iron is found,
and that copper, gold, and silver, are not prized;' from which we may
infer that they were known, and probably abundant, and that they 'do not
serve as a medium of exchange in the market.' It is needless to point
out the fact that this was the case not only in ancient Mexico, but also
in Peru, and that these were probably the only countries on the face of
the earth where 'the precious metals' were held in such indifference. Be
it observed that the monk Hoei-schin says nothing of the abundance of
gold and silver; he simply remarks as a curious fact, that they were not
used as a circulating medium.

In commenting on this record, Neumann judiciously reminds the reader
that the information given by Hoei-schin and other Buddhist travelers,
goes back into a period long anterior to the most remote periods alluded
to in the wavering legends of the Aztecs, resting upon uncertain
interpretations of hieroglyphics. One thing we know, that in America as
in Europe, one wave of emigration and conquest swept after another, each
destroying in a great measure all traces of its predeces