Message #29592

[Bianca]

“Three hundred li farther south, Bamboo Mountain is found, bordering on a river. . . . There is no grass, or trees, but there are many green-jasper and green-jade stones. The Kih River [water impeded in its course by rocks] is found here, a stream flowing into T’su-Tan [larger water of some sort]. In this place there is a great abundance of dye plants.” (13)Appendix 1

These are the descriptions of the last sections of a land traverse by Chinese explorers covering more than a dozen points of geographical interest along a generally north to south line. The Shan Hai King records three such traverses in this section and two others in subsequent books. Although the hand of an editor is obvious, the notes sound neither whimsical nor mythical. The account is not complete (or suffered in condensation), but it does give distances between major mountains and drainage patterns and notes on plants and animals and minerals. The notes are similar to notes explorers have taken, worldwide, since writing became common.

However incomplete the account, readers two thousand years later wondered where such land might be. Enough description exists to conform distance between prominent mountain peaks, direction of river flow, and occurrence of minerals, animals, and plants.