The Chisos Mountains, Big Bend National Park,
view to the southwest. Emory Peak (7825') is
the highest point in the isolated mountains.
Photograph by Two Dog Woman Graphics.
About a hundred miles south and somewhat east is the Emory Peak area, part of the Big Bend, with a logical route down Terlingua Creek to the west. The Rio Grande, indeed impeded somewhat, here breaks out of the spectacular Santa Elena Canyon. Or, the explorers might have swung more to the west, ending up at the river after skirting the Chinati Mountains. (16) Along either route, a local dye plant in great abundance is the creosote bush.
The Chisos Mountains, view from Lost Mine Peak
toward Elephant Tusk. The Chisos are well known
for varied wildlife and plants, spectacular geology,
wonderful hiking and camping, and ghosts.
Photograph by Two Dog Woman Graphics.
These three sections of a route would hardly be called good evidence. Three locations, taken alone and only generally describing the landscape, would prove nothing. But the whole traverse from Wyoming to Texas—mentioning rivers, desert areas, wildlife, distances, minerals, and plants—is more convincing. And comparisons of the Chinese text with maps and field observations show that the five routes in the Shan Hai King fit more or less accurately on land in the western part of North America. (17) This would seem to be more than coincidence. At least the routes do not fit China or Western Asia, and there seems nowhere else to put them. (South America was even tried, with no success.) (18)
