http://SaturnianCosmology.Org/ mirrored file For complete access to all the files of this collection see http://SaturnianCosmology.org/search.php ========================================================== September 18, 2010, 11:44 pm Gavins Fantasy Land, 1421: The Year China ... by Bill Hartz Gavin Menzies wrote 1421: The Year China Discovered America and labelled it non-fiction. It purported to be a factual rewrite of history: the true story of the previously unknown exploration of the world by the fleet of Zheng He in 1421-23. The Chinese admiral was indeed the premiere maritime figure of his era, and his exploits are impressive, well known and documented. During seven voyages, 1405 - 1433, the ships of Zheng Hes fleet visited as many as 37 countries of the South Asia Seas, Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf. Gavin now proposes they also discovered the world during the sixth trip in 1421. He contends they sailed through the Arctic Ocean and around Russia and Greenland, visited the Caribbean, the east and west coasts of North and South America, Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica and many islands in the Pacific Ocean. At least superficially the book looks as if it might be a serious history; it has the form, quite a few endnotes with source citations, a long bibliography, etc. And it has some heft, 552 pages. But alas, in our opinion its not really a history, its a poser, and belongs on the fiction list: Gavin promised gravitas and delivered only avoirdupois. We speculate Gavin had the dream first, and then went looking for evidence to prove it real, couldnt find any, so he just made it up. How did I reach that view? Mainly by slogging through the authors source citations. Gavins problem was that he had to include endnotes and source material. And if you can find the material he cites, much of it is rather obscure, the odds are you will find that the source doesnt say what Gavin claims. But then Gavin was in a pickle. If he hadnt put in source notes, no one would have taken him seriously from the beginning, no one would have believed his nonsense, he might not even have found a publisher, and few would have bought the book if it had made it into print. It seems his only hope was to misuse, manipulate and misstate some legitimate source material to support his dream, and pray few would take the time and trouble to check the source cited. And apparently thats what has happened. I have even read reviews impressed with the number of notes - clearly they hadnt taken the time to locate and read them. My comments on a few of Gavins nonsensical claims, and the source materials he abused, follow. Hoping to save some prospective researchers the effort of plowing the same field yet once more, spending time tracking down often obscure references, we have included rather long quotes in some cases. Here are some of his tricky propositions, we contend more than sufficient to illustrate Gavins method, and his willingness to misrepresent the materials in an effort to sell his story. Gavin does have a swell imagination. And then it seems his musings magically turn into facts before our very eyes. Who can disagree, here is a top spinner of yarns, in great form. But, isnt that what old sea captains are famous for? Homage to Tianfei For example, at page 81 Gavin begins a discussion of the two carved stone tablets Zheng He erected in thanks to Tianfei, the Celestial Spouse. Gavin writes, The first was in Chiang-Su, Fujian Province, and the second at Liu-Chia-Chang ... That is not correct. Gavin has them reversed. The first was erected March 14, 1431 at the Palace of the Celestial Spouse at Liu-Chia-Chiang, near the mouth of the Yangtze River, Jiangsu (Chiangsu) Province. The second was erected between 5 Dec 1431 and 3 January 1432 at Chang lo (now Changle) at the mouth of the Min River in Fujian Province. Then comes a quote from the first tablet, at the temple now known as the Jinghai Temple at Nanjing, Jiangsu Province. From the time when we, Cheng Ho [Zheng He] and his companions at the beginning of the Yung Lo Period [or Youg Le - Zhu Di, 1404], received the imperial commission as envoys to the barbarians, up until now seven voyages have taken place and each time we have commanded several tens of thousands of government soldiers and more than a hundred oceangoing vessels. Starting from Tai Tsang and taking the sea, we have by way of the countries of Chan-Cheng (Champa), Hsien-Lo (Siam), Kua-Wu (Java), Ko Chih (Cochin) and Ku-Li (Calicut) reached Hu-Lu-Mo-Ssu [Hormuz , in the Gulf] and other countries of the western regions, more than three thousand countries in all ... The quote is from J.J.L. Duyvendak, The True Dates of the Chinese Maritime Expeditions in the Early Fifteenth Century, Toung Pao, XXXIV, pp. 344-5. If you look at the cited source you will see a footnote 2 follows three thousand, and in the footnote Duyvendak has written the Chinese characters for three thousand, and for thirty, illustrating the similarities; and his comment is - Obvious copyist error for thirty. Note Duyvendak is not suggesting the stone carver made any error. Quite the opposite. It is apparent Duyvendak believes the stone was correctly carved to read 30 and someone subsequently made the error copying the stone or transcribing a written record. Unfortunately, the stone is no longer extant. It is important to know what Duyvendak actually wrote, because at page 82 Gavin makes an unfounded claim, that Duyvendak and others thought the stone mason made the error. Thats Gavins mistake, or invention. Duyvendak thought and wrote that it was a copyist error. Duyvendak includes the provenance of this first tablets language at pp. 341-2. The first inscription was published in an article, signed October 2nd 1935, by Cheng Hao-sheng on pp. 30-31 of the journal Kuo-feng Vol. VII, no 4, issued November 1st 1935. Curiously, although it is the most important article in the journal, its title does not appear in the Table of Contents. Mr. Cheng wrote that he discovered the text of this inscription, in the Wu-tu Wen-sui Hsu-chi by Chien Ku, a scholar from Chang-chou, in the Chia-ching period (1522-1566), published in the Collection of Rare Books from the Ssu-ku (Ssu-ku Chuan-shu Chen-pen). There I found the text indeed in Ch. 28, pp. 36a-38b, from which it is here published in facsimile (A). Although Gavin ends his quote with more than three thousand countries in all, the continuation contains pertinent information. ... in all, traversing more than a hundred thousand li of immense waterspaces and beholding waves (gaping like the mouths of) whales, rising up to heaven ... (Gavin claims 100,000 li equals 40,000 miles, which is more or less correct as the length of a li varied at different times and places.) At page 82 Gavin includes some of the language on the second tablet, which had been placed at the temple of the Celestial Spouse at Chang lo (now Changle), at the mouth of the Min River on the Fujian coast, by Zheng He, between 5 December 1431 and 3 January 1432. We have traversed more than 100,000 li of immense water spaces and have beheld in the ocean huge waves like mountains rising sky-high, and we have set eyes on barbarian regions far away, hidden in a blue transparency of light vapours, while our sails, loftily unfurled like clouds, day and night continues their course, rapid like that of a star, traversing those savage waves. Gavin refers to a different source for this inscription, but by the same J.J.L.Duyvendak, Chinas Discovery of Africa, Probsthain, 1949, p. 29. Its not clear just why Gavin picked this publication as it only contains parts, not the complete translation of the inscription. And, the entire translation is included in the Duyvendak source mentioned above, The True Dates ..., at pp. 349-355, as well as a photograph of a rubbing of the entire inscription. Ahem. The entire translation of the Changle tablet is also available on line at www.hist.umn.edu/hist1012/primarysource/source.htm. This was posted and is maintained by the University of Minnesota, Department of History. Take a look. As you will see, the first part of the tablet is a general review of his accomplishments, and in part Zheng He writes: ... From the third year of the Yongle (1405) till now (1431) we have seven times received the commission of ambassadors to the western ocean. The barbarian countries which we have visited are: by way of Zhancheng (Champa), Zhaowa (Java), Sanfoqi (Palembang) and Xianlo (Siam) crossing straight over to Xilanshan (Ceylon) in South India, Guli (Calicut), and Kezhi (Cochin), we have gone to the western regions Hulumosi (Hormuz), Adan (Aden), Mugudushu (Mogadishu), altogether more than thirty countries large and small. We have traversed more than one hundred thousand li of immense water spaces ... The tablet then relates the miracle wherein they were saved by the intervention and protection of the goddess Tianfei, the Celestial Consort, and explains the goddess answered their prayers for protection on many other occasions. It is not easy to enumerate completely all the cases where the goddess has answered (prayers) ... After the summary of voyages, and the homage to Tianfei, the tablet concludes with some brief comments regarding each of the six voyages completed , and the seventh yet to come. As to the sixth voyage Zheng He wrote: In the nineteenth year of Yongle (1421) commanding the fleet we conducted ambassadors from Hulumosi (Ormuz) and the other countries who had been in attendance at the capital for a long time back to their countries. The kings of all the countries prepared even more tribute than previously. What is important is what Zheng He did not write - nothing about discovering new countries, new continents, new worlds. We are confident that if his fleet had made such discoveries they would have been mentioned. Though ostensibly the tablets were erected by Zheng He to recognize the miraculous and numerous interventions by Tianfei, Levathes notes the following: In addition, however, the tablets carefully documented the achievements of each voyage, no doubt as Zheng He surely wished them to be remembered. But familiar as he was by now with the courts strong opposition to the voyages, he may have been unsure how the official chroniclers would record the expeditions. (Louise Levathes, When China Ruled the Seas, The Treasure Fleet of the Dragon Throne, 1405-1433, 1994, Oxford University Press, New York, p. 170.) The tablets make it very clear that when Zheng He mentions he traveled more than 100,000 li, he is stating his cumulative total for his career of seven voyages. Note also in the second tablet, placed at Changle, Zheng He clearly states he visited ...altogether more than thirty countries large and small... What does Gavin put in his page 82 quote regarding the second tablet? He skips the part altogether about more than thirty countries; he leaves it out. And, as you might guess, he doesnt include any of the language that specifically related to voyage number six. Contrary to what the author claims, Zheng Hes tablets make it clear nothing remarkable, nothing unexpected happened on the sixth voyage. While the available translations of the two tablets are not word for word duplicates, they are quite similar in form and content, cover the same events and mention the same countries. The following comparisons, for example, are from Toung Pao XXXIV, pp. 345-6, and 350, respectively. (Jinghai)... On arriving in the outlying countries, those among the barbarian kings who were obstructing the transforming influence (of Chinese culture) and were disrespectful we captured alive, and brigands who gave themselves over to violence and plunder we exterminated. Consequently the searoute was purified and tranquilized and the natives, owing to this, were enabled quietly to pursue their avocations. All this is due to the aid of the goddess... (Changle)... When we arrived in the distant countries we captured alive those of the native kings who were not respectful and exterminated those barbarian robbers who were engaged in piracy, so that consequently the searoute was cleansed and pacified and the natives put their trust in it. All this is due to the favors of the goddess... You might also be interested to take a look at Ma Huan, Ying-Yai Sheng-Lan, The Overall Survey of the Ocean Shores, Beijing, 1433, Translated from the Chinese Text, Edited by Feng Ch eng-Chun, with introduction, notes and appendices by J. V. G. Mill, Cambridge University Press, Published for the Haklult Society, 1970, another source cited by Gavin. (Ma Huan was an officially appointed translator and interpreter who accompanied the fleet on voyages four, six and seven, and kept a chronicle of the places visited, which was published in 1451.) In his introduction (pp. 1-66) Mills comments on the life of Zheng He, includes general comments on the expeditions, and brief specific comments on each voyage. He also provides a list naming all the places the fleet possibly visited over the seven voyages, perhaps as many as thirty-seven. He writes, The principal list is that given by the Ming shih in the biography of Cheng Ho. But we cannot be sure that he personally visited all the thirty-seven countries mentioned ... It will be noticed that the list contains no places in the Philippine islands or Borneo, and that the farthest places mentioned are Java in the south, and Hormuz, Aden, and Malindi in the west ...(pp. 19-20) Mills also includes a discussion of the Mao Kun map and identifies most of the places mentioned. He suggests it dates to about 1422. If that is a correct date, we might expect to find navigation instructions to many of the countries around the world, which Gavin posits Zheng He discovered. They arent there. The farthest west that are identified with certainty are Mogadishu, Brava, Giumbo and Malindi (Mozambique) on the east coast of Africa, near the equator. Although no place south of Mozambique is on the map, Mills does suggest they ... may have gone for another 300 miles to Sofala (20^o13'S) ...(footnote 1, p. 247) And then at page 90 Gavin writes: From the inscriptions on the carved stone erected by Zheng He in the Palace of the Celestial Spouse at Lui-Chia-Chang, I knew they had sailed forty thousand miles (100,000 li) on their sixth voyage-almost twice around the globe.! However, to repeat, as we know Zheng He claims he visited thirty some countries, total, and travelled more than 100,000 li, total, in all of his voyages. It was written in stone by the admiral himself. And this is in accord with the chronicle of Ma Huan, as well as the official Ming shih biography of Zheng He, and the sailing instructions known as the Mao Kun map. These basic source records, which are consistent in their opposition to his claims, present an insuperable problem for Gavin and his fantasy. Cape Verde Inscription At pages 102-3 Gavin writes: It was highly probable that they [Chinese] had also left a stone on one of the Cape Verde Islands, carved with inscriptions in a language they thought people from the surrounding areas would understand ... found a large, free-standing stone near the coast at Janela. The stone still stands there today ... of red sandstone, some three metres high and covered with inscriptions from top to bottom. The later carvings in medieval Portuguese, commemorating the death of a mariner, Antonio de Fez, but underneath them I could see more calligraphy ... Lichen was removed so the author could see the inscriptions better, photos were taken and sent to experts at the Forrest of Steles in Xian, China. They couldnt identify the language. The author then faxed a copy of his picture to The Bank of India, and they advised it was Malayalam. This was wonderful news for the author, so elated, ... I punched the air in my excitement. Excited because he knew it must be another piece of the evidence puzzle needed to support his grand theory. Malayalam was/is the language of the state of Kerala, on the southwest coast of India, which included the town of Calicut, the busiest port, which we know the Chinese routinely visited on their many voyages. Does this make any sense at all, the Chinese would erect a stele on Cape Verde and carve the inscription in Malayalam? Who would it read? What would it say? Attention all you folks from Kerala, if you ever reach here, we were here first. Or just maybe mariners from Kerala did call at Janela, Cape Verde, and they carved the stele in their own language. Thats the simplest, most straight forward explanation - Occams Razor, the Law of Parsimony, etc. However, that possibility is not even considered since the stele could not then be a piece of evidence which Gavin desperately needs. Congo At the bottom of Livingston Falls, near Matadi, The Congo, Gavin congers up another identical stone with the same sort of inscription, the same concentric designs, which he again attributes to the Chinese, evidence they sailed 83 miles up the Congo River (page 105). How many made that visit - two, fourteen, all of those monster size junks? That might have been a bit crowded. Would they have even considered sailing 83 miles up an unknown river channel? Those square rigged sail boats did much better running before the wind. For comments on their rigging and sailing characteristics see Menzies, 1421 The Year... They sailed before the wind and the junk handled beautifully. But magnificent though these ships were, they had been designed to operate primarily between China and Africa, sailing before the monsoon winds ... for all practical purposes were constructed to sail before the wind - a severe limitation when outside the monsoon belt of the Indian Ocean and South China Sea (p. 64) ... The Chinese were sailing before the wind and current all the way (p. 106) ... Because of the shape of the Chinese junks, they would have had to sail before the wind (p. 109) ... But as his fleet entered the Pacific, the square-rigged junks would have met the cold Humbolt current and been swept northwards (p. 161). Apparently Gavin forgot what he had written elsewhere, when he sent those mighty junks 83 miles up and down the Congo River. And here we have an example of another facet of Gavins style: only mention the interesting finds, but hide the tangible evidence from the reader. These stones are important pieces in his evidence trail and he refuses to share with the reader the same pictures he sent to the experts at the Forrest of Steles in Zian, and to The Bank of India. And he refuses to share the translation of the Malayalam inscription with the reader. We have no doubt he would have, had it supported his fantasy. And perhaps those thirty million present day speakers of Malayalam on the southwest coast of India would also be interested to learn of his amazing find. North Island, New Zealand Inscription At page 173 Gavin writes: ... On the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand...near the mouth of the Torei Palma River at Whaingaroa...a huge stone carved in what local experts say is Tamil calligraphy stands at the point where the river empties into a little harbor. In shape, size and location this stone corresponds with those set up by the Chinese mariners in the Yangtze estuary, at Dondra Head, at Cochin on the Malabar coast of India, at Janela in the Cape Verde Islands and by the Matadi Falls in the Congo delta. In addition to the calligraphy, the Ruapuke stone has the same patterns of concentric circles as the stone at Janela ... Gavin accepts the local experts advice that the calligraphy is Tamil. And, with a straight face insists again the Chinese armada of 1421 carved it and placed it there. And, what did this one say? That might be interesting. I guess Gavin thought the inscription wasnt very important. It probably just translated something like - Hello, all you folks from Tamilnadu. If you ever reach here, we were here first. Inscriptions in Brazil More carved stones are presented at page 173. I had already found a number of carved stones at sites visited by the Chinese fleets, so my next step was an obvious one. Sure enough, a search on the internet soon revealed several more on the route from the Cape Verde Islands down to Patagonia, at Santa Catarina, Coral Island, Campeche and Arrorado (sic) Island on the east coast of South America...each is also sited beside a watering place and overlooks the sea, and the concentric circles inscribed on them match those at Ruapuke. Gavin doesnt include any pictures of his evidence, but you may inspect these carved stones. Just go to www.bradshawfoundation.com, scroll down and click on Campeche Island. In addition to Campeche you will find pictures of the geometric petroglyphs at Arvorado, Coral, Little Sister and Santa Catarina Islands, Santa Catarina State, Brazil. Carbon dating of middens (refuse mounds) at Santa Catarina shows people living in the area for about 5,000 years. The petroglyphs have not been dated. However, note there are over 130 on Campeche alone. And you can see the rocks show a variety of styles, designs and patterns that likely represent the output of a number of local prehistoric artists over many years. The technique is primitive and doesn't reflect the level of skill attained by Chinese stone carvers in 1421. None of these were done by Gavin's fantasy fleet. This is just more of his never ending nonsense. Hong Kong inscriptions And then at page 175 Gavin finds even more carved stones, more alleged evidence of Chinese presence. The proof would be all the more conclusive if I could find similar carved stones in China. Another long search produced three more, at Wong Chuk Ha, Cheung Chau and Po Ti in Hong Kong. Again, these stones had similar markings to the ones I had already found. I now believed that the concentric circles were a 'signature' agreed upon before the armada set sail, denoting where each fleet had landed and watered ... Again Gavin refuses to provide pictures of his evidence. But again, you may conger up pictures of the stones yourself. They are available at the web site of an official Hong Kong government agency, the Antiquities and Monuments Office, responsible for archaeology, historical buildings, and education and publicity: Again Gavin refuses to provide pictures of his evidence. But again, you may conger up pictures of the stones yourself. They are available at the web site of an official Hong Kong government agency, the Antiquities and Monuments Office, responsible for archaeology, historical buildings, and education and publicity www.amo.gov.hk/en/about.php. This address will get you to a Declared Monuments List for outlying islands which includes two of the sites Gavin mentions, Cheung Chau and Po Toi. Wong Chuk Ha is on the Hong Kong Island page. (Po Toi was the site of the denouement in The Honorable Schoolboy.) There are several other carved rock sites. Be sure to also take a peek at Shek Pik, on the same page as the first two mentioned - Gavin neglected to mention this one. It includes the following note: Most of the ancient rock carvings in the territory overlook the sea, but this one is about 300m from the coastline. However, it is believed that in the past, the sea inlet might have extended up to this point. The design shows geometric patterns composed of spiral squares and circles which closely resemble those on Bronze Age artefacts. It is thus quite safe to deduce that they were carved by early inhabitants of this area in the local Bronze Age some 3000 years ago. These stones the author has proffered as evidence date not to 1421 AD, when Gavin posits the Chinese were planting them all over the landscape - Cape Verde Islands, The Congo, Hong Kong, New Zealand, the east coast of South America - but, to 1000 BC, more or less, during the Bronze Age. And we speculate thats the reason pictures were not provided by Gavin: it would have then been too easy to identify his claimed evidence as bronze age artifacts, and thus not helpful at all, as he is only interested in proving a Chinese visit in 1421 AD. It seems Gavin is willing to hide and misrepresent his evidence to accomplish that goal. Check it out for yourself: look at pictures of the carvings and read the notes. They are available on the internet. Piri Reis Map At page 114 Gavin introduces the Piri Reis map of 1513 stating: ... I had found an inscription on the southern part of the Piri Reis map stating: It is related by the Portuguese Infidel [Columbus] that in this place, night and day are, at their shortest period, of two hours duration, and at their longest phase of 22 hours.'^2 For the winter daylight to have lasted only two hours, the man who originally drew the chart and made that note must have been in the deep southern tip at a latitude of about 60^o s(outh), well to the south of the southern tip of Tierra del Fuego. The map also shows what appears to be ice connecting the tip of South America to Antarctica ... The Piri Reis map is available on line, it may be downloaded from www.prep.mcneese.edu/engr/engr321/preis/afet/afet0.htm Gavins note ^2 refers to G.C. McIntosh, The Piri Reis Map of 1513 (Athens, Georgia, University of Georgia Press, 2000): p.46. If you check McIntosh, page 46, you will find the translation of note VII, which does mention short days and long nights. But somehow the author happened to overlook and leave out part of the translation. The complete quote is: It is related by the Portuguese infidel that in this place night and day are, at their shortest period, of two hours duration, and at their longest phase, of twenty-two hours. The day is very warm and in the night there is much dew. Note VIII refers to a good anchorage yet further south, theoretically closer to Antarctica and colder, and in part states, ... They saw people walking, all of them naked. But they shot arrows, their tips made of fishbone. They stayed there eight days. They traded with the people by signs. That bark [boat] saw these lands and wrote about them which [illegible]. The said bark, without going to Hinde, returned to Portugal and gave the news. They send eight caravels. They described these coasts in detail and from these it is copied. Note IX relates, And in this country it seems that there are white-haired monsters in this shape and also six-horned oxen. The Portuguese infidels have written it in their maps ... McIntosh writes, page 48, ... This inscription is next to the image of a quadruped with six horns ... You can see it clearly on the Piri Reis. In between inscriptions IX and X, next to some islands, is written, These islands are not inhabited, but spices are plentiful. Note X states, This country is a waste. Everything is in ruin and it is said that large snakes are found here. For this reason the Portuguese infidels did not land on these shores and these shores are also said to be very hot. This inscription is next to the image of a snake. So Gavin uses part of Note VII to launch a riff on how the Piri Reis shows Antarctica. However, the complete note and four following clearly contradict this hypothesis since it was warm and getting warmer. As the notes progress southward on the map the people went around naked, spices were plentiful and then, there were lots of snakes, which dont do well in the cold. This doesnt support the drift ice and freezing Antarctica claim Gavin congers up from his fertile imagination. McIntosh has a chapter, The Southern Continent, pp. 48-68, devoted to this misunderstood coastline, which concludes, ... As with many depictions on fifteenth and sixteenth-century maps, such as cities, peoples, animals, rivers, mountains, or geography, a coastline does not necessarily guarantee reality. And Coughi (below) suggests it is not Antarctica across the bottom of the map, but Argentina. At page 116 Gavin names the first of five creatures depicted on the map. You can see these clearly, just to the right of note V. He first identifies one of them as a, ... deer with prominent horns ... clearly a huemil, an Andean deer, with the head and antlers accurately depicted ... The truth is this is a drawing of a well known mythical creature, a yale. A drawing is available at www.eaudrey.com/myth/yale.htm. In the characterization drawn on the Piri Reis this is the one with the antlers which look like a very early model table top TV antenna. According to the web site,... the horns can move at will, to face different directions ... Just like those ancient TV antennas. For more see Wilma George, The Yale, Journal of the Warburg and Courtland Institutes 31 (1968): 425. Second, Gavin mentions the creature just above the yale, but he incorrectly claims it is: ... a guanaco. Guanacos are members of the camel family. They have curious, floppy ears which are bent forwards when they are excited or anxious. Andean people decorate guanacos ears with red tassels in the same way we would plait a horses mane. From a side view, the bent ears resemble forward-pointing horns. Clearly, the cartographer who copied the original chart mistook the bent ears for horns ... Another charming riff that sounds informed and authoritative, but in truth is just a lot of nonsense. The cartographer drew exactly what he intended, a bonnacon, another mythical creature. If you look closely you can see what looks like two tails. One of them may not be a tail. See www.eaudrey.com/myth/bonnacon.htm, and also read the description and notes. An asian animal, like a bison, that emits noxious vapors from its rear if attacked. These vapors can cover 3 acres, and will burn trees in its path ... has curled horns that cannot hurt anyone. Also if you look carefully at the creature on the map it has ears in addition to at least one curled horn on top of its head. This is obviously not a guanaco. Guanacos have no horns. Pictures of the guanaco are available on the net. You will see the guanaco has longer legs and a longer neck than any of these mythical monsters and no horns. The third monster, he claims, is a mountain lion. That must be the skinny little guy with the long neck and curly tail to the south. McIntosh, op.cit., page 43, includes a translation of the nearby inscription, They call this beast Sami, but offers no further identification. We speculate it is another mythical creature, but cant identify it. The fourth creature is the naked, bearded man. Gavin takes another wrong turn and explains: At first glance he appears to have his head in the middle of his body, but on closer examination it seems perfectly possible that he had been drawn in a crouching position, allowing his thick beard to cover his genitals. I surmised the Turkish cartographer who copied the captured Portuguese chart onto the Piri Reis was almost certainly a Muslim. Muslims are very conservative about exposing their bodies; if the cartographer had indeed been of that faith, he would not have been comfortable depicting naked men. The truth is the little fellow isnt crouching down to cover his privates with his beard. He just doesnt have a head. He doesnt have a neck either. His face is on his chest. Hes another one of those mythical characters, a blemyae. If you go to http://xoomer.virgilio.it/dicuoghi/Piri_Reis/PiriReis_eng.htm there is a picture on the first page, of a blemyae, a skiapod (one leg with a big foot) and a one-eyed giant. This site contains as well a discussion of the Piri Reis map. The writer, Diego Cuoghi, gives his reasons for suggesting that the coastline of at least present day Argentina was twisted to the right about 90^o to fit it on the piece of deer skin available to the cartographer. Thats not Antarctica across the bottom of the map, but Argentina. You might also be amused to read Baudolino by Umberto Eco (Harcourt, 2000). Many mythical creatures and events are introduced by Eco, including the skiapod, with one leg and an extra large foot, satyrs, the roc - an enormous black bird, and Prester John. In fact, I think I can see Prester John on the Piri Reis, just above the ostrich, in Africa, one of the places he was thought to reside, though never found, anywhere. Eco describes the blemyae at pp. 365-6: ... The creature, with very broad shoulders, was hence very squat, but with slim waist, two legs, short and hairy, and no head, or even a neck. On his chest, where most men have nipples, there were two almond-shaped eyes, darting, and, beneath a slight swelling with two nostrils, a kind of circular hole, very ductile, so that when he spoke he made it assume various shapes, according to the sounds it was emitting ... The fifth creature, Gavin correctly surmises, is the well-known, but mythical, dog-headed man, the cynocephali. These were favored by cartographers to decorate maps. You can see two other dog headed creatures on the map, a little north west of the sitting cynocephali, dancing hand in hand. But, then the author sails off the chart again and decides, again, the cartographer didnt know what he was doing, that the dog-headed man was really a mylodon. Gavin quotes the Piri Reis at page 116, These beasts attain a length of seven spans ... Between their eyes there is a distance of one span [the distance between the outspread tips of the thumb and the little finger]. Yet it is said they are harmless souls. The author claims this is one of two inscriptions describing the cynocephali. Not true. Hes pulling your leg. That inscription is right on top of the blemyae. He could wear it as a hat, if he had a head. If a span is approximately nine inches, then their height is about 53, which includes a large chest face, and one span, nine inches, between the eyes seems just right. Mylodons Armed with this information Gavin calls several museums, with a query, Im looking for a monster twice the size of a human, and he learns of the mylodon. But why ask for a creature twice the size when his selected evidence suggests it was no larger than a human? Because he needs a larger creature to fit a legend that appears later on in his book, in New Zealand. He called four museums before he found a stuffed mylodon. His riff on the mylodon goes on for pages, even suggesting: ... in recent years, well preserved pieces of this creature, apparently butchered by the local people, have been found in a cave, leading to the speculation that it may still exist in the wilds of Patagonia (p. 120). You may check it out. See the article at www.unmuseum.org/sloth.htm. Remember the author wrote, in recent years. Truth is the remains found in Eberhardts cave in 1895 have since been carbon dated. Dung found in the cave was more than 10,000 years old. The skin was estimated to be 5,000 years old. Conditions in the caves may have preserved it making it look fresh to the eye and fooling Ameglino. No additional evidence has turned up that the giant sloth survives today ... Why would the author even include such transparent nonsense, resurrecting an extinct mylodon? We suggest Gavin doesnt have any real evidence and hes desperate. Hes setting up his evidence for a Chinese visit to New Zealand later, where a pair of the these long extinct animals allegedly escape from the Chinese, and later on, he maintains, were the basis for a local legend. So therefore the Chinese must have picked up the mylodons first, as they passed by South America, so they could escape later in New Zealand. See the following at page 172: The Chinese would have had to claw their way back against the current; as they did so, at least two of the great treasure ships were lost. The wreck of an old wooden ship was found two centuries ago at Dusky Sound in Fjordland at the south-west tip of New Zealands South Island. It was said to be very old and of Chinese build and to have been there before Cook, according to the local people.^10... The source cited in endnote ^10 is Robyn Gossett, New Zealand Mysteries, Auckland, 1996, p. 31. In this country this book is a rare item, but I eventually was able to track it down. Gossett explains it was not local people but the Maori who were keeper of the legend. Gossett devoted three pages to her detailed exploration of the legend, which included access to the log of Captain Robert Murry (sic), who had been fourth officer on the ship. The wreck was not a Chinese at all, rather, an English ship, the Endeavour, that went down in 1795. By the time the ship reached Dusky Sound the Endeavour was in a bad way, and after a thorough inspection the officers and crew came to the only possible conclusion: the Endeavour would have to be abandoned ... So the old Endeavour remained. Not worth salvaging, she became a sort of spare-parts store, name unknown, just another wreck until imagination and rumor made her one of the mystery ships of the New Zealand coast. So when Gavin suggests it was an old Chinese wreck, hes just pulling your leg. He knows better, since he obviously read Gossett, he quoted her [in part], and cited her. Also at page 172 see the following: A Sydney packet visited Dusky Sound in 1831 and two sailors from the crew saw a strange animal perching at the edge of the bush and nibbling the foliage. It stood on its hind legs, the lower part of its body curving to a thick pointed tail and when they took note of the height it reached against the trees allowing a metre and a half for the tail, they estimated it stood nearly nine metres in height. The men were windward of the animal and were able to watch it feeding for some time before it spotted them. They watched it pull down a heavy branch with comparative ease, turn it over and tilt it up to reach the leaves it wanted'^11... The animal described corresponds in size, posture and eating habits with the mylodons the Chinese could have taken aboard in Patagonia ... And you may ask, whats wrong with a kangaroo for this leaf eating assignment - perhaps one was visiting for the weekend from Australia. But, that misses the point. Since it was the Chinese who discovered South America, it is only they who could have brought a mylodon, since we have been informed by Gavin they picked up a pair in Patagonia en passant. Or, is Gavin once more fiddling with his source material. Gavins endnote ^11 refers to three sources. First is Rex Gilroy, Pyramids in the Pacific, Gympie, Australia 1999, no page number provided! I couldnt find a trace of this obscure publication. However, we speculate the subject matter is the same as source two, Brett J. Green (an Edgar Cayce devotee), The Gympie Pyramid Story, Gympie, Australia, 2000, again no page number. I read this tract from cover to cover and there was no mention of the nine meter tall mylodons, not even any nine feet tall. Regarding the Gympie Pyramid contretemps, we credit Green with including a couple of pages on the skeptics view, including their conclusions that, ... the Gympie Golden pyramid is actually an ordinary hill terraced by early Italian immigrants for viniculture that had been disfigured by erosion and the ... removal of stone from the retaining walls for use elsewhere. At the end, all we are left with is a terraced hill, some interesting artefacts, a number of wildly different ungrounded speculations ...(p. 82) Source three is Robyn Gossett, op. cit., p. 148. Gossett debunks a lot of weird New Zealand legends. See above where Gavin writes, A Sydney packet visited Dusky sound in 1831 and two sailors from the crew saw a strange animal ... Just preceding that Gossett writes: Even more bizarre was a story, also reported to the Collector of Customs in Sydney when the Sydney Packet returned home in 1831. One of the ships gangs which had been stationed in Dusky Sound told of the discovery of an enormous animal of the kangaroo species. And continuing the quote above by Gavin, Gossett wrote: When it finally saw them, the animal stood watching the men for a short time, then made one almighty leap from the edge of the bush towards the waters edge. There it landed on all fours but immediately stood erect before making another great leap into the water. The men were able to measure the first jump and found it had covered twenty yards. They watched the animal plough its way down the Sound at tremendous speed, its wake extending from one side of the Sound to the other ... Here again one is tempted to think the rum was talking, and for an Australian going away from home for months on end, what other animal would stir the imagination but a kangaroo?... So Gavin was indeed diddling his source material again. The mysterious animal was named a kangaroo and jumped like a kangaroo in Gavins source, but he just left that part out since it wasnt congruent with his mylodons across the ocean fable. The author is a marvelous magician. In addition to transforming a number of well known mythical creatures into present day fauna; and a blemyae into an embarrassed Muslim; he changed a mythical, dog-headed man into a nine foot tall, long extinct mylodon and transported a pair of them, in 1421, from Argentina to New Zealand, where at least one issue grew to nine meters by the time he claims it was last observed in 1831. Should the writer of such amazing nonsense be taken seriously by anyone? Waldseemuller Map At page 200 Gavin introduces the Waldseemuller map as evidence the Chinese fleet visited the Pacific coast of North America first. His reasoning goes like this: The Waldseemuller map was produced in 1507; and according to Gavin, shows west coast geographic/topographic features which could not have been provided by any European explorer since Hernando de Alarcon was the first, and he didnt arrive until 1540; thus, Waldseemuller must have copied the west coast information from a map earlier than de Alarcon; therefore, the source must have been a chart derived from the Chinese fleet, sailing around the world in 1421. At page 200 Gavin writes: The globe and wall maps made in 1507 and 1516 are the first ever to call the continent America. The map, Carta Marear - A Portuguese Navigational Seachart of the Known Earth and Oceans, was the first and only printed version of the world charts previously known only to Spanish and Portuguese explorers and their patrons^2... That is not correct. Only the 1507 map showed the continent as America, not the 1516 version. By 1516 Waldseemuller was apparently no longer as keen about giving Vespucci so much credit. The endnote ^2 refers to Peter Whitfield, Newfound Lands: Maps in the History of Exploration, British Library, 1998, pp. 54-5. If you look at those pages you will find nothing about Carta Marear, nor any of the quote; nothing about the Waldseemuller map at all. At page 62 Whitfield introduces Vespucci, and Waldseemuller at page 64. I searched this section and more, in vain, for the language reported by Gavin. Its not there. We suspect Gavin mixed up his source material and cited the wrong one. Columbus believed until he died that he had discovered the West Indies, or at least he took that position publicly and with his patrons. After all, thats what they were paying him to find. Amerigo Vespucci with his pamphlet Mundus Novus (The New World) convinced many geographers, including Waldseemuller, that the previous discoveries to the west were not the West Indies, nor part of eastern Asia, nor just islands, but a separate continent. That shift in thinking required adjustments by the geographers. A new continent required a coast on the west side separated from Asia by an ocean. And that is what Waldseemuller believed, and what he drew - a conjecture, a hypothetical Pacific coast, due to his new set of beliefs, based on Mundus Novus; as yet not proven by anyones sighting of that west coast. And that is why it is labeled unknown land and doesnt contain any detail, in contrast to the east coast. Gavin has provided a picture of the Waldseemuller map in the third group of photos. It makes a nice two-page, color display. However, it is so small that any detail is difficult to see. Ahem. Fortunately, the map is now available on the internet. You may go to the Library of Congress site at www.loc.gov/exhibits/lewisandclark/images/ree0001.jpg, and there you will find a large size file of the map. You may download the charts and print out enlargements of the three parts which show the details of the Pacific coasts of North and South America. On the lower part of South America, below the bird, and touching the Tropic of Capricorn you will see America, the first such usage, and Waldseemullers homage to Amerigo Vespucci. You will also notice geographic detail and many place names on the east coast, in contrast to none on the west coast. Waldseemuller wrote a short book to accompany the 1507 map. Its complete title is Introduction to Cosmography With Certain Necessary Principles of Geometery and Astronomy to which are added THE FOUR VOYAGES OF AMERIGO VESPUCCI A Representation of the Entire World, both in the Solid and Projected on the Plane, Included also lands which were Unknown to Ptolemy, and have been Recently Discovered. Now, these parts of the earth have been more extensively explored and a fourth part has been discovered by Amerigo Vespucci (as will be set forth in what follows). Inasmuch as both Europe and Asia received their names from women, I see no reason why any one should justly object to calling this part Amerige, i.e., the land of Amerigo, or America, after Amerigo, its discoverer, a man of great ability. Its position and the customs of its inhabitants may be clearly understood from the four voyages of Amerigo, which are subjoined. (Cosmographiae Introductio by Martin Waldseemuller and the English translation of Joseph Fischer and Franz von Wieser [Ann Arbor, 1996, University Microfilms, Inc., A Subsidiary of Xerox Corporation, reprinted from U. S. Catholic Historical Society, Monograph IV, by permission of the society]: p. 70.) Also in the lower left hand corner of the Waldseemuller map is a box which contains the following text, further recognition of Vespuccis travels, and his influence on Waldseemuller. A general delineation of the various lands and islands, including some of which the ancients make no mention, discovered lately between 1497 and 1504 in four voyages over the seas, two by Fernando of Castile, and two by Manuel of Portugal, most serene monarchs, with Amerigo Vespucci as one of the navigators and officers of the fleet; and especially a delineation of many places hitherto unknown. All this we have carefully drawn on the map, to furnish true and precise geographical knowledge. Still at page 200 Gavin continues: ... The west coast of North America from modern Canada to the equator is drawn boldly and clearly on the map ... (p 201) The Pacific coast of America is strikingly drawn on the Waldseemuller chart and the latitudes correspond to those of Vancouver Island in Canada right down to Ecuador in the south ... Oregon is clearly identifiable ... (p 414) The Waldseemuller map clearly depicts the island [Vancouver Island]. Take another look at those nice large copies of the map you printed out, see if you can recognize any of those landmarks - Vancouver Island, Oregon, Ecuador. These are the landmarks that Gavin claims Waldseemuller copied from hypothetical, unnamed Chinese source maps. Nothing there, right? Gavin must have thought you wouldnt take the time to look, that you would have been carried along on the tide of his reassuring, confident, boldly written words. The fact is Vancouver Island, Canada, Oregon, Ecuador, none of it is discernible on the Waldseemuller map. Gavin is pulling your leg. The fact is Waldseemuller didnt draw it for us to see. He didnt draw any place on the west side of North and South America. He didnt have any data on that coast, from the Chinese, nor from anyone else, and what he drew was a nondescript, generic line, and marked it, both North and South, TERRA ULTRA INCOGNITO - unknown land. In spite of Waldseemullers explicit disclaimer, Gavin continues to see features in the map that are not there. Gavin doesnt have any special issue, top secret, submarine captains glasses, nor any unique expertise or training that permits him to see what you and I cant. What he seems to have in abundance is chutzpah. At page 208 he writes: After emerging from the bay [San Francisco], Zhou Mans fleet would have been carried southwards by the wind and current to New Mexico ... New Mexico! I wonder who signed off on the proof sheets. Evidently, no one. The Waldseemuller map shows the coast with reasonable accuracy, charted just as one would expect from a ship passing by, but there is a gap in the latitude of the Gulf of Tehuantepec in Guatemala ... The same mister nobody must have signed off on, ... the Gulf of Tehuantepec in Guatemala. Someone should notify the Government of Mexico that their gulf has been expropriated. At page 209 Gavin recognizes on the map 300 miles of coastline between Manzanillo and Acapulco, ... clearly shown on the Waldseemuller map. Do you see it? Of course not. Does anyone? No. How about Gavin, does he see it? No, he doesnt see anything either, hes just pulling your leg again, making up more of his overwhelming evidence. Oregon Junk Gavin writes at page 201, ... Oregon is clearly identifiable, and several very old wrecks have been discovered there on the beach at Neahkahnie. One was of teak with a pulley for hoisting sails made of caeophyllum, a wood unique to south-east Asia. The wood has yet to be carbon dated, but if it proves to be from the early fifteenth century it will provide strong circumstantial evidence that one of Zhou Mans junks was wrecked in Neahkahnie Bay. Some examiners of the wreckage there claim to have found paraffin wax, which was used by Zheng Hes fleet to desalinate sea-water for the horses. Even without finds from wrecked junks ... When I read this I was intrigued. The site is only about sixty miles south of me. I called, made an appointment, drove down and spoke with Wayne Jensen, the curator of the Tillamook County Pioneer Museum. There are artifacts from two shipwrecks, beeswax from one and a pulley from the other. Mr. Jensen remembered having received a call from Gavin in 2002, and in addition they exchanged e-mail. Wayne told Gavin the pulley had already been carbon dated (in 1993) to 1595. Various pieces of the beeswax dated from 1500 to 1650. Oregon was not on the intended route of the Spanish trade galleons that travelled between the Philippines and Acapulco during the period 1565 - 1815, but storms and error sometimes forced them off their chosen path. Thirty three galleons were lost over the years. There is a National Geographic article (Track of the Manila Galleons, Sept 1990, pp. 1-41) that includes a two-page illustration (Route of the Treasure Fleet, pp. 12-13) showing the path of choice led from Manila to Cape Mendocino on the west coast of North America and then south along the coast to Acapulco. (p.35)... First landfall, which seemed like a dream after so many months at sea, was often Cape Mendocino in northern California. Skirting the foggy, rockbound cape, the galleon pilots sighted Point Reyes, from which they steered offshore again to avoid the Farallons, passing Point Pinos at the south end of Monterey Bay. They traversed the Santa Barbara Channel and the Channel Islands, sailed along Baja California to Cape Corrientes and on south to their destination at Acapulco. In this homestretch, people weakened by disease began to die in large numbers. In one 17th-century galleon three or four deaths a day occurred after the seņas. Then, as the rhythm of mortality increased, 92 died in 15 days. When they at last arrived at Acapulco, only 192 of the 400 who had embarked in Cavite remained alive; many of them were woefully weak. But there were worse tales ... Mr. Jensen is confident the pulley is from one of these Spanish trade galleons and the missing San Augustin is his choice for the assignment. In 1895 the remains of a wreck at Nehalem spit were exposed, men were down in the hull digging out beeswax and found the pulley. They had been scavenging and taking off boards for years. One fellow used the wood to make canes which he sold to finance his treasure hunt on Neahkahnie Mountain, and one of those canes is on display at the Tillamook County Pioneer Museum. Subsequent wave and surf action covered the remains until they briefly "came to light" again in 1929. A great deal of beeswax has been recovered from the nearby coast over many years, large and small chunks, and boxes of candles. A pollen study done by the University of Oregon revealed the source of the beeswax, northern Luzon in the Philippines, where there is a certain variety of holly the bees visited for pollen. Large chunks of the beeswax, one with 1679 carved in it, and candles are on permanent display at the Museum. In his book Gavin lists no footnotes keyed to his statements made on page 201. At page 520, under the heading Select Bibliography , he lists a number of publications, including Anon., Tales of the Neahkahnie Treasure, prepared by the Nehalem Valley Historical Society Treasure Committee, 1991, published by the Tillamook County Pioneer Museum. Tales includes summaries and statements by several of the other sources on Gavins Select Biography: Sam J. Cotton, Ruby El Hult and Don M. Vines; and also The Lost English Claim to the Northwest, by Wayne Jensen. An article titled The Beeswax Ship And The Treasure Ship includes the following (pp. 5-6): ... Ships leaving Manila caught the tradewinds by sailing north out of the Philippines on a northerly course between Japan and the Marianas, then easterly along a sliding route of 31 to 44 degrees latitude. But capricious tradewinds and storms often forced vessels off their charted courses ... Spanish archives list thirty-three vessels as having been lost on these crossings. Ten of those ships were listed as missing at unknown locations. Evidence of shipwrecks abound on the Oregon Coast. In 1929 a wreck on Nehalem spit came to light and excited the attention of the British Vice-Consul at Astoria, E.M.Cherry. The cost of excavating was beyond the means of any interested parties and soon the sands reclaimed what they had briefly revealed ... There are several possibilities for the beeswax shipwreck believed to be the remains of a lost Manila galleon; The San Juanillo, lost in 1576 and the San Juan lost in 1586. The San Antonio, last seen in 1603 and never heard from again, lies in an unknown location which could be in Oregon waters. The San Francisco Xavier, which sailed in 1705, was known to carry beeswax and to be making for landfall on the North American coast. The San Jose, sailing from San Blas, June 16, 1769, is believed by many historians to lie at the foot of Neahkahnie Mountain ... Most of the sources listed by Gavin are devoted to the theory that Sir Francis Drake was in the area in 1579, surveying and claiming the territory for England. This may well be true. However, it has no bearing on the authors claim the Chinese left a wrecked junk there in 1421. Sometimes Gavins writing is awkward and confusing. For example, although The wood has yet to be carbon dated follows directly after and seems to relate to sails made of caeophyllum (sic), a wood unique to south-east Asia., that could not be correct since no calophyllum has ever been found there. What he must be referring to is the pulley block, even though, as noted above, that has been carbon dated to 1595, and is not of calophyllum. Also note, Gavin calls the beeswax, in error, paraffin wax, and suggests it was, ...used by Zheng He to desalinate sea-water for the horses. Regarding the beeswax, at page 5 of Tales you will find: ... A long-dead bee found in one piece, plus the correct melting temperature of the substance, proved that it was beeswax and not the mineral wax ozokerite, as some had claimed. Small pieces of wax are still occasionally found. About 10 tons of wax has been uncovered, from False Tillamook Head (Cape Falcon) on the north to Cape Mears on the south. The U.S.Geological Survey says it is beeswax. Also see James A. Gibbs, Jr., Shipwrecks of the Pacific Coast (Binfords & Mort, Publishers, Portland, Oregon): 109-110: Some scientists in examining the substance, expressed doubt that it was actually beeswax. They insisted upon its being a product formed by nature known as ozokerite. These contrary theories, however, were quelled after Dr. Diller, one of the ablest field geologists of the United States Geological Survey, came to examine the Nehalem wax fields. His findings were that the wax was found in no other area and that a few generations earlier the tide had reached the place then occupied by the wax. He further stated the substance was not derived from the adjacent land, chemical tests showing it to be beeswax and not ozokerite. Though only a few brief sentences, Gavins treatment of the fantasy junk at the Oregon coast fits the pattern. He lists source materials that have nothing to do with the issue at hand, and the ones that do pertain to the issue but dont support his dream, he ignores. And he writes as if he is just waiting for the lab to confirm the finding of some real Chinese evidence that dates to 1421. But thats not possible. As Gavin well knows, the lab work has long since been done, the report available since 1993, and it does not fit his time frame. The Oregon junk never was. Sacramento Junk At page 203 Gavin writes: ... drawing my attention to the wreck of a medieval Chinese junk buried under a sandbank in the Sacramento River off the north-east corner of San Francisco Bay. My first reaction was to discount the reports - the site was more than a hundred miles from open sea and the discovery seemed too good to be true ... As soon as I had carried out some preliminary research, I discovered that the prevailing north-easterly winds on this coast could have blown a junk straight across the bay and into the Sacramento River ... And at page 205 Gavin includes a drawing with the caption, The San Francisco Bay area, showing the winds blowing into the Sacramento River. There are a few obvious anomalies in his map. Although he writes the winds are north-easterly, he has drawn them blowing easterly. The place marked Sacramento River on his drawing is not the Sacramento River. He has the last wind direction arrow on the right side of the drawing pointing up the San Joaquin River. The Sacramento River is the channel just above the San Joaquin arrow. Its almost as if Gavin doesnt known where the Sacramento River is located. To get to the Sacramento River from the Pacific you must sail east into San Francisco Bay, then north-north-west about 15 miles through San Pablo Strait, and then east again, through San Pablo Bay, Carquinez Strait, Suisun Bay, Honker Bay, and then comes the confluence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers. If you look at any handy road map, such as the Rand McNally Road Atlas, on the detailed map of the San Francisco Bay area, in the top right corner you will find Collinsville. About a mile south of there, at Point Sacramento, is the zero point, the starting point for counting river miles on the Sacramento River. And that point is about 55 miles from the Pacific Ocean and Golden Gate Bridge, the entrance to San Francisco Bay. The Sacramento junk is 177 river miles north from that point, near the small town of Glenn, in the county of Glenn, a half mile from the present path of the river. This hypothetical junk is not the Sacramento junk, but is widely known as the Glenn junk. And though its true it is more than a hundred miles from the open sea, as the author states, that is only half right, as it is over 200 miles from the open sea, twice as far as he writes. The sailing characteristics of square rigged junks imposed inherent limitations, which Gavin mentions on several occasions, and which are noted above herein in relation to the hypothetical 83 mile trip up the channel of the Congo River in Africa. The same issue looms large regarding the over 200 mile exploration required to reach the Glenn junk site. Although they may have been able to sail on a broad reach to some extent, it is clear they were built to sail before the wind. For example, we know sailing dates in their home pond were dictated by the changing winds of the seasonal monsoons, and in spite of carefully planning, still having to wait weeks for favorable winds. In the main Cheng Hos sailing dates would be dictated by the monsoons; that is, he sailed westward between October and March and eastward between April and September ... (Ma Huan, Ying-Yai Sheng-Lan, The Overall Survey of the Ocean Shores, Beijing, 1433, Translated from the Chinese Text, Edited by Feng Cheng-Chun, with introduction, notes and appendices by J. V. G. Mills, Cambridge University Press, Published for the Hakluyt Society, 1970: 19) And, as we progress up the river, we run into reality. I spoke with Dr. Gregg White, Director of the Archaeological Research Program at California State University, Chico, and he explained there is a geological sill that begins at about the point of the town of Colusa, which is 30 miles south of Glenn. North of that are a lot of Pleistocene gravel deposits, shallow depths, and the river crashes over those gravels. From Colusa south its a deeper clay profile and the river is more entrenched. So the head of navigation traditionally was Colusa. In about the 1860s large dredges were hauled up and cleared a path from Colusa to Red Bluff, which is significantly farther north. But, the river had to be cleared each and every year because new gravel bars and new tree falls would clutter up the river. So from that relatively recent history we know it was improbable for a boat with much of a draft to have progressed to Glenn. Not only was it too shallow and too uneven and too cluttered with debris, it was a fast moving river, and faster at high water. Finally, from Colusa north it was just a series of oxbows, one curve after another. Take a look at www.sacramentoriver.ca.gov/publications/97sacriveratlas/. Available at this site are a series of aerial photographs of the Sacramento River. This Aerial Atlas was created by the Environmental Services Section of the California Department of Water Resources, Northern District. Detailed aerial photos of the river and surrounding country are provided, from Colusa to Red Bluff, river mile 144 to river mile 244, and includes river mile 177, site of the mythical junk. The maps show the ancient path of continuous twists and turns in the river, oxbows, many now filled in with farmland, but readily visible from the air. The winds must have been very compliant back in 1421 to blow that hypothetical junk around all those turns. As legends go, the Sacramento junk story is a youngster, dating back only to the mid 1930s, when two farmers, drilling for water in an orange grove near Glenn, California, struck something hard and pulled up a chunk of grayish metal, the color of lead though much harder. John Birch, principal of the Willows grammar school, took a piece to an unnamed expert at Red Bluff, California, ... who came back with the surprising conclusion that the metal might be from a piece of Chinese armor. (Walt Wiley, Sir Francis Wong? Mystery Of An Ancient Chinese Explorer, Sacramento Bee, Sunday, November 30, 1975, Section B, page 1, [replate]). Gavin changes this to of medieval Chinese origin (p. 204), but that is his spin, an attempt to place it in the fifteenth century. And see page 227: Gavin transforms the Chinese armor into iron woks! We also note in the same paragraph (p. 204) Gavin identifies Dr. John Furry of the Natural History Museum of Northern California. California state incorporation records show Furry is listed as the Agent for Service of Process. This private business should not be confused with The Northern California Natural History Museum, a project of the California State University at Chico and unrelated to Dr. Furrys business. Someone suggested the metal might have been from an ancient Chinese boat, perhaps carrying gold, that had sunk in an old channel of the Sacramento River, in one of the many oxbows in that section. The site is now within a half mile from the present route of the river, and buried under 35-40 feet of gravel, sand, silt and loam. Gavin first claimed (p. 204) that the metal had been found in its hold, which is not true. However, in the next paragraph he changed his story and correctly wrote, The site was covered with a 40-foot layer of the accumulated sand and silt of centuries ... The fact is no one has ever claimed to have seen the boat, not the original drillers, nor anyone since. And now there is no one alive who ever saw the mysterious grayish metal which has long since gone missing. Wiley, ibid., quotes Nonie, the wife of Bennie St. Louis, then owner of the property, It was a chunk about the size of my fist, the color of lead, and heavy, but much harder than lead. All this is unsatisfactory to those who would like to solve the puzzle of the legend, but gives the mythmakers plenty of room to wiggle and spin their fantasies. There was only talk but no action taken for many years. Some interest in the legend was revived by Wileys column. However, it was a letter to the editor in July 1979 by Marge Pattison that appeared in the Willows Journal that presented a challenge and piqued the interest of one local farmer, Dave Stewart. In 1980 he spent a lot of time, energy and money on a determined quest for the treasure. A hole was dug by hand, four feet by four feet square and twenty four feet deep, shored up as it went down, with plywood and posts. At twenty feet the water began coming in the bottom, and at twenty four feet down he had to stop. The water flowed in the gravel layer from the nearby river. The water table in the hole was the water level in the river, more or less. And, as the river rose in the wet season, the water rose higher and higher in the hole, at times rising up to only a few feet below ground level. All efforts were to no avail. Money and enthusiasm depleted, he walked away from it. The hole was filled in and a quiescent period ensued. In 1999 Dr. Furry encouraged Stewart to again take up the quest. They were able to arrange a drill rig to auger down through their chosen site. Some small pieces of soft decomposed wood were recovered that were carbon dated. However, the results are not clear. If you go to www.dstc.edu.au/ListArchive/eclectika/archive/2002/03/msg00047.html, you will find information provided by John Furry that states the samples were sent to Beta Analytic Lab in Miami, Fla., who returned a date range of 1250 - 1425 AD. In a newspaper article dated January 26, 2001, speaking of a couple of pieces of wood they had just recovered, Furry said they would be C14 dated even though they looked identical to other wood found at the site the previous summer that had been carbon dated to between 1180 and 1410 AD. (Walt Wiley, Their quest: A lost ship - Glenn County legend revived, Sacramento Bee, January 26. 2001) When I spoke with Dr. John Furry August 2003 he explained there had been some confusion at first on the dates, but Beta Analytic in Miami assured him the dates center right around 1400 - 1450 now. The Jan 16, 2001 article related that in addition to the bits of wood, strange pieces of pottery, perhaps from a jar, millions of black seeds, and a few grains of rice were brought up by the auger. Furry was quoted: When the drill hit the seeds, the water turned black as oil. There were seeds everywhere. I think we got into a pottery jar of them - maybe a bushel or more ... Theres no doubt in my mind we have a ship. We traced its shape with a magnetometer, and now to bring up this new material means to me that theres a lot more than just wishful thinking here. The hypothetical pottery jar was supposed to have held the black seeds and grains of rice and kept them dry and free of any moisture, since otherwise they would have long since rotted away, under water for hundreds of years. Dr. Gregg White recalled Dr. Furry brought the claimed pottery pieces by his office. White concluded they were rocks that the drill auger had cut through and left scared in a cylindrical shape. As to the seeds, White explained they were modern agricultural seeds, the auger having cut through a cache of seeds collected by a squirrel or some other small wild animal, a not uncommon occurrence. Regarding the small pieces of burnt looking wood that had been recovered and carbon dated by Stewart and Furry, White suggested they were likely from a native tree that had simply fallen in the river long ago and been covered by the current moving sand, silt and gravel over it, a natural and common process in that area. The river was lined with cottonwoods and shallow rooted trees. The banks were frequently undercut by the river, and the trees soon fell in. There was an article in the January 11, 2003 Chico ER that included a reprise of the old Chinese ship story, since it had been included by Gavin in 1421, which had just been released in the United States.(Steve Schoonover, Glenn countys sunken Chinese boat resurfaces, Chico ER, January 11, 2003) Yet once more the legend had been resuscitated. There was talk of an independent team of archaeologists from the University of Denver surveying the site with electromagnetic conductivity imaging equipment; more auger drilling in April 2003; perhaps a full excavation of the site; and a documentary to air in the spring of 2004 on PBS. Although the Denver archaeologist, Dr. Lawrence B. Conyers, found the ancient oxbow in the riverbed, under 35 - 45 feet of sand, silt, loam and gravel, just where it was supposed to be, he did not find any evidence of boat remains. The drilling was cancelled; and Gavin called off any further excavation, explaining he couldnt get the cooperation from three necessary landowners, and furthermore, We have the wrecks of some large junks along the coast of New Zealand to explore, and the money would go further there.(Walt Wiley, Author calls off dig for Chinese ship, Sacramento Bee, Jan 25, 2004.) Perhaps this then constitutes the final rites for Sir Frances Wong and the end of a local legend, the mythical treasure boat of Glenn, California. Another of Gavins imaginary junks that never was. Pandanan Wreck: a mid 15th Century Vessel At page 226 Gavin claims: There is one further incontrovertible proof that the Chinese reached Mexico ... the wreck of a Chinese junk [at Pandanan, a small island to the south-west of the Philippines] ... a vivid illustration of trade between China, south-east Asia and the Americas. In the text there are no footnotes for this remarkable find. In the hardback issue of 1421, at page 520, in the section titled Select Bibliography, four sources are mentioned: Dizon, E. Z., Underwater Archaeology of the Pandanan Wreck: a mid 15th Century Vessel, paper to South East Asia Archaeology Conference, Berlin, 1998; Green, J. and Harper, R., The Excavation of the Pattaya Wrecksite and Survey of three other Thailand sites, Thailand 1982. Australian Institute of Maritime Archaeology, 1982; Green, J. and Prishanchittara, S., The Excavation of the Ko Kradat Wrecksite, Thailand 1978/80. Australian Institute of Maritime Archaeology, 1982; and, Lovigny (sic), C. (ed.), The Pearl Road: Tales of Treasure Ships in the Philippines, Makati Co., Ltd, 1996. (For whatever reason none of the Select Bibliography was included in the paperback 2004 issue of 1421.) I wasnt able to track down the paper by Dizon. However, reflect a moment on the title - a mid 15th Century Vessel. Thats 1450, more or less, and the author took care to call it a vessel, not a Chinese junk. I did not review the two J. Green sources. However, in lieu of those, you may go to www.museum.wa.gov.au/mm/Museum/march/department/oseas.html. This is an article titled Maritime Archaeology in Southeast and East Asia by Jeremy Green, Head of the Department of Maritime Archaeology, Western Australia Maritime Museum, Fremantle, Western Australia. This is the J. Green mentioned in Gavins two citations and he covers the same materials in brief summary, as well as a number of other wrecks in Korea, China and the Philippines, and includes a section on Asiatic ship-building techniques. There is no suggestion that these Thai wrecks were part of Zheng Hes fleet. Even if any were suspected to be, it would not be news as Thailand was within the well known parameters of the fleets routine area of operation. Because of the dates of manufacture of certain ceramics the Ko Kradat vessel could not have sunk before 1522. The Pattaya wreck was made with boards from a tree felled in 1370, plus or minus 50 years. And the other three Thailand sites yielded C14 dates of 1570 +/- 90; 1290 +/- 60; and, 1440 +/- 60, 1540 +/- 120 (two samples, same wreck). I read The Pearl Road and talked with Dr. Eusebio Z. Dizon, archaeologist with the National Museum, Manila, Philippines. Although there was some overlap in design features between Southeast Asia boats and those of the area of Fukien Province on the southern coast of China, this boat was probably not of Chinese origin. It was more likely a Southeast Asian vessel. In The Pearl Road Dr. Dizon explains: Soon after the last voyage of Zheng Hes Treasure Fleet in 1433, however, the Chinese Emperor forbade overseas travel and stopped the construction of ocean going junks. Disobedient merchants were killed, and a period of great isolation followed. Only riverine vessels were allowed to be constructed, and change in Chinese boat design and technology took place because of this. Boats became more adapted to plying rivers; flat bottoms replaced keels and angles ... (Loving, p. 72). Dr. Dizon states the Pandanan boat design, with a keel and V shaped hull is one indication of its Southeast Asia origin. Also it was put together with wooden dowels, no iron nails or clamps, which the Chinese used. Ahem. If you go to www.maritimeasia.ws/turiang/ship.html, you will find a brief statement regarding the Pandanan wreck. The Pandanan wreck lost in the mid 15th century in the Philippines represents a relatively pure Southeast Asian vessel. Although divided into Chinese-type cargo compartments, separated by means of transverse bulkheads, she was joined with wooden dowels, with no iron nails of any kind. Like most Southeast Asian and Hybrid vessels, she was built of tropical hardwood. The Pearl Road (Loviny, p.23) also notes the hull was divided into seven compartments, but they were not made to be watertight, in contrast to the ships of the Zheng He fleet, another interesting difference in design. Openings were made in the bottom of each bulkhead, so the bilge water could drain from one to the next and collect in the deepest part of the hull. These holes are clearly seen in the large two-page, color photograph along with ballast rocks and the floor planks (Loviny, pp.106-7). Gavin states at page 227: The wood of the hull had been carbon dated to 1410, the same date as that of the Sacramento Junk ... Dr. Dizon told me they had done C-14 analysis, but preferred to rely on the copper coin, which was from the Yong Le period, 1403 - 1424 AD, as it was felt to be more reliable than carbon dating. And, we should remember that any C-14 date is the date the trees were chopped to make the boards which eventually were used to build the boat. That date is of interest, to be sure, as it provides an indication of the date of construction, but it is somewhat of a diversion. The important date, the real issue, is the date this Southeast Asian vessel foundered and sank. Remember, Gavin claims it as part of the 1421-23 armada which discovered the world; and he suggests it sank, ... at about early September 1423, towards the end of the southwest monsoon, a time when there are unpredictable squalls (p. 228). Because of the dates when various ceramics in the cargo were first made, which are well known and dated, it is clear the date of the wreck can be no earlier than their earliest date of manufacture, which for the bulk of them was mid-15th century, that is 1450, mas o menos. And, of course, it could have gone down well after 1450. The bulk of the cargo, however, extends the period to the middle of the 15th century A.D., resulting in almost a 200-year range for the archaeological materials found in a single shipwreck site - an astounding discovery, indeed! With the boat being contemporary to the latest pieces on the ship, the vessel itself may be dated to as early as the mid-15th century (Loviny, p.72). At page 227, referring to this wreck and the mythical Sacramento junk, Gavin writes, ... both apparently carried iron woks in their holds. No one else has ever claimed the Sacramento junk contained an iron wok, that is Gavins invention. The Sacramento junk legend suggests a chunk of Chinese metal armor was found in the spoils from drilling for water in a field at Glenn, California in the 1930s. No one has ever seen the legendary boat. And the Pearl Road describes the iron pots in the Pandanan boat as cauldrons, much larger and shaped differently than woks. Over 60 were found, but they were too fragile to recover (Loviny, p 68.). They can be seen in the large, double-page, color photograph at pp.74-75. So this is more invention by Gavin. He changed the alleged Chinese metal armor from the mythical Sacramento junk into a wok; and then he changed the 60 real cauldrons from the real Pandanan boat into woks, so he could then claim the two boats carried similar goods. What amazing nonsense. Isnt this the act of a man desperate to show some connection in 1421 between China and Mexico? Still on page 227 Gavin claims: The Pandanan junk also carried metates - pestles for grinding maize - which were unique to South America, and what appears to be Cholula ware, the eggshell-thin ceramics made in Mexico ... That is not correct. Metates are not pestles, as he writes. And pestles are not used with metates. Manos are used with metates, and pestles with mortars. Metates were not unique to South America, nor were pestles. Ahem. If you go to www.carleton.ca/~bgordon/Rice/papers/sung_nd.htm you will find Prehistoric Food Processing Techniques-Discussion on the Origin of Grinding Tools, Mortar and Pestle, Sung, Zhao-Lin, Chinese Historical Museum Agricultural Archaeology, Vol.3, No. 47, 1997. (Translated by Elaine Wong; edited by Bryan Gordon). This paper states in part: ... New Chinese finds show 3 main food processing tools; metate and mano, mortar and pestle, and grinder, with another tool for processing tree bark. METATE People usually think the metate was invented by agricultural tribes, but it actually appeared in the Late Palaeolithic, when it was used for grinding wild food; e.g., Shahxis Xiachuan site (1). About 20,000 years ago, after the invention of agriculture, the use of the grinding tray as a crop processing tool spread widely. Neolithic stone tools for grain agriculture categorize broadly in 3 groups: soil preparing, harvesting and grinding. According to calculation, there are 216 such tools in Xinchengs Peiligang site, including 88 metate and mano fragments (40.1%). There are 133 stone tool fragments in the E-gou site in Mixian, including 20 metate and mano fragments (20%). There are 1321 tool fragments in Hebeis Ancishan, including 134 (10.4%) metates and pestles, plus many other finds in other Neolithic sites ... Although Gavin claims the metates were unique to South America, they were in use in China for thousands of years before 1421. Perhaps Gavin got it turned around and meant to claim Zheng Hes fleet was responsible for the diffusion of the metates to South America and Mexico from China. Or just perhaps, they were parallel, independent developments. Dr. Dizon confirms the metate was in use throughout Southeast Asia. Also there were no egg-shell thin ceramics in this wreck, not from Mexico, nor from any place else. Dr. Dizon has seen egg-shell thin ceramics at other sites, but none at the Pandanan wreck. At page 228 Gavin claims: ... about a thousand (items) currently remain to be identified. When they have been it should be possible to reconstruct the junks route. On the evidence already available, it appears to have returned from Central America with the north equatorial current ... All of the 4,722 items from the Pandanan junk have been identified. And as Gavin must have been aware, Dr. Dizon had already reconstructed the route of this Southeast Asia trading vessel. ... A possible scenario of the route of this vessel may be reconstructed. The main cargo, tradeware ceramics from central Vietnam, was loaded at a port near the area. Lesser cargo from northern Vietnam, including those pieces which may have come from China such as the blue and white porcelain wares, celedons and the iron cauldrons and gongs, may have already been accumulated and loaded at the same port in Vietnam. [More than 70% of the cargo was from Viet Nam.] The boat may then have sailed to the southern peninsula of mainland Southeast Asia to pick up the goods from Thailand - as these also comprise a significant portion of the cargo. Thus loaded, the boat could have proceeded to Malacca, then to Borneo before heading for the Philippines. Coming in from the southernmost tip of Palawan, it was battered by winds on the northeastern area off Pandanan Island. It may have been bound for either the present-day location of Puerto Princesa in Palawan, for the island of Mindoro, or the Sulu archipelago. These destinations have been documented even before the Europeans came. It is also possible that the boat may have been bound for either Batangas or Manila on the main island of Luzon.(Loviny, p. 70.) At page 401 Gavin repeats the nonsense that the Pandanan wreck proves Chinese contact with the Americas. In summary, the Pandanan wreck went down no earlier than about 1450, not September 1423 as Gavin claims; it was not a Chinese junk, rather of a different design and construction, most likely of Southeast Asia origin; it did not contain any goods unique to South America nor to Mexico - all the cargo has been long since inventoried and identified; and we dont have to wait to reconstruct its route, Dr. Dizon included that in the 1996 book, The Pearl Road, along with a map of routes. How is it possible Gavin could have read The Pearl Road and his other cited sources and still got it all so wrong? Bimini Road Gavin begins chapter 12, The Treasure Fleet Runs Aground, page 265, with the suggestion that blue-water sailors soon learn to tell the difference between shallow and deep water by the change in the pattern and length of waves, and their color and smell. Well and good. Of course the obvious question arises, after destroying at least 8 of his hypothetical 20 ships wasn't it time for the fleet commander, Admiral Zhou Wen, to commit seppuku? After all werent these the same successful, knowledgeable, world wise sailors who could tell the depth of the water by wave action, sight and smell. Even in the middle of the darkest night, if they were competent, couldnt they sense the wave action, smell the depth? And wouldnt a fleet commander send at least a couple of smaller ships ahead to scout unknown water, long before sailing his fleet onto the rocks? It is difficult to reconcile this sort of incompetent seamanship with the reputation of the Chinese fleet, and the olfactory skills Gavin attributes to them. Take a look at page 209. When the hypothetical west coast Chinese fleet sailed into the Gulf of Tehuantepec in Mexico, and found it too shallow to proceed, they turned back, to deeper water, according to Gavin. That fleet commander apparently had different mission and sailing instructions than the poor chap in the Bahamas, or perhaps he could just read the water better. At page 265 Gavin presents his hypothesis that 20 ships of the fleet sailed into shallow water in the Bahamas, hit rocks and reefs, which ripped open their wooden hulls, so they put in at Bimini Island. There they built the Bimini road with their ballast stones, some weighing fifteen tons, to facilitate pulling the ships up, out of the water for repairs. At page 268 Gavin writes of Dr. Mason Balantyne [sic]. His discovery, named the Bimini Road, comprises two parallel lines of stones on the sand dunes of Bimini Bay running south-west towards the deep ocean ... That is not correct. No part of the Bimini road is on the sand dunes. The entire road is under approximately 15 feet of water. It is not located at Bimini Bay, where ever that may be, rather, about a half mile off Paradise Point, North Bimini Island. It does run south-west, but not towards the deep ocean. It is more or less level and parallel to the beach, which also runs south-west. J. Manson Valentine received his BA from Yale in 23, and his Ph.D. in 28, in zoology, same place. In addition to his more prosaic work as a college lecturer, he was a much travelled explorer of the ruins of ancient civilizations. He wrote many papers about his findings, as well as collaborating with Charles Berlitz on The Bermuda Triangle and Without A Trace. On a snorkeling trip to Bimini, September 2, 1968, he discovered the Bimini Road. He went to his grave believing it was part of the sunken continent of Atlantis. See J. Manson Valentine, Underwater Archeology In the Bahamas, Explorers Journal, Dec 1976, pp. 176 - 183. Interestingly, the article starts off with a drawing to scale of the Bimini Road, offshore near Paradise Point, North Bimini Island, and it clearly runs parallel to the beach. At page 178 he writes: ... My personal feeling is that this whole fantastic complex represents the intelligent utilization, by ancient man, of materials provided by nature and appropriate for the creation of some sort of ceremonial center...Such majestic artifacts are incomprehensible to us - unless, of course, we have the temerity to consider extraterrestrial intervention and metaphysically generated energies. At page 268 Gavin continues: In 1974, an American scientist, Dr. David Zink, led an expedition (the first of nine) to survey these mysterious stones. He produced overwhelming evidence the road was man-made ... The road is clearly visible from the air through the azure water. It runs straight as a die down into the depths a broad band of beige stone. After Dr. Zinks expeditions, Jacques Cousteau surveyed the road in detail for a television programme, and National Geographic has published several features. The road has been surveyed by a number of experts, and there is almost universal agreement that the structure is man-made. That statement certainly sounds authoritative and final. Experts are mentioned: Dr. Zink, Jacques Cousteau, and National Geographic. For Zink and Cousteau the author even provides source citations. Lets take a look at the sources cited. Dr. David D. Zink was not a scientist, rather a former English teacher, a Cayce fan, intrigued with megalithic [big rock] structures and with the origins of myths. He had a psychic named Carol Huffstickler do a reading of the site, and she determined the rocks were pillars of an ancient sacred temple, probably erected about 28,000 BC, by Atlanteans. Gavin cites two books by Zink. See The Ancient Stones Speak: A Journey To The Worlds Most Mysterious Megalithic Sites E.P.Dutton, 1979, NY. Pages 83-87 relate to Bimini. Also included in this publication by Zink are visits to Mystery Hill at North Salem, New Hampshire, Ponape in the Caroline Islands, Tongatabu in the Tonga Islands, Easter Islands, and other mysterious places. Dr. Zink starts with a drawing which shows the orientation of Bimini Island and the location of the road, and a drawing of a typical joint pattern of the stones and a description of them. ... Typically about three by four meters in size and about seventy centimeters thick. Ten to fifteen tons is their estimated average weight, although considerable variation in size exists. (p. 83) An aerial photo of the beach and the nearby site is included. The road is clearly marked, outlined by the author, the reversed J, 600 meters long. The drawing and the photograph show the road runs parallel to the beach. David Zink states his opinion that the rocks are sedimentary. ... of a shell-hash cemented together in a marine environment and subsequently hardened by recrystallization (micritized). The blocks of this site may have been quarried from a homogeneous bed elsewhere and brought to Bimini or cut and shaped on or near the site...When we first ran fathometer profiles over the site, I found the ocean floor to be essentially level, not sloping (which is usually the case with beach rock formed in situ) ... (page 85) The other source by Dr. David D. Zink is The Stones of Atlantis, (Prentice-Hall Inc., 1978, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.) The frontispiece is a drawing of Bimini Island, and the Bimini Road is well marked, and clearly runs parallel to the beach. In addition to the road he also mentions various megalithic sites around the world: the pyramids in Egypt; the great mendir at Locmariaquer in France; the Medicine Wheel in the Big Horn Mountains of northern Wyoming; Stonehenge; the controversial Mystery Hill megalithic site in New Hampshire; Tiahuanaco in Bolivia, and etc. Zink made detailed, stone by stone drawings of the road, including size, distances and angles, to locate all the stones, and, several of these drawings are included. He also mentions enlisting the help of Carol Huffstickler in 1974. At page 114 he writes: Carols first reading dated the Bimini site prior to Stonehenge, stating that Bimini was contemporary with the Atlantean culture and that it had been destroyed basically for the same reasons that Atlantis had perished: misuse of sexual energy and black magic...I began to look for a common denominator between the stories of Atlantis (and souls descending into matter only to be trapped) and extraterrestrial visits. Could these ultimately be reduced to different facets of now-forgotten ancient events on the planet?... See page 269 and endnote 7 which refers to The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau and the TV series In Search of...Atlantis ... At our neighborhood library we found The Cousteau Odyssey: Calypsos Search for Atlantis, Copyright 1978 by The Cousteau Society, which we suspect contains similar if not the same basic material. This videocassette (117 minutes) explores several possible Atlantis sites and also briefly visits Easter Island, and Coco Island, off the Costa Rican coast. About 12 minutes are spent in the Bahamas which includes perhaps 5 minutes with Dr. David Zink, described as historian and explorer, answering questions from Philippe Cousteau, son of Jacques. As they approach the island in the Cousteau PBY the photography from the air shows clearly the Bimini road lies parallel to the shore line. The narrator mentions the road is: ... Six football fields long, in warm, shallow water, hardly fifteen feet deep ... ... Those convinced that the road is the work of megalithic builders in prehistoric times argue that only a highly skilled human agency could have chiselled the square edges of these fifteen ton stones and assembled them as a pavement...nevertheless, core samples have shown that both the pavement and underlying rock are composed of the same consolidated limestone sediment ... After some brief underwater scenes of the divers swimming around the rocks, and scaring away a poisonous rockfish, the only guardian of the stones, Philippe Cousteau and David Zink sit on the wing of the PBY and talk. pc: What do you think it is? dz: Well, I think its a megalithic site, which is big stones, the Greek word for big stones, such as the megalithic sites in Europe like Carnac, Stonehenge...They were a people that had some, I cant say yet, but I suspect a people of some astronomical sophistication, a people who could by some means or other could handle 15 ton stones, were well organized enough to plan out a project and carry it out. Various people were in the area generally, but, but, this seems to relate to no known culture pattern. We encountered so many problems with various compasses here, underwater, we suspect some kind of energy pattern thats affecting the magnetic field. I dont know what it is, but, ah ... pc: But you have ruled out in your mind and you are sure yourself that this is not a natural formation? dz: Thats about all Im sure about. My argument is essentially a morphological one, structure or pattern. In nature it is most unusual to have joints terminate abruptly. We would expect that if this were a natural formation of beach-rock formed in place here, we would expect it to have a little more substantial relationship to the bedrock, and as you saw it does not. There are often little stones supporting, having a space under. The horseshoe, of course, is opened to the northeast. You saw the extension which makes it into a horseshoe, taking it out of the reverse J configuration and into more of a horseshoe or hairpin kind of opening to the northeast. [Pointing to his drawings of the rocks.] Thats where the fracture is and heres where the transition is large stones, and five across. Fourteen stones here and five across here ... pc: But here we have six ... dz: Six following after five. Im not claiming this is Atlantis but this is an interesting coincidence. Plato claimed that the Atlanteans honored every 5th and 6th year... pc: Do you think it is possible that Plato may have made it up entirely? dz: Anything is possible. But, well, in a time of difficulty, in a time of agony about the present and the future, its so easy to look to a golden age, you know. Its comfortable psychologically, its a rationalization in short. Well, thats one way to interpret it. But, there are other ways ... Gavin mentions National Geographic as a source, but neglects the citation. We found only one such source, an exploration supported by a grant made by the National Geographic Society in 1971. Mahlon M. Ball and John A. Gifford, Investigation of Submerged Beachrock Deposits off Bimini, Bahamas National Geographic Research Reports Vol.12 (1980): 21-38. A number of charts, photos and drawings are included. Gifford and Ball, of the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, Miami, Florida, write: ... Fieldwork was undertaken in September and October 1971 ... Petrographic thin sections were made of the rock and core samples to establish the types of rock units present and their original environment of deposition. These units were placed in an absolute time framework by relation to 12 carbon-14-dated samples and one sample dated by a uranium-thorium technique (Th-230/U-234), plus other available dates from Bimini (table1), thus giving an outline of the geologic history of North Bimini over the past 30,000 years. Specialized studies on the cements of some of the beachrock samples were undertaken by electron microprobe analysis and carbon-oxygen stable isotope ratio analysis; these results are available elsewhere (Gifford, 1973) ... ... This unique physiography produces unusual conditions for the deposition of sediments. Subtropical Atlantic water flowing along and over the Banks is supersaturated with calcium carbonate. This mineral is removed from the water over the Banks through organic and inorganic processes; it is the continual deposition of calcium carbonate sediment, and its cementation into rock, that account for the growth and form of the Bahama Banks themselves ... ... The rise of sea level from 15,000 years B.P. to the present produced a succession of beaches that formed on the outer platform off the west coast of North Bimini as the shoreline transgressed eastward over the Great Bahama Bank. Along these transient beaches, deposits of beachrock formed and subsequently were submerged as the water over them deepened ... ... Several thousand years later the shoreline migrated to a position approximately 1 kilometer north of the present Paradise Point. Here, over a period of perhaps 700 years, three successive beaches were the site of formation of three parallel, linear deposits of beachrock ... ... As most authoritatively defined, beachrock refers to sediment lithified in the intertidal and sea spray zones, whether on high or low energy beaches, or even broad tidal flats and tidal channels (Bricker, 1971, p.1). Lithification occurs at some depth below the surface of the unconsolidated beach, which then may be eroded away by shoreline retreat or sea level rise, leaving exposed strata of beachrock in the intertidal or nearshore zones ... ... Beachrock is presently exposed in the modern intertidal zone along the west coast of South Bimini and of North Bimini; evidently it is forming there at a rate to be measured in decades or even years (Scoffin, 1970) ... ... As mentioned previously, the only characteristic of the submerged blocks off Paradise Point that might continue to suggest their human origin is the shape of the blocks themselves ... As Gavin claims, Valentine and Zink did believe the Bimini Road was man made. Well, not exactly man made, but made for the Atlanteans, perhaps by visitors from another galaxy, Pleions from Pleiades. Costueau doesnt take a position in his Search for Atlantis, rather just gives Zink the opportunity to state his best case. The National Geographic Research Report makes it clear the road is the result of a natural geologic process. And this report was done by real scientists, working within their area of competency. This is Gavins ... overwhelming evidence that the road was man-made" (p. 268). Gavin also wrote, The road has been surveyed by a number of different experts, and there is almost universal agreement that the structure is man-made (p. 269). However, he failed to list who else he might have had in mind, and he neglected to mention a number of real experts who have surveyed the site. W. Harrison, Atlantis Undiscovered-Bimini, Bahamas. Nature. Vol.230 [April 2, 1971]: 287-289. A Virginia Beach based geologist, his survey includes a map locating the rocks off Paradise Point, North Bimini, and parallel to the beach. Figure 2 shows typical rock dimensions and arrangement. He concludes: ... The rock was thus almost certainly lithified during the lower relative sea level of the Pleistocene ... The overall result is a field of blocks that at first sight appear to have been fitted together, and this has led to statements such as, [some] human agency must have been involved. The blocky remains of the limestone outcrops are, however, no more enigmatic than other subaerial or subaqueous outcrop of jointed limestone found in various stages of fracture and decay in the north-western Bahamas. E. A. Shinn. Atlantis: Bimini Hoax. Sea Frontiers 24 (June 1978): 130-141. (Eugene A. Shinn, Ph.D., is a geologist with the US Geological Survey at St. Petersburg, Florida). Shinn briefly discusses the modern Atlantis cult that devolved from Platos mention of an ancient myth; Edgar Cayces influence in this affair; the Bermuda Triangle nonsense; and the true believers suspension of critical thinking in their embrace of the Bimini beach rock, believing it a man made artifact and evidence of Atlantis, in spite of scientific evidence to the contrary. He continues: ... In the winter of 1976 (Peter) Tomkins, J. Harold Hudson, the author, and several Florida Institute of Technology students drilled through two 2 1/2 foot-thick blocks into the underlying bedrock and concluded that the blocks were composed of beach rock ... ... The basic mechanism of beach-rock formation has been known since the days of Darwin ... ... Because this form of cementation is restricted to the beach, it tends to produce ribbons or roadlike belts of rock parallel to the shore ... ... It is not uncommon for exposed beach rock to fracture and break as it lies in the sun ... Such rock can be found on the beach throughout the Bahamas, Caribbean, and Pacific, and often has a fitted-together appearance similar to the underwater rocks off Bimini ... Rick Frehsee, a professional underwater photographer ... recently discovered beach-rock at Heron Island, Australia that is identical in appearance to the rocks at the Bimini site. The author has filmed and studied another group of fitted beach-rock slabs in 1 to 5 feet of water at Hospital Key, Dry Tortugas ... ... Much of the evidence was provided by x-ray photographs made from oriented rock cores ... ... In the summer of 1977, on another trip to Bimini with Peter Tomkins, 17 4-inch-diameter cores were taken from adjacent blocks. First, a mark was made on the rock that corresponds to an east-west or seaward-shoreward direction. Then the rock was cored so that the permanent orientation mark was part of the core ... The cores were returned to Miami, where they were cut along the orientation lines and x-radiographed to make bedding visible ... The gradual decrease in pebble size from block to block, however, indicates that the blocks were once joined as a single ribbon of beach rock. If the blocks had been transported, one would expect abrupt changes in composition from block to block. Identical pebbles are present on the modern beach at Bimini, and gradual changes in pebble size can be noted there as one walks along the beach ... ... The blocks were in place and had not been transported .... ... First, it is well established that sea level has been rising since the last melting of the polar ice caps ... In Florida, where many such datings have been made, sea level is known to have risen about 1 inch every 40 years for the past 5,000 years ... ... The second explanation for the present depth of the rocks is that wave action often scours sand away from beneath beach rock, thus allowing the rock to settle below its level of formation ... Close examination shows that the shoreline just opposite the site is still undergoing more extensive erosion than any other part of Bimini. Trees are falling into the water, and roots are exhumed in a vertical cliff, whereas other parts of the shoreline appear to be holding their own ... ... What can now be said is that the supposedly man-made rocks are of natural origin; that they are more or less in their natural position relative to each other and to the shoreline; that the process that gave them their shape is natural; and that they formed about 2,200 years ago and are thus too young to be attributed to Atlanteans ... Included in this report were a number of photos of the rocks at Bimini as the divers examined and drilled them and of the beach showing the rapid erosion caused by wave action; a photo of the beachrock at Heron Island; an x-ray photograph of a slice of a core sample; and a diagram showing the blocks from which the core samples were taken. Marshall McKusick. The Bimini Underwater Discoveries. Explorers Journal (March 1980): 40-43. McKusick has a Ph.D. in anthropology from Yale, was state archaeologist for Iowa from 1960 to 1975, and more recently associate professor of anthropology at the University of Iowa. He writes: There is a moral to the story of my dive to see the Phoenician ship off Bimini: archeological evidence is not often what it appears to be at first glance. Enthusiastic laymen are not trained to evaluate evidence and assess the crucial facts that a professional would observe ... The so-called underwater pavement at Bimini Island was a disappointment...The pavement is a long section of semi-rectangular fractures in what I supposed to be bedrock lying in shallow water. However, these regular fractures intergraded with more irregular sections which terminated in rubble. My own impression was that a long section gave the appearance of a pavement, but that the gradations to random and irregular cracks showed its origin ... The so-called paved road stretches 1,800 feet offshore from nowhere and leads to nothing. It does not connect a former seaport with a harbor, or in any way have an observable purpose ... Despite all evidence to the contrary, enthusiastic amateurs are writing books claiming all sorts of mysterious ancient contacts with prehistoric America. [And they still are.] Marshall McKusick and Eugene A. Shinn. Bahamian Atlantis reconsidered. Nature 287 (4 September 1980): 11-12. Nevertheless many amateur explorers have ignored the scientific explanation and books and articles that perpetuate this Atlantis myth continue to appear. It is our contention that the persistence of the Bimini Island hoax must be explained in sociological rather than geological terms. There is in the US a vigorous cult dedicated to the mystic revelations of American prophet, Edgar Cayce (1877-1945), who wrote that lost Atlantis was the center of all ancient civilization 10,000 years ago and that Bimini was part of that continent. Thus the Bimini affair has become a clash between scientific interpretation and religious dogma ... ... On the Bimini beaches the high calcium content of the seawater allows the rapid formation of natural limestone beachrock - a fact demonstrated by glass shards, bottle caps, and other beach litter incorporated into the stone. Similar rapid formation of limestone had been shown in coral atolls in the Pacific where World War II artifacts have been found in the matrix. Beachrock formed by the circulation and evaporation of calcium laden seawater has the following characteristics: (1) tabular fractures, (2) keystone vugs, (3) a surface slope and internal laminations which tend to parallel the beach incline, (4) stratigraphic continuation of sedimentary layers from one tabular block to another, and (5) an overall geometry which reflects tidal zone origin, that is, a narrow band frequently extending a mile or more along the sea front .... ... A sample of 17 oriented cores obtained by Shinn and Tomkins has been examined with X-radiographs. Two areas of the formation were studied, and both show slope and uniform particle size, bedding planes and constant dip direction from one block to the next. If the stones had been quarried and relaid there is no reason to suppose bedding planes would carry stratigraphically from block to block. The sedimentary laminations clearly show that these were not randomly laid stones but a natural, relatively undisturbed formation ... ... During the 1970s an enormous number of books describing ancient Atlantean, Phoenician, Egyptian, Viking, and other mysterious visitors to prehistoric America have been published by both the major and minor New York commercial presses. This science fiction disguised as historical explanation is popular with the reading public and is part of a contemporary fad ... [And it still is.] Andre Strasser and Eric Davaud Formation of Holocene Limestone Sequences by Progradation, Cementation, and Erosion: Two Examples From the Bahamas. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology Vol. 56, no. 3 (May 1986): 422-428. Included is a discussion of sedimentary structures and the cementation process. Drawings are provided to illustrate the process, and photos of the exposed beach rock at North Bimini and Joulter Cays. Although this report does not bear specifically on the Bimini road rocks, it is mentioned as it illustrates the process, also occurring at nearby locations. Strasser and Davaud were with the Department of Geology and Paleontology, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland. For information on another nearby Caribbean location where the beachrock formation process has been studied, see Clyde H. Moore, Jr. Intertidal Carbonate Cementation Grand Cayman, West Indies. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, Vol., No. 3 (Sept 1973): 591-602. Moore was with the Department of Geology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Also see Peter J. Davies and D. W. Kinsey Organic and Inorganic Factors in Recent Beach Rock Formations, Heron Island, Great Barrier Reef. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology Vol. 43. No.1 (March, 1973): 59-81. ... Heron Island forms part of a small reef, situated in the Capricorn group of reefs, at the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef, Queensland...Beach rock occurs along the southern, northern and eastern beaches (fig.1). Along the southern intertidal zone, the beach rock is approximately 60 ft wide (fig. 7a), while much narrower strips occur along the northern and eastern beaches ... This study is cited since Shinn (1978) included in his report a photo of the exposed beach rock formation there. It is another example of this natural geologic process, which may occur wherever the right conditions are present. Gavin packs a lot of nonsense into one short chapter attempting to support his fantasy that the Chinese visited the Bahamas before they took a sharp right turn and sailed up the east coast of North America. His problem once again is the evidence does not support his dream. He is so desperate he attempts to shanghai the Bimini road from the Cayce devotees, who know it is part of Atlantis, and wont let go. Gavin swears it belongs to the Chinese, they built it to facilitate pulling their damaged ships up out of the water for repairs. Never mind that it is more or less level, and parallel to the beach, just as we would expect for naturally formed beach rock; does not run down into the depths as Gavin claims, and thus never would have accomplished its stated mission. Never mind that Gavins chosen experts undermine his claim. Never mind that all the real experts say the road unquestionably is beach rock, formed by a well known, well documented geologic process. Gavin reminds me more and more of the Queen in Through the Looking Glass. Alice laughed. Theres no use trying, she said: one cant believe impossible things. I dare say you havent had much practice, said the Queen. When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes Ive believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast... Newport Tower At page 286 Gavin introduces the stone tower at Newport, Rhode Island as a piece of evidence of Chinese presence on the coast of North America. He claims they built it. He states they had several reasons for building the tower: It would mark the exact site where they had left Chinese seamen and concubines to establish a settlement; it was another in their worldwide scheme of observation platforms from which they would take lunar and celestial readings; and it would act as a lighthouse, a beacon to guide the returning Chinese. The prime suspect for the stone tower job, out of a long international list of contenders, has always been Governor Benedict Arnold, great, great grandfather of Benedict Arnold, the Revolutionary War traitor. Governor Arnold (born 21 Dec 1615 Ilchester, Somerset, England - died 20 June 1678, Newport, Rhode Island) owned the mill, and a great deal of other property in Newport, and when he died mentioned it twice in his will, ... my stone built wind mill ... (A copy can be found at www.bigbertis.com/mill/wilofgov.htm.) Gavin discusses (p. 287) a report by an architect, Suzanne O. Carlson, who reviewed much of the literature and many of the claims, decided Arnold only modified an existing structure to function as a mill, and concluded, ... The question remains - who built the Newport tower, when and why? ... As an architect, with experience and knowledge of the construction process, she also posed and answered in part the question, ... How was it Built? The Construction of the Newport Tower ... Carlson theorized it took 17 men three to six months to assemble the stone, lime (clam shells), sand and wood. She then discussed the building process, but neglected to include her guess as to the length of time required for the construction. The rock tower was lastly covered with a thick, smooth coating of mortar, some of which remains today. Of course, more men assigned to the various chores would have been able to cut the time requirements dramatically, up to a point, but the foundation and courses of stones laid up must have had adequate time to cure and gain strength, before others were laid on top of them, or the columns and walls would fail. Did the hypothetical Chinese visitors have adequate time to build this observation platform, and 28 others all around the world, as Gavin claims? He neglects to address the issue. (Carlsons report is available at http://neara.org/CARLSON/newporttower.htm) Since Gavin introduced Carlson in the service of part of his hypothesis, it seems fair to note the comments NEARA ( New England Antiquities Research Association) has posted regarding 1421: The Year China In part they write: ... In his exuberant tale of Oriental luxury and Zheng Hes mission of discovery, trade, and tribute, Menzies cites all of the authors just mentioned. Yet he seems not to have read their work ... The evidence that Menzies presents for pre-Columbian American contact, however enticing it may appear, is loaded with extraneous detail and presented with scant relevant documentation. Stoneworks, inscriptions, and architectural features are described without drawings or photos to help the reader evaluate the similarities or permit scholars to analyze the meanings. Maps are not shown in sufficient detail to enable the reader to have confidence in the veracity of the interpretations. In his discussions of discoveries around the North Atlantic rim, Menzies' assertions and fuzzy adaptations of the work of Bill Penhallow and Sue Carlson - to convert the Newport Tower into a Chinese structure - are completely unconvincing and at odds with the research findings of these and other NEARA members.... (www.neara.org/MiscReports/1421.htm). Gavins dilemma is that he just doesnt have any real evidence that connects his hypothetical fleet of 1421 in any way with the tower. The only thing he can offer is - This is the way the Chinese built them back home. At page 288 he writes, ... and in my view the design and position of the windows closely resemble those on the Song dynasty (960-1279) lighthouse that guided Chinese and Arab trading fleets into the port of Zaiton (Quanzhou) in Fujian province in southern China ... The Zaiton lighthouse is twice the size of the Newport Round Tower and five stories high rather than three, but the windows are notably similar, as is the design of the central fireplace. There are several other striking resemblances. The Rhode Island tower is a shell of stones rising above arches that span eight columns set on an octagonal base, just as at Zaiton ... Like the Zaiton lighthouse, it was angled so that the light burning from its fire could warn of danger ... This is a strong, confident sounding opinion, apparently based on first hand observation, Gavins statement that the Newport tower, though smaller, otherwise appears to be a duplicate of an ancient stone Chinese lighthouse located at Zaiton, Fujian province. A drawing of the Newport tower is provided, but, unfortunately, the author has not included any drawing or photo of the Zaiton lighthouse which we might use for comparison. Ahem. There are pictures of the Zaiton lighthouse available, on the internet. However, you may be disappointed. The tower at Quanzhou was not primarily a lighthouse, rather a Buddhist pagoda. That lighthouse addendum was Gavins invention. The stone Buddhist pagodas built in the area had an incidental, beneficial function as navigational landmarks, which included lamps in the windows at night to aid travellers, but, that is not the reason they were built. They were constructed to serve the Buddhist religion. You may take a look for yourself. There are a number of web sites on Quanzhou (aka Tsinkiang, Zaiton, Zayton, Zaitun), Fujian province. For example, see www.china.org.cn/english/TR-e/43370.htm for a picture and background information on the twin, five story, stone, octagonal pagodas with columns, constructed of carved, rectangular blocks of rock, each pagoda with 80 panels of near life sized figures carved in middle relief. For a much more detailed photo go to www.worldisround.com/articles/12481/, and the page A Sight of Quanzhou, by James Zhang. Open the picture captioned A close look of the tower and you can download a large size file of the pagoda picture that renders a very nice detailed print. Or, while still at china.org change the last number to 43363 for another stone Buddhist pagoda. There are other stone towers in Quanzhou. Try www.fjqz.gov.cn/elightcity/wangang.htm. Here are two more stone towers, two more Buddhist pagodas. It seems clear there isnt any Zaiton lighthouse, as Gavin claims: there are only these stone made Buddhist pagodas, that incidentally had a use as navigational aids. And not one of them looks anything like the Newport Tower. This probably explains why Gavin failed to provide any picture or drawing of his Zaiton lighthouse. There was plenty of room in the book. There are many partially or wholly unused text pages in the book suitable for a drawing; and many photos in the four color sections that could have been better used to present pictures of evidence, such as the Zaiton lighthouse, which one would think might advance his hypothesis, rather than much of the stuff he did include, which may be described as diversionary, or irrelevant, not bearing on any issue or claim. Yet once more it appears Gavin is hiding his claimed source material and fabricating evidence, in a desperate attempt to convince the reader there is some merit to his fantasy. Chinese Stone Lamp At page 414 Gavin writes: ... However, the discovery of a Taoist talisman and a Chinese lamp were far more significant. The talisman may be identified with Shou Lau, ^6 whose talismans I have seen in many locations around the world ... Endnote ^6 states, Letter from Professor Hummel (an expert on medieval Chinese art), 29 August 1927, quoted in Keddie, op. cit. But see Grant Keddie, The Question of Asiatic Objects on the North Pacific Coast of America: Historic or Prehistoric?, Contributions to Human History, published by the Royal British Columbia Museum, No 3, March 19, 1990, Victoria, B.C., Canada, pp. 1-26. Keddie writes at page13: ... Another letter of August 29, 1927 addressed to a Mr. Bishop is from Benjamin March of New York who also passes on comments by Professor Arthur W. Hummel. March indicates that he: ... submitted a tracing of the characters to a Chinese student of calligraphy, who gave his opinion that...The figure on the left seems to be a sage or Taoist teacher, and may be identified with Shou Lao, the old figure of longevity ... Hummel believes that the coin is very recent. He is quoted as saying that it : ... is the duplicate in every detail, size, composition, and all, of at least a score of amulets I picked up in Shansi ... Gavin misread and confused the quote in the article by Keddie. The letter of August 29, 1927 was not from Hummel, rather written by Benjamin March of New York, addressed to a Mr. Bishop, and as to Hummel, only included the brief opinion above, that the coin was very recent, as well as Hummels comment that he had twenty just like it. As for the so called Chinese stone lamp that Gavin claimed was significant, see Keddie, also page 13: Keithahn seemed to be unaware that Alden Mason (1928) had already published an extensive commentary on the Knik bowl and others in the area. These lamps are shown and discussed by de Laguna as products of Pacific Eskimo culture (1975: 177-180: Plates 28, 69, 70-1, 70-2, 71)... Stone lamps have over a 4,000 year history in the Pacific Eskimo area. The large, stone lamps with human and animal figures date to the late Kachemak III period between about 100 BC and 1000 AD. The Knik bowl style [uncovered June 15, 1913] would fit the earlier part of this period ... At pages 414-5 Gavin writes: ... In 1747, an Aleut boy from Attu ... spoke of a legend in which men dressed in long many colored silk and cotton clothing came to the island Attu in small ships with one sail, their heads were shaved to the crown and the hair on the back was plaited into tresses... In his endnote ^7 Gavin incorrectly cites Professor Hummel as the source of this statement. However, see Keddie, page 18, the source is shown as Jochelson (1933: 15). (Jochelson, Waldmar, 1933, History, Ethnology and Anthropology of the Aleut, Publication 432. Carnegie Institute of Washington DC) Further, Gavin neglected to include the entire story provided by the Aleut boy. The men gave them iron, needles and leaf-tobacco (which they did not want) in exchange for sea-otter skins. Keddie states the gift of tobacco suggests a post 1600 AD date for the visit. And also that head-shaving and hair-braiding was practiced by the Nanays of the Amur River region from the mid 17th century, the possible visitors/traders. In just a few sentences Gavin confused and got his source citations wrong, and left out the part that did not fit his agenda. The stone lamp was from era 100 B.C.; the coin was recent and common; and the men dressed in long many colored silk dated to 1600 AD, or possibly later. None of this evidence is congruent with a visit by a fleet of junks in 1421. But this is not news, nor surprising, weve seen this sort of nonsense before. I could go on and on, open the book to almost any page and you are likely to find more examples of incredible nonsense. But, enough is enough. And, dont we know enough now to conclude that 1421 is just another hoax, a lengthy and continuing exercise in flimflammery that belongs on the fiction list? The evidence is just overwhelming. In this article Bill Hartz takes a detailed look at some of Gavin Menzies "evidence" for a Chinese circumnavigation of the planet in the early 15th Century and concludes "We speculate Gavin had the dream first, and then went looking for evidence to prove it real, couldn't find any, so he just made it up." About The Hall of Ma'at