Queer questions and ready replies

by Samuel Grant Oliphant

180. When and by whom was the Pacific Ocean discovered?

During the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, Marco Polo and his successors travelled far to the East, and came to an ocean of unknown extent; and they partially explored its western coast. But it was not until nearly two centuries after this, that the existence of this great ocean was established to Europeans; and the honor of its discovery justly belongs to Vasco Nuñez de Balbao, or Balboa, the leader of a Spanish party exploring the Isthmus of Panama, who, on the 29th of September, 1513, saw, from the summit of a mountain, a vast ocean to the west. Balbao prostrated himself upon the ground; then, rising to his knees, he thanked God “it had pleased his Divine Majesty to reserve unto that day the victory and praise of so great a thing unto him.” When he reached the coast he advanced waist-deep into the waves, drew his sword, and swore, as a true knight, that he would defend it, with its coast, islands, and all that it contained, for his master, the king of Spain. Because he discovered it on Michaelmas day, Balbao named it the Golfo de San Miguel.

181. What sect believes in the existence of one hundred and thirty-six hells?

According to Buddhist belief, there are, situated in the interior of the earth, one hundred and thirty-six hells. These places of punishment have a regular gradation in the intensity of the suffering and the length of time the sufferers live, the least term of life being ten millions of years, the longer terms being almost beyond the powers of even Indian notation to express. But however long the life, it has an end, and at its close the individual must be born again.

182. What are the sacred writings of the Buddhists called?

The Tripitaka (i. e., “Triple Basket”) is the Bible of Buddhism. It contains one hundred and sixteen volumes, and is divided into three classes: the Sutra, or discourses of Buddha; the Vinaya, or discipline, and the Abhidharma, or metaphysics. They contain sublime, moral, and pure aspirations, and their author lived and died in the sixth century B. C. Buddhism has now existed for nearly twenty-five centuries, and may be said to be the prevailing religion of the world, as its adherents are estimated at from 400,000,000 to 500,000,000 souls,—more than one third of the human race.

183. What are the sacred writings of the Chinese called?

King (i. e., “The Books”) is the collective name of the canonical works of the adherents of Confucius. It is divided into five books. These are the Yih-King, or the Book of Changes,—originally a cosmological essay, now, curiously enough, regarded as a treatise on ethics; Shu-King, or the Book of Annals,—a history of the deliberations between the Emperors Yayu and Shun, and other personages, called by Confucius the Ancient Kings, and for whose maxims and actions he had the highest veneration; the Shi-King, or the Book of Songs,—a book of sacred songs, consisting of three hundred and eleven poems, the best of which every well-educated Chinaman gets by heart; the Le-King, or the Book of Rites,—the foundation of Chinese manners, prescribing, as it does, the ceremonies to be observed in all the relationships of life, and the great cause of the unchangeableness and artificiality of Chinese habits; and the Chun-tsien,—a history by Confucius of his own times, and those which immediately preceded him. These works stand at the head of the vast literature of the Chinese, and constitute the sacred books of about 80,000,000 of people.

184. What are the sacred books of the ancient Scandinavians called?

The Eddas are the sacred books of the old Scandinavian tribes. There are two works which bear this name,—the Edda Sæmundar hins Froda, or Edda of Sæmund the Wise, and the Edda Snorri Sturlusonar. The former, and older of these, contains the mythology of the Scandinavians, with some historical narrations of a romantic cast, embodied in thirty-nine poems, of unknown authorship and date, which were collected by Sæmund Sigfusson, surnamed Frodi, an Icelandic priest, 1054–1133. The second is a collection of the myths of the gods, and of explanations of the types and metres of the pagan poetry, intended for the instruction of the young skalds, or poets. It is chiefly in prose, and is the work of several authors, although ascribed to Snorri Sturleson, 1178–1241. The name Edda, which means great-grandmother (i. e., of Scandinavian poetry), was applied to these works by Brynjolf Svendson, bishop of Skalholt, by whom they were discovered and first brought before the notice of European scholars in 1643.