COPYRIGHT 1909
By Frank Chamberlain

HUDSON TERCENTENARY

Let us turn back the pages of history and takea cursory view of what gave the wonderful stimulusto maritime adventure; and what so longdelayed the discovery of the western world by theEuropeans.

Civilized mankind scarcely secures the necessariesof life before the desire for the luxuriessprings up and is cherished.

For untold centuries all of eastern Asia forbadethe entrance of foreigners into its territories. ToEuropeans it was an unknown land.

In the year 326 B. C. Alexander the Greatmarched his conquering Macedonian legionsagainst the myriads of Asiatic troops, subduedthem and marched on to the Hindus, where he“improvised a fleet” for his army, sailed downthat river, called Sacred, to the Indian ocean.Astonished at the wealth of the country and havingamassed precious gems and hundreds ofmillions of dollars he returned loaded with histreasures up the Euphrates, to that most wonderful4city of ancient times, Babylon, where he died.He opened the western doors of India, whichexposed its great wealth, excited the avarice ofthe small number of Greeks who knew of hisexploits; and for centuries it was the Europeans’Eldorado, which ultimately, by its luxury andeffeminacy, undermined western manhood and ledto the decay of Greece and Rome.

Asia, beyond the Euphrates, except by a few,was an unknown country to Europeans untilMarco Polo in 1271 A. D., in the company of hisfather and uncle, met Kublai Khan, the MongolEmperor, won his confidence and esteem and byhim was entrusted with the most important missions.During the seventeen years he remainedhe visited the most important places in China,India and the East Indies, and returned to Italyloaded with the rarest, most precious gems andimmense wealth, published a book telling hisexperience and picturing the East in the mostroseate colors, generally emanating from fancy,but in this case resting upon facts of which hewas able to furnish satisfactory proof.

The fact established that India—the EastIndies had the gold, silver, precious gems and5stones, ebony, ivory, cloves, cinnamon, cassia,spices and the most beautiful and costly fabrics,articles not obtainable elsewhere and the greatdesiderata of the Europeans, the question aroseas to how they could the most easily, quickly andcheaply be obtained. They could, without muchdifficulty, find their way to the Indian ocean, butthe transportation thence to Europe must be by“the ship of the desert,” the camel, across theArabian desert and the Isthmus of Suez, “thebridge of nations” to the Mediterranean or by amore northerly route through the Caspian andBlack seas. Caravans must be formed by themerchants and armed troops to protect themagainst the robbers. The land route by the caravanswas slow and very expensive, and the hopewas cherished that an all-water route might befound which would no

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