Page:Christianity in China, Tartary, and Thibet Volume I.djvu/102

90 China, visiting the Christians of those distant countries, and settling at last near a Chinese monk, for the purpose of devoting himself to the religious exercises which he practised. The dialogue between Abraham of Bassora and the Chinese monk would certainly afford details of the greatest interest, with respect to the state of Christianity in those countries, and we have made many attempts to obtain this precious Arabic MS., but unfortunately without success.

The literature of the Arabs is, in fact, the only one that can bring us on the track of the propagation of the Gospel in the far East. It has already afforded us several important indications; and it is also from it we learn what became of the disciples of Olopen, of whom mention is made in the inscription of Si-ngan-Fou. The presence of Christians in China in the ninth century, has been noticed by Renaudot, in an Arabic narrative of a voyage to India, which he translated first, and which was long erroneously attributed to the celebrated historian Massoudi. This part of the narrative is by an intelligent and well-informed man, named Abou-Zeyd Hassan de Syraf. He speaks from the information of an eye-witness, Ibn Vahab, a Mussulman merchant of Bassora, who had visited not only the ports of China, but also the imperial city Si-ngan-Fou, situated at the distance of two months' journey from the sea.

In the pages of the Arab writer we find a very curious incident, which proves that there existed in China a tolerably accurate knowledge of Jesus Christ and his apostles. The author relates that Ibn Vahab arrived at Si-ngan-Fou, and was introduced into the Imperial palace. The Emperor, after having interrogated him on the affairs of the West, commanded the interpreter