Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 2.djvu/318

 27i STATE OF CHRISTIANITY Both the Portuguese and Dutch supported schools in the Moluccas fca* religious instruction, and an allowance of rice was given to the students, which appears to have been the great inducement to frequent them, from whence it is that the Dutch often ludicrously denominate the native converts rice Christians. Valentyn quotes one case in which the reduction of the usual supply was the cause of dispersing all the students ; and anothei', more fa- vourable to the native character, in which the scho- lars absented themselves, because the preacher spoke bad and unintelligible Malay to them ! The Portuguese and Spanish adventurers, who first visited the Archipelago, were deeply tinctur- ed with the religious frenzy, bigotry, and intole- rance of their age and nations, and no sooner had intercourse with the islanders than they began the work of conversion. The illustrious Magellan himself set the example, and, indeed, fell a sacrifice to his imprudent zeal on this subject- Many circumstances contributed to frustrate the effects of this zeal. The instructors were ignorant of the language, the habits, and manners of the natives, — the manners of Europe were at direct variance with those of the east, — the Europeans, by their intemperance, and, above all, by their avarice and rapacity, brought their religion into odium, — and it happened unluckily that but a very little time before the commencement of their in-