Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 2.djvu/351

 OF MAHOMED ANISM IN JAVA. 307 islanders to Mahomedanism there is one important fact which ought to be kept in view, that the mis- sionaries who brought about this revolution were not alien strangers, unconnected and unprepared, but supple agents disciplined for their enterprise, by a knowledge of the language, character, and manners of the people. We see that in Java the road had been paved for the introduction of Mahomedanism, by a whole century's acquaintance, a period during which would have been bred up a number of use- ful inferior agents to aid the efforts of the principal actors. The discreet forbearance of the Maho- medan missionaries, and the many essential doc- trines and practices of their faith, which they compromised, show that, however vulgar and une- ducated, they were no intemperate zealots, but men who understood the art of governing mankind, and whom a general knowledge of mankind and necessity had taught to substitute dexterity and cunning for open force. The principal state in Java, at the period of the conversion, was the kingdom of Mojopahit, and the name of the ruling monarch, it is agreed on all hands, was BrowijoT/o, * The principal agents in the work of conversion were Shekh Rahmat, the son of an Arab priest, by a woman compound epithet, meaning Bramah the Victorious,
 * A contraction, it is said, of Bramah-Wijaya, a Sanskrit