Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 3.djvu/178

 IG'S COMMERCE WITH first known to the Chinese or not, it looks as if they made the Chinese known to the Indian islanders, which, in a practical view, amounts to the same thing. It is pretended that the Chinese were ac- quainted with the mariner*s compass, and it is hence argued that they must have been great na- vigators, and made distant voyages. It might as well be insisted upon, that, because they were ac- quainted with an imperfect kind of printing, they must necessarily have made the same use of this noble invention that the European nations have done. If they were acquainted with the compass, and turned their knowledge of the polarity of the magnetic needle to any useful purpose, the Arabs who lived among them, converted many of them to their religion, and for centuries carried on a busy trade with them, could not, by any possibility, be ignorant of so great a discovery. These Arabs, after between at least six and seven hundred years intercourse with the Chinese, were still, as is well known, unacquainted with the compass when Vasco di Gama doubled the Cape of Good Hope, yet immediately after borrowed it from the Europeans. It is probable that the Chinese, as well as the Arabs, made a coasting voyage to the Indian islands ; and that the shorter and safe voyage which they now pursue they have both been in- structed in by Europeans. This circumstance is strongly corroborated by a well-knovm fact, which