Page:The Chinese Repository - Volume 01.djvu/20

 REVIEW.

the city of Canton, the traveller sees rising before him, within the walls, two lofty pagodas; one of which he perceives, as he comes near to them, is quite different from the other, and from those which he saw when coming up the river. On inquiry concerning this singular one, he might be informed that, it is a Mohammedan mosque, built about a thousand years ago; that, at the present time, a community of several hundred souls, with books and teachers of that faith, live near the mosque; and that, some of the teachers are able to write the Arabic character with a tolerable degree of correctness. Still further he might be informed, by those who travelled from Peking to Canton in 1818, that, Mohammedans were found in every part of their journey, and frequently holding stations in the government.

These few facts would, perhaps, induce him to inquire again. At what time, and in what way, did the Mohammedans enter China? And, what records are there, that will give information on this subject? The account given by the two travellers is worthy of notice, not only in reference to these inquiries, but, because, it will serve to illustrate the character of the Chinese at an early period. The origin of this very ancient people, and their intercourse, in former times, with the nations of the West, are topics of great interest, about which we shall be glad to receive information.

During the early periods of the Christian era, while the fires of genius shone bright on the banks of the Nile and the Tiber, and the Ptolomies were collecting from the four quarters of the earth, many of the most splendid works of taste and erudition, the rays of science suddenly took a new direction, and Arabia was the place where they met. Although the career of "the Prophet and Apostle of God," the son of