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 of all the Mohammedans, who resort to those parts. Upon festival days he performs the public services with the Mohammedans, and pronounces the sermon or kotbat, which he concludes, in the usual form, with prayers for the Soltan of the Moslems. The merchants of Irak who trade hither, are no ways dissatisfied with his conduct, or his administration in the post he is invested with; because his actions, and the judgments he gives, are just and equitable, and conformable to the Koran, and according to the Mohammedan jurisprudence."

The same writer remarks, in another part of his work, that 'he knows not that there is any one of the Chinese who has embraced Mohammedanism or speaks Arabic.' One of the Mohammedans of Canton, whom we recently met, assured us that, the ancestors of his clan came to Canton in the time of Tih-tsung, whose reign closed A. D. 805; and that they take no pains to propagate their religion, believing that man is formed by fate, to live and die in the same faith in which he was born. Concerning the course to China, Renaudot remarks,

At the present time, no Arabian Ships, as such, come to China; nor do any Chinese ships reach Calcutta, though they are frequently seen, and in considerable numbers, at Penang, Bankok, and in many of the ports of the Eastern Archipelago. The following is an abridged account of the course to Cliina, as given by the first traveller.

'As for the places whence ships depart, and those also they touch at, many persons declare that, the navigation is performed in the following order. Most of the Chinese ships take in their cargo at Siraf, where also they ship their goods which come from Bassora, and other ports; and this they do, because in this sea, there are frequent storms, and shoal water in many places. When ships have loaded at Siraf, they there water also; and from thence make sail for a place called Maskat, which is in the extremity of the province of Oman, about 200 leagues from Siraf. From Maskat ships take their departure for the Indies: and first they touch at Kaucammali; and from Maskat to this place, is a month's sail with the wind aft. Kaucammali is a frontier place, and the chief arsenal in