harbours, and even of tolerably safe anchoring
ground. This has kept away the IVTahomedan
merchants, by whose means Islam was propagated
in the other countries of the Archipelago. At
present the Balinese, without hating the Mahome-
dan religion, or persecuting its followers, show no
small degree of jealousy of it.
CHAPTER III.
CHARACTER OF MAHOMEDANISM IN T H E INDIAN
A R CH IPELA G O ,
Indian Islanders throughout are o f the orthodox creed, fo llowing
almost invariably the doctrines o f Shafihi— The
doctrines o f the Imams have never found their way into the
Archipelago— Malays considered among their neighbours
the best Mahomedans— In religious sentiment all the tribes
are liberal and tolerant— State o f Mahomedanism in Java.
— The Mahomedan Festivals o f Java modifications o f the
ancient Hindu ones. A Mahomedan Festival in Java de-
scribed— Javanese Priests, their duties and offices— Lower
orders o f the Indian Islanders singularly inattentive both
to the positive and negative precepts o f the Koran. Anecdotes
in illustration of this.
T h e Indian islanders first received the religion of
Mahomed from the orthodox land of Arabia, and
the flame has been kept alive by the intercourse
which has since subsisted with that country. All
the tribes and nations of the Archipelago are,
therefore, necessarily, nominally of the orthodox
faith. Of the four great divisions of Mahome