304 HISTORY OF THE PROPAGATION" The establishment of Maliomedanism in Java is just of ti4f^ years standing ; yet even this event* comparatively so modern, is involved in much of that fable and perplexity, which are ever insepar- able from the story of rude people in every age. I shall, in this chapter, endeavour to glean for the reader the true circumstances of this transaction, where they appear of sufficient consequence to merit narration. The event is an important one in the particular history of the people of whom I am rendering an account ; and so far as it illustrates the character of a people in a peculiar stage of civilization, — of consequence in the his- tory of man in general. Mahomed anism was predominant in the west- ern portion of the Archipelago, at least 150 years before it was finally established in Java. The commerce in spices, for which the western countries of the Archipelago were the emporia, attracted thither some adventurers from the Ara- bian and Persian Gulfs, at an early period, who, colonizing on the coasts, became in time fit in- struments for the propagation of the Mahomedan religion. No record whatever is preserved of any early intercourse between Arabia and Java^ but there can be little doubt but the richest and most civilized country of the Indian islands soon
