To put this matter in the clearest light possible, Renaudot stops here to "survey the extent" of the Mohammedan empire, at the time under consideration; and then says;
"But this way by land, whether by Saraarcand, by Cabul, by Gaznah, or by Casligar, was very impracticable in the days of our Arabs, exclusive of the natural inconveniences of the roads they were to travel. All the trade of the East was then in the hands of the merchants of Persia, Bassora, and of the coast quite down to the Red sea, which was the center of the Egyptian trade, and partly of the Mediterranean. They traded to the Indies by land, in many places, and particularly at Cabul. The product of Arabia, Egypt, Persia and the adjacent provinces, they exchanged with the, merchants of Turkestan and the Indies, for musk, precious stones, chrystals spices, and drugs; it was almost impossible for them to go farther, or to drive a trade quite home to China, because of the desert—a dangerous track; and still more because of the continual wars between the Arabs and the princes of Turkestan."
It would occupy too much time to follow the argument through all its details; the result is given in these words:—"All that has hitherto been offered, and much more that might be added, seems evidently to prove that, the Mohammedans first went to China by sea. It remains therefore that we examine into the course they steered, the nature of their navigation, the end of their voyages, and what advantages they made of them.
The learned translator brings proof positive to show that, the Arabs did not steer by the compass; and gives it as his opinion that, at first, they only went to Malabar and Ceylon, but in time venturing farther than the Romans had been, they, from isle to isle, at length discovered the shores of China. Their Kalifs never endeavoured to have potent fleets; they could have no temptation to make farther discoveries, or new conquests by sea, or to consult the interest of their trading subjects in foreign parts. Wherefore, it is very probable that the first adventurers who undertook this voyage, were urged thereto by the calamities of civil wars, which, having reduced many families to want, obliged them to seek a livelihood by trade. 'Hence we may pretty clearly discern how the Mohammedans first got into China; and it seems that they did not force an admittance as elsewhere, but, chiefly, insinuated themselves under the pretence of trade.'
The sum of the whole seems to be, that the Mohammedans came to China at a very early period of their era, both by sea and land, but chiefly by sea, and almost solely for the sake of commerce.
We have no means of ascertaining the number of Mohammedans now in China; in the western parts of the empire their number is considerable, and every where they live unmolested in the exercise of their peculiar rites. Early in the last century their number was "computed at about five hundred thousand."
From what is said of the Mohammedans, Jews, Christians, and Parsees who perished at Canfu, Renaudot discourses at length, and gives it as his opinion, that there is a great num-
