tion who can read in the above character, as Abdulla himself informs us. Then why not use the Roman alphabet, which is so much its superior in every respect, so easily acquired by youths, and therefore so apt to be adopted, being also the letters of the ruling race? To teach the Jawi is, in fact, neither more nor less than aiding the propagation of Arabic literature, and with it Arabic religion and influence,-this at the expense of British Christians, the supporters of the London Mission Society.

To so intelligent and inquiring a mind as that of Abdulla, the visit to the steamship must have been full of interest. I remember seeing his little book upon it. What has not science done since then? Steam is a dispersive power, and how is it not dispersing mankind all over the world, melting down even national prejudices, and mixing together the most virulently opponent sects, colours, and races. It also seems to have its mission, and its effects on the social systems will from year to year become more apparent.

Y

CONCLUDING REMARKS.

FROM the translations we may gather some inklings of the feelings and ideas of a Mahomedan native of India, of the more advanced type. His co-religionists number probably about 30,000,000; so perforce of this, as well as the intrinsic merit of his opinions, they are deserving of careful and candid consideration. There are very many wealthy Mahomedans in India, but Abdulla was not of these, his bias being a literary one,-riches for their own sake appeared to be of little consequence in his eyes. Yet from this very fact he was in a position to comment on matters openly as he found them. It will be seen that he equally animadverts on the faults of European and native rulers, the former for their avarice, the latter for their lasciviousness. In his latter years he rises almost to the standard of a prophet.

While he remained attached to the faith of his ancestors, it is plainly apparent that knowledge of another religious system had broken down his prejudices, nay, even had enlisted his sympathies. On this account he had incurred the displeasure of his neighbours for latitudinarianism.

In early youth we see him drinking from the fountain of knowledge and good morals supplied by the pioneer members of the London Mission Society at Malacca, and in early manhood his close contact with a mind

like that of Sir Stamford Raffles had inculcated humanity in its most benign phases; and thus he went on through the labours of life buoyantly for the most part, supported by his love of letters, and working in the peculiar departments intrusted to him. He seemed never to be desirous of undue gain-neglecting the future; as he expresses himself, never catching water while the rain poured. Yet we see him hopeful and energetic to the last, though his gains in the best period of his life would not exceed £150 a year, and latterly, probably not £60. Yet of such men are, politically, the most important section of our Indian fellowsubjects composed. I have known Hindoos of very much the same cast of mind, whose good qualities it is the part of a beneficent government to nurture, that the bad, forbidding, and inhumane may be subdued. No doubt their co-religionists are by far the greatest part sunk in superstition and ignorance. This fact the more tends to increase the power and influence of the intelligent-a power and influence that no Christian or European could presume to hold. Hence the vast mass of natives can only be moved at second-hand.

European governments, in subduing tropical peoples, have the climate against them. The people themselves may be humble, obedient, and teachable; but the European agency, labouring in a climate subversive of their health and constitutions, is necessarily very costly. Thus we see strong contrasts of position-the natives subsisting on mere pittances; the Europeans requiring all luxuries, and means to obtain them, to support their energy and efficiency. This cannot but be a source of dissatisfaction to the governed; and we see Abdulla slightly touches on this point, though, as he wrote for the information of Europeans as well as for natives, his remarks are. cautious and unobstrusive.

Again, there are the differences of colour, constitution, and moral and physical nature in the two peoples brought together; the two governments with which Abdulla came in contact, viz. the English and the Dutch, being virtually democratic, while the natives of the tropics tend to autocracy or a patriarchical system. Further, the agents of these governments, in the shape of the servants of the East India Companies, were, more especially in their early periods, derived from an extreme levelling stratum of society, viz. city tradesmen. Thus we have instances of utter callousness to the habits, prejudices, and time-honoured institutions of their tropical subjects. The case of the Dutch burying the remains of Raja Hajie (if true) in a pig-sty is one instance; that of the Resident of Singapore breaking down the walls of the Sultan's court, passing streets through it, and jostling the corners of the very mosque, is another. These acts of privileged sons of grocers and tea-dealers contrast badly with the eminent grace, condescension, and delicate urbanity of English genius in its highest phase, as noticed by Abdulla in the act of a member of the upper stratum of the nation, viz. Lord Minto. To a people whose social and political proclivities are in favour of princely government, the doings of the former were obnoxious in the extreme, and calculated to call forth their inward execrations; while the doings of the latter had the most benign result on the affections of the people, and which even to this day are remembered and recounted.

Again, the moral standards of a tropical people are precisely the opposite to our own in regard to slavery and polygamy. The differences are irreconcilable and never to be fully adjusted, whatever mutual concession may do. On these subjects their nervous system is less delicately strung, so they do not see as we see. And here we see how apt the tropical native is in apparent con

cession to the bent of his master, though he irrevocably reserves his own judgment. This is characteristically shown in Abdulla's account of the Singapore slave trade (which is supposed to be repressed). Whether his account is in good faith or in irony, it is difficult to decide, his words and sentences are so well balanced. Yet the result of that trade he demonstrates most clearly to have been most advantageous to the subjects themselves; they, in his account, having obtained by their transportation much more favourable settlements than they could have ever expected in their native homes. And here an old rule of philosophy tells the cause. That which is vacant must be replenished: nature abhors a vacuum. Women were the most crying want of a settlement composed almost entirely of males, and trade alleviated the want in its own rude, unfeeling, and mercenary way; but evil is always balanced by good, so good came out of evil.

When people do not and will not work for wages, it is impossible to convince the stronger or more powerful that they must go without forced help from the males, or forced compliance with their desires from the females. No doubt it is very wrong in European eyes; but we state facts as they are, and not as they ought to be in our notions. Here, again, we revert to Abdulla's lifelike description of one of the dilemmas occasioned by the encounter of opposite sentiments, and we also perceive that his words are so well chosen, that his sarcasm can only be detected by the experienced. In this case, the Malay Sultan, relying on the faith of the promise of his white friends, had remained in the territory he had made over to the British. On this the females of his harem bolt from him, and he applies to the Resident to send them back. To native ideas, nothing would have been more proper than that this should be effected. But no; his Majesty is bluffly told that on British soil his harem