Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 2.djvu/357

OF MAHOMEDANISM IN JAVA. 313 the Javanese to have been converted to the Maho- medan religion on the capture of Mojopahit ; and her tomb, still reckoned a holy shrine, and attend- ed by Moslem priests, is pointed out near the ruins of the city. In a visit made to this place in 1815, we discovered, unfortunately for this account, the date iS'iO, distinctly inscribed on the tomb, eighty years before the destruction of the city, and as many at least before the reputed death of the prin- cess. As to the revolting account of the birth of Ra- dep Fatah ^ in which a father, and a king, is repre- sented as giving his pregnant wife in marriage to his own son, it was probably the fabrication of a later age, determined, at all hazards, to give a' royal pedigree to the founder of the Mahomedan reli- gion. All that is important in the history of the intro- duction of Mahomedanism is told in a few words. The Mahomedans, in the course of several ages, had accumulated in considerable numbers. Many of them were persons who had seen the manners of other nations : all were superior in intelligence to the natives, and were capable of acting in combi- nation for a great end ; — they were actuated by a religious zeal, and, at length, found an ambitious, persevering, and able leader. The aboriginal bar- barians of Java, less active and civilized, with a re- ligion which never laid a strong hold of the imagi-