Doughty's Arabia Deserta. 2 vols. (Cambridge, 1888.) Joh. Hauri, Der Islam in seinem Einfluss u. z. w. (Leiden, 1881.) Mengin, Précis de l'Histoire des Wahabys. (Paris, 1823.) Wellsted's Travels in Arabia. (London, 1838.) Whitelock's " Journey in Oman." Account of Arabs who inhabit the coast between Ras el Kheimah and Abothabee. (In Journal Bombay Geog. Soc., 1836-1838.) Nöldeke, Sketches from Eastern History. (London, 1892.) La Chatelier, L'Islam au XIXe siècle. (Paris, 1888.) Niemann, Inleiding Art de kennis van den Islam. (Rotterdam, 1861.) Müller, Der Islam im Morgen und Abendlande. 2 vols. (Berlin, 18851887.) Hubert Jansen, Verbreitung des Islams. (Berlin, 1897.) DISCUSSION. The CHAIRMAN. Is there any lady or gentleman who would like to make any remarks on the paper that has just been read? The SECRETARY.-I may mention that the author of this paper is a Christian missionary in the Persian Gulf. He has written this paper and sent it to us, having a great knowledge of the subject and having actual contact with these various Mohammedan sects, and I think we are much indebted to him for this voluminous statement of the history of the Wahābîs. The CHAIRMAN.-I think this is a very interesting account of this Mohammedan sect. They may, it seems to me, be regarded as Puritans in their having effected a certain amount of reform by their austerity and so forth in regard to the habits of Oriental nations. On this point their fanaticism is probably even more pronounced than that of the true Mohammedans. I went last Wednesday and heard Professor Margoliouth comparing the Bible with other religious books; and in the course of his remarks he spoke of the Mohammedans and their book, the Koran, and one of the things he pointed out, which seemed to me to be a very sensible and just remark to make, was that in Mohammedanism there is this one thing, which was also the case in certain other sects, that the religion seems to have been instituted for the glorification of one man, viz., Mohammed. Christianity, on the other hand, and in fact the writers of the books of the Bible in general, cannot be said by any means to have gained in a worldly way, or in any unworthy way, by the religion which they put forward, and which we believe to be the true one. Rev. G. F. WHIDBORNE, M.A., etc.-I suppose this paper was written last year, Mr. Chairman ? The SECRETARY.-Yes. Rev. G. F. WHIDBORNE.-Because in the fifth line on the first page the author refers to "the middle of the last century," which looks like an anachronism. I suppose he means the middle of the eighteenth century. The SECRETARY.-Yes. Dr. H. W. HUBBARD.-Some years ago I was travelling in the wild districts of North Africa, and I came in contact with a large caravan of pilgrims to Mecca, and amongst them I remember hearing there were Wahābîs, and I chatted with them, but I must tell you that they were in a very low social state. They were not allowed to change their clothes for the term of pilgrimage. I was afraid at first to go amongst them. I went over with Colonel Pakenham from Gibraltar to North Africa. They were very lightly clothed. It was very hot weather, and they only had vessels containing water made out of bullocks' skins; each I do not suppose contained more than two or three gallons of water. Every man had a skin of water, his only possession, and they were not allowed to wash until they arrived at Mecca. We bought two or three daggers and some steel beads of them; so they were inclined to be sociable and were very peaceable. The SECRETARY.-I should like to mention, Mr. Chairman, that although I have not been in Mecca myself, I have been not very far from it. I was associated with an expedition to the Arabian Peninsula, and when we were encamped at Akabah we were startled, one day, by an extraordinary noise of drums and loud. shouting, and on looking out from our tents we saw a large party of pilgrims just returning from Mecca. We did not feel very comfortable, for they were known nct to be celebrated for their extreme honesty, or even for leaving the property of the native Arabs of the district untouched when they were found in a sufficiently helpless condition not to resist. The condition of Mecca, the shrine of these pilgrims, appears by all accounts to be deplorable. I think we may consider that Mohammedanism is the greatest impediment on the face of the globe to progress of any kind, either religious, moral, social, or intellectual. The only advantage it has been to the world is that it is a monotheistic religion. "There is one God and Mohammed is His prophet." That is something that we owe to Mohammedanism, and it is that which gives to it a great force against idolatry of all kinds—in fact, it has been believed to have been a scourge sent by God to purge idolatrous Christendom as well as other idolatrous peoples; but the state of it, morally, socially, and intellectually, is most deplorable; and it is generally supposed that cholera, which is the annual scourge of Egypt and other Eastern countries, has its source in Mecca, where thousands of pilgrims from Northern Africa assemble every year, and where the sanitary arrangements are absolutely nil. The wells are choked with filth; and is it any wonder that it is the centre and seat of perpetual cholera and plagues, such as arise from filth and insanitary conditions? This is the state in which uncontrolle Mohammedanism has left these countries; and it would be the greatest blessing to society in that part of the world if the Christian countries (including Egypt under its present régime) were to combine and say that these pilgrimages have been going on too long; they are a danger to society and ought to be put down with a strong hand. Mr. MARTIN L. ROUSE.-I quite agree with Professor Hull that these pilgrimages ought to be put down. Three or four years ago there was such a terrible outbreak of cholera at Mecca, and such a vast number of pilgrims died there, that the corpses tainted the air too terribly for anyone to dare go near to bury them. The people went on dying and poisoning one another until a large body of Turkish soldiery was sent and compelled to bury the dead. 66 I think it is a very remarkable fact that whereas Christianity is taunted by sceptics with having split itself up into so many sects, we find just the same process of the human mind going on in the false religion of Mohammed; for here we are told that in the eighteenth century over one hundred and fifty heretical Moslem sects are enumerated by writers of that period." Again, whereas it is charged against the denominations of Christianity, falsely, save in the case of the Roman Catholics, that they all think that their own sect alone can be saved, it is here stated that one of the traditional sayings of Mohammed authenticated by the Wahabis was, "My people will be divided into seventy-three sects, every one of which will go to hell except one sect." And this sect the Wahabîs thought was their own, by the name they actually used in India-" The Sect of the Converted." The SECRETARY.—I thought that was a quotation from Mohammed himself. Mr. ROUSE.-Yes; a traditional quotation. Another remarkable thing is that just as Christianity became corrupted by getting into high places, and men of rank and wealth were admitted into it, whether they were truly converted persons or not, and many lesser divinities were worshipped in the shape of saints, so was it with Mohammedanism; for we find that the Wahabis protested against the worship of holy men who had long previously had shrines erected to them. And lastly we find that that particular mechanical instrument of prayer, the rosary, which Roman Catholics took to many years ago, is declared by this writer to have been adopted from Mohammedans, who in turn got it from the Buddhists. I can testify to the fact that the Buddhists use it, and "holy water" also, from personal observation among a caravan of Buddhist Kuhnucks. [A vote of thanks has been proposed to the author and duly carried. The meeting adjourned.] ORDINARY GENERAL MEETING.* EDWARD S. M. PEROWNE, ESQ., IN THE CHAIR. The Minutes of the last Meeting were read and confirmed, and the following elections took place : MEMBERS:-Edmund C. P. Hull, Esq., J.P., Surrey; Ernest Romney Matthews, Esq., C.E., F.G.S., Bridlington. : The following paper was read by the Author : THE ARAB IMMIGRATION INTO SOUTH-EAST MADAGASCAR. By Rev. GEORGE A. SHAW, F.Z.S. THE SACRED BOOKS, CUSTOMS, AND TRADITIONS OF THE TAIMORO TRIBE. HILE all writers on the ethnology of Madagascar are WHILE fairly in accord as to the origin of the principal tribes, the Hóva and Bétsiléo, the proximity of Africa has always caused an element of uncertainty to creep into the mind regarding the source from which the many darkerskinned tribes have sprung. Many contend that the coast tribes, the Sakalàva on the one coast, and the Bétsimisàraka on the other, have a decidedly African cast of feature and formation of cranium; and this has apparently been borne out by measurements and investigations made by Dr. Hildebrandt in the somewhat limited tract of country through which he travelled. But against this has to be put the fact, that the more perfectly the island is explored, the more convinced are those who are in a position to give an opinion of any value, that the language of the various tribes is one and the same, and that the many varieties in pronunciation and syntax are simply dialectic, and do not represent radically different languages. That an African element is present in the island no one can deny, but it has * Monday, 20th May, 1901. |