. Narrative of the expedition of an American squadron to the China seas and Japan. are doubtless descendants of the abo-rigines of the island, there are the Malabars, whom tradition traces to theneighboring shores of India, and whose religion and social characteristicswould seem to connect them with that country. They are Hindoos, and pre-serve their religion and system of caste, together with the costumes of theiroriginal country, as well as their language, somewhat modified, however, bytheir relation with the Cingalese. The neighboring islands and continentssupply a population of Mahommedans
. Narrative of the expedition of an American squadron to the China seas and Japan. are doubtless descendants of the abo-rigines of the island, there are the Malabars, whom tradition traces to theneighboring shores of India, and whose religion and social characteristicswould seem to connect them with that country. They are Hindoos, and pre-serve their religion and system of caste, together with the costumes of theiroriginal country, as well as their language, somewhat modified, however, bytheir relation with the Cingalese. The neighboring islands and continentssupply a population of Mahommedans or Moors to Ceylon, and they aboundin several parts of the country, where in the various orders into which theirlaw of caste divides them, they carry on a prosperous business as weavers,fisliermen, merchants, and bakers. They are among tlie most enterprisingand thriving of the population, and their well known skill and industry havesecured them much of the commercial wealth and influence of the island. The native language of the aborigines is peculiar to themselves, but their. i -: RELIGION OF CEYLON. 145 writings are in Sanscrit or Pali. A provincial dialect of Portuguese is,however, generally spoken by those natives who have passed their lives inthe European portions of the island. The Christian religion was introduced at a very early period into Cey-lon. It has been supposed that the apostle Saint Thomas preached there;however this may be, there is but little doubt that the Nestorians accompa-nied the Persian merchants, many years ago, to the island, and made convertsthere and established Christianity. On the arrival, however, of the Portu-guese navigators, there were no remnants of those churches which are said tohave existed in Ceylon in the sixth century. The zealous Francis Xavier,the Roman Catholic missionary, however, was the first, by his earnest preach-ing and proselyting energies, to establish the Christian religion permanentlyon the island, and most of that faith
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