WESTERN HINDOOSTAN. 163 



day a fynagogue, near the king's palace, at a fmall diftance 

 from Cochin, where are preferved their records, engraven on 

 copper plates, in Hebrew charadters, and when any of the 

 charadlers decay, they are new cut, fo that they can fliew their 

 hiftory from the reign of Nebuchadnezzar to the prefent time. 

 The Macenas of Malabar^ M. von Rbeede, caufed thefe records 

 to be tranflated into low Dutch : The perufal would be very 

 defirabie. I truft that thefe plates were not forgeries to im- 

 pofe on the curious governor, as the famous infcription on the 

 death of the Dani/h monarch, Hardicanute, at Lambeth, w^as by 

 a witty wag, which fo capitally deceived the firft antiquaries of 

 our days *. 



That St. Thomas preached the Gofpel in India, I make no Christians in 

 doubt. He firft vifited the ifle of Socotora ; after performing 

 the orders of his Divine Mafter, he paiTed through the feveral 

 kingdoms which intervened between that ifle and "jerufakm. 

 From Socotora he landed at Cranganore, where he continued 

 fome time, and made numbers of profelytes, and, in all proba- 

 bility, eftabliflied a church government. From thence he vi- 

 fited the eaftern parts of India, and met with martyrdom at 

 Meliapour; where we fhall refume the hiftory of this great 

 Apofl:le. 



Those Chrijlians on the Malabar coaft grew into a potent 

 people ; but, if we may credit Marco Polo, p. 135, there was in 

 the centre of Itidia a country called Abafia, divided into feven 

 kingdoms, three of which were Mahometan, the other four 



^* See European Magazine, Vol. xvii. 



Vol. L Y 2 Chrijiian. 



