1923.] St. Thomas and San Thomé, Mylapore. 233 
Disappointed, they informed the Cholias about the mysterious 
box. Th er were overjoyed when they were able to take 
possession very easily, the box having ceased its obstinate 
tendencies. They tried to lift it and remove it to a better 
position : but the box could not be shifted, in spite of all their 
physical efforts. Finally they resolved upon opening it at the 
very spot, and, when they did so, to their great surprise and 
awe, they found a corpse fresh and prepared for burial. They 
found a chit' in the cask, which said that the dead man was 
an inhabitant of Mecca, a disciple of the Prophet, and that, due 
to reasons of his own, he had ordained his family to put him 
in a box and throw it into the Red Sea; and it instructed the 
finders of the box to bury him on the spot where it halted. 
From the chit it was apparent that the box must have been float- 
ting up and down for about 500 years without being shattered 
and putrified. 
‘‘ But the Cholias were in a great fix as to how the body could 
be buried on the spot, since it was in the bed of the ocean. 
To their great surprise the sea was found to have receded 
about a furlong off. Accordingly, the corpse was buried with 
Cholias, and enjoy them to the present day, paying a yearly 
tribute to the Cholias, the original finders of the box.” 
oes it not look as if the Cholia Muslims were apostate 
Christians, who had a Church at Covalong dedicated to St. 
Thomas, and that the traditions of Mylapore have been per- 
verted by them ? 

seventh centur 
e illustration occurs in a MS. letter by Fr. Anthony 
Monserrate, S J., written from Cochin in 1579, addressed to the 


1 (Letter.) 
