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258 PHYSICAL HISTORY OF MAN. 



and had opened shops. A Bombay ship at the anchorage, was 

 laden principally with Surat cloth; and had on board about forty 

 merchants ; each of them, as in the Chinese junks, having the charge 

 of his own wares. 



The larger edifices at Mocha, are built in much the same style as 

 those of Cairo, except that there is greater refinement of architectural 

 ornament. This was traced to the workmen of India : and I soon 

 perceived, that the Arabs here, as every where, are a rude people, and 

 that all the arts requiring skill and ingenuity, belong properly to Hin- 

 doostan. On proposing to have an umbrella covered, I was told, 

 that this " could not be done ; because the people of Mocha, are 

 not India people." 



I met with a class of individuals called Persians, who are noted as 

 the fairest Orientals that come to Mocha; and who appeared to me 

 to have close affinity with the Indian Muslims. One of them 

 accosted me in English, and among other matters, stated that " he 

 was from Iraun, and that the English and his countrymen were 

 friends :" although a person of much intelligence, he had never 

 before heard of America, and he was evidently at a loss to com- 

 prehend where it could be situated. I met with another of these 

 Persians, immediately after he had performed a surgical operation ; 

 and to my surprise, he described the ' couching of the cataract ;' but 

 I did not undo the bandages to verify his account. 



At Bombay, and throughout my journey in the interior of India, 

 I found myself always at a distance from the seat of arts above 

 alluded to; and my inquiries now placed it to the northward, and in 

 the direction of the Indus. Other attendant circumstances, taken in 

 connexion with the geographical position of the Upper Indus, seem 

 to point yet further east. 



Bombay, appears to be the headquarters of the Indian Muslims; 

 and I remarked among them, various evidence of Persian descent, 

 as in the custom of child marriages. Polygamy is rare, even among 

 the wealthy ; but their religion has been much corrupted ; " they 

 have saints, and they address prayers to Mohammed, and even to 

 Ali." I was informed, however, that four castes of Muslims are 

 recognised at Bombay; who all eat together, but who will not in- 

 termarry. 



It has been sometimes asserted, that the boatmen of the western 

 coast of Hindoostan are all Muslims. Exceptions, however, must be 



