235 
1895.] Sayyad Ilahl Ba Jchsh al J^usainl Angrezabadi. 
Bombay Geographical Society are rather scarce. They are not to bo 
found in the British Museum or the Library of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1 
but are in the India Office Library. 
Extract from Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society. 2 
“ They (the islanders) have a tradition that about 400 years ago, the 
Muhammadan religion was introduced amongst them by a man whose name 
was Tabriz, or whose country was so-called. The probability is, that the 
latter was the case. 
“ The tomb of this person, which is pointed out in Male, is held in great 
veneration, and always kept in goodlrepair. Some time afterwards, Chris¬ 
tians (doubtless the Portuguese) came there, and propagated the tenets of 
their faith, but they were soon expelled by one of their own chiefs, who 
belonged to Attol Zilla Don Matee, and who re-established Muhammadanism 
amongst them, on a secure footing. Tabriz, they say, came from Persia; 
and they state that shortly after his death, some of his countrymen, who 
came in search of him, remained, and when they died, were buried on the 
south-east point of the island. From the Persians, the islanders learned 
many songs in the language of that people, which are still sung, although not 
understood. The tambourine, it was also said, was brought there by them. 
We visited the graves of the Persians, and counted about sixty, only two of 
which had inscriptions *that were legible, and bearing date 994th year of 
the Hijra, which would make them 257 years old. 3 One of these being in 
appearance less old than the other graves, it seemed probable that it was not 
the depository of the remains of any of the first settlers, but of those of 
one of their descendants. The Fandiarhee 4 has many Persian manuscripts, 
but only one could be procured by us.” 
Mr. Gray in his translation of the voyage of Pyrard of Laval has 
given an abstract of Young and Christopher’s account, but he has adopted 
the faulty date of J677, and has made some incorrect inferences there- 
§ 
1 The volume has since been found in the R. A. S. Library. 
2 Memoir on the inhabitants of the Maldiva Islands by Lieutenant J. A. Young, 
and Mr. W. Christopher, I, p. 54. 
3 Messrs. Young and Christopher were on the island in 1834-35. Their figures 
are nearly right, for 994 A. H. is 1586 and 1834-257 corresponds to 1577. Mr. Gray 
seems inadvertently to have read 157 for 257, for he gives the English date as 1677. 
4 The Fandiarhee is an officer next in authority to the Sultan, and who shares 
with him in the respect and veneration of the people. In him are united the two 
offices of head of the Church and Chief Magistrate. The reverence with which he 
is regarded, indicates the sincerity in them of the Muhammadan tenets. His deci¬ 
sions as Magistrate are always received with deference, and the natives in general 
shew that they entertain a high sense of the importance of his duties, particularly 
that of interpreter of the Koran, he being the only person amongst them who has 
a competent knowledge of the Arabic for a purpose considered so necessary (p. 70). 
(Ibn Batutah calls this officer Famaldari. Perhaps the word comes from fahm , 
intelligence, but it seems more likely that it is a corruption of Faujdar. It may also 
be ‘Amildar). 
