Holland, if any lesson for the future can
be learned in history, must in a few years find her fate linked with
that of Germany, and so too her colonies. I will not now enlarge upon
the prospect thus opened, but it is a suggestive one, and worthy of all
possible attention. For the moment the Malays stand rather apart from
other pilgrims at the shrines. They boast no great school of theology or
particular religious complexion; and as pilgrims they are held in rather
low esteem from their penurious ways. But they are a dark element in the
future, which it is equally easy to under as to over rate. Originally
converted by, and to a certain degree descended from, Arabs, they are,
as far as I could learn, followers of the Shafite teaching, and inclined
to the broad rather than the narrow ways of Islam. They number,
according to the Dutch consular agent at Jeddah, thirty million souls,
and are increasing rapidly both in Java and in the other islands of the
Malay archipelago.
Another enigma are the Chinese. I saw a few of them in the streets, and
made inquiries as to them. But I could gain no certain information. I
have heard them estimated as high as twenty millions and as low as five,
but it is certain that they are very numerous.
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