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tered by this dog since his advent to civilisation had been a Chinaman? Science alone can decide.

Crossing the Willamette River next morning, and taking their places in a railway car, the travellers continued their southern journey.

ranged to the satisfaction of all parties: the bag weighed twenty pounds, the dog eighty; as the passengers were permitted to carry sixty pounds, forty was charged to the dog, and eight dollars duly registered against him. These matters having been settled, dog and man took their places on the box-seat, and at

The line lay up the valley of the Willamette. As the morning drew towards mid-eight o'clock on the evening of the 30th of day, the clouds gathered away into the June, the coach rolled slowly away from the mountains, and the broad country lying at village of Roseburg. either side of the road spread out its corn and fruit, its trees and flowers beneath the summer sun. By orchards which drooped with fruit, by forests whose flowering shrubs filled the underbush, through wide, far-reaching green meadows, over prairies where great herds of cattle stood, and troops of horses galloped in a vain race against the steamhorse-they held on through a long summer's day. Now and again the line crossed some sparkling snow-fed river, and oftentimes, at the end of some long vista of plain or cultivated ground, a snow-clad peak of the Cascades rose towering aloft-the single Mount Jeffreson, the triple-peaked Sisters, or nameless ridges whose pine-clad sides and icy summits guarded this "happy valley" of the Willamette.

Evening found the travellers at Roseburg, the end of the railway. Here a coach was to continue the journey for three hundred miles until the railway system of the Sacramento valley would be reached at Redding. Before the door of a wooden building a coach stood ready for the road-the express agent, the driver, the clerk of the way-bill, and the numerous other loafing functionaries who form such an important feature in road transport in the Western states, were present either inside the building or at its door; an inner room contained supper for the passengers, who were duly admonished to look alive over the melancholy meal. Meantime the loafing community held debate among themselves upon the amount which should be charged upon the dog's passage to more southern lands. Various propositions were put forth and negatived for charging halffare, full fare, and no fare. At length the clerk of the way-bill spoke with the decision natural to his high and important office. "Charge him as extra baggage," said this sagacious functionary. The small hand-bag carried by the man was now placed in the scale and the dog was induced to take his seat beside it, but no sooner did the side on which he sat begin to swing to the adjust ment of the weights than he was out on the ground again. Finally, the matter was ar

Darkness came down on the hills of Southern Oregon, and all the long night through the coach jolted along a road of intolerable roughness. Every twenty miles or so, a stop was made to change horses or take in some scanty mail-bag. Dreary and drowsy work it was, as the small hours were told off by the stars rising above or sinking beneath the dim circle of the hills. Day broke early; then, in the misty light, the coach stopped for breakfast. It was a mockery after such a night. "To be well shaken before taken might avail for the medicine bottle; but the recipe was utterly futile when applied to the bad coffee, the greasy meat, and the damp bread of the Oregon wayside inn. Fain would the traveller have stayed his course and lain down to rest his aching bones and head; but the inn looked hopelessly uninviting, and the journey was resumed in the chance of going farther and faring better.

As midday drew near the hope of finding rest and comfort became stronger. A place called Rock Point was frequently named by the driver as being remarkable for cleanliness and good living. The scenery, too, began to change; a peculiar red tinge became visible in the soil; great trees stood by themselves at intervals along the road; the sky grew to a more intense blue. At last the road passed a gorge between hills, and came in sight of a river running towards the west. "The Rogue River," said the driver. "And yon," he continued, pointing with his whip to a neat white house that stood on the left of the road, "is Rock Point hotel."

Had the traveller even been less sick and sore than he was, he would still have welcomed the pleasant aspect of the place. Two lofty stone-pines stood by the roadside close to the house; a clear river ran in many curves through a valley in which patches of ripest wheat were set amid green groves of maple and madrone. Dark-leaved evergreen oaks grew by the road, hanging thick with large bunches of mistletoe. Here and there bright red bits of hill stood out amid the green trees and golden corn; over all the sun was bright, the sky intensely blue.

MOHAMMED AND HIS RELIGION.

PART II.

WHEN it was understood that the When the ceremonies were nearly ended, and

Meccan idol worship was threatened, those who owed to it their dignity and wealth, Mohammed's own tribe, the Koreish, became vehemently hostile to the prophet and his mission. The history of the first few years of Islam is one of persecution. The prophet was almost wearied into compliance by the opposition he encountered, and one day he let fall some words which seemed to recognise the idols of the Kaaba as living gods. But this concession was speedily rebuked by a new revelation, and one of the later sections of the Koran thus refers to this period:-" It wanted little, but the unbelievers had tempted thee to swerve from the instructions which we had revealed unto thee, that thou shouldst devise concerning us a different thing; and then would they have taken thee for their friend; and unless we had confirmed thee, thou hadst certainly been very near inclining unto them a little." Some seven years after his call, the prophet and his little band of followers removed together into a secluded part of Mecca, where they were cut off from the outer world like a beleaguered garrison, and often underwent severe privations. For three years this isolation continued, broken by the four months in each year during which there was a traditional armistice amongst the Arabs, and no violence was allowed to be offered by Arab to Arab. It was during these months that the pilgrimages took place, and fairs were held, and the poetical competitions for which the Arab tribes were famous. Then Mohammed could come forth, and try what he could do to awaken and persuade the pilgrims and visitors who crowded Mecca. But he had very little success. These were saddening years to the prophet. In A.D. 619, nine years after his call, Khadijah died, and within a few months of her, Abu Talib. Despairing of Mecca, the prophet, with his freedman Zeid, set out on a missionary enterprise to attempt the conversion of a city called Taif, sixty miles from Mecca. The attempt proved a failure, and in a few days he was ignominiously driven out of the city. On his return he sought solace in a second marriage with the widow of one of his followers.

At last, in the pilgrimage season of A.D. 620, hope suddenly dawned from an unexpected quarter on the fortunes of the prophet.

the pilgrims were about to disperse, Mohammed fell accidentally into conversation with a group of six or seven persons who had come from Medina. They showed a remarkable readiness to receive his doctrine; and he was led to ask whether they and their fellowtribes-men would be likely to welcome him at Medina. They replied that there was such strife amongst the inhabitants of Medina that they could not promise him protection; but that they would come to him again at the time of the next pilgrimage. Medina was jointly occupied by Jews and Arabs, and had been the scene of violent dissensions. It was in many respects a promising field for the work of the new prophet. At the appointed time next year Mohammed met his Medina friends, and found a party of twelve ready to plight their faith to him. These returned to their city zealous missionaries of Islam, and their success there was as rapid as that of Mohammed was slow and scanty at Mecca. The news of it was wonderfully inspiring to the soul of the prophet; he was inclined now to let Mecca alone, and to fix all his expectations on Medina. Once more the month of pilgrimage came round, and those who met the prophet this time were seventy-five persons. They swore that they would defend him with their lives, and a general migration of the Mussulmans to Medina was resolved upon. This city is about two hundred and fifty miles distant from Mecca. About one hundred and fifty persons started in small companies from Mecca, and within two months were safely housed in Medina. At last Mohammed and Abu Bekr, with their families, including Ali, now a young man of twenty, were the only believers left at Mecca. For some reason the chiefs of the Koreish determined to pay Mohammed a visit at his house. To forestall any evil designs on their part, Mohammed stole away before their arrival, leaving Ali, covered with his own red mantle, in his bed. He himself joined Abu Bekr, and they two left the city by night, and took refuge in a cave on Mount Thaur, an hour and a half's journey from Mecca. Whilst they lay hid there, Abu Bekr having made some remark upon their helplessness in case of their being discovered, "We are but two!" the prophet answered him, "Think not thus, Abu Bekr ; we are two, but God is in the midst, a third." After three

days' concealment they thought it safe to Christendom; it had been for many generaleave their hiding-place, and, starting by tions almost a Jewish town. At the time of night on camels, they arrived safely at the Hejrah the Jews were still present in Medina.

This was the Hejrah, the flight or emigration from which the Mohammedan era is dated. It took place about June 20th, A.D. 622.

The removal to Medina was the opening of an entirely new phase in Mohammed's career. Hitherto he had been struggling against opposition and contempt, bearing up with marvellous and admirable constancy against a scornful indifference and want of success which might well have driven him to despair, sustained by his own inward convictions and the most wholesome kind of support-that of loyal and loving relatives and friends; having no power, but simply delivering his testimony as a prophet against idolatry and worldliness. Now the scene changes. He becomes suddenly prosperous. He is the head of an enthusiastic party, the master of a city, the chief of an Arab host burning with the Arab instincts of fighting and plunder, able to turn round upon his enemies, and called upon to legislate for his followers. Having lived a life of blameless simplicity to the age of fifty-two years, his character was formed, and it is unjust and untrue, I think, to say that he became a bad The servant of inward conviction is not changed into a crafty impostor; the man of unassuming, self-denying habits does not become haughty and licentious; the tenderhearted man does not become cruel. But Mohammed was not proof against the peculiar temptations of this latter phase of his life. We see in him a change for the He lets his desires become his inspiration; he does acts which are manifestly those of self-indulgence; he perpetrates some hateful cruelties; his organized religion, whilst retaining its lofty and imposing character, becomes in some essential features a mischievous and inhuman one. In estimating the career and work of Mohammed as a whole, it is a point of chief importance to distinguish, as recent inquirers with more or less of thoroughness have done, between the Mecca time and the Medina time.

man.

worse.

Medina was a very different place from Mecca. It is on a high plateau, many thousand feet above the sea; it abounded in verdure, and its climate, much colder and damper than that of Mecca, proved very trying to most of the followers of the prophet. But the difference under a religious aspect was much greater. It was two hundred and fifty miles nearer to Syria and

great numbers in the city or in its immediate neighbourhood; but the population which welcomed Mohammed was Arab, strongly influenced by contact with Jews.

The reception of the prophet was enthusiastic. For some days he had been looked for, and companies of expectant friends had gone out to meet him. When he arrived the children in the street cried out, "Here is the Prophet! He is come! he is come!" The converts flocked to him and made obeisance to him. He received them courteously, and said, "Ye people, show your joy by giving to your neighbours the salutation of peace; send portions to the poor; bind close the ties of kinship; offer up prayers while others sleep. Thus shall ye enter Paradise in peace." When tribes and families competed for the honour of receiving him as a guest, he intimated that he would stop where his camel, self-guided, should stop. The place thus chosen he afterwards purchased; and it became the site of the first Mosque in Islam, and of the prophet's dwelling and burialplace. He now settled himself in Medina; all the members of his family, whom the Koreish, glad to be rid of their reprover, willingly allowed to depart from Mecca, joined him in his new abode; and the building of the mosque began.

As the first enthusiasm subsided, the course of the new religion did not run quite smooth. The prophet had trouble with the Jews. At first his feeling was that, as he was restoring the religion of Abraham, there ought to be no difficulty in their acknowledging him as a prophet without ceasing to be Jews. At this time he made the Temple at Jerusalem, not the Kaaba at Mecca, the Kiblah, or point of adoration towards which he and his followers turned in their devotions. His general attitude towards the Jews was conciliating and hopeful. If, to speak in that hypothetical way so tempting to the students of history, the Medina Jews had joined the prophet they would have influenced his action most strongly, and the whole character and destinies of Islam would have been altered. But it was really a question whether Arabs, inheriting the customs of Mecca, should turn Jews, or Jews, inheriting the law and the traditions, should turn Arabs. Instead of drawing together, the prophet and the Medina Jews found themselves, on closer acquaintance, drawing farther apart. I must not dwell in detail on

the relations between them. It is of primary to "God and his apostle, for the prophet and importance to recognise what a large Jewish | his family, the orphans, the poor, and the element there was and is in Islam, but I traveller." In the course of the same year must content myself with saying that in the course of two or three years Mohammed was entirely alienated from the Jews, that he changed the point of adoration from the Jerusalem temple to the Kaaba, and became filled with a vindictive hatred against those whom he hoped to have had as his most sympathizing and intelligent followers.

On the side of his Arab adherents the prophet found himself pressed, as months passed on, to find for them employment, interest, and even the means of living. He and they were Arabs; that is to say, with whatever fine qualities, they were hereditary fighters and marauders. Mohammed himself, it is true, was a man of peace; he had no love for fighting or danger, but he had been born and bred to look upon tribal forays as the natural condition of Arab life. His brave and fanatical followers began to look with eager eyes upon the mercantile caravans of their persecutors, the idolaters of Mecca. It was revealed before long to the prophet that it would be righteous vengeance if the faithful were to fall upon these caravans and make them their booty. This was the opening of the flood-gates of the martial fury of Islam. The Moslems were thus started upon the career of religious war and conquest, upon which alone Islam has been, and apparently can be, strong. In November, 623, a small expedition of Meccan fugitives went out to lie in wait for a caravan, and surprised it within the months of armistice. One man was killed, two were taken prisoners, and the camels with their loads carried off to Medina. "This was the first booty the Mussulmans obtained, the first captives they seized, the first life they took." The violation of the sacred month was excused by a revelation, in which the prophet pronounced that to kill unbelievers, even in a time of truce, was to serve God. The Moslems had now tasted blood. There was no looking back from the course thus inaugurated. In January, 624, Mohammed determined to attempt the capture of a great Mecca caravan, and the attempt led to a considerable fight, the first battle in the history of Islam, in which a smaller number of Moslems defeated a thousand men whom the Koreish had sent to the defence of their caravan. It was the battle of Bedr. There was much booty to be distributed; and a revelation came at demand, fixing the mode of distribution, and assigning the fifth part

the prophet is related to have instigated and countenanced one or two treacherous assassinations of Jews at Medina. He is also now the husband of three wives, having married | Ayesha, still a child, and another, a young widow.

The next great fight, the battle of Ohod, went against the Mussulmans. The Koreish prepared an attack with all their force, and marched towards Medina in numbers far superior to those which Mohammed could bring against them. The Moslems were defeated with considerable slaughter, and the prophet himself was twice wounded. But after their victory the Koreish retired, and the surviving Moslems reached Medina in safety.

In the course of the next year or two the prophet continued to add wives to his household, receiving a special revelation which granted it to him as a privilege to do so, the number of them by the time of his death reaching ten or eleven. In 627, a great attack by the Meccan and other Arabs on Medina was foiled by some simple intrenchments, which were new to Arab warfare, and from which they retired in disgust. This repulse was followed by a massacre, which the warmest modern admirer of Mohammed, Mr. Bosworth Smith, is constrained to stigmatize as "an act of coldblooded and inhuman atrocity." A tribe of Jews had entered into some compact with the attacking army. Their conduct was not quite consistent with good faith, and on the retirement of the Koreish they were besieged and taken prisoners by the Moslems. Their fate was left to the decision of an Arab chief of Medina, and by him the men were adjudged to death, the women and children to slavery. The men were led out in companies of five or six, to the number of eight hundred, and butchered in Mohammed's presence. And, what makes the whole matter still more revolting, one of the women whose husband had just been killed attracted the prophet, and, refusing to be his wife, was made his slave and concubine.

It is a relief to find that nothing like this massacre is recorded of Mohammed in the five years that remain. They were years of triumph for the prophet. In this short space of time he not only gained the power of visiting the Kaaba in safety, but he became master of Mecca, and the greatest chief in Arabia. Let me briefly relate the steps of his progress. In the holy month of the year

628, he determined to lead his followers to Mecca, that they might perform the pilgrimage in force. Numbering some fifteen hundred men, they advanced to within two days' march of Mecca, and were there met and checked by the Koreish. Instead, however, of coming to blows, the two armies made a treaty, under which hostilities were to cease for ten years, and the Moslems were to have the privilege of paying, without molestation, a yearly visit of three days to the holy shrine. It is a sign of the growth of his prophetical ambition that Mohammed now, in the year 628, had the courage to send embassies to all the foreign rulers of whom he knew, inviting them to embrace Islam. These were the Roman Emperor at Constantinople, the King of Persia, the Governor of Egypt, a Christian Prince of Syria, the Governor of Yemen, and the King of Abyssinia. Of these the Governor of Yemen gave in his adhesion to the prophet, and the Governor of Egypt sent as presents a white mule and two Coptic girls. One of these slave-girls became a concubine of the prophet, and bore him a child-the only one born of his many wives at Medina-who however died, to his great grief, in infancy. In the next year, 629, the Medina pilgrims who took advantage of the truce numbered two thousand. The prophet, seated on the camel Al Caswa, which had borne him in the Hejrah, and surrounded by joyous crowds of disciples, approached and saluted the holy shrine, and performed all the ceremonies of the pilgrimage. When the sacred month of the next year approached, Mohammed took advantage of some disturbances in the neighbourhood of Mecca to declare that his truce with the Koreish was at an end, and to organize an expedition in force against Mecca. In January, 630, he led thither an army of ten thousand men, which the Koreish | felt it hopeless to resist. He entered Mecca and assumed authority over the Kaaba, and swept away all the idols in the holy building and elsewhere, and, proclaiming a general amnesty, settled the government of the sacred city and the shrine for the future. No act of vengeance stained his triumph. At the next yearly pilgrimage Mohammed himself was not present, but he felt himself strong enough, through the adhesion of many tribes throughout Arabia, to commission his son-in-law, Ali, to announce to the assembled multitudes in the Valley of Mina that after the four sacred months the prophet would hold himself absolved from every obligation or league with idolaters: that after that year

no unbeliever would be allowed to perform the pilgrimage or to visit the holy places; and he gave direction that war was to be waged with them and that they were to be killed, besieged, and laid in wait for, wheresoever found. If, however, they repent and pay the legal alms they are to be dismissed freely. As regards those unto whom the Scriptures have been delivered (that is, Jews and Christians), they are to be fought against until they pay tribute by right of subjection, and are reduced low.

Once again, in the last year of his life, Mohammed, accompanied by all his wives, made what is called the valedictory pilgrimage to the holy places. After making the circuit of the Kaaba, he rode in two days to Mount Arafat. From the summit he spoke to the pilgrims regarding its sacred precincts, announced to them the perfecting of their religion, offered up the prescribed prayers, and returned to the half-way station for the night. The next day he cast the accustomed stones, slew the victims brought for sacrifice, and went through the usual ceremonies of the Wady, or Valley of Mina. Whilst there he preached to the pilgrims, called them to witness that he had faithfully fulfilled his mission, and urged them not to depart from the exact observances of the religion which he had appointed. Returning to Mecca he again went through the ceremonies of the lesser pilgrimages, made the circuit of the temple, drank of the well Zem Zem, prayed in the Kaaba, and having thus rigorously performed all the ceremonies as an example to his followers for ever, he returned to Medina.

His end was not far off. In May, 632, he was attacked by fever, and felt he had not long to live. He prayed for forgiveness and preached in the mosque as one who knew that his days were numbered. After delivering his final testimony on the 8th June, he returned to the room of his young wife Ayesha, laid his head in her lap, and after a brief period of suffering, broken by pious ejaculations, he breathed his last. The news of his death caused terrible distress. amongst his followers; and many, including Omar, refused to believe it. But Abu Bekr said, "Whosoever among you has believed in Mohammed, let him know that Mohammed is dead; but he who has believed in Mohammed's God, let him continue to serve Him, for He is still alive and never dies." Words that might well beseem a true disciple of a genuine prophet.

I have already made some allusions to

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