[159] Probably a Portuguese. From him Mohsan Fani might have received the information (see vol. II. p. 307) that an image of St. Veronica is preserved in a town of Spain, probably within the year 1641, before it was known in India that Portugal had freed itself from the domination of Spain, which event took place on the 1st December, 1640. On that account, the father spoke of the peninsular sovereign as still possessor of both kingdoms, and, instead of calling him _king of Spain_, styled him _king of Portugal_, from fond partiality for his native country. This remark was suggested to me by the learned viscount of Santarem.――(See vol. II. pp. 307. 308, note 1.) [160] See vol. II. p. 315. “The holiest of all the sacraments, as it presents the Lord Jesus under the form of bread, that it may become the power of the soul.” This definition was most likely not that which Mohsan Fani heard from father Francis, but the intelligent Persian might have understood that a strong and lively representation of an object is equivalent to its _real presence_, which latter words must have been those used, as orthodox, by a Roman Catholic priest. § IX.――THE RELIGION OF THE MUSELMANS. The author of the Dabistán, after having treated of the most ancient religions, passes to the comparatively modern religious system of Arabia. The Arabians, although frequently attacked, were never conquered by the Assyrians, Medians, Persians, or Romans; they maintained their political independance, but could not avoid nor resist the religious influence of nations with whom they were, during ages, in various relations. The ancient history of Arabia is lost, like that of many other nations; so much is known of their oldest religion, that it resembled that of the Persians and Hindus: it was the Magism or Sabæism; the stars were worshipped as idols from the remotest times; we read of antediluvian idols. At the time, which we now consider, that is the seventh century of our era, all the then existing religions seemed to be far remote from their original simplicity and purity;[161] idolatry was dominant, and Monotheism preserved and positively professed only in Judaism and Christianity, although likewise corrupted by various kinds of superstition. Followers of both these religions were settled in Arabia, to which region the Jews fled from the cruel destruction of their country by the Romans; and the Christians, on account of the persecutions and disorders which had arisen in the Eastern church.