t, why should he not give himself pleasure?"
After this there was nothing more to be said.

Mohammedans succeed better than Hindus as men of business, and there
are many Mohammedan firms who do a large trade. In the harbour at
Colombo and at other ports, Mohammedan jewel-merchants come on board
the steamers in order to try and sell their wares to the passengers.
In the interval between the departure of one batch of passengers and
the arrival of another, some of these merchants, having nothing to do,
came over to where I was standing on the deck of a steamer, to talk
about religion. They all spoke English in that pleasant way in which
many Easterns speak it--rather hazy about the verbs, but clear in
their pronunciation, so that it is easy to understand them. An Indian
who knows perhaps only a few English words, generally pronounces them
correctly.

"Good morning, father, I am very glad to see you," is how the
conversation began.

"Are you a Catholic?" I asked.

"I know all about the Catholic," was the reply, "I was taught in
Catholic school; I know all Catholic teaching."

"But you are not a Catholic yourself."

"No, I am a Mohammedan; but I like Catholic."

Some of the others then chimed in and began to urge their usual
objections concerning the Virgin birth, and the Holy Trinity. I was
interested in hearing what they had to say, because we do not often
meet Mohammedans in the Poona district. I thought that possibly the
assertion that their conception of heaven is so degraded might have
been exaggerated, so that I was glad of an opportunity to learn from
the lips of intelligent representatives of their religion what their
views really are. They affirmed that everything that there is on earth
will be in heaven, including all that concerns marriage. In order to
get at the bottom of the matter, I asked whether, as the result of
this, children would be born in heaven. They replied that nothing had
been revealed concerning that, but that probably children would not be
born. They were, therefore, only anticipating sensual gratification.

I told them the story of the seven brethren with the one wife, and
that Christ, whom they accepted as a true Prophet, said that they
neither marry nor are given in marriage in heaven. They answered that,
in spite of that, it was quite certain that there would be marriage in
heaven. It is hardly to be wondered at if, amongst nations specially
prone to sensuality, a religion spreads w