Entered as second class matter, June 10, 1912, at the Post Office of New Haven, Connecticut, under act of July 16, 1894.

Printed by W. Drugulin, Leipzig (Germany).

THE AMERICAN ORIENTAL SOCIETY,

NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT, U. 8. A.

MCM XIII.

This number contains the Title Page and Table of Contents of Volume Thirty Third.

Current numbers of this journal can be had from W. Drugulin, Leipzig, Germany, for 6 Marks a piece. Subscriptions for entire volumes should be sent to the Librarian, Yale University Library. New Haven, Conn. U. S. A.

Mohammedanism in Borneo: Notes for a Study of the

Local Modifications of Islam and the Extent of its Influence on the native Tribes.-By Mrs. SAMUEL BRYAN SCOTT, Philadelphia, Pa.

THE whole question of the nature and history of Mohammedanism in Borneo is much larger than the scope of the present paper. I have some incomplete notes to offer, which I venture to present at this time, because I think that even these have a certain theoretical significance that may be of interest; and because I hope that from this body of scholars intimately familiar with the various manifestations of Mohammedanism I may gain some valuable suggestions for further investigation of its history in Borneo.

In studying the effect of environment upon the religion of a primitive people, such as the jungle tribes of the interior of Borneo, it is of course necessary to take into account the possibility of foreign ideas interrupting the simple interplay of surroundings and sensibilities. Of the foreign elements to be reckoned with in Borneo the chief is Mohammedanism, brought to the coast settlements during several centuries by Arab traders and adventurers. While investigating the influence of the Arabs in Borneo, I became convinced that we have here a striking instance of the manner in which the introduction of a new religion into a country follows certain definite economic laws, similar to those that govern the growth of religions on their native soil.

There has been implied, if not actually stated, in many studies of religions, the theory that a religion develops according to environmental influences only so far as it is not interfered with by the contact of foreign ideas. Some such theories divide a religion into ideas appropriate to the native environment, and ideas that have come from the north, south, east, or west. Having traced the religious elements to their geographical or linguistic sources, the historian leaves the

VOL. XXXIII. Part IV.

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