Skip to main content

Full text of "The Asian mystery illustrated in the history, religion, and present state of the Ansaireeh or Nusairis of Syria"

See other formats 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/asianmysteryilluOOIyderich 


THE 


ANSAIREEH   OR   NUSAIEIS   OF   SYEIA 


lOlTDOW 

PBIKTBS     Br     SPOTTISWOODB     AND     CO. 

NBW-SXBBET   8QUAKB 


THE 


ASIAN   MYSTEEY 


ILLUSTRATED      IN      THE      HI8T0ET,      RELIGIOX,      AND      PEEBBNT      STATE      OF      THE 


ANSAIREEH  OR  NUSAIRIS  OF  SYRIA 


BY 


THE    REV.    SAMUEL    LYDE,    M.A. 

FBLLOW    OF    JESUS    COLLEGE,    CAMBRIDGE   :  AUTHOR    OP    "THE    AITSXREEH    AND    ISMAELEEH ' 


LONDON 
LONaMAN,    GEEEN,    LONaMAN,    AND    EOBEETS 

1860 


^  /  r\  k         <n  .  ^ 


/Y  71  ^^ 


PREFACE. 


In  this  book  I  have  attempted  for  the  sect  of  the  An- 
saireeh  what  De  Sacy  has  already  effected  for  that  of  the 
Druses.    My  qualifications  for  the  task  have  been — • 

First :  Connexion  with  the  Ansaireeh  for  many  years,  as 
the  only  European  who  has  lived  among  them  in  their 
mountains,  where  alone  they  are  unmixed  with  other 
tribes. 

Secondly :  Acquaintance  with  Ansairee  belief  and  cus- 
toms, acquired  orally  from  Christian  servants  and  others 
brought  up  in  Ansairee  districts ;  and,  especially,  from  an 
Ansairee  lad,  who  has  had  many  opportunities  of  gaining 
information. 

Thirdly  :  Possession  of  an  Ansairee  liturgical  book, 
called  the  "  Manual  of  Sheikhs,"  in  which  all  the  main 
points  of  the  Ansairee  system,  theological  and  ceremonial, 
are  developed. 


r#%^  r'kv>-r>ff]i 


VI  PREFACE. 

I  have,  moreover,  consulted  such  Arab  and  other  his- 
torians and  authors  as  promised  to  throw  any  light  on 
the  Ansaireeh,  and  all  published  Ansairee  documents  that 
I  could  hear  of.  I  could  have  wished  for  greater  opportu- 
nities of  examining  original  Ansairee  writings.  Indeed,  I 
might  have  been  inclined  to  delay  compiling  the  present 
work,  in  the  expectation  of  rendering  it  some  day  more 
complete,  had  not  the  state  of  my  health  made  it  uncertain 
whether  I  should  enjoy  such  opportunity.  As  it  is,  I 
trust  that  it  will  serve  as  a  stepping-stone,  to  those  who 
may  follow  in  the  same  road. 

I  have  thus  employed  the  leisure  hours  arising  from 
illness,  in  the  hope  that  my  labours  might  tend  to  the 
furtherance  of  missionary  work  among  a  neglected  people. 
The  letting  in  of  light  on  the  hidden  things  of  darkness 
is  always  favourable,  with  God's  blessing,  to  the  progress 

of  Christianity  in  the  world. 

S.  L. 

Cairo,  1860. 


PREFACE.  VU 


Note. — It  is  principally  in  Germany  and  France  that  Anaairee 
documents  have  been  published. 

NiEBUHR  (Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  357,  &c.)  gives  an  account  of  an 
Ansairee  book  which  had  come  into  his  possession. 

De  Sacy  (Exposition  of  Druse  Religion,  vol.  ii.  p.  580,  note) 
speaks  of  this  book  as  having  been  lent  to  him  by  Niebuhr,  and 
translated  by  him. 

Both  Niebuhr  and  De  Sacy  speak  of  a  Druse  book  against  the 
Ansaireeh,  from  which  De  Sacy  gives  many  extracts. 

BuRCKHARDT  (Travels,  p.  151)  speaks  of  an  Ansairee  book 
which  had  come  into  the  hands  of  M.  Rousseau,  "  who  has  had  it 
translated  into  French,  and  means  to  publish  it ;"  and  M.  Rous- 
seau himself  (Annales  des  Voyages,  cahier  xlii.)  has  spoken  of 
the  Ansaireeh. 

In  the  Yearly  Report  of  the  German  Oriental  Society  for 
1845-6,  mention  is  made  of  an  Ansairee  Catechism,  which  had 
been  sent,  with  a  French  translation,  to  the  King  of  Prussia,  A 
translation  of  copious  extracts  from  this  document  is  given  by 
Dr.  Wolff,  in  vol.  iii.  p.  302,  &c.,  of  the  Journal  of  the  same 
Society. 

But  the  most  complete  information  hitherto  given  with  respect 
to  the  Ansaireeh  is  to  be  found  in  the  papers  of  M.  Catapago,  in 
the  Journals  of  the  French,  Asiatic,  and  German  Oriental  Societies. 

In  the  Journal  Asiatique,  Feb.  1848,  he  has  given  an  account 
of  a  book  of  Ansairee  Festivals  and  Prayers ;  and  also  three 
Masses  from  the  same  in  the  Journal  of  the  German  Oriental 
Society,  vol.  ii.  p.  388. 

In  the  Journal  Asiatique,  July,  1848,  he  has  given  the  heads  of 
the  contents  of  an  Ansairee  book,  which  I  conclude  to  be  the  one 
in  my  possession,  and  which,  in  that  case,  must  have  been  once 
lent  to  him.  The  book  itself  was  purchased  by  me  from  a 
Christian  merchant  in  Ladikeeh  for  the  sum  of  £10,  having  come 
into  his  hands  during  the  troublesome  times  of  Ibrahim  Pasha, 
when  the  Ansaireeh  were  driven  from  their  homes 

Finally,  in  the  Revue  d'Orient  for  June,  1856,  there  is  a  short 
paper  on  the  Ansaireeh  by  M.  Victor  Langlois.  He  says  that 
his  account  is  taken  from  a  MS.  in  the  library  of  the  Mufti  of 
Tarsus,  and  it  is  in  the  main  correct. 


The  Rev.  Samuel  Lyde  died  at  Alexandria,  on  the  \st  of 
j4pril,  I860,  shortly  after  he  had  finished  the  work  which  is  no lo 
published  by  relatives  to  whom  he  was  very  dear.  His  intention  was  to 
enlarge  on  some  points,  after  reference  to  authorities  to  which  he  had 
not  access  in  the  East ;  but  this  he  did  not  live  to  accomplish.  His 
Mission  is  taken  up  by  others  ;  and  his  brother,  whose  address  can  be 
obtained  through  the  Publishers,  will  be  happy  to  give  information  to 
any  one  interested  in  it. 


CONTENTS. 


I 


CHAPTER  I. 

PAGE 

Geography  and  Description  of  the  Ansairee  Country  .       1 


CHAPTER  11. 

History  op  the  secret  Heretical  Sects  of  Islam         ,        .     25 

CHAPTER  HI. 
History  op  the  Ansaireeh 49 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Religious  System  of  the  skcret  Heretical  Sects  of  Islam      .     76 

CHAPTER  V. 

Religious  System  of  the  Ansaireeh. — I.  Faith  or  Theology  .  1 10 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Rrligious  System  of  the  Ansaireeh. — II.  Practice  or  Cere- 
monies   149 


X  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Customs  op  thb  Ansaireeh        •       .        i       .       .       «        ,166 

CHAPTER  Vin.       ' 
Present  State  of  the  Ansaireeh    .        .        •        .        •        .  193 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Extracts  from  the  "  Manual  for  Sheikhs  '* .        .        •        ,  233 

CHAPTER  X. 
Extracts  from  published  Ansairee  Documents  .        .  270 


THE    ASIAN    MYSTERY. 


CHAPTER  I. 

GEOGRAPIir    AND    DESCRIPTION   OF   THE    ANSAIREE    COUNTRY. 

If  the  reader  will  take  any  map  of  Syria  which  has  some 
pretensions  to  accuracy,  and  will  look  at  the  sea-coast,  he 
will  find  in  the  parallel  of  latitude  35°  30'  the  town  of 
Ladikeeh,  the  Laodicea  of  Seleucus  Nicator,  now  known 
through  the  tobacco  exported  from  it*;  which  tobacco  is 
grown  in  the  neighbouring  mountains. 

These  mountains,  which  are  the  special  abode  of  the 
Ansaireeh*,  he  will  find  to  the  east  of  Ladikeeh,  stretching 
from  north  to  south,  and  called  by  names  as  various  as 
the  different  maps  which  he  may  consult. 

The  Ansairee  mountains  are  separated  on  the  south 
from  the  Lebanon  range,  by  the  entrance  into  Hamath,  a 
valley  through  which  run  the  roads  from  Tripoli  to 
Hamah,  and  from  Tartoos  to  Hums,  and  also  flows  the 
ancient  Eleutherus,  the  Nahr-il-Chebeer  of  to-day.  To  the 
north  they  are  separated  from  the  mountains,  of  which 
Mount  Cassius  forms  the  conspicuous  western  termination, 

•  By  Arab  writers  they  are  called  An-Nusaireeyah.  I  have  written 
Ansaireeh  as  the  nearest  English  imitation  of  the  pronunciation  of  the 
people  themselves,  when  they  speak  of  themselves  by  that  name.  They 
usually  style  themselves  Fellaheen,  that  ivS,  peasantry. 

B 


^         *  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

by  a  pass  and  valley,  over  and  through  which  runs  the 
road  from  Ladikeeh  to  Aleppo. 

But  though  these  mountains  are  so  almost  exclusively 
inhabited  by  the  Ansaireeh  as  to  be  called  by  their  name, 
and  in  them  is  found  the  nucleus  of  the  Ansairee  nation, 
and  though  in  them  and  the  neighbouring  plains  alone  are 
they  governed  by  their  own  chiefs,  and  hold  their  lands 
directly  from  government,  yet  the  Ansairee  population  of 
Syria  is  by  no  means  confined  to  them. 

They  are  the  chief  cultivators  of  the  plain,  which 
stretches  on  the  west  of  the  mountains,  from  Wady  Kan- 
deel,  about  four  hours,  or  twelve  miles,  to  the  north  of 
Ladikeeh  (where  the  ground  begins  to  swell  into  the  range 
of  Cassius),  to  the  district  of  Safeetah  and  the  Nahr-il- 
Chebeer,  twenty-two  hours,  or  sixty-six  miles  to  the  south. 
On  the  east  the  narrow  strip  of  ground  between  the 
mountains  and  the  Orontes,  stretching  to  the  south  from 
Djisr-ish-Shogher  on  the  Aleppo  road  to  the  distance  of 
about  thirty  miles,  belongs  to  them,  and  they  possess  vil- 
lages in  the  wide  plain  which  stretches  east  to  Hums  and 
Hamah,  in  which  last  is  a  miserable  quarter  inhabited  by 
them. 

To  the  south  of  the  Eleutherus  or  Nahr-il-Chebeer,  con- 
siderable numbers  are  to  be  found  in  the  district  of 
Kulaat-il-Husn,  and  in  the  more  southerly  district  of 
Akkar. 

To  the  north  of  Wady  Kandeel  they  form  part  of  the 
peasantry  of  the  range  of  mountains  which  are  bounded 
on  the  west  by  Mount  Cassius,  and  by  the  Orontes  on 
the  east  and  north.  Along  the  valley  of  the  Orontes,  in 
the  plains  of  Antioch,  they  are  to  be  found  in  grent 
numbers,  from  Suadeiah,  on  the  sea-coast,  near  the  ancient 
Seleucia,  fifteen  miles  to  the  west  of  Antioch,  to  the  Djisr- 
il-Hhadeed,  twelve  miles  to  the  east,  where  the  road  Irom 
Antioch  to  Aleppo  crosses  the  Orontes.  Three  hours,  or 
nine  miles  further  on,  on  the  east  of  the  Orontes,  and  on 
the  right  hand  of  the  road  to  Aleppo,  is  to  be  seen  the 


THE   ANSAIREE   MOUNTAINS.  3 

castle  of  Harim.  In  the  mountains  which  stretch  from  it 
towards  the  south  is  found  a  group  of  Ansairee  villages, 
as  also  in  the  district  of  II  Roodj,  hard  by  to  the  east. 

In  Antioch  itself  they  form  a  large  element  of  the  popu- 
lation, and  are  to  be  found  along  the  sea-coast  from  it  to 
Scanderoon,  especially  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Arsoos, 
the  Rhosus  of  Ptolemy.* 

Leaving  Syria  for  a  moment,  and  crossing  the  ancient 
bay  of  Issus,  they  abound  in  the  districts  of  Adana  and 
Tarsoos,  the  ancient  Tarsus.  In  Syria,  far  away  to  the 
south,  in  the  lower  extremity  of  the  Wady-il-Taym,  near 
Banias,  the  ancient  Ca^sarea  Philippi,  are  the  three  An- 
saireeh  villages  of  Anfeet,  Zaoorah,  and  El  Ghudjr.f 

To  conclude :  in  that  east  country  which  was  the  cra- 
dle of  their  religion,  remnants  of  them  still  exist.  An 
Ansairee  sheikh  from  Bagdad,  who  spent  two  days  in  my 
house  in  the  Ansairee  mountains,  assured  me  that  there 
were  some  five  hundred  Ansaireehs  in  Bagdad,  and  declared 
that  there  was  a  town  in  Persia  exclusively  inhabited  by 
them. 

Before  proceeding  to  give  the  estimated  number  of  this 
people,  I  will  attempt  to  give  some  idea  of  the  geography, 
physical  and  otherwise,  of  the  Ansairee  mountains  and 
the  country  adjacent. 

Mount  Cassius  rises  to  the  north  of  Ladikeeh  and  near 
the  mouth  of  the  Orontes,  in  a  magnificent  cone  of  some 

*  The  parts  about  Rhosus  are  described  by  Carl  Ritter,  Erdkunde, 
Theil  xvii.  Kap.  27. 

■j-  I  was  once  prevented  from  visiting  these  villages  when  on  my  way 
to  them,  I  will,  therefore,  give  here  the  information  I  have  been  able  to 
procure  from  my  friend,  Rev.  J.  E.  Ford,  American  missionary  at 
Sidon,  being  obtained  by  him  from  various  sources.  Anfeet,  population 
320  souls,  mostly  Kumreeh  ;  Zaoorah,  150  souls,  mostly  Kumreeh  ;  El- 
Ghudjr,  250  souls,  mostly  Shemseeh.  The  villages  are  within  a  half  an 
hour  of  Banias,  W.  and  N.W.  It  is  to  be  doubted,  adds  Mr.  Ford, 
whether  their  distinctions  as  Shemseeh  and  Kumreeh  are  correctly 
ascertained  by  the  people  who  go  among  them.  I  myself  was  once  in- 
formed that  they  were  all  Shemseeh,  and  in  the  latest  maps  the  positions 
of  the  villages  is  given  as  south  of  Banias. 

B   2 


4  THE    ASIAN   IMYSTERY. 

5,000  or  5,700  feet  in  height.  It  is  joined  to  the  Ansai- 
ree  mountains  by  a  far  lower  range,  over  which  passes 
the  road  from  Ladikeeh  to  Antioch,  past  the  Mussulman 
village  of  Oordee,  situated  near  half  way.  The  distance  is 
about  twelve  hours  from  Ladikeeh  to  Oordee,  and  ten  more 
from  Oordee  to  Antioch,  in  all  about  twenty-two  hours  or 
sixty-six  miles.  From  Ladikeeh  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Orontes  is  reckoned  at  twenty-hours,  or  sixty  miles,  and 
from  Antioch  to  Scanderoon  (or  Alexandretta),  eleven 
hours,  or  thirty-three  miles. 

The  Ansairee  mountains  commence,  as  I  have  said,  to 
the  south  of  the  road  from  Ladikeeh  to  Aleppo,  which,  after 
crossing  a  pass  in  the  mountains  near  Bahluleeh,  an 
Ansairee  village,  about  six  hours  distant,  north-east  of 
Ladikeeh,  continues  for  eleven  hours  through  a  ^vinding 
valley,  past  the  Turcoman  village  of  Bedawa,  to  Djisr-ish- 
Shogher,  a  large  Mussulman  village,  where  it  crosses  the 
Orontes,  and  so  on  a  journey  of  two  days  more,  or  six- 
teen hours,  to  Aleppo.  The  distance  from  Ladikeeh  to 
Aleppo  is  thus  about  thirty-three  hours,  or  ninety-nine 
miles. 

But  before  proceeding  with  the  Ansairee  mountains,  I 
will  return  for  a  little  towards  Mount  Cassius,  as  now 
may  be  the  best  time  to  say  something  of  the  political 
divisions  of  the  country,  so  as  to  fix  them  in  the  mind 
by  means  of  the  natural  objects  included  in  them,  and  the 
reverse. 

The  province  of  Ladikeeh  includes  not  only  the  greater 
part  of  the  western  slope  of  the  Ansaireeh  mountains,  but 
also  of  the  Mount  Cassius  range.  From  Wady  Kandeel, 
along  the  sea-coast,  and  on  towards  Oordee,  is  the  district 
of  Boodjak.  The  chief  inhabitants,  as  in  the  time  of  Ibn- 
Batoutah,  the  Moghrebbin  traveller,  some  500  years  ago, 
are  Turcomans.  I  once  spent  an  evening  with  Hafiz  Aga, 
the  governor  of  the  district,  who  is  nephew  of  the  chief 
man  of  Oordee.  He  was  in  considerable  fear  of  the  wild 
Ansaireeh  of  the  south,  and  received  me  very  graciously, 


THE    ANSAIREE   MOUNTAINS.  5 

giving  rac  credit  for  great  influence  among  them,  as  Iwas 
residing  in  one  of  tlie  most  powerful  districts. 

The  district  of  the  Baier,  also  chiefly  Mussulman,  lies 
to  the  north-east  of  the  Boodjak,  and  is  but  of  small 
extent.  To  the  east,  and  on  the  north  side  of  the  road 
from  Ladikeeh  to  Djisr-ish-Shogher  and  Aleppo,  is  the 
district  of  Djebel-il-Akrad,  chiefly  inhabited  by  a  colony 
of  Kurds.  I  once  skirted  these  mountains  to  the  south, 
on  my  way  to  the  small  town  or  village  of  Shogher,  and 
I  had  before  passed  over  part  of  them,  and  then  round 
their  base  to  Antioch,  on  my  journey  thither  from  the 
same  place.  The  present  governor  is  called  Mohammed 
Aga  Yumisu.* 

Facing  these  mountains  to  the  south  are  the  mountains 
of  the  Ansaireeh,  to  which  we  now  come.  Anciently 
styled  Mons  Bargyhis,  they  are  called  by  the  Arab  geo- 
graphers Ibn-Haukal  f  and  Abulfeda  Djebel  Lukkam,  and 
in  the  southern  part,  where  dwelt  the  Syrian  Assassins, 
Djebel  Summak  and  Djebel-il-Aamileh.  They  are  con- 
siderably lower  than  the  Lebanon  range,  their  height 
being  from  3000  to  4000  feet.  On  the  west  they  sweep 
in  circles  round  the  large  plains  of  Ladikeeh  and  Tartoos, 
throwing  out  spurs,  which  at  the  castle  of  Merkab  reach 
the  sea,  and  skirt  it  for  some  distance.  J  On  the  east  they 
run  in  a  straight  line  overlooking  the  Orontes,  to  the 
valley  of  which  they  descend,  to  the  eye,  almost  precipi- 
tously, though  there  is  room  for  deep  valleys,  gorges,  and 
extensive  woods,  and  several  villages.  The  people  on  this 
side  are  relations  of  those  who  respectively  adjoin  them 

*  The  districts  of  Mount  Cassius,  such  as  Kusair,  Urdeh,  Djebel 
Akrad,  &c.,  are  described  in  the  Erdkunde  of  Carl  Ritter,  Theil  xvii. 
Kap.  16. 

t  Ibn-Haukal,  (Wonnely,  London,  1808,)  p.  38. 

J  Keiirick  (Phoenicia,  p.  4),  misled  by  the  words  of  some  traveller, 
says:  "Between  Ladikeeh  and  Djebileh  the  country  is  mountainous;  but 
from  Djebileh  extends  the  plain  bounded  by  the  Ansarian  or  Nasairieh 
mountains."  The  plain  commences  beyond  Ladikeeh  to  the  north,  and 
sweeps  round  Djebileh  to  the  east  as  far  as  Castle  Merkab. 

B    3 


b  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

on  the  other,  of  whom,  as  I  shall  show  hereafter,  many 
crossed  the  mountains  from  the  east.  Burckhardt  gives 
the  names  of  villages  on  the  east  of  the  mountains,  and  I 
repeat  the  names  of  some  as  verified  by  myself.  Beginning 
from  the  north  is  Merdadj,  the  village  of  Mohammed  ibn- 
Djaafar,  chief  man  of  the  eastern  Amamareh,  of  whom  I 
saw  the  son,  who  Was  studying  under  a  sheikh  Avith  his 
relations  at  Diryoos.  In  the  plain  is  the  village  of 
Khandok,  belonging  to  Mohammed  Ali  Khadro,  who  lives 
at  Ain  Nab,  farther  to  the  south.  He  alone  of  the  Ansaireeh 
remained  unsubdued  by  Ibrahim  Pasha,  taking  refuge  in 
his  valleys  and  woods,  while  on  the  east  his  country  is 
defended  by  the  marshes  of  the  Orontes,  which  are  only 
passable  in  certain  places  by  boats,  through  lanes  of  deep 
water  amid  the  sedge.  He  seems  now  to  be  the  man  of 
chief  influence  on  that  side  of  the  mountains,  and  is  by  all 
accounts  a  wild  fellow.  I  have  never  yet  fulfilled  an 
intention  of  visiting  him,  though  once  when  the  mountains 
were  in  a  stir  about  a  religious  discussion  which  I  had 
had  with  the  chief  sheikh,  1  was  told  that  he  asked  per- 
mission of  the  people  of  the  district  in  which  I  lived,  on 
the  other  side  of  the  mountains,  to  come  with  twenty- 
five  men  to  make  an  end  of  the  mission. 

Still  farther  to  the  south  is  Ain-il-Keroom,  inhabited 
by  relations  of  the  wild  Narvasireh  of  the  western  side. 
Burckhardt  speaks  of  them  as  rebels  in  his  time. 

On  the  west  side  of  the  mountains,  at  the  extreme 
north,  live  the  Diryoos  people,  of  which  the  chief  man, 
Mohammed  Badoor,  living  in  the  village  of  Diryoos,  has 
influence  over  all  the  Ansairee  peasantry  in  the  Cassius 
range,  and  about  Antioch,  as  they  are  of  the  same  sect 
with  himself;  the  Ansaireeh  being  divided,  as  I  shall 
afterwards  show,  into  two  principal  sects,  the  Shemseeli, 
called  also  the  Shemaleeh  or  Northerners,  as  living  mostly 
to  the  north,  and  the  Kumreeh,  who  living  to  the  south 
give  the  Shemseeh  the  above  name.  Two  hours  westerly 
is  11  Kushbcc,  an  old  tower,  where  lives  Ali  Aga  Hassan, 


TOMB   OF   JONAH.  7 

a  relation  of  Ahmed  Badoor,  who  has  turned  Mussulman. 
1  once  spent  a  night  with  him,  having  reached  him  in 
about  three  hours  from  II  Hhuffeh,  a  village  of  the 
Sahyoon  district.  I  was  on  my-  way  to  him  from  Bahlu- 
leeh,  and  reached  Shereefah,  a  border  village  of  the  Bah- 
luleeh  district,  with  fine  plantations  running  down  to  the 
gorge  leading  to  Djisr-ish-Shogher.  After  passing  it  a 
little  way,  and  arriving  at  a  village  Ard-il- Ham ra,  near 
Bahenna,  I  was  stopped  by  the  people  of  the  latter  village, 
and  taken  off  to  Sahyoon,  from  whence  when  released  I 
prosecuted  my  journey  to  II  Kushbee.  From  II  Kushbee, 
I  paid  a  visit  to  the  tomb  of  the  Nebbee  Yunis,  or  Jonah, 
riding  about  two  or  three  hours  in  an  easterly  or  north- 
easterly direction.  It  seemed  the  highest  point  in  all  this 
part  of  the  mountain,  and  near  it  more  south  is  the 
mountain  of  the  Nebbee  Matta,  which  seemed  to  Burck- 
hardt,  looking  at  it  from  the  east,  to  be  the  highest  point 
of  the  Ansairee  range.  In  this  part  of  the  mountains  are 
many  towers,  commanding  the  pass  from  Ladikeeh  to 
Aleppo. 

The  people  of  Diryoos,  in  the  winter  and  spring,  live  in 
houses  on  the  edge  of  the  Orontes  marshes,  and  with  the 
other  Ansaireeh  of  the  eastern  side  of  the  mountains, 
descend  into  the  valley  of  the  Ghab,  cross  the  Orontes,  and 
carry  off  the  flocks  of  the  Turcomans,  who,  as  Burckhardt 
says,  have  in  consequence  not  too  good  an  opinion  of 
them.  The  Diryoos  people  are  a  wild  and  lawless  set, 
who,  under  their  present  chief  man,  have  obtained  an 
independence  from  their  former  governors  of  Beyt  Shilf. 

From  Diryoos,  I  started  in  a  south-west  direction  for 
Ain-il-Teeneh ,  a  village  situate  under  a  spur  of  the  mountains, 
which  rises  conspicuously  on  the  verge  of  the  plain  east  of 
Ladikeeh,  in  a  line  crowned  by  the  tomb  of  the  Nebbee 
Rubeel,  or  Reuben.*     The  road  lay  across  a  deep  valley, 


*  This  may  not  be  the  patriarch  Reuben,  for   Niebuhr  speaks  of  a 
certain  Rubeel,  son  of  Saleh,  an  Arabian  prophet. 

B    4 


8  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

and  over  high  table -land,  the  distance  being  between  one 
or  two  hours'  ride.  From  hence  I  took  about  the  same 
time  to  get  to  Djindjaneh,  after  passing  a  very  deep  valley 
and  skirting  a  mountain  running  from  the  eastern  ridge 
over  the  table-land  towards  the  west.  Djindjaneh  is 
prettily  situated  between  two  mountains,  and  is  the  resi- 
dence of  Ali  Hhabeeb,  an  old  man,  Mekuddam,  or  chief  of 
that  section  of  the  Amamarah,  who  live  in  the  part  I  had 
passed  through  from  Diryoos.  They  extend  still  farther 
to  the  south  in  the  highest  part  of  the  mountains,  behind 
the  districts  of  the  Muhailby  and  Kelbeeh,  and  also  to  the 
east  of  the  mountains  as  before  said.  The  Mekuddam  of 
the  southern  section  is  Mohammed  Saeed.  They  form  a 
considerable  body,  and  bear  a  good  character,  being  earnest 
in  matters  of  religion,  and  averse  to  robbery,  presenting 
thus  a  great  contrast  to  their  neighbours.  They  are  as 
the  Diryoos  people  of  the  Shemseeh  sect,  but  were  origin- 
ally of  the  Kumreeh,  a  fact  which  I  shall  have  to  notice 
again. 

From  Djindjaneh  it  took  me  less  than  an  hour  to  arrive 
at  Muzairiah,  which  is  a  village  giving  its  name  to  the 
district,  which  includes  not  only  the  part  of  the  mountains 
of  which  we  have  spoken,  but  also  part  of  the  plain.  In 
this  village  is  a  colony  of  Greeks,  that  is  Arabs  of  the  Greek 
Church,  who  some  150  years  ago  emigrated  here  from 
the  Hauran.  There  are  few  Christian  villages  in  these 
mountains.  Among  them  are  Aramo,  an  Armenian  vil- 
lage, near  the  residence  of  Ali  Aga  Hassan,  and  Dar  Sofra, 
a  Maronite  village  to  the  south  of  Castle  Merkab. 

Still  going  south  from  Muzairiah,  one  soon  reaches  the 
Muhailby  district,  of  which  the  inhabitants  are  again  of 
the  Shemseeh  sect,  while,  farther  south,  in  the  mountains, 
all  are  Kumreeh.  In  their  district  is  a  castle,  which  the 
late  Dr.  Eli  Smith,  of  Beyrout,  told  me  was  called  by  the 
people  Blatanos ;  and,  therefore,  this  must  be  the  castle 
referred  to  by  Abulfeda*,  who  says,  that  after  Saladin  had 

*  iv.  89. 


THE    WADY    BEYT  NASIR.  9 

taken  Ladikeeh  and  the  castle  of  Sahyoor,  he  dispersed  his 
troops  over  the  mountains  near,  and  "  they  made  them- 
selves masters  of  the  Castle  of  Beladnoos  (which  he  calls 
elsewhere  BelatnuS),  for  the  Franks  that  were  in  it  had 
already  fled  from  it ;  so  they  took  it.'* 

At  the  south-east  extremity  of  this  district  is  the  Djebel- 
il-Arbaeen,  a  very  conspicuous  conical  hill,  lower  than  the 
crest  of  the  mountains  behind  it,  but  rising  high  above 
the  plain,  towards  which  a  lofty  hill  runs  down  from  it, 
nearly  east  and  west,  separating  the  district  of  Muhailby 
from  that  of  the  Kelbeeh.  On  this  hill  is  a  visiting-place 
(called  Zeyareh),  wath  a  double  dome,  and  from  it  there 
is  a  magnificent  view  of  the  plain  and  surrounding  moun- 
tains. Indeed  it  forms  so  distinguishable  a  landmark 
that  it  was  lately  visited  by  Lieutenant  Brooker,  of  H.M. 
surveying  ship  Tartarus,  to  take  observation?. 

From  it  one  easily  descends  through  a  well  watered 
valley  to  the  large  village  of  the  Merdj,  which  forms  the 
outskirt  of  the  Kelbeeh  district,  and  is  but  half  an  hour 
distant  from  B'hamra,  the  village  in  which  my  mission- 
house  is  situated.  This  district  from  the  character  of  its 
people,  and  from  their  alliances  and  relatives,  is  the  most 
powerful  in  the  mountains ;  and  hence  they  were  heard  of 
by  Niebuhr,  Yolney,  and  Burckhardt,  who  make  great, 
and,  as  to  Volney,  absurd  mistakes  with  respect  to  them. 
To  the  east  of  the  district  lies  the  deep  valley  called  Wady 
Beyt  Nasir,  of  which  the  inhabitants  are  wilder  and  fiercer 
than  perhaps  any  others  in  the  mountains.  Buried  in 
their  lonely  gorges  they  only  issue  from  them  to  rob,  or 
help  their  friends  the  Kelbeeh  in  some  fight  with  an 
adjoining  district,  or  with  the  government.  This  valley 
runs  up  to  a  mountain  called  Giafar  Tayyar,  from  a  cele- 
brated visiting-place  on  the  top.  It  lies  about  direct  east 
from  Djebileh,  and  as  it  took  me  about  five  hours  and  a 
half  to  reach  its  summit  from  ni}^  house,  which  is  three 
hours  north-east  of  Djebileh,  I  calculate  it  is  about  20 
miles  from  the  sea-coast.     I  am  thus  particular,  because 


10  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY, 

it  lies  at  the  inmost  part  of  the  curve  of  mountains  which 
sweep  round  Ladikeeh,  and  can  easily  be  distinguished  by 
its  bald  head  and  its  height,  which,  after  many  attempts 
to  institute  with  the  eye  a  comparison  between  it  and  the 
mountains  of  Nebbee  Yunis  and  Nebbee  Matta,  I  should 
take  to  be  superior  to  that  of  the  last-named,  and,  there- 
fore, the  highest  point  of  the  Ansairee  range.  The  chief 
village  of  the  Kelbeeh  is  called  Kurdahah,  which  gives  its 
name  to  the  district.  Their  lands  run  down  to  the  sea, 
and  are  prettily  diversified  by  hills  trending  westerly, 
between  which  are  rich  valleys,  of  which  the  most  southern, 
Wady  Beyt  Ahmed,  is  well  planted.  Then  rises  a  moun- 
tain also  trending  westerly  which  separates  the  district 
from  that  of  Beni  Ali,  to  the  south  of  which  most  of  the 
villages  lie  about  this  mountain ;  Ali  Sukkur  being  the 
chief  village  of  the  plain  or  western  part,  and  El  Boadeh 
of  the  eastern  or  mountain  part  of  the  district. 

To  the  south-east  of  El  Boadeh  is  the  village  of  Harf-il- 
Masatireh,  where  I  once  spent  a  night  with  Mohammed 
Satir,  the  Mehuddam  of  the  northern  section  of  the 
Keratileh,  a  wild  race,  relations  of  the  people  of  my  own 
district,  the  Kelbeeh.  To  the  south  of  them  is  Matwar, 
the  residence  of  the  late  Sheikh  Hhabeeb,  whose  family 
hold  the  highest  rank  as  sheikhs,  or  religious  heads,  of 
the  Ansaireeh.  This  village  I  still  call  Matwar,  notwith- 
standing the  strictures  of  the  learned  professor,  Carl 
Ritter,  who  (confounding  it  with  the  Nebbee  Matta)  will 
Jiave  it  that  its  name  ought  to  be  written  differently.* 
But  a  name  is  a  name  notwithstanding  all  the  efforts  of 
critics. 

To  the  south  of  Matwar,  in  a  deep  gorge,  is  the  castle 
of  Beni  Israeel,  which  I  was  able  to  inspect  on  a  second 
visit  to  Sheikh  Hhabeeb.  It  probably  belonged  to  the 
crusaders,  and  defended  this  gorge,  which  extends  to  the 
plain  westward,  and,  with   the   castle  of  Platanos,  kept 

*  Erdkunde,  Pliocjiicia,  &c.,  passim. 


'^^SSR^P 


THE    DISTRICT    OF    BAHLULEEII.  11 


under  the  Ansairee  population  of  all  this  part  of  the 
mountains.  I  found  the  people  near  of  the  wildest 
belonging  to  the  Sararnitah.  They,  with  the  Beyt  Ya- 
shoot,  and  the  southern  section  of  the  Kerahileh  (whose 
chiefs  are  of  the  house  of  Djadjah),  form  the  inhabitants 
of  the  district  of  Simt  Kublee,  which  is  to  the  south  of 
the  Beni  Ali,  and  the  most  southern  of  the  mountain 
districts  of  Ladikeeh,  which  are  inhabited  exclusively  by 
Ansaireeh,  and  governed  by  Ansairee  chiefs. 

As  we  have  now  arrived  at  the  district  of  Merkab,  of 
which  the  western  termination  is  the  castle  of  the  same 
name,  situated  on  a  hill,  where  the  mountains  touch  the 
sea,  and  close  the  plain  of  Ladikeeh,  we  will  return  to 
that  part  of  the  plain  situated  under  the  northern  part  of 
the  Ansairee  range.  Here  is  the  district  of  Bahluleeh, 
governed  by  an  Ansairee  Mekuddam,  Ahmed  Selhab,  who 
has  been  once  burnt  out  of  house  and  home  by  the 
Diryoos  people  since  my  first  visit  to  him.  He  and  his 
are  of  the  Kumreeh  sect,  and  the  district  is  bounded  by 
Wady  Kandeel  to  the  north,  aud  the  district  of  Sahyoon  to 
the  south.  This  last  is  a  Mussulman  district,  grouped 
round  the  castle  of  Sahyoon,  which  was  taken  by  Saladin 
from  the  Templars  in  his  march  north  after  the  disas- 
trous battle  of  Hattin,  near  Tiberias,  in  the  year  1187, 
which  for  the  time  shattered  the  power  of  the  Crusaders. 
The  district  has  been  governed  by  Mussulman  chiefs, 
called  Djindees,  from  that  time,  and  their  people  are  in 
constant  feud  with  the  Ansaireeh,  and  are  as  wild  and 
fierce  as  they,  though  somewhat  more  advanced  in  wealth 
and  knowledge.  In  the  district  are  many  Ansaireeh  and 
some  Christians. 

To  the  south  are  the  Djenneeh  people,  of  whom  the 
chief  man  is  Shemseen  Sultan  of  Beyt  Shilf.  They  are 
relations  of  the  people  of  my  district,  the  Kelbeeh,  and 
are  as  great  robbers  and  as  rebellious  as  they.  I  found 
them  two  months  ago  in  contest  with  the  government, 
which  was  rendering  the  plain  more  desolate  than  ever, 


12  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

burning  their  lower  villages.  They  have  not  much 
mountain  country,  but  sufficient  to  retire  to  in  case  of 
need.  They  plunder  the  country  from  Wady  Kandeel  to 
Ladikeeh,  as  the  Kelbeeh  do  from  Ladikeeh  to  Djebileh, 
and  the  Beni  Ali  and  Kerahileh  from  Djebileh  to  Castle 
Merkab.  Not  that  by  any  means  they  confine  their 
depredations  to  these  parts.  The  Kelbeeh,  especially  in 
times  past  and  when  the  govermnent  is  weak,  have  gone, 
and  do  go,  as  far  as  Kulaat-il-Husn  to  the  south,  and 
Mount  Cassius,  and  even  past  Antioch,  to  the  north. 

The  villages  of  the  phiin  of  Ladikeeh  to  the  north  are 
mostly  Ansaireeh,  of  the  Shemseeh  sect.  Their  villages 
surround  Ladikeeh  on  every  side,  but  no  Ansaireeh  lives 
in  Ladikeeh  or  Djebileh.  The  names  of  many  of  the 
villages  end  in  "o"  (such  as  Dinnserkho,  Bakhtdermo, 
Selago),  which  is  not  an  Arabic  termination.  Shotfateeh, 
the  village  which  Maundrell  amusingly  speaks  of  as 
inhabited  by  a  race  who  cursed  Abu-Beer  and  Omar,  is 
an  Ansairee  village  on  the  Nahr-il-Chebeer,  about  two 
hours  east  of  Ladikeeh.  P/ofessor  Carl  Ritter*  supposes 
this  river  to  have  been  the  boundary  between  the  Phoeni- 
cian state  of  Aradus  and  that  of  Laodicea,  as  the  other 
Nahr-il-Chebeer,  or  river  Eleutherus,  was  the  boundary 
between  the  states  of  Aradus  and  Sidon.  Laodicea  was 
probably  only  rebuilt  about  B.C.  290,  by  Seleucus  Nicator, 
and  named  by  him  in  honour  of  his  mother,  for  its  older 
Phoenician  name  was  Ramantha.  Herodotus  makes 
Phoenicia  to  extend  from  the  Bay  of  Issus  to  Carmel,  and 
an  inscription  to  a  Phoenician  merchant,  in  Delos,  places 
Laodicea  in  Phoenicia.  Probably  it  was  first  colonised  by 
Phoenicians,  who  may  have  had  jurisdiction  to  Mount 
Cassius  to  the  north,  along  the  coast  towards  which  lay 
Heraclea  and  Poseidion. 

The  plain  of  the  south  of  Ladikeeh  is  well  watered  by 
the  Nahr-il-Chebeer,  in  winter  a  deep  though  rather  slug- 

*  Erdkunde,  ut  supra. 


THE   CASTLE    OF   MEllKAB.  13 

gish  river ;  the  Nahr  Senobar,  a  rapid  and  dangerous 
stream  after  a  day  or  two  of  rain  ;  the  Nahr-il-Mudeek  ; 
and  out  of  a  spur  of  the  mountain  to  the  north  of  Mer- 
kab,  the  Nahr-es-Seen,  a  short  but  deep  stream,  near 
which  the  Kelbeeh  and  others  have  committed  many  a 
deed  of  blood,  easily  concealed  in  the  old  tombs  and 
caverns  there.  Over  the  three  former  streams  many  a 
ride  have  I  had,  in  dark  and  troublous  times,  through  the 
desolate  plain  which  spreads  from  Ladikeeh,  for  some 
eighteen  miles  south-east,  to  my  house  on  the  lower  hills. 
The  oppressions  of  the  government,  and  the  violence  of 
the  Ansaireeh,  permit  of  the  existence,  in  most  rich  and 
fertile  land,  only  of  a  few  miserable  viHages,  of  which  I 
will  not  now  give  the  names. 

To  return  to  the  mountains,  where  we  had  reached  the 
castle  of  Merkab.  Since  this  castle  was  taken  by  Ke- 
laoon,  Memlook  sultan  of  Egypt,  from  the  Knights  of 
St.  John  in  a.d.  1285,  it  has,  like  Sahyoon,  formed  the 
nucleus  of  a  colony  of  Mussulmans,  who  have  been  able  to 
maintain  themselves  in  the  midst  of  an  Ansairee  popula- 
tion, for  the  district  is  principally  inhabited  by  Ansaireeh, 
with  a  few  Christians.  This  castle  seems  to  have  been 
held  for  some  time  by  the  Ismaeleeh,  but  is  now  governed 
by  a  Mussulman,  Mohammed  Adra,  whose  forefather,  a 
century  or  two  ago,  made  himself  master  of  the  castle, 
after  having  murdered  the  former  possessor,  in  whose  ser- 
vice he  was  as  Kahya.  This  I  was  told  by  the  governor 
of  Tartoos,  who  remarked  that  the  sword  had  never  de- 
parted from  his  house.  At  present  he  has  enough  to  do 
to  maintain  himself  against  the  Kerahileh  to  the  north, 
with  whom,  in  my  time,  he  has  had  a  bloody  feud. 

We  have  now  come  to  that  part  of  the  mountains  which 
was  the  seat  of  the  Syrian  branch  of  the  famous  Ismae- 
leeh, or  Assassins,  as  they  are  called  by  William  of  Tyre, 
and  other  writers  on  the  crusades.  Here  dwelt  the 
famous  sheikh,  or  "  old  man  "  of  the  mountain,  whose 
name  was  a  terror  to  the  nurseries  of  oklen  time.     The 


14  THE    ASIAN   MYSTKRY. 

Arab  geographers  and  historians,  such  as  Edrisi,  Abul- 
feda,  Ibn-il-Wardee,  Makrisi,  &c.,  call  them  Israaeleeh 
and  Fedaweeh,  and  give  the  names  of  their  castles. 
William  of  Tyre  speaks  of  their  having  ten  castles  in  the 
part  of  the  mountains  near  Antaradiis  (Tartoos),  in  the 
names  of  which  Yon  Hammer  *  falls  into  error.  Among 
them  were  Kadmoos,  Masyad,  Khawaby,  Kahf,  Ulleykah, 
Maynakah,  Mounifeh,  Rossafah,  Koleyah.  At  Kadmoos 
at  present  there  are  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  families 
of  Ismaeleeh ;  at  Masyad  the  same  number ;  and  at  Ulley- 
kah some  fifty.  In  all,  the  Ismaeleeh  of  Syria  are  not 
supposed  to  exceed  some  four  thousand,  or  at  most  6,500, 
and  they  are  diminishing  before  the  superior  numbers 
of  the  Ansaireeh,  who  are  the  chief  inhabitants  even  of 
the  districts,  such  as  Kadmoos  and  Masyad,  which  are 
governed  by  Ismaelee  chiefs. 

The  district  to  which  Castle  Kadmoos  gives  its  name  is 
to  the  east  of  Merkab.  South-east  from  Merkab,  where 
the  mountains  leave  the  sea  and  sweep  round  the  plain  of 
Tartoos,  is  the  district  of  Khawabeh,  which  derives  its 
name  from  the  castle  of  that  name,  which  is  the  seat  of 
the  governing  family  of  the  district,  who  are  Mussulmans, 
relations  of  the  chief  men  of  Merkab  and  Tartoos. 
Edrisi  f  says  that  it  is  fifteen  miles  to  the  south-east  of 
Tartoos,  built  on  the  mountain,  and  near  the  western  side. 

We  have  now  left  the  fourteen  districts  of  the  province 
of  Ladikeeh,  and  find  in  the  mountains  to  the  north-east 
of  the  three  last-mentioned  districts  the  castle  of  Masyad,  ij 
giving  its  name  to  its  district,  which  is  under  the  juris- 
diction of  Hamah.  This  castle  was  visited,  and  is  de- 
scribed by  Burckhardt,  and  the  Hon.  F.  Walpole,  who 
speaks  of  the  fear  in  which  the  Ismaelee  emir  was  of  his 
Ansairee  neighbours. 

From  Kadmoos,  in  my  first  journey  in  these  moun- 

*  History  of  Assassins,  (Wood's  trans.)  p.  121. 
t  Ed.  Jaubert,  Paris,  1836,  p.  35. 


THE   PLAIN   OF   TARTOOS.  15 

tains*,  I  travelled  south  to  the  district  of  Safeetah,  which 
was  the  seat  of  the  Ansairee  chief,  Fakr,  in  Burckhardt's 
time,  who  had  jurisdiction  over  the  whole  of  the  southern 
part  of  the  Ansairee  mountains,  on  high  ground  project- 
ing from  which  the  tower  of  Safeetah  stands.  This  dis- 
trict has  always  been  one  of  the  most  noted  of  the 
Ansairee  districts,  and  was  lately  governed  by  a  certain 
Ismaeel  Khair  Bey,  who,  as  well  as  his  tribe,  the  Meta- 
warah,  in  the  mountains  near,  was  originally  a  great 
robber,  and  was  sent  to  Constantinople,  from  whence  he 
came  back,  as  is  not  unusual,  in  high  honour,  as  governor 
of  the  district  of  Safeetah.  He  aspired,  however,  much 
higher,  and  I  once  met  him  with  a  great  train  at  Ladi- 
keeh,  whither  he  had  come  to  make  himself  conspicuous,  in 
endeavouring  to  intervene  between  my  own  district  and 
the  government.  About  a  year  ago,  however,  he  rebelled 
against  the  government  himself,  and,  being  defeated,  took 
refuge  in  an  Ansairee  village  to  the  east  of  the  mountains ; 
but  the  people  of  it  had  been  so  oppressed  under  his  rule 
that  they  cut  off  his  head,  and  those  of  two  of  his  near 
relations.  He  was  a  young  man  of  commanding  stature, 
and  of  all  the  Ansairee  chiefs  the  most  powerful,  or  at 
least,  noted,  of  his  day. 

Having  now  arrived  at  the  most  southern  point  of  the 
Ansairee  mountains,  we  will  return  to  the  north  of  the 
plain  of  Tartoos,  which  is  separated  from  that  of  Ladi- 
keeh,  by  the  mountains  which,  for  some  distance,  coast  the 
sea  shore  from  Merkab  southwards.  This  plain  which,  as 
I  once  found  to  my  cost,  is  well  watered,  swells  out  to  a 
great  width  east  of  Tartoos.  Having  started,  March  3rd, 
from  my  house,  during  a  rainy  time,  I  arrived  the  first 
night  at  Djelasa,  a  village  on  the  spur  of  the  mountain, 
under  which  is  the  fine  fountain  of  Nahr-es-Seen.  Before 
reaching  it  we  were  hailed  by  the  chief  man  of  the  Kera- 
hileh,  who,  with  some  of  his  people,  was  in  the  thick 

♦  Ansaireeh  and  Ismaeleeli,  p.  238. 


IG  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

bushes  at  the  base  of  the  hill,  waiting  for  some  prey.  At 
the  mouth  of  the  Seen  is  an  encampirient  of  the  wander- 
ing Arabs,  called  Arab-il-Mulk.  After  passing  Banias, 
under  Castle  Merkab,  we  arrived  in  about  six  hours  at 
Tartoos,  having  passed  Dar  Sofr,  under  which  the  plain 
beo^ins  to  widen.  The  third  day  we  made  about  six  hours, 
crossing  with  great  difficulty  the  swollen  river  of  Nahr-il- 
Abrash,  at  about  that  distance  from  Tartoos,  and  spent 
a  miserable  night  in  the  tent  of  an  Arab  chief,  which 
afforded  insufficient  protection  against  the  rain  and 
wind.  The  Arab-il-Djehaysb  wander  in  this  plain.  The 
chief  looked  with  no  favourable  eye  on  an  Ansairee 
companion  of  mine,  as  he  had  often  to  suffer  from  the 
mountaineers.  Though  we  toiled  during  the  next  day 
over  the  flat  plain,  almost  continually  through  water,  it 
took  us  the  whole  of  it  to  pass  the  Nahr-il-Chebeer,  and 
arrive  at  the  Khan  of  the  Nahr-il-Barid,  though  this  last 
is  but  three  hours  from  the  Nahr-il-Abrash.  Here  the 
plain  is  closed  by  a  mountain  over  which  a  road  of  three 
hours  leads  to  Tripoli.  All  this  fine  plain  formed  part  of 
the  territory  of  the  Phoenician  state  of  Arvad  (Ezekiel,  ^ 
xxvii.  8 — 11),  of  which  the  metropolis  was  on  the  small  I 
island  of  Arvad,  now  Ruad,  situated  opposite  Tartous,  ' 
anciently  called  Antaradus.  The  Arvadites  are  mentioned 
(Gen.  X.  17,  18)  in  connexion  with  the  Sinites  (near  the 
river  Seen  to  the  north);  the  Zemarites,  of  whom  the 
name  is  preserved  in  Zimreh,  a  ruined  town  to  the  north  of 
Tartoos  ;  and  the  Arkites  of  Tel  Arka,  to  the  south  of  jj 
Nahr-il-Chebeer,  where  was  a  castle  taken  by  the  cru- 
saders. Among  the  most  northern  possessions  of  the 
Arvadites  may  have  been  Gabala,  the  modern  Djebileh, 
fifteen  miles  south  of  Ladikeeh.  The  road  to  the  south 
of  Tartoos,  for  three  or  four  hours,  is  one  of  the  most 
unsafe  in  Syria.  It  is  called  the  Heeshat  Tartoos,  and 
consists  of  rocks  and  ruined  sepulchres  scattered  among 
thick  myrtle  groves,  which  give  shelter  to  the  daring  and 
too   often    pitiless    Ansairceh    of    the    mountains,    which 


THE    CASTLES.  17 

bound  the  plain.  These  mountains  from  the  sea  look 
but  low,  though  one  can  see  higher  peaks  rising  behind. 

The  Templars  possessed  many  castles  on  the  south  of 
the  Ansairce  mountains,  proving  troublesome  neighbours 
to  the  Assassins,  whom  they  compelled  to  pay  tribute. 
They  held  Safeetah,  which  was  taken  from  them  in  a.d. 

1271,  by  the  famous  Sultan  Beybars,  of  Egypt,  who  sub- 
dued the  Assassins  also,  and  took  all  their  castles  a.d. 

1272.  Makrisi*  speaks  of  the  Franks  in  Djebel-il-Aamila 
being  attacked  by  his  troops  on  all  sides.  Among  the 
castles  belonging  to  the  Franks  in  the  mountains  were 
Raphania,  two  hours  south  of  Masyad,  and  Barin,  or 
Mons  Ferrandus,  held  by  the  Knights  of  Jerusalem. 

Among  the  castles  taken  by  Beybars  the  same  year  that 
he  took  Safeetah,  were  Husn-il-Akrad  and  Akkar  (Arka), 
to  the  respective  districts  of  which  we  now  come,  as 
possessing  a  numerous  Ansairee  peasantry. 

The  castle  of  Husn  was  held  by  the  Knights  of  St.  John, 
and  is  situated  at  the  northern  extremity  of  the  Lebanon, 
between  which  and  the  Ansairee  mountains,  as  I  have 
said,  is  the  entrance  into  Hamath,  and  the  road  from 
Hums,  the  ancient  Emessa,  to  its  seaport  Tartoos,  or 
Antaradus,  lying  nearly  west  of  it,  at  a  distance,  accord- 
ing to  Edrisi,  of  two  days^  journey.  There  are  many  An- 
saireeh  in  this  district,  which  is  principally  inhabited  by 
Christians  of  the  Greek  religion,  who  are  warlike,  and 
could  muster,  I  was  told,  2,000  muskets.  In  the  moun- 
tains south,  called  the  Shaara,  dwell  the  Denatchee  Arabs, 
who,  I  was  informed,  came  from  Bagdad  some  300  years 
ago,  and  number  500  horsemen.  I  only  mention  them  to 
say  that  they  are  sometimes  employed  by  the  government 
to  attack  the  Ansaireeh,  and  some  time  ago  were  suc- 
cessful in  killing  about  seventy  of  them  who  had  wandered 
down  on  foot  too  far  into  the  plain  on  the  east  of  the 
mountains,  and  were  surprised  as  they  were  returning 

*  History  of  the  Memlook  Sultans,  (Quatremere,)  vol.  i.  part  ii.  p.  27. 

C 


18  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

from  a  marauding  expedition,  by  the  Denatchee  horsemen. 
More  south  is  Djebel  Akkar,  divided  into  three  districts, 
in  one  of  which,  Duraib  especially,  there  are  many  Ansai- 
ree  peasantry,  who  till  the  ground  for  the  Mussulman 
Beys  of  Akkar. 

I  have  not  visited  the  Ansaireeh  of  the  mountains  of 
Castle  Harim,  though  I  skirted  those  mountains  on  my 
road  to  Aleppo,  nor  those  of  the  marshy  district  of  the 
Roodj,  on  which  I  looked  down  from  the  mountain  of  the 
Nebbee  Yunis.* 

I  have  seen  the  Ansaireeh  at  Mersina,  the  seaport  of 
Tarsus,  who  seemed  to  be  well  off,  and  1  have  always 
heard  from  those  of  them  who  had  been  there,  that  food 
was  cheap  and  wages  good,  but  both  only  to  be  obtained 
at  the  expense  of  the  fever  which  prevails  there  on  account 
of  the  marshy  character  of  the  plain  country.  Many  from 
various  causes  go  there  from  Syria;  and  according  to  a 
writer  in  the  Revue  d'Onentf,  "it  is  more  than  half  a 
century  since  the  Ansaireeh  commenced  to  emigrate  to  the 
pashalik  of  Adana,  to  withdraw  from  the  vexations  which 
they  w^ere  made  to  endure  in  Syria  on  account  of  their 
religion.  Thus  the  district  of  Ladikeeh  is  depopulated 
more  and  more  every  day." 

To  give  some  approximate  idea  of  the  number  of  the 
Ansairee  population  in  Syria,  which,  as  will  have  been 
already  seen,  is  by  no  means  small,  I  may  state  that  the 
Arabic  geography,  published  at  Beyrout  by  Dr.  Vandyke, 
of  the  American  Board  of  Missions,  which  gives  the  number 
of  the  Druses  at  100,000,  gives  that  of  the  Ansaireeh  and 
Ismaeleeh  together  at  200,000,  and  we  have  seen  that  the 
Ismaeleeh  are  few  in  number. 

In  the  district  of  Akkar  there  are  supposed  to  be  about 
2,550  or  3,500  Ansaireeh  ;  in  that  of  Safeetah,  29,100  ; 
in  the  several  districts  of  Ladikeeh,  from  70,000  to  75,00(> ; 

♦  The  Roodj  is  described  in  Carl  Ritter's  Erdkunde,   Tlieil  xvii.  ^- 
1(:69.  from  a  MS.  of  the  late  Dr.  Eli  Smith, 
t  Juno,  1856. 


THE   POPULATION.  19 

ill  the  mountains  east  of  the  Orontes,  3,750 ;  and  in  the 
neighbouring  district  of  Koodj,  about  5,000.  These  num- 
bers do  not  inchide  the  Ansaireeh  on  the  east  of  the 
mountains,  those  of  Antioch  and  the  neighbourhood,  and 
those  along  the  coast  to  Scanderoon,  so  that  near  200,000 
may  perhaps  be  considered  without  much  exaggeration  as 
the  number  of  this  people  in  Syria.* 

Dr.  Thomson,  American  missionary,  says :  "  Mr.  Barker 
assures  me  that  about  one  third  of  the  inhabitants  of 
Tartoos  are  Ansaireeh,  and  that  they  abound  not  only  in 
Djebel  Bailan,  above  Scanderoon,  but  in  the  mountains  of 
Anatolia.  This  corresponds  with  the  unvarying  testimony 
of  the  people  themselves,  who  also  say  that  their  sect 
extends  to  Djebel  Sindjar,  and  even  to  Persia.  They  are 
several  times  more  numerous  than  the  Druses,  but  then 
they  are  more  widely  dispersed.  Their  number  cannot  be 
less  than  200,000,  and  most  intelligent  natives  place  it 
much  higher.  The  largest  body  of  them  occupy  the  plain 
and  mountains  of  Ladikeeh,  which  are  in  consequence 
called  Djebel-il- Ansaireeh.  Their  villages  are  also  very 
numerous  in  the  region  called  Safeetah,  above  Tartoos, 
and  in  Husn  and  Akkar.  They  also  comprise  one  third  of 
the  inhabitants  of  Antioch,  and  abound  in  the  mountains 
above  it."  f 

The  tract  of  country  of  which  we  have  been  speaking 
is  one  of  the  most  agreeable  and  fertile  in  the  world.  Dr. 
Thomson  in  travelling  north,  past  Tripoli,  could  not  help 
being  struck  with  the  difference  between  the  country  to 
the  north  and  south  of  that  place.     In  the  lower  moun- 

*  Since  writing  the  above,  the  Rev.  H.  H.  Jessup,  American  mis- 
sionary at  Tripoli,  has  kindly  sent  me  the  government  census  of  adult 
males  in  the  province  of  Tripoli.  This  gives  15,623  for  the  district  of 
Safeetah,  and  100  (!)  and  500  (!)  respectively  for  those  of  Akkar,  and 
Ish-Shaarah.  Mr.  Jessup  says :  "  I  cannot  but  think  their  estimates  in 
Akkar  and  Tortosa  lacking  in  respect  to  the  Nusaireeyeh.  The  table 
includes  only  adult  males.  This  v»rould  give  perhaps  a  sum  total  of  over 
40,000  Nusaireeyeh  in  the  Safeetah  district." 

t  Missionary  Herald,  March,  1841. 

c  2 


20  THE    ASIAN  MYSTERY. 

tains  I  have  not  seen:  the  thermometer  rise  above  95° 
Fahrenheit  in  the  shade,  though  the  east  wind,  blowing 
from  the  deserts  of  Mesopotamia,  is  sometimes  oppressive 
in  the  summer.  The  winter  soon  passes,  and  snow  rarely 
ftdls  in  the  plain,  though  once  at  Ladikeeh  in  a  northerly 
wind,  I  saw  ice  on  the  morning  of  the  9th  of  March. 
Ague  and  ophthalmia  are  not  uncommon  during  summer, 
arising  from  exposure  to  the  heat  in  reaping  the  harvest 
in  the  plains,  and  from  neglect  of  cleanliness.  To  the  east 
of  the  mountains  the  climate  is  far  more  unhealthy,  the 
marshes  of  the  Orontes  giving  a  pallid  hue  to  all  who  live 
near,  who  are  subject  to  a  fever,  under  which  the  belly 
swells.*  That  part  is  also  infested  by  enormous  raos- 
quitos,  of  which  1  have  spoken  in  my  account  of  my  former 
passage  along  that  valley,  which  reaches  half-way  up  the 
mountain  ;  and  an  Ansairee  of  the  west  of  the  mountains 
told  me  the  other  day,  that  they  put  him  and  his  com- 
panions to  flight,  notwithstanding  the  thickness  of  their 
skins,  when  once  they  were  spending  the  night  in  a  village 
on  the  eastern  side. 

To  the  north  the  country  about  Antioch  is  favourable 
to  trees  from  nearly  every  quarter  of  the  globe,  and  the 
village  of  Betyas  especially,  on  the  mountain  facing 
Antioch,  realises  as  far  as  can  be,  one's  idea  of  an  earthly 
paradise. 

The  mountains  near  Cassius  are  clothed  with  beautiful 
woodlands  of  pine  and  oak,  where  a  Robin  Hood  might 
wander,  and  these  trees  were  largely  used  for  the  Egyp- 
tian navy  in  Ibrahim  Pasha's  time.  Magnificent  walnut 
trees  are  to  be  found  in  many  places. 

The  Ansairee  mountains  are  far  more  fertile  than  the 
Lebanon,  being  lower  and  less  rocky.  The  geographer 
Ibn-il-Mardee    speaks  of    the    southern    part,  or  Djebel 

♦  The  people  principally  live  on  millet,  which  they  sow  among  tlio 
sedge  which  skirts  the  Orontes,  and  then  when  it  commences  to  sprout, 
cut  down  and  burn  the  sedge.  They  sow  also  some  of  the  coarao 
curly  leaf  tobacco,  and  have  large  flocks  of  goats  and  herds  of  oxen. 


THE    TREES.  21 

Summak,  so  called  from  the  sumach  which  grows  there, 
as  a  part  abounding  in  good  things,  and  I  found  it  to  be 
so  in  passing  through  the  length  of  it  from  Kadmoos  to 
Safeetah. 

The  district  where  I  live,  in  the  northern  part,  is  equally 
fertile,  though  the  mulberry,  fig,  and  olive  trees  have 
mostly  been  cut  down  in  the  lights  with  Berber  and 
others.  I  have  been  astonished  to  see  the  progress  made 
by  fig  and  mulberry  trees  planted  by  me  a  few  years  ago.* 
In  this  part  of  the  mountains  grow  the  evergreen  and 
other  oaks,  such  as  the  uzr,  which  is  used  in  smoking 
tobacco,  and  on  the  east  of  the  mountains  there  are  vast 
woods  of  the  oak  which  produces  the  gall-nut.  On  my 
way  to  Djaafar  Tagy^n,  I  passed  through  woods  of  beech 
and  oak,  though  I  saw  no  trees  of  great  size.  I  also  saw 
the  yellow  convolvulus  or  scammony. 

The  ground  is  prepared  for  wheat  and  barley  in  October 
and  November,  and  the  seed  then  sown  is  reaped  about 
the  end  of  May.  The  ground  then  lies  fallow  till  the 
next  winter,  when  it  is  ploughed  and  prepared  for  the 
summer  crops  of  the  year  following,  which  are  sown  in 
the  spring  and  reaped  in  autumn.  These  consist  of 
millet,  cotton,  sesame,  and  sometimes  lentils,  chickpeas, 
and  castor  oil ;  portions  of  moist  ground  being  chosen  for 
the  water  and  yellow  melon  and  cucumbers,  tomatas, 
lupines,  the  egg-plant,  &c.  &c.  The  wheat  of  Ladikeeh 
will  not  keep  long,  being  liable  to  be  attacked  by  the 
weevil.  The  principal  exports  from  Ladikeeh,  of  the  pro- 
duce of  its  neighbourhood,  are  millet,  sesame  seed,  and  its 
famous  tobacco. 

Ladikeeh,  lying  as  it  does  in  about  the  35th  degree  of 
north  latitude,  is  therefore  within  the  zone  of  from  15°  to 

*  The  most  troublesome  weed  on  my  farm  was  the  myrtle,  which 
springs  up  afresh  unless  every  portion  of  the  root  is  dug  up.  It  abounds 
in  the  mountains  and  plains  of  this  part  of  Syria.  In  spring,  the  scent 
of  its  blossoms,  from  a  hill  entirely  covered  with  it  to  the  south  of  my 
house,  was  very  agreeable. 

c  3 


22  THE   ASIAN  MYSTERY. 

25°,  which  is  most  favourable  to  its  production.  The 
best  grows  in  the  more  northern,  higher,  and  rocky  parts 
of  the  Ladikeeh  mountains,  and  the  people  of  Diryoos  and 
the  Amamarah  depend  mostly  upon  it  for  their  support, 
cultivating  with  the  greatest  care  the  small  plots  before 
their  houses,  which  raise  a  small  but  valuable  quantity  of 
the  Aboo-Reehah.  This,  being  afterwards  smoked  by  the 
fires  used  during  the  winter,  and  consisting  of  the  uzr,  is 
then  fit  for  the  market,  and  shipped  at  Ladikeeh,  mostly 
for  Egypt  and  Constantinople.  The  tobacco  which  grows 
in  the  lower  mountains  is  less  valuable,  and  goes  by  the 
name  of  Skek-il-Bint. 

The  plant  is  the  species  called  Nicotiana  rustica*,  which 
is  that  raised  in  China  and  most  of  Asia,  and  of  which  the 
leaves  are  shorter  and  broader  than  the  Nicotiana  Tabacum 
or  Virginian  tobacco,  and  the  flowers  smaller,  with  rounded 
instead  of  pointed  segments.  It  has  a  most  pleasant 
perfume,  and,  like  the  Havannah  cigars,  possesses  probably 
but  2  per  cent  of  the  poisonous  volatile  alkali  called 
nicotin,  whereas  the  Virginian  tobacco  contains  nearly 
7  per  cent. 

The  tobacco  is  sown  in  ground  of  which  the  clods  are 
broken  fine,  and  which  has  been  well  manured  with  goats' 
dung,  first  in  seed-beds,  and  then  the  plants  are  pricked 
out,  being  watered  only  once  as  they  are  put  into  the 
ground.  The  leaves  are  plucked  when  the  wheat  harvest 
is  over,  and  strung  on  threads  of  goat's  hair,  and  hung  up 
in  the  shade  till  somewhat  dried,  when  they  are  suspended 
under  the  roofs  of  the  houses,  to  be  smoked  or  otherwise, 
and  left  till  tax-gathering  comes,  when  they  are  sold  in 
loads  of  100  or  120  strings. 

Such  is  a  slight  picture  of  the  country  w^here  dwell 
the  wild  Ansaireeh,  once  thickly  peopled,  now  desolate 
to  a  degree  ;  in  fact,  one  of  the  least  cared  for  portions 
of  the   Turkish    dominions,   with   a  fierce  and  ignorant 

•  See  Chemistry  of  Common  Life,  (Johnston,)  vol.  ii.  p.  1 1. 


NORTHERN   SYRIA.  23 

population,  who  arc  rarely  visited  by  European  travellers. 
As  we  read  the  successive  accounts  of  those  who  have 
passed  through  the  land  in  times  past,  we  trace  the 
gradual  ruin  of  the  towns  and  the  increasing  desola- 
tion and  depopulation  of  the  country,  which  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Ladikeeh  are  going  on  at  the  present 
moment,  in  the  burning  of  villages,  and  the  death,  in  per- 
petually recurring  petty  fights,  of  their  inhabitants.  I, 
myself,  since  the  weakening  of  the  government  during  and 
since  the  Russian  war,  have  been,  a  witness  and  hearer  of 
scenes  of  blood  and  desolation  which  must  seemingly  find 
their  end  in  the  utter  ruin  of  the  country,  and  extirpa- 
tion of  the  population,  unless  matters  have  come  to  that 
state  when  they  begin  to  mend. 

I  subjoin  a  lively  picture  of  Northern  Syria,  past  and 
present :  — 

"  Northern  Syria,  though  not  strictly  sacred,  is  still 
classic  ground.  A  line  drawn  from  the  river  Eleu- 
therus,  through  the  entrance  of  Hamath,  and  across  the 
plain  eastward  by  Hums,  marks  the  southern  boundary. 

"  Although  Ptolemy  makes  Phoenicia  terminate  at  the 
Eleutherus,  we  are  not  to  suppose  that  the  Phoenicians 
had  no  possessions  further  north.  Arvad  was  one  of  their 
earliest  settlements,  and  we  have  reason  to  believe  that 
Laodicea,  Garbala,  and  Alexandria  (Scanderoon)  were 
founded  by  them.  The  Phoenician  section  of  Northern 
Syria  has  sadly  fallen  ;  the  harbours  are  in  ruins,  most  of 
the  towns  are  deserted,  and  the  adjoining  coast  is  almost 
without  an  inhabitant.  The  soil  is  rich,  but  not  a  tenth 
part  of  it  is  under  cultivation. 

"  The  territory  of  the  '  Great  Hamath'  formed  one  of 
the  most  ancient  divisions  of  Northern  Syria.  It  embraced 
the  plain  on  both  banks  of  the  Upper  Orontes, — a  tract  of 
unrivalled  fertility ;  and  probably  the  Nusairiyeh  moun- 
tains, famed  in  Strabo's  days  for  their  vineyards. 

"  Northern  Syria  was  the  nucleus  of  the  kingdom  of  the 
Seleucidae;    under  that  dynasty  it  attained  its  greatest 

c  4 


24  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

power.  Antiocb,  Seleucia,  Apamea,  Laodicea,  and  many 
other  great  cities  sprang  into  existence  as  if  by  the  wand 
of  an  enchanter.  The  country  was  regarded  as  an  earthly 
paradise.  The  votaries  of  pleasure  in  every  land  longed 
for  the  delicious  groves  of  Daphne  (near  Antioch).  The 
pure  sky  and  enchanting  scenery  remain ;  and  the  ruins 
tliat  dot  the  country  bear  silent  testimony  to  the  wealth 
and  splendour  of  former  days. 

"  To  the  Seleucidae  succeeded  the  Romans.  When 
Hadrian  divided  Syria  into  three  provinces,  Antioch 
remained  capital  of  the  '  first/  which  embraced  the  whole 
country  under  consideration. 

"  The  decline  of  Northern  Syria  may  be  dated  from  the 
Saracenic  conquest.  Some  of  its  cities  were  still  populous 
Avhen  the  Crusaders  marched  through  the  land.*  The 
Mohammedan  rule  has  since  been  fatal  to  almost  all. 
Seleucia  is  deserted,  Apamea  is  deserted,  Arethusa  is 
deserted,  Larissa  is  deserted,  and  Antioch  itself  is  dwindled 
down  to  a  fourth-rate  town  of  6000  inhabitants.  A  great 
part  of  the  country  is  desert."  f 

♦  Bertrand,  who  passed  through  the  country  in  1432,  after  the  in- 
vasions of  the  Tartars,  speaks  of  seeing  in  some  places  nothing  but 
ruined  houses  between  Hamah  and  Antioch.  Travels  in  Palestine  ;  ed. 
Wright :  H.  Bohn. 

j"  Porter's  Guide  Book  to  Syria,  (Murray,)  vol.  ii.  p.  590. 


CHAP.  II. 

HISTORY   OF   THE   SECRET   HERETICAL   SECTS   OF   ISLAM. 

Before  entering  on  the  history  of  the  Ansaireeh,  it  is 
necessary  to  give  an  account  of  some  of  the  other  hereti- 
cal secret  sects  which  sprang  out  of  the  bosom  of  Islam, 
such  as  the  Karmatians,  the  Druses,  and  the  Ismaeleeh  or 
Assassins.  Not  only  is  it  necessary  to  do  this,  for  the 
sake  of  those  who  have  hot  given  much  attention  to  the 
rise  and  progress  of  Mohammedanism,  but  as  helping 
materially  to  the  elucidation  of  the  history  of  the  Ansai- 
reeh. This  sect  has  never  been  of  much  note,  and,  conse- 
quently, Mohammedan  authors  only  mention  them  now 
and  then,  and  that  slightly;  while  the  Ansaireeh  them- 
selves are  not  only  very  ignorant,  and  possessed  of  few 
books,  but  also  either  entirely  silent  or  designedly  deceit- 
ful as  to  their  origin ;  and  few  of  their  books  have  yet  fallen 
into  the  hands  of  Europeans.  The  consequence  is,  that  it  is 
easier  to  write  their  history  negatively  than  positively  ;  to 
say  what  they  are  not,  than  to  show  what  they  are  ;  and 
for  this  we  must  know  something  of  those  sects  which 
have  any  relation  to  them. 

It  has  been  a  common  error  to  suppose,  that,  while 
Christianity  has  been  split  up  into  diverse  sects,  Moham- 
medanism has  been  comparatively  free  from  heresy  and 
schism.  A  saying  imputed  by  tradition  to  Mohammed  at 
once  shows  that  this  idea  is  without  foundation.  He  is 
said  to  have  declared,  that  whereas  the  Magians  were 
divided  into  seventy  sects,  the  Jews  into  seventy-one,  the 
Christians  into  seventy-two,  his  own  followers  would  be 
separated  into  seventy- three,  of  which,  orthodox  Mussul- 


26  THE   ASIAN  MYSTERY. 

man  authors  suppose  only  one  tp  be  entitled  to  salvation. 
And,  in  fact,  if  all  the  several  heresies  which  sprang  into 
existence  after  the  death  of  Mohammed  were  enumerated 
one  by  one,  the  number  would  be  found  to  exceed  even 
the  liberal  allowance  imputed  to  the  prophet.* 

As  religion  and  civil  government  are  intimately  con- 
nected in  the  Mohammedan  system,  we  find  that  these 
schisms  had  their  first  origin  in  political  considerations, 
namely,  the  right  of  succession  to  the  government  of  the 
Mohammedan  state  after  the  death  of  its  founder. 

Mohammed  died  in  the  house  of  his  wife  Ayesha ;  and 
she  is  said  by  the  Schiites,  or  followers  of  Ali,  to  have 
suppressed  his  special  designation,  in  favour  of  Ali,  of  the 
Caliphate  or  civil  rule,  and  the  Imamate  or  spiritual 
jurisdiction,  of  Islam  or  Mohammedanism.  That  is,  they 
say  that  Mohammed  intended  that  he  should  be  both 
Emir-il-Moomeneen  (prince  of  the  true  believers),  and 
Imam-il-Muslemeen  (high  priest  of  the  Mussulmans);  and 
they  maintain  his  indefeasible  right  to  both  offices,  and 
that  though  he  for  a  time,  and  his  children  afterwards, 
were  by  man's  injustice  deprived  of  the  caliphate,  no 
human  power  could  take  from  them  the  imamate.  And  in 
truth,  though  the  caliphate  was  voted  to  Abu-Beer,  with 
the  pretty  general  consent  of  the  chief  companions  of 
Mohammed,  Ali  seems  to  have  had  a  better  claim.  Abu- 
Beer,  indeed,  was  an  early  convert,  and  a  favoured  com- 
panion, and  also  father  of  Ayesha,  wife  of  the  prophet ; 
but  Ali  was  not  only  related  by  blood  to  Mohammed,  who 
had  been  brought  up  and  protected  by  Abu-Taleh,  All's 
father  and  Mohammed's  uncle,  but  had  married  his 
favourite  daughter,  Fatima,  was  one  of  his  three  earliest 
converts,  and  had  contributed  materially  by  his  bravery 
to  the  success  of  his  cousin.  The  subsequent  conduct  of 
Ali  shows  him  too,  to  have  been,  according  to  the  light 


•  See  Sale's  Introduction  to  Koran,  sect,  viii.,  for  an  account  of  some 
of  these. 


THE    IM/VMATE.  27 

that  was  in  liim,  of  a  mild  and  praiseworthy  character, 
and  he  bore  the  preference  given  to  rivals  with  an  equani- 
mity w^hich  was  not  shared  by  his  zealous  partisans. 

When  Abu-Beer  died,  the  claims  of  Ali  were  postponed 
to  those  of  tlie  fierce  Omar,  and  on  his  assassination,  to 
those  of  the  aged  and  feeble  Othman,  who  had  married 
two  daughters  of  the  prophet.  It  was  only  on  the  murder 
of  Othman  that  the  claims  of  Ali  were  recognised ;  and  the 
Schiites  as  a  body  make  a  religious  duty  to  curse  those 
who  had  stood  in  his  way — Abu-Beer,  Omar,  and  Othman, 
especially  Omar,  who  had  forced  Ali  to  give  way  to  the 
first-named. 

The  opposition  to  Ali  did  not  end  with  his  succession 
to  the  caliphate.  Telha  and  Zobeir,  companions  of 
Mohammed,  and  the  determined  enemy  of  Ali,  Ayesha, 
took  the  field  against  him,  but  were  defeated  ;  Telha  and 
Zobeir  being  slain  and  Ayesha  made  prisoner.  But 
Moawiyah,  who  had  been  appointed  by  Omar  governor  of 
Syria,  and  had  been  deposed  by  Ali,  proved  a  more  for- 
midable antagonist.  He  was  the  son  of  that  Abu-Sofian, 
who,  at  the  head  of  the  Koreish,  had  so  long  resisted 
Mohammed,  and  at  length  only  professed  Islam  under  the 
sword.  Moaw^iyah  continued  to  make  progress  in  his  rebel- 
lion against  Ali,  till  Ali  was  assassinated,  a.d.  661 ;  when 
having  forced  Hasan,  the  eldest  son  of  Ali,  to  resign,  he 
became  caliph,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  family  of  Moham- 
med. Moawiyah  was  the  founder  of  the  dynasty  of  the 
Omeyades  (so  called  from  Omeyah,  one  of  his  ancestors), 
which  ruled  the  Mohammedan  world  till  the  accession  of 
the  Abbasides,  caliphs  of  Bagdad,  who  were  descended  from 
Abbas,  an  uncle  of  Mohammed,  and  obtained  the  caliphate 
in  A.D.  750.  This  dynasty  proved  as  zealous  enemies 
of  the  descendants  of  Ali  as  the  former. 

Ali  married  no  one  in  the  life  of  Fatima,  By  her  he 
had  three  sons,  Hasan,  Hosein,  and  Mohsin,  of  whom  the 
last-named  died  young.  He  afterwards  had  eight  wives, 
and  fifteen  sons  in  all,  of  which  one,  Mohammed,  son  of 


28  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

Hanefeyd,  was  one  of  the  most  noted,  as  reverenced  by 
one  of  the  numerous  sects,  which  were  characterised  by 
the  inordinate  honour  paid  by  them  to  the  memory  of  Ali. 
It  was  difficult  to  extinguish  so  numerous  a  progeny;  but 
the  most  important  scions  of  the  race  were  the  sons  of 
Hosein,  reckoned  among  the  twelve  celebrated  imams,  of 
whom  I  proceed  succinctly  to  give  the  history. 

Hosein,  led  into  rebellion  and  then  deserted  by  the 
people  of  Cufa,  near  Bagdad,  was  surrounded  with  seventy 
brave  followers  at  Kerbela,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  those 
places,  by  the  army  of  Yezid,  son  of  Moawiyah.  It  is 
impossible  to  read  without  emotion  the  story  of  his  bra- 
very and  death,  and  every  year  in  Persia  and  India  his 
martyrdom  is  celebrated  with  all  the  outward  marks  of 
extreme  grief;  and  the  Ansaireeh  speak  of  him  as  the 
third  imam,  the  martyr  of  Kerbela. 

Ali,  his  son,  the  fourth  imam,  who  was  twelve  years 
old  at  the  death  of  his  father,  refused  to  take  any  share  in 
public  affairs,  and  died  a.d.  712,  leaving  such  a  reputa- 
tion for  piety,  that  he  is  styled  Zeyu-il-Aabideen,  the 
"  ornament  of  pious  men." 

Mohammed,  the  fifth  imam,  led  as  retired  a  life  as  his 
father.  He  devoted  himself  to  study,  and  is  called  by  the 
Schiites  the  "  possessor  of  the  secret,*'  or  II  Bakir,  "  the 
investigator."  The  Omeyade  caliph  of  his  day,  alarmed 
at  the  progress  of  opinions  which  tended  to  strengthen  the 
house  of  Ali,  caused  him  to  be  poisoned  a.d.  734. 

His  son  Djaafar,  the  sixth  imam,  called  Is-Sadik,  or 
*'  the  just,"  is  especially  celebrated  and  reverenced  by  the 
followers  of  Ali  and  his  family.  They  say  that  he  wrote 
the  lesser  Djifi,  a  book  of  astrological  predictions,  as  Ali 
liad  been  the  author  of  the  greater.  Even  at  the  present 
day,  and  especially  since  the  Mohammedan  community  has 
been  so  rudely  shaken  in  various  parts  of  the  world,  this 
book  is  referred  to  as  having  foretold  all  that  has  and  is  to 
happen.  He  died  a.d.  765,  after  the  caliphate  had  passed 
to   the   Abbasides,   an   event   which,   as   we    have   inti- 


THE    IMAM  ATE.  29 

mated,  made  no  diiFerence  in  the  treatment  of  the  house 
of  All. 

We  now  come  to  a  part  of  the  succession  to  the  iinamate, 
to  wliich  I  must  bespeak  the  reader's  special  attention, 
for  on  a  clear  understanding  of  it  will  depend  the  com- 
prehension of  the  distinction  between  the  various  sects 
whose  history  we  are  giving.  Djaafar  designated  his  son 
Ismaeel  as  his  successor,  but  on  his  death,  a.d.  762-3, 
during  his  own  lifetime,  he  declared  his  second  son, 
Moosa,  his  heir.  Now  as  Ismaeel  had  left  children,  those 
of  the  Schiites  who  regarded  the  imamate  as  hereditary, 
denied  that  Djaafar  had  a  right  to  make  a  second  nomi- 
nation. They  formed  a  sect  called  the  Ismaeleeh,  from 
which  sprang  the  Fatimite  caliphs  of  Egypt,  who  pre- 
tended to  be  descended  (and  perhaps  were  so)  from  this 
Ismaeel,  and  the  Ismaeleeh  or  Assassins  of  Persia  and 
Syria.  The  Druses  are  the  followers  of  one  of  these 
Fatimite  caliphs,  Hakem-biamr-ilah,  whom  they  worship 
as  the  chief  manifestation  under  a  human  form  of  the  Deity. 

The  Saffarean  or  Sooper  monarchs  of  Persia,  claiming  to 
be  descended  from  Moosa,  declared  him  to  be  the  seventh 
imam,  and  this  is  now  the  general  opinion  in  Persia. 
The  Ansaireeh,  who  are  Imameeh,  that  is,  acknowledgers 
of  twelve  imams,  recognise  the  claims  of  Moosa,  whom 
they  call  II  Kazim,  or  '*  the  patient."  In  this  they  are 
distinguished  from  the  Druses  and  Ismaeleeh,  who  break 
the  line  at  Ismaeel,  to  the  exclusion  of  Moosa  and  his 
descendants,  and  perhaps  from  the  Karmatians,  who  appear 
to  have  done  the  same.  Moosa  was  privately  assassinated 
by  order  of  Haroon-ir-Rasheed,  the  hero  of  the  "Arabian 
Nights."  Moosa's  son,  Ali,  called  by  the  Imamites  and 
Ansaireeh,  Ir-Reda,  or  "acceptation,"  was  proclaimed  by 
II  Mamoon,  successor  of  Haroon,  as  his  own  successor  in 
the  empire,  which  raised  such  a  sedition  among  the 
30,000  descendants  of  Abbas  that  II  Mamoon  was  obliged 
to  cause  Ali  to  be  privately  poisoned  a.d.  816. 

Mohammed,  the  son  of  Ali,  was  the  ninth  imam.     He 


30  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

lived  in  privacy  at  l^agdad,  and  died  at  an  early  age 
A.D.  885.  On  account  of  his  generosity  he  is  styled  by 
the  Ansaireeh,  II  Djawwad,  "  the  generous." 

Ali,  the  tenth  imam,  was  but  a  child  when  his  father 
died.  He  was  kept  all  his  life  a  close  prisoner  in  the 
town  of  Asker,  by  the  Caliph  Motawakkil,  a  mortal  enemy 
of  the  Schiites.  He  pretended  to  devote  himself  to  study 
and  religious  exercises,  but  could  not  thus  disarm  the 
jealousy  of  the  caliph,  who  caused  him  to  be  poisoned 
A.D.  868.  He  is  called  by  the  Ansaireeh,  Ali-il-Hadi, 
"  the  director." 

Hassan,  the  eleventh  imam,  his  son,  is  styled  by  them 
n  Askeree,  from  the  place  where,  like  his  father,  he  lived 
and  was  poisoned. 

Mohammed,  the  twelfth  and  last  imam,  was  but  six 
months  old  when  his  father  died.  He  was  kept  closely 
confined  by  the  caliph,  but  after  he  had  attained  the  age 
of  twelve  years  he  suddenly  disappeared.  The  Sonnites, 
or  orthodox  Mohammedans,  say  that  he  was  drowned 
in  the  Tigris,  but  the  Ansaireeh,  and  the  other  Imameeh, 
deny  the  fact  of  his  death,  and  assert  that  he  entered  into 
a  cave,  from  whence  he  will  issue  at  the  end  of  all  things, 
to  cause  the  followers  of  Ali  to  triumph,  and  to  punish 
his  enemies.  He  is  called  by  the  Ansaireeh  "  the  demonstra- 
tion, the  chief,  the  director,  the  preacher  of  glad  tidings 
and  of  threatenings,  the  hoped  for,  the  expected  master 
of  the  age  and  time."  It  is  this  "  director,"  who,  since 
the  suppression  of  the  rebellion  in  India,  is  said  by  the 
Mussulmans  of  Lahore  and  elsewhere  to  have  already 
made  his  appearance  and  to  be  about  to  restore  the 
dominion  to  them.* 

♦  For  an  account  of  the  first  four  caliphs,  and  the  twelve  imams,  the 
reader  may  consult  the  History  of  Mohammedanism,  by  W.  C.  Taylor, 
published  by  the  Christian  Knowledge  Society,  chaps,  vi.  and  vii.  It 
is  a  very  useful  little  book,  though  in  unimportant  things  not  entirely 
free  from  error,  as  in  the  assertion,  p.  166,  that  "  The  Nosairians  stop 
at  Ali,  the  first  imam." 

Gibbon,  with  a  few  felicitous  touches,  sketches  the  rise  of  Mohamme- 


RISE    OF    HERETICAL   SECTS.  31 

We  return  now  to  the  time  of  Ali,  to  describe  the 
gradual  rise  of  the  several  sects  of  his  extravagant  ad- 
mirers. 

Makrisi,  in  his  valuable  description  of  Egypt,  says* 
that  "  even  in  the  time  of  Ali,  and  of  the  companions  of 
the  apostle,  there  arose  those  who  promulgated  extrava- 
gant opinions  concerning  Ali,  and  that  he  caused  some  of 
them  to  be  burnt,  saying  in  verse : — 

"  V^hen  T  saw  that  the  matter  was  abominable, 
I  lighted  my  fire  and  called  for  Kanbar." 

Kanbar  being  his  freedman.  This  did  not,  however, 
quench  the  zeal  of  his  followers ;  for,  "  in  his  time  also 
arose  Abdullah,  son  of  Wahab,  and  grandson  of  Saba, 
who  was  the  first  to  teach  that  the  prophet  of  God 
delegated  the  right  of  the  imamate  to  Ali,  and  explicitly 
assigned  to  him  the  succession,  after  himself,  to  the 
government  of  his  people  ;  and  he  pretended  that  Ali  was 
not  dead  but  living  and  that  in  him  was  a  particle  of  the 
divinity ;  that  he  comes  in  the  clouds,  that  the  thunder 
is  his  voice,  and  the  lightning  his  scourge,  and  that  he 
would  certainly  one  day  return  to  earth  and  fill  it  with 
justice,  as  it  was  then  filled  with  injustice.  And  from 
the  son  of  Saba  originated  all  the  sects  of  the  extravagant 
Rafedhis,  who  speak  of  the  wakf,  that  is,  that  the  imamate 
belonged  to  certain  persons,  as  the  Imameeh  say  that  it 
does  to  the  twelve  imams,  and  the  Ismaeleeh  to  Ismaeel, 
son  of  Djaafar-is-Sadik.  And  from  him  they  took  the 
saying  about  the  absence  of  the  imam,  and  that  about  his 
return  after  death  into  the  world,  as  the  Imameeh  believe 

danism,  and  the  history  of  the  successors  of  Mohammed.  It  is  a  pity 
that  he  could  not  read  the  Arab  historians  in  their  own  language,  for  he 
might  have  learnt  from  them  a  terseness  in  writing,  which  would  have 
left  on  the  mind  a  more  distinct  impression  of  historical  facts  than  his 
own  inflated  periods.  See  also  Von  Hammer,  History  of  Assassins, 
book  i. ;  and  Ockley's  History  of  Saracens. 

*  Edition  printed  at  Boulak,  Cairo,  vol.  ii.  p.  356. 


32  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

to  this  day  of  the  "lord  of  the  cave''  (Mohammed,  the 
last  imam).  This  is  the  dogma  of  the  transmigration  of 
souls.  From  him,  too,  they  took  the  saying  that  a  particle 
of  the  Divinity  resides  in  the  imams  after  Ali,  son  of  Abu- 
Taleh,  and  that,  therefore,  they  had  a  positive  right  to 
the  imamate.  And  the  dais  (missionaries)  of  the  Fatimite 
caliphs  of  Egypt  took  their  belief  from  hence.  Ibn-Saba 
stirred  up  the  sedition  against  Othman,  son  of  Uffam, 
which  caused  his  death ;  and  he  had  everywhere  many 
followers,  and  thus  the  Schiites  increased  greatly." 

Among  the  first  of  those  who  preached  heresy  and  then 
stirred  up  rebellion  was  Hakim  ibn-Hashem,  a  native  of 
Khorassan,  a  province  from  whence,  as  from  the  country, 
Persia,  in  which  it  is  situated,  arose  the  greatest  corrup- 
tions of  Mohammedanism.  Being  very  deformed  and 
anxious  to  give  himself  out  as  more  than  human,  he 
assumed  a  silver  veil,  and  was  hence  called  11  Mokannaa, 
or  "  the  veiled."  He  appeared  in  the  reign  of  the  caliph 
II  Mohdee,  a.d.  778,  and  by  juggling  persuaded  many 
that  he  could  work  miracles.  He  thus  was  able  m  a  few 
months  to  collect  a  large  army  and  secure  numerous 
strong  fortresses,  but  being  closely  besieged  in  one  of 
these,  he  first  poisoned  the  entire  garrison  and  his  own 
family,  and  then  plunged  into  a  vessel  containing  a  corro- 
sive liquid,  so  that  men  might  think  that  he  had  been 
taken  up  to  heaven.  Some  still  believed  so,  notwithstand- 
ing tlie  assertions  of  one  of  his  concubines,  Avho  had  hid 
herself,  and  seen  all  that  he  had  done  ;  and  they  clothed 
themselves  in  white,  to  show  their  hostility  to  the  Abbaside 
caliphs,  whose  distinctive  colour  was  black.  After  him  a 
still  more  formidable  rebel,  named  Baber,  appeared  in  Irak 
during  the  caliphate  of  Al  Mamoon,  a.d.  810.  He  is  said 
by  an  Oriental  exaggeration  to  have  put  to  death  250,000 
Mohammedans  in  cold  blood,  besides  those  slain  in  battle. 
After  twenty  years  he  was  defeated,  seized,  tortured,  and 
executed. 

In  the  time  of  Mohammed  son  of  Ismaeel,  that  son  of 


I 


ABDULLAH,   SON   OF   MABIOON   KADDAH.  33 

the  imam  Djaafar-is-Sadik  to  whom  we  have  before 
specially  alluded,  arose  Abdullah  son  of  Maimoon  Kaddah, 
who,  seeing  the  failure  of  II  Mokanijaa  and  Baber,  deter- 
mined to  proceed  in  a  different  way,  by  a  secret  gradual 
promulgation  of  his  doctrine,  rather  than  by  open  war. 
De  Sacy  supposes  that  before  his  time  the  sect  of  the 
Tsmaeleeh,  who  take  Ismaeel  as  their  chief  object  of 
reverence,  may  have  existed,  but  that  it  was  not  till  the 
time  of  Abdullah,  about  the  year  of  the  Hedjirah  250, 
A.D.  863,  that  the  doctrines  of  the  sect  were  reduced  into 
a  system.  He  thinks  that  till  his  time  they  were  only  an 
ordinary  sect  of  Schiites,  but  that  he  introduced  material- 
ism and  general  infidelity. 

I  do  not  enter  now  into  the  doctrines  which  he  dissemi- 
nated, leaving  that  for  a  future  chapter,  but  will  relate 
something  of  his  history,  as  a  preface  to  that  of  Karmat, 
founder  of  the  Karmatians,  with  whom  some  suppose  the 
Ansaireeh  are  identical,  and  to  whom  in  truth  they  seem 
more  or  less  allied. 

Nowairi  *  says  that  Abdullah  son  of  Maimoon  was 
obliged  to  fly  successively  from  Ahwaz  (in  Khoozistan,  a 
province  of  Persia  bordering  on  the  Arabian  Irak,  near 
the  head  of  the  Persian  Gulf),  and  from  Busrah,  and  took 
refuge  at  Salameeh  in  Syria  (a  town  on  the  borders  of  the 
desert,  but  situated  in  a  fertile  territory,  a  few  miles  south- 
east of  Hamah).  He  died  there,  and  his.  son  Ahmed  be- 
came supreme  chief  of  the  Tsmaeleeh.  He  sent  Hosein 
Ahwazi,  a  dai  (or  missionary),  into  Irak.  Hosein  arrived 
in  the  cultivated  territory  of  Cufa,  called  by  Arabs,  Sawad, 
and  there  found  Hamdan  son  of  Ashath.     He  initiated 


*  De  Sacy  (see  Expose  of  Religion  of  Druses,  vol.  i.  introd.  p.  73) 
places  great  reliance  on  Nowairi,  who  takes  his  facts  from  Aboul- 
Hasan,  said  to  be  separated  by  only  five  generations  from  Moham- 
med son  of  Ismaeel,  from  whom  he  claimed  descent.  He  says  that 
Makrisi  and  Nowairi  derived  from  one  source  in  all  probability,  for  they 
employ  nearly  always  the  same  expressions,  and  it  is  possible  to  correct 
the  text  of  one  from  that  of  the  other. 

D 


34  THE    ASIAN    MYSTERY. 

him  into  his  religion,  and  when  dying  named  him  his  suc- 
cessor. According  to  Nowairi,  Hamdan  was  called  Kar- 
mat,  from  the  name  of  his  ox.  Others  say  that  the  word 
means  a  man  with  short  legs,  who  makes  short  steps. 
Others  that  it  comes  from  the  Nahatean  language,  in 
which  it  is  Karamita,  and  hence  Karmat. 

Another  story  is  told  by  Aboulfaraj  in  his  dynastic 
history,  and  also  in  Nowairi  from  Ibn-Atheer*  ;  also  by 
Bibars  Mansoori  and  Abulfeda,  who  are  supposed  by  De 
Sacy  to  follow  Ibn-Atheer.  De  Sacy  gives  this  story  from 
Bibars  Mansoori :  — 

A  man  of  the  province  of  Khuzistan  came  and  esta- 
blished himself  in  the  territory  of  Cufa,  called  Nahrein. 
He  there  led  an  austere  life,  and  taught  those  that  spoke 
with  him  about  religion,  and  that  they  should  make  'pray- 
ers fifty  times  a  day.  He  lived  with  a  gardener,  and 
watched  date  palms.  Being  ill,  he  was  taken  care  of  by 
Hamdan  Karamita,  and  taught  him  his  religion,  and  chose 
twelve  nakeebs.  Haidsam,  the  governor  of  those  parts, 
imprisoned  him,  but  Haidsam's  maid  released  him.  A 
little  after  he  showed  himself  to  some  of  his  disciples,  who 
were  labouring  on  lands  far  from  the  village,  and  told 
them  that  angels  had  delivered  him.  However,  fearing 
for  his  life,  he  went  into  Syria.  They  called  him  Kara- 
mita, from  the  name  of  him  who  showed  him  hospitality. 

Thus  it  appears  that  the  Karamitah  or  Karmatians  took 
their  rise  from  the  Ismaeleeh,  but  broke  out  into  open 
violence,  instead  of  being  content  for  a  time  with  secret 
propagandism. 

Taking  the  former  story  as  the  correct  one  and  con- 
tinuing it,  it  is  said  that  Hamdan  Karmat  sent  a  dai  to 
Salameeh,  and  found  that  the  house  of  Maimoon  Kaddah 
were  really  set  on  aggrandising  themselves,  rather  than 
honouring  Mohammed  son  of  Ismaeel  ;  who,  by  the  Isma- 

*  Ibn-Khallikin  (p.  218,  ed.  Slane)  speaks  of  the  great  chronicle  of 
Ibn-Atheer,  and  says  that  he  gives  a  full  description  of  the  Karmatians, 
from  which  he  extracts. 


THE    KARMATIANS.  35 

cleeh,  is  treated  with  the  same  honour  as  his  father,  and  is 
often  confounded  with  him.  The  dai,  Abdan,  reportec^ 
the  state  of  the  case  to  Karmat,  who  ceased  to  propagate 
the  doctrine  of  Abdullah.  Soon  after  Karmat  disappeared, 
and  the  representative  of  the  house  of  Kaddah  went  to 
see  Abdan,  who  rejected  him,  and  was  therefore  assassina- 
ted by  a  man  called  Zierwaih,  at  the  instigation  of  the  said 
descendant  of  the  house  of  Kaddah,  who  was  called  Yahya, 
and  by  the  Karmatians  Ish-Sheikh.  Zierwaih  sent  emis- 
saries into  Syria,  who  spread  his  doctrine  among  the  Arab 
tribes  of  the  Benoo  Kelb,  among  whom  they  made  many 
disciples.  The  Benoo  Kelb  revolted  a.d.  901,  and  were 
defeated,  the  descendant  of  Kaddah  being  killed  near 
Damascus  ;  and  soon  after  Zierwaih  himself  was  killed, 
not  before  the  Karmatians  had  taken  Salameeh,  Baalbec, 
&c.,  and  slain  vast  numbers  of  the  Mussulmans. 

But  another  portion  of  the  Karmatians  in  Bahreya  (the 
north-east  portion  of  Arabia,  on  the  Persian  Gulf,  south  of 
Bagdad  and  Cufa,  and  the  country  where  all  these  events 
took  their  rise)  were  far  more  successful.  According  to 
Ibn-Schohnah  it  was  in  a.d.  888,  that  the  Karmatians 
commenced  their  movement  in  the  villages  near  Cufa. 
In  A.D.  899,  Abu-Said,  the  chief  of  the  Bahreyn  branch, 
began  his  victorious  course,  and  was  succeded  by  his  son, 
Abu-il-Tahir,  who  was  a  still  greater  scourge  of  the 
followers  of  the  Abbaside  caliphs,  the  orthodox  Moham- 
medans. There  was  a  continual  war  in  Chaldea,  Meso- 
potamia, and  Syria,  and  the  towns  of  Busra  and  Cufa  were 
taken,  with  the  massacre  of  the  greater  part  of  their  in- 
habitants. At  length  Mecca  was  taken  by  storm,  and 
30,000  Mussulmans  put  to  the  sword.  The  well  Zemzem 
w^as  filled  with  corpses,  the  temple  defiled  by  the  burial  of 
3,000  dead,  and  the  famous  aerolite,  or  black  stone,  taken 
away  and  used  for  an  unclean  use.  For  a  time  pilgrimages 
were  intercepted,  and  then  allowed  to  pass  on  the  pay- 
ment of  a  large  sum,  and  at  length  at  the  instance  of  a 
Fatimite  caliph  of  Egypt,  the  stone  was  restored.     The 

D    2 


36  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

Karinatian  power  gradually  declined,  but  even  in  a.d.  971, 
Hassan  Alacem,  grandson  of  Abu- Said,  defeated  in  Syria 
the  forces  of  the  Egyptian  Fatimite  caliphs,  and  went  to 
Egypt,  where  he  was  himself  defeated  by  the  Caliph 
Moezz-lideen-ilah,  the  grandfather  of  Hakem,  the  god-man 
of  the  Druses.  After  about  a.d.  989,  one  does  not  hear 
much  of  the  Karmatians  of  Irak  and  Syria,  but  they  were 
found  in  Bahreyn  till  a.d.  1037-8,  and  at  Mooltan  in 
India  still  later.  During  the  time  of  the  struggle  between 
the  Karmatians  and  the  Abbaside  caliphs  of  Bagdad,  Abu- 
Abdullah,  an  Ismaelee  dai  from  Salameeh,  went  into  the 
Moghreb,  in  the  west  country,  that  is  the  north  coast  of 
Africa,  which  was  then  governed  by  the  Aglabites,  who 
had  rendered  themselves  independent  of  the  Bagdad 
caliphs.  Having  made  himself  master  of  the  country,  he 
sent  for  Obeid-allah,  who  is  supposed  by  De  Sacy  to  have 
been,  as  he  asserted,  a  descendant  of  the  imam  Ismaeel, 
though  his  enemies  the  Abbasides  endeavoured  to  prove 
that  he  was  of  the  race  of  Maimoon  Kaddah.  He  had  been 
called  Said,  when  at  Salameeh,  but  changed  his  name  to 
Obeid-allah,  when  he  became  master  of  the  west.  He 
made  Kairwan,  the  ancient  Cyrene,  the  capital  of  his  do- 
minions, and  so  in  a.d.  910  was  founded  the  dynasty  of 
the  Fatimite  caliphs,  so  called  on  account  of  their  descent 
from  Fatima,  wife  of  Ali.  Al  Moezz,  the  third  in  succes- 
sion from  Obeid-allah,  removed  the  seat  of  government  to 
Egypt,  and  founded  Musr-il-Kahirah,  or  Cairo,  arriving  in 
Egypt  A.D.  970.  It  is  his  grandson,  Maimoon,  who  is  so 
especially  revered  by  the  Druses.  On  his  accession  to  the 
throne  a.d.  996,  he  took  the  title  of  Hakem-biamr-ilah, 
and  after  a  little  began  to  manifest  his  whimsical  and 
wicked  character.  He  was  a  miserable  fanatic,  and  a 
wretched  madman,  who  persecuted  and  murdered,  now  the 
Jews,  now  the  Christians,  now  the  Mussulmans,  of  the 
countries,  Egypt  and  Syria,  under  his  rule.  At  length  he 
suddenly  disappeared,  a.d.  1021,  having  been  assassinated 
when  on  one  of  his  nightly  rounds.     Shortly  before,  a  cer- 


THE    KARMATIANS.  37 

tain  Meshtekin,  son  of  Ismacel-id-Damzi,  asserted  that  the 
caliph  was  a  manifestation  of  the  invisible  imam,  and 
should  therefore  be  worshipped  as  God.  Hakem  adopted 
an  opinion  so  flattering,  but  Id-Darazi,  being  imprudently 
zealous,  was  obliged  to  fly  from  Egypt,  and  went  to  the 
Wadi-il-Teym,  near  Damascus,  where  there  were  many 
who,  being  afix3cted  with  Ismaelee  doctrines,  were  ready 
to  receive  his  teaching.  A  Persian,  Hamza  ibn-Ali,  had 
before  been  teaching  these  doctrines,  and  Id-Darazi  had 
learnt  from  him,  but  Hamza  acted  with  greater  caution, 
and  his  writings  are  among  the  chief  books  of  the  Druses, 
who  look  on  him  as  second  only  to  Hakem. 

I  have  said  that  in  Wadi-il-Teym  there  were  many  ready 
to  receive  the  doctrines  of  Id-Darazi,  and  thus  form  a  new 
sect  called  Druses.  In  fact  the  whole  of  Syria  was  filled 
at  that  time  with  heretical  sects,  who  all  had  much  in 
common.  Macrisi  *  says :  *' The  Schiites  increased  more 
and  more,  till  there  arose  the  sect  of  the  Karmatians, 
attributed  to  Hamdan-il-Ashath,  styled  Karmat.  And 
there  arose  in  Syria  of  the  Karmatians  such  and  such,  and 
in  Bahreyn,  Abu -Said,  whose  government  increased  greatly, 
and  great  numbers  entered  their  sect,  for  their  dais  were 
spread  through  all  countries.  They  call  their  doctrine 
the  knowledge  of  II  Batin  (the  *  inward,'  that  is  the  inner 
meaning  of  the  Koran  opposed  to  Iz-Zahir,  its  outward 
letter),  which  was  the  Taweil  (interpretation  or  allegori- 
sation),  of  the  laws  of  Islam,  and  the  turning  them  from 
their  literal  meaning  to  their  own  fancies.  The  Fatimite 
caliphs,  having  become  strong  in  Western  Africa,  openly 
embraced  the  doctrines  of  the  Ismaeleeh,  and  sent  their 
dais  to  Egypt ;  and  when  they  became  masters  of  it  they 
sent  their  armies  into  Syria.  And  the  difi^erent  sects  of 
the  Karmatians,  Batenis,  &c.  &c.,  spread  through  Egypt, 
Syria,  and  the  surrounding  countries,  so  that  the  earth 
was  full  of  them.''  t 


P.  357,  continuation  of  words  before  cited.  f  P.  358. 

D    3 


38  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

Another  author*  says,  "  Obeid-allah  manifested  the 
most  hateful  Schiitism."  In  fact  the  Fatimite  caliphs 
were  Ismaeleeh,  and  they  gave  every  possible  encourage- 
ment to  the  extension  of  the  Ismaelee  association,  and 
conferred  office  only  on  those  who  had  been  initiated  into 
its  mysteries.  An  Ismaelee  lodge  was  established  at 
Kairwan,  and  afterwards  removed  with  the  court  to  Cairo. 
Assemblies  were  convened  twice  a  week,  on  Mondays  and 
Wednesdays,  by  the  Dai-al-Doater,  chief  dai,  and  were 
frequented  both  by  men  and  women.  They  had  a  lodge 
called  the  Dar-il-Likmeh,  which  was  well  furnished  with 
professors,  books,  &c.,  and  at  the  lectures  and  disputations 
the  caliphs  frequently  attended.  The  professors  wore 
khalaas,  or  robes,  and  Yon  Hammer  asserts  that  the 
gowns  of  the  English  universities  have  still  the  original 
form  of  the  Arabic  khalaa  or  kaftan. 

The  dais  of  the  Fatimite  caliphs  prepared  the  way  for 
the  teachers  of  Hakem's  divinity,  and  these  last  found 
Ansaireeh  already  existing  in  the  parts  to  which  they 
proceeded.  We  have  already  spoken  of  the  three  Ansaireeh 
villages  near  Wadi-il-Teym,  and,  as  we  shall  see  presently, 
there  were  Ansaireeh  existing  in  the  valley  when  Id 
Darazi  arrived  there.  Also  we  have  mentioned  the 
Ansaireeh  living  in  the  mountains  to  the  east  of  the 
Orontes.  Adjoining  these  to  the  east  is  the  Djebel-il- 
Aala,  where  the  Tenoukhee  family  of  Bateneeh,  who 
became  Druses,  took  refuge.  There  are  still  Druses 
there,  and  they  were  formerly  very  numerous,  but  have 
been,  many  of  them,  driven  out  by  the  Mussulmans,  and 
forced  to  fly  for  refuge  to  their  brethren  in  the  Lebanon 
and  the  Hauran,  the  chief  seats  of  the  Druse  sect. 

When  the  Western,  or  Egyptian,  Ismaeleeh  were  be- 
ginning to  decline,  with  the  decline  of  the  power  of  the 
Fatimite  caliphs  (who  had  wrested  Egypt  and  Syria  from 
the  Abbaside  caliphs  of  Bagdad),  a  new  branch  of  the 

*  El  Masoodi,  Establishment  of  Fatimite  Dynasty  in  Africa, 
(Nicholson,  Tubingen,  1840,)  p.  112. 


THE   ASSASSINS.  39 

Ismaelee  sect  appeared  in  Persia,  and  afterwards  in  Syria, 
called  by  Arab  writers  the  Eastern  Ismaeleeh,  and  by 
Frank  writers  the  Assassins. 

A  certain  Hassan  ibn-Mohammed-is-Sab^h  was  founder 
of  this  famous  sect,  which,  though  it  gained  great  power 
and  dominion,  was  rather  an  order  like  the  Templars, 
than  a  kinordom.  His  father  Ali  was  a  distino^uished 
Schiite  of  Khorassan,  Hassan  was  originally  a  believer 
in  the  twelve  imams,  but  asserted  that  during  an  illness 
he  had  been  converted  to  the  Ismaelee  doctrines,  of  which 
the  caliphs  of  Egypt  were  the  head.  Having  set  out  for 
Egypt,  he  was  at  first  received  with  great  honour ;  but, 
having  had  a  difference  with  the  general  of  the  forces  as  to 
the  right  of  succession  to  the  throne,  he  was  imprisoned 
by  him  at  Damietta,  from  which  he  managed  to  escape 
into  Syria,  in  such  a  way  as  to  give  hinj  an  appearance  of 
having  miraculous  power.  Having  returned  to  Persia  he 
gained  possession  by  force  and  stratagem  of  the  strong 
castle  of  Alamoot,  in  the  district  of  Rudbar,  in  the  north 
of  Persia.  This  happened  in  a.d.  1090.  Pretending 
that  he  was  the  Huddjah,  or  demonstration,  of  the  invisible 
imam*,  he  procured  followers  among  the  pre-existing 
Ismaelee  sect,  and  others  of  the  like  heretical  and  corrupt 
opinions,  and  succeeded  in  persuading  his  followers  that 
to  die  for  the  imam  or  order  was  to  procure  certain 
felicity.  He  gained  castle  after  castle  in  Persia,  and  soon 
obtained  great  power,  inspiring  terror  in  the  hearts  of  all 
by  the  sudden  assassination  of  caliphs  and  viziers. 

The  Assassins  appeared  in  Syria  about  the  same  time 
as  the  crusaders,  for  these  took  Jerusalem  a.d.  1099,  and 
the  Assassins  converted  to  their  interests  Red  wan,  governor 
of  Aleppo,  a.d.  1100.  Their  first  murder  was  that  of  the 
prince  of  Aleppo,  as  he  was  going,  a.d.  1102,  to  raise  the 
siege  of  the  castle  of  Husn,  which  was  being  attacked  by 
the  crusaders  under  the  Count  de  St.  Gilies. 

*  Safeenet-ir-Raghib,  (printed  at  Boulak,  Cairo,)  p.  216. 

p  4 


40  THE    ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

Hassan  Sabah,  the  founder  of  the  order  of  Assassins, 
reigned  thirty-five  years,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  general, 
Kia  Busurgomid,  for  Hassan  had  slain  his  own  sons.  The 
succession  of  the  children  of  Busurgomid,  till  the  extinction 
of  the  order,  is  one  awful  tale  of  suspicion  and  murder  on 
the  part  of  the  father,  or  parricide  on  the  part  of  the  son. 
While  they  caused  the  blood  of  others  to  flow  like  water, 
they  did  not  spare  that  of  their  nearest  relations.  At 
last  Hoolakoo,  grandson  of  the  famous  Jenghiz  Khan, 
brought  to  a  close  the  rule  of  the  Ismaeleeh,  or  Assassins 
of  Persia,  by  besieging  and  taking  all  their  castles,  and 
putting  to  death  their  last  grand-master,  Rokneddeen. 
Their  fall,  a.d.  1257,  inlmmediately  preceded  that  of  the 
Abbaside  caliphs  of  Bagdad. 

During  this  time  the  Ismaeleeh,  or  Assassins,  existed 
almost  independently  in  the  mountains  of  Sumra^k,  the 
southern  part  of  the  Ansairee  range.  According  to 
Dheh^by*,  *^  The  Ismaeleeh  of  Alamoot  sent  into  Syria 
in  the  year  1107,  or  after,  one  of  their  missionaries. 
Many  adventures  happened  to  him,  until  he  made  himself 
master  of  several  fortresses  in  the  mountain  of  Sanak,  and 
which  belonged  to  the  Ansaueeh^ 

A  man  called  Behram  came  into  Syria,  and  took  service 
with  Togtekin,  lord  of  Damascus,  who  gave  him  the  castle 
of  Banyas,  on  the  site  of  Caesarea  Philippi,  and  the 
Ismaeleeh  acquired  great  power  in  Syria.  "  At  that  time 
the  valley  of  Teym,  in  the  province  of  Baalbek,  contained 
various  sects,  such  as  the  Ansaireeh^  Druses,  &c. ;  and,  when 
Behram  attacked  them,  they,  under  the  prince  of  the 
valley,  defeated  and  killed  him,  a.d.  1128."f  Six  thousand 
of  them  were  killed,  a.d.  1129,  by  the  Mussulmans  of 
Damascus,  on  their  failing  in  their  attempt  to  deliver  up 

•  Arabic  MS.  quoted  by  M.  C.  Defremeny  in  Recherches  sur  les 
Ismaeliens  et  Bathiniens  de  Syrie,  Journal  Asiatique  for  May,  June, 
1854,  and  January,  1855. 

f  M.  Defremeny,  from  Ibn-il-Attliier,  page  412  of  Journal  Asiat. 
May,  June,  1854.     See  also  Von  Hammer,  p.  78. 


THE   ASSASSINS.  41 

that  city  to  the  Franks.  They  were  obliged  to  give  up 
the  castle  of  Banyas  to  the  Franks,  and  replaced  the  loss 
of  it  by  acquiring  the  castle  of  Kadmoos  by  purchase  from 
its  Mussulman  owner.  There  they  established  themselves, 
A.D.  1132 — 33,  and  from  thence  harassed  the  Franks 
and  Mussulmans  of  their  neighbourhood.  In  1130  they 
assassinated  the  Caliph  Amin  of  Egypt,  because  he  had 
taken  the  place  of  his  uncle  Nesar,  who  had  been  sup- 
ported by  Hassan  Sabah.  The  Ismaeleeh  looked  on  the 
previous  caliphs  of  Egypt  as,  in  a  measure,  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  hidden  imam.  In  a.d.  1140  they  took 
the  castle  of  Masyad  from  its  Mussulman  governor  by 
stratagem,  and  several  other  castles  which  we  have 
already  enumerated  in  Chap.  I.  They  were  probably 
assisted  in  this  by  the  Bateneeh,  or  secret  sects,  who 
abounded  in  those  parts,  and  in  all  the  north  of  Syria. 
In  Sermeen,  a  day's  journey  from  Aleppo,  there  were  many 
Bateneeh,  when  taken  by  the  Franks*;  and  in  a.d.  1110 
the  castle  of  Kefr  Lata,  also  a  day  from  Aleppo,  was  taken 
by  Tancred  from  Bateneeh.f  There  is  among  the  Druse 
writings  mentioned  by  De  Sacy,  an  epistle  addressed,  about 
A.D.  11 37,  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  mountains  of  Summ^k, 
and  another  to  the  "  Unitarians  "  of  the  same  part.| 

*  Apud  Wilkin. 

f  Paul  Petav.  and  Will.  Camden  speak  of  the  Franks  finding  Turks, 
Saracens,  Arabs,  and  other  pagans  in  Moarra,  and  of  certain  Publicani 
in  Area,  which  Baldrinus,  archbishop,  also  mentions. 

J  Ibn  Batootah  (who  travelled  in  Syria,  1325 — 50)  mentions  inciden- 
tally  the  great  number  of  heretics  in  the  north  of  Syria.  In  one  place  he 
speaks  of  the  tomb  of  Omar  ibn-Abd-il-Azeez,  as  having  no  Zawiyel  or 
garden,  and  gives  as  the  reason,  *'  that  there  were  in  the  country  a  kind 
of  impure  heretics  (Rawafid,  followers  of  Ali),  who  hate  the  ten  com- 
panions, and  every  one  whose  name  is  Omar."  lie  then  went  to 
Sermeen,  "  a  great  city,  where  the  people  were  '  cursers,*  who  hated  the 
ten,  and  would  not  mention  the  name  of  the  ten,  and  therefore  had  a 
great  mosque  with  only  nine  domes."  He  also  speaks  of  a  certain  man 
of  heretical  opinions  in  Ladikeeh,  who  was  convicted  of  heresy  and  put 
to  death.  Ladikeeh  was  the  residence  of  members  of  the  heretical  noble 
family  of  the  Tenookhees. 


42  THE    ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

The  Ismaeleeh,  or  Assassins,  thus  became  neighbours 
of  the  Franks,  who,  as  we  have  intimated  in  Chap.  I.,  had 
many  castles  in  the  Ansairee  mountains,  and  in  the 
southern  part,  called  Djebel-il-Aamilah  or  Summak. 
Thus  they  were  in  continual  feud  with  the  crusaders, 
and,  A.D.  1152,  killed  Raymond  I.,  prince  of  Tripoli,  in 
the  church  of  Tartoos.  They  were  for  that  so  successfully 
attacked  by  their  neighbours,  the  Templars,  who  entered 
and  ravaged  their  territory,  that  they  were  forced  to  pay 
a  yearly  tribute  of  2000  pieces  of  gold. 

At  this  time  appeared  Rasheed-ed-deen  Sinar,  son  of 
Suleyman  of  Basra,  as  the  grand-master  of  the  Assassins 
of  Syria.  He  acquired  a  great  celebrity,  and  left  many 
books,  Avhich  are  of  chief  authority  among  the  Ismaeleeh 
of  to-day.  Many  travellers  and  others,  both  Franks  and 
Arabs,  mention  the  state  of  the  mountains  of  Summak, 
and  of  the  Ismaelee  power  during  his  time. 

Edrisi,  who  finished  his  Arabic  geography  a.d.  1154, 
says  of  the  mountains  above  Tartoos,  where  the  Ismaeleeh 
dwelt : — "  Its  people  are  Hasheesheeh  (eaters  of  the  in- 
toxicating Indian  hemp),  heretics  from  Islam,  who  do  not 
believe  in  the  mission  of  Mohammed,  nor  in  the  resur- 
rection from  the  dead  :  may  their  sect  be  accursed !  "  * 
Benjamin  of  Tudela,  the  Jewish  traveller,  who  passed 
through  the  north  of  Syria  a.d.  1163,  speaking  of 
Djebileh,  to  the  south  of  Ladikeeh,  says :  "  In  this 
vicinity  live  the  people  called  Assassins,  who  do  not 
believe  in  the  tenets  of  Mohammedanism,  but  in  those  of 
one  whom  they  consider  like  unto  the  prophet  Karmath. 
They  fulfil  whatever  he  commands  them,  whether  it  be  a 
matter  of  life  or  death.  He  goes  by  the  name  of  the 
Sheikh-il-Hasheesheen,  or  the  Old  Man,  by  whose  command 
all  the  cities  of  these  mountains  are  regulated.  His 
residence  is  in  the  city  of  Kadmoos.  They  are  at  war 
with  the  Christians,  called  Franks,  and  with  the  Count  of 

•  Ed.  Jaubert,  Paris,  1836,  p.  35. 


THE   ASSASSINS.  43 

Tripoli."*  William  of  Tyre,  the  famous  historian  of  the 
crusades,  who  died  a.d.  1183,  mentions,  under  a.d, 
1169 — 1173,  that  the  "  Assassins"  had  ten  castles,  **  around 
the  bishopric  of  Antaradus,"  and  that  their  number  was 
60,000  or  more.  He  speaks  also  of  the  "  Fratres  militias 
Teinpli,"  who  had  castles  bordering  on  their  territory,  and 
of  the  tribute  of  2000  pieces  of  gold  which  they  exacted 
yearly  from  the  Assassins.  All  this  in  giving  an  account 
of  an  embassy  sent  by  the  Assassins  to  the  king  of 
Jerusalem,  Amaury,  promising  to  become  Christians  if  the 
tribute  annually  paid  to  the  .Templars  were  remitted  to 
them.  On  his  return  the  ambassador  was  slain  by  a 
Templar,  who  was  protected  by  the  grand- master  and  the 
order  ;  for  they  had  heard  of  the  request  of  the  Assassins.f 

Jacob  de  Vitriaco,  who  was  bishop  of  Acre  under 
William,  and  who  died  a.d.  1213,  writing  of  the  same 
event,  speaks  of  the  Assassins  as  living  near  Tartosa,  and 
exceeding  in  number  40,000.  He  says  that  they  paid 
2000  pieces  of  gold  annually  as  tribute  to  the  Templars, 
that  they  might  dwell  in  security  ;  since  the  Templars,  by 
their  proximity,  were  able  to  do  them  much  harm.  He 
continues:  They  are  for  the  most  part  Mohammedans, 
"  but  say  that  they  have  a  certain  hidden  law,  which  it  is 
not  lawful  for  any  one  to  reveal,  except  to  their  children, 
when  they  are  come  to  adult  age."  He  adds  that  the  women 
and  children  say  that  they  believe  in  the  religion  of  their 
relations  without  knowing  it ;  and  that  if  any  son  were  to 
reveal  the  law  to  his  mother  he  would  be  killed  without 
mercy. J 

Ibn-Djubair,  an  Arab  of  Andalusia  in  Spain,  in  travel- 
ling through  Syria  a.d.  1183,  speaks  of  the  Ismaeleeh 
on  his  way  to  Hamah.  He  says  that  behind  Muarra, 
'*  in  the  mountains  of  Lebanon,  are  castles  of  the  impious 
Ismaeleeh,  a  sect  who  have  gone  out  of  Islam,  and  claimed 


*  P.  59,  ed.  Asher.  t  Lib.  xv.  pp.  31,  32. 

i  Gesta  Dei  per  Francos,  p.  1143. 


44  THE   ASIAN  MYSTERY. 

divinity  for  a  certain  man-devil,  Sinan  by  name,  who  has 
deceived  them  by  vanities  and  false  appearances,  so  that 
they  have  taken  him  as  a  god,  and  worship  him,  and  give 
their  lives  for  him,  and  they  have  arrived  at  such  a  pitch 
of  obedience  as  to  throw  themselves  down  from  a  precipice 
at  his  command."* 

Brocardus  Monachusf  says:  "On  the  eastern  side  of 
Antaradus  are  certain  low  mountains,  and  this  district  is 
called  that  of  the  Asisini.'* 

Ibn-il-AVardee,  who  quotes  from  Ibn-Atheer  and  Medj- 
ith-Dthahab  of  Massoodee,  speaking  of  Djebel  Summak, 
says  that  "  It  contains  cities  and  villages  and  forts  and 
castles,  and  most  of  its  people  are  Ismaeleeh  and  Druses, 
and  on  it  grows  the  sumach."  J 

Abulfeda,  who  was  prince  of  Hamah,  a.d.  1310 — 30, 
speaks  of  the  town  of  Masyaf  (Masyad)  as  having  a  strong 
fort,  and  being  the  centre  of  the  Ismaelee  order. § 

Marco  Polo,  who  in  1271  travelled  through  Asia, 
mentions  the  Assassins  of  Persia  and  Syria. || 

Sinan  resided  in  Castle  Kahf.  It  is  said  that  in  a.d.  1176 
the  inhabitants  of  Summak  took  occasion  of  some  words  of 
his,  to  the  effect  that  no  one  should  deny  anything  to  his 
brother,  to  break  out  into  licentiousness  and  incest,  and 
he  caused  some  of  them  to  be  put  to  death.  Ibn-Jubair 
mentions  that  eight  years  before  his  arrival  in  Syria, 
a.d.  1183,  some  of  the  people  called  Ismaeleeh  (whom 
he  describes  as  so  numerous  that  none  but  God  could 
number  them)  became  so  corrupt  in  a  village  called 
Bab,  near  Aleppo,  that  they  were  attacked  and  exter- 
minated by  the  Mussulmans.^ 

The  Assassins  endeavoured  to  assassinate  the  great 
Saladin  more  than  once  when  he  was  before  Aleppo,  and 


♦  Ibn-Jubair,  (Wright,  Leyden,  1852,)  p.  256. 

t  Novis  orbia,  (Basil,  1532,)  fol.  301.  %  Arab.  MS. 

§  Geography,  (ed.  Keinaud  and  Slane,)  p.  229. 

II  Lib.  i.  c.  21.  4  As  above,  p.  251. 


THE    ASSASSINS.  45 

therefore  he  went  to  attack  Masyad  a.d.  1176,  but  was 
persuaded  to  give  up  the  siege  at  the  intercession  of  his 
uncle,  prince  of  Hamah,  being  the  more  ready  to  do  so  as 
he  had  been  in  real  fear  of  the  Assassins,  having  had  a 
very  narrow  escape  from  death.  In  1192  Conrad  of 
Montferrat  was  killed  by  two  Assassins,  at  the  instigation, 
there  is  little  reason  for  doubt,  of  Richard  Coeur  de  Lion. 
Sinan  died  a.d.  1192—93.  In  a.d.  1250  the  Old  Man 
of  the  Mountain  sent  to  demand  a  present  from  Louis  IX. 
at  Acre ;  but  the  Templars  and  Hospitalers  sent  back 
demanding  a  present  for  the  king,  and  obtained  it. 

But  now  the  power  of  the  crusaders.  Templars,  and 
Hospitalers,  and  of  the  Assassins,  was  drawing  to  a  close, 
being  about  to  fall  before  the  celebrated  Beybars  or  Malik- 
id- Dhabir,  sultan  of  Egypt,  of  the  Memlook  dynasty. 
The  Hospitalers,  or  Knights  of  St.  John,  being  hard 
pressed,  sent  an  embassy  begging  him  to  maintain  peace 
in  that  part  of  the  country  which  borders  on  the  Ismaeleeh, 
and  he  would  only  consent  on  their  remitting  the  tribute 
which  they  received  from  the  Ismaeleeh,  namely,  200  pieces 
of  gold  and  100  measures  of  corn.  In  1269  Beybars  took 
the  chief  castles  of  the  Knights  Templars,  and  of  St.  John, 
in  those  parts,  namely,  Safeetah  and  Husn,  and  the  Ismae- 
leeh paid  to  him  the  tribute  before  paid  to  the  knights ; 
but  after  a  short  respite  their  castles,  too,  were  taken  one 
by  one  ;  and  last  of  all  Muneika,  Kahf,  and  Kadmoos  in 
1272,  in  which  year  the  Friday  prayers  were  celebrated  in 
them.* 

After  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century  we  hear  little  of 
the  Ismaeleeh  of  Syria.  Ibn-Batoutah,  the  Arab  Moghrebbin 
traveller,  who  was  in  Syria  between  1325-50,  speaks  of 
the  castle  of  Sahyom,  and  then  says :  "  And  I  journeyed 
from  it,  and  passed  by  the  castle  of  Kadmoos,  then  by 
the  castle  of  Maynakah,  then  by  the  castle  of  Ulleyhah, 

*  Makrisi,  History  of  the  Memlook  Sultans,  vol.  i.  part  ii.  p.  3  : 
Quatremere,  Paris,  1840. 


46  THE   ASIAN  MYSTERY. 

then  by  the  castle  of  Masyad,  and  these  castles  belong  to 
a  people  called  the  Ismaeleeh,  and  also  the  Fedaweeh ; 
and  no  one  enters  among  them  besides  themselves,  and 
they  are  the  arrows  of  II  Malik-id -Nasir,  by  whom  he 
reaches  his  enemies  in  Irak  and  elsewhere."  He  adds, 
"  that  they  were  paid  by  him  for  this,  and  used  poisoned 
knives."  *  Thus  from  time  to  time  we  read  of  assassina- 
tions attributed  to  them.  An  Arab  author,  who  died  at 
Damascus  a.d.  1349,  speaks  of  the  Ismaeleeh  as  having  in 
his  time  Masyad,  &c.  There  were  nawabs  or  viceroys 
placed  in  the  Ismaelee  castles  by  Beybars.f  Perhaps 
from  them  are  descended  the  present  emirs  of  the  castles  ; 
for  they  told  Burckhardt,  who  visited  Castle  Masyad,  that 
they  had  been  possessors  of  it  since  the  time  of  the  Malik- 
id-Dhabir,  Beybars,  as  acknowledged  by  the  firmans  of 
the  Porte  J ;  though  the  Ismaeleeh  of  to-day  told  Dr.  Eli 
Smith  and  Mr.  Walpole,  who  visited  them  in  1848,  and 
1850 — 51,  that  they  had  come  from  Damascus  a.d.  1010  ; 
and  they  declared  to  the  latter  that  they  had  chased 
Ansaireeh  out  of  the  castles. 

Abd-il-Ghanidj  in-Nabulusi  visited  Kadmoos  in  a.d. 
1693,  and  found  the  emir  of  Kadmoos,  and  his  brother 
of  Masyad,  to  be  of  the  Tenookhee  family,  which  settled 
in  the  time  of  the  Greeks  in  Djebel-il-Aala,  and  were 
Batenians,  some  of  them  being  Druses  at  the  present 
day. 

Niebuhr,  in  his  description  of  his  journey  in  Syria  ad. 
1764,  speaks  of  the  Ismaeleeh,  but  says  little  about  them, 
and  that  little  is  incorrect.  He  says  :  "  The  number  of  the 
Ismaeleeh  is  not  great.  They  live  principally  at  Kellis,  a 
town  between  Shogher  and  Hamah ;  as  also  in  Gebel 
Kalbie,  a  mountain  not  far  from  Latachia,  between  Aleppo 

*  Travels  of  Ibn-Batoutah,  published  by  the  Societe  Asiatique, 
Paris,  1843. 

f  M.  Defremeny,  Jour.  Asiat.  January,  1855. 

X  Burckhardt's  Travels  in  Syria,  (London,  1822,)  p.  152. 


THE   ASSASSINS.  47 

and  Antioch.  They  are  called  Keptun,  from  the  name  of 
a  village  in  this  country."  * 

Von  Hammerf  says :  "  Remains  of  the  Ismaelites  still 
exist  both  in  Persia  and  Syria,  but  merely  as  one  of  the 
many  sects  and  heresies  of  Islamism,  without  any  claims 
to  power,  and  without  the  means  of  obtaining  their  former 
importance,  of  which  they  seem,  in  fact,  to  have  lost  all 
remembrance.  The  policy  of  the  secret  state-subverting 
doctrine  of  the  first  lodge  of  the  Ismaelites,  and  the  mur- 
derous tactics  of  the  Assassins,  are  equally  foreign  to 
them.  Their  places  of  abode  are  both  in  Persia  and  Syria, 
those  of  their  forefathers,  in  the  mountains  of  Irak,  and 
at  the  foot  of  Anti-Lebanon. 

"  The  Persian  Ismaelites  recognise  as  their  chief,  an 
imam,  whose  descent  they  deduced  from  Ismael,  the  son 
of  Djaafur-is-Sadik,  and  who  resides  at  Khekh,  a  village 
in  the  district  of  Koom,  under  the  protection  of  the  Shah. 
As,  according  to  their  doctrine,  the  imam  is  an  incarnate 
emanation  of  the  Deity,  the  imam  of  Khekh  enjoys  to  this 
day  the  reputation  of  miraculous  powers;  and  the  Isma- 
elites, some  of  whom  are  dispersed  as  far  as  India,  go  in 
pilgrimage,  from  the  banks  of  the  Ganges  and  Indus,  in 
order  to  share  his  benediction.  The  castles  in  the  district 
of  Rudbar,  in  the  mountains  of  Alamoot,  are  still  in- 
habited to  this  day  by  Ismaelites,  who,  according  to  a 
late  traveller,  go  by  the  general  name  of  Hosseinis." 

We  have  thus  related  briefly  the  history  of  the  secret 
heretical  sects  of  Mohammedanism,  in  that  of  the  original 
Ismaeleeh,  the  Karmatians,  the  Western  Ismaeleeh,  from 
whence  sprang  the  Druses,  and  the  Eastern  Ismaeleeh, 
or  Assassins,  and  this,  as  a  necessary  preparation  to 
all    that   we    know   of    the   history    of    the   Ansaireeh, 

*  Page  361.  The  reader  may  remember  that  the  Kelbeeh  are 
Ansaireeh,  and  Kefteen  is  the  chief  village  of  the  Druses  in  Djebel-il- 
Aala. 

t  Page  211. 


48  THE   ASIAN  JVIYSTERY. 

whose  sect  came  into  existence  in  the  time  of  the 
Karmatians.  We  have  omitted  to  relate  that  history  in 
its  proper  place,  that  we  may  treat  of  it  in  a  separate 
chapter.* 

*  For  further  information  about  the  Karmatians  the  reader  may  con- 
sult D'Herbelot,  Bib.  Orient.,  article  Carasmita.  The  history  of  Hakem, 
the  deity  of  the  Druses,  is  given  by  De  Sacy  in  his  exposition  of  their 
religion.  Von  Hammer  has  given  a  history  of  the  Assassins,  which 
has  been  translated  by  Wood.  As  a  most  useful  abridgment  of  these 
authors,  see  Taylor's  History  of  Mohammedanism  and  its  Sects ;  also 
Sale's  Introd.  to  Koran,  sect.  viii.  Gibbon,  chap.  52,  gives  a  pithy 
account  of  the  Karmatians. 


49 


CHAP.  III. 

HISTORY  OF  THE  ANSAIREEH. 

Syria  consisted  originally  of  two  districts.  The  first, 
Aram  Damesk  (2  Sam.  viii.  6),  was  colonised  by  Aram  son 
of  Shem,  and  included  Aram  Zobah  (2  Sam.  viii.  3,  5),  a 
district  most  probably  extending  from  the  right  bank  of 
the  Orontes  to  Aleppo  and  the  Euphrates.  The  second 
division  of  the  country,  including  Gilead,  all  Palestine 
west  of  the  Jordan,  and  the  mountain  range  northward  to 
the  mouth  of  the  Orontes,  was  colonised  by  the  descend- 
ants of  Canaan  the  son  of  Ham.*  We  have  already 
spoken  of  the  Phoenician  state  of  Arvad,  or  Aradus, 
and  of  the  Phoenician  town  of  Ramantha,  afterwards 
Laodicea  ;  as  having  possessed  the  plains  under  the 
Ansairee  mountains.  It  is  probable  that  the  inhabitants 
of  the  west  of  the  mountains  were  under  their  sway, 
while  those  of  the  east  may  have  been  under  that  of 
Hamath  the  Great.  These  mountains  would  naturally  be 
the  refuge  of  the  neighbouring  states  in  the  plains,  on  the 
invasion  of  Syria  by  the  Assyrians,  Egyptians,  and  Greeks. 
Now  a  part  of  the  present  Ansaireeh  are  probably,  and 
almost  certainly,  the  descendants  of  the  ancient  moun- 
taineers and  those  who  took  refuge  among  them.  This  is 
the  opinion  of  the  late  Dr.  Eli  Smith,  Dr.  Vandyke,  Dr. 
Thomson,  and  others  of  the  American  missionaries  in 
Syria,  as  I  have  at  different  times  learnt  from  themselves. 
They  think  that  these  people  became  impregnated  with 
the  Gnostic  heresies,  and  hence  that  corrupted  form  of 

*  Porter's  Syria,  Introd.  p.  xxii.  xxiii.  :    Murray. 
E 


50  THE    ASIAN  MYSTERY. 

Christianity  which  is  part  of  their  religion.  Yolney 
says*  that  it  is  probable  that  the  Ansaireeh  have  some  of 
the  old  Gnostic  rites,  "  for  that,  notwithstanding  the  vici- 
nity of  Antioch,  Christianity  penetrated  only  with  the 
greatest  difficulty  into  those  districts ;  it  reckoned  but 
few  proselytes  there,  even  after  the  reign  of  Julian  ;  from 
that  period  till  the  invasion  of  the  Arabs  it  had  little  time 
to  establish  itself ;  for  it  is  not  always  with  revolutions  of 
opinions  in  the  country  as  in  towns.  The  progress  which 
that  religion  was  able  to  make  among  these  rude  moun- 
taineers only  served  to  smooth  the  way  for  Mohamme- 
danism, more  analogous  to  their  tastes ;  and  there  resulted 
from  the  dogmas,  ancient  and  modern,  a  shapeless  mix- 
ture, to  which  the  Old  Man  of  Nasar  owed  his  success." 
But  though  I  have  no  doubt  that  a  part  of  the  present 
inhabitants  of  the  mountains  are  the  descendants  of  the 
ancient  Canaanites,  whose  graves  and  sites  of  tombs  on 
every  high  hill  still  remain,  and  are  visited  by  the  Ansai- 
reeh of  to-day,  the  Gnostic  ideas  may  well  have  been 
introduced  into  their  religion  in  its  cradle  in  the  East, 
for  that  religion  certainly  came  thence,  and  doubtless 
found  in  Syria,  as  is  asserted,  an  ignorant  population 
ready  to  receive  it,  and,  perhaps,  in  some  things,  to  add 
to  its  former  superstition. 

But  well-established  tradition,  and  difference  of  phy- 
siognomy, prove  conclusively  that  not  all  the  present  inha- 
bitants of  the  mountains  of  the  Ansaireeh  are  the  original 
inhabitants  of  that  region.  Part,  at  least,  have  come  from 
those  regions  whence  came  the  religion  of  the  sect. 

That  sect  is  divided  into  two  principal  parts  :  Shemseeh, 
so  named  from  Shem,  the  sun,  and  also  called  Mawakisch, 
Gaibeeh,  and  Shemaleeh  ;  and  Kumreeh,  also  called  Kela- 
zeeh.  Now  I  will  show  that  the  Shemseeh  are  the  originiil 
people  of  the  mountains,  and  the  Kumreeh  a  people  who 
came  from  the  east,  from  Djebel  Sindjar  in  Mesopotamia,  ; 
and  elsewhere.  [ 

*  Volney's  Travels  in  Syria,  vol.  ii.  p.  6.  ; 


ORIGIN   OF    THE   RACE.  51 

It  has  been  already  seen  that  there  are  many  Ansaircch 
living  in  Bagdad,  and  the  road  from  there  would  naturally 
lead  by  Djebel  Sindjar,  and  the  town  of  Salameeh,  4^ 
hours  S.E.  of  Hamah,  to  the  territory  of  that  place,  which 
is  bounded  on  the  west  by  the  Ansairee  mountains.  The 
missionaries  of  the  sect,  in  passing  into  Syria,  might 
naturally  propagate  their  doctrines  among  the  Arab  tribes 
of  Mesopotamia.  The  Bagdad  sheikh,  Hadj  Mohammed, 
who  visited  me  in  the  mountains,  accordingly  asserted 
that  Sheikh  Hhabeeb's  family,  the  religious  chief  of  the 
Kumreeh  sect,  were  from  Sindjar,  as  well  as  the  Kelbeeh, 
and  gave  as  proof  that  there  is  still  there  a  mountain 
called  Sin-al-Kuloob  (so  he  called  it),  or  dog's  tooth.  He 
himself  was  one  of  the  Kumreeh  sect,  having  just  come 
from  Bagdad  with  the  present  of  a  valuable  mare  for 
Sheikh  Hhabeeb ;  and  he  spoke  against  the  sheikhs  of  the 
Shemseeh,  one  of  the  chief  of  whom.  Sheikh  Maroof  of 
Antioch,  had  incited  the  government  against  him,  and 
rendered  necessary  his  visit  to  Syria. 

Sheikh  Hhabeeb  also  himself  once  told  me  that  his 
relations  and  people  were  older  than  the  Osmanlees  in 
Syria  (who  took  it  under  Sultan  Selim,  a.d.  1518)  ;  and 
that,  having  been  driven  out  from  Djebel  Sindjar  (now 
chiefly  inhabited  by  the  Yezidees,  or  devil-worshippers), 
they  had  come  by  leave  of  the  government  to  the  plains 
of  Hamah,  in  the  year  of  the  Hedjrah  603  (a.d.  1205), 
at  the  invitation  of  some  of  their  sect,  who,  being  weak, 
had  invited  them  to  come  and  help  them  to  possess  the 
country.  On  the  people  of  the  mountains  coming  down 
upon  them,  they  were  allowed  by  the  government  to 
attack  them ;  and  this  they  did,  driving  out  the  inhabi- 
tants, who  were  Kurds,  as  he  said  the  names  of  the 
villages  ending  in  o,  as  before  alluded  to,  attested.  He 
also  asserted  that  their  ancestors  possessed  the  castles  of 
Kadmoos,  Naasyad,  &c. 

The  Ansairee  lad  of  whom  I  have  spoken  in  the  Pre- 
face tells  me  that  his  people  swear  by  a  certain  sheikh, 

E   2 


52  THE   ASIAN   IVIYSTERY. 

Is-Sindjaree.  Mr.  Walpole*  found  the  same  tradition 
among  them.  They  told  him  that  "  during  the  time  of 
the  Caliphs  of  Damascus,  their  people  lived  in  the  moun- 
tains of  Sindjar,  and  that  the  Caliphs  waged  war  against 
the  inhabitants  of  the  Ansairee  mountains,  and  extermi- 
nated them,"  when  they  got  possession. 

Now  it  is  certain  that  the  Kelbeeh,  within  the  last  few 
hundred  years,  have  come  over  from  the  east  of  the 
mountains,  and  opened  a  road  for  themselves  to  the  sea ; 
conquering  the  Beni  Ali  to  the  south, — who  are  asserted, 
by  the  Kelbeeh  and  by  others,  to  have  been  originally 
Kurds  converted  to  the  Ansairee  religion,  —  and  the 
Muhailby  people  to  the  north,  who  are  uniformly  declared 
to  be  the  oldest  inhabitants  of  the  mountains,  and  of  the 
Shemseen  sect.  The  Diryoos  people  are  of  the  same  sect, 
and  I  was  told  by  a  Diryoos  man  that  the  Muhailby  and 
Diryoos  people,  and  two  other  families  in  the  plain,  were 
descended  from  two  brothers.  Just  below  my  own  vil- 
lage is  a  deserted  one,  once  inhabited  by  the  Kerataleh, 
part  of  the  original  inhabitants  of  the  present  Kelbeeh 
territory,  who  are  said  to  have  been  of  the  sect  of  the 
Muhailby,  and  have  descendants  in  the  villages  of  Ain-it- 
Zeeneh  ;  a  man  of  the  Keratileh  being  now  resident  as  a 
peasant  in  the  village  where  my  house  is. 

The  tradition  that  the  Kelbeeh  came  from  the  other 
side  of  the  mountains  is  told  circumstantially,  and  there  is 
no  reason  to  doubt  it.  Ahmed  the  son  of  Makloof  was 
the  first  to  come  to  the  west  of  the  mountains,  with  his 
son  Muhanna.  He  built  most  of  the  visiting  places  in  the 
mountains.  Muhanna  had  eight  sons,  one  of  whom  was 
the  ancestor  of  the  house  of  Hasoon,  and  another  brother 
that  of  Beyt  Ali,  Beyt  Djirkis,  and  Beyt  Ahmed  ;  the 
four  ruling  houses  of  the  Kelbeeh.  Beyt  Aloosh  are 
said  to  have  descended  from  a  brother  of  Muhanna,  and 
another  branch  of  less  influence  from  a  servant  of  the 

*  Ansayree  and  Assassins,  vol.  iii.  p.  343. 


ORIGIN   OF    THE   RACE.  53 

same,  though  it  is  confessed  that  there  is  less  certainty 
about  this. 

The  passage,  from  the  east,  of  the  Kelbeeh  and  others 
of  the  Kumreeh  sects,  such  as  the  Kerabileh  and  Beyt 
Ammon,  seems  to  have  been  pretty  simultaneous.  As  I 
have  said.  Chap.  I.,  the  Amamarah,  who  as  well  as  other 
western  tribes  have  relations  on  the  east  of  the  mountains, 
were  originally  Kumreeh. 

Ahmed  Selbah,  Mekuddam  of  Bahluleeh,  told  me  that  the 
ruling  families  of  the  Beni  Ali  had  come  originally  from 
the  east  of  the  mountains.  He  also  told  me  that  the 
house  of  Shemseen  Sultan,  of  the  powerful  tribe  of  the 
Djenneeh,  who  are  also  of  the  Kumreeh  sect,  was  descended 
from  men  who  had  come  from  the  other  side  of  the  moun- 
tains. This  was  also  asserted  to  me  by  an  intelligent 
young  sheikh  of  the  Djenneeh,  residing  at  Kumeen.  He 
said  that  the  Shemseen  people  were  descendants  of  men  of 
good  family,  who  came  about  400  years  ago  from  Djebel 
Sindjar,  and  first  settled  in  the  district  of  Kadmoos  ;  and 
then,  1 20  years  since,  removed  to  their  present  district ; 
where,  having  killed  the  former  rulers  at  a  feast,  they 
became  chief.  The  brother  of  Shemseen  Sultan  also 
told  me  that  the  family  had  come  from  Kadmoos. 

Thus  we  see  that  the  Kumreeh  are  comparatively  recent 
in  the  country,  and  probably  from  the  parts  of  Bagdad 
and  Djebel  Sindjar. 

The  young  sheikh  of  Kumeen  also  said  that  the  Muhail- 
by  people  were  the  oldest  inhabitants  of  the  part  of  the 
mountains  where  they  live,  which  originally  belonged,  in 
part  at  least,  to  the  Kurds  ;  and  he  declared  that  the 
Beni  Ali  were  Kurds.  He  spoke  also  of  many  of  the 
present  Ansaireeh  having  become  so  from  living  among 
that  sect  where  predominant.  He  also  said  that  the 
castles  in  the  mountains  had  once  been  in  their  hands. 

I  have  been  informed  by  M.  Wortabert  of  Hasheya,  that 
the  inhabitants  of  the  three  Ansairee  villages  near  there, 
Avho  are  without  doubt  of  the  earliest  converts  to  the  sect 

E     3 


54  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

in  Syria,  are  Sheraseeh.  The  Muhailby  and  Diryoos 
people,  who  are  certainly  also  the  earliest  of  the  sect  in 
Syria,  are  Sheinseeh,  as  are  also  the  people  to  the  north, 
and  about  Antioch,  for  the  most  part,  who  seem  to  have 
been  driven  out  of  the  mountains  by  the  more  powerful 
sect  of  the  Kumreeh.  The  sheikhs  of  the  two  sects  are 
very  hostile  to  one  another,  no  man  of  one  sect  learning 
from  a  sheikh  of  the  other ;  and  there  is  sufficient  dif- 
fence  in  the  tenets  and  customs  of  the  two.  The  sheikhs 
not  unfrequently  succeed  in  fomenting  war,  to  give  vent 
to  their  sectarian  hate.  The  Shemseeh  hold  to  their 
religion  far  more  firmly,  or  rather  obediently,  than  the 
Kumreeh  ;  and  the  two  sects  seem  originally  to  have 
been  separated  by  distance  of  territory.  There  is  a  dif- 
ference of  physiognomy  among  the  various  tribes.  I 
should  say  that  the  Beni  Ali  had  a  harsh  Kurdish  appear- 
ance ;  while  many  of  the  people  of  the  plains  and  the 
Shemseeh  have  a  lustrous  eye,  more  cunning,  but  other- 
wise not  unlike  that  of  the  Maronites,  who  are  of  the 
original  soft  Syrian  inhabitants  of  Lebanon. 

The  Kelbeeh  and  other  Kumreeh  have  a  more  Persian 
or  Arab  physiognomy.  This  distinction  may  be  partly 
fanciful,  but  I  think  not  entirely  so.  Every  one  ac- 
quainted with  Syria  knows  how  the  tribes  vary  in  cast  of 
countenance.  I  myself  noticed  such  distinctly  marked 
features  among  the  Metawalee  of  the  mountains  just 
south  of  the  Ansairee  range,  who  hold  a  religion  near 
akin  to  that  of  the  present  Persians,  that  I  was  able 
afterwards  often  at  once  to  distinguish  a  Metawalee  when 
I  met  him.  These  considerations,  as  well  as  others,  may 
be  followed  out  and  verified,  or  the  reverse,  by  future 
travellers. 

Having  said  so  much  for  the  origin  of  the  Ansaireeh  as  n 
race,  I  proceed  now  to  consider  the  origin  of  their  name. 

They  are  called  by  Arab  authors,  In-Nusaireeyeh,  that 
name  being  given  as  early  at  least  as  about  the  year  A.n. 
1021,  by  Hamerand  Baha-cd-deen,  the  great  Druse  teacher. 


ORIGIN   OF   THE   NAME.  55 

"  The  Formulary  of  the  Druses/'  says  De  Sacy*, 
"  speaks  of  a  sectary  whom  it  calls  Nosairi  [so  written 
in  French],  and  who  is  certainly  the  chief  of  the  sect 
in  question,"  the  Ansaireeh.  "The  44th  question  is 
this: — How  have  the  Nosairis  become  separated  from 
the  Unitarians,  and  abandoned  the  Unitarian  religion  ? 
Answer:  They  have  become  separated  in  following  the 
doctrine  of  Nosairi."  Hamza  also  mentions  the  sect 
under  the  same  name  in  his  refutation  of  one  of  their 
books.  Hence  evidently  this  name  of  the  sect  existed  as 
early  as  a.d.  1021,  or  a  few  years  later,  and  was  ascribed  by 
the  author  of  the  Druse  Formulary,  who  shows  great  know- 
ledge of  the  doctrines  of  the  Ansaireeh,  to  a  certain  Nasair. 

Now  there  has  been  much  uncertainty  and  great  con- 
troversy as  to  whether  this  was  the  real  origin  of  the 
name  thus  given  to  them,  and  I  was  myself  in  doubt 
about  it  till  the  very  time  of  writing  this ;  after  having 
anxiously  perused  the  Arab  MS.  in  my  possession,  and 
all  other  extracts  given  of  their  books  by  various  authors. 
But  I  have  just  stumbled  on  a  passage  in  the  said  MS., 
which,  compared  with  the  extracts  of  an  Ansairee  book 
given  by  Niebuhr,  and  with  what  is  said  of  the  sect  in 
Dr.  Vandyke's  Arabic  Geography,  leaves  no  doubt  that 
the  derivation  given  by  so  good  and  early  an  authority 
as  the  Druse  apostle  Hamza  is  the  right  one. 

To  mention  first  some  other  derivations  given  of  the 
name.  Richard  Pococke  saysf ,  that  the  Ansaireeh  "  may 
be  the  descendants  of  the  people  called  Nazerini,  men- 
tioned by  Pliny  (Hist.  v.  23)  as  divided  from  the  country 
of  Apamea  by  the  river  Marsyas,"  where  he  says,  "  Coele 

*  De  Sacy's  Expose  de  la  Religion  des  Druses,  (Paris,  1838,)  vol.  ii. 
p.  260. 

t  Travels  in  Syria  in  1738,  vol.  ii.  p.  208. 

In  my  MS.  p.  86,  Ali  is  called  the  father  of  the  Sibtain,  that  is  two 
tribes  of  the  children  of  Israel.  A  Christian  scribe  once  told  me  that 
he  had  seen  in  a  private  letter  of  Sheikh  Hhabeeb,  the  expression, 
Is-Sibteyn  il  Keram,  "  the  two  honourable  tribes,"  as  applied  to  the 
Ansaireeh. 

E    4 


56  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

habet  Apamiam,  Marsya   amne   divisam  a  Nazerinorum 
tetrarchia." 

De  Sacy,  after  giving  an  extract  from  the  Syriac 
Chronicle  of  Bar-Hebraeus,  to  which  we  shall  refer 
presently,  in  which  the  latter  ascribes  the  origin  of  the 
sect  to  a  certain  old  man  who  lived  in  a  village  called 
Nasaria  (in  his  Arabic  history  of  dynasties,  Nasrana), 
says,  "  it  appears  from  this  text  that  the  sect  of  the 
Nosairis  derives  its  name  from  that  of  the  village  of 
Nasaria,  where  dwelt  the  founder  of  that  sect."  *  HoW'^ 
ever,  in  another  place,  he  says,  "  I  cannot  well  say  (Je  ne 
saurais  dire)  whether  the  name,  Nosairis,  is  derived  from 
that  of  the  village  Nasraya  or  Nasrana."  f 

Since,  in  the  present  day  at  least,  the  Ansaireeh  rarely 
call  themselves  such  before  others,  giving  themselves 
usually  the  name  of  Fellaheen,  or  peasantry,  which  is 
really  a  suitable  one  for  their  position,  some  have 
looked  on  this  as  a  mere  term  of  reproach  among  their- 
enemies  which  the  Ansaireeh  would  not  acknowledge,  as  - 
the  Druses  do  not  call  themselves  by  that  name,  but 
"  Muwahhedeen,"  or  "  Unitarians."  But  it  is  not  unusual 
for  the  members  of  a  sect  to  dislike  to  be  called  after  the 
name  of  its  author,  which  sometimes  brings  all  the 
prejudice  felt  by  their  enemies  against  the  failings  of  that 
author  on  the  tenets  taught  by  him  and  held  by  his  follow- 
ers ;  and  though  the  Ansaireeh  do  not  usually  style  them- 
selves such  openly,  or  in  their  books,  or  when  alone  (for 
then,  as  I  shall  presently  show,  they  employ  a  different 
TiQ,me,  derived  from  that  of  another  very  celebrated 
apostle  of  their  sect),  yet  they  do  frequently  call  them- 
selves Ansaireeh,  using  the  name  as  one  properly  belong- 
ing to  them.  So  unhesitatingly  asserts  the  Ansairee  lad  :' 
and  I  have  myself  often  heard  them,  either  in  joke,  or 
when  serious  and  in  a  great  rage,  use  the  expression, 
*'  May  God  have  no  mercy  on  any  one  who  has  died  an 

♦  Exp.  Rel.  Druses,  vol.  ii.  p.  565.  f  ^*  ^67. 


ORIGIN   OF   THE   NAME.  57 

Ansaireeh !  "  when  they  mean  to  speak  of  those  imme- 
diately about  them,  or  even  of  themselves  and  their  sect 
in  general.  So  that  Dr.  Wolff  is  certainly  at  fault  when 
he  derives  the  term  from  the  diminutive  of  Nuss^ra, 
Christians,  supposing  that  their  adversaries  reproach  them 
for  the  mixture  of  Christianity  introduced  into  their 
religion  by  calling  them  "  little  Christians."  * 

To  return  to  the  true  derivation  of  the  name.     Dr.  Van- 

-dyke,  in  his  Arabic  Geography,  derives  it  from  a  certain 
Nusair  in-Namareef,  but  on  asking  him  for  his  authority 
he  could  not  remember  it,  having  derived  what  he  says  pf 

^he  Ansaireeh  from  various  sources,  without  giving  in  all 
cases  his  authority,   as  the  object  of  his  book   did  not 

'require  the  doing  so.     He   also   gives   an   extract  from 

-Abulfeda,  who,  on  the  authority  of  Ibn-Saeed  says,  "  The 
J  Nusaireeh  are  so  called  from  Nusair,  a  liberated  slave  of 

^Ali  the  son  of  Abu-Taleb."  Now  I  find  in  my  Arabic 
MS.,  among  the  names  of  the  "  Bab  "  or  "  Door,"  in  the 
.  "eleven  appearances  which  God  has  granted  us  to  know, 
and  brought  us  to  remember  "  (in  the  first  of  which  the 
celebrated  Salman-il-Farisee  is  the  "door"),  this  name 
given  as  the  "door"  of  the  eleventh,  "  Abu-Shuaib 
Mohammed  ibn-Nusair  il  Becree  in-Numairee  il  Abdee, 
May  the  favour  of  God  be  upon  him  !  And  he  is  called 
Abu-il-Kasim  (for  with  Arabs  a  father,  when  his  eldest  son  is 
born,  receives  a  title  from  him,  the  father  of  such  and  such 
a  one,  as  Abu-Shuaib,  the  father  of  Shuaib,  for  instance), 
and  among  his  Arabic  titles  are  Abu-il-Talib  and  Abu-il- 
Hasan."  In  the  above  name,  Abu-Shuaib  is  the  title  from 
the  son  ;  Mohammed  is  the  name ;  Ibn,  or  son,  of  Nusair, 


*  Journal  of  German  Oriental  Society,  vol.  iii.  p.  302,  &c.,  note. 
So  the  Jesuit  Missionaries.     See  Jowett's  Christian  Researches. 

f  Arabic  Geography,  published  at  Beyrout,  1852,  p.  106.  Dr.  Van- 
dyke writes  Namaree.  My  Ansairee  MS.  gives  Numairee,  which 
is  confirmed  by  another  Ansairee  book.  Namir  son  of  Kasit,  and 
Numair  son  of  Aamir,  each  gave  his  name  to  an  Arab  tribe,  as  Namaree 
and  Numairee. 


58  THE    ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

is  the  patronymic ;  and  In-Numairee,  &c.,  are  the  titles 
from  some  place  or  quality  in  the  person  or  his  father. 
Now  the  word  Namairce  is  used  in  an  Ansairee  book  of 
festivals  noticed  by  M.  Catafago,  in  the  Journal  Asiatique.* 
And  on  comparing  the  first  part  of  the  name  here  given 
to  the  "  door "  with  that  of  one  of  the  apostles  of  the 
Ansaireeh  given  by  Niebuhr  f  in  his  extracts  from  an 
Ansairee  book,  we  shall  find  them  identical.  Among 
the  seven  apostles  of  the  Ansaireeh,  among  which  are 
reckoned  Mohammed,  Salman,  Hamrudan  Abdullah  (pro- 
bably a  mistake  for  Abu- Abdullah  ibn-Hamdan),  ajid 
Mufdil  (whose  name  is  given  in  my  Arabic  MS.  as  the 
"  door  "  of  the  eighth  appearance),  is  found  Abuschaiib,  as 
Niehbuhr  writes  the  Arabic  name.  This  then  is  the  same 
person  as  that  mentioned  above,  and  Niebuhr  goes  on  to 
say  that  the  Ansairee  author  names  a  certain  Ishak  as 
the  greatest  enemy  of  the  Ansaireeh,  "  because  he  had 
wished  to  kill  our  lord  Abu-Schaiib."  This  Ishak  was 
the  founder  of  the  sect  of  the  Ishakians,  who  are  joined 
by  Ish-Sharestanee  with  that  of  the  Ansaireeh  or 
Nasaireeh  J,  who,  as  I  think  it  will  now  seem  pretty  certain, 
derived  their  name  of  Nusaireeh,  by  which  they  are 
distinguished  in  Arabic  authors,  and  by  which  they  are 
commonly  called  to-day  in  Syria,  from  Nusair. 

Since  writing  the  above,  I  have,  by  again  consulting 
the  Ansairee  MS.  in  my  possession,  made  a  discovery 
which  sets  this  matter  at  rest,  combined  as  it  is  with  the 
assertion  of  the  Ansairee  lad,  who  has  just  informed  me 
that  his  people  call  themselves  Beni  Nusair,  saying  that 
their  ancestor  was  Nusair,  and  has  told  me  also  that  his 
people  curse  Ishak. 

This  discovery  I  made  with  the  clue  given  to  me  in 
Niebuhr's  book,  which  led  me  to  search  more  carefully 

•  Feb.  1848,  page  153. 

f  Niebuhr's  Travels  in  Syria,  vol.  ii.  p.  357,  &c. 
j   Sharestance,  Milal  oo  Nahal,    quoted    by   Pococke,   Spec.    Hist. 
Arab.  (Ox.  1806,  ed.  White,)  p.  261. 


ORIGIN   OF   THE   NAME.  59 

after  the  name  of  Abu-Shiiaib  ibn-Nusair.  I  find  now 
that  Nusair,  and  Abu-Shuaib,  his  son,  lived  in  the  time  of 
Hassan  il  Askeree,  the  eleventh  imam,  from  whom  the 
Ansaireeh  derive,  as  we  shall  hereafter  see,  most  of  their 
doctrines  and  rites,  or  at  least  ascribe  them  to  him. 

In  o'ivinc:  a  list  of  the  names  bestowed  on  Ali  in  various 
languages,  the  repeating  of  which  forms  an  important  part 
of  their  religious  services,  as  I  see  from  their  book  and 
hear  from  the  Ansairee  lad,  the  authority  alleged  is  the 
'^  Egyptian  epistle."  Now  the  contents  of  this  epistle  are 
said  to  be  derived  from  the  Emeer  Moezz-id-dawleh  * ;  by 
him  from  Mohammed  ibn-Haidarah  ibn-Mukatil  il  Kat'ell ; 
by  him  from  Ibraheem  ir-Kaka'ee;  by  him  from  the  Sayid 
AbU' Abdullah  il  Hosein  ibn-Hamdan  il  Kkaseebee  (May 
God  sanctify  his  spirit !  ) ;  by  him  from  Abu-Mohammed 
Abd- Allah  idj-Djannan  idj-Djenbalanee ;  by  him  from 
Muhammed  ibn-Djundubf ;  by  him  from  Abu-Shuaib  Mu- 
hammed  ibn-Nusair ;  and  lastly  by  him  from  the  last 
Hassan  the  Askeree.J 

We  thus  see  the  position  held  by  Nusair  and  his  son, 
with  reference  to  the  foundation  of  the  sect,  and  that  he 
was  a  generation  or  two  previous  to  Hosein  ibn-Hamdan, 
who,  as  we  shall  presently  show,  was  the  great  apostle 
who  spread  the  Ansairee  religion  "  in  all  countries." 

But  I  will  first  refer  to  another  passage  in  the  MS., 
which  confirms  what  I  have  said  about  Nusair  and  Abu- 
Shuaib.     It  occurs  in  one  of  the  most  solemn  parts  of 

*  This  Moezz-id-dawleli  must  be  that  one  of  the  three  sons  of  Buiah 
who  became  vizier  of  Bagdad,  when  that  family  gained  power  in  Persia, 
and  were  the  real  rulers  of  the  Abasside  Caliphs.  Moezz-id-dowleh 
deposed  the  Caliph  Mustakfee.  He  was  a  most  bigoted  adherent  to  the 
sect  of  Ali,  and,  when  his  power  was  fully  established,  commanded  the 
first  ten  days  of  Moharram  to  be  set  aside  for  a  general  mourning  over 
the  death  of  Hosein.  He  entered  Bagdad  a.d.  945,  and  died  a.d.  965-6. 
See  Malcolm's  Persia,  vol.  i.  p.  169. 

•j-  He  is  mentioned  as  the  orphan  or  disciple  of  Abu-Shuaib,  in  the 
"eleventh  appearance." 

X  MS.  p.  77. 


60  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

their  service,  the  "  first  Kuddas,"  or  mass.  After  referring 
to  the  titles  of  Ali  as  a  species  of  invocation,  it  goes 
on :  "  We  mean,  and  seek,  and  refer  to  him  to  whom  the 
first  believer  referred,  and  the  priority  of  whose  essence  the 
Unitarians  have  indicated.  We  refer  to  him,  as  did  refer 
our  sheikh  and  lord  and  crown  of  our  heads  and  learned 
of  our  age,  the  sheikh  of  the  period,  and  exemplar  of  the 
season,  Abu- Ahd- Allah  il  Hosein  ihn-Hamdan ;  we  refer  to 
him  to  whom  did  refer  his  sheikh  and  his  lord  (Seyyid, 
master,  i.  e.  teacher),  Abu-Mohammed  Abd- Allah  iz-Zahid 
il  Djannan  (the  ascetic,  the  intellectual)  ;  we  refer  to  him 
to  whom  did  refer  the  *  orphan '  of  the  time,  Mohammed 
Ibn-Djunduh.^^  * 

We  here  see  the  same  names,  in  same  order,  as  in  the 
other  passage;  the  last-named  being,  as  I  have  said  in  a 
previous  note,  the  "  orphan,"  or  disciple  of  the  "  door," 
Abu-Shuaib  son  of  Nusair.  He  is  called  the  "  orphan  " 
of  the  time,  because  he  was  taught  by  Abu-Shuaib,  who 
himself  learned  from  Hassan  il  Askeree,  and  would,  there- 
fore, be  himself  in  the  time  of  Mohammed,  the  last  imam, 
the  son  of  Hassan  il  Askeree,  who  is  called  the  lord  of  the 
age  and  time,  as  being  the  last  manifestation  of  the  Deity 
in  human  shape,  and  still  existing,  though  concealed,  on 
the  earth. 

We  will  now  proceed  to  speak  of  the  other  name,  which 
is  only  given  to  the  Ansaireeh  by  themselves.  It  is  taken 
from  a  certain  Abu-Abdullah  il  Hosein  ibn-Hamdan  il 
Khaseebee,  who  is  held  in  the  greatest  honour  by  the  sect, 
and  is  spoken  of  as  he  who  spread  their  religion  in  all 
countries. 

He  is  referred  to  in  the  Ansairee  manuscript  in  my 
possession  in  several  places,  and  that  always  with  great 
respect,  and  as  an  authority  for  the  principal  parts  of  doc- 
trine and  ceremonies.  On  page  73,  he  is  given  as  the 
authority  for  the  fifty-one  prostrations  to  be  used  during 

*  MS.  p.  130,  131. 


OFvIGIN   OF    THE    NAME.  61 

the  daily  prayers ;  on  page  77,  he  is  mentioned  as  above, 
as  forming  one  of  the  chain  of  those  who  had  handed 
down  the  name  of  Ali ;  on  page  130,  he  is  spoken  of  in 
the  "first  mass,"  as  above ;  on  page  133,  he  is  given  as 
the  authority  for  the  "  second  mass  ;  "  and  on  page  144, 
he  is  spoken  of  as  he  "  who  made  manifest  to  us  the  reli- 
gion in  all  lands."* 

In  the  third  of  the  three  masses  of  the  Ansaireeh  given 
by  Joseph  Catafago,  in  the  first  volume  of  the  Journal 
of  the  German  Oriental  Societyf ,  he  is  spoken  of  by  the 
high  title  of  Rubb  (Lord) :  "  There  is  no  Lord  but  our  Lord, 
our  Sheikh  and  Master,  Hosein  ibn-Hamdan  il  Khaseebee, 
the  ark  of  security,  and  eye  of  life."  In  the  98th  question 
of  the  Ansairee  Catechism,  given  in  the  third  volume  of 
the  same  journal  J,  it  is  asked;  "Which  of  our  sheikhs 
spread  our  faith  in  all  lands  ?"  Answer:  "Abu- Abdullah 
il  Hosein  ibn-Hamdan."  In  the  prayer  of  the  day  of 
Noorooz,  given  by  M.  Catafago  in  the  Journal  Asiatique§, 
"  Our  master,  II  Khaseebee,"  is  referred  to  as  having  ex- 
plained a  certain  point  "  in  one  of  his  epistles,"  and  having 
"  rendered  it  clear  in  his  treatise  Siyakat ; "  and  again, 
as  having  spoken  of  the  merits  of  the  Persians.  In  the 
book,  from  which  extracts  are  given  by  Niebuhr,  Hosein 
is  mentioned  in  the  fifth  place,  as  having  appeared  in  difi'e- 
rent  forms,  at  the  seven  different  periods  of  the  manifes- 
tation of  the  Deity;  the  seventh  and  last  time  being 
called  Hamdan.jl 

From  this  man,  the  Ansaireeh  among  themselves  call 
themselves  the  "  Khaseebeeh,"  from  II  Khaseebee,  his 
title,  his  name  being  Hosein,  his  father^s  name  Hamd^n, 
and  his  son's  name  Abdullah.     The  Ansairee  lad  has  in- 


*  P.  84.  He  is  also  mentioned  as  authority  for  other  names  of  Ah', 
and  as  having  derived  liis  information  by  tradition  from  Hassan  il 
Askeree. 

t  P.  353.  I  P.  302. 

§  For  February,  1848.     Notice  on  Ansaireeh  by  Joseph  Catafago. 

II  Niebuhr,  vol.  ii.  p.  315,  &c. 


62  THE    ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

formed  me  that  it  is  a  common  thing  to  swear  "  by  the 
truth  of  all  that  the  law  of  the  Khaseebee  said ;"  but  they 
have  never  so  sworn  before  me,  though  I  have  heard  a 
legion  of  other  oaths.  They  also  say,  "  Takul  Shayat  dirbat 
il  Khaseebee  ;"  in  their  vulgar  language  literally,  "  Thou 
wilt  eat  the  things  of  the  blow  of  the  Khaseebee,"  that  is, 
thou  wilt  be  punished  by  him.  In  my  MS.*,  reference 
is  made  to  the  T^yfeh  il  Khaseebeyah,  the  "  Khaseebee 
people,"  and  in  the  Catechism  given  by  J.  Catafagof ,  the 
99th  question  is:  "Why  do  we  bear  the  name  of  the 
Khaseebeeh  ?  "  Answer :  "  Because  we  follow  the  teaching 
of  our  sheikh,  Abu-Abdullah  il  Hosein  ibn-Hamdan  il 
Khaseebee."  And  in  the  summary  of  the  contents  of  an 
Ansairee  book  given  by  J.  Catafago  J,  it  is  said  of  the 
middle  of  the  month  of  Shaban,  that  it  is  the  last  of  the 
"  Khaseebee  year." 

We  have  thus  shown,  first  that  the  name  of  An-Nusai- 
reeyeh  (commonly  called  in  Syria  11-Ansaireeh),  given  to 
the  Ansairee  sect  by  their  enemies  and  by  the  authors 
who  treat  of  them,  is  acknowledged  by  themselves  and 
referred  to  a  certain  Nusair,  whose  son  Abu-Shuaib,  it 
appears,  was  the  first  apostle  of  the  sect,  and  derived  his 
teaching  immediately  from  the  chief  authority  of  the  sect, 
Hassan  il  Askeree,  the  father  of  the  last  imam.  We  have 
also  seen,  secondly,  that  the  apostle  who  spread  their  reli- 
gion was  a  certain  Hosein  ibn-Hamdan,  who  lived  after  the 
time  of  Nusair,  and  is  he  from  whom  the  sect  derive  that 
designation  which  they  generally  adopt  among  them- 
selves. 

We  have  next  to  consider  when  and  how  this  sect  took 
its  rise;  and  here  I  fear,  notwithstanding  all  that  can  be 
done,  the  same  amount  of  uncertainty  will  remain  as  to 
the  exact  relation  in  history  and  doctrine  of  this  sect 
with  the  Kararaitah  or  Karmatians,  as  in  that  of  the 
Karmatians  with  the  original  Ismaeleeh. 

♦  P.  49.  t  Ubi  supra. 

I  Juurnal  Asiatique,  ubi  supra. 


WHENCE    SECT   AROSE.  63 

Gregory,  surnamed  Bar-Hebraeus,  and  called  in  Arabic 
Abulfaradj,  in  his  Syrian  Chronicle*  gives  the  following 
account  of  the  origin  of  the  Ansairee  sect :  — 

"  Since  many  desire  to  know  the  origin  of  the  Nazarasi, 
accept  from  us  the  following.  In  the  year  of  the  Greeks 
1202  (a.h.  270,  A.D.  891),  there  appeared  a  certain  old 
man  in  the  region  of  Akab  [the  same,  says  Asseman,  is 
Cupha,  a  city  of  Arabia,  as  Bar-Hebra3us  notes  in  his 
Chronicle],  in  a  village  which  the  inhabitants  call  Nazaria." 
In  his  Arabic  dynastic  history,  Gregory  Abulfaradj  calls 
it  Nasraneh.  The  story  then  goes  on  to  say  that  this  old 
man  made  a  great  appearance  of  religion,  and  was  constant 
in  fasting  and  prayer,  and  in  spreading  his  doctrines,  till  on 
meeting  with  success  he  chose  twelve  apostles  to  preach 
his  religion.  The  governor  of  those  parts  hearing  of  this 
imprisoned  him,  swearing  that  he  would  kill  him.  His 
maid,  or  that  of  the  gaoler,  having  made  his  keeper 
drunk,  stole  the  key  of  the  prison  from  under  his  pillow 
and  released  the  sheikh  ;  and  the  keeper,  to  avoid  the  wrath 
of  the  governor,  gave  out  that  an  angel  had  released  him. 
This  story  got  abroad,  and,  says  Gregory,  he  made  two  of 
his  disciples,  whom  he  met  at  a  great  distance  from  the 
place  where  he  had  been  imprisoned,  to  believe  that  he 
had  been  delivered  out  of  prison  by  angels.  He  con- 
tinues, that  he  wrote  a  book,  of  which  he  gives  an  extract. f 
He  is  said  afterwards  to  have  gone  to  Syria  and  dis- 
appeared there,  having  converted  the  ignorant  people  of 
those  parts. 

Now  this  story,  which  Gregory  Abulfaradj  tells  of  the 

*  Quoted  by  Asseman,  Bib.  Orient,  vol.  ii.  pp.  319,  320.  I  should 
say  that  I  have  not  followed  the  translation  of  Asseman  word  for 
word,  but  generally  *the  versions  of  the  same  story  given  in  various 
authors,  as  by  Gregory  himself  in  his  dynastic  history,  written  in 
Arabic.  Gregory  was  Metropolitan  of  the  Jacobites,  was  born  a.  d. 
1226,  and  died  A.D.  1286. 

t  See  Ansyreeh  and  Ismaeleeh  (p.  284)  for  translation  of  story  given 
by  Dr.  Vandyke  (Arabic  Geography),  who  takes  Asseman  as  his  chief 
authority. 


64  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

founder  of  the  sect  of  the  Ansaireeh  in  his  Syriac  Chro- 
nicle, and  the  extract  which  he  gives,  are  ahnost  identical 
with  the  same  story  and  extract  given  by  him  in  his 
Arabic  history*,  but  referred  by  him  there  to  a  certain 
poor  man  who  had  come  from  Khoozistan  to  Sowad-il-Cufa. 
This  man,  he  says,  was  called  by  the  name  of  the  man 
with  whom  he  used  to  lodge,  which  was  Carmateyeh, 
which,  when  rendered  more  easy  of  pronunciation,  became 
Karmatah ;  and  Gregory  makes  him  the  founder  of  the 
Karamitah  or  Karmatians. 

The  same  story  is  told  of  the  founder  of  the  Karmatians 
by  Abulfeda,  by  Elmakeen  (Elmacinus)f,  and  by  Bibars 
Mansoori.  De  Sacy  says  that  the  stories  told  by 
Gregory  are  evidently  the  same,  in  one  case  related 
of  the  founder  of  the  Ansaireeh,  and  in  the  other  of  that 
of  the  Karmatians,  and  both  stories  are  identical  with 
those  of  Abulfeda  and  other  historians  with  regard  to 
Karmat,  founder  of  the  Karmatians ;  and  the  reader  will 
recollect  that  this  is  the  same  story  as  is  told  with  regard 
to  a  man  who  seems  to  have  been  the  founder  of  the 
Ismaelee  sect.  On  this  whole  question,  De  Sacy  says  : — 
"  We  might  think  that  there  results  from  the  comparison 
of  the  texts  of  these  divers  historians,  and  above  all  the 
two  texts,  Syrian  and  Arabic,  of  Abulfaradj,  that  the 
Nosairis  and  the  Karmatians  are  one  and  the  same  sect, 
but  I  think  that  this  conclusion  would  be  little  exact. 
The  Karmatians  were  divided  into  various  sects ;  among 
them  are  reckoned  the  Batineeh,  who  gave  rise  to  the 
Druses.  It  is  probable  that  the  Nosairis,  whose  teaching 
has  so  many  relations  with  that  of  the  Bateins,  were  a 
branch  of  the  Karmatians,  who  had  spread  into  the  states 
of  the  Fatimite  caliphs."  J 

In  another  passage  he  says : — "  I  ought  not  to  omit  an 
important  observation  ;  it  is,  that  there  results  from  this 

♦  Hitt.  Dynast,  p.  274,  275,  ed.  Pococke. 

t  Hist.  Saracen,  p.  174.  J  Vol.  ii.  p.  567. 


WHENCE    SECT   AROSE.  65 

history  [that  given  above  from  various  authors],  that  the 
Karmatians  and  the  Nosairis  are  the  same  sect,  or  rather 
that  the  Ismaeleeh,  the  stock  of  the  Karmatians,  are  not 
different  from  the  Nosairis.  What  the  Druse  books  teach 
us  on  the  dogmas  of  the  Nosairis,  prove  that  in  fact  they 
held  a  great  part  of  the  dogmas  of  the  Ismaeleeh."* 

Dr.  Vandyke,  in  his  geography,  calls  the  Ansaireeh  a 
branch  of  the  Karmatians,  who,  he  says,  took  their  name 
from  Hamdan  son  of  Karmat ;  and  tells  the  above  story 
of  Nusair  in-Nainaree,  whom  he  makes  to  have  gone  into 
Syria  and  preached  their  doctrines  there.  Now  we  have 
seen  that  Abu-Shuaib  his  son  was  an  apostle  of  this  sect, 
but  that  he  who  spread  the  religion  in  all  lands  was  Hosein 
ibn-Hamdan  il  Khaseebee. 
I  Now  this  Hamdan,  of  whom  Hosein  was  the  son,  can 
hardly  be  Hamdan  son  of  Karmat ;  for  when  the  Ansairee 
lad  read  the  passage  about  the  Ansairee  in  Dr.  Vandyke's 
geography  alone  before  an  Ansairee  sheikh,  the  sheikh 
said,  "  May  God  curse  the  son  of  Karmat  and  all  his  sect !" 
which  he  would  not  have  dared  to  say  if  he  had  thought 
Hosein  ibn-Hamdan  il  Khaseebee  one  of  them.  For 
though  the  Druses  curse  Id-Darazee,  who  has  given  them 
the  name  by  which  they  are  commonly  known,  and  who 
was  indeed  one  of  their  first  teachers,  yet  Hamza,  whom 
they  consider  next  to  God,  as  being  the  "  universal  in- 
telligence," speaks  in  the  harshest  terms  of  Id-Darazee,  as 
having  been  taught  by  him,  and  then  having,  in  order  to 
acquire  preeminence,  been  precipitate  in  openly  declar- 
ing the  deity  of  Hakem,  so  as  to  have  brought  great 
danger  on  the  extravagant  admirers  of  Hakem,  through  a 
sedition  which  arose  at  Cairo  in  consequence.  Hence  Id- 
Darazee  finds  no  place  in  the  hierarchy  of  the  Druses,  but 
is  even  said  to  be  reviled  under  the  form  of  a  calf. 

However,  it  seems  pretty  clear  that  the  Ansaireeh  were 
nearly  allied  to  the  Karmatians,  as  these  last  were  to  the 

*  Vol.  i.  p.  183. 


66  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

original  Ismaeleeh.  When,  in  a.d.  971,  Hassan  Ala'cem, 
the  grandson  of  the  celebrated  Karmatian  chief  Abu- 
Said,  attacked  the  Fatimite  caliph  Moezz,  the  latter  wrote 
to  Hassan  saying  that,  since  he  made  profession  of  the 
same  doctrines  as  the  Karmatians,  they  ought  to  leave  him 
in  peace.*  Now  the  Fatimite  caliphs  were  Ismaeleeh,  and, 
even  when  those  Ismaeleeh  prepared  by  their  dais  had 
become  the  sect  of  Druses,  De  Sacy  says  of  them,  "  that 
they  may  be  but  a  branch  of  the  sect  of  the  Karmatians  ;  "  f 
and  among  the  Druse  writings  there  is  a  letter  to  the 
people  of  Abu-Turab,  that  is  Ali,  for  so  he  is  called  by  the 
Ansaireeh.J 

In  like  manner  the  Ansaireeh  are  allied  to  the  Kar- 
matians. For  instance,  Karmat  is  said  to  have  taught 
his  disciples  in  their  prayers  fifty  prostrations  a  day,  and 
this  is  the  number,  wanting  one,  which  II  Khaseebee 
ordained,  or  rather  declared  to  have  been  ordained,  to  the 
Ansaireeh. §  Moreover  the  Ansaireeh,  like  the  Karmatians, 
are  required  to  hold  a  fifth  part  of  their  property,  every 
year,  at  the  disposal  of  their  brethren,  and  to  keep  the 
feasts  of  the  Mihrdjan  and  Niarooz.  But  while  the  An- 
saireeh are  related  to  the  Karmatians  and  the  Ismaeleeh, 
it  appears,  from  what  has  been  said  of  the  Ansairee  sheikh 
cursing  the  sect  of  Ibn-Karmat,  that  they  are  not  entirely 
identical  with  the  first  named  ;  and,  since  the  Ansaireeh 
are  Imaraeeh,  or  followers  of  the  twelve  imams,  they  thus 
diverge  from  the  Ismaeleeh,  who  do  not  continue  the 
line  so  far,  but  break  it  at  Ismaeel  son  of  Djaafar-is- 
Sadik. 

Let  us  now  sum  up  all  that  has  been  said  about  the 


♦  M.  C.  Defr^jmeny  on  Ismaeleeh,  Journal  Asiatique,  ubi  supra. 

t  Vol.  i.  Introd.  p.  34.  Moreover,  a  Druse  book  speaks  of  the  name 
of  Karmatians  being  given  to  the  Ismaeleeh.  Vol.  i.  p.  125.  Ilamza 
recognises  the  identity  of  the  Ismaeleeli  with  the  Druses,  and  calls  the 
Karmatians  Unitarians,  and  their  leaders,  Abu-Saeed  and  Abu-Tahir, 
servants  of  the  true  God.     Vol.  i.  p.  240. 

t  MS.  p.  117.  §  MS.  p.  69. 


SUMMAEY    AS   TO   ORIGIN.  67 

origin  of  the  sect,  and  endeavour  to  fix  the  approximate 
time  of  its  commencement. 

Gregory  Abulfaradj  gives  it,  as  we  have  seen,  as  a.d. 
891,  and  this  is  the  time  mentioned  by  D'Herbelot  as  the 
time  of  the  appearance  of  Karmat.  Since  Mohammed  the 
last  imam  disappeared  about  a.d.  879,  and  Hassan  il 
Askeree  died  some  few  years  before,  this  is  probably 
sufficiently  correct.  And  as  the  two  sects  thus  appeared 
about  the  same  time,  and  that  shortly  after  the  disappear- 
ance of  the  last  imam,  I  suspect  that  in  the  outset  they 
preached  pretty  nearly  the  same  doctrines  ;  but  that  the 
Ansaireeh  were  that  part  which  was  for  trusting  to  secret 
propagandism  rather  than  to  open  violence,  or  that  Syrian 
branch  which  being  defeated  in  a.d.  901  with  the  loss  of 
its  leaders  may  have  subsequently  sunk  into  repose ;  while 
the  eastern  branch,  whose  seat  was  in  Bahreyn,  and  whose 
exploits  made  famous,  or  rather  infamous,  the  name  of 
Karmatians,  may  have  gradually  diverged  from  the 
original  tenets  of  the  sect. 

Before  proceeding  with  the  history  of  the  Ansaireeh, 
which  is  henceforward  pretty  clear,  it  will  be  well  just  to 
give  in  a  note  a  table,  showing  the  many  changes  of 
government  through  which  Syria  has  passed  since  the 
Mohammedan  conquest,  the  dates  of  which  will  serve 
to  ^x  one's  ideas,  when  following  the  history  of  the 
Ansaireeh.* 

*  A.D.  633,  Mohammedan  conquest  of  Syria. 
661,  Moawiyah,  founder  of  Omeyades. 
750,  Abbaside,  Caliphs  of  Bagdad. 
969,  Fatimite  Caliphs  of  Egypt. 
1075,  Seljuke  Turks. 
1099,  Crusaders  take  Jerusalem. 
1187,  Saladin  takes  Jerusalem. 
1258,  Hulakoo,  grandson  of  Gengis  Khan,  invades  Syria. 

Soon  after  Sultan  Beybars  of  Egypt  drives  Tartars 
beyond  the  Euphrates. 
1291,  Acre,  last  possession  of  Christians,  taken  by  Egyptians. 
1401,  Tamerlane  invades  Egypt. 
1518,  Sultan  Selim,  the  Osmanlee,  takes  Syria. 
F   2 


68  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

On  referring  back  to  the  chain  of  tradition,  from  Hassan 
il  Askeree  who  became  imam  in  a.d.  868,  to  Moezz-id- 
dawlah  who  entered  Bagdad  a.d.  945,  and  remembering 
that  II  Khaseebee  is  removed  equally  by  two  links  from 
Abu-Shuaib  ibn-Nusair  who  learned  from  the  Askeree 
and  Moezz-id-dawlah,  we  shall  find  a.d.  900 — 920,  to  be 
about  the  time  when  II  Khaseebee,  the  great  apostle  who 
spread  the  doctrines  of  the  Ansaireeh,  disseminated  them 
in  Syria ;  and  it  is  certain  from  the  Druse  books  to  which 
we  have  referred,  that  about  a.d.  1020  the  Ansaireeh,  or 
Nusaireeh,  existed  as  a  sect  under  that  name,  and  probably, 
from  those  same  writings  and  other  considerations,  in 
those  mountains  which  are  their  chief  seat  to-day,  while 
probably  also  others  of  the  sect  were  found  in  the  plains  of 
Mesopotamia.  At  all  events,  when  the  Franks  were 
marching  down,  in  a.d.  1099,  to  Jerusalem,  they  found 
Ansaireeh  living  in  the  mountains  called  by  their  name. 
For  Gregory  Abulfaradj  *,  who  lived  only  about  a  century 
later,  says  in  his  Syrian  chronicle,  speaking  of  this  march : 
— "  The  Franks,  setting  out  from  the  city  of  Moarra  (east 
of  the  Ansairee  Mountains)  into  Mount  Lebanon,  there 
killed  a  vast  multitude  of  people  of  those  who  are  called 
Nazaraei.^' 

Assemanf,  after  having  mentioned  that  William  of 
Tyre  and  Jacobus  de  Vitriaco  speak  of  the  Assassins, 
adds  :  — "  And  that  these  are  the  Nazaraei,  i.  e.  Ansaireeh, 
both  the  time  and  the  place  where  they  lived,  and  finally 
the  fact  that  they  affected  the  name  of  Christians,  seem  to 
convince  me."  But  Asseman,  a  Maronite  Christian  of  the 
Lebanon,  little  removed  from  our  own  time,  is  worthless 
as  an  authority  on  such  a  point,  and  it  is  certain  that  the 
Ansaireeh  were  always  quite  distinct  in  name  and  doctrine 
from  the  Ismaeleeh  or  Assassins.  M.  Defr^meny,  on  the 
authority   of  Dheh6by,  as  we  have  seen,   speaks  of  the 

*  Apud  Asseman,  Bib.  Orient.,  vol.  ii.  p.  320. 
t  Ubi  supra. 


COMIMENCEMENT   OF   SECT.  69 

taking  of  Ansairee  castles  by  the  Ismaeleeh  in  a.d.  1107,  or 
subsequently ;  and  I  have  already  mentioned  the  general 
tradition  among  the  Ansaireeh  to  that  effect.*  In  an 
Ismaelee  book  of  miracles,  ascribed  to  the  famous  Ismaelee 
grand-master  Easheed-ed-deenf,  who  was  such  during 
the  latter  half  of  the  twelfth  century,  the  title  of  one  of 
the  sections  is — "  Easheed-ed-deen  confounds  two  Ansaris 
who  had  dared  to  speak  of  him  with  little  respect."  In 
fact,  the  historians  Abulfaradj  and  Abulfeda  clearly  dis- 
tinguish between  the  two  sects,  who  have,  as  Burckhardt  J 
says,  always  been  at  enmity,  as  they  were  in  old  time  in 
Wadi  Teym,  as  we  have  had  occasion  to  mention. 

We  have  seen  that  the  Crusaders  had  castles  in  the 
heart  of  their  country,  as  Platanos  in  the  district  of 
Muhailby,  Merkab,  and  probably  Beni  Israeel.  The 
Crusaders  and  Mussulmans  also  alternately  were  in  pos- 
session of  those  of  Sahyoon,  Ish-Shogher,  Apamea  (Kulat- 
il-Mudeek),  and  others  east  and  west  of  the  mountains 
and  on  their  verge ;  so  that  the  Ansairee  population  of 
the  north  of  the  mountains  must  have  been  held  in  entire 
subjection,  while  those  of  the  south  were  equally  under 
the  absolute  rule  of  the  Assassins  in  their  strong  castles 
of  Kadmoos,  Masyad,  &c.,  and  these  last  they  may  have 
sometimes  helped  against  their  common  enemies,  having 
more  conformity  with  them  than  with  the  Franks  or 
Mussulmans.  The  fact  that  the  Ansaireeh  were  a  sub- 
ject people  explains  why  they  are  so  little  mentioned  in 
Mussulman  and  other  authors  compared  with  the  more 
powerful  Ismaeleeh,  or  Assassins,  with  whom  it  is  easy  to 
see  that  they  would  be  frequently  confounded,  considering 
their  common  origin  and  place  of  residence. 

Thus  they  remained  subject  to  the  Mussulmans, 
Crusaders,  and  Assassins  of  their  neighbourhood,  till 
both  the  one  and  the  other  of  these  last  had  surrendered 


*  So  Ismaeleeh  to  Mr.  "Walpole. 

f  Journ.  Asiat.  Nov.— Dec.  1848.  |  Travels,  p.  152. 

T   3 


70  THE   ASIAN  MYSTERY. 

all  their  castles  to  Beybars,  Memlook  sultan  of  Egypt, 
and  his  successors,  a.d.  1270 — 85.  Then,  like  their 
neighbours  the  Israaeleeh,  they  fell  under  Mussulman 
rule,  under  which  they  have  continued  to  this  day. 

Ibn-Batoutah  the  Moghrebbiri  traveller*,  who  was  in 
Syria  a.d.  1325-50,  relates  amusingly  the  way  in  which 
the  Ansaireeh  bore  the  regulations  of  their  new  ruler. 
Having  spoken  of  Djebileh,  he  says : — "  And  the  majority 
of  the  people  of  these  plains  are  of  the  sect  of  the  Nusai- 
reeh,  who  believe  that  Ali  the  son  of  Abu-Taleb  is  God, 
and  they  do  not  pray,  nor  practise  circumcision,  nor  fast. 
Now  the  Malik  iz-Zahir  (Beybars)  forced  them  to  build 
mosques  in  their  villages,  and  they  built  in  each  village  a 
mosque  at  a  distance  from  the  houses,  but  they  do  not 
enter  them,  nor  repair  them,  and  perhaps  their  flocks  and 
cattle  repair  to  them,  and  should,  by  chance,  a  stranger 
come  to  them,  and  enter  the  mosque,  and  call  to  prayer, 
they  will  say  to  him,  '  Don't  bray,  your  fodder  will  come 
to  you' ;  and  their  number  is  great."  He  then  goes  on  to 
write :  ''  A  story.  I  have  been  told  that  an  unknown  man 
arose  in  the  country  of  this  sect,  and  pretended  to  be  the 
director,  and  gained  many  followers.  He  promised  them 
rule,  and  divided  between  them  the  land  of  Syria,  and 
used  to  appoint  to  them  particular  parts  of  the  country, 
commanding  them  to  go  forth,  and  giving  to  them  the 
leaves  of  the  olive,  saying  to  them,  '  By  these  conquer, 
for  they  are  to  you  as  authorisations.'  When,  accordingly, 
one  of  them  went  forth  into  a  country,  and  the  emir  of 
the  country  summoned  him  before  him,  he  would  say, 
*  The  Imam,  the  Mohdee  (director),  has  given  me  this 
country;'  and  when  the  emir  would  ask,  '  Where  is  your 
authorisation  ? '  he  would  take  out  the  olive  leaves  and  be 
beaten  and  imprisoned.  Then  he  commanded  them  to 
prepare  to  attack  the  Mussulmans,  and  that  they  should  il 
begin  with  the  town  of  Djebileh,  and  ordered  them  to 

♦  Published  by  the  Soci6t6  Asiatique,  Paris,  1853. 


COMMENCEMENT    OF    SECT.  71 

take  instead  of  swords  sticks  of  myrtle,  promising  that 
they  should  become  swords  in  their  hands  at  the  moment 
of  attack.  So  they  surprised  the  town  of  Djebileh  while 
its  inhabitants  were  at  the  Friday  prayers,  and  entered 
the  houses  and  ravished  the  women.  Then  the  Mussul- 
mans rushed  out  of  their  mosque,  and  seizing  their  swords, 
slew  them  as  they  pleased.  When  the  news  reached 
Ladikeeh,  its  prince,  Behadir  Abdullah,  came  with  his 
troops,  and  carrier  pigeons  were  sent  oif  to  Tripoli,  and 
the  emir  II  Umara  came  with  his  troops,  who  pursued 
them  till  they  had  killed  of  them  nearly  20,000,  and  the 
rest  had  fortified  themselves  in  the  mountains.  Then 
they  sent  to  the  emir,  and  bound  themselves  to  give  him 
a  dinar  for  every  poll,  if  he  would  spare  them.  Now  the 
news  had  already  been  sent  by  carrier  pigeons  to  II  Malik 
in-Nasir  (sultan  of  Egypt,  1310-41),  and  he  replied  that 
they  should  be  put  to  the  sword.  But  the  emir  II  Umara 
laid  before  him  that  they  were  employed  by  the  Mussul- 
mans in  tilling  the  land,  and  that  if  they  were  slain  the 
Mussulmans  would  be  weakened,  so  he  commanded  that 
they  should  be  spared." 

Abulfeda  likewise  speaks  of  this  descent  of  the  Ansai- 
reeh  on  Djebileh  in  nearly  the  same  terms,  and  says  that 
it  took  place  a.h.  717,  or  a.d.  1317,  that  is,  shortly  before 
Ibn-Batoutah's  arrival  in  the  country.  He  gives  the 
additional  information  that  the  man  was  from  the  moun- 
tains of  Belatnus*  (which  he  calls  Beladnoos,  when  he 
speaks  of  the  taking  of  the  castle  from  the  Franks  by 
Saladinf),  that  is,  from  the  mountains  of  Muhailby, 
just  north  of  the  Kelbeeh  district,  where  I  reside  ;  Djebileh 
being  on  the  sea  under  my  house.  He  says  :  —  "  There 
appeared  in  the  mountains  of  Belatnus  a  man  of  the 
Nusaireeh,  who  gave  out  that  he  was  Mohammed  son  of 
Hassan  il  Askeree,  the  twelfth  of  the  imams  with  the 
Imameeh,  who  entered  the   Sirdthah,  or  cave,  of  which 

*  Hist.  Musi.  vol.  V.  p.  320.  f  Vol.  iv.  p.  89. 

p  4 


72  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

mention  has  been  made."  He  adds  that  they  think  that 
he,  Mohammed,  still  lives,  and  will  return  at  the  end  of 
all  things.  Abulfeda  was  prince  of  Hamah  from  a.d. 
1310 — 32,  and  therefore  lived  at  the  time  of  the  occur- 
rence which  he  describes. 

From  this  story  it  appears  clearly  that  more  than  500 
years  ago  the  Ansaireeh  were  in  that  condition  in  which 
they  have  been  found  by  all  subsequent  travellers,  and  in 
which  they  are  now.  In  fact  the  Ansaireeh  have  a  say- 
ing among  them  that  whereas  God  gave  to  the  ancestor 
of  the  Mohammedans  one  thing,  and  to  the  Christians 
another,  he  gave  to  their  ancestor,  Nusair,  the  ox- 
goad. 

As  we  have  seen  that  the  condition  of  the  Ansaireeh 
has  not  altered  since  the  time  of  Ibn-Batoutah,  we  need 
not  regret  that  we  cannot  fill  up  the  break  between  his 
description  of  them  and  those  of  subsequent  Frank  tra- 
vellers. 

The  accurate  Maundrell  speaks  of  them  in  describing  his 
journey  from  Aleppo  to  Jerusalem  in  1697.  He  tells  an 
amusing  story  of  his  reception  at  Sholfatia,  an  Ansairee 
village  in  the  plain  of  Ladikeeh,  which  seems  to  have 
been  in  much  the  same  state  as  at  present.  Further  on 
in  his  narrative  he  says : — "  In  that  part  of  the  mountains 
above  Jebilee  there  dwelt  a  people  called  by  the  Turks 
Neceres^  of  a  very  strange  and  singular  character,  for  it  is 
their  principle  to  adhere  to  no  certain  religion,  but, 
chamelion  like,  to  put  on  the  colour  of  religion,  whatever 
it  be,  which  is  reflected  upon  them  from  the  persons  with 
whom  they  happen  to  converse.  With  Christians  they 
profess  themselves  Christians;  with  Turks  they  are  good 
Mussulmans,  with  Jews  they  pass  for  Jews,  being  such 
Proteuses  in  religion  that  nobody  was  ever  able  to  dis- 
cover what  shape  or  standard  their  consciences  are 
surely  of;  all  that  is  certain  concerning  them  is,  that 
they  make  very  much  and  good  wine,  and  are  great 
drinkers." 


COMMENCEMENT   OF   SECT.  73 

His  description  of  their  duplicity  in  religion  would  do 
for  the  present  day,  but  the  vineyards  have  been  destroyed 
since  his  time,  and  no  wine  or  next  to  none  is  now  made. 

The  Jesuit  missionaries  mention  the  Ansaireeh.  They 
write* : — "  At  the  present  day  we  are  not  acquainted  here 
with  any  people  bearing  the  name  of  Assassins ;  yet  it  is 
possible  that  the  Kesbins  [they  mean  the  Kelbeeh],  a 
nation  which  inhabits  the  mountain  two  days  distant 
from  Tripoli,  and  the  Nassariens,  another  nation  which  is 
established  in  the  plain  toward  the  sea,  may  be  the  suc- 
cessors of  the  Assassins.  These  two  nations  inhabit  the 
same  country,  and,  what  is  more,  there  is  much  resem- 
blance between  the  religion  which  the  Assassins  professed 
and  that  professed  in  the  present  day  by  the  Kesbins  and 
Nassariens. 

"  These  two  nations,  the  Kesbins  and  the  Nassariens, 
ought  to  be  considered  as  making  one  and  the  same  nation. 
They  have  different  names  from  the  different  countries 
which  they  inhabit.  Those  among  them  who  inhabit  the 
mountains  are  called  Kesbins,  because  their  country  is 
called  Kesbie  :  the  others  who  occupy  the  plains  are  called 
Nassariens,  that  is  to  say  bad  Christians  ;  a  character 
which  belongs  to  them,  for  they  have  made  themselves  a 
religion  which  is  a  monstrous  compound  of  Moham- 
medanism and  Christianity,  and  which  gives  them  an  ex- 
travagant idea  of  our  holy  mysteries." 

They  then  go  on  to  describe  their  religion,  but  we  will 
leave  what   they  say  on  this  point  to  a  future  chapter. 

They  conclude  :  "  They  are  strongly  attached  to  their 
customs,  persuaded  as  they  are  that  their  religion  is  no 
less  good  than  that  of  the  Maronites  [the  Christians  of 
the  Lebanon,  who  are  members  of  the  church  of  Le- 
banon, which  is  connected  with  the  Church  of  Kome], 
because  they  have  some  practices  in  common. 


*  Lettres  Edifiantes  et  Curieuses.  See  Jowett's  Christian  Researches, 
p.  52,  &c. 


74  THE   ASIAN  MYSTERY. 

"  Several  of  our  missionaries  have  used  their  utmost 
efforts  to  gain  some  of  them  ;  but  as  they  obstinately  hear 
only  their  own  wicked  doctors,  and  will  follow  no  other 
opinions  than  those  in  which  they  were  brought  up,  our 
missionaries,  despairing  of  their  conversion,  have  been 
obliged  often  to  shake  off  the  dust  of  their  feet  against 
them/' 

Richard  Pococke,  who  travelled  in  Syria  in  1738,  says: 
"  The  Noceres  who  live  north-east  of  I^atichea  are  spoken 
of  by  many :  their  religion  seems  to  be  some  remains  of 
Paganism ;  they  are  much  despised  by  the  Turks,  and  they 
seem  rather  fond  of  Christians."* 

Niebuhr,  who  travelled  in  Syria  in  1764,  and  obtained 
an  Ansairee  book,  says  of  them: — "  One  of  their  Mekud- 
dams  lives  at  Bahlulie,  not  far  from  Ladakia,  and  he  is 
the  most  powerful  of  the  Nassairiens.  There  are  likewise 
Mekuddams  at  Sumrin,  in  the  country  of  Khawaby 
[Chouabe,  as  he  writes  it],  and  in  the  district  of  Safeta, 
and  another  of  their  sheikhs  leases  a  part  of  Djebel  Kelbie. 
They  all  pay  tribute  to  the  Pacha  of  Tripoli ; "  for  Ladi- 
keeh  was  formerly  governed  from  Tripoli.  "  Their  dis- 
tricts are  lucrative  enough,  for  they  furnish  the  chief  part 
of  that  excellent  tobacco  which  is  exported  from  Ladakia. 
But  this  nation  is  not  nearly  so  numerous  as  that  of  the 
Druses.  It  does  not  inhabit  such  high  mountains,  and 
therefore  is  more  under  subjection  to  the  Turks."  He  is 
right  in  this  last  remark,  but  wrong  in  the  previous  one, 
for  the  Ansaireeh  are  twice  as  numerous  as  the  Druses. 

Volney  gives  an  account  of  the  same  people  in  his  book 
of  travelsf  (he  was  in  Syria  1783-5) :  —  "  The  Ansaria," 
he  says,  **are  divided  into  several  tribes  or  sects;  among 
-which  are  distinguished  the  Shamsia,  or  adorers  of  the 
sun ;  the  Kelbia,  or  worshippers  of  the  dog "  (a  ridicu- 
lous statement,  which  by  the  by  does  not  say  much  for 

*  Travels  in  Egypt  and  Syria,  vol.  ii.  p.  208. 
t  Vol.  ii.  p.  6. 


COMMENCEMENT   OF   SECT.  75 

his  accuracy),  "and  the  Kadmousia,"  which  last  are  not 
Ansaireeh  but  Ismaeleeh. 

Burckhardt,  in  describing  his  journey  from  Aleppo 
to  Damascus  in  1812  *,  speaks  of  passing  the  Ansairee 
village  of  Busseen,  in  the  plains  of  Hamah,  on  his  way 
from  tliat  place  to  Masyad.  He  afterwards  spent  a  night 
at  the  Ansairee  village  of  Shennyn,  on  his  way  south,  along 
the  east  of  the  Ansairee  mountains.  He  takes  occasion 
to  speak  of  the  Ansaireeh,  and  makes  a  little  confusion  in 
names.  He  says:  — "  They  (the  Ansari)  are  divided  into 
different  sects  of  which  nothing  is  known  but  the  names, 
viz.  Kelbye,  Shemsye,  and  Mokladye." 

Thus  we  have  come  down  to  our  own  times,  when, 
before  myself,  the  late  Dr.  Eli  Smith  and  the  Hon.  F. 
Walpole  penetrated  into  the  Ansairee  mountains,  the  former 
passing  quickly  through,  the  latter  making  a  rather  longer 
stay.  Recently  the  American  Presbyterian  missionary, 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Dodds  (who,  with  his  colleague,  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Beattie,  has  just  established  himself  in  Ladikeeh),  has 
visited  part  of  the  mountains. 

*  Travels  in  Syria,  p.  156. 


76  THE   ASIAN  IMYSTERY. 


CHAP.  lY. 

RELIGIOUS     SYSTEM    OF     THE     SECRET    HERETICAL     SECTS 

OF   ISLAM. 

Before  entering  on  the  description  of  the  religion  of  the 
Ansaireeh,  we  will  give  a  sketch  of  that  of  those  secret 
heretical  sects  of  Mohammedanism,  which  are  allied  to 
them.  By  doing  so,  w^e  shall  more  fully  redeem  the 
promise  of  our  titlepage,  the  illustration  of  what  has 
been  called  the  "great  Asian  mystery,"  which  has  its 
counterpart  and  representative  in  the  childish  mystery  of 
our  day,  Freemasonry. 

We  have  already  said  that  these  sects  had  their  origin 
in  political  as  well  as  in  religious  considerations.  The 
endeavour  to  secure  the  Caliphate  for  Ali  and  his  descend- 
ants was  based  on  his  asserted  right  to  the  Imamate,  and 
the  weaker  the  hope  of  obtaining  the  former,  the  more 
determined  the  maintenance  of  the  latter. 

But  these  considerations  were  not  the  only  ones  which 
led  to  the  corruption  of  Islam,  by  the  extravagant  honour 
paid  to  Ali  and  his  house ;  the  Mohammedan  faith  received 
equal  injury  from  its  contact  with  the  Magians  of  Persia; 
"  who,"  says  an  Arab  author  professing  to  draw  his 
materials  from  books  not  readily  to  be  found,  "  as  they 
could  not  conquer  the  Arabs,  corrupted  Mohammed- 
anism." * 

"  Scarcely,"  says  De  Sacy,  "  had  Islamism  thrown  out 
some  roots  in  the  places  formerly  subject  to  the  empire  of 
the  Sassanides  and  the  religion  of  the  Magians,  than  a 

*  Safecnet-ir-Raghib,  (Boulak,  Cairo,)  p.  216. 


RELIGIOUS   SYSTEM.  77 

schism  political  and  religious  lit  up  there  the  torch  of 
fanaticism."  * 

"  When  the  faith  of  Islam  was  forced  upon  the  Persian 
nation  by  the  sanguinary  Omar,  it  was  declared  by  the 
conqueror,  that  all  who  did  not  receive  it  with  implicit 
obedience  should  be  put  to  the  sword.  Such  a  summary 
process  of  conversion  left  the  real  tenets  of  the  great 
majority  of  the  nation  unaltered ;  from  old  associations, 
they  began  to  regard  the  Imams,  or  chiefs  of  the  faith,  as 
Bodhisatwas ;  and,  as  we  shall  have  occasion  to  notice 
hereafter,  his  principle  pervades  all  the  Schiite  sects  ;  the 
chief  difference  between  them  being  as  to  the  number  of 
incarnations.  The  Schiite  notion  of  an  Imam  is  pre- 
cisely the  same  as  that  which  the  Tibetians  form  of  their 
Grand  Lama,  and  the  Burmese  of  their  Bodhisatwas. "f 

So  De  Sacy : — "  The  dogma  of  the  union  of  the  divinity 
to  Ali  and  the  Imams  of  his  race  owed,  if  I  am  not  mis- 
taken, its  origin  to  the  ancient  system  of  the  Parsees.  It 
is  also  to  the  ancient  theology  of  the  people  of  Eastern 
Asia  that  we  must  refer  the  origin  of  the  transmigration 
of  souls,  and  perhaps  the  study  of  the  books  of  the 
Grecian  philosophers  contributed  to  strengthen  and  ex- 
tend this  opinion  among  the  Mussulmans."^ 
■  It  is  necessary  to  observe  that  not  only  was  contact 
with  the  Magians  easy,  especially  in  the  frontier  provinces 
of  Persia,  but  they  as  well  as  the  Sabians  (who  also  con- 
tributed to  form  the  heterogeneous  system  of  the  heretical 
sects)  had  been  driven  into  the  Arab  province  of  Bahreyn 
by  Alexander  the  Great.  And  in  explanation  of  the  closing 
words  of  De  Sacy,  in  the  above  quotation,  I  will  give  those 
of  Makrisi  §  : — 'Mamoon,  son  of  Haroon-ir-Easheed,  being 
very  fond  of  the  sciences  of  the  ancients,  sent  men  into 
the  country  of  the    Greeks,  who  translated  for  him  into 


*  De  Sacy,  Religion  of  Druses,  Introd.  p.  27. 

t  Taylor,  p.  152.  J  De  Sacy,  Introd.  p.  31. 

§  Description  of  Egypt,  vol.  ii.  p.  258  :  cd.  Cairo. 


78  THE   ASIAN  MYSTERY. 

Arabic  the  books  of  the  philosophers,  and  brought  them 
to  him  about  A.  h.  210  (a.  d.  825);  so  that  the  sects  of 
philosophers  and  their  books  were  spread  everywhere. 
The  Karmatians  and  others  studied  them  eagerly,  and 
thus  came  on  the  Mussulmans,  from  the  teaching  of  the 
philosophers,  innumerable  ills.  All  the  sects  of  the  Ra- 
fedhis,  which  were  spread  everywhere,  studied  philosophy 
and  took  that  part  of  it  which  they  chose." 

I  have  before  said  that,  even  in  the  time  of  Ali, 
Abdullah  ibn-Saba  and  others  taught  that  a  particle  of 
the  Divinity  resided  in  him.  So  also  II  Mokannaa,  in  the 
time  of  the  Abbaside  caliph  Al  Mohdi,  "  spoke  of  the 
transmigration  of  souls,"*  and  "joined  to  it  the  incar- 
nation of  the  divine  nature,  a  dogma  originating  in  India, 
and  afterwards  adopted  by  the  Ghullat  [extravagant 
followers  of  Ali]  as  one  of  their  principal  tenets."f 

It  is  well  just  to  pause  and  explain  this  doctrine  of 
Hhulool,  i.  e.  descent  of  the  Divinity  into  a  human  form, 
rather  than  its  incarnation  or  taking  of  human  flesh,  for 
the  former  seems  to  be  the  doctrine  of  the  Ansaireeh  ;  and 
we  ask  for  the  attention  of  the  reader,  as  we  shall  have 
again  to  refer  to  what  is  now  said, 

"  The  Sabians,"  says  Shahrestani  J,  "  say  of  God,  that 
he  is  one  in  his  essence,  but  multiple,  because  he  mul- 
tiplies himself  in  persons  before  the  eyes  of  men.  These 
bodies  or  persons  are  the  seven  planets  which  govern  the 
world,  and  those  good  terrestrial  objects  in  which  God 
descends  without  ceasing  to  be  one.  There  is,  also,  a 
descent  of  His  essence^  or  a  descent  of  the  whole  deity ^  and 
a  'partial  descent^  or  a  descent  of  a  'portion  of  His  essence^ 
which  takes  place  according  to  the  degree  of  preparedness 
of  the  person." 

The  only  possible  way  in  which  the  heretical  sects 
could    maintain ,  any    connexion    with   Mohammedanism, 

*  Abulfaradj,  Hist.  Dynast,  (ed.  Pocockii,)  p.  225. 
t  Von  Hammer,  Assassins,  p.  27. 
X  Quoted  by  Do  Sacy,  Introd.  p.  36. 


DOCTRINE    OF   HIIULOOL.  79 

was  by  allegorising  the  Koran,  and  teaching  an  inner 
or  esoteric  meaning,  Il-Batm,  in  opposition  to,  and  to 
the  entire  subversion  of,  the  outer  or  apparent  meaning, 
Iz'Zahir,  Mohammed  son  of  Ismaeel,  and  grandson  of 
the  imam  Djaafar-is-Sadik,  is  sometimes  said  to  have 
been  the  author  of  this  allegorisation,  which  he  may  have 
learned  from  his  grandfather.  This  allegorisation,  or  inter- 
pretation, is  called  Taweel,  in  contradistinction  to  Tanzeel, 
descent,  which  is  used  for  the  literal  interpretation  of 
the  words  of  the  Koran,  as  they  were  sent  down  to 
Mohammed.  The  Taweel  opened  a  wide  door  to  all 
kinds  of  heresy,  and  led,  as  Mussulman  authors  complain, 
to  an  entire  explaining  away  of  the  positive  precepts  of 
Islam.  Those  that  pretended  to  this  Ulm  ul  Batin,  or 
knowledge  of  the  inner  meaning  of  the  Koran,  were  called 
Batineel,  which  name  embraced  a  wide  circle  of  sects ; 
and  they  are  said  to  have  based  their  system  on  the 
"  words  of  the  Most  High,  where  he  says,  '  A  wall 
was  thrown  between  them,  which  had  a  door,  on  its 
inner  side  (Batin)  mercy,  and  on  its  outer  (Zahir) 
torment.' "  * 

On  the  failure  of  the  rebellion  of  II  Mokannaa  and 
Baber,  Abdullah  son  of  Maimoon  Kaddah  founded,  as  we 
have  seen,  a  sect  called  the  Ismaeleeh,  from  Ismaeel 
the  son  of  Djaafar-is-Sadik,  whose  name  he  made  use  of  to 
give  authority  to  his  system.  His  object  was  to  gain 
political  power,  and  to  effect  that  by  secret  propagandism 
which  had  not  succeeded  by  open  violence.  "  Similar 
attempts  have  been  made  in  different  ages  of  the  world : 
the  colleges  of  the  Indian  and  Egyptian  priests,  the  asso- 
ciation of  the  Magi,  which  more  than  once  shook  the 
throne  of  Persia,  the  secret  societies  of  the  Pythagoreans 
in  Southern  Italy  and  Sicily,  the  Bacchanalians  of  which 
Livy  gives  such  a  singular  description,  the  Templars  in  the 
middle  ages,  and  the  Jesuits  in  our  own,  are  all  examples 

*  Safeenet-ir-Raghib,  p.  216. 


80  THE   ASIAN  IVIYSTERY. 

of  secret  societies  formed  under  the  pretext  of  religion, 
but  really  aiming  at  the  establishment  of  their  order  in 
the  plenitude  of  political  power."  * 

Abdullah  son  of  Maimoon  divided  his  system  "  into 
seven  degrees,  after  the  fashion  of  the  Pythagorean  and 
Indian  philosophers,"  into  which  his  disciples  were  ini- 
tiated gradually.  *'  The  last  degree  inculcated  the  vanity 
of  all  religion,  —  the  indifference  of  actions,  which,  accord- 
ing to  him,  are  neither  visited  with  recompense  nor  chas- 
tisement, either  now  or  hereafter.  This  alone  was  the 
path  of  truth  and  right,  all  the  rest  imposture  and  error. 
He  appointed  emissaries,  whom  he  dispatched  to  enlist 
disciples,  and  to  initiate  them,  according  to  their  capacity 
for  libertinism  and  turbulence,  in  some  or  all  of  the  de- 
grees. The  pretensions  of  the  descendants  of  Mohammed 
the  son  of  Ismail  served  him  as  a  political  mask  :  these  his 
missionaries  asserted  as  partisans,  while  they  were  se- 
cretly but  the  apostles  of  crime  and  impiety."  f 

These  degrees  were  afterwards  increased  to  nine,  by  the 
western  Ismaeleeh,  in  the  time  of  the  Fatimite  caliphs  of 
Egypt,  and  as  they  became  then  more  known,  and  are 
described  by  Makrisi  the  great  historian,  I  will  give  them  as 
they  were  taught  in  their  lodge  at  Cairo :  —  "  This  account 
which  Makrisi  has  preserved,  concerning  the  promulgation 
of  these  degrees  of  initiation,  forms  a  very  precious  and 
the  most  ancient  document  on  the  history  of  the  secret 
societies  of  the  East,  in  whose  steps  those  of  the  West 
afterwards  trod."l 

"  The  iirst  degree  §  was  the  longest  and  most  difficult 
of  all,  as  it  was  necessary  to  inspire  the  pupil  with  the 
most  implicit  confidence  in  the  knowledge  of  his  teacher, 
and  to  incline  him  to  take  that  most  solemn  oath,  by 
which  he  bound  himself  to  the  secret  doctrine  with  blind 


*  Taylor,  p.  172.  f  ^o"  Hammer,  p.  29.  i  Ibid.  p.  33. 

§  I  have  followed  Von   Hammer,   p.   34,  Wood's  translation,  in   this 
account  of  the  degrees  of  initiation. 


Abdullah's  system.  81 

faith  and  unconditional  obedience.  For  this  purpose  every 
possible  expedient  was  adopted  to  perplex  the  mind  by 
the  many  contradictions  of  positive  religion  and  reason,  to 
render  the  absurdities  of  the  Koran  still  more  involved  by 
the  most  insidious  questions  *  and  most  subtle  doubts,  and 
to  point  from  the  apparent  literal  signification  to  a  deeper 
sense,  which  was  properly  the  kernel,  as  the  former  was 
but  the  husk.  The  more  ardent  the  curiosity  of  the 
novice,  the  more  resolute  was  the  refusal  of  the  master 
to  afford  the  least  solution  to  these  difficulties,  until  he 
had  taken  the  most  unrestricted  oath;  on  this  he  was 
admitted  to  the  second  degree.  This  inculcated  the  re- 
cognition of  divinely  appointed  imams,  who  were  the 
source  of  all  knowledge.  As  soon  as  the  faith  in  them 
was  well  established,  the  third  degree  taught  their  number, 
which  could  not  exceed  the  holy  seven ;  for,  as  God  had 
created  seven  heavens,  seven  earths,  seven  seas,  seven 
planets,  seven  colours,  seven  musical  sounds,  and  seven 
metals,  so  had  he  appointed  seven  of  the  most  excellent  of 
his  creatures  as  revealed  imams :  these  were  Ali,  Hassan, 
Hosein,  Ali  Zeyn-il-Aabideen,  Mohammed-ul-Bahir,Djaafar- 
is-Sadik,  and  Ismaeel  his  son,  as  the  last  and  seventh.  The 
fourth  grade  was,  that  since  the  beginning  of  the  world 
there  had  been  seven  divine  lawgivers,  or  speaking  apostles 
of  God,  of  whom  each  had  always,  by  the  command  of 
heaven,  altered  the  doctrine  of  his  predecessor ;  that  each 
of  these  had  seven  coadjutors,  who  succeeded  each  other 
in  the  epoch  from  one  speaking  lawgiver  to  another,  but 
who,  as  they  did  not  appear  manifestly,  were  called  the 
mutes  (Samit).  The  first  of  these  mutes  was  named 
Sas,  Asas,  or  foundation,  '  the  seat  as  it  were  of  the 
ministers  of  the  speaking  prophet,'  Natik.  '  These  seven 
speaking  prophets,  with  their  seven  '  Asas,  *  were  Adam, 
Noah,  Abraham,  Moses,  Jesus,  Mohammed,  and  Ismaeel 
the  son  of  Djaafar,  who,  as  the  last,  was  called  Sahib-ez- 

*  See  De  Sacy's  Introd. 
G 


82  THE   ASIAN  MYSTEEY. 

Zeman,  the  lord  of  the  time,  and  Kaim-iz-Zeman,  or  chief 
of  the  age.  Their  seven  assistants  were  Seth,  Shem, 
Ishmael  son  of  Abraham,  Aaron  and  afterwards  Joshua, 
'  Simeon  ^  or  Simon  Peter,  Ali,  and  Mohammed  son  of 
Ismaeel.  It  is  evident  from  this  dexterous  arrangement, 
which  gained  the  Ismaeleeh  the  name  of  Seveners,  that  as 
they  named  only  the  first  of  the  mute  divine  envoys  in 
each  prophetic  period,  and  since  Mohammed  the  son  of 
Ismaeel  had  been  dead  only  a  hundred  years,  the  teachers 
were  at  full  liberty  to  present  to  those  whose  progress 
stopped  at  this  degree  whomsoever  they  pleased  as  one  of 
the  mute  prophets  of  the  current  age.  The  fifth  degree 
must  necessarily  render  the  credibility  of  the  doctrine 
more  manifest  to  the  minds  of  the  hearers.  For  this  reason 
it  taught  that  each  of  the  seven  mute  prophets  had  twelve 
apostles  for  the  extension  of  the  true  faith ;  for  the 
number  twelve  is  the  most  excellent  after  seven  :  hence 
the  twelve  signs  of  the  zodiac,  the  twelve  months,  the 
twelve  tribes  of  Israel,  the  twelve  bones  of  the  fingers  of 
each  hand,  the  thumb  excepted,  and  so  on. 

"  After  these  five  degrees,  the  precepts  of  Islamism  were 
examined ;  and  in  the  sixth  it  was  shown  that  all  positive 
legislation  must  be  subordinate  to  the  general  and  philo- 
sophical. The  dogmas  of  Plato,  Aristotle,  and  Pythagoras 
were  adduced  as  proofs,  and  laid  down  as  axioms.  This 
degree  was  very  tedious,  and  only  when  the  acolyte  was 
fully  penetrated  with  the  wisdom  of  the  philosophers 
was  admission  granted  him  to  the  seventh,  where  he 
passed  from  philosophy  to  mysticism.  This  was  the 
Oriental  mystic  theology,  and  the  doctrine  of  unity 
which  the  Soopees  have  exhibited  in  their  works.  In 
the  eighth,  the  positive  precepts  of  religion  were  again 
brought  forward  to  fall  to  dust  by  all  that  preceded  ;  then  \\ 
was  the  pupil  fully  enlightened  as  to  the  superfluity  of  all 
apostles  and  prophets,  the  non-existence  of  heaven  and 
hell,  the  indifference  of  all  actions,  for  which  there  is 
neither  reward  nor  punishment,  either  in  this  world  or 


karmat's  system.  83 

the  next ;  and  thus  was  he  matured  for  the  ninth  and 
last  degree,  to  become  the  blind  instrument  of  all  the 
passions  of  unbridled  thirst  of  power.  To  believe  no- 
thing, and  to  dare  all,  formed,  in  two  words,  the  sum  of  this 
system,  which  annihilated  every  principle  of  religion  and 
morality,  and  had  no  other  object  than  to  execute  am- 
bitious designs  with  suitable  ministers,  who,  daring  all  and 
honouring  nothing,  since  they  consider  everything  a  cheat 
and  nothing  forbidden,  are  the  best  tools  of  an  infernal 
policy." 

The  Keramitah,  or  Karmatians,  were,  as  we  have  seen, 
a  branch  of  the  early  Ismaeleeh.  D'Herbelot  *  says  of 
the  founder,  that  he  taught  his  disciples  to  make  fifty 
prayers  a  day,  and  allowed  them  to  eat  things  forbidden 
by  Mussulmans.  He  allegorised  the  precepts  of  the 
Koran,  giving  out  prayer  to  be  the  symbol  of  obedience 
to  the  imam  ;  fasting  to  be  merely  the  symbol  of  silence 
and  secrecy  with  respect  to  strangers  who  were  not  of 
their  sect ;  and  that  fidelity  to  the  imam  was  figured 
by  the  precept  which  forbids  fornication,  so  that  those 
who  reveal  the  precepts  of  their  religion,  and  who  do 
not  obey  their  Sheikh  blindly,  fell  into  the  crime  called 
"zinah."  Instead  of  the  tenth  part  of  their  property 
which  Mussulmans  gave  to  the  poor,  they  were  to  set  apart 
the  fifth  part  for  the  Imam, 

Yon  Hammer  f  speaks  in  a  similar  way  of  Karmat. 
"  His  doctrine,  in  addition  to  the  circumstance  of  its 
forbidding  nothing,  and  declaring  every  thing  allowable 
and  indifferent,  meriting  neither  reward  nor  punishment, 
undermined  more  particularly  the  basis  of  Mohammedan- 
ism, by  declaring  that  all  its  commands  were  allegorical, 
and  merely  a  disguise  of  political  precepts  and  maxims. 
Moreover,  all  was  to  be  referred  to  the  blameless  and 
irreproachable  Imam  Maasoom  (preserved  from  error), 
as  the  model  of  a  prince,  whom,  although  he  had  occupied 

*  Article  on  Carmatians,  Bib.  Orient.       *  f  P.  29,  30. 

G  2 


84  THE   ASIAN  MYSTERY. 

no  existing  throne,  they  pretended  to  seek,  and  declared 
war^against  bad  and  good  princes,  without  distinction,  in  j 
order  that,  under  the  pretext  of  contending  for  a  better, 
they  might  be  able  to  unravel  at  once  the  thickly  inter- 
woven web  of  religion  and  government.  The  injunction 
of  prayer  meant  nothing  but  obedience  to  the  Imam 
Maasoom  ;  alms,  the  tithes  to  be  given  to  him  ;  fast- 
ing, the  preservation  of  the  political  secret  regarding 
the  imam  of  the  family  of  Ismaeel.  Every  thing  de- 
pended on  the  interpretation,  Taweel,  without  which  the 
whole  word  of  the  Koran,  Tanzeel,  had  neither  meaning 
nor  value.  Religion  did  not  consist  in  external  observ- 
ances, Iz-zahir,  but  in  the  internal  feeling,  Il-Batin." 
Ibn-Atheer,  who  lived  between  about  a.d.  1159  — 1231 
according  to  Nowairi,  gives  an  account  of  a  book  of  the 
Karmatians.  So  do  Bibars  Mansoori  and  Abulfeda,  who 
take  their  narration,  for  certain,  thinks  De  Sacy,  from  Ibn- 
Atheer.  Gregory  Abulfaradj  also  speaks  of  this  book  in 
his  Arabic  history,  ascribing  it  to  Karmat,  though  in  his 
Syriac  Chronicle  he  ascribes  it  to  the  founder  of  the  sect 
of  the  Nusaireeh. 

The  extract  which  these  historians  give  from  the  book 
is  as  follows :  —  "In  the  name  of  God,  the  compassionate, 
the  merciful.  Says  Il-Faradj,  son  of  Othman,  of  the  vil- 
lage of  Nusrana,  that  there  appeared  to  him  in  human 
form  the  Messiah,  who  is  the  Word  of  God,  who  is  the 
Guide,  and  he  is  Ahmed,  son  of  Moliammed,  son  of 
Hanafeyah,  of  the  sons  of  Ali,  and  he  is  also  Gabriel  the 
angel,  and  he  said  to  him,  thou  art  the  leader ;  thou  art 
the  true  one ;  thou  are  the  camel  that  keepest  wrath 
against  the  infidels ;  thou  art  the  ox  that  bearest  the  sins 
of  the  true  believers  ;  thou  art  the  spirit;  thou  art  John, 
son  of  Zachariah." 

This,  with  variations,  is  the  extract  given  by  the  various 
historians,  but  De  Sacy  with  justice  questions  its  having 
been  taken,  at  least  in  the  form  given  above,  from  any 
book  of  the  Karmatians,  for  they  certainly  did  not  re- 


SECT   OF   THE    ISHAKEEH.  85 

cognise  the  imamate  of  Mohammed,  son  of  that  wife  of  All 
called  Hanafeyah,  but  that  of  the  descendants  of  his  wife 
Fatima.  Moreover,  says  De  Sacy,  the  name  of  11-Faradj, 
son  of  Othman,  does  not  appear  in  any  book  of  the  Is- 
maeleeh.*  It  is  said  also  that  Karmat  taught  his  disciples 
to  make  four  inclinations ;  two  before  sunrise,  and  two 
before  sunset,  or,  according  to  Bibars  Mansoori,  two  after 
sunset.  The  following  words  are  also  ascribed  to  him. 
First  quoting  a  passage  from  the  Koran  (Soorah  ii.  verse 
185),  "They  will  ask  you  of  the  new  moons;  say  that 
they  are  the  epochs  fixed  for  men,"  he  thus  allegorises  it : 
"  In  the  exterior  sense  it  refers  to  years,  chronology, 
months,  and  days ;  but  in  the  inner  sense  it  refers  to  my 
faithful  friends  who  have  made  known  my  ways  to  my 
servants."  Among  other  things  he  commanded  a  fast  two 
days  in  the  year,  at  the  feasts  of  Mihrdjan  and  of  Nurooz ; 
he  forbade  the  wine  of  the  palm  tree,  and  permitted  the 
use  of  that  made  from  the  grape  ;  he  prescribed  the  abs- 
taining from  the  complete  ablution  according  to  the  rite 
called  Gosl,  for  a  pollution ;  and  directed  the  being  con- 
tented with  the  ablution  called  Wudoof,  as  it  is  practised 
before  prayer.  He  allowed  the  killing  all  that  should  take 
arms  against  him  ;  but  forbade  the  eating  any  animal  -with 
tusks  or  claws.J 

About  the  time  that  the  sect  of  the  Ansaireeh  arose, 
arose  also  that  of  the  Ishakeeh,  who  are  spoken  of  in  con- 
junction with  them  by  Shahrestani  and  Niaracci.§  We 
have  seen  that  Ishak,  the  founder  of  this  sect,  is  considered 
the  great  enemy  of  the  Ansaireeh,  for  having  "  wished  to 
kill"  Abu-Shuaib  ibn-Nusair,  their  first  apostle.  Niaracci 
makes  them  hold  pretty  well  the  same  tenets  as  the  Nu- 
saireeh  ;  and  probably  they  hated  one  another  with  that 

*  Vol.  i.  p.  177,  note.  t  Taylor,  p.  121. 

X  De  Sacy,  p.  178,  and  Gregory  Abulfaradj,  Hist.  Dynast,  p.  275, 
276. 

§  Prodroraus  to  Koran,  part  iii.  p.  84. 

G  3 


86  THE   ASIAN  MYSTETIY. 

odiuin  theologicum  which  is  always  the  fiercer  in  propor- 
tion to  the  nearness  in  opinion  of  those  who  indulge  in  it. 
He  says,  under  the  eleventh  head  of  sects :  "  The  Ishakeeh 
and  Nusaireeh.  These  assert  that  the  appearance  of  a 
spirit  with  a  material  body  cannot  be  denied,  since  Gabriel 
appeared  in  the  figure  of  a  man,  and  Satan  in  the  figure 
of  an  animal ;  and  so,  say  they,  God  appeared  in  the  form 
of  Ali,  and  of  his  children,  and  spoke  by  their  tongue,  and 
handled  with  their  hands." 

Macrisi  alludes  to  the  Ishakeeh,  "  who  say  that  prayer 
is  not  lawful  except  after  the  imam."  * 

We  now  come  to  that  offshoot  of  the  Western  Ismaeleeh, 
the  Druses. 

Hakem,  the  Deity  in  human  form  of  the  Druse  sect,  was 
sultan  of  Egypt  towards  the  end  of  the  tenth  century.  It 
was  towards  the  close  of  his  life,  which  had  been  charac- 
terised by  every  absurdity,  that  some  of  the  sect  of  the 
Ismaeleeh  began  to  ascribe  to  him  divine  honours.  He 
himself  during  his  life  had  shown  himself  a  partisan  of  the 
sect,  and  among  other  ordinances  forbade  the  selling  of 
fish  without  scales^  raisins^  cjrc.  II  Darazi,  who  was  a  con- 
vert of  Hamza,  published  a  book  in  which  he  styled  him- 
self "  the  sword  of  the  age,"  and  ascribed  divine  power  to 
Hakem,  teaching  that  the  soul  of  Adam  had  passed  through 
Ali  and  then  to  Hakem.  On  reading  this  book  in  a  mosque 
at  Cairo,  a  sedition  was  raised,  from  which  he  escaped  to 
Syria ;  where,  after  preaching  his  doctrine  for  a  few  years, 
he  is  said  to  have  been  killed  in  a  fight  with  the  Tartars. 

Hamza,  the  great  founder  of  the  Druse  religion,  is  said 
by  De  Sacy  to  call  him  more  than  once  in  his  works, 
"  calf,"  "  pig,"  &c.  As  Abdullah,  son  of  Maimoon  the 
founder  of  the  Ismaeleeh,  came  from  the  Klazistan,  the 
frontier  province  of  Persia,  and  Hassan^ son  of  Sabab, 
founder  of  the  Assassins,  from  another  Persian  province, 
Khorassan,  so  also  II  Darazi,  and  Hamza  the  son  of  Ali, 
the  founders  of  the  Druse  sect,  were  Persians. 
*  Description  of  Egypt,  vol.  ii.  p.  354. 


SYSTEM   OF   THE   DRUSES.  87 

The  following  is  the  system  of  the  Druses.  Hakem 
appeared  ten  times,  in  all,  under  human  form ;  the  first 
time  under  the  name  of  Al-b^r,  and  in  the  last  and  most 
perfect  manifestation  under  that  of  Hakem. 

The  human  figures  under  which  the  Deity  appeared  are 
called  "  Appearance,"  "  Statim,''  "  Envelope,"  or  Kamees, 
a  word  which  is  now  used  for  a  shirt. 

The  Druses  call  Mohammed  son  of  Ismaeel  the  seventh 
Natih,  or  speaking  prophet  and  legislator,  and  make  him 
the  author  of  the  Taweel  and  Batin,  or  the  system  of  alle- 
gorisation  and  of  the  inner  meaning  of  the  Koran.  From 
Ismaeel  to  Abdullah,  the  father  of  Said  or  Obeidallah,  the 
founder  of  the  Fatimite  caliphs  of  the  West,  they  reckon 
seven  concealed  imams. 

In  the  formulary  of  the  Druses  it  is  said  that  Hamza 
had  before  appeared  seven  times  in  the  world,  though  De 
Sacy  doubts  whether  this  was  the  original  teaching  of  the 
Druses,  since  he  does  not  find  the  number  of  appearances 
given  in  the  ancient  writings. 

These  appearances  were — 

as  Shatnil,  or  Adam-is- Safa. 
„  Pythagoras. 
„  David. 

„  Schoaib  (Jethro). 
„  Eleazar  (the  true  Messiah). 
.,   Sahrian-il-FaresL 
l,  ,',       Said  (Obeidallah)  „  Saleh. 

De  Sacy  gives*  the  following  clear  summary  of  the 
statements  in  the  Druse  writings  with  respect  to  the  person 
of  Hakem ;  and  I  must  again  bespeak  the  reader's  special 
attention,  as  what  he  says,  mutatis  mutandis,  is  pretty 
well  applicable  to  the  opinion  of  the  Ansaireeh  with  respect 
to  Ali. 

*'  There  results,  it  seems  to  me,  from  these  statements, 
that  the  divine  humanity  of  the  Deity  was  one  and  always 
the  same  in  his  difi^erent  manifestations,  although  he  ap- 

♦  Vol.  i.  p.  66. 
G  4 


In  the  time  of  Adam 

»             » 

Noah 

»             » 

Abraham 

}>                 a 

Moses 

a                 >» 

Jesus 

»»                » 

Mahomet 

88  THE   ASIAN  MYSTERY. 

peared  under  different  forms ;  that  the  Deity  and  the 
human  form,  which  serves  him  as  a  veil,  are  so  united, 
that  the  actions  and  words  of  this  form  are  truly  the 
actions  and  words  of  the  Deity ;  that  the  merit  of  faith 
consists  in  believing  that  the  Deity,  in  rendering  himself 
accessible  to  sense  by  the  form  which  serves  him  as  a  veil, 
does  not  cease  to  be  infinite,  incomprehensible,  inaccessible 
to  the  senses.  First,  that  notwithstanding  the  diversity  and 
the  succession  of  his  manifestations,  there  is  nevertheless, 
in  respect  of  him,  neither  succession  of  time  nor  any  num- 
bers ;  that  the  divine  humanity  of  the  Deity  is  antecedent 
to  all  created  things,  and  is  the  prototype  of  the  human 
form ;  that  the  manner  in  which  men  see  him  in  the  figure 
with  which  he  clothes  himself  is  proportioned  to  the 
degree  of  purity  in  each ;  that  it  was  necessaiy  that 
divinity  should  thus  manifest  itself  under  a  human  form, 
that  men  might  be  able  to  acquire  a  full  conviction  of  his 
existence,  and  that  the  divine  justice  might  recompense 
those  who  should  have  believed,  and  punish  those  w^ho 
should  have  been  incredulous  ;  and  lastly,  that  the  last 
manifestation  under  the  name  of  Hakem  is  the  most  per- 
fect, that  of  which  all  the  preceding  manifestations  were 
in  some  sort  but  the  daybreak  and  sketch." 

Hamza  established  a  carefully  devised  hierarchy,  as  the 
beings  intervening  between  Hakem  and  the  common  herd 
of  believers,  and  as  the  teachers  of  his  new  sect.  The 
ministers  are  divided  into  two  classes  of  five  superior  and 
others  inferior. 

The  superior  are  the  following  :  — 

I.  Hamza,  styled  •'  the  universal  intelligence  '^  ( Akl) ; 
the  "  will "  (iradel,  volonte)  ;  **  the  cause  of  causes ; "  "  the 
chief  of  the  age ; "  "  the  imam ;  "  "  the  door ;"  "  the 
command." 

Hamza  was  next  to  Hakem,  and  not  far  removed  from 
him  in  honour  and  respect>  for  he  existed  from  the  begin- 
ning, and  by  him  were  all  things  created.  He  is  far 
superior  to  those  who  came  next. 


SYSTEM   OF    THE   DRUSES.  89 

II.  Ismaeel.  "The  universal  soul"  (Nafr)  ;  "the 
wish"  (Maslieyah,  vouloir);  "the  demonstration  of  the 
time;"  "  the  missionary  of  the  imam;"  "  Dthoo  Massa," 
one  that  sucks,  as  it  were,  instruction  from  another.  He 
is  nearest  to  Hamza,  and  bears  the  same  relation  to  him 
that  woman  does  to  man. 

III.  Mohammed,  son  of  Wahab.     "  The  word." 

IV.  Abu-ii-Khair  Sclama.  "  The  great  door."  "  The 
right  wing." 

V.  Baha-ed-deen.    "  The  successor."    "  The  left  wing." 
Then  come  the  inferior  ministers,    "  the  application," 

"  the  opening,"  "  the  appearance,"  the  Dais  (missionaries), 
Madhoons  (permitted),  and  Mocassers  (breakers). 

Many  of  these  names  are  traditional  ones  in  the 
Ismaeleeh  sects,  and  the  Ansaireeh,  for  instance,  make  use 
of  several  of  them. 

The  Druses  believe  that  all  souls  were  created  from  the 
light  of  the  "  universal  intelligence,"  and  that  having  been 
created  all  at  one  time,  their  number  remains  always  the 
same. 

They  believe  in  transmigration,  but  it  appears  from  the 
Druse  book  against  the  Ansaireeh,  that  they  did  not,  in 
Hamza's  time,  believe  in  transmigration  into  animals,  as 
the  Ansaireeh  do. 

They  call  the  body  "  kamees,"  or  envelope,  as  do  the 
Ansaireeh. 

The  punishment  of  a  man  is  to  fall  from  a  higher  to  a 
lower  rank  as  regards  religion, 

De  Sacy  thinks  they  believe  that  when  souls  arrive  at 
perfection  they  cease  to  transmigrate,  and  are  united 
with  the  imam.  In  this  last  age,  the  epoch  of  Hakem 
and  Hamza,  perfect  souls  remain  concealed  in  Hamza 
till  he  shall  return  in  glory,  when  they  will  appear  in 
his  train. 

The  Druses  look  on  the  last  judgment  only  as  the  time 
when  the  "  Unitarian"  doctrine  will  be  publicly  mani- 
fested,  and  when  the  fate  of  the  faithful  and  of  infidels 


90  THE   ASIAN  MYSTERY. 

will  be  finally  fixed.     The  name  they  give  to  themselves 
is  that  of  Muwahhedeen,  or  Unitarians. 

With  respect  to  the  positive  precepts  of  Islam,  Hamza 
says  of  prayer :  —  "You  have  heard  in  the  Madjlisses 
(sittings  of  the  lodge  of  the  Ismaeleeh  in  Cairo),  that  the 
'  interior '  of  this  precept  is  the  accustomed  engagement, 
and  that  it  is  called  Salat,  because  it  is  the  Silat  which 
joins  the  faithful  to  the  imam,  that  is,  Ali  son  of  Abu- 
Taleb.  But  our  Lord  (Hakem)  has  himself  abrogated  this 
inner  meaning,  and  we  learn  that  prayer  is  to  attach  our 
hearts  to  the  dogma  of  the  unity  of  our  Lord  by  the 
ministry  of  the  five  ministers. 

"  Then  comes  the  tithe  from  which  our  Lord  has  entirely 
discharged  you.  You  have  heard  say  in  the  Madjlisses  of 
the  doctrine  of  the  Batineeh,  that  the  payment  of  tithes 
consists  in  recognising  the  sovereign  power  of  Ali  son  of 
Abu-Taleb,  and  of  the  imam  of  his  race,  and  of  renouncing 
all  connexion  with  his  enemies,  Abu-Beer,  Omar,  and 
Othman.  AVe  see  clearly  that  our  Lord  has  abolished  the 
interior  of  the  precept  of  tithes,  which  has  for  object  Ali 
son  of  Abu-Taleb,  just  as  he  has  abrogated  the  exterior. 

"With  respect  to  the  inner  sense  of  the  precept  of  fasting, 
the  sheikhs  say  that  it  is  silence  (on  the  dogmas  of  their 
sect).  We  see  that  our  Lord  has  delivered  men  from  the 
inner  and  outer  precept  of  fasting.  The  precept  signifies, 
in  truth,  the  keeping  your  hearts  in  the  faith  of  the  unity 
of  our  Lord. 

"  As  to  the  inner  part  of  the  precept  of  pilgrimage,  the 
sheikhs  who  profess  the  inner  doctrine  have  said  that  the 
Haram  (Caabah  or  temple  of  Mecca)  is  the  sect  of  the 
Bateneeh.  But  our  Lord  has  abrogated  both  the  outer 
and  the  inner  meanings,"  &c. 

The  Druses  enjoin  in  their  writings  veracity,  mutual 
assistance  and  protection,  that  is  to  their  "  brethren  "  and 
"sisters"  (for  the  Druses  admit  women  among  the  ini- 
tiated), and  alms  to  the  Okhal,  or  initiated.  Let  it  be 
remembered  that  it  is  only  to  "  brethren,"  the  members  of 


SYSTEM   OF   THE   ASSASSINS.  91 

their  Freemasonry,  that  these  good  qualities  are  recom- 
mended, and  not  to  outsiders. 

The  Druses  do  not  initiate  even  all  those  of  their  own 
sect.  Very  many  are  left  without  any  religious  teaching, 
who  are  distinguished  from  the  Oklial,  by  the  title  of 
Djuhluil,  or  ignorant ;  in  fact  these  last  form  the  majority. 
The  Druses  have  watchwords,  by  which  they  recognise 
one  another. 

I  have  been  thus  particular  with  respect  to  the  con- 
stitution of  the  Druse  sect,  because  I  shall  have  to  institute 
some  comparison  between  them  and  the  Ansaireeh,  and  I 
liave  followed  De  Sacy  in  nearly  all  that  I  have  said. 

We  now  pass  on  to  the  system  of  the  Eastern  Ismaeleeh, 
or  Assassins,  founded  by  Hassan  son  of  Sab^h,  a  Persian 
of  Khorassan.  Yon  Hammer,  in  his  history  of  the  order, 
has  given  an  account  of  the  changes  by  which  Hassan 
adapted  the  doctrines  and  system  of  the  Ismaeleeh  to  his 
purpose. 

"Hitherto,"  says  he*,  "the  Ismaeleeh  had  only  Masters 
and  Fellows ;  namely,  the  Dais  or  emissaries,  who,  being 
initiated  into  all  the  grades  of  the  secret  doctrine,  enlisted 
proselytes ;  and  the  Rafeeks  (companions),  who,  being 
gradually  intrusted  with  its  principles,  formed  the  great 
majority.  It  was  manifest  to  the  practical  and  enter- 
prising spirit  of  Hassan,  that  in  order  to  execute  great 
undertakings  with  security  and  energy  a  third  class  would 
also  be  requisite,  who,  never  being  admitted  to  the  mystery 
of  atheism  and  immorality,  which  snaps  the  bond  of  all 
subordination,  were  but  blind  and  fanatical  tools  in  the 
hands  of  their  superiors;  that  a  well  organised  political 
body  needs  not  merely  heads  but  also  arms ;  and  that  the 
Master  required  not  only  intelligent  and  skilful  Fellows, 
but  also  faithful  and  active  agents;  these  agents  were 
called  Fedaweeh  (i.  e.  the  self-offering  or  devoted  J,  and 
the   name  itself  declares  their  destination.      They  were 

*  P.  55  et  seq.  Wood's  translation. 


92  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

clothed  in  white,  with  red  turbans,  boots,  or  girdles. 
Habited  in  the  hues  of  innocence  and  blood,  armed  v/ith 
daggers  which  they  continually  drew  in  the  service  of  the 
Grand-Master,  they  formed  his  guard,  the  executioners  of 
his  deadly  orders,  the  sanguinary  tools  of  the  ambition  and 
revenge  of  this  order  of  Assassins. 

"  The  Grand-Master  was  called  Seyyidna,  our  Lord, 
and  commonly  Sheikh-ul-Djehd,  the  old  man  or  supreme 
master  of  the  mountain,  because  the  order  always  pos- 
sessed themselves  of  the  castles  in  mountainous  regions. 
He  was  neither  king  nor  prince  in  the  usual  sense  of  the 
word,  and  never  assumed  the  title  either  of  Sultan,  Malik, 
or  Emeer,  but  merely  that  of  Sheikh,  which  to  this  day 
the  heads  of  the  Arab  tribes  and  the  superiors  of  the 
religious  orders  of  the  Srofees  and  dervishes  bear.  His 
authority  could  be  over  no  kingdom  nor  principality,  but 
over  a  brotherhood  or  order  ;  European  writers,  therefore, 
fall  into  a  great  mistake  in  confounding  the  empire  of  the 
Assassins  with  hereditary  dynasties,  since  in  the  form  of 
its  institution  it  was  only  an  order  like  that  of  the  Knights 
of  St.  John,  the  Teutonic  Knights,  or  the  Templars.  The 
latter  of  these,  besides  having  a  grand-master,  grand-priors 
and  religious  nuncios,  had  also  some  resemblance  to  the 
Assassins  in  their  spirit  of  political  interference  and  secret 
doctrine.  Dressed  in  white  with  the  distinctive  mark  of 
the  red  cross  on  their  mantles,  as  were  the  Assassins  in 
red  girdles  and  caps,  the  Templars  had  also  secret  tenets, 
which  denied  and  abjured  the  sanctity  of  the  cross,  as  the 
others  did  the  commandments  of  Islamism.  The  funda- 
mental maxim  of  the  policy  of  both  was  to  obtain  pos- 
session of  the  castles  and  strong  places  of  the  adjacent 
country ;  and  thus,  without  pecuniary  or  military  means, 
to  maintain  an  imperium  in  imperio^  keeping  the  nations 
in  subjection,  as  dangerous  rivals  to  princes. 

"  The  flat  part  of  a  country  is  always  commanded  by  the 
more  mountainous,  and  the  latter  by  the  fortresses  scat- 
tered through  it.     To  become  masters  of  these  by  strata- 


SYSTEM   OF    THE   ASSASSINS.  93 

gem  or  force,  to  awe  princes  either  by  fraud  or  fear,  and 
to  use  the  murderer's  arm  against  the  enemies  of  the 
order,  were  the  political  maxims  of  the  Assassins.  Their 
internal  safety  was  secured  by  the  strict  observance  of 
religious  ordinances  ;  their  external,  by  fortresses  and  the 
poniard.  From  the  proper  subjects  of  the  order,  or  the 
profane,  was  only  expected  the  fulfilment  of  the  duties  of 
Islamism,  even  of  the  most  austere,  such  as  refraining 
from  wine  and  music  ;  from  the  devoted  satellites  was  de- 
manded blind  subjection,  and  the  faithful  use  of  their 
daggers.  The  emissaries  or  initiated  worked  with  their 
heads,  and  led  the  "arms"  in  execution  of  the  orders  of 
the  Sheikh,  who,  in  the  centre  of  his  sovereignty,  directed, 
like  an  animating  soul,  their  hearts  and  poniards  to  the 
accomplishment  of  his  ambitious  projects. 

"  Immediately  under  the  Grand-Master  stood  the  Dai-il- 
Kebeer,  grand-recruiters,  or  grand-priors,  his  lieutenants 
in  the  three  provinces  to  which  the  power  of  the  order 
extended,  namely,  Gebal,  Kuhistan,  and  Syria.  Beneath 
these  were  the  Dais,  or  religious  nuncios  and  political 
emissaries  in  ordinary,  as  initiated  masters.  The  Fellows 
(Rafeek)  were  those  who  were  advancing  to  the  master- 
ship, through  the  several  grades  of  initiation  into  the 
secret  doctrine.  The  guards  of  the  order,  the  warriors, 
were  the  devoted  murderers,  Fedaweeh  ;  and  the  as- 
pirants (Lasik)  seem  to  have  been  the  novices  or  lay 
brethren.  Besides  this  sevenfold  gradation  from  Sheikh, 
grand-master  ;  Dai-il-Kebeer,  grand-prior  ;  Dai,  master ; 
Rafeeks,  fellows  ;  Fedaweeh,  agents  ;  Lasiks,  lay  brothers  ; 
down  to  the  profane  or  the  people ;  there  was  also 
another  sevenfold  gradation  of  the  spiritual  hierarchy, 
who  applied  themselves  exclusively  to  the  before-men- 
tioned doctrine  of  the  Ismaeleeh  concerning  the  seven 
speaking  and  seven  mute  imams,  and  belonged  more  pro- 
perly to  the  theoretical  framework  of  the  schism,  than  to 
the  destruction  of  political  powers.  According  to  this 
arrangement,  there  live,  in  every  generation,  seven  persons 


94  THE   ASIAN  MYSTERY. 

distinguished  from  each  other  by  their  different  grades  of 
rank :  1st,  the  divinely  appointed  Imam  ;  2nd,  the  proof, 
Hudjjah,  designated  by  him,  which  the  Ismaeleeh  call 
As^s,  or  foundation  ;  3rd,  the  Dthoo  Massah,  who  received 
instruction  from  the  Hudjjah,  as  he  did  from  the  Imam  ; 
4th,  the  Missionaries,  or  Dais  ;  5th,  the  Madthomeem,  or 
permitted,  who  were  admitted  to  the  solemn  promise  or 
oath  (Ahd)  ;  6th,  the  Umhellabeeh,  or  dog-like,  who 
sought  out  subjects  fit  for  conversion  for  the  missiona- 
ries, as  hounds  run  down  the  game  for  the  huntsman  ; 
7th,  the  Moomeneen  the  believers,  the  people.  On  com- 
paring these  two  divisions  we  find  that  in  the  first  the  in- 
visible Imam,  in  whose  name  the  Sheikh  claimed  the 
obedience  of  the  people,  and  in  the  second  the  guards,  of 
which  he  made  use  against  the  foes  of  the  order,  are 
wanting ;  but  that,  in  other  respects,  the  difierent  grades 
coincide.  The  proof  was  the  Grand-Master;  the  Dthoo 
Massah,  the  grand-prior  ;  the  Fellows  were  the  Mad- 
thomeem ;  and  the  dog-like,  the  lay  brethren.  The  fourth 
and  seventh,  that  is  the  preachers  of  the  faith  and  the  be- 
lievers, the  cheating  missionaries  and  the  duped  people, 
are  the  same  in  both. 

"  We  have  seen  above  that  the  first  founder  of  secret 
societies  in  the  heart  of  Islam,  Abdullah  the  son  of 
Maimoon  Haddal,  established  seven  degrees  of  his  doc- 
trine, for  which  reason,  as  well  as  for  their  opinions  con- 
cerning the  seven  imams,  his  disciples  obtained  the  by- 
name of  Seveners.  This  appellation,  which  had  been 
assigned  hitherto  to  the  Western  Ismaeleeh,  although  they 
had  increased  the  number  of  grades  from  seven  to  nine, 
was  with  greater  justice  transferred  to  this  new  branch, 
the  Eastern  Ismaeleeh  or  Assassins,  whose  founder,  Hassan, 
not  only  restored  the  grades  to  their  original  number, 
seven,  but  also  sketched  out  for  the  dais,  or  missionaries, 
a  particular  rule  of  conduct,  consisting  of  seven  points, 
which  had  reference,  not  so  much  to  the  gradual  enlight- 
enment of  those  who  were  to  be  taught,  as  to  the  necessary 


SYSTEM   OF   THE    ASSASSINS.  95 

qualifications  of  the  teachers ;  and  was  the  proper  rubric 
of  the  order. 

"  The  introductory  rule  was  called  Ashinai,  risk  (know- 
ledge of  the  calling),  and  comprised  the  maxims  of  the 
knowledge  of  mankind,  necessary  to  the  selection  of  sub- 
jects suited  to  the  initiated.  Several  proverbs  much  in 
vogue  among  the  Dais  had  relation  to  this.  They  con- 
tained a  sense  different  from  their  literal  meaning :  *  Sow 
not  in  barren  soil;'  'Speak  not  in  a  house  where  there 
is  a  lamp;'  implied,  MVaste  not  your  words  on  the  in- 
capable ;'  '  Venture-  not  to  speak  them  in  the  presence  of 
a  lawyer : '  for  it  is  equally  dangerous  to  engage  with 
blockheads  as  with  men  of  tried  knowledge  and  probity, 
because  the  former  misunderstand,  and  the  latter  unmask, 
the  doctrine,  and  neither  would  be  available  either  as 
teachers  or  instruments.  These  allegorical  sentences,  and 
the  prudential  rules  so  necessary  to  avoid  all  chance  of 
discovery,  remind  us  of  a  secret  society  of  high  antiquity, 
and  a  celebrated  order  of  modern  times ;  in  short,  of  Py- 
thagoras and  the  Jesuits.  The  mysterious  adages  of  the 
former  which  have  come  down  to  us,  and  whose  peculiar 
sense  is  now  unintelligible,  were  probably  nothing  more 
than  similar  maxims  to  the  initiated  in  his  doctrine  ;  and 
political  prudence  in  the  selection  of  subjects  fit  for 
the  dififerent  designs  of  a  society  reached  the  highest  per- 
fection in  that  of  Jesus.  Thus  the  Pythagoreans  and  the 
Jesuits  have  a  resemblance  to  the  Assassins. 

"  The  second  rule  of  conduct  was  called  Tanees  (gaining 
confidence)  ;  and  taught  them  to  gain  over  candidates  by 
flattering  their  inclinations  and  passions.  As  soon  as  they 
were  won,  it  was  requisite,  in  the  third  place,  to  involve 
them,  by  a  thousand  doubts  and  questions  concerning  the 
positive  religious  commands  and  absurdities  of  the  Koran, 
in  a  maze  of  scruples  which  were  not  to  be  resolved,  and 
of  uncertainty  which  was  not  to  be  disentangled. 

"  In  the  fourth  place  followed  the  oath  (Ahd),  by  which 
the  acolyte  bound  himself,  in  the  most  solemn  manner,  to 


96  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

inviolable  silence  and  submission ;  that  he  would  impart 
his  doubts  to  none  but  his  superior ;  that  he  would  blindly 
obey  him  and  none  but  him.  In  the  fifth  rule,  Tadlees, 
the  candidates  were  taught  how  their  doctrine  and  opinions 
agreed  with  those  of  the  greatest  men  in  Church  and  State. 
This  was  done  the  more  to  attract  and  fire  them  by  the 
examples  of  the  great  and  powerful.  The  sixth,  Tasees 
(confirmation),  merely  recapitulated  all  that  had  preceded, 
in  order  to  confirm  and  strengthen  the  learner's  faith. 
After  this  followed,  in  the  seventh  place,  the  Taweel,  or 
allegorical  interpretation,  which  was  the  conclusion  of  the 
course  of  atheistical  instruction.  In  Taweel  the  allegori- 
cal interpretation,  in  opposition  to  Tanzeel  or  the  literal 
sense  of  the  divine  word,  was  the  principal  essence  of  the 
secret  doctrines,  from  which  they  were  named  Batineel, 
Esoterics,  to  distinguish  them  from  the  Zahireel,  or  fol- 
lowers of  the  outward  worship.  By  means  of  this  crafty 
system  of  exposition  and  interpretation,  which  in  our 
own  days  has  often  been  applied  to  the  Bible,  articles 
of  faith  and  duty  became  mere  allegories,  the  external 
form  merely  contingent,  the  inner  sense  alone  essential ; 
the  observance  or  non-observance  of  religious  ordinances 
and  moral  laws  equally  indifferent;  consequently  all  was 
doubtful  and  nothing  prohibited. 

"  This  was  the  acme  of  the  philosoph}^  of  the  Assassins, 
which  was  not  imparted  by  the  founder  to  the  majority, 
but  reserved  only  for  a  few  of  the  initiated  and  principal 
leaders,  while  the  people  were  held  under  the  yoke  of  the 
strictest  exercise  of  the  precepts  of  Islamism.  His 
greatest  policy  consisted  in  designing  his  doctrine  of  infi- 
delity and  immorality,  not  for  the  ruled,  but  only  for  the 
rulers ;  in  subjecting  the  tensely  reined  blind  obedience  of 
the  former  to  the  equally  blind  but  unbridled  despotic 
commands  of  the  second  ;  and  thus  he  made  both  serve 
the  aim  of  his  ambition,  the  former  by  the  renunciation, 
the  latter  by  the  full  gratification,  of  their  passions.  Study 
and  the  sciences  were  therefore  the  lot  of  only  a  few  who 


SYSTEM   OF   THE   ASSASSINS.  97 

were  initiated.  For  the  immediate  attainment  of  their 
objects  the  order  was  less  in  need  of  heads  than  arms ;  and 
did  not  employ  pens  but  daggers,  whose  points  were  every- 
where, while  their  hilts  were  in  the  hands  of  the  grand- 
master." 

The  author  of  the  Masalic-al-Absar  *,  who  speaks  as 
having  had  a  conversation  with  the  son  of  the  chief  of  the 
Ismaeleeh,  says  that  they  called  themselves  the  "  possessors 
of  the  rightly  directed  government,"  and  that  their  religion 
was  founded  on  transmigration  ;  that  they  looked  on  their 
chiefs  as  their  purifiers,  and  on  Ali  as  the  great  purifier ; 
and  that  they  were  descended  from  the  imams  and  their 
successors.  He  says  also  that  he  was  told  that  they  con- 
sidered the  soul  that  died  in  obedience  to  them  went  to 
the  "  lights  above,"  and  all  others  to  the  "  darkness  below." 

The  miserable  remnant  of  the  Assassins  or  Ismaeleeh  of 
to-day,  especially  those  of  Syria,  have  sunk  very  low 
indeed  in  belief,  and  if  one  can  credit  what  is  said  of  them 
by  report,  in  practice  also.  What  Burckhardt  f  says  of  their 
doctrine  seems  to  be  most  certainly  true,  for  it  is  confirmed 
by  the  testimony  of  men  of  such  information  and  judg- 
ment as  the  late  Dr.  Eli  Smith  of  Beyrout,  and  by  the 
general  assertion  of  all  classes  in  Syria,  as  well  as  by,  it 
is  said,  signs  used  openly  by  them  about  their  houses. 
Dr.  Smith  says  that  there  are  at  present  two  sects: 
the  Hedjaweeh,  whose  sheikh  resides  in  Khawaby,  and 
who  adhere  to  Mussulman    customs  ;    and  the  Suwayda- 

*  Defremenj,  article  on  Ismaeleeh  in  Journ.  Asiat. 

f  Burckhardt  (Travels  in  Syria,  p.  152)  says,  "  The  Ismaylys  are 
generally  reported  to  adore  the  pudendum  muliebre,  and  to  mix  on  cer- 
tain days  of  the  year  in  promiscuous  debauchery."  Mr.  Walpole,  in  his 
book  (Ansairii  and  Assassins),  gives  at  the  end  of  vol.  iii.  a  Latin  trans- 
lation of  what  he  calls  a  prayer  of  the  Ansaireeh,  but  which  really  is  an 
Ismaelee  prayer,  which  proves  beyond  doubt  Burckbardt's  assertion. 
Dr.  Smith  (as  quoted  in  Carl  Hitter's  Erdkunde)  says,  "  The  Ansy- 
reeh  are  not  guilty  as  the  Ismaeleeh  of  the  worship  of  the  goddess 
of  nature."  They  seem  to  use  what  they  worship  as  a  symbol  of  mother 
earth,  and  are  reported  to  say,  "  From  it  we  came,  and  to  it  we  return." 

H 


98  THE   ASIAN  MYSTERY. 

neeh,  who  live  in  Kadrnoos  and  the  neighbourhood,  are 
only  Mussulmans  in  appearance,  and  have  no  regular 
feasts.* 

The  Ismaeleeh  at  present  revere  principally  the  grand- 
master of  the  order  Rasheed-ed-deen,  in  whose  date 
M.  Rousseau,  who  has  given  an  account  of  the  modern 
Ismaeleeh,  makes  a  strange  mistake,  assigning  it  to  three 
hundred  years  ago,  whereas  we  have  seen  that  he  flourished 
during  the  existence  of  the  power  of  the  order  in  the  latter 
half  of  the  twelfth  century.  His  books  form  the  chief  part 
of  their  writings,  which  *'  are  a  shapeless  mass  of  Ismaelee 
and  Christian  traditions,  glossed  over  with  the  ravings  of 
the  mystic  theology."  f 

M.  Rousseau  says  of  the  modern  Ismaeleeh  J  : — '*  The 
Ismaeleeh  of  Syria  are  divided  into  two  classes,  tlie  Swey- 
danis  and  the  Khedrewis,  who  differ  from  each  other  only 
in  certain  external  ceremonies.  Beth  recognise  the  divinity 
of  Ali  son  of  Abu-Taleb,  and  declare  that  light  is  the 
universal  principle  of  all  things  created.  These  sectaries 
call  it  ^  the  light  of  the  eye,'  an  equivocal  expression,  the 
source  of  many  superstitions;  but  the  greater  part  of 
their  sheikhs  declared  that  it  is  a  virtue,  a  charm  or  super- 
natural force,  which  produces  and  preserves  the  different 
parts  of  the  universe. 

"  As  a  consequence  of  their  dissimulation  in  regard  to 
religion,  they  have  no  public  temple  ;  they,  however,  go 
on  pilgrimage  to  the  tomb  of  Ali,  which  is  erected  in  the 
desert  four  or  five  days'  journey  from  the  ruins  of 
Bagdad.  They  have  also  another  place  of  devotion  near 
Mecca,  whither  they  make  a  secret  pilgrimage  whenever 
an  opportunity  offers,  but  I  have  not  been  able  to  discover 
the  name  of  the  saint  or  prophet  to  whom  they  have 
dedicated  this  shrine." 

*  Ritter's  Erdkunde,  vol.  above  quoted, 
t  Von  Hammer,  p.  211. 

%  Memoires  sur  les  Ismaelis  et  Nossairis  de  Syrie,  adresse  h.  M.  Silv. 
de  Sacy,  par  M.  Rousseau;  Annales  des  Voyages,  cahier,  xlii. 


THE    METAWALEES.  99 

I  shall  conclude  this  enumeration  of  secret  sects  by 
mentioning  the  Metawalees  and  the  Soofces,  not  so  much 
because  the  former  are  a  secret  sect  in  tlie  same  sense 
as  the  others,  as  because  they  are  silent  concerning 
themselves,  so  that  little  is  known  about  them.  Their 
belief  and  practice,  too,  are  allied  to  those  of  the  Persian 
Mussulmans,  whose  country  was  the  prolific  mother  of  the 
above-named  heretical  sects ;  and  Yon  Hammer  supposes 
that  the  Metawalees  probably  originated  in  a  sect  of 
Ismaeleeh.  They  live  now  principally  about  and  in  Tyre, 
and  near  the  source  of  the  Orontes ;  and  their  physiognomy 
indicates  that  of  a  race  foreign  to  the  other  inhabitants  of 
Syria,  and  probably  from  farther  east. 

They  are  called  Metawalees,  because  they  follow  the 
Taweel,  or  allegorical  interpretation,  of  the  Koran.  I 
have  been  told  that  they  reverence  Ali,  as  is  probably 
certain,  more  than  Mohammed  ;  and,  as  a  consequence, 
curse  Abu-Beer,  Omar,  and  Othman,  who  supplanted  him. 
They  are  more  unsociable  than  any  other  sect  in  Syria. 
Though  they  will  eat  with  others,  they  will  break  a  plate 
or  vessel  from  which  a  stranger  may  have  eaten  or  drunk, 
and  even  his  shadow  passing  by  may  suffice  to  defile  their 
food. 

The  Soofees  are  a  secret  society  of  Persian  mystic 
philosophers  and  ascetics.  Before  giving  a  short  sketch 
of  their  tenets  as  stated  by  Sir  John  Malcolm,  I  will  say 
a  few  words  of  the  general  religion  of  the  Persian  nation, 
ancient  and  modern.  Their  original  religion  may  have 
been  that  of  the  Chaldeans,  or  Sabians,  who  believed  in 
the  unity  of  God,  but  adored  the  host  of  heaven  (Tsaba), 
especially  the  seven  planets,  as  representing  Him.  Zoro- 
aster, the  introducer  of  the  Magian  religion,  or  a  section 
of  it,  taught  the  existence  of  two  principles,  Hormuzd 
and  Ahriman.  As  light  was  with  him  a  symbol  of  the 
good  spirit,  he  directed  them  to  turn  to  the  fire  lighted 
on  the  altar,  if  worshipping  in  a  temple,  and  to  the  sun,  if 
worshipping  in  the  open    air.      These   remarks   on   the 


100  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

Sabian  and  Magian  religions  may  be  useful  when  we  come 
to  that  of  the  Ansaireeh. 

The  modern  Persians  are  Schiites,  that  is  those  Mussul- 
mans who  reject  the  Sunnah  or  the  code  received  by  the 
Mussulmans  of  Turkey  and  the  West,  as  founded  in 
the  traditions  of  Mohammed,  collected  and  commented 
upon  by  the  four  orthodox  doctors.  They  also  look  on 
the  first  three  caliphs  as  usurpers,  and  consider  Ali  at 
least  equal  to  Mohammed.  But  many  look  on  him  as  far 
superior  to  him.  It  is  quite  a  common  saying  in  Persia, 
"  Though  I  do  not  believe  Ali  to  be  God,  I  believe  that  he 
is  not  far  from  being  so."  In  all  portraits  of  him  he  is 
represented  with  his  face  covered,  because,  as  they  allege, 
the  glory  of  his  countenance  is  too  bright  for  mortal  eye 
to  behold. 

But  the  following  version  of  a  popular  Persian  hymn  to 
Ali  will  show  the  reader,  better  than  any  dissertation, 
the  absurd  and  blasphemous  lengths  to  which  the  Schiites 
carry  their  reverence  for  the  first  imam :  — 

"  Beside  thy  glories,  O  most  great ! 
Dim  are  the  stars  and  weak  is  fate. 
Compared  with  thy  celestial  light 
The  very  sun  is  dark  as  night. 
Thine  edicts  destiny  obeys, 
The  sun  shows  but  thy  mental  rays. 

"  Thy  merits  form  a  boundless  sea 
That  rolls  on  to  eternity : 
To  heaven  its  mighty  waves  ascend, 
0*er  it  the  skies  admiring  bend  ; 
And  when  they  view  its  waters  clear, 
The  wells  of  Eden  dark  appear. 

**  The  treasures  that  the  earth  conceals, 
The  wealth  that  human  toil  reveals. 
The  jewels  of  the  gloomy  mine, 
Those  that  on  regal  circlets  shine, 
Are  idle  toys  and  worthless  shows. 
Compared  with  what  thy  grace  bestows. 


THE   SOOFEES.  101 

"  Mysterious  being  !     None  can  tell 
The  attributes  in  thee  that  dwell ; 
None  can  thine  essence  comprehend ; 
To  thee  should  every  mortal  bend ; 
For  'tis  by  thee  that  man  is  given 
To  know  the  high  behests  of  heaven. 

**  The  ocean-floods  round  earth  that  roll, 
And  lave  the  shores  from  pole  to  pole, 
Beside  the  eternal  fountain's  stream, 
A  single  drop,  a  bubble  seem; 
That  fount's  a  drop  beside  the  sea 
Of  grace  and  love  we  find  in  thee."  * 

The  Soofees  form  a  separate  body  in  Persia,  bound 
together  by  secret  mysteries.  Their  books  are  a  strange 
and  beautiful,  but  blasphemous  mysticism,  like  the  poems 
of  Ibn-il-Farid,  which  are  well  known  and  often  quoted, 
but  little  understood  in  Syria  by  the  majority  of  its  pre- 
sent ignorant  inhabitants.  They  speak  of  love  to  the  Deity 
under  that  of  attachment  to  a  beautiful  woman,  and  their 
system  is  really  identical  with  Pantheism. 

"The  Soofees,"  says  Sir  John  Malcolm f,  "represent 
themselves  as  devoted  to  the  search  of  truth,  and  inces- 
santly occupied  in  adoring  the  Almighty,  a  union  with 
whom  they  desire  with  all  the  fervour  of  divine  love. 
The  Creator,  according  to  their  belief,  is  diffused  over  all 
creation.  He  exists  everywhere  and  in  everything.  They 
compare  the  emanations  of  his  essence  or  spirit  to  the  rays 
of  the  sun ;  which  they  conceive  are  continually  darted 
forth  and  reabsorbed.  It  is  for  this  reabsorption  into  the 
divine  essence,  to  which  their  immortal  part  belongs,  that 
they  continually  sigh.  They  believe  that  the  soul  of 
man,  and  the  principle  of  life  which  exists  through  nature, 
are  not  from  God,  but  of  God. 

"  The  Soofee  doctrines  are  as  old  as  Mohammed,  and  are 
common  in  India.  They  became  more  general  in  Persia 
under  the  Saffavean  dynasty  (from  a.d.  1499),  which  took 

*  Taylor's  History  of  Mohammedanism,  pp.  152^-154. 
f  Malcolm's  Persia,  vol.  ii.  p.  269, 

H   3 


102  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

its  rise   from  a  Sooffee  sheik.      From  that  time  Schiite 
doctrines  have  been  the  recognised  ones  in  Persia. 

"  The  Soofee  tenets  allow  a  man  to  retain  outward  cere* 
monies  in  the  first  stage.  They  have  four  gradations, 
and  secrets  and  mysteries  for  every  gradation,  which  are 
never  revealed  to  the  profane.  There  are  from  two 
hundred  to  three  hundred  thousand  tainted  with  Soofee 
doctrines  in  Persia." 

I  now  come  to  a  point  which  I  omitted  while  giving 
a  sketch  of  the  several  secret  heretical  sects  of  Islam 
in  detail — the  common  charge  which  is  made  against  them 
individually,  of  licentiousness,  obscenity,  and  incest.  And 
here  I  will  include  the  Ansaireeh,  so  that  I  may  state  the 
charges  made  against  them  at  the  same  time,  of  which 
charges  I  shall  show  the  utter  groundlessness,  at  least  in 
our  day,  when  speaking  of  their  religion  under  the  heads 
of  Faith  and  Practice. 

"  The  orthodox  Mussulmans,"  then,  "  accuse  the  rem- 
nants of  the  secret  sects  of  secret  indulgence  in  gross 
immoralities,  and  call  them  Zendics,  a  name  nearly 
corresponding  with  our  sceptics  or  freethinkers.  But 
it  would  be  as  unfair  to  judge  of  these  sectaries  by 
the  writings  of  their  enemies,  as  to  take  our  account  of 
the  early  Christians  from  the  libels  of  their  Christian 
persecutors."* 

"Similar  charges,  "  says  Von  Hammer  f,  "  have  been 
at  all  times  raised  against  secret  societies,  whenever  they 
concealed  their  mysteries  under  the  veil  of  night ;  some- 
times groundlessly,  as  against  the  assemblies  of  the  early 
Christians,  of  whose  innocence  Pliny  affords  a  testimony ; 
sometimes  but  too  well  founded,  as  against  the  mysteries 
of  Isis,  and,  still  earlier,  against  the  Bacchanalians  of 
Rome." 

•    With  respect  to  the  early  history  of  these  sects,  it  would 
be  certainly  difficult  or  impossible  to  clear  them  from  the 

•  Taylor,  p.  202.  f  !"•  214. 


THE  CHARGES  OF  IMMORALITIES.  103 

charges  of  utter  infidelity  and  muterialism  (as  forming 
the  tenets  of  the  fully  initiated),  made  against  them  by 
such  writers  as  De  Sacy  and  Von  Hammer,  who  base 
their  assertions  on  a  careful  study  of  respectable  Mussul- 
man, Arabic,  and  Persian  historians,  such  as  Makrisi; 
especially  since  these  last  profess  to  have  drawn  their 
details  from  the  most  authentic  sources.  For  instance, 
Atamelik  Jowaini,  who  gives  an  account  of  the  doctrine 
of  the  Assassins,  from  which  more  modern  writers,  such 
as  Mirkhond  and  Wassaf,  followed  by  Yon  Hammer, 
take  theirs,  was  present  at  the  fall  of  Alamoot,  and  ob- 
tained from  Hoolagoo,  its  captor,  leave  to  consult  the 
Ismaelee  library  existing  there,  which  he  professes  to 
have  done,  and  then  destroyed  the  heretical  books,  having 
first  embodied  their  contents  in  his  own  history.*  More- 
over one  of  the  grand-masters  of  the  Assassins,  Hassan  II., 
wishing  to  stem  the  torrent  of  infidelity,  and  bring  back 
his  sect  to  orthodox  Mohammedanism,  "lifted  the  veil, 
and  published  to  the  profane  the  mysteries  of  atheism  and 
immorality,  hitherto  the  inheritance  of  the  initiated. "  f 
And  therefore  Von  Hammer,  though  he  vindicates  the 
Jesuits  and  Templars  from  the  charges  of  regicide  and 
profligacy  made  against  them,  declares  that  what  he  says 
of  the  "  secret  doctrine,  the  systematic  infidelity,  and 
the  sedition  of  the  Assassins  is  by  no  means  founded  on 
untenable  conjectures,  historical  accusations,  or  forced  con- 
fessions, but  on  the  free  acknowledgment  of  their  teachers 
and  masters.  "  J  In  the  same  way  De  Sacy  accuses  the 
Karmatians  of  carrying  the  abuse  of  philosophy  and  the 
system  of  theology  to  the  greatest  extent,  with  the  view 
of  leading  men  to  atheism,  materialism  the  most  absolute, 
and  immorality  ;  and  says  that  what  he  advances  is  not 
founded  on  conjecture  nor  induction,  but  on  history.  § 

*  Von  Hammer,  p.  178.  t  I^id,  p.  106. 

t  Ubi  supra.  §  Exposition  of  Druzes'  Religion,  Introd.  p.  34. 

H    4 


104  THE   ASIAN  MYSTERY. 

It  is  impossible  to  ascribe  all  that  the  orthodox  Mussul- 
man authors  say  of  the  infidelity  of  their  adversaries  to 
mere  religious  hate,  but  it  is  difficult  to  believe  any  charge 
of  gross  immorality  and  incest  brought  against  a  large 
body  of  men  who  have  existed  for  any  lengthened  space 
of  time.  And  in  this  I  agree  rather  with  M.  Niebuhr 
than  M.  Volney,  who  alludes  to  his  opinions.*  "  The 
Kadmousia ,"  says  Volney,  who  mistakes  the  Ismaeleeh  of 
Kadmoos  for  Ansaireeh,  "  as  I  am  assured,  hold  nocturnal 
assemblies  in  which,  after  certain  discourses,  they  extin- 
guish the  lights,  and  indulge  promiscuous  lust,  as  has  been 
reported  of  the  ancient  Gnostics.  M.  Niebuhr,  to  whom 
the  same  circumstances  were  related  as  to  me,  could  not 
believe  them,  because,  says  he,  it  is  not  probable  that 
mankind  should  so  far  degrade  themselves  (which  idea 
he  ridicules).  The  whimsical  superstitions  I  have  men- 
tioned may  the  rather  be  believed  still  to  exist  among  the 
Ansaria,  as  they  seem  to  have  been  preserved  there  by 
a  regular  transmission  from  those  ancient  times  in  which 
they  are  known  to  have  prevailed.'* 

But  whatever  may  be  the  case  with  M.  Volney 's  general- 
isations as  a  philosopher,  his  details  as  a  traveller  are  not 
always  trustworthy.  We  have  already  noticed  an  absurd 
mistake  of  his,  and  he  makes  a  most  ridiculous  statement 
with  respect  to  the  Metawalees,  which  is  quoted  by  Von 
Hammer,  f  It  is  to  the  effect  that  there  was  in  his  time 
a  village  on  the  road  from  Ladikeeh  to  Aleppo,  called 
Martaban,  whose  Metawalee  inhabitants  invited  travellers 
to  have  intercourse  with  their  wives  and  daughters,  and 
what  is  more,  considered  their  refusal  as  an  affront. 
Unfortunately  for  this  story,  there  are  no  Metawalees  to 
be  found  in  the  parts  named. 

The  more  charitable  view  of  human  nature  is  in  this 
case  probably  the  true  one.  Men  do  not  remain  long  in 
such  unbridled  licentiousness  without  bringing  on  them- 

♦  Volney's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  6.  f  P-  213. 


THE  CHARGES  OF  IMMORALITIES.  105 

selves  the  direct  vengeance  of  God,  as  did  the  cities  of  the 
plain;  or  his  vengeance  none  the  less  because  exerted 
through  the  agency  of  their  fellow-men,  as  in  the  case  of 
the  inhabitants  of  the  village  to  which  Ibn-Batoutah 
alludes,  and  the  Bacchanalians  of  old  or,  lastly,  through 
the  inevitable  causes  of  dissolution  attending  immorality 
and  crime.  The  mass  of  mankind  are  opposed  to  the 
existence  of  the  worst  forms  of  open  vice;  if  they  were 
not,  civil  government  would  come  to  an  end  in  communi- 
ties where  reason  or  instinct,  rather  than  religion,  is  the 
guide.  It  is  not  to  be  denied  that  communities  did  exist 
of  old,  in  which,  as  among  the  votaries  of  Isis  and  Cybele, 
licentiousness  prevailed,  but  then  these  were  but  festering 
sores  existing  in  a  large  body,  and  these  communities 
formed  the  receptacle  for  those  impurities  which  exist 
in  every  large  society.  And  in  fact,  with  respect  to  the 
early  history  of  the  secret  sects  which  we  have  considered, 
it  is  only  asserted  that  the  minority,  the  governing  body, 
attained  to  an  emancipation  from  all  the  rules  of  morality. 
The  great  body  of  the  sectaries  were  only  tools  made  use 
of  by  them  towards  the  gratification  of  their  own  evil 
propensities. 

Makrisi,  indeed,  mentions  a  sect  of  Magians,  followers 
of  Masdeli,  "  who  declared  war  against  all  religion  and 
morality,  and  preached  universal  liberty  and  equality,  the 
indifference  of  human  actions,  and  community  of  goods 
and  women, "  but  '^  this  scandalous  brood  was  exter- 
minated by  fire  and  sword,"  after  but  a  short  period  of 
triumph.* 

Makrisi,  also  f ,  describes  a  sect  of  Rafedeeh  as  allowing 
the  drinking  wine  and  fornication,  and  denying  a  paradise 
or  the  contrary,  except  in  this  world,  but  it  does  not  seem 
that  they  formed  an  important  or  noted  part  of  the  general 
body  of  the  Rafedeeh,  which  included  the  many  branches 
of  those  who  ascribed  divine  honour  to  Ali. 

*  Von  Hammer,  p.  25. 

t  Description  of  Egypt,  vol.  ii.  p.  352  :  ed.  Boulak. 


106  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

It  is  possible  that  part  of  the  accusations  brought 
against  the  secret  sects  has  arisen  from  a  misinterpre- 
tation of  their  allegorical  language.  They  certainly  have 
themselves  to  thank  for  this,  if  innocent,  because  their 
founders  used  language  which  might  easily  lead  to  the 
worst  excesses. 

We  have  seen  that  some  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
mountain,  where  resided  Kasheed-ed-deen  Sinan,  made 
some  language  which  he  had  used  a  pretext  for  breaking 
out  into  licentiousness,  but  that  they  were  severely 
punished  by  him  for  this.  Hamza,  the  Druse  apostle, 
charges  similar  and  even  more  objectionable  language 
against  the  Nusairee  whose  book  he  refutes,  of  which 
I  will  translate  as  much  from  De  Sacy  as  will  bear 
quotation  : — 

"  There  has  fallen  into  my  hands,"  says  Hamza,  in 
the  preamble,  "  a  book  composed  by  a  man  among  the 
Nasaireeh.  He  has  styled  his  book  '  the  book  of  truths, 
and  the  manifestation  of  that  which  was  veiled.'  Who- 
ever receives  this  book  is  a  servant  of  the  devil.  He 
believes  in  metempsychosis,  he  permits  all  kinds  of  illicit 
unions,  he  approves  lying  and  falsehood.  This  writer 
attributes  this  doctrine  to  the  Unitarians,  but  God  forbid 
that  the  religion  of  our  Lord  should  authorise  criminal 
actions ! "  * 

Hamza  passes  next  to  the  direct  refutation  of  the 
Nusairee  dogmas.  "The  first  thing,"  says  he,  "which 
this  wicked  Nusairee  advances,  is  that  all  things  which 
have  been  forbidden  to  men,  murder,  theft,  lying,  calumny, 
fornication,  sodomy,  are  permitted  to  him,  or  to  her,  who 
knows  our  Lord.  With  respect  to  what  he  says,  '  the 
believer  ought  not  to  prevent  his  brother  from  taking 
away  his  property  and  his  honour ;  he  ought  to  let  his 
believing  brother  have  full  liberty  to  see  the  people  of  his 
house  (that  is,  his  wives  and  daughters),  and  ought  not  to 

♦  De  Sacy,  vol.  ii.  p.  568. 


THE  CHARGES  OF  IMMORALITIES.  107 

oppose  anything  which  may  pass  between  them,  else  his 
faith  will  be  imperfect;'  he  lies,  the  accursed  one.  He 
has  stolen  the  first  part  of  this  phrase — I  mean  the  words 
*  he  ought  not  to  prevent  his  brother  from  taking  away 
his  property  and  his  honour,'  —  from  the  Medjlis  of  wis- 
dom, and  he  has  abused  them  to  conceal  his  own  impiety 
and  falsehood As  to  what  he  says,  *  the  pro- 
hibition of  illicit  intercourse  is  only  for  those  who  speak 
things  contrary  to  the  truth :  that  is,  fornication.  But 
those  who  know  the  inner  doctrine  are  not  subject  to  the 
yoke  of  the  outer  ; '  he  lies,"  &c.* 

De  Sacy  seems  to  endorse  the  accusation  of  the  Druse 
writer,  for  he  says,  "  What  the  Druse  books  teach  us  with 
respect  to  the  Nasaireeh  prove  that  in  fact  they  permitted 
fornication,  incest,  and  adultery,  without  any  reserve  f  ; " 
but,  as  he  himself  shows,  the  Druses  themselves  use  an 
allegorical  language  likely  to  be  misunderstood,  and  in 
fact  Hamza  himself,  in  the  above  extract,  accuses  the 
Nusairee  writer  of  having  stolen  the  words,  which,  accord- 
ing to  him,  he  abuses,  from  the  Druse  or  Ismaelee 
writings.  His  statements,  however,  are  to  be  received 
with  caution  as  those  of  an  enemy,  and  at  least  one 
thing  is  certain,  that,  as  to  theoretical  opinions,  no  appear- 
ance, even  the  slightest,  of  immorality  or  obscenity  is 
to  be  traced  in  the  Ansairee  books  which  have  become 
known  in  our  day ;  w^hile,  as  to  practice,  the  charges  made 
against  the  Ansaireeh  of  the  present  time,  of  unclean 
practices,  are  utterly  without  foundation. 

Similar  charges  are  and  have  been  made  against  the 
other  sects.  Benjamin  of  Tudela  accuses  the  Druses  of 
his  day  of  "  living  incestuously,  and  indulging  in  pro- 
miscuous intercourse ; "  and  De  Sacy,  though  he  speaks  of 
the  immorality  which  appears  in  the  Druse  writings  J,  says 

*  P.  570.  t  Vol.  i.  p.  183. 

J  Vol.  ii.  p.  692,  note.  Mr.  Cyril  Graham,  who  has  seen  so  much  of 
the  Druses  of  to-day,  has  told  me  that  he  thinks  immoral  charges  against 


108  THE    ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

that  he  would  not  take  upon  himself  to  deny  that  the 
Druses  of  to-day  are  innocent  of  the  '*  libertinage  "  and 
the  infamous  actions  which  report  imputes  to  them.  He 
says,  moreover,  that  the  early  Druse  writer  Moktana 
alludes  to  impostors  who,  in  his  day,  endeavoured  to  cor- 
rupt the  morals  of  the  sect,  in  order  to  gain  partisans ; 
such  as  Sakkeen,  who  was  admitted  to  the  hierarchy  of 
the  Druses  soon  after  the  commencement  of  the  sect,  and 
was  intrusted  with  the  "  diocese "  of  Northern  Syria. 
He  introduced  changes  into  the  Druse  religion,  and  is 
condemned  in  a  letter  found  among  existing  Druse  writ- 
ings. "  It  even  seems  to  me,"  says  De  Sacy,  ''  that  this 
immoral  doctrine  was  taught  in  Syria  by  Neshtekern-id- 
Darazi." 

Von  Hammer  too,  speaking  of  the  Ansaireeh  and 
Druses,  says  :  "  The  former  believe,  like  the  Ismaelites, 
in  the  incarnation  of  Ali ;  the  latter  consider  that  maddest 
of  tyrants,  Hakem-biaun-illah,  as  a  God  in  the  flesh. 
Both  abjure  all  the  rules  of  Islamism,  or  only  observe 
them  in  appearance ;  both  hold  secret  and  nocturnal 
assemblies,  stigmatised  by  the  Moslems,  where  they  give 
themselves  up  to  the  enjoyment  of  wine  and  promiscuous 
intercourse." 

The  chief  origin  of  these  stories  with  respect  to  the 
Ansaireeh  is,  beside  their  profession  of  a  secret  religion, 
the  fact  that  their  neighbours,  the  Ismaeleeh,  do  hold  tenets 
of  an  obscene  character,  though  even  they,  I  believe,  are 
not  guilty  of  all  that  is  imputed  to  them.  These  stories 
are  passed  from  mouth  to  mouth,  and  told  to  those  who 
skirt  the  mountains  in  journeying  by  land,  or  who  view 
them  from  the  sea,  on  passing  along  the  coast.  I  have 
often  heard  them  repeated,  sometimes  with  that  zest 
■with  which  such  stories  are  circulated,  by  the  officers  of 
the    French    steamers  which   ply   past   Ladikeeh.      But 

them  utterly  groundless,  and  considers  them  more  moral  than  the  people 
of  the  towns. 
•  P.  212. 


THE  CHARGES  OF  IMMORALITIES.  109 

this  is  more  excusable  in  them  than  in  a  traveller  like 
M.  Poujoulat,  who,  if  I  remember  right,  connects  his 
travels  with  M.  Michaud's  flowery  history  of  the  crusades. 
The  source  of  his  mistake  is,  as  usual,  the  confounding 
them  with  the  Isinaeleeh,  as  appears  from  what  he  says 
in  another  place,  where  he  speaks  of  certain  men  as 
*'  paying  to  women  the  same  worship  as  the  '  Ansariens ' 
of  Lebanon."  His  words  are  :  —  "  These  nocturnal  and 
monstrous  reunions  call  to  mind  those  of  the  like  nature 
which  are  held  in  the  mountains  of  the  Ansariens  of  Syria, 
and  which  are  called  Bokhech  "  (fete  de  I'empoignement, 
grasping). 

This  story  he  has  taken  from  a  vulgar  report  which 
ascribes  to  the  Ansaireeh  such  doings  on  a  reputed  feast 
of  theirs  called  Bukbeyshee.  The  story  is  familiar  to  the 
Ansaireeh,  and  as  they  neither  know  of  the  feast,  nor  are 
acquainted  with  such  a  mode  of  celebration  of  it,  it  is  to 
them  a  subject  of  much  merriment ;  for  they  are  aware  that 
their  character  is  looked  on  as  the  blackest,  and  they  are 
not  a  little  amused  at  the  false  conjectures  of  their  neigh- 
bours, without  being  much  concerned  about  a  few  handfuls 
of  mud,  more  or  less,  being  thrown  at  them.  As  I  shall 
have  in  a  future  chapter  to  consider  that  character,  which  is 
indeed  none  of  the  brightest,  it  will  be  as  well  to  leave  till 
then  the  relieving  it  from  one  of  its  darkest  shades. 

To  the  next  chapter  too,  having  so  far  lifted  the  veil  of  the 
"  Great  Asian  Mystery,"  with  the  aid  of  other  writers,  we 
will  leave  the  further  illustration  of  that  mystery,  and 
allusions  to  its  connexion  with  the  modern  mystery  of 
Freemasonry. 

We  shall  thus  endeavour  to  carry  out  the  special  object 
of  our  book,  with  the  assistance  to  be  obtained  from  others, 
and  the  information  we  have  been  able  to  acquire  from 
the  Ansairee  MS.,  careful  observation,  and  trustworthy  in- 
formation. 


110  THE   ASIAN  MYSTERY. 


CHAP.  V. 

RELIGIOUS    SYSTEM   OF   THE   ANSAIREEH. 

I.  Faith  or  Theology. 

The  Ansaireeh  believe  in  one  God,  self-existent  and 
eternal.  This  God  manifested  himself  in  the  world  seven 
times  in  human /orm,  from  Abel  to  Ali  son  of  Abu-Taleb, 
which  last  manifestation  was  the  most  perfect ;  that  to 
which  the  others  pointed,  and  in  which  the  mystery  of  the 
divine  appearances  found  their  chief  end  and  comple- 
tion. 

At  each  of  these  manifestations  the  Deity  made  use  of 
two  other  Persons ;  the  first  created  out  of  the  light  of  his 
essence,  and  by  himself,  and  the  second  created  by  the 
first.  These,  with  the  Deity,  form  an  inseparable  Trinity, 
called  Maana,  Ism,  Bab. 

The  first,  the  Maana,  meaning^  is  the  designation  of  the 
Deity  as  the  meaning,  sense,  or  reality  of  all  things. 

The  second,  the  Ism,  name^  is  also  called  the  Hedjah  or 
veil,  because  under  it  the  Maana  conceals  its  glory,  while 
by  it  it  reveals  itself  to  men. 

The  third,  the  Bab,  door^  is  so  called  because  through  it 
is  the  entrance  to  the  knowledge  of  the  two  former. 

In  the  time  of  Adam,  when  Abel  was  the  Maana,  Adam 
was  the  Ism,  and  Gabriel  the  Bab.  In  the  time  of 
Mohammed,  when  Ali  was  the  Maana,  Mohammed  the 
prophet  was  the  Ism,  and  Salmfin-il-Farisee,  or  the 
Persian,  a  companion  of  Mohammed,  was  the  Bab. 


SKETCH    OF   THEIR   RELIGION.  Ill 

The  following  are  the  seven  appearances  of  the  Maana, 
the  Ism,  and  the  Bab  :  — 


Maana 

Ism 

Bab 

(meaning). 

(name). 

(door). 

1. 

Abel 

Adam 

Gabriel. 

2. 

Seth 

Noah 

Yayeel  ibn-Fatin. 

3. 

Joseph 

Jacob 

Ham  ibn-Koosh. 

4. 

Joshua 

Moses 

Dan  ibn-Usbaoot. 

5. 

Asaph 

Solomon 

Abdullah  ibn-Simaan. 

6. 

Simon-is 

-Safa  (Cephas)  Jesus 

Rozabah  ibn-il-Merzaban. 

7. 

Ali 

Mohammed 

Salman-il-Farisee. 

I 


After  Ally  the  Deity  manifested  himself  in  the  Imams, 
his  posterity,  he  himself  being  the  first  Imam,  the  Imam  of 
the  Imams,  as  he  is  styled. 

And  here  we  h^ve  to  recal  to  mind  Sharestani's  de- 
scription of  the  descent  of  the  Deity  into  human  forms, 
that  it  is  either  total  or  partial,  a  descent  of  the  whole 
Deity,  or  of  only  a  portion  of  his  essence.  The  descent 
in  the  eleven  Imams  after  Ali  is  of  this  latter  description. 
Ali  is  still  the  grand  manifestation  of  the  Deity  to  man, 
so  that  he  occupies  in  person  and  name,  with  respect  to 
man,  the  position  of  the  Deity  himself;  all  divine  attri- 
butes being  ascribed  to  him  as  Ali,  and  all  prayers  made 
to  him  in  the  name  of  Ali.  And  we  find  that  the  Imams 
are  looked  upon  only  as  his  representatives  in  the  world, 
and  in  some  sense  as  his  prophets  and  apostles. 

The  secret  of  the  above  Trinity  is  represented  by  a 
sign,  token,  or  mark  to  the  true  believers,  namely,  the 
three  letters  Ain,  Meem,  Seen,  which  are  the  three  initial 
letters  of  Ali,  Mohammed,  and  Salman  (sometimes  styled 
Salsal), 

Among  the  many  worlds  known  only  to  God,  are  two, 
the  Great  Luminous  World,  which  is  the  heaven,  "  the 
light  of  light,"  and  the  little  earthly  world,  the  residence 
of  men. 

An  Ansairee  has  to  believe  in  the  existence  in  the  Lu- 
minous, Spiritual  World,  of  seven  Hierarchies  (each  with 
seven  degrees),  which  hierarchies  have  their  representa- 


112  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

tives  in  the  earthly  world.  They  are,  (1.)  Abwah,  or 
doors,  400  in  number;  (2.)  Aytam,  orphans  or  dis- 
ciples, 500  in  number;  (3.)  JSTukaha,  princes,  or  chiefs 
(the  companions  of  Moses  and  properly  so  called),  600  in 
number;  (4.)  Nudjaba,  excellent,  700  in  number  ;  (5.) 
Mokhtasseen,  peculiars,  800  in  number;  (6.)  Mukhliseen, 
pure  in  faith,  900  in  number;  (7.)  Mumtahaneen,  tried, 
1100  in  number.     In  all,  5000. 

In  this  world  they  have  their  representatives  in  twelve 
Nukaba,  and  also  twenty-eight  Nudjaba,  who,  besides 
their  earthly  names,  have  names  in  the  world  of  light, 
namely,  those  of  the  twenty-eight  mansions,  or  stations 
of  the  moon.  They  have  also  their  counterparts  in 
apostles  and  prophets ;  who  are,  moreover,  representatives 
of  the  Deity,  as  being  inhabited  by  a  partial  emanation 
from  Him. 

This  earthly  world  in  like  manner  contains  seven  de- 
grees of  believers;  (1.)  Mukarrabeen,  near  ones,  14,000 
in  number;  (2.)  Cherubims,  15,000;  (3.)  Rooheyeen,  spi- 
ritual, 16,000;  (4.)  Mukaddaseen,  sanctified,  17,000;  (5.) 
Saieyeen,  ascetics,  18,000;  (6.)  Mustamaeen,  listeners, 
19,000  ;  (7.)  Lahiheen,  followers,  20,000.    In  all,  119,000. 

The  mystery  of  the  faith  of  the  Unitarians,  the  mystery 
of  mysteries,  and  chief  article  of  the  faith  of  the  true 
believers,  is  the  veiling  of  the  Deity  in  light,  that  is,  in 
the  eye  of  the  sun,  and  his  manifestation  in  his  servant 
Abd-in-Noor.  Light  is  described  as  the  eternal  Maana, 
or  meaning,  which  is  concealed  in  light.  The  Deity  thus 
concealed  in  light  manifests  himself  in  Abd-in-Noor,  the 
"  servant  of  light,"  which  is  wine  ;  this  wine  being  con- 
secrated and  drunk  by  the  true  believers,  the  initiated, 
in  the  Kuddas,  or  Sacrament. 

This  Kuddas  or  Sacrament  is  the  great  mystery  of  the 
Ansaireeh. 

The  Ansaireeh  believe  that  all  souls  were  created  from 
the  essence  which  inhabits  all  beings,  and  that,  after  a 
certain  number  of  transmigrations,  those  of  true  believers 
become  stars  in  the  great  world  of  light. 


' 


ALI    GOD    WITH   ANSAIREEII.  113 

They  believe  that  the  last  Imam,  Mohammed,  is  still 
dwelling  concealed  on  the  earth,  and  that  he  will  return 
to  make  the  true  religion  prevail  in  the  destruction  of  its 
enemies. 

When  an  Ansairee  attains  the  age  of  manhood  he  is 
initiated  into  the  mysteries  of  religion,  and  becomes  a 
participator  in  its  rites,  and  acquainted  with  its  secret 
prayers,  signs,  and  watchwords,  by  all  which  the  initiated 
are  bound  up  into  a  freemasonic  body  of  Ukhwan,  or 
"  brethren." 

Such  is  a  sketch  of  the  religion  of  the  Ansaireeh,  I  now 
proceed  to  consider  its  several  parts  in  detail. 

Like  the  Druses,  the  Ansaireeh  believe  in  God,  without 
in  either  a  philosophical  or  theological  manner  defining 
distinctly  the  mode  of  his  existence,  his  essence,  and 
his  attributes.  Ali  with  the  Ansaireeh  is  God,  and  takes 
the  place  of  the  Allah  of  the  Mussulmans.  All  the  attri- 
butes that  the  latter  ascribe  to  Allah,  these  and  others  the 
Ansaireeh  ascribe  to  Ali ;  some  to  him  in  his  human  form, 
others  in  his  Godhead.  They  come  very  near  confusing 
his  essence  with  that  of  light.  He  is  spoken  of  in  their 
catechism  as  veiling  himself  in  light,  that  is  in  the  eye  of 
the  sun*,  and  in  my  Ansairee  manuscript f  he  is  de- 
scribed as  "  appearing  from  the  eye  of  the  sun."  Mo- 
hammed is  also  said  to  be  created  from  the  "  light  of  his 
essence  "J,  and  the  "  light  of  his  unity."  §  While,  in 
answer  to  the  question  in  the  catechism  ||,  "What  is 
light  ?  "  the  answer  is :  "  The  eternal  Maana,  or  mean- 
ing (the  Deity),  which  is  concealed  in  light."  Perhaps 
they  go  no  farther  than  Zoroaster  and  the  Magians,  in 
taking  light  as  a  symbol  of  the  good  spirit. | 

*  Q.  82.        t  ^^^-  P-  110-         t  P-  94.         §  P.  110.  II  Q.  93. 

4  In  the  Ansairee  book  of  festivals  (M.  Catafago,  Journ.  Asiat.  Feb. 
1848)  the  Divinity  is  styled  the  "  essence  of  beings;"  and  a  certain  rain 
which  came  on  the  luminous  bodies  of  men,  and  of  which  the  drops  be- 
came their  souls,  is  said  to  be  nothing  else  but  "  the  essence  which  in- 
habits all  beings." 

I 


114  THE   ASIAN  MYSTERY. 

Among  the  appellations  given  to  Ali  are  those  of  "  the 
meaning  of  meanings,"  "the  element  of  elements,"  the 
"  end  of  ends,"  a  name  by  which  my  Ansairee  lad  has 
often  heard  him  addressed. 

The  proof  that  he  is  God,  is  his  own  testimony  to  him- 
self from  the  words  of  the  Koran,  which  in  its  inner 
meaning  is  made  to  allude  exclusively  to  him.  Thus  the 
commencement  of  my  Ansairee  manuscript,  after  the  usual 
opening,  "In  the  name  of  God  the  compassionate,  the 
merciful,"  goes  on : — "  The  words  of  the  Most  High.  Our 
Lord,  Emeer  il  Moomeneen  (prince  of  the  true  believers,  a 
name  which  must  be  given  to  Ali  alone*),  has  said,  '  God 
(may  he  be  praised!)  has  described  me  in  his  precious 
Book,  and  said,  He  is  the  God,  beside  whom  there  is  no 
God,  the  compassionate,  the  merciful,  the  holy  king,  the 
Creator ;  Him  all  things  praise  in  heaven  and  earth.*  Now 
these  attributes  belong  to  Him  (God),  and  are  in' Him; 
for  it  is  necessary  for  him  to  describe  himself  (because  no 
other  being  could  do  so),  but  they  are  in  me,  and  referred 
to  me,  and  part  of  my  descriptive  marks,  for  when  he 
says,  '  He  is  God,*  it  refers  to  me,  for  I  am,"  &c.  &c. 

Another  testimony  is  that  of  Ali  to  himself  in  his 
several  discourses  from  the  pulpit,  of  which  many  are 
mentioned  by  name  f ;  for  instance :  "  With  me  is  the 
knowledge  of  the  hour,  and  me  did  the  apostles  indi- 
cate;  of  my  unity  did  they  speak,  an^  to  the  knowledge 
of  me  did  they  call." 

Another  chief  testimony  is  that  of  Mohammed  on  a 
special  occasion,  a  detailed  account  of  which  is  given  in 
my  Ansairee  manuscript  J,  and  of  it  I  shall  give  a  trans- 
lation in  a  subsequent  chapter.§ 

Ali  is  said  to  be  mentioned  in  every  tongue,  and  praised 
in  every  period  || ;  and  so  excessive  is  the  laudation  bestowed 
upon  him  in  the  manuscript  in  my  possession,  that  on 


♦  MS.  p.  86.  t  MS.  pp.  6,  10,  11,  12,  15.     Catechism,  q.  2. 

t  MS.  p.  91.     So  Catech.  q.  3.  §  Chap.  IX.  ||  MS.  p.  4. 


NAMES    OF   ALL  115 

showing  it  to  a  learned  Moslem  sheikh,  he  could  not  help 
exclaiming,  "  excess  of  praise  is  blame." 

Among  the  "  names  given  to  him  in  the  various 
languages  *,"  the  following  are  mentioned :  "  The  Arabs 
called  him  Ali ;  his  mother  called  him  Haiderah,  lion  ;  the 
monk  called  him  the  most  great  Law,  and  Simon-is-Safa 
(the  Ansaireeh,  like  the  Ismaeleeh  and  Druses,  seeming  to 
look  on  Safa  as  allied  to  an  Arabic  word  meaning  pure, 
instead  of  being  the  Arabic  form  for  Cephas).  He  called 
himself  in  the  pulpit  Aristotle ;  and  he  is  called  in  the 
Old  Testament  Bareea  (from  the  word  for  *  create*).  His 
name  in  the  New  Testament  is  Elias,  of  which  the  in- 
terpretation is  Ali  (the  two  words  as  written  in  the 
Arabic  MS.  are  nearly  alike).  With  the  priests  he  is  called 
Baweea;  by  the  Hindoos,  Kankara;  and  in  the  Psalms, 
Areea ;  with  the  Greeks,  Butrus,  Peter.  His  name  with 
the  Ethiopians  is  Habeena  (a  mistake  for  Aboona,  the 
name  of  the  Abyssinian  metropolitan)  ;  with  the  Abys- 
sinians,  Batreek,  patriarch  ;  and  the  Armenians  called 
him  Afreeka.  Finally  he  is  called  by  the  beings  who 
inhabited  the  world  before  men,  the  Righteous,  the  Com- 
passionate.'* 

Amonor  other  names  of  his  is  that  of  Emeer-in-Nahal, 
prince  of  bees,  that  is  true  believers,  who  are  styled  bees 
because  they  choose  out  the  best  flowers,  that  is  follow  the 
best  instruction,  f     This  name  is  given  to  him  constantly. 

He  is  also  called  the  Crown  of  the  Kicras,  as  the 
Sassanide  kings  of  Persia  are  called  by  the  Arabs,  from 
Khosroo  or  Chosroes ;  and  in  a  description  of  the  feast  of 
Nurooz,  given  in  an  Ansairee  book  J,  Ali  is  said  to  have 
manifested  himself  in  the  Trinity  of  Maana,  Ism,  Bab,  in 
the  persons  of  many  of  the  kings  of  the  Sassanide  line; 
though  in  that  partial  way  in  which  the  Divinity  resides 
in  worthy  men,  rather  than  by  a  complete  descent.  In  this, 
as  in  many  other   ways,  the  connexion  of  the  Ansairee 

*  MS.  p.  77.     Catech.  q.  43.  j  ^S.  p.  86.     Catech.  q.  50. 

J  Described  by  M.  Catafago,  Journ.  Asiat.  Feb.  1848. 

I  2 


116  THE   ASIAN  MYSTERY. 

religion  with  Persia  becomes  evident.  Ali  is  spoken  of  as 
having  exercised  all  that  power,  and  performed  all  those 
actions,  attributed  by  Mussulmans  to  the  Deity.  He  is 
said  to  have  created  us  * ;  to  have  formed  Jesus  within 
the  womb  of  his  mother  f ;  to  have  sent  and  taught 
Mohammed  J ;  to  be  omnipresent,  omniscient,  &c.  &c.§ 

But  the  Ansaireeh  do  not  suppose  Ali  to  have  been 
flesh  and  blood,  but  rather  a  luminous  appearance.  They 
speak  of  his  acts  as  zahh\  apparent  only.  For  instance, 
says  the  Ansairee  lad,  they  say  that  he  was  not  really 
married ;   for  how,  say  they,  could  he,  being  God  ? 

Thus,  in  one  passage,,  the  appearances  of  the  Creator 
are  spoken  of,  and  his  goodness  in  Tanees,  the  holding 
intercourse  with  men ;  and  in  the  same  place  he  is  called 
"  the  best  of  sheaths,  within  a  sheath."  || 

Also  it  is  asserted,  according  to  the  well-known  words 
of  the  112th  chapter  of  the  Koran,  that  "He  neither 
begat,  nor  was  begotten ;  neither  had  he  any  equal :"  and 
then  is  added,  "  and  he  was  not  incarnate  in  anybody^  nor 
took  a  female  companion,  nor  a  child."  | 

In  the  catechism,  in  answer  to  the  question  *'*,  "  If  Ali 
be  God,  how  did  he  become  of  the  same  nature  with 
men?"  the  reply  is,  *' He  did  not  so  become,  but  took 
Mohammed  as  his  veil,  in  the  period  of  his  transmutation, 
and  assumed  the  name  of  Ali."  And  in  answer  to  the 
question  ff,  "What  is  the  divine  appearance?"  the  reply 
is,  "  It  is  the  appearance  of  the  Creator  in  humanity  by 
means  of  the  veil ; "  and  in  answer  to  the  demand  to  ex- 
plain the  matter  more  exactly  JJ,  the  reply  is,  "  As  the 
Maana  is  entered  into  the  Bab,  so  it  has  concealed  itself 
under  the  Ism,  and  has  taken  it  for  itself,  as  our  lord 
Djaafar-is-Sadik  has  said." 

*  Catech.  q.  1,  and  MS.  passim.  •  f  MS.  p.  7. 

X  MS.  p.  21.  §  MS.  passim. 

II  MS.  p.  32.  That  is  Ali  was  a  Gilaf  (sheath  as  of  a  sword,  or  pod 
as  of  a  pea)  of  the  Deity ;  and  this  Gilaf  was  concealed  in  another  Gildf, 
namely  Mohammed,  the  Hedjah  or  veil. 

i  MS.  p.  101.  **  Q.  4.  ft  Q.  8.  XX  Q.  9. 


THE    "inseparable   TRINITY."  117 

Withal,  he  is  often  spoken  of  in  his  human  connexions, 
and  he  is  said  to  have  been  the  only  Hashimee  in  his 
time  (that  is,  a  descendant  of  Hashim,  the  great-grand- 
father of  Mohammed),  who  was  so  both  by  his  father's 
and  mother's  side.*  His  apparent  mother's  name  is  given 
as  Fatima,  and  his  brothers  as  Hamza  and  Djaafar,  Talib 
and  Akeel ;  his  sons,  as  Hassan  and  Hosein  ;  and  his 
daughters,  as  Zeynab  and  Umur  Kulthom  ;  and,  finally, 
his  Mashid  (or  mosque  erected  over  his  tomb)  is  said  to 
be  in  Dakwat-il-Beyd,  to  the  west  of  Cufo.  f 

The  Druses  seem,  in  like  manner,  to  think  that  Hamza's 
humanity  was  only  in  appearance;  and  their  belief  with 
respect  to  Hakem  is  so  like  that  of  the  Ansaireeh  with 
respect  to  Ali,  that  I  refer  the  reader  to  those  few  and 
concise,  but  clear  and  accurate,  words  of  De  Sacy,  re- 
garding the  manifestation  of  the  Deity  in  human  form, 
to  which  I  drew  his  attention  in  p.  78. 

Before  proceeding  further,  I  would  allude  to  something 
found  in  Niebuhr's  Ansairee  book.  He  says :  —  "In 
another  place  the  author  states  that  an  Ansairee  must  be- 
lieve that  Mohammed,  Fatir  (Fatima),  Hassan,  Hosein, 
and  Mochsin  (the  three  sons  of  Ali  by  Fatima),  form  but 
one,  a  Unity,  and  mean  Ali."  J  Now  Makrisi  §  alludes  to 
certain  men  who  "  asserted  the  divinity  of  five,  Moham- 
med, Ali,  Fatima,  Hassan,  and  Hosein,  and  declared  that 
these  five  were  one  ;  "  and,  not  liking  to  say  Fatima,  with 
a  feminine  termination,  they  called  her  Fatim.  Thus  we 
see  whence  the  Ansairee  author,  or  his  authority,  took 
his  statement.  And  I  would  say,  once  for  all,  that  if 
it  seems  incongruous  with  the  outline  of  Ansairee  theo- 
logy which  I  have  given,  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  in- 
congruities must  be  expected  in  a  religion  compiled  by 
ignorant  men,  from  everything  that  came  to  hand  ;  with 


*  MS.  p.  87.  t  ^^S.  pp.  87,  88.     Catech.  q.  45—48. 

X  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  360. 

§  Descr.  of  Cairo  and  Egypt,  vol  ii.  p.  253. 

1  3 


118  THE   ASIAN  MYSTERY. 

a  desire,  which  the  Ansaireeh  above  all  others  seem  to 
have,  of  claiming  every  belief  as  their  own. 

The  seven  appearances  of  the  Divinity,  from  Abel  to 
Ali,  are  said  to  have  taken  place  in  seven  kubbehs,  literally 
Domes,  that  is,  Periods,  such  as  the  period  or  dome  of 
Abraham,  the  Persian  dome,  the  Arab  dome,  or  dome  of 
Mohammed.*  These  appearances  are  referred  to  four 
times  f  in  my  Ansairee  manuscript,  and  the  names  given 
to  those  persons  in  whom  Ali  appeared  are  the  same  in 
each  place,  as  also  are  the  names  in  the  seven  appearances 
given  by  Niebuhr,  and  in  the  Nusairee  catechism.  %  In 
fact,  this  is  one  of  the  many  instances  of  entire  con- 
formity in  the  Ansairee  MSS.,  which  have  been  ob- 
tained at  various  times,  and  in  such  various  ways;  a 
conformity  the  more  remarkable,  when  we  consider  the 
heterogeneous  nature  of  the  Ansairee  tenets,  and  the  wild 
and  seemingly  aimless  haphazard  character  of  some  of 
their  elements. 

We  will  now  speak  of  that  "  inseparable  Trinity,"  under 
which  the  Deity  reveals  itself  in  each  of  its  manifestations, 
of  which  the  three  persons  are  designated  by  the  names  of 
Maana,  Ism,  and  Bab. 

And  I  would  say  at  the  outset  that  we  must  not  suppose 
this  Trinity  to  resemble  that  of  Christianity,  though  the 
name  and  idea  have  been  taken  by  the  Ansaireeh  from  it, 
like  many  other  things.  The  second  and  third  persons, 
the  Ism  and  the  Bab,  have  far  more  affinity  with  the  two 
chief  Druse  ministers,  the  "  universal  intelligence,"  and 
the  "  universal  soul,"  as  we  shall  see  when  we  come  to 
treat  of  them  separately ;  indeed,  the  third  person  is 
called  by  the  name,  the  "  universal  soul,"  given  to  the 
second  great  minister  of  the  Druse  hierarchy. 

The  word  Maana,  meaning  or  sense,  is  used  by  the 
Druse  writers.  Baha-ed-deen,  one  of  their  earliest  and  chief 

*  MS.  pp.  41,  42,  131.  t  MS.  pp.  8,  41,  90,  130. 

t  Q.  5.     See  also  Victor  Langlois,  Revue  d'Orient. 


THE   MAANA.  119 

authors,  says  : — "  Praise  to  the  Lord,  to  God,  who  is  dis- 
tinguished from  all  other  beings,  in  that  He  alone  is  the 
Maana  (sense)  of  all  the  divine  manifestations."  *  But, 
as  says  De  Sacy  f ,  "  this  expression  is  especially  sacred  in 
the  religion  of  the  Ansaireeh,  with  whom,  even  at  the 
present  time,  it  signifies  the  Divinity  concealed  under 
human  form ;"  and  he  gives  an  extract  from  M.  Niebuhr's 
Ansairee  book,  which  had  been  lent  to  him  by  that 
traveller.  "  The  Ansairee  author,"  says  De  Sacy,  "  after 
having  cited  divers  texts  from  the  discourses  pronounced 
by  Ali,  adds :  '  All  these  testimonies  and  these  luminous 
discourses  show  the  existence  of  the  Maana  of  the  Creator 
of  creatures,  under  a  human  form.'  "  % 

In  another  place  the  same  author  says :  "  The  word 
Allah  (God)  is  derived  from  Alaha  (to  adore),  and  the 
word  God  supposes  necessarily  a  being  adored,  and  a 
name  is  different  from  the  thing  named  by  it.  He,  then, 
who  worships  the  Name  (Ism)  in  the  place  of  the  Mean- 
ing (Maana)  is  an  infidel,  and  does  not  worship  any- 
thing ;  and  he  who  worships  the  Name  and  the  Meaning- 
is  a  polytheist ;  but  to  worship  the  Meaning  to  the  exclu- 
sion of  the  Name,  that  is  true  Unitarianism."  § 

From  this  passage  we  see  that  of  the  Trinity  only  the 
first  person  is  to  be  worshipped,  and  not  even  the  second 
person  or  Name,  for  he  is  a  different  being  from  Him 
whom  he  represents,  who  alone  is  the  great  God. 

In  the  Ansairee  catechism  are  the  following  ques- 
tions :  II  "  What  are  the  Maana,  the  Ism,  and  the  Bab  ?  " 
Answer :  "  They  are  an  inseparable  Trinity,  as  men  say, 
'  in  the  name  of  God,  the  Compassionate,  the  Merciful ' 
(a  formula  prefixed  to  all  the  chapters  of  the  Koran 
except  one).  The  word  God  signifies  the  Maana,  the 
words  Compassionate  and  Merciful  denote  the  Ism  and 
the  Bab." — "  Are  the  Maana  and  the  Bab  separable  from 

*  De  Sacy,  vol  i.  p.  60.  t  'V'ol.  ii.  p.  580. 

%  Ubi  supra.  §  De  Sacy,  vol.  ii.  p.  581. 

II  Q.  10,  12,  13. 

I  4 


120  THE   ASIAN  MYSTERY. 

the  Ism  ?  "  Answer  :  "  No  ;  they  are  one  with  it,  they 
cannot  be  separated." — "  What  names  have  the  Maana,  the 
Ism,  and  the  Bab,  and  how  are  they  distinguished  ?" 
Answer:  "These  names  are  threefold.  1.  Figurative; 
2.  Essential ;  3.  Attributive.  The  Figurative  belong  to 
the  Maana  ;  the  Essential  belong  to  the  Ism ;  the  Attribu- 
tive are  those  of  which  the  Ism  has  made  use,  but  which 
belong  peculiarly  to  the  Maana.  As  when  we  say,  the 
Gracious  one,  the  Compassionate  one,  the  Creator." 

So  in  another  question :  *  "  What  do  the  outer  and 
inner  word,  Iz-Zahir  and  Il-Batin,  denote  ? "  Answer : 
"  The  inner,  the  Godhead  of  our  Lord  ;  the  outer,  his 
Manhood.  Outwardly  we  say  that  he  is  spoken  of  as  our 
Lord  Ali,  son  of  Abu-Taleb ;  and  this  denotes  inwardly 
the  Maana,  the  Ism,  and  the  Bab,  one  Gracious  and  Com- 
passionate God." 

Maana  is  a  name  specially  belonging  to  theDeity.f  Some 
other  names,  though  attributive  names  of  the  Maana,  are 
sometimes  assumed  by  the  Ism,  such  as  God,  the  Creator, 
&c.  &c. ;  or,  as  the  manuscript  expresses  it :  ''  The  attri- 
butive names,  by  which  the  Ism  (Name)  has  named  itself, 
though  they  belong  peculiarly  to  the  Maana."  J 

In  my  Ansairee  manuscript  the  Maana  and  Essence 
are  coupled  together  in  one  passage  §  ;  and  in  another  || 
the  Ism  and  Bab  are  spoken  of  as  referring  to,  and  indi- 
cating, the  Maana  of  Ali,  in  the  seven  Domes  or  Periods  ; 
and  this  indication  is  the  office  of  these  two  persons,  with 
reference  to  the  first  divine  person.  In  my  manuscript  also 
the  words  Maana,  Ism,  and  Bab  are  frequently  mentioned 
together,  as  forming  an  essential  part  of  the  Ansairee 
religion.  Thus  4,  referring  to  some  quotations  from  the 
Koran  with  respect  to  the  divinity  of  Ali,  it  is  said: 
"And  many  other  similar  passages  indicate  the  know- 
ledge of  the  Maana,  the  Ism,  and  the  Bab."  Again,  a 
certain  wife  of  Mohammed,  Umur  Salmah,  is  spoken  of 

♦  Q.  97.  t  MS.  p.  89.  t  MS.  p.  75. 

§  MS.  p.  66.  II  P.  131.  i  P.  17. 


THE    ISM.  121 

as,  "  by  her  *  nearness  *  to  the  apostle  indicating  the 
appearances  of  the  Maana,  the  Ism,  and  the  Bab."  *  In 
another  place  Ali  is  invoked  **  by  the  truth  of  the 
Maana,  the  Ism,  and  the  Bab."  f  In  other  passages  refer- 
ence is  made  to  the  Maana-il-Kadeem  (ancient  Meaning), 
the  Isra-il-Azeem  (great  Name),  and  the  Bab-il-Kareem 
and  Makeem  (honourable  and  durable  Door). J 

These  words  also  are  found  in  all  the  known  books  of 
the  Ansaireeh.  Thus  Niebuhr  speaks  of  them  ;  but  as 
these  appearances,  in  the  book  in  his  possession,  were 
coupled  with  those  of  five  orphans  and  of  a  certain 
Hosein,  the  famous  apostle  of  the  Ansaireeh  who  spread 
their  religion,  he  terms  the  manifestations  of  the  Deity  a 
Quintite,  which  he  professes  himself  unable  to  explain. 

M.  y.  Langlois  §  refers  to  the  same  words,  and  says : 
"  The  dogmas  of  the  Ansaireeh  are :  The  divinity  of  Ali, 
son-in-law  of  Mohammed,  who  was  incarnate  seven  times ; 
and  a  Trinity,  renewed  at  seven  different  epochs,  and  under 
diverse  names.  This  Trinity  is  called  Maana,  Ism,  Bab. 
They  denote  this  Trinity  by  the  letters  Ain,  Meem, 
Seen,  which  are  the  initial  letters  of  the  names  of  Ali, 
Mohammed,  and  Salm^n-el-Farsi." 

M.  Catafago  also,  in  describing  an  Ansairee  book  ||,  after 
giving  the  title,  says  "  that  the  author  distinguishes  three 
principles  in  Ali.  1.  The  divinity  properly  so  called,  or  the 
essence  of  beings.  2.  The  light  or  veil  (Hedjab).  3.  The 
door,  which  is  the  faithful  soul." 

We  see  again  the  entire  agreement  of  the  several 
MSS.  consulted,  with  reference  at  least  to  all  the  main 
Ansairee  dogmas,  and  we  shall  find  that  they  no  less  agree 
in  minor  points. 

Mohammed  is  the  Ism,  Name,  or  second  person  of  that 
triune  manifestation  of  the  Deity  which  took  place  at  the 


*  MS.  p.  40.         ,  t  P.  41.  t  MS.  pp.  44  and  158. 

§  Revue  d'Orient,  Juin,  1856. 

II  Notice  on  Ansaireeh,  Journ.  Asiat.  Feb.  1848. 


122  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

most  perfect  period,  that  of  Ali.  Thus  the  form  of 
Mohammed  is  the  most  perfect  of  the  seven  manifestations 
of  the  Ism,  of  which  the  six  previous  were  in  the  persons 
of  Adam  (who  is  looked  on  by  the  Mussulmans  also  as  a 
prophet),  Noah,  Jacob,  Moses,  Solomon,  and  Jesus.  On 
comparing  these  with  the  corresponding  manifestations  of 
the  Maana,  we  shall  find  that  the  seven  personages  of  this 
last  are  less  noted  than  the  seven  of  the  Ism.  Such  per- 
sonages as  Abel,  Seth,  Joseph,  Joshua,  Asaph,  and  Peter, 
seem  chosen  for  the  manifestations  of  the  Deity,  because  of 
their  comparative  seclusion  when  in  the  world,  possessing 
only  such  notoriety  as  was  necessary  to  give  them  suffi- 
cient importance  for  the  use  made  of  them  in  the  Ansairee 
system.  The  Deity,  even  in  Ali's  time,  is  supposed  to 
reveal  itself  to  men  by  means  of  the  Ism,  called-  also  the 
Hedjab,  because  the  Ism  veils  as  it  were  the  insupportable 
brightness  of  the  Deity  from  the  eyes  of  mortals.  This 
expression  or  idea  seems  to  have  been  taken  from  the 
Hedjabs  or  veils  used  before  the  doors  of  the  halls  of 
audience  of  great  men.  Thus  the  caliphs  of  Bagdad 
had,  as  their  special  prerogative,  seven  veils  before  their 
audience  chamber,  to  raise  and  lower  which  was  the  duty 
of  the  Hadjib,  or  chamberlain,  whose  denomination  was 
taken  from  his  office.*  Tha  term  is  often  applied  to 
Mohammed  in  my  Ansairee  MS.f  In  the  3rd  mass  pub- 
lished in  the  Journal  of  the  German  Oriental  Society,  it  is 
said :  "  There  is  no  Pledjab  but  our  Lord  Mohammed-il- 
Mahmood, "  the  praised ;  for  this,  and  another  denomina- 
tion, Mohammed-il-Hamd,  or  "  the  Praise,"  is  given  to  him, 
on  account  of  the  likeness  of  the  adjective  to  the  noun 
proper;  just  as  Salman  is  called  Is-Salaam,  the  Peace, 
and  Salsal,  pure  wine,  or  pure  water. 

As  Hamza  appeared  several  times,  so  did  Mohammed, 
for  the  same  person  who  was  the  Ism  during  one  period 
was  identical  with   the  one   who   appeared   at   another, 

♦  Von  Hammer,  p.  93.  t  Tp-  8,  10,  40,  61,  144. 


MOHAMMED    THE    ISM.  123 

though  under  a  different  form.  Thus  the  most  perfect 
appearance  of  the  Ism  as  Mohammed,  had  before  ap- 
peared as  Jesus*,  so  that  in  the  prayer  for  the  eve  of 
Christmas,  given  by  M.  Catafagof ,  appear  these  words  : — 
"  Thou  (Ali)  didst  manifest  in  that  night  thy  Name, 
which  is  thy  Soul,  thy  Veil,  thy  Throne,  to  all  creatures,  as 
a  child,  and  under  human  form ;  while  with  Thee  that 
Name  is  the  greatest  and  most  sacred  being  of  all  that  is 
found  in  thy  kingdom.  Thou  didst  manifest  thyself  to 
men,  to  prove  thine  eternity  and  thy  divinity.  Thou 
dost  manifest  thyself  to  them  in  the  person  of  thy  Hudjjilh 
(* demonstration'),  to  recompense  those  who  shall  have 
recognised  thy  divinity  at  the  epoch  when  thou  didst  call 
men  to  thy  religion  in  sacrificing  thyself  for  their  re- 
demption." 

However,  though  the  Ansaireeh  use  this  language,  they 
do  not  believe  in  the  reality  of  the  crucifixion,  but  hold 
the  Mussulman  view  based  on  the  words  of  Mohammed 
in  the  Koran  J,  which  he  took  from  the  early  Christian 
heretics,  and  probably  from  a  spurious  gospel : — "  The 
Jews  have  spoken  against  Mary  a  grievous  calumny ; 
and  have  said,  Verily  we  have  slain  Christ  Jesus,  the  son 
of  Mary,  the  apostle  of  God.  Yet  they  slew  him  not, 
neither  crucified  him,  but  he  was  represented  (to  them) 
by  one  in  his  likeness;  and  verily  they  who  disagreed 
concerning  him  were  in  a  doubt  as  to  this  matter,  and 
had  no  sure  knowledge  thereof,  but  followed  only  an 
uncertain  opinion.  They  did  not  really  kill  him;  but 
God  took  him  up  unto  himself."  This  passage  is  cited  in 
my  MS.§  ;  and  once  when  I  was  speaking  to  an  Ansairee 
sheikh  about  the  death  of  our  blessed  Saviour,  he  used  the 
blasphemous  expression,  "  May  God  have  no  mercy  on  any 
one  who  died  for  me !  " 

Mohammed  holds  much  the  same  position  with  respect 


*  Victor  Langlois,  ubi  supra.  f  Journ.  Asiat.  Feb.  1848. 

t  Soorah,  iy.  v.  156.  §  P.  2.     See  also  Catech.  q,  75. 


124  THE    ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

to  Ali  in  the  Ansairee  belief,  that  Hamza  places  himself 
in  with  respect  to  Hakem.  He  is  made  to  say  of  himself: 
"  For  I  was  created  out  of  the  light  of  His  (All's)  es- 
sence/'* and  farther  to  show  his  inferiority  immediately 
after  he  says :  "  Is  not  Ali  my  Lord  and  your  Lord  ? " 
So  that,  as  we  have  said,  the  Ansairee  Trinity  is  not  a 
Trinity  of  Persons  in  the  Godhead. 

Further,  in  the  same  passage,  Mohammed  asks  the  ques- 
tion :  "  Is  not  Ali  my  creator  and  yours  ?  "  f  And  in 
the  Ansairee  catechism,  in  answer  to  the  question  J : 
"  How  did  the  Maana  create  the  Ism,  and  how  did  the 
Ism  create  the  Bab  ?"  it  is  said :  "  The  substance  of 
substances  created  the  Name  out  of  the  light  of  his 
unity." 

In  another  passage  of  my  MS.§,  Ali  is  addressed  as 
having  "  created  the  Lord  Mohammed  from  the  light 
of  his  unity  and  from  the  power  of  his  eternity."  "  And 
He  made  him  a  light  extracted  from  the  essence  of  His 
Meaning,  and  called  him  Mohammed  at  the  time  when 
he  conversed  with  him,  and  caused  him  to  move  out  of 
his  state  of  rest,  and  chose  him,  and  called  him  by  his 
name,  and  elected  him.  And  he  had  no  Lord  but  him, 
and  He  made  him  His  flashing  light  and  His  sharp  edge 
and  His  speaking  tongue,  arid  set  him  over  the  great 
matter  and  the  ancient  cause,  and  made  him  the  circle 
of  existence  and  the  centre  of  prayer"  (Mihr^b,  the  point 
in  mosques  towards  which  prayer  is  made,  as  marking  out 
the  Kublah  or  direction  of  Mecca),  "  by  the  command  of 
the  Lofty  one,  the  worshipped.  And  He  said  to  him  : 
Be  the  Cause  of  causes,  and  the  framer  of  the  Doors^  and 
at  them  (the  doors)  the  Hedjab,  veil "  (so  as  to  be 
intermediate  between  the  glory  of  the  Deity  and  men). 
'*  Pie  (Mohammed)  created  the  Door   (SalmA<n)    by   the 

♦  MS.  pp.  94,  95. 

t  In  my  MS.,  at  page  178,  Mohammed  is  called  the  "best  of  created 
beings." 

%  Q.  11.  §  Pp.  110,  111. 


NAMES    GIVEN   THE   ISM.  125 

command  of  his  Lord,  and  His  End  (Gaiyah),  and  His 
Meaning ;  and  he  removed  hurt  and  calamity  from  the 
Door.  He  commanded  him  to  create  the  higher  and 
lower  worlds.  So  he  guided  them  (the  inhabitants  of 
the  lower  worlds)  to  all  the  pure  worlds."  Thus  we  see 
that  Ali  created  all  things  through  the  instrumentality  of 
Mohammed. 

There  is  some  difficulty  in  accounting  for  the  way  in 
which  the  Ism  or  Name  is  sometimes  spoken  of,  that  is, 
the  names  which  are  sometimes  given  to  it  in  the  An- 
sairee  book.  Perhaps  the  best  explanation  is,  that  some 
of  these  discrepancies  have  crept  in  gradually  in  the 
course  of  time,  and  escape  the  observation,  or  at  least 
explanation,  of  the  present  teachers  of  religion.  For 
these,  or  their  predecessors,  have  certainly  sometimes 
mystified  themselves,  as  appears  from  some  of  the  answers 
in  the  Ansairee  catechism.  Thus,  after  a  number  of 
most  silly  names  given  to  the  degrees  of  the  seven  spiritual 
hierarchies  of  the  world  of  light, — which  names  are  seem- 
ingly collected  with  much  difficulty  from  various  objects, 
such  as  lights,  suns,  &c. ;  moons,  lightnings,  &c. ;  prayer, 
alms,  &c. ;  mountains,  seas,  &c. ;  night,  day,  &c. ;  camels, 
bees,  &c. ;  houses,  mosques,  &c. — the  question  is  put :  * 
"  How  were  these  seven  hierarchies  called  in  the  world 
of  light,  before  their  appearance  in  the  earthly  world  ?  " 
And  the  answer  is  :  "  They  had  other  names  in  heaven  ; " 
as  if  the  framer  of  these  mystic  hierarchies  was  either 
wearied  with  his  work,  or  in  despair  of  finding  suitable 
names  in  his  exhausted  imagination.  Otherwise,  the 
iiio:hts  he  sometimes  takes  show  that  he  would  not 
have  shrunk  from  the  wildest  conceptions.  Again,  to 
the  question,  "  How  is  it  that  the  Nadjeebs  have 
two  names,  one  in  the  earthly  world,  and  the  other  in 
the  world  of  light  ? "  the  answer  is  simply,  that  "  they 
have  just  two  names."     So,  if  we  cannot  reconcile  every 

♦  Q.  64. 


126  THE   ASIAN  MYSTERY. 

imaginative  statement  of  the  Ansairee  theology,  we  need 
neither  wonder  nor  be  deeply  grieved. 

In  my  Ansairee  MS.,  then,  there  are  these  consecutive 
invocations  of  Ali,  in  some  of  which  the  Name  is  spoken 
of  in  rather  an  inexplicable  way.*  "  I  invoke  thee,  my 
Lord,  by  the  names  of  the  Name  according  to  the  rules 
of  language,  which  names  are,  Ahmed  Mohammed  the 
chosen,  Y.S.  (and  other  similar  cabalistic  letters  prefixed 
to  some  chapters  of  the  Koran),  and  in  the  Old  Tes- 
tament Mad  al  Mad,  and  in  the  New  Testament  Para- 
kleet,  and  in  the  Psalms  Muhaimin  (a  title  of  God,  the 
*  observer  of  actions'),  in  the  Koran  Mohammed  ;  good 
is  the  Veil  !  "  Again :  "  I  invoke  thee  by  the  names  of 
the  Name  in  the  essential  nine  f ,  which  are  Adam,  Jacob, 
Moses,  Aaron,  Solomon,  Jesus,  Abdullah  (father  of  Mo- 
hammed), Mohammed  the  apostle  of  God,  and  Mohammed 
son  of  Hassan,  the  Demonstration  ;  0  God,  my  Lord,  that 
thou  wilt  raise  us  by  them  to  the  highest  rank,  and  save 
us  from  all  calamity  and  distress,  by  the  truth  of  Mo- 
hammed the  son  of  Hassan,  the  Demonstration  (the  last 
Imam)." 

We  see  here  that  Noah  is  omitted  and  Aaron  intro- 
duced in  the  seven  appearances  of  the  Name  ;  Aaron 
being  admitted  into  the  number  of  the  seven  mute  "  foun- 
dations" (Asas)  of  the  seven  speaking  prophets,  in  the 
original  Ismaelee  system  before  described.  Abdullah 
and  the  Imam  Mohammed  are  also  added,  for  what  reason 
we  confess  we  cannot  at  present  see. 

Another  invocation  is  "  by  the  names  of  the  Name 
in  the  Abrahamic  Dome,  which  are  Abraham,  Ishmael, 
Elias,  Kusai  (an  ancestor  of  Mohammed),  and  Isaac:" 
the  next  is  by  the  same  in  the  Mosaic  Dome,  "  which  arc 
Moses,  Aaron,  Shabbar,  Shabeer,  and  Mushabbir  (three 
sons  of  Aaron,  according  to  the  Mussulmans)  : "  and 
lastly,  by  the  same  in  the  Dome  of  Mohammed,  "  which 

*  MS.  pp.  60,  &c.     Catech.  q.  16,  17. 

t  Meaning,  perhaps,  special  manifestations  of  the  Name. 


INVOCATIONS   OF   ALL  127 

are  Mohammed,  Fatir  (Fatima),  Hassan,  Hosein,  and 
Mohsin."  Probably,  as  these  last  are  reckoned  only  as 
one  (see  above),  so  the  other  five,  in  the  previous 
period  of  Moses,  and  also  of  Abraham,  are  so  reckoned. 
The  next  invocation  is  exceedingly  obscure  in  its  word- 
ing. It  is,  "  by  the  sixty-three  names,  consecutive  names 
of  the  Name,  through  which  the  Name  executed  prophecy 
and  consecutive  apostleship  for  the  Maana  and  Essence.'^ 
Or,  as  the  fourteenth  question  of  the  catechism  has  it, 
"  What  are  the  sixty-three  names  of  the  Name,  which, 
spiritually  taken,  denote  the  Maana  (sense),  and  personally 
the  Name  —  those  of  which  the  Godhead  has  made  use 
to  manifest  himself  in  the  persons  of  the  prophets  and 
apostles  ?  "  These  form  such  a  curious  mixture,  that 
I  will  add  them  here,  broken  into  groups.  "  Adam,  Enos, 
Cainan,  Mahalaleel,  Yarid  (written  Gazid),  Edrees  (Mus- 
sulman name  for  Enoch),  Methuselah,  Lamech,  Noah, 
Shem,  Arphaxad  ;  Yareb  (descendant  of  Ishmael)  ;  Hood, 
Saleb,  Lokman  (prophets,  &c.,  mentioned  in  the  Koran)  ; 
Lot,  Abraham,  Ishmael ;  Alyas  (an  ancestor  of  Mo- 
hammed);  Kusai ;  Isaac,  Jacob,  Shuaib  (Mussulman 
name  for  Jethro),  Moses,  Aaron,  Kawlab  (Caleb  ?),  Eze- 
kiel,  Samuel,  Taloot  (Mussulman  name  for  Saul),  David, 
Solomon,  Job,  Jonah,  Isaiah ;  Heysa  (a  descendant  of 
Ishmael)  ;  the  Khudy  (a  Mussulman  or  Christian  person- 
age according  to  circumstances;  when  Christian,  Elijah 
or  St.  George),  Zechariah,  John,  Jesus,  Daniel,  Alex- 
ander ;  Ardesheer,  Sapon  (the  first  two  Persian  kings 
of  the  Sassanian  dynasty)  ;  Luai,  Murrah,  Kilab,  Kusai, 
Abd-Manaf,  Hashim,  Abd-il-Muttalab,  Abdullah  (ances- 
tors of  Mohammed)  ;  Mohammed  the  chosen  ;  Hossum 
the  elected,  Hosein  the  martyr  in  Kerbela,  Ali  the  orna- 
ment of  true  believers,  Mohammed  the  investigator ; 
Djaafar  the  just,  Moses  the  patient,  Ali  the  accepted, 
Mohammed  the  generous,  Ali  the  director,  Hassan  the 
Askeree,  and  the  Imam  Mohammed  son  of  Hassan  the 
demonstration,  the  chief,  the  director,,  the  preacher,  the 


128  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

Warner,  the  hoped  for,  the  expected,  lord  of  the  age  and 
time  "  (the  last  eleven  being  the  eleven  Irnarns  after  Ali). 
On  looking  among  these  persons,  we  see  the  names  of  the 
seven  in  which  the  Name  is  said  especially  to  manifest 
itself.  Its  manifestation  in  the  others  can  hardly  be 
of  the  like  nature,  but  by  influence  rather  than  by  actual 
descent  in  them. 

Another  explanation,  which  would  remove  the  difii- 
culties  we  have  alluded  to,  and  may  after  all  be  right, 
is  that  besides  the  seven  noted  manifestations  of  the  Name 
at  the  time  of  the  seven  special  manifestations  of  the 
Deity,  there  were  a  consecutive  series  of  manifestations  of 
the  same,  from  the  commencement  of  the  world ;  the  Name 
dwelling  in  the  person  of  the  son,  or  the  next  divine 
prophet  or  apostle  on  the  death  or  disappearance  of  the 
father ;  the  only  remark  we  make  in  this  case  being, 
that  some  names,  such  as  Ezekiel  and  Daniel,  are  sadly 
out  of  their  chronological  order.  It  will  be  seen  also 
from  the  description  of  the  merits  of  the  feast  of  Nurooz*, 
that  in  the  Ansairee  system  there  is  an  indistinct  indica- 
tion of  other  appearances  of  the  Deity,  or  Maana,  besides 
the  seven  noted  ones  from  Abel  to  Ali. 

In  that  symbolical  way  through  which  the  Ansairee 
system  represents  things  in  heaven  and  earth,  by  human 
personifications  and  the  converse,  Mohammed  is  con- 
sidered the  personification  of  Salat  or  Prayer ;  some  of 
his  family  and  companions,  such  as  his  sons,  being  used 
for  the  same  purpose,  especially  Fatima,  Hassan,  and 
Hosein.f  There  are  some  doggerel  lines  ascribed  to  that 
great  authority  Hosein  il  Khaseebee,  to  this  effect :  — 

"  As  Prayer  is  (represented  by)  men  whose  persons  are  an  interpreta- 
tion (Tameel), 

Fifty  and  one  persons  sanctified  with  new  moons, 

Mohammed,  then  Fatir  (Fatima),  and  the  Shibrayn  (Hassan  and 
Hosein)  the  foundations  (literally  roots), 


Given  in  Chap.  X.  f  ^P-  69,  &c. ;  and  Catech.  q.  100. 


THE   BAB.  129 

IS  from  them,  and  with  them,  they  are  the  true  direction  and  the 
way. 
As  likewise  Zecat,  alms,  is  the  Door  Gabriel,  his  name 
Salman,  beside  him  there  is  no  guide  to  the  Apostle."  * 

Thus  we  see  that  the  Ansaireeh  acknowledge  Mo- 
hammed, saying  that  as  to  his  apostleship  he  was  taught 
and  sent  by  All.  They  also  receive  the  Koran,  but  alle- 
gorise it.  In  the  catechism  f  the  question  is  asked, 
"  What  is  the  Koran  ?  "  And  the  answer  is  :  "  The  fore- 
runner of  the  appearance  of  our  Lord  in  human  form." 
And  again :  "  Who  taught  Mohammed  the  Koran  ? " 
Answer :  "  Our  Lord,  who  is  the  Maana  (meaning),  by 
the  mouth  of  Gabriel."  Here  again  is  one  of  the  incon- 
sistencies into  which  the  Ansairee  writers  could  scarcely 
fail  of  falling ;  Gabriel  being  the  first  manifestation  of 
Salman  the  Bab.  and  identical  with  him  as  we  see  in  the 
above  lines,  and  also  inferior  to  Mohammed  as  a  di- 
rector of  men  to  him,  is  here,  in  order  to  accord  with 
the  uniform  statements  of  the  Koran,  made  a  teacher  of 
Mohammed,  or  at  least  a  go-between  of  the  Deity  and 
Mohammed. 

The  Ansaireeh  commonly  declare  that  the  Mussulmans 
do  not  follow  Mohammed  the  apostle,  but  Mohammed  ibn- 
Haneefa.  Now,  they  either  mean  by  this  Mohammed  ibn- 
Hanafeyeh,  or  more  probably  allude  to  Abu-Haneefa  (the 
father,  not  the  son,  of  Haneefa,  who,  moreover  was  not  called 
Mohammed),  who  was  the  doctor  of  the  most  celebrated 
of  the  four  orthodox  sects  of  the  Soonnah,  and  that  one 
which  is  followed  by  the  Mussulmans  of  Syria.  In  the 
same  way  they  say  that  the  Christians  do  not  believe  in  the 
true  Jesus,  but  in  Jesus-il-Djida,  the  new,  or  the  young. 

The  third  person  in  the  Trinity  is  the  Bab,  or  door,  who 
in  the  time  of  Adam  was  Gabriel,  and  in  the  time  of  All, 
Salman-il-Farisee,  the  Persian. J     Another  name  given  to 

*  MS.  p.  73.  t  Catech.  q.  72,  73. 

X  MS.  p.  144  ;  and  8d  mass  of  J.  Catafago,  Germ.  Orient.  Soc.  Jour, 
vol.  ii.     "  And  there  is  no  door,  but  the  lord  Salman-il-Farisee." 

K 


130  THE   ASIAN  MYSTERY. 

him  is  that  of  Salsal,  which  means  either  a  chain  (refer- 
ring, as  a  name  of  Salmon,  to  his  being  one  of  a  chain  of 
witnesses  or  apostles),  or  good  wine,  or  pure  water.  It  is 
mentioned  in  connexion  with  Salsabeel  in  one  passage  of 
my  MS.,  this  last  being  a  name  of  wine,  and  especially  of 
a  fountain  in  Paradise*,  and  probably  Salsal  is  used  only 
because  of  its  likeness  to  Salman  and  Salsabeel.  In  the 
third  mass  given  by  M.  Catafago,  referred  to  in  the  last 
note,  is  the  expression,  "  my  religion  is  Salsal." 

That  Salsal  is  only  another  expression  for  Salmon  is 
evident  from  the  connexion  in  which  it  is  always  used. 
Thus  in  one  passagef  is  the  expression,  "  0  God,  be  favour- 
able to  our  Lord  Mohammed  and  the  family  of  our  Lord 
Mohammed,  and  to  Salsal  and  the  family  of  Salsal,  the 
lamps  of  darkness  and  keys  of  language."  In  another 
passage^  it  is  said,  "May  God  cause  us  and  you,  0  brethren, 
to  drink  a  draught  from  the  palm  of  Salsal !  " 

D'Herbelot  says  of  Salman  §  :  "  Abu-Abdallah  Selman- 
il-Farsi  (called  also  Salman-al-Khair)  is  the  name  of  a 
freedman  of  Mohammed,  who  was  a  Persian  by  nation. 
It  is  said  that  he  was  a  Christian,  and  that  he  had  read 
the  Scriptures,  and  travelled  much;  however,  he  was  of 
the  first  and  most  considerable  of  the  Mussulmans,  so  that 
some  say  of  him  that  he  founded  Islamism.  Abu-Horairah, 
and  Anas  ibn-Malek,  two  persons  of  great  authority  in 
the  traditions  of  Mohammed,  received  them  from  Salman, 
and  Salman  immediately  from  Mohammed." 

Salman  was  in  great  honour  with  the  followers  of  Ali ; 
thus  Obeidallah,  the  first  of  the  Fatimite  caliphs,  is  ac- 
cused of  having  calumniated  the  companions  and  wives  of 
the  Prophet,  except  Ali,  son  of  Abu-Talib,  Ammar  ibn- 
Yasir,  Salman-il-Farsi,  Al  Mikdad  ibn-il-Aswad,  and  Abu- 
Durr-il-Gifari||;  the  two  last  being,  as  we  shall  hereafter 

♦  MS.  p.  45.  t  P-  138.  t  MS.  p.  134. 

§  Bibliot.  Orient,  article  Selman. 

II  Establishment  of  Fatimite  Dynasty  in  Africa  ;  El  Masudi,  (Nichol- 
son, Tubingen,  1840,)  p.  112. 


NAMES    OF   THE    BAB.  131 

see,  persons  conspicuous  in  the  Ansairee  system.  We 
have  seen,  too,  that  Sahnan-il-Farsi,  is  so  highly  respected 
among  the  Druses  that  he  is  made  the  person  in  whom 
Hamza  appeared  at  the  time  of  Mohammed.  Probably 
this  position  of  Salman  with  the  secret  sects  is  due  to 
some  traditional  account  of  his  friendship  with  Ali. 

We  have  seen  that  the  Bab  Salman  holds  an  inferior 
place  to  Mohammed  the  Ism,  and  that  Mohammed  is 
said  to  have  "created  the  Bab  by  the  command  of  his 
Lord,  the  End  and  Meaning  (Maana)*  ;  and  Salmon  calls 
Mohammed,  "  My  most  great  Lord."f 

Ali  is  spoken  of  as  the  "  reminder  of  Salsal  "  or  Sahnan, 
that  he  may  be  the  teacher  of  others.  Salman^s  position 
is  that  of  the  immediate  teacher  of  men,  being  a  guide  to 
the  apostlej,  or  ^lohammed,  who  again  communicates  be- 
tween Salman  and  Ali. 

We  have  already  given  the  names  of  the  Bab  §  at  the 
seven  great  manifestations  of  the  Deity.  As  in  the  case  of 
the  Ism  there  are  other  designations  given  to  it,  such  as 
the  "  universal  soul,"  the  Holy  Ghost,  Gabriel,  &c.||  One 
invocation  of  Ali  is  by  the  names  of  the  personifications  of 
the  Bab  in  the  Bahman  (Persian  word  for  king),  Domes, 
or  Periods.  Among  them  are  the  names  Fairooz,  Anu- 
shirwan,  Bahram,  Afridoon,  and  others  known  in  Persian 
history.  4 

Other  names  arc  given  of  the  Bab,  such  as  the  titles  of 
chapters  of  the  Koran,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Ism;  "  the 
faithful  soul,"  names  of  constellations,  Salsal,  Salsabeela, 
&c.**  But  of  these  and  other  names  of  the  Name  (such 
as  will,  knowledge,  power,  &c.  &c.),  and  of  the  Bab,  we 
have  had  already  more  than  enough. 

*  MS.  p.  111.     See  also  Catecli.  q.  11,  MS.  p.  91.  f  ^S-  P-  21. 

J  MS.  p.  38.     Catech.  q.  24—29. 
§  MS.  p.  73.     See  the  lines  quoted  above. 
II  MS.  p.  50.     Catech.  q.  31. 
\.  MS.  p.  50.  **  MS.  p.  45. 


132  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

In  theAnsairee  system,  Salmon  personifies  Zac^t  or  alms, 
as  we  have  seen  in  the  lines  we  have  already  quoted.  As 
Mohammed  was  the  same  person  with  Jesus,  &c.,  so  Sal- 
man with  Rozaba*  and  the  other  preceding  Doors. 

The  twelve  imams,  of  whom  Ali  is  the  first  and  chief, 
form  another  part  of  the  Ansairee  system.f  We  have  before 
seen  that  they  are  spoken  of  as  the  termination  of  the 
sixty-three  personifications  of  the  Name,  and  in  another 
passage  of  my  Ansairee  book  J,  it  is  said  :  "  Stablish  us  in 
obedience  to  Thee,  and  to  Thy  apostle  Mohammed,  and  to 
Thy  Walee§  Salsal,  and  to  Thy  Names  the  Imams,  who  are 
Thine ;  Thou  hast  named  Thyself  by  them, ;  they  are  not 
empty  of  Thee,  but  Thou  art  of  themT 

It  is  thus  evident  that  they  are  inferior  to  the  Maana, 
and,  when  mentioned,  they  are  represented  as  referring  to 
Ali  and  teaching  obedience  to  him,  and  as  authorities  for 
parts  of  the  Ansairee  religion,  of  which  Ali  is  the  great 
centre.  Thus  in  one  passage  of  my  MS.  Djaafar-is-Sadik 
(one  of  the  most  celebrated  of  the  imams,  and  one  who 
may  have  had  really  something  to  do  with  the  formation 
and  doctrines  of  the  secret  sects,)  is  made  to  say,  "  On  the 
naming  of  me  the  silence  of  the  speaker  is  required ;  and 
on  the  mention  of  God  silence  and  attention. "|| 

At  the  same  time  the  imams  are  spoken  of  with  great 
respect  as  divine  persons.  Thus,  on  a  certain  man  entering 
the  presence  of  Hassan  il  Askeree,  the  eleventh  imam, 
and  chief  authority  for  the  Ansairee  faith,  he  is  represented 
as  saying  that  he  found  him  "  sitting  on  a  throne  of  light, 
before  him  rays  of  light,  and  with  a  light  between  his 
eyes,  which  filled  the  east  and  west.  And  when  I  saw 
him  I  fell  on  my  face  in  adoration ;  then  I  raised  my  head 
and  stood  praising  and  thanking  my  Lord  ;  and  I  said  :  — 

•  MS.  p.  51.  t  MS.  p.  142.  %  MS.  p.  22. 

§  That  is  either  one  of  whom  God  takes  care,  or  who  is  obedient  to 
God. 

11  MS.  p.  179. 


THE   AYTAM.  133 

my  Lord  is  to  be  praised  and  is  holy;  our  Lord  is  the  Lord 
of  the  angels  and  of  the  spirit."* 

Djaafar-is-Sadik  is  often  spoken  off  as  an  authority  in 
matters  of  faith  and  practice.  So  Bakir-il-UlmJ,  or  Mo- 
liammed  the  father  of  Djaafar,  who  also,  as  a  great 
student,  may  have  had  to  do  with  the  system  of  allego- 
risation. 

Mohammed  "the  Hudjjah§,"  or  "Thy  Hudjjah||,"  or 
demonstration,  occupies  a  conspicuous  place  among  the 
twelve  imams  as  the  Mohdec,  who  is  to  come  "  to  make  of 
all  religions  one  sole  one|/'  before  the  appearance  of  Ali; 
who,  according  to  the  catechism,  is  to  appear  once  more, 
"  without  any  transformation,  asheis,in  pomp  and  glory."** 
This  man  is  said  by  the  Mussulmans  to  have  been  drowned 
in  the  Tigris  when  twelve  years  old,  and  his  tomb  is  shown  ; 
but  the  Imameeh  believe  that  he  entered  a  cave  (Sirdthab) 
and  only  disappeared  from  the  eyes  of  men,  to  appear  at 
the  appointed  time."ff 

To  each  of  these  imams,  or  Isms,  there  was  a  Bab,  and 
their  names  are  given  in  the  "  eleven  appearances,"  from 
Ali  to  Hassan  il  Askeree,  the  Bab  of  whom,  as  Ave  have 
seen,  was  Abu-Schuaib  ibn-Nusair,  the  Ansairee  apostle. 

Another  conspicuous  part  of  the  Ansairee  system  are 
the  Aytam.  These  are  the  second  of  seven  spiritual 
hierarchies,  of  which  the  Doors  are  the  first,  and  they  are 
generally  connected  with  the  Doors ;  though  the  series 
sometimes  commences  with  the  Names,  thus  J  J,  "  His 
Name,  His  Door,  His  Aytam,  and  the  people  of  His  holy 
hierarchies." 

The  word  Aytdm^  singular  Yateem,  properly  signifies 
orphans,  and  hence  those  disciples  who  have  lost  their 
master.     But  the  word  is  used  in  another  meaning,  as  in 

*  MS.  p.  119.  t  MS.  pp.  20,  163,  169.  Catecli.  9. 

t  MS.  p.  166.  §  MS.  p.  62.  ||  MS.  p.  64. 

4  Journ.  Asiat.  Feb.  1848.     Notice  on  Ansaireeh.         **  Q.  7. 
It  Abulfeda,  vol.  v.  p.  320  of  General  History.  JJ  MS.  p.  60. 

&  3 


134  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

the  expression  "  id-dura  il  yateeraa,"  the  priceless  pearl ; 
priceless  on  account  of  its  rarity ;  and  hence  the  word  is 
probably  used  in  the  Ansairee  system,  in  the  meaning, 
that  the  orphans  or  disciples  were  the  choice  spirits  of  their 
time. 

As  an  Ansairee  is  required  to  believe  in  the  chain  of 
divine  appearances  from  Abel  to  Ali,  and  in  the  chain  of 
imams,  from  the  first  Hassan  to  the  last,  so  is  he  to  believe 
that  there  always  have  existed  five  Aytam*  ;  five  being  the 
consecrated  number  in  this  case.  Niebuhr  gives  their 
names  at  the  seven  appearances  from  Abel  to  Ali,  and  they 
agree  most  remarkably  with  those  in  my  Ansairee  MS. ; 
there  being  only  such  discrepancies  as  may  be  accounted 
for  by  mistakes  made  in  expressing  the  Arabic  words  in 
French,  or  by  errors  of  the  Ansairee  copyists.  It  is  thus 
clear  that  the  Ansaireeh  of  to-day  have  a  certain  definite 
system. 

The  five  orphans  in  the  time  of  Adam,  when  Gabriel  was 
the  Door,  were  the  five  angels,  Michael,  Israfeel,  Azraeel, 
Malik,  and  Rudwan  f ,  and  these  are  the  types  of  the  suc- 
cessive appearances  of  the  Aytam.  Thus  it  is  said,  "  There 
are  no  angels  but  the  five  angels,  the  orphans."  | 

The  Ayt^ra  are  often  mentioned  in  the  different  books 
of  the  Ansaireeh  §,  generally  as  those  who  had  been  the 
disciples  of  the  Doors;  but  the  invocation  in  my  MS.||.  is 
by  the  twenty-five  names  of  the  orphans,  five  of  whom 
belonged  to  each  of  the  five  persons,  Salman,  Mohammed, 
our  Lord  Fatir  (Fatima),  and  our  lady  Umur  Salamah  (a 
wife  of  Mohammed),  and  our  lord  the  Ark  (which  is  the 
name  of  the  second  of  the  Doors,  in  the  time  of  the  eleven 
imams).  The  above  is  curious  because  it  introduces  women, 
namely,  Fatima  and   Umur  Salamah,  and  their  orphans, 

*  Niebuhr,  vol.  ii.  p.  360.  f  Niebuhr  and  MS.  p.  47. 

X  Third  Mass,  J.  Catafago. 

§  MS.  pp.  20,  25,  27,  121.     Catech.  q.  56—63.      Journ.  Asiat.  Feb. 
1848. 
II  P.  42.     See  also  Catech.  q.  70. 


THE   HIERARCHIES.  135 

who  are  all  women,  and,  as  we  shall  see,  women  have  no 
part  nor  lot  in  general  in  the  Ansairee  system,  so  that  tliey 
make  a  man  of  Fatima  by  clipping  her  name  and  calling 
her  "lord." 

In  one  passage  *,  the  five  orphans  seem  referred  to  as 
the  "five  luminous  bodies;"  and,  as  we  have  seen,  they 
form  part  of  seven  hierarchies  in  the  world  of  light,  whose 
names  we  have  already  mentioned,  and  of  which  we  will 
again  speak  shortly. 

It  is  reported  of  Mohammed  f,  that  he  declared  that 
"  when  a  congregation  of  true  believers  assembled  in  the 
east,  west,  north,  or  south  of  the  earth,  and  made  mention 
of  God  most  high.  His  Name,  His  Door,  His  Orphans,  His 
Nakeebs,  Nadjeebs,  Mukhtassen,  Mukhliseen,  Mumtaha- 
neen,  and  all  the  people  of  His  hierarchies,  there  was  a 
crier  from  above,  who  proclaimed,  *  Rise,  with  your  sins 
forgiven  you,  and  your  ill  deeds  changed  into  good  ones.'  " 

We  have  already  spoken  of  these  hierarchies  and  their 
numbers,  and  of  the  earthly  degrees  of  the  "  honourable 
species," — the  choice  believers.  The  Ansairee  writer  not 
only  makes  addition  sums  of  the  numbers  of  these  spi- 
ritual and  earthly  degrees — 119,000  and  5000  respectively, 
— but  takes  the  trouble  also  to  add  together  the  respective 
sums,  and  gives  the  sum  total  as  124,000.  To  such  a 
height  of  grave  absurdity  may  false  teaching  come !  The 
most  absurd  names  are  given  for  the  forty-nine  degrees  of 
the  spiritual  hierarchies,  for  which  I  will  refer  the  curious 
reader  to  my  note  on  questions  56 — 65  of  the  catechism. 

Besides  all  these  hierarchies,  an  Ansaireeh  is  required  to 
honour  certain  apostles,  prophets,  and  great  men. 

For  instance,  seventeen  prophesiers  who  appeared  in 
this  (last)  Dome,  under  the  covenant  of  Lord  Mohammed, 
the  greatest  of  whom  is  TeidJ,  Mohammed's  freedman. 
Also  twenty-eight  Nadjeebs,  excellent  ones,  of  whom  the 

*  P.  68. 

f  MS.  p.  121.     Part  of  these  words  are  from  a  Mussulman  tradition. 

%  MS.,  p.  33.     Catech.  q.  69. 

K  4 


136  THE    ASIAN  MYSTEEY. 

greatest  is  Abdallah  ibn-Saba,  he  who  maintained  the 
divinity  of  Ali  during  his  lifetime* ;  his  name  being  con- 
sequently mentioned  in  my  MS.  (p.  152)  alone  and  con- 
spicuously. 

There  are  many  other  illustrious  characters,  such  as 
Djaafar  Tayyar,  called  Bab  or  Doorf ,  and  Malik  or  kingj, 
a  brother  of  Ali,  whose  tomb  or  visiting-place  is  at  the 
top  of  the  highest  part  of  the  Ansairee  range,  and  is  held 
in  special  reverence  by  the  people  of  my  own  district. 

The  famous  Khadi-il-Akhdar§,  or  the  "  green  "  green, 
because  of  his  sempiternal  youth,  and  his  having  made  a 
rod  to  bud,  is  also  in  great  favour  with  the  Ansaireeh. 

The  four  brothers  of  Ali,  that  they  may  not  be  without 
designation,  are  called  the  four  supports  of  the  house  (the 
temple  at  Mecca,  spiritually  taken),  and  even  Matthew, 
Paul,  Peter  (called  Butmus,  in  mistake  for  Butrus,  his 
usual  Arabic  name),  and  St.  John  Chrysostom  (!)  have  a 
place  in  the  system  as  orphans  of  Rozaba||,  the  Door  in  the 
time  of  Jesus,  when  Peter,  under  his  other  name  of 
Shamoon  Safa  (Simon  Cephas)  was  the  Maana,  or  human 
form  of  the  Deity. 

We  have  spoken  already  of  the  Ansairee  sign  A.  M.  S., 
by  which  they  represent  their  Trinity,  and  which  is  styled 
their  "  Uddal "  or  "  arms."  It  often  occurs  in  their 
writings  |,  and  on  page  68  of  my  MS.  Ali  is  invoked  "by 
the  truth  of  the  A  of  Ali,  the  M  of  Mohammed,  and  the  S 
of  Salsal." 

The  Ansaireeh  suppose  that  there  were  five  "worlds," 
that  is  ages,  before  that  of  man,  and  that  during  them  the 
world  was  successively  inhabited  by  five  kinds  of  beings, 
worshippers  of  Ali,  called  the  Djann,  the  Bann,  the  Turam, 
the  Ramm,  and  the  Djan  (!).** 

*  MS.  p.  37.     Catecli.  q.  66.  t  MS.  p.  41. 

t  MS.  p.  107.  §  MS.  p.  107. 

II  MS.  p.  48.  Catech.  q.  29.  Victor  Langlois,  Revue  d'Orient. 
!Niebuhr. 

I  MS.  pp.  25,  68,  137,  161.     Victor  Langlois.     Catccli.  q.  74. 
♦*  MS.  p.  80.     Catecli.  q.  52. 


REVERENCE   FOR   LIGHT.  137 

Another  main  fact  of  the  Ansairee  system  is  taken  from 
that  of  the  Hindoos,  the  Sabians,  and  the  Magians.  It  is 
the  respect  paid  to  light,  and  the  belief  in  spiritual,  higher, 
luminous  worlds. 

The  Ansaireeh  seem  to  suppose  that  the  divine  essence 
is  identical  with  light,  or,  if  not  so,  that  it  is  symbolised 
by  it.  The  letters  K.  N.  represent  the  word  "  be  "  in 
Arabic,  and  since  this  word  was  used  in  the  creation  of 
light,  light  is  called  the  secret  of  God  which  is  concealed 
between  the  K  and  the  N.* 

In  the  description  of  the  merits  of  the  feast  of  Nurooz, 
given  by  M.  Catafagof ,  there  are  these  remarkable  words. 
In  speaking  of  the  manifestations  of  the  Deity  among  the 
Arabs  and  Persians,  it  is  said :  "  The  Lord,  on  leaving  the 
Persians,  deposited  his  wisdom  with  them.  He  left  them 
well  contented  with  them,  and  promised  to  return  to 
them.  It  is  He  himself  who  says :  *  The  most  High  had 
deposited  his  mystery  with  you  Arabs,  and  it  was  among 
you  that  He  manifested  a  great  work.  He  destined  you 
for  its  reception,  but  you  have  lost  it,  while  the  Persians 
have  preserved  it,  even  after  His  disappearance  by  the 
means  of  fire  and  light,  in  which  He  manifested  Himself.'  '^ 
Allusion  is  then  made  to  Moses  seeing  the  burning  bush, 
and  not  being  allowed  to  approach,  to  show  the  sacredness 
of  fire.  And  then,  it  is  added,  "  We  read  in  the  treatise 
of  Fukh  :  '  The  Persians  have  consecrated  fire,  from  which 
they  await  the  manifestation  of  the  Deity.  And,  in  fact, 
the  manifestation  will  take  place  among  them,  for  they 
cease  not  to  keep  lighted  the  fire,  from  which  they  look 
for  this  same  manifestation,  and  the  accomplishment  of  the 
promises  of  the  Deity  in  that  event.'  " 

The  wild  conceits  to  be  found  in  the  passage  from  which 
I  have  taken  the  above  are  probably  due  to  some  Persian, 
and,  in  fact,  one  of  the  divisions  of  the  book  where  it  is  to 

*  MS.  p.  35,  and  Catech.  q.  92. 
t  Journ.  Asiat.  Feb.  1848. 


138  THE   ASIAN  MYSTERY. 

be  found  is  styled  "  The  traditionary  sayings  of  Abu-Ali 
of  Busra,  in  his  dwelling  in  Shiraz,  in  the  year  of  the 
Hijra327  (a.  d.  938). 

From  this  reverence  for  light,  since  the  sun  is  the  light 
of  lights*,  Ali  is  supposed  to  reside  in  the  sun  f  and  in  the 
eyes  of  the  sun  J,  from  which  he  is  said  to  appear  §  ;  and 
when  they  pray,  according  to  the  Ansairee  catechism||, 
they  turn  their  faces  towards  the  sun. 

Tlie  Jesuit  missionaries  observe :  "  AVhen  the  Ansaireeh 
are  at  their  prayers,  they  turn  themselves  towards  the 
sun  ;  which  has  led  some  to  say  that  they  adore  the  sun ; 
but  on  this  point  they  are  not  agreed."  .j. 

And  this  leads  me  to  refer  again  to  what  I  have  alluded 
to  in  the  opening  chapter  of  this  book,  that  the  Ansaireeh 
are  divided  into  two  sects,  called  respectively  Shemseeh  and 
Kumreeh,  from  "  shems,"  the  sun,  and  *^  kumr,"  the  moon. 
One  of  the  great  distinctions  between  them,  as  one  might 
infer  from  their  name,  is  the  different  degrees  of  respect 
which  they  pay  to  these  luminaries.  But  they  have  other 
distinctions,  and  the  people  of  one  sect  do  not  learn  of  the 
.sheikhs  of  the  other.  However,  the  Bagdad  sheikh  and 
others  have  before  me  smoothed  over  these  differences, 
saying  that  their  belief  was  the  same,  and  that  they  were 
only  two  sects ^  not  of  two  religions.  The  book  which  I 
have  is  of  the  Shemseeh  sect,  as  also  those  Ansairee  books 
appear  to  be  which  have  been  hitherto  published.  The 
Shemseeh  seem  to  be  the  oldest  and  are  the  strictest 
sect. 

With  respect  to  the  sun  and  moon,  I  have  often  heard 
the  Kumreeh  say  of  the  Shemseeh,  in  contempt,  "  they  do 


♦  Catech.  q.  95. 

t  Niebulir's  Ansairee  book.      Druse   book  against  Nusaireeh.    De 
Sacy. 
X  Catech.  q.  82. 

§  MS.  p.  110,  and  Niebuhr.  ||  Q.  95. 

I  Lcttres  Edifiantes  et  Curieuses,  vol  i.  pp.  361 — 364. 


BELIEF   IN   METEMPSYCHOSIS.  139 

not  love  the  moon."  Once  my  Christian  ploughman  was 
working  with  some  of  the  Kumreeh,  when  some  men  of 
the  Shemseeh  came  up  and  began  arguing  with  the 
Kumreeh  on  the  points  of  difference  between  them,  and 
let  in  light  on  them  by  the  dispute ;  for  in  the  heat  of 
argument  the  Shemseeh  champions  appealed  to  my  servant 
and  said,  "  Is  it  right  to  worship  the  creature?  Should  not 
one  worship  the  Creator  only?"  basing  their  argument 
on  the  words  of  the  Koran  (c.  41,  v.  37):  "Worship  not 
the  moon  nor  the  sun,  but  worship  God  who  created  them; " 
which  passage  the  Kumreeh  allegorise  and  explain  away. 
It  is  evident  from  their  books  that  the  Shemseeh  reverence 
the  sun,  though  they  do  not  worship  it ;  while  it  is  certain 
that  the  Kumreeh  go  very  far  in  their  respect  for  both 
sun  and  moon,  especially  the  latter.  In  fact,  the  Ansairee 
lad  tells  me  that  his  people,  who  are  of  the  Kumreeh  sect, 
are  extremely  "  afraid  "  of  the  sun  and  moon,  and  pray  to 
them.  He  says,  also,  that  it  is  a  common  thing  for  the 
women  and  children  to  speak  of  the  moon  (which  probably 
looks  the  greatest  to  them),  as  the  face  of  Ali,  and  the 
sun,  as  that  of  Mohammed. 

It  is  from  this  reverence  for  light  that  spiritual  person- 
ages are  symbolised  by  such  things  as  the  twenty-eight 
mansions  of  the  moon.* 

Among  many  worlds  which  are  said  to  be  known  to 
God  alone,  and  which  form  the  higher  and  lower  worlds  f, 
are  two  others,  the  great  and  the  little  world  J ;  the 
luminous  world  or  great  world  of  light,  and  the  earthly 
wo  rid.  §  For  this  notion  they  are  ultimately  indebted  to 
the  Hindoo  philosophy. 

We  now  come  to  a  more  practical  part  of  the  religion  of 
the  Ansaireeh  —  their  belief  in  metempsychosis,  or  the 
transmigration  of  souls.  This  doctrine  was  adopted  from 
the  early  religions  of  the  East,  by  all  the  secret  sects, 

*  MS.  p.  37.  t  MS.  p.II2. 

X  MS.  p.  64.  §  Catech.  q.  53—55. 


140  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 


Al  Mokannaa  being  one  of  the  earliest  who  is  said  to  have 
taught  it.  The  Ansaireeh  held  it  from  the  first,  and 
Hamza,  the  Druse  author,  directs  his  anathemas  against 
them,  because  they  carry  the  doctrine  to  such  an  extent  as 
to  say  "  that  the  souls  of  the  enemies  of  Ali  will  pass  into 
dogs,  and  other  unclean  brute  animals,  till  they  enter  fire, 
to  be  burnt  and  beaten  under  the  hammer."  After 
refuting  this  doctrine  of  transmigration  into  animals,  he 
concludes,  "  and  whoever  believes  in  metempsychosis,  like 
the  Ansaireeh,  the  followers  of  the  Maana,  in  the  person 
of  Ali  son  of  Abu-Taleb,  and  who  stands  up  for  it, 
suffers  the  loss  both  of  this  world  and  the  next."  * 

Metempsychosis,  which  is  called  by  Mussulman  authors, 
Tanasukh,  is  termed  by  the  Ansaireeh  Taknees,  or 
Tadjaiyul,  that  is  the  coming  in  successive  *'djeels"  or 
generations.  The  Jesuit  missionaries  say  on  this  point: 
"  The  Ansaireeh  further  admit  the  metempsychosis,  and 
say  that  the  same  soul  passes  from  one  body  into  another, 
as  many  as  seventy  times ;  but  with  this  difference,  that 
the  soul  of  a  good  man  enters  into  a  body  more  perfect 
than  his  own,  and  the  soul  of  a  vicious  man  passes  into  the 
body  of  an  unclean  animal."  f 

Niebuhr  says :  "  The  soul  of  a  devout  Ansairee  can 
enter  into  Paradise,  after  it  has  been  in  only  a  small 
number  of  Hembden  (?)  (bodies),  but  the  soul  of  another 
must  have  dwelt  in  eighty  Hembden  (which  is  what  they 
term  hell).  The  souls  of  infidels  must  pass  through  five 
frightful  degrees,  Fesgh,  Nesgh,  Mesgh,  Wesgh,  and  Resgh, 
and  after  that  they  must  remain  in  the  world  as  sheep, 
till  the  return  of  Soolra  (Zahrah)  or  Fatima."  J 

With  respect  to  the  number  of  transmigrations,  I  have 
heard  from  the  people  themselves  the  same  number  men- 
tioned as  by  Niebuhr,  while  sheikhs  have  to  pass  through 
but  few  bodies.    I  have  often  heard  them,  when  the  jackals 

*  Dc  Sacy,  vol.  ii.  p.  579. 

t  Lettres  Edif.  et  Cur.  vol.  i.  pp.  361—364. 

j  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  360. 


I 


BELIEF    IN   METEMPSYCHOSIS.  141 

began  to  cry  towards  dusk,  laugh  and  say  :  "  Those  are  the 
Mussuhnans  calling  to  afternoon  prayer ;  for  the  souls  of 
Mussulmans  pass  into  jackals." 

Ish-Sharestanee  *  mentions  the  names  of  four  degrees 
of  transmigration,  called  respectively  Faskh,  Naskh,  Maskh, 
and  Raskb,  which  are  like  the  names  quoted  by  Niebuhr 
from  his  Ansairee  book. 

When  the  disciple  is  initiated,  one  .of  the  threats,  if  he 
shall  reveal  the  Ansairee  secrets,  is,  that  he  will  thereby 
"  merit  il  Musookheyal  (the  being  turned  into  dreadful 
forms),  and  the  walking  in  low  envelopes  (kamees)."  f 
And  if  "  he  shall  doubt  of  the  truth  of  his  religion,  he  will 
be  turned  into  horrid  forms,  and  be  caused  to  transmigrate 
again  and  again,  and  be  tortured  in  various  revolutions."  J 
The  terms  used  here  are  "  kaur  "  and  "daur,"  which  are  also 
used  by  the  Druses.  Thus,  the  title  of  Hamza's  book 
against  the  Ansaireeh  is :  "  The  epistle  destroying  the 
wicked  one ;  the  reply  to  the  Nusairee ;  may  the  Lord 
curse  him  in  every  kaur  and  daur!"  Which  De  Sacy§ 
translates,  *'  En  tons  les  tems  et  dans  tons  les  ages  ;"  kaur 
and  daur  referring  to  returns  into  the  world,  and  the  re- 
volutions of  time,  and  being  used  with  respect  to  the 
appearances  of  Ali  in  human  form,  as  in  Adam,  in  his 
kaurs  and  daurs.  || 

The  word  kamees  (shirt  or  envelope)  we  have  already 
referred  to  as  used  by  the  Druses  and  Ansaireeh,  to  signify 
the  body,  as  the  envelope  of  the  spirit,  the  only  worthy  part 
of  man.  Thus,  in  one  passage  of  my  MS4  it  is  said: 
*'  Remember  God  with  a  due  remembrance,  and  remember 
His  name,  and  His  door,  and  His  orphans,  and  all  the 
people  of  his  hierarchies,  that  they  may  release  you  from 
your  graves,  and  the  envelopes  of  flesh  and  blood  in  which 
you  now  are." 

The  invocations  in  my  MS.  are,  consequently,  prayers 

*  Milah  wa  Nahal.        .      f  ^^S.  p.  165.  J  MS.  p.  166. 

§  Vol.  i.  p.  471.  II  MS.  p.  8.  ;  P.  21. 


142  THE   ASIAN   IVnrSTERY. 

for  the  souls  of  the  "brethren,"  that  they  may  be  de- 
livered from  Radd  and  Takrar  *,  i.e.  from  frequent  trans- 
migrations, over  which  Ali  is  said  to  have  the  power: 
and  the  sheikh  who  was  the  transcriber  of  my  MS.  re- 
presents himself  as  hoping  for  deliverance  from  these.  In 
fact  the  great  fear  of  the  Ansaireeh  is  of  coming  again 
into  the  world  in  a  state  of  misery.  Though  they  speak 
of  Wukoof  f ,  or  standing  before  Ali,  and  pray  that  it  may 
be  happy,  and'also  sometimes  speak  of  a  certain  last  judg- 
ment, yet  it  presents  to  their  minds  a  different  and  far  less 
influential  idea  than  to  those  who,  as  Christians  and  Mus- 
sulmans, believe  that  it  will  finally  settle  the  state  of  all, 
according  to  their  actions  in  this  world. 

With  respect  to  the  state  of  perfect  souls,  we  must  first 
remark  that  the  Ansaireeh  believe  that  souls  are  but  parts 
of  the  divine  essence  J,  or  at  least  of  the  essence  of  light, 
and  hence  they  think  that  the  stars  are  perfected  souls, 
and  that  "  every' Nusairee,  after  he  has  become  purified,  in 
passing  through  different  revolutions,  by  returning  into 
the  world  and  reassuming  the  dress  of  humanity,  becomes 
after  this  purification  a  star  in  heaven,  which  was  its 
first  centre."  §  Hence  the  prayer  that  Ali  would  clothe 
the  brethren  in  envelopes  of  light.  || 

There  are  two  questions  in  the  catechism  bearing  on 
this  subject.^  "  Where  do  the  souls  of  your  brethren,  the 
true  believers,  go  when  they  leave  their  graves  ?  "  Answer  : 
"  To  the  great  world  of  light." — "  What  will  happen  to 
the  godless  and  polytheists  ?  "  Answer  :  "  They  will  have 
all  torments  to  suffer  in  all  ages." 

The  Ansaireeh  often  support  their  belief  in  transmi- 
gration by  a  quotation  from  the  Koran  ** :  "  There  is  no 
kind  of  beast  on  earth,  nor  fowl  which  flieth  with  its 
wings,  but  the  same  is  a  people  like  unto  you  ;   we  have 

♦  MS.  p.  76.  t  P-  114. 

i  Journ.  Asiat.  Feb.  1848. 

§   Sec  Druse  writing  quoted  by  Dc  Sacy,-vol.  ii.  p.  260. 

II  MS.  p.  107.  4  Q.  80,  81.  *♦  Chap.  vi.  v.  38. 


DAY    OF   JUDGMENT.  143 

not  omitted  anytliinf]:  in  the  book  of  our  decrees  :   tlien 
unto  their  Lord  shall  they  return." 

I  have  said  that  the  Ansaireeh  do  speak  of  a  Day  of 
Judgment.*  They  also  use  the  term  Resurrection.  This 
word  is  coupled  with  the  former  in  my  Ansairee  MS. ;  and 
in  the  book  of  festivals  f  Iblees  is  said  to  have  asked  for 
the  putting  off  of  his  punishment  till  the  "  day  of  resur- 
rection," but  that  a  **  shorter  period  had  been  granted 
him,  only  to  the  day  of  the  arrival  of  the  Mohdi,  who 
is  to  punish  the  infidels,  and  make  all  religions  merge  in 
one." 

It  seems  from  the  above  that  the  Ansaireeh  expect  first 
a  kind  of  millennium  in  the  world,  and  then  the  final  set- 
tlement of  all  things,  which  they  speak  of  under  the  terms 
"Day  of  Judgment "  and  "Resurrection,"  which  terms 
with  them  have  only  an  allegorical  meaning. 

Burckhardt  says  that  the  Ansaireeh  "  have  the  curious 
belief  that  the  soul  ought  to  quit  the  dying  person's  bod}* 
by  the  mouth  ;  and  they  are  extremely  cautious  against  any 
accident  which  they  imagine  may  prevent  it  taking  that 
road  :  for  this  reason,  whenever  the  government  of  La- 
dikeeh  or  Tripoli  condemns  an  Ansairee  to  death,  his  rela- 
tions offer  considerable  sums  that  he  may  be  impaled 
instead  of  hanged.  I  can  vouch  for  the  truth  of  this  be- 
lief." %  At  all  events,  it  is  certain  that  not  long  ago  An- 
saireeh were  frequently  impaled. 

I  have  often  seen  in  the  houses  of  the  Ansaireeh  two 
holes  over  the  door,  in  order  that  the  departed  spirit  on 
leaving  the  body  may  not  have  to  meet  an  evil  spirit  who 
might  by  chance  be  moving  in  through  a  single  orifice. 

There  are  things  which  tend  to  confirm  the  Ansaireeh 
in  this  belief  in  transmigration.  I  suppose  most  people 
have  at  several  periods  of  their  life  been  surrounded  by 
circumstances  which  have  partially  recalled  former  events, 


*  MS.  p.  178.  t  Journ.  Asiat.  Feb.  1848,  p.  166. 

X  Burckhardt,  Travels  in  Syria,  p.  156. 


144  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

SO  that  for  a  moment  they  seem  doing  precisely  the  sam.e 
thing,  or  talking  with  the  same  person,  as  at  a  certain  time 
past.  Now,  it  is  a  usual  thing  for  some  of  the  Ansaireeh 
to  fancy  this,  and  that  therefore  they  have  already  existed 
in  a  former  generation.  And  lying  comes  in  to  help  fancy. 
It  is  often  reported  that  at  such  and  such  a  day  and  hour 
a  person  died  in  one  village,  and  another  was  born  at 
another  place,  and  that  this  latter  on  growing  up  could 
remember  distinctly  what  he  did  before  he  died,  when  in 
the  form  of  the  man  who  deceased  on  the  day  of  his  birth. 
I  have  heard  of  one  Christian  woman  who  pretends  that 
she  was  an  Ansairee  in  a  former  age,  and  professes  to 
describe  what  she  then  did ;  and  of  another  woman  who 
pretends  that  she  has  already  been  in  seven  forms.  It  is 
further  asserted  that  she  went  to  a  village  where  she  had 
lived  in  a  previous  state,  and  showed  the  people  where  they 
could  find  water  by  digging;  and  that  on  digging  the 
water  was  found.  One  man,  who  is  a  curer  of  serpent 
bites,  gravely  sp'eaks  of  having  been  so  in  all  former 
generations.*  It  is  by  these  lies  that  argument  is  stopped  ; 
for,  as  I  have  often  assured  the  people,  though  great  liars 
they  will  believe  any  lie,  but  disbelieve  any  one  when  he 
tells  the  truth.  It  is  a  common  thing  to  suppose  that  a 
Frank  traveller  is  looking  after  treasures  hidden  when  he 
and  his  ancestors  were  in  the  country. 

The  Ansaireeh  not  ordy  acknowledge  the  Tawrah  (Old 
Testament  or  Law),  Andjeel  (Gospel),  Zuboor  (Psalms), 
and  Koran,  but  speak  in  all  of  114  books f,  among  which 
they  include  those  of  "  Seth,  Idrees  (Enoch),  Noah,  and 
Abraham,  in  the  Syriac."  J  In  this  they  exceed  the  Mus- 
sulman calculation,  who  reckon  only  104,  of  which  ten 
were  sent  down  to  Adam,  fifty  to  Seth,  thirty  to  Idrees,  and 

*  When  it  is  asked  why  all  souls  do  not  remember  what  happened  to 
them  in  a  former  state,  the  answer  is,  because  some  arc  plunged  in 
Jordan  up  to  their  necks,  and  consequently  forget  their  previous  condi- 
tion. 

t  MS.  p.  40.     Catech.  q.  71.  J  MS.  p.  85. 


ANSAIREE   BOOKS.  145 

ten  to  Abraham.*  These  books  were  appealed  to  by  the 
Sabiansf  ;  and  a  book  attributed  to  Enoch  is  still  to  be 
found,  and  has  been  translated  in  England.  The  Mussul- 
mans have  an  apocryphal  gospel  of  St.  Barnabas  J  ;  and  I 
have  seen  portions  of  an  apocryphal  gospel  among  the 
Ansaireeh.§ 

Before  I  conclude  this  chapter  I  will  refer  to  a  few 
accounts  of  the  Ansairee  religion,  given  by  various  authors 
of  very  early  dates,  to  show  that  the  Ansairee  religion  is 
pretty  well  now  what  it  always  was.  But  first  I  would 
account  for  this  by  mentioning  that  the  Ansairech  have 
some  books  in  their  possession  ;  though  the  late  Dr.  Eli 
Smith  did  not  think  they  had  many,  as  an  early  Druse 
author  asserts  that  they  had  in  his  time.  Several  are 
alluded  to  in  my  Ansairee  MS.,  some  of  which  at  least 
have  not  yet  fallen  into  the  hands  of  Europeans.  A  cer- 
tain AboO'Saeed  was  one  of  their  chief  authors,  and  two 
books  of  his,  "  Ir-Radd  Ala-il-Murtadd  ||  "  and  "II  Kitab- 
il-Hawi  Ala  Ulm-il-Fetawi|,"  are  mentioned  in  the  body  of 
my  MS.,  and  their  names  entered  on  a  fly-leaf,  as  if  the 
owner  had  made  a  note  of  them,  that  he  might  remember  to 
obtain  copies.  These  same  books  have  their  titles  given 
by  Dr.  Wolff  in  the  Journal  of  the  German  Oriental 
Society**,  apparently  as  referred  to  in  the  Ansairee  cate- 
chism ;  as  also  another  of  the  same  author,  which  is 
described  by  M.  Catafago  in  the  Journal  Asiatique.ff 

Another  author  is  the  apostle  II  Khaseebee,  one  of  whose 
treatises  bears  a  Persian  name,  Rastabasheyeh,  of  which, 
as  far  as  I  can  make  out,  the  meaning  is,  "  Cliiefs  of  a 
Series;"  and  it  is  in  such  honour  as  to  be  mentioned  more 
than  once  in  my  MS.,  Ali  being  invoked  by  the  truth  of 

*  Taylor,  p.  105.     Sale's  Introd.  to  Koran,  p.  52. 
■f  Gibbon,  ch.  iv.  J  Sale,  p.  53. 

§  Ansaireeh  and  Ismaeleeh,  p.  138.  ||  Answer  to  the  Backslider 

4  Book  containing  the  knowledge  of  the  Fetwas,  or  decisions  of 
doctors  of  religion. 

**  Vol.  iii.  p.  302,  &c.  at  end.  ft  Feb.  1848. 

L 


146  THE   ASIAN  MYSTERY. 

it.*  Many  Khutbehs  of  Ali  are  referred  to,  but  apparently 
all  are  not  in  writing ;  for,  in  one  instance,  a  saying  is 
quoted  from  "  Khubbat-il-Cashf,  and  some  say  Khubbat-il- 
Bayan,"  as  if  the  tradition  were  merely  oral.  Another 
book,  11  Hadayah,  the  title  of  which  is  given  by  Dr.  Wolff, 
is  also  mentioned  in  my  MS.f  as  written  by  11  Khaseebee. 

The  various  MSS.  that  have  fallen  into  the  hands  of 
Europeans  show  that  there  are  books  among  the  An- 
saireeh,  and  that  these,  moreover,  agree  in  all  main 
points.  There  is,  as  might  be  expected  from  the  present 
state  of  the  people,  an  utter  want  among  them  of  gram- 
matical knowledge,  and  accordingly  their  books  are  full 
of  mistakes,  some  of  which  have  probably  crept  in  as 
each  successive  copy  was  made ;  but  they  are  in  general 
capable  of  explanation,  and  after  a  little  practice,  and 
knowledge  of  the  present  language  of  the  people,  easily 
rectified. 

We  proceedto  give  some  statements  with  respect  to  the 
Ansaireeh  of  old. 

Abulfaradj  (a.d.  1226— -1286)  says  of  them  {:—"  Among 
the  extravagant  sects  of  the  Schiites  are  the  Nusaireeh, 
who  saj  that  God  Most  High  appeared  in  the  form  of  Ali, 
and  spoke  by  his  tongue  with  reference  to  the  inner  mean- 
ing of  mysteries ! " 

D'Herbelot,  who  drew  his  materials  from  various  Oriental 
sources,  says  of  the  Nossairnoun  § : — "  This  also  is  the  name 
of  a  particular  sect  of  the  Schiites,  or  followers  of  Ali 
among  the  Mussulmans,  who  believe  that  the  divinity 
joined  and  united  itself  to  certain  of  their  prophets, 
and  particularly  to  Ali,  and  to  Mohammed  son  of  Hanifieh, 
one  of  his  children.  For  the  people  of  this  sect  believe 
that  the  divinity  can  unite  itself  bodily  with  men  and 
human  nature,  equally  as  with  the  Deity.  This  doc- 
trine is  reprobated  by  Mussulman  authors,  who  reproach 
the  Ansaireeh   with    having    drawn    it    from   the    books 

*  r.  17.         t  P-  84.         I  Hist.  Dynast,  p.  169.  §  Bibl.  Orient. 


RELIGION   NOW   WHAT   IT   WAS.  147 

of  the  Christians."  As  to  what  he  says  of  Mohammed 
son  of  Hanafeyeh,  he  was  probably  led  astray  by  the 
supposed  quotation  from  a  Karmatian  book  ascribed  by 
Abulfaraj  to  the  founder  of  the  Ansaireeh. 

Sharestani  (quoted  by  Pococke)  *  says  of  the  Ansaireeh, 
that  they  hold  "  a  spiritual  appearance  in  a  material 
body ; "  and  assert  that  '*  God  Most  High  appeared  in  the 
form  of  persons ;  and  since,  after  the  apostle  of  God,  there 
is  no  person  more  illustrious  than  Ali,  and  after  him  his 
sons,  the  chief  of  mortals,  therefore  the  Truth  appeared  in 
their  form,  and  spake  by  their  tongue,  and  handled  with 
their  hands,  and  for  this  they  ascribed  divinity  to  them." 
They  also  narrated  many  miracles  of  Ali ;  among  others, 
that  he  removed  the  gates  of  Khaibar  (as  the  Ansaireeh 
often  mention  in  the  present  day),  and  that  "  to  prove 
that  a  particle  of  Deity  and  almighty  power  resided  in 
him." 

They  also  said  that  not  only  did  God  appear  as  above  in 
the  form  of  Ali,  "  but  that  he  (Ali)  existed  before  the 
creation  of  heaven  and  earth,"  which  is  similar  to  the 
belief  of  the  Druses  with  respect  to  the  preexistence  of 
the  humanity  of  Hakem. 

I  will  close  my  list  of  citations,  in  proof  of  my  asser- 
tion that  the  Ansairee  religion  of  to-day  is  what  it  always 
was,  with  the  following  passage  from  an  early  Druse 
writer.  In  the  Druse  catechism  is  this  question  f  :  "  How 
have  the  Nusaireeh  separated  themselves  from  the  Uni- 
tarians, and  abandoned  the  Unitarian  religion  ?  "  Answer: 
''  They  have  separated  themselves  in  following  the  teach- 
ing of  Nusair,  who  said  that  he  was  the  servant  of  our 
Lord,  the  prince  of  true  believers ;  who  denied  the  divinity 
of  our  Lord  Hakem,  and  made  profession  of  believing  in 
the  divinity  of  Ali,  son  of  Abu-Taleb.  He  said  also  that 
the   Deity  had   manifested   himself   successively   in    the 

*  Spec.  Hist.  Arab.  p.  261  :  ed.  White,  Oxf.  1806. 
t  Question  44.     See  De  Lacy,  vol.  ii.  p.  260. 
L  2 


148  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

twelve  imams  of  the  family  of  the  prophet ;  that  he  had 
disappeared,  after  having  manifested  himself  in  Mohammed 
the  Mohdi,  the  Kaim  (the  twelfth  and  last  imam) ;  that 
he  had  concealed  himself  in  heaven  ;  and  that,  being  en- 
veloped in  a  blue  mantle,  he  had  fixed  his  abode  in  the 
sun.  He  said,  also,  that  every  Ansaireeh,  when  he  had 
been  sufficiently  purified  in  passing  through  difi'erent 
revolutions,  by  returning  into  the  world  and  reassuming 
the  garment  of  humanity,  became  after  that  purification  a 
star  in  heaven,  which  was  his  first  centre.  If,  on  the 
contrary,  he  had  rendered  himself  guilty  of  sin  by  trans- 
gressing the  commandments  of  AH,  son  of  Abu-Taleb, 
the  supreme  lord,  he  returned  into  the  world  as  Jew, 
Mussulman  Sunnee,  or  Christian,  which  return  would  be 
reiterated  till  he  had  become  purified  like  silver  purified 
by  lead,  and  that  then  he  would  become  a  star  in  heaven. 
As  to  infidels,  who  do  not  adore  Ali,  son  of  Abu-Taleb, 
they  will  become  camels,  mules,  donkeys,  dogs,  sheep 
destined  for  slaughter,  and  other  similar  things.  They 
have  many  other  dogmas,  and  a  great- number  of  impious 
books,  which  treat  of  like  matters." 


149 


CHAP.   VL 

RELIGIOUS   SYSTEM   OF   THE    ANSAIREEH. 

II.  Practice  or  Ceremonies. 

The  prayers  of  the  Ansaireeh  are  rather  invocations  than 
petitions.  An  instance  here  taken  at  random  from  my 
MS.  is  a  type  of  all  the  others :  *  —  "In  the  name 
of  God,  the  compassionate,  the  merciful.  The  words  of 
the  Most  High.  He  has  said :  Never  do  my  friends  sit 
together,  and  make  mention  of  me,  but  my  mercy  covers 
them,  and  I  make  mention  of  them  to  those  with  me; 
therefore  frequently  make  mention  of  me,  for  the  mention 
of  me  obliterates  faults,  and  it  is  a  remembrance  to  those 
who  make  mention.  0  God,  I  ask  thee,  my  Lord,  by  the 
truth  of  this  section  of  making  mention,  and  by  the  truth 
of  thy  shining  grace,  and  by  the  truth  of  thy  soul  that 
gives  commands,  and  by  the  truth  of  thy  overcoming 
power,  and  by  the  truth  of  thy  seeing  eye,  and  by  the 
truth  of  thy  noted  demonstration,  and  by  the  truth  of 
thy  overflowing  seas,  and  by  the  truth  of  thy  sounding 
thunders,  and  by  the  truth  of  thy  rainy  clouds,  and  by 
the  truth  of  the  preeminence  of  thy  strength  and  the 
strength  of  thy  strength,  0  prince  of  bees  [true  believers], 
0  Ali,  0  Haiderah  [lion],  0  crown  of  the  Chosroes  line, 
0  chief  of  this  world  and  the  next !  May  God  cause  to 
descend  [oftener,  *  cause  to  abound  as  with  milk  ^ J  in  your 
habitations  blessing  and   mercy    and  happiness,    0    pos- 

*  P.  22. 
l3 


150  THE   ASIAN   AnrSTERY. 

sessors  of  this  wealth  and  this  favour,  and  this  generosity 
and  this  subject  for  boasting,  and  this  goodness  and  this 
present  table;  and  turn  from  us  and  from  you  the  ills  of 
the  violent  men,  the  sons  of  Omeyah  [the  Orneyade 
caliphs  of  Syria,  enemies  of  the  house  of  Ali],  the  over- 
bearing, the  unjust,  the  infidels  ;  and  sanctify  and  have 
mercy  on  the  spirits  of  our  brethren,  the  true  believers, 
in  their  good,  pure  soul,  0  prince  of  bees,  0  lofty  one 
[Ali],  0  great  one  !  " 

This  is,  in  the  main,  the  termination  of  every  Ansairee 
invocation.  My  Ansairee  lad  has  often  heard  the  sheikhs 
make  use  of  this  and  similar  invocations  after  having 
partaken  of  a  feast  at  one  of  the  people's  houses.  He  has 
also  heard  his  people  repeat  very  quickly  the  names  of 
Ali,  the  visiting-places,  &c.,  saying  after  every  ten  or  so, 
"  May  the  mercy  of  God  be  upon  them !  "  Afterwards 
they  will  sing  what  they  call  Mawali,  of  which  the 
following  is  a  specimen  :  — 

**  By  the  truth  of  Him  who  without  hands  created  the  Virgin  Mary, 
Mohammed  is  my  intercessor,  and  Ali  is  the  End  of  Ends." 

M.  Langlois  says  :  "  With  respect  to  external  worship, 
the  Ansaireeh  have  prayers  which  they  recite  three  times 
a  day,  and  in  the  open  air,  the  most  important  is  made  at 
the  rising  of  the  sun.  They  turn  towards  the  east  like 
the  Mussulmans,  from  whom  they  have  borrowed  ablutions 
and  circumcision. ''  * 

My  lad  tells  me  that  before  sunrise  the  people  get  up 
and  wash  ;  and  then,  either  rising  or  sitting,  inside  the 
house  or  walking  to  and  fro  outside,  they  repeat  in  a  low 
voice,  rapidly  and  unintelligibly,  their  prayers,  which  some 
of  them  omit  for  a  month  together,  and  sometimes  con- 
tinue for  an  hour  at  a  time,  ending  with  a  chant.  Not 
long  ago  some  sheikhs  were  in  his  house,  they  got  up  long 
before  light,  and  after  washing  and  walking  about  a  little 

♦  Revue  d'Orient,  Juin,  1856. 


TIMES   OF    PRAYER.  151 

outside,  reciting  their  prayers,  entered  the  house,  and  for 
more  than  an  hour  continued  them,  till  near  the  rising 
of  the  sun.  They  prayed  also  at  noon,  and  again  for  an 
hour  or  so  before  sunset.  When  sheikhs  are  in  a 
quarter  of  a  village,  they  will  sometimes  assemble  the 
people  to  prayer.  We  have  seen  that  the  whole  number 
of  their  daily  prostrations  is  to  be  fifty-one,  but  these 
Rakaah  they  do  not  employ,  except  at  their  secret 
meetings;  and  the  morning,  or  that  and  the  evening,  are 
the  only  usual  times  of  prayer.  Morning  prayer  is  con- 
sidered especially  good.  The  presence  of  a  Mussulman 
does  not  make  their  prayers  void,  but  the  appearance  of 
a  Christian  within  forty  feet,  unless  running  water  be 
between,  does.  My  Christian  ploughman  once,  after 
finishing  his  day's  work  in  the  plain,  went  to  place  his 
plough  in  a  house  in  a  neighbouring  village.  When  seen, 
the  master  was  in  a  great  rage,  for  in  a  neighbouring 
house  were  some  sheikhs  at  prayer,  whom  my  man  could 
see  through  the  chinks  of  the  door.  In  fact  there  was  a 
feast  there  that  day,  and  the  above  man  said  that  he  would 
have  given  ever  so  much  for  the  ploughman  not  to  have 
made  his  appearance.  My  Christian  servants  have  often 
seen  them,  in  the  early  morning,  praying  in  the  open  air, 
and  moving  their  heads  or  lips,  but  their  appearance  was 
always  sufficient  to  stop  the  worshipper.  A  part  of  their 
worship  is  a  curse  against  "Abu-Beer,  Omar,  Othman  ibn- 
Uffan,  and  Sheikh  it-Tarkoman.  " 

In  my  MS.  a  form  is  given  for  the  morning  and 
evening  prayer  of  every  Ansairee.  A  certain  Yahya  is 
said  to  have  entered  the  presence  of  Hassan  il  Askeree,  the 
eleventh  imam,  and  to  have  asked  him :  "  My  Lord,  what 
ought  your  servant,  a  true  believer,  one  well  instructed, 
who  looks  into  the  truth  of  things,  who  is  particular  in 
matters  of  religion,  to  do,  every  day  and  night,  and 
morning  and  evening?"  So  he  said:  "0  Yahya!  Such 
a  servant  of  mine,  every  day  and  night,  and  morning  and 
evening,  ought  to  turn   to   the   right  and   left    [as  my 

L   4 


152  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

servants  have  seen  them  do],  and  if  he  finds  a  brother  of 
his  brethren,  or  a  friend  of  his  friends,  he  ought  to  shake 
hands  with  him."  "And,  "  says  Yahya,  "  I  said  :  My  Lord, 
and  if  he  does  not  find  a  brother  of  his  brethren,  nor  friend 
of  his  friends?"  He  said:  "  Let  him  shake  hands  with  him- 
self, and  meditate  on  himself,  by  himself;  and  let  him 
take  the  Lord  Mikdad  on  the  right,  by  the  love  of  Ain, 
Meem,  Seen,  and  the  Lord  Abu-id-Durr  on  the  left,  by 
the  love  of  the  perfect  one,  and  rise  and  say  :  'He  is 
successful  and  fortunate  who  begins  morning  and  evening 
with,  and  indicates  and  enters  into,  the  knowledge  of  my 
Lord,  the  prince  of  bees,  Ali,  Haiderah  [the  lion]  il- 
Anzaa  [without  hair  on  temples,  a  mark  of  beauty],  the 
preponderating,  the  beautiful;  and  he  is  successful  and 
exalted  who  has  laid  hold  of  the  firm  cord  which  shall 
not  be  broken,  for  God  is  the  hearing  and  the  seeing 
One.*  "*     This  last  sentence  is  from  the  Koran  (ii.  257). 

It  is  necessary  to  explain  two  or  three  things  in  this 
prayer,  if  such  it  can  be  called.  The  Ain,  Meem,  Seen,  we 
have  observed,  stand  for  Ali,  Mohammed,  and  Salmon ;  and 
the  perfect  one,  which  is  feminine  and  relates  to  a  woman, 
is  1  suppose,  Fatima,  or  rather  Umur  Salamah,  a  wife 
of  the  Prophet,  noted  for  her  bounty,  and  said  in  another 
passage  to  "  indicate  by  her  nearness  (to  the  Prophet)  the 
appearances  of  the  Maana,  the  Ism,  and  the  Bab."  f 

Mikdad  and  Abu-Durr  were  two  noted  companions  of 
Mohammed.  My  boy  has  heard  the  name  of  the  former 
often  mentioned,  and  they  were  in  honour  with  the  secret 
sects,  and  especially  so  with  the  Ansaireeh,  who,  in  their 
system  of  symbolisation,  make  them  the  "  right"  and  "  left" 
of  prayer ;  as  we  learn  also  from  tlie  third  mass  of  M.  J. 
Catafago,  where  is  the  passage:  "The  prayer"  (called 
that  of  calling  to  prayer)  "  is  now  completed  according  to 
its  lords,  0  God,  my  Lord  !  0  Ali !  I  pray  thee  to  support 
it,  and  cause  it  to  endure  while  heaven  and  earth  endure, 

♦  MS.  p.  119.  t  MS.  p.  40. 


ANSAIREE   PROSTRATIONS.  153 

and  make  the  lord  Mohammed  its  Seal  (or  conclusion), 
and  the  lord  Salman  its  Alms,  and  MikdM  its  right,  and 
Abu-id-Durr  its  left."  In  the  prayers  of  consecration, 
&c.,  those  standing  on  the  right  and  left  of  the  imam 
having  a  special  office.  I  would  say,  by  the  way,  that  in 
this  prayer  is  the  expression,  "  Haiyoo  Ala  Khair41-Amal," 
"  Come  to  the  best  of  works,"  which  was  substituted  by 
the  Ismaeleeh  and  Fatimite  caliphs  for  the  usual  passage  in 
the  call  to  prayer,  "Haiyoo  Ala-id-SaMh,"  "Come  to 
prayer." 

The  Mikdad  referred  to  above  was  a  certain  Ibn-Omar 
ibn-Othman  ibn-il-Aswad  il  Kindee,  one  of  the  chief 
"  orphans"  of  Salmon.  He  was  present  with  the  Prophet 
in  all  the  engagements  subsequent  to  the  battle  of  Bedr, 
and  died  A.n.  34. 

Abu-id-Durr  Djundub  ibn-Djenada  il  Yhifaree  is  an- 
other of  the  chief  orphans  of  Salman.  "  He  protested  so 
warmly  against  Moawiya's  avaricious  conduct  in  the 
government  of  Syria,  that  the  latter  wrote  to  Othman 
complaining  of  it,  upon  which  the  caliph  removed  him  to 
Mabda,  where  he  died."*  Taylor  says  of  him:  "  Abu- 
Durr,  an  old  companion  of  the  Prophet,  misrepresenting 
some  passages  of  the  Koran,  declared  that  the  riches  of 
this  Avorld  were  the  source  of  every  crime,  and  that  the 
wealthy  should  be  compelled  by  force  to  give  their  super- 
fluities to  the  poor."f 

It  is  evident  that  the  Ansaireeh  hold  these  men  in  such 
honour  as  being  conspicuous  friends  of  Ah,  just  as  they 
do  also  another  companion  of  Mohammed,  a  certain  Ammar 
ibn-Yasir,  who  died  fighting  for  Ali  at  SuiFayn,  a.h.  37. 

We  have  seen  that  the  Ansairee  books  speak  of  fifty- 
one  Rakaah,  or  prostrations,  during  the  day,  these  Rakaah 
including  all  the  prayers,  bowings,  and  genuflexions  are 
contained  in  one  complete  prayer.     Two  such  Rakaah  are 

*  Abulfeda,  Annales  Muslm,  i.  272  and  260,  cited  by  Nicholson  on 
El  Masudi,  p.  112. 
t  P.  137. 


154  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

necessary  at  every  act  of  worship,  except  that  of  an  hour 
and  a  half  after  sunset.  On  reading  the  Rakaah  men- 
tioned in  my  MS.  with  a  Mussulman  sheikh,  I  find  that 
they  agree  pretty  well  with  those  of  the  Mussulmans ;  which 
are  nominally  fifty,  at  five  difi^erent  times ;  daybreak, 
noon,  afternoon,  evening,  and  an  hour  and  a  half  after 
sunset,  the  very  devout  using  also  prayers  in  the  night.* 
The  difference  is  that  the  Ansaireeh  personify  these  times 
of  prayer  by  the  names  of  persons,  and  thus  allegorise 
them  away,  for  they  do  not  pray  at  all  these  times,  nor 
usually  prostrate  themselves  at  any. 

We  have  now,  at  length,  to  consider  the  most  important 
part  of  the  Ansairee  religion,  or  at  least  of  the  ceremonial 
part  of  it, — the  great  mystery,  the  secret  of  secrets,  the 
consecration  of  wine  in  a  mass  or  sacrament.  And  we 
cannot  introduce  what  we  have  to  say  better  than  by 
quoting  the  passages  in  the  Ansairee  catechism  f  referring 
toit:  — 

Question.  '^  What  is  the  mass?"  (Kuddas.) 

Answer.  "  The  consecration  of  the  wine  which  is  drunk 
to  the  health  of  the  Naheeb  or  Nadjeeb." 

Q.  *' What  is  the  offering  ?"  (Kurb^n.)— .4.  "  The  con- 
secration of  the  bread  which  the  true  believers  receive  for 
the  souls  of  their  brethren ;  and  on  that  account  the  mass 
is  read." 

Q,  **  Who  reads  the  mass  and  brings  the  offering  ?"  — 
A,  "  Your  great  imams  and  preachers." 

Q.  "What  is  the  great  mystery  of  God  ?"— A  *' The 
riesh  and  the  Blood,  of  Avhich  Jesus  has  said,  *  This  is  my 
flesh  and  ray  blood ;  eat  and  drink  thereof,  for  it  is  eternal 
life.'  " 

Q,  "  What  is  the  mystery  of  the  faith  of  the  Unitarians ; 
what  is  the  secret  of  secrets,  and  chief  article  of  the  true 

*  My  sheikh  informed  me  that  they  might  become  about  fifty ;  but 
Lane,  who  is  so  accurate  in  all  he  says,  makes  the  usual  number  to  be 
but  thirty-eight.     Modern  Egyptians,  vol.  i.  p.  107,  note. 

t  Q.  76,  77,  78,  79,  82,  87,  88,  90,  91,  94. 


THE   ANSAIREE    SACRAMENT.  155 

believers  ?" — A.  "  It  is  the  veiling  of  our  Lord  in  light, 
that  is  in  the  eye  of  the  sun,  and  his  manifestation  in  his 
servant  Abd  in  Noor." 

Q.  "  What  is  the  first  mass  V'—A.  "  It  is  that  which  is 
spoken  before  the  prayer  of  Nurooz." 

Q,  "What  is  the  prayer  of  Nurooz  V'—A,  "It  is  the 
consecration  of  the  wine  in  the  chalice." 

Q.  "  What  is  the  consecrated  wine  called  which  the  be- 
lievers drink?"— ^.  "  Abd  in  Noor."  (Servant  of  light.) 

Q,  "  Wherefore  so  ?" — A.  "  Because  God  has  manifested 
himself  in  the  same." 

Q.  "  If  our  Lord  has  concealed  himself  in  light,  where 
does  he  manifest  himself?" — A.  "In  the  wine,  as  is  said 
in  the  Nurooz." 

From  the  above  it  is  clear  that  the  Ansaireeh  have 
taken  their  sacrament  from  Christianity.  It  is  also  clear, 
and  certain,  that  the  wine  is  the  chief  ingredient  in  it, 
though  mention  is  also  made  of  an  "  offering,"  and  the 
Jesuit  missionaries,  whose  account  cannot  be  implicitly 
relied  upon,  speak  of  a  piece  of  meat  as  forming  part  of 
the  sacrament.  They  say  :  "  The  Ansaireeh  have  borrowed 
from  Christianity  the  communion,  but  the  mode  in  which 
they  practise  it  is  perfectly  fanatical ;  for  they  celebrate  it 
with  wine  and  a  morsel  of  meat."  I  have  not,  however, 
found  bread  or  meat  in  any  Ansairee  MS.,  though  the 
prayers  of  consecration  are  given  in  full,  and  I  find  allu- 
sions to  the  wine  scattered  about  in  other  parts  of  the 
book.*  Thus  the  brethren  are  called  "  possessors  of  this 
sarf,"  or  "  pure  wine,"  f  and  "  this  naheed,  or  wine."  J 
It  is  the  wine,  too,  which  is  especially  referred  to  in  the 
catechism  as  the  Abd  in  Noor,  or  servant  of  light,  be- 
cause the  light,  or  Deity,  manifests  himself  peculiarly  in  it, 

*  The  word  Kurban,  or  offering,  is  once  used  at  the  close  of  one  of 
the  prayers.  MS.  p.  18.  M.  Catafago,  apparently  on  the  authority  of 
Ansairee  books,  speaks  of  "  eating  and  drinking"  and  the  consecration  of 
the  same. 

t  MS.  p.  32.  I  MS.  p.  47. 


15B  THE    ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

and  in  it  is  partaken  of  by  the  brethren.*  Under  this  name, 
too,  it  is  mentioned  in  my  MS.  as  being  the  only  thing 
which  the  officiating  sheikh  consecrates  f,  and  in  another 
passage  J,  in  these  terms  :  "  0  God,  this  thy  servant,  Abd 
in  Noor,  is  a  person  whom  thou  hast  rendered  lawful,  and 
honoured,  and  favoured,  for  those  who  have  the  true  know- 
ledge, by  a  determinate  command,  and  hast  rendered  unlaw- 
ful to  thy  gainsaying  infidel  enemies,  by  a  manifest  denial." 
The  Ansaireeh,  therefore,  generally  do  not  like  to  speak  of 
wine,  and  are  annoyed  if  it  is  spoken  of,  for  they  look  on 
it  as  sacred,  and  belonging  only  to  themselves.  Wine  is 
also  mentioned  under  the  same  name  Abd  in  Noor,  in  the 
second  mass  given  by  M.  J.  Catafago,  where  allusion  is 
made  to  its  being  ^^  incensed,"  the  mass  being  called  that 
of  "  incense." 

A  certain  sheikh,  Hassan  il  Cananee,  the  best-informed 
of  all  the  Ansairee  sheikhs  that  I  have  met  with,  and 
also  the  most  reprobate  and  deceitful,  who  had  then 
his  son  in  my  school,  spoke  to  me  of  the  time  when 
the  boy  was  to  become  a  Christian,  and  said,  "  Will  not 
wine  be  necessary  for  his  initiation  ?"  and  intimated  that 
he  had  the  power  of  consecrating  wine. 

I  have  given  in  another  chapter  an  entire  translation  of 
the  service  of  the  mass,  and  will  only  make  here  one  im- 
portant remark,  that,  as  far  as  I  can  judge  from  the 
references  made  to  the  mass  in  that  partial  translation 
which  I  have  seen  of  the  Ansairee  catechism,  in  which 
some  of  the  chief  expressions  are  quoted,  the  service  given 
in  the  catechism  and  in  my  book  are  identical  in  words 
and  arrangement. 

This  great  secret  of  the  mass  is  only  administered  in 
the  presence  of  the  initiated  of  the  male  part  of  the  An- 
sairee sect.  Great  precautions  are  taken  against  the  possi- 
bility of  this  their  religious  service  being  seen ;  and  it  is 
probable  that  if  a  stranger  were  known  to  have  been  a 

*  See  opening  of  Catechism,  Chap.  X.  f  MS.  133.         i  134. 


MANNER   OF   ADMINISTERING.  157 

"witness  to  it,  accidentally  or  otherwise,  he  would  be  made 
away  with,  if  possible.  But  such  are  the  precautions 
taken,  by  placing  watchmen,  and  choosing  times  and 
places  where  there  is  little  chance  of  interruption,  that 
scarcely  ever  has  any  one  been  an  absolute  witness  of 
their  rites.  Two  of  m}^  Christian  servants  were  brought 
up  in  the  district  of  Merkab,  in  villages  partly  Christian 
and  partly  Ansairee.  The  father  of  one  of  them  was 
well  acquainted  with  the  customs  of  the  Ansairceh.  Five 
times  during  the  year,  at  the  time  of  their  chief  feasts, 
the  father  and  son  were  obliged  to  leave  the  Ansairee 
quarter  of  the  village  in  which  they  were  living,  while 
the  Ansaireeh  entered  a  house  belonging  to  the  visiting 
place  in  winter,  or  went  into  the  open  country  in  summer. 
My  other  servant  has  told  me  that  once,  when  present  in 
a  district  of  the  Shemseen  sect,  he  was  made  to  go  up 
into  a  room  raised  above  the  earth  on  poles,  and  con- 
structed of  myrtle  boughs,  the  women  being  put  into 
a  house,  while  the  men  went  into  a  valley,  where  he 
could  see  them  from  the  tent,  and  where  a  sheikh  read 
to  them. 

I  was  once  told  by  the  Spanish  consular  agent  at  Ladi- 
keeh,  that  an  old  man,  who  had  died  about  five  years 
before  the  time  of  our  conversation,  had  once  been  witness, 
at  a  village  in  the  plains,  of  one  of  these  secret  religious 
meetings.  He  was  an  overseer  of  the  village,  and,  coming 
there  unexpectedly,  concealed  himself  in  a  room  full  of 
chopped  straw.  From  this  he  could  look  into  the  sheikhas 
house,  in  which  a  number  of  men  were  assembled  round  a 
large  bowl  of  wine,  with  candles  affixed  to  its  circumfe- 
rence, or,  perhaps,  placed  about  it.  The  sheikh  read  some 
prayers.  They  then  cursed  Abu-Beer,  Omar,  Othman  ibn- 
Uffan,  and  Sheikh  it-Turcom4n,  and  others  (he  said 
Christians  among  them),  and  that  then  he  gave  a  spoonful 
of  wine,  first  to  the  sheikhs  present,  and  afterwards  to  all 
the  rest.  Oranges  were  then  eaten,  other  prayers  said, 
and  the  assembly  broken  up. 


158  THE   ASIAN   ]Vr5rSTERY. 

These  assemblies  take  place  at  the  chief  feasts,  espe- 
cially at  that  of  Nurooz,  the  Persian  name  for  the 
vernal  equinox.  Women  and  children  are  strictly  ex- 
cluded. M.  Langlois  says  :  "  On  the  days  of  the  principal 
feasts,  the  Ansaireeh  assemble,  and  the  sheikhs  bless  wine, 
which  they  distribute  to  the  company.  These  feasts  are 
called  Eed  Kuddas,  feasts  of  the  mass."  The  Jesuit  mis- 
sionaries say :  **  They  admit  only  men  to  the  communion, 
excluding  women  and  children.  It  is  in  their  secret 
assemblies  that  the  men  observe  this  practice  among  them- 
selves." 

My  lad  informs  me  that  when  a  feast  is  made  on  the 
occasion  of  a  Nidr  (that  is,  a  vow  to  kill  such  and  such 
beasts  for  a  religious  feast,  to  be  partaken  of  by  the  sheikhs 
or  others),  the  men  make  what  is  called  a  Djamaa,  or  as- 
sembly, in  some  house  or  lonely  place  surrounded  by 
watchers.*  It  is  absurd  to  suppose  that  on  such  occasions, 
and  these  are  the  only  ones  which  have  given  and  can 
give,  as  I  shall  show,  rise  to  suspicion  and  foolish  stories ; 
it  is  absurd,  I  say,  to  suppose  that  anything  takes  place, 
but  what  we  have  described  from  their  books  and  other 
sources. 

One  thing  to  be  remarked  is  that  the  wine  in  the  sacra- 
ment is  mixed  with  water,  after  the  manner  of  the  Eastern 
churches. 

When  the  men  go  to  a  solemn  meeting,  they  wear  their 
shirts  over  their  drawers,  turn  down  the  heels  of  their 
shoes,  and  leave  their  weapons  at  home.  My  lad  has  often 
seen  them  thus  going  and  returning.  There  are  some 
other  regulations  and  prohibitions  connected  with  the 
dress  and  bearing  of  those  who  attend  a  meeting,  for  which 
I  refer  to  the  sermon  they  pronounce,  of  which  I  have 
given  a  translation  in  Chapter  IX. 

Such  are  the  theoretical  and  ceremonial  parts  of  the 
religion  of  the  Ansairee  brotherhood.     Before  I  proceed 

*  He  has  seen  them  also  go  to  a  quiet  valley  or  other  lonely  place. 


INITIATION   OF   AN   ANSAIREE.  159 

to  speak  of  the  other  parts  of  their  freemasonic  constitu- 
tion, the  coininands  and  prohibitions  to  which  they  are 
subject,  and  their  conventional  signs  of  recognition,  I 
will,  from  the  information  I  have  received  from  my  An- 
sairee  lad  and  others,  and  from  the  formulas  in  their 
books,  give  an  account  of  the  process  of  initiation  into 
the  knowledge  of,  and  participation  in,  the  mysteries  of 
the  sect. 

With  the  Ansaireeh,  unlike  the  Druses,  all  the  males 
are  initiated.  This  is  usually  done  when  a  lad  is  about 
eighteen  or  twenty,  before  marriage;  and,  in  the  case  of  the 
sons  of  sheikhs,  about  sixteen.  It  is  known  when  a  boy 
is  to  be  initiated,  and  the  women  and  children  make  it  a 
subject  of  conversation,  and  laugh  at  the  boy,  frightening 
him  with  the  idea  of  the  beatings  he  will  have,  before  he 
can  learn  the  requisite  prayers.  When  young,  my  lad  did 
all  he  could  to  make  his  future  initiation  easy  to  himself, 
by  spying  as  far  as  possible  into  what  was  done  on  such 
occasions,  from  fear  of  what  he  might  otherwise  have 
to  undergo. 

When  a  lad  is  to  be  initiated,  he  buys  a  kid  or  some 
other  animal,  as  a  dabeehah  or  sacrifice ;  and  in  the 
evening  of  some  day,  especially  at  a  time  of  one  of  the 
great  feasts  or  when  another  *'  vow  "  is  celebrated,  the 
sheikhs  come,  and,  with  the  boy's  anna,  uncle  or  private 
instructor,  who  may  be  one  of  the  laity  (who  are  called 
Aamees,  in  contradistinction  to  the  Ukkal,  sheikhs  or  re- 
ligious teachers),  partake  of  the  sacrifice  or  slain  beast. 
My  lad,  when  young,  looked  through  the  chinks  of  a  door 
where  this  was  going  on,  and  saw  the  men  standing  round 
a  vessel  in  which  was  incense.  He  has  been  told  that  the 
boy  passes  behind  his  uncle  into  the  middle  of  this  circle. 
Those  composing  it  teach  him  words,  and,  if  he  makes  a 
mistake,  cuff  him.  A  contract  is  written  between  the 
uncle  and  his  walad,  or  "  son,"  of  which  I  shall  give  a 
translation  in  Chapter  IX.  After  that  they  "  dish  "  him 
(that  is,  let  him  loose  like  a  lamb  after  his  mother)  *'  be- 


160  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

hind  "  his  uncle.  For  thirty  days  or  more  the  boy  learns 
from  his  "  uncle,"  until  he  knows  a  sufficiency  of  the 
prayers,  when,  on  the  occurrence  of  another  Nidr,  or  feast 
in  consequence  of  a  vow,  the  opportunity  is  taken  of  com- 
pleting the  initiation  of  the  boy  according  to  a  set  formula, 
of  which  I  shall  give  a  translation  in  the  chapter  devoted 
to  that  purpose.  I  will  say  again,  in  passing,  that  this 
formula,  taken  from  my  MS.,  seems  to  be  identical  with 
that  contained  in  the  catechism. 

The  instruction  takes  place  in  the  open  air.  The  first 
process  is  called  Mudakhileh,  "  initiation,"  and  also  "  the 
carpet  of  (or  entrance  to)  the  prayer,"  *'  besat  is-salah  ;" 
and  the  second,  "  Ulm,"  "  knowledge,"  and  the  "  prayer." 
Those  who  learn  of  the  same  uncle  are  called  of  the  same 
Nebaa,  or  fountain,  and  are  bound  together  by  special  ties. 
Thus  the  freemasonry  spreads  like  leaven  through  the 
whole  body  of  adult  males. 

My  lad  used  to  be  told,  when  disciples  were  learning  the 
prayers,  that  he  would  be  smitten  with  deafness  if  he 
listened,  and  was  thus  deterred  by  fear  from  doing  so. 
Some  of  the  poorer  sort,  who  have  no  friends  to  think 
much  about  them,  sometimes  marry  before  initiation.  In 
that  case  they  remain  separate  from  their  wives  while 
learning  the  prayers.  They  make  use  of  raisins  at  one  of 
these  ceremonies,  either  for  extracting  wine  or  other  pur- 
pose. Lately,  when  a  Nidr  took  place  on  the  occasion  of 
the  initiation  of  a  lad  (who  was,  in  fact,  almost  a  man  in 
appearance),  the  people  bought  of  my  lad  some  raisins. 
Raisins  were  among  the  things  the  sale  of  which  was  in- 
terdicted by  Hakem,  the  Ismaelee  caliph  of  Egypt.  These 
raisins  are  called  nakfeh,  or  rather  the  juice  pressed  out  of 
them  in  water  is  so  called.  Myrtle  is  put  round  the  bowl 
in  which  it  is  contained,  and  my  boy  thinks  the  juice  may 
be  used  when  wine  cannot  be  got.  M.  Victor  Langlois 
says ;  *  "  The  religion  of  the  Nusaireeh  is  all  a  mystery ; 

*  Revue  d'Orient,  Juin,  1856. 


INITIATION   OF   AN   ANSAIREE.  161 

only  men  are  initiated.  Children  are  only  initiated  after 
they  have  attained  the  age  of  puberty,  and  after  having 
been  prepared  by  the  sheikh,  so  as  to  preserve  silence  on 
the  mysteries  which  are  revealed  to  them.  The  ceremony 
of  initiation  (Tazneer)  [putting  on  a  girdle,  the  boy  being 
said  to  Tazunnar,  or  have  a  girdle  put  on,  when  initia- 
ted], takes  place  in  the  presence  of  two  godfathers.  The 
secret  which  forms  the  basis  of  their  religion,  and  which 
is  not  written  in  any  of  their  books,  is  revealed  orally  to 
the  initiated,  and  is  called  the  mystery  of  the  two  (Sirr 
it-Tinateyn)." 

There  are  some  mistakes  in  this  statement.  The  secret 
which  forms  the  basis  of  their  religion  is,  theoretically, 
without  any  doubt,  the  manifestation  of  the  Deity  in  Ali, 
with  the  accompanying  dogmas ;  and,  ceremonially,  the 
sacrament,  or  manifestation  of  the  Deity  in  the  conse- 
crated wine.  All  other  secrets,  such  as  conventional 
signs,  are  only  accessories  in  the  Ansairee  system. 

Moreover  with  respect  to  the  two  godfathers,  and  the 
"  mystery  of  the  two,"  the  formula  of  initiation  given  in 
my  MS.  terminates  thus  : — "  Then  he,  the  sheikh,  shall  sur- 
render to  his  ten  brethren  and  the  Kufaleh  [sureties],  who 
shall  swear  him,  and  then  to  the  Nakeeb  [chief,  a  name 
used  in  the  Ansairee  system],  his  lord  [that  is,  the  boy's 
uncle  or  instructor],  who  shall  make  him  drink  the  secret 
or  mystery  of  the  two  [Sirr  it-Tinateyn],  after  he,  the 
sheikh,  has  read  them  [the  two  masses  probably],  and 
after  the  Imam  [officiating  sheikh,  leader  of  the  prayers] 
has  read  a  verse  from  the  Koran,  and  they  have  bent  in 
adoration  and  prayed  while  adoring,  and  that  is  all.  And 
he  shall  read  the  Fatihah  [opening  chapter  of  the  Koran] 
to  the  people  of  the  Way,  and  to  the  people  of  the  Truth, 
as  shall  be  convenient,  and  then  the  blessed  entrance  [into 
all  the  privileges  and  duties  of  the  brotherhood]." 

We  see  that  this  secret  is  accomplished  or  revealed  in 
the  presence  of  many,  among  others,  ten  not  two  sureties 
or   godfathers,   and  the  disciple  is  caused  to  drink  the 

M 


162  THE    ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

mystery  before  all  present,  and  therefore  doubtless  this 
mystery  is  none  other  than  the  consecrated  wine. 

By  looking  at  the  translation  of  the  formula  of  initia- 
tion, it  will  be  seen  that  the  endeavour  is  made  to  terrify 
the  lad  by  a  number  of  words  and  threats  strung  together, 
and  by  the  fear  of  being  turned  into  horrid  shapes,  and 
of  passing  through  mean  bodies,  &c.  He  is  then  bound 
by  solemn  oaths,  and,  whatever  may  be  the  reason,  cer- 
tainly no  Ansairee  has  ever  revealed  his  religion. 

We  come  now  to  a  part  of  the  Ansairee  system  which 
is  interesting  on  account  of  its  connexion  with  the  modern 
mystery  of  freemasonry.  I  call  it  "  modern,"  not  be- 
cause I  pretend  to  say  when  it  arose,  but  because  it  is 
still  in  existence.  I  leave  it  to  freemasons  to  say  whe- 
ther their  brotherhood  contains  anything  of  importance 
which  is  not  found  in  that  of  the  Ansaireeh. 

"  The  Ansaireeh,"  says  M.  Victor  Langlois*,  "  have 
conventional  signs,  of  which  they  make  use  to  recognise 
one  another."  Mr.  Walpole  is  acquainted  with  many,  if 
not  most,  of  these,  and  once  taught  me  some  of  them,  but 
as  I  do  not  know  whether  he  intends  some  day  to  give 
his  information  on  this  and  other  points  to  the  public, 
I  forbear  speaking  of  them,  and  content  myself  with 
quoting  what  he  himself  has  already  published : — "  The 
Ansayrii  have  signs  and  questions.  By  the  one  they 
salute  each  other,  by  the  other  they  commence  an  exa- 
mination as  to  whether  a  man,  whom  they  do  not  knoAV 
personally,  is  one  of  them  or  not.  But  these  signs  are 
little  used,  and  are  known  only  to  a  few ;  as  the  dress 
clearly  indicates  them  to  each  other,  and  almost  each 
one  knows  all  the  chiefs,  at  least  by  sight."  |  In  their 
books  they  use  the  double  interlacing  triangle  or  seal 
of  Solomon. 

The  members  of  the  Ansairee  society  are  called  Ukhwan- 


*  RcTue  d'Orient.  Juin,  1856. 

•f  Ansayrii,  or  Assassins,  vol.  iii.  p.  354. 


FREEMASONRY.  163 

or  brethren.  All  that  is  said  about  doing  good  or  refrain- 
ins^  from  doini?  harm  refers  to  these  favoured  individuals. 
So  little  have  those  without  the  pale  of  the  society,  the 
doubting  and  polytheists,  any  part  or  lot  in  the  matter, 
that  there  is  even  a  prayer  in  my  MS.*  that  "  God  may 
take  out  of  their  hearts  "  what  little  "  light  of  knowledge 
and  certainty  '*  they  may  possess.  And  the  conduct  of 
the  Ansaireeh,  in  robbing  and  murdering  without  com- 
punction Mussulmans  and  Christians,  shows  the  effect  of 
a  system  which,  however  benevolent  to  the  initiated,  at 
the  same  time  excludes  all  others  from  its  benefits.  Can 
the  system  of  freemasonry  be  right  which  acts  on  this 
exclusive  principle,  when  Christianity  already  exists  which 
teaches  that  "  all  ye  are  brethren,"  and  therefore  supplies 
all  that  freemasonry  can  properly  bestow  ?  If  it  be  said 
that  freemasonry  is  more  expansive  as  linking  together 
members  of  different  religions,  the  answer  is,  that  this  is 
a  defect  rather  than  a  thing  deserving  of  praise.  A 
Christian  is  charitable  to  all,  and  in  this  sense  considers 
all  men  as  brethren,  while  he  can  admit  none  to  the  full 
dignity  of  brotherhood  who  does  not  recognise  and  love 
the  elder  Brother. 

Freemasonry  has  been  made  use  of  for  political  and  bad 
purposes,  as  all  secret  societies  are  liable  to  be.  "  The 
Royal  Arch  degree  in  that  institution  was  originally  de- 
vised by  some  Scotch  Jacobites,  as  a  means  of  holding 
together  the  partisans  of  the  Pretender.  From  the  place 
where  they  resided,  the  new  degree  was  called,  '  The 
Royal  Arras,'  and  meetings  of  its  members  *  Royal  Arras 
Chapters ; '  when  the  cause  of  the  Pretender  became  hope- 
less, the  new  degree  merged  in  the  general  system,  and  by 
an  easy  corruption  its  name  was  changed  into  that  of  the 
'Royal  Arch.' "t 

Allusions  are,  even  now,  sometimes  made  to  certain 
dark  degrees  of  freemasonry ;  but,  supposing  there  is  in 

*  P.  138.  t  Taylor,  p.  176. 

M  2 


164  THE   ASIAN  MYSTERY. 

it  nothing  hurtful,  is  not  the  institution  with  all  its  parade 
childish,  for  does  it  enjoin  anything  better  than  the  prac- 
tical duties  of  Christianity  or  even  than  those  of  the 
Ansairee  system,  which  duties  are  limited,  as  we  have  seen, 
to  a  freemasonic  brotherhood  ? 

The  duties  are  contained  in  two  principal  precepts.  At 
the  time  of  initiation  a  lad  is  informed  that  two  things  are 
required  of  him,  obedience  to  a  command  and  observance 
of  a  prohibition.  The  command  is,  that  he  should  "  guard, 
and  be  attentive  to,  and  take  care  of  his  brethren,  and  be 
constant  in  visiting  them  and  defending  their  character, 
and  in  intercourse  with  them ;  and  that  everything  that  he 
should  desire  for  himself,  he  shoidd  desire  for  them ; "  and  it 
is  added,  "  that  one  fifth  of  his  property  every  year  becomes 
their  due.^^  *  The  prohibition  is  "  against  being  unjust  to, 
or  injuring  his  brethren,  and  against  proclaiming  their 
failings,  or  doing  anything  to  displease  or  hurt  them. 
Because  every  calamity  would  befall  him  should  he  injure 
them  in  their  honour,  or  listen  to  backbiting  and  scandal 
about  them,  or  make  light  of  them,  or  be  covetous  with 
regard  to  them."  The  lad  is  also  to  avoid  lying  and 
every  kind  of  wickedness  and  reprobate  conduct,  secret  or 
open. 

Nothing  can  be  better,  moreover,  than  some  of  the  pre- 
cepts and  ideas  to  be  found  in  the  sermon  already  alluded 
to.  It  would  be  well  if  the  Ansaireeh  attended  to  them 
with  respect  to  their  brethren,  and  extended  the  observ- 
ance of  them  to  all  men  ;  but  unfortunately  they  do  neither 
the  one  nor  the  other.  True,  some  of  the  sheikhs  and 
people,  of  the  Shemseen  sect  especially,  living  on  the  higher 
mountains,  seem  to  be  simple-minded  men,  who  take  some 
of  these  rules  as  their  guide,  but  they  complain  with  reason 
that  the  majority  of  their  fraternity  treat  them  as  a  dead 
letter. 

Von  Hammer  alludes  to   the   connexion  between  the 

*  Mussulmans  have  to  give  a  fourth  of  the  tenth  part  of  their  property 
every  year  in  obligatory  alms.     Lane,  i.  130. 


FREEMASONRY.  165 

Assassins  or  Ismaeleeli  and  Templars.  He  says  that 
there  is  an  analogy  between  the  constitution  of  the  Assas- 
sins and  those  of  some  modern  orders  ;  and  that  "  many 
points  of  similarity  are  found,  which  can  neither  be  acci- 
dental, nor  yet  spring  from  the  same  cause.'*  He  mentions 
one  instance  of  accordance,  that  between  the  white  dresses 
and  red  fillets  of  the  Assassins,  and  the  white  mantle  and 
red  cross  of  the  Templars  ;  and  the  Ansaireeh  of  the  pre- 
sent day  mostly  dress  in  white,  while  they  are  also  fond  of 
red  jackets  and  red  handkerchiefs,  or  of  red  and  white 
mixed.  We  have  already  alluded  to  the  fact  that  the 
Templars  dwelt  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  and 
among  these  secret  sects,  while,  as  is  known,  a  degree  of 
freemasonry  is  called  that  of  the  Templars.  With  these 
remarks  we  will  leave  the  subject  to  those  who  are,  or 
consider  themselves  to  be,  acquainted  with  the  history  of 
the  freemasonic  body. 


M   3 


166  THE   ASIAN  MYSTERY. 


CHAP.  VII. 

CUSTOMS   OF   THE    ANSAIREEH. 

We  have  thus  described  the  theoretical  and  ceremonial 
parts  of  the  Ansairee  religion.  But  it  is  with  the  An- 
saireeh  as  with  people  of  all  other  religions,  especially  with 
those  who  are  in  a  semi-barbarous  state,  religious  theory 
has  little  to  do  with  the  direction  of  their  lives ;  and  a 
description  of  their  theological  system  gives  but  an  im- 
perfect idea  of  their  state  as  affected  by  religion.  Some- 
thing more  palpable  and  visible  is  found  to  be  the  moving 
principle,  the  active  influence,  in  the  case  of  the  great 
mass  of  the  people ;  and  among  the  Ansaireeh,  but  for 
this  popular  belief  and  the  customs  which  in  most  coun- 
tries have  a  semi-religious  character,  such  as  those  con- 
nected with  marriage,  death,  &c.,  the  women  and  children 
would  be  absolutely  without  religion. 

With  respect  to  their  opinion  about  women,  there  is  a 
great  difi*erence  between  the  Druses  and  the  Ansaireeh. 
With  the  former  some  women  are  initiated  into  the  highest 
secrets,  while  the  majority  of  men  are  excluded ;  but,  with 
the  latter,  women  are  entirely  excluded  from  any  partici- 
pation in  religious  ceremonies  and  prayers,  and  from  all 
religious  teaching;  and  that,  not  only  because  females 
are  considered,  as  elsewhere,  inclined  to  reveal  a  secret, 
but  because  they  are  considered  by  the  Ansaireeh  as  some- 
thing unclean.  Many  stories  are  told  of  their  original 
wickedness,  and  of  the  faithlessness  of  those  of  the  present 
day,  by  men  who  do  not  reflect  that  it  is  their  own 
treatment  and  contempt  of  women  which  leave  them  such 
as  they  are.      However,  as   the  Ansaireeh    believe  that 


ZEYAREHS   OR  VISITING-PLACES.  167 

the  soul  of  a  brute  may  have  in  a  former  state  animated 
a  wicked  man,  so  they  suppose  that  a  man  may  be 
punished  for  his  sins  in  a  previous  generation  by  being 
born  in  a  woman's  form  in  the  succeeding  one ;  so  that, 
commonly,  if  a  woman  fulfils  all  the  duties  of  which  she  is 
capable,  well  and  virtuously,  there  is  hope  of  her  again 
coming  into  the  world  as  a  man,  and  becoming  one  of  the 
illuminati  and  possessors  of  the  secret.  And  as  no  one 
can  remain  without  some  form  of  religion,  and  women  are 
naturally  more  religiously  inclined  than  men,  the  Ansairee 
women  are  more  fearful  perhaps  even  than  the  men  of 
bringing  on  themselves  the  ill-will  of  those  whom  they 
most  fear, — the  holy  men  of  former  times,  who  have  tombs 
and  visiting-places  in  every  part  of  the  mountains. 

This  brings  me  to  speak  of  the  zeyarehs  or  visiting-places; 
and  it  is  proper  to  do  so  at  the  commencement  of  this 
chapter  on  the  customs  of  the  Ansaireeh  ;  for  of  all  things 
which  exercise  a  practical,  religious,  or  rather  superstitious, 
influence  on  them,  the  zeyarehs  are,  without  comparison, 
the  most  powerful.  Nearly  all  good  is  looked  for  from 
them,  and  all  ill  dreaded  from  their  displeasure. 

The  word  "  zey^reh"  properly  means  "  a  visiting,"  and 
hence  is  used  for  the  place  visited,  being  the  appellation 
given  to  the  reputed  sepulchres  of  men  who  have  enjoyed 
distinction  in  the  Ansairee  sect.  These  tombs  are  gene- 
rally situated  on  conspicuous  spots,  such  as  the  tops  of  the 
highest  hills,  or  amid  groves  of  evergreen  oak.  They 
recal  to  mind  in  a  very  striking  manner  the  worship  of  the 
ancient  Canaanites,  on  every  high  hill  and  under  every 
green  tree.  Many  of  these  groves  are  doubtless  very  old, 
perhaps  as  old  as  the  Canaanites.  The  tombs  found 
under  them  are  often  very  apocryphal ;  for  instance,  about 
a  quarter  of  a  mile  to  the  west  of  my  village  is  a  fine  grove 
of  trees,  in  which  are  sixteen  small  tombs  enclosed  by  a 
rude  wall,  in  which  I  have  before  now  seen  snakes,  a  fit 
emblem  of  that  old  serpent  who  still  deceives  the  dark 
Ansairee  mountains,  where  he  has  so  long  established  his 

M   4 


168  THE   ASIAN  MYSTERY. 

rule  in  ignorance,  bloodshed,  and  the  commission  of  every 
diabolical  act.  Near  at  hand  is  a  ruined  village,  once 
belonging  to  the  Keratileh,  the  former  possessors  of  the 
district.  These  tombs  are  doubtless  those  of  the  ancient 
inhabitants  of  the  village,  but  now  they  are  supposed  to  be 
those  of  some  sheikhs  who  had  come  from  Banyas,  and  hence 
the  tombs  are  called  the  Banwaseyeh.  These  tombs  may 
be  considered  the  Penates  of  the  people  of  my  village;  for 
they  are  visited  by  them  on  all  great  occasions,  and  solemn 
oaths  are  taken  by  them.  "  By  the  Banwaseyeh  and  the 
sixteen  tombs  "  is  a  common,  but  rather  long,  form  of 
asseveration.  To  the  east  of  my  village,  about  a  mile  dis- 
tant, under  a  magnificent  deciduous  oak,  is  another  famous 
tomb,  reputed  to  belong  to  a  certain  Sheikh  Bedr  (full 
moon)  il  Halabee  (from  Aleppo),  and  to  have  the  power 
of  curing  bad  eyes,  and  of  restoring  sight  to  the  blind. 
Often  have  people  come  to  me  for  the  cure  of  ophthalmia, 
who  have  borne  marks  of  having  previously  visited  the 
tomb, — a  forehead  smeared  with  earth  from  it,  and  leaves 
of  the  oak  stuck  in  their  head-dress.  When  I  say  that  the 
tomb  has  the  power  of  cure,  I  mean  the  spirit  of  him 
buried  within  it,  which  is  commonly  supposed  to  be  there 
or  within  hearing  distance.  However,  sometimes  the  good 
man  is  supposed  to  be  ''  on  a  journey ;"  and  hence  Friday 
is  considered  an  especially  favourable  day  for  a  visit,  as  then 
all  the  "  prophets"  are  said  to  be  in  their  respective  places. 
I  once  had  to  prescribe  for  a  man  who,  from  some  inflam- 
mation, had  his  muscles  in  a  state  of  rigidity,  and  seemed 
at  the  point  of  death.  I  placed  a  blister  on  his  abdomen, 
having  previously  asked  the  people  to  wash  the  part,  but 
on  applying  it  found  that  there  was  earth  there,  which 
interfered  much  with  the  action  of  the  blister.  However 
the  man  recovered,  but  I  fear  the  earth,  which  was  from  a 
zeyareh,  had  more  of  the  credit  of  the  cure  than  the 
blister. 

When  riding  home  one  evening,  towards  dusk,  I  saw  a 
large,  bright,  blue  ball  of  fire  descend  slowly,  apparently 


ZEYAREHS   OR   VISITING-PLACES.  169 

on  the  trees  of  the  Banwaseyeh.  Seeing  my  Ansairee 
servant  ahead,  I  rode  up  to  hiin  and  asked  him  if  he  had 
observed  anything.  He  said  no ;  and,  after  remaining 
silent  for  some  time,  added: — '^  Those  trees  are  honoured, 
and  therefore  a  light  descends  on  them;  but  it  is  only 
sheikhs  and  such  men  as  you  are  who  are  favoured  with 
seeing  it."  It  is  commonly  said  that  holy  places  are  indi- 
cated and  honoured  by  the  descent  of  fire  on  them.  There 
have  been  accidents  to  confirm  the  people  in  their  belief 
in  the  sanctity  of  the  Banwaseyeh  grove.  A  few  years  ago 
a  camp  was  pitched  near,  and  a  soldier,  having  been  sa- 
crilegious enough  to  ascend  into  one  of  the  trees,  fell,  and 
was  killed.  His  tomb  is  shown  near.  I  myself  know  of 
a  poor  little  fellow  who  got  up  into  one  of  the  trees  to 
gather  carobs,  and,  in  doing  so,  lacerated  his  thigh  so 
much  that  he  died  of  lock-jaw  a  fortnight  after. 

These  visiting-places,  when  of  any  consequence,  consist 
of  one  square  room  with  door,  and  with  a  small  dome 
above.  They  are  plastered,  and  frequently  whitewashed, 
so  that  they  are  conspicuous  objects,  and  remind  one 
vividly  of  our  Saviour's  allusion  to  whited  sepulchres. 
Still,  men  build  the  sepulchres  of  prophets  whom  their 
fathers  killed.  In  the  village  of  Kurdahah  is  a  tomb  of 
a  Christian  priest  who  was  murdered  and  cast  into  a  well 
a  generation  or  two  ago.  It  is  said  that  his  body  was 
found  miraculously  suspended  in  the  middle  of  the  well. 
A  light  is  also  said  every  evening  to  be  miraculously 
lighted  at  the  tomb. 

In  the  district  of  Muhailby,  some  years  ago,  the  people 
took  considerable  pains  in  building  a  zey^reh  of  four 
domes, to  a  certain Nebbee  il-Wakh^b,  "Bountiful prophet;" 
but,  as  the  Muhailby  have  of  late  years  been  very  un- 
fortunate, they  have  got  out  of  sorts  with  their  holy  man, 
and  say  that  he  must  have  been  a  Christian,  though  they 
add,  at  the  commencement  his  "  sirr,"  or  secret,  appeared, 
and  he  had  power  to  work  miracles.  Now  they  make  a 
mock  of  him.     The  sirr,  I  should  add,  is  the  appearance 


170  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

of  a  light  or  other  token,  pointing  out  a  holy  place  or 
tomb. 

Connected  with  the  tomb  is  often  a  house  where  the 
servant  of  the  zeyareh  lives,  and  perhaps  a  room,  where 
sick  people  seeking  cure  pass  a  few  days.  Inside  the 
sepulchre,  over  the  grave,  is  a  kind  of  ark  of  wood,  and 
on  it  a  piece  of  green  calico.  Strips  of  this  are  given  to 
visitors,  and  worn  round  their  necks  as  amulets.  One  day, 
on  arriving  at  home  from  a  visit  to  the  town,  I  heard  that 
there  had  been  some  commotion  in  the  school.  One  of  the 
boys  had  come  with  a  piece  of  this  stuff  round  his  neck, 
whereupon  another,  who  had  got  to  see  the  folly  of  such 
things,  tore  it  off,  and,  to  show  his  contempt  for  it,  put  it 
round  my  dog's  neck.  Of  course  I  should  not  have  sanc- 
tioned this,  but  my  Christian  "  friends  "  and  others  scat- 
tered through  the  mountains  still  relate  how  I  had  ordered 
the  thing  to  be  done. 

Having  built  some  chimneys  with  round  tops,  a  little 
resembling  the  domes  of  a  zeyareh,  a  woman  from 
the  higher  mountains,  struck  with  their  appearance  and 
that  of  my  house  altogether,  took  it  for  a  visiting-place, 
and  began  to  make  salaams  to  it,  saying,  "  Help  me,  0 
zeyareh  !"  The  people  of  the  village  were  much  amused 
at  such  an  instance  of  ignorance,  though  they  are  not 
much  wiser. 

The  chief  zey^rehs  in  the  Ansairee  mountains  are, 
going  from  north  to  south,  the  Nebbee  Yunis,  Nebbee 
Matta,  Nebbee  Rubeel,  II  Arbaeen,  Djaafar  Tayyar,  and 
Ahmed  Kirf^s. 

The  Nebbee  Yunis,  or  prophet  Jonah,  has  many  tombs 
in  the  East,  one  of  them  at  Nineveh.  The  Ansairee  repre- 
sentative is  found  at  the  northern  extremity  of  the  moun- 
tains, on  one  of  the  highest  points.  The  sheikh  or  servant 
lives  in  a  house  at  the  bottom  of  the  steep  on  which  the 
tomb  is  built,  and  is  really  a  remarkable  man  in  his  man- 
ner ;  wild,  but  intelligent,  though  living  a  most  secluded 
life.    When  I  visited  him,  he  received  me  very  hospitably. 


ZEYAREHS   OR   VISITING-PLACES.  171 

and  gave  me  a  repast  of  honey,  butter,  &c.  Visible  to  the 
south  is  the  Nebbee  Matta,  or  prophet  Matthew,  who  it 
seems  is  averse  to  any  tomb  being  built  over  him,  for  an 
attempt  has  been  made  to  do  so  once  or  twice,  but  the 
building  has  been  destroyed  by  the  prophet  himself,  as 
people  say  ;  rather  perhaps  by  the  strong  east  wind  from 
the  plains  of  Mesopotamia. 

Farther  to  the  south  is  the  tomb  of  the  Nebbee  Rubeel, 
or  prophet  Reuben,  situated  on  a  conspicuous  conical  hill 
near  the  village  of  Ain  it-Teeneh.  The  sheikh  was  a 
venerable  old  man,  with  a  manner  as  if  he  had  been  accus- 
tomed to  receive  the  great  ones  of  the  earth,  probably 
acquired  from  his  central  position,  and  his  intercourse  with 
men.  I  have  found  some  others  of  the  Ansairee  sheikhs 
possessing  an  air  of  simple  dignity  ;  in  fact,  a  feeling  of 
preeminence  and  authority  communicates  this  even  among 
barbarous  nations.  His  son  was  intelligent,  and  anxious 
to  learn  ciphering,  that  he  might  be  able  to  read  dates. 

To  the  south  again  is  another  conspicuous  hill,  that  of 
II  Arbaeen,  or  the  forty,  just  north  of  and  at  the  back  of 
my  own  district.  When  I  first  began  to  speak  openly  on 
religious  subjects  in  the  mountains,  there  was  a  great 
commotion  among  the  lords  of  the  visiting-places,  and  a 
certain  veracious  sheikh  affirmed  that  they  assembled  in 
consultation  on  this  hill,  which  trembled  at  their  pre- 
sence. 

Next  in  order,  and  chief  in  importance,  especially  with 
my  own  district,  is  Djaafar  Tayyar,  called  II  Malik,  or 
king,  and  the  Sultan.  Its  lord  was  a  brother  of  Ali,  who, 
with  two  other  generals,  was  killed  at  Muta,  in  the  first 
battle  between  the  Mussulmans  and  Greeks.  His  name  is 
scarcely  ever  out  of  the  mouths  of  the  Kelbeeh  people,  who 
swear  by  him  a  hundred  times  a  day,  on  the  slightest  as 
well  as  the  most  important  occasions.  No  word  has  be- 
come more  a  household  one  with  me.  In  every  calamity 
he  is  appealed  to,  as  he  is  considered  the  great  friend  and 
helper  of  our  district.     When  a  fight  has  been  going  on,  I 


172  THE   ASIAN  MYSTERY. 

have  seen  the  women  come  out  of  their  houses,  and  look 
towards  his  zeyareh,  saying,  "  Help,  0  Sultan  !  Take  such 
and  such  a  thing  from  me,  if  you  will  help  us."  A  vow 
which  is  paid  at  some  future  time.  The  late  Sheikh 
Hhabeeb,  the  chief  sheikh  of  the  Ansaireeh,  was  Nazir  il- 
Awkaf  to  Djaafar  Tayyar,  that  is,  superintendent  of  the 
property  belonging  to  his  zeyareh ;  for  it  is  common  for 
people  to  vow  part  of  their  property  to  a  visiting-place, 
and  especially  to  the  ^*  Sultan ; "  the  proceeds  of  which 
"  Wakf,"  or  entailed  sacred  land  or  houses,  go  to  the 
servants  of  the  zeyareh  for  their  support,  and  for  the 
providing  of  feasts  and  the  exercise  of  hospitality.  Sheikh 
Hhabeeb  was  consequently  well  off.  Since  his  death, 
a  year  or  two  ago,  his  young  son  has  taken  his  place. 
Already  wonderful  stories  are  told  of  him ;  how,  on  the 
occasion  of  his  father's  funeral  feast,  water  was  wanting, 
and  was  supplied  by  him  miraculously.  The  father  was  a 
heavy,  and  rather  dull  man,  whose  end,  says  my  lad,  was 
hastened  by  drinking  arrack,  or  spirits. 

When  I  visited  this  zeyareh  I  started  from  my  home  be- 
fore dusk.  A  man  from  a  village  farther  up  the  mountains 
joined  us  as  we  passed,  and  on  catching  sight  of  the 
building,  as  we  rose  a  hill,  towards  sunrise,  saluted  it  from 
afar.  Before  reaching  it  are  stones  marking  its  boun- 
daries. Here  also  he  saluted  it.  There  are  two  villages 
of  sheikhs,  Merhee  and  Semukhtee,  the  inhabitants  of 
which  live  on  the  alms  given  to  the  zeyareh,  and  call  them- 
selves the  "  dogs  of  the  Sultan,"  giving  that  as  an  excuse 
for  their  importunity.  They  are  of  the  Shemseen  sect ; 
and  in  the  division  of  the  offerings  two  thirds  are  given 
to  the  Semukhtee,  and  one  third  to  the  Merhee  people. 
Sheikh  Ahmed  of  Merhee  I  found  independent,  but  civil 
and  hospitable.  The  sheikhs  at  the  zeyareh  had  all  the 
same  appearance  ;  dirty,  with  heavy  faces,  aquiline  noses, 
and  dirty  white  turbans. 

The  zeyareh  itself  is  not  at  all  striking.  It  consists  of 
three  separate  rooms,  with  a  low  wall  round  it  to  the 


ZEYAREHS   OR  VISITING -PLACES.  173 

east.  In  the  most  northerly  room,  which  is  a  little  square 
one  with  a  low  arched  roof,  there  is  a  small  tomb,  near 
the  head  of  which,  as  well  as  of  those  in  the  other  rooms,  is 
a  hole  for  the  reception  of  earth,  which  may  be  taken  away 
for  the  sick.  There  are  two  holes  in  the  wall  to  the  north 
and  to  the  west,  and  a  niche  in  the  wall  to  the  south.  This 
tomb  is  said  to  be  that  of  the  slave  of  the  Sultdn.  The 
central  room  is  similar,  having  a  wooden  covering  over  the 
tomb,  concealed  by  a  green  cloth,  on  which  the  double 
triangle  is  worked  in  one  or  two  places.  The  room  to  the 
south  is  larger,  resting  on  a  pillar  in  the  centre,  and  the 
floor  is  damp  and  dirty.  This  one  belongs  to  the  family 
of  Abd-il-Multalab,  the  grandfather  of  Mohammed ;  and 
it  is  common  among  the  Ansaireeh  to  swear  by  the  house 
or  family  of  Abd-il-Multalab.  The  two  side  chambers 
were  built  by  Sheikh  Hhabeeb,  who,  while  engaged  on  the 
work,  lived  on  the  mountain,  and  exercised  profuse  hospi- 
tality. The  central  chamber,  according  to  Sheikh  Ahmed, 
was  built  in  the  time  of  II  Moazz  ibn-Saleh.  The  man 
who  went  with  me  moved  a  heap  of  stones,  forming  the 
boundary  of  the  sacred  precincts,  and  was  most  earnest  in 
taking  away  from  the  zeyareh,  earth,  incense,  and  a  piece 
of  the  green  cloth  for  his  little  son  who  was  ill.  He  had 
previously  on  the  same  account  vowed  a  calf  should  the 
boy  recover. 

The  last  of  the  chief  zeyarehs  of  the  fellaheen,  and  the 
best  built  of  all,  is  that  of  Ahmed  Kirf^s.  He  is  also 
called  AboO'Ali,  and  with  this  addition  forms  a  favourite 
oath  of  the  wife  of  our  chief  Mekuddam.  His  name  of 
Kirfas  is  interpreted  of  his  power  to  "  kirfas,"  render 
frosty  and  slippery  the  roads.  His  zeyareh  is  on  a  spur 
of  the  mountains,  north  of  that  on  which  Castle  Merkab 
is  situated,  and  is  said  to  have  been  built  by  the  ancestor 
of  the  Kelbeeh,  who  was  their  chief  when  they  first 
passed  the  mountains  from  the  east.  It  resembles  a  small 
Cairo  mosque,  being  painted  in  red  lines,  like  some  of 
those  in  that  city. 


174  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

There  is  another  place  worth  describing,  situated  be- 
tween our  district  and  the  Boodee,  at  the  back  of  the  hill 
which  forms  our  southern  boundary.     It  is  a  cave,  called 
that  of  the  Seyyadeh,  or  blessed  Virgin  Mary.     On  visit- 
ing it  I  found  some  trees  and  brackish  water  near,  and  in 
it  two  capitals  of  columns,   apparently  Ionic,  belonging 
probably  to  some  former  temple.     One  of  these  is  supposed 
to  be  the  tomb.  There  was  oil  placed  there  ;  and  there,  also, 
a  miraculous   light  is  sometimes  seen.       Some  say  it  is 
lighted  every  day,  others  only  at  the  feast  of  the  invention 
of  the  Cross.    This  place  is  reverenced  by  the  Christians,  as 
also  indeed  are  the   Nebbee  Yunis,  Djaafar  Tayyar,  and 
Ahmed  Kirf^s,  the  latter  being  supposed  to  be  the  tomb 
of  a  certain  John.     It  is  not  uncommon  in  Syria  for  dif- 
ferent sects  to  reverence  what  is  in  great  honour  with 
others,  as  is  the  case  in  Egypt,  where  the  peasantry  of 
the  country,  as  mentioned  by  Lane*,  *^  observe  certain  cus- 
toms of  a  religious  or  superstitious  character,"  belonging 
to  the  Coptic  Christians.     The  Ansaireeh  in  like  manner 
reverence  greatly  the  Khudr,  who,  with  the  Christians,  is 
Mar  Elias  or  St.  George.     Consequently  they  often  vow  in 
times  of  distress  a  sum  of  money,  or  rather  article  of  pro- 
perty, to  the  convent  of  Mar  Djurdjis,  situated  near  the 
Kulaat-il-Husn,  and  visited  by  me  in  my  first  journey  in 
the  north  of  Syria.f     At  a  certain  period  of  the  year  the 
agent  of  the  convent  comes  round  and  collects  the  pro- 
ceeds of  these  vows,  which,    in  the  shape  of  millet  or 
wheat,  he  sometimes  sold  to  me  on  passing ;  on  one  occa- 
sion saying  afterwards  that   he   had   had   conversations 
with  me  on  religion,  and  found  that  the  English  had  no 
creed,  nor  churches,  and  moreover  were  everything  that 
was  bad.     My  lad  a  few  days  ago  informed  me  that  a 
piastre  a  year    had    been  vowed  upon   him  to  the  said 
convent,  and  asked  me  whether  he  should  pay  it  as  he 
advanced  in  years. 

♦  Modern  Egyptians,  vol.  ii.  p.  254. 
t  Ansaireeh  and  Ismaeleeh,  p.  252. 


ANSAIREE   FEASTS.  175 

It  is  these  visiting-places,  as  I  have  said,  the  fear  of 
which  is  the  principal  motive  of  a  religious  character 
influencing  the  Ansaireeh.  They  will  fearlessly  swear 
falsely  by  God,  but  are  often  very  fearful  of  breaking 
their  oath  by  a  zeyareh,  especially  a  "  powerful "  one ; 
and  will  tell  tales  of  the  calamities  which  befel  such  and 
such  a  one  on  ofi^ending  against  the  dues  of  a  place  of  the 
kind.  On  remonstrating  with  them  on  this  point,  witli 
a  similar  one  to  which  Mohammed  reproaches  the  Arabs 
of  his  time,  they  answer  that  God  is  forgiving  and  will 
pardon  an  offence  against  Him,  but  not  so  the  zey^rehs. 
When  pressed  hard  they  say  that  they  do  not  believe  that 
the  lords  of  the  zey^rehs  have  power  in  themselves,  but 
that  they  are  accepted  with  God,  and  he  punishes  offences 
against  them,  and  hears  their  prayers  of  intercession.  In 
fact  they  occupy  much  the  same  place  with  the  Ansaireeh 
that  saints  and  the  blessed  Virgin  do  with  the  Christians 
of  Syria.  Property  placed  in  the  precincts  of  one  of  these 
zeyarehs  is  safe,  and  it  is  not  unusual  to  see  loads  of 
wood,  or  ploughsliares  and  threshing  implements  depo- 
sited there.  Potsherds  filled  with  incense  are  also  gene- 
rally placed  upon  them. 

The  zeyarehs  are  especially  visited  by  the  Ansaireeh 
on  the  occasion  of  their  feasts,  of  which  I  now  come  to 
speak. 

The  feast  of  the  Ansaireeh  of  which  one  hears  and  sees 
most  is  the  Kuzelleh,  and,  therefore,  I  will  first  speak 
of  it  and  its  attendant  feasts,  though  it  is  not  their  chief 
religious  feast,  which  is  the  Nurooz.  The  Kuzelleh  and  its 
accompanying  feasts,  which  I  shall  first  describe,  are  taken 
from  the  Christians  ;  others,  such  as*  the  Nurooz  are  taken 
from  the  Persians ;  and  some  belong  to  the  Mussulmans. 

The  Kuzelleh  is  held  on  New  Year's  day,  old  style,  which 
is  that  still  observed  in  the  East  by  those  Christians  who  are 
unconnected  with  the  Church  of  Eome.  It  is  the  reckoning 
which  the  Ansaireeh  generally  follow  in  their  civil  transac- 
tions.    In  the  month  before  the  Kuzelleh  is  the  feast  of  St. 


176  THE    ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

Barbara,  on  the  eve  of  which,  at  sunset,  the  people  light  fires 
on  the  tops  of  their  houses.  With  respect  to  the  expression, 
eve,  I  must  remind  the  reader  that  in  the  East  the  day 
begins  at  sunset. 

Before  sunset  they  prepare  wheat  by  beating  it  in  a 
mortar  to  remove  the  husk.  They  then  kill  a  fowl,  which 
they  strike  on  the  door,  and  the  wall  on  each  side  of  it,  and 
sometimes  on  the  lintel  and  side-posts  ;  in  this,  doubtless, 
imitating  the  Jewish  Passover.  It  is  then  put  in  the  pot,  and 
boiled  with  the  wheat,  and  eaten  at  sunset.  Some  of  the  feast 
will  remain  over  till  next  day,  when  it  is  again  partaken 
of.  This  mess  is  called  the  Hareeseh.  After  seven  or 
eight  days  comes  the  Helaweeh  il-Keheereh,  the  greater 
sweet  feast,  so  called  because  it  consists  of  wheat  flour 
mixed  in  cakes  with  figs,  or  the  sweet  juice  of  carobs 
resembling  treacle,  or  that  of  grapes.  After  another 
seven  days  is  the  lesser  Helaweeh,  or  Helaweeh  it-Tanee, 
the  second,  which  is  not  kept  by  all. 

Then  comes  theKuzelleh;  for  the  festival  of  the  Meelad, 
or  the  25th  of  December,  though  mentioned  as  of  great 
merit  and  sanctity  in  their  books,  as  the  meelad  or  birth- 
day of  Eesa  or  Jesus,  is  not  kept  as  a  popular  festival. 

A  day  before  the  eve  of  the  Kuzelleh  they  kill  and  eat 
the  "  dabeehat  il-haram  ; "  that  is,  any  one  who  may  have 
stolen  an  ox,  sheep,  buffalo,  or  goat,  from  the  plains  or  else- 
where, kills  it,  and  partakes  of  it  with  his  intimate  friends, 
the  name  signifying  the  "  unlawful  slain  animal.*'  On  the 
eve  of  the  Kuzelleh  they  kill  the  *'  dabeehat  il-halfil," 
lawful  sacrifice,  and  eat  a  little  of  it.  Even  in  the  poorest 
house  some  animal  is  killed,  such  as  a  kid  ;  and  sometimes 
several  persons  are  partners  in  a  more  expensive  one, 
such  as  an  ox.  Before  the  eve  every  one  will  have 
had  his  clothes  washed.  In  the  middle  of  the  night  they 
set  off  for  some  zeyareh.  For  instance,  the  people  of  my 
own  village  on  one  occasion  went  to  the  Arbaeen.  My 
lad  was  with  them.  They  arrive  there  about  daybreak. 
Men,    women   and    children   go,    and  enter   the  zeyareh 


ANSAIREE    FEASTS.  177 

together ;  and  when  they  liave  each  taken  some  earth  and 
incense  they  go  outside,  and  there  they  talk  and  chat, 
and  kiss  their  friends,  saying,  "  Eeduk  Mubarah  Aleyk," 
"May  your  festival  be  blessed  to  you,  and  to  your 
relations ;  every  year,  0  Djaafar  Tayyar,  may  they  be  in 
liealth  and  wealth !  "  The  men  when  they  enter  the 
zey^reh  mutter  a  number  of  prayers  very  quickly  and 
indistinctly.  On  returning  to  the  village  they  visit  one 
another,  first  paying  their  respects  to  the  chief  man.  I 
have  received  visits  on  such  occasions,  when  the  people 
came  in  their  best  clothes.  They  make  cakes  of  wheat  or 
burghool  and  onions,  and  also  bread  anointed  with  oil, 
which  they  call  Fateer. 

If  there  are  men  among  the  visitors  fond  of  good 
living,  the  master  of  the  house  will  kill  fowls  to  feast 
them.  Also,  if  any  great  man  have  died  a  year  or 
so  before,  the  people  go  to  his  grave  on  the  day  of 
the  Kuzelleh.  On  the  six  or  seven  succeeding  days  they 
visit  one  another,  going  by  turns  to  each  chief  house, 
eating  meat  and  drinking  arrack.  They  also  call  in  parties 
on  their  friends  in  other  villages. 

This  series  of  popular  festivals  closes  with  the  Yetas, 
or  Epiphany.  The  word  means  an  immersion,  alluding 
to  the  custom  of  the  Greek  Christians  of  immersing 
themselves  in  water,  in  memorial  of  the  baptism  of  our 
Lord.  The  Ansaireeh  turn  the  word  into  Kuddas  or 
*'  Mass."  Some  celebrate  three  days,  which  they  call  the 
first,  second,  and  third  Kuddas,  but  the  whole  of  these  are 
kept  by  the  more  devout  only.  The  sixth  day  after  New 
Year's  Day,  or  the  Epiphany,  is  the  one  which  they  chiefly 
observe.  They  call  the  third  Kuddas  that  of  the  Chris- 
tians, and  very  few  observe  it.  On  the  morning  of  this  festi- 
val, men,  women,  and  children  go  to  the  fountain  or  river, 
and  wash  all  over;  the  men  and  women,  of  course,  at  separate 
places.  The  Christians,  and  from  them  the  Ansaireeh, 
say  that  on  the  night  of  the  Epiphany  all  the  trees  bend 
in  adoration,  and  that  any  one  who  sees  them  do  so  will 

N 


178  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

have  anything  he  prays  for.  They  bring  stones  from 
the  fountain  and  place  them  on  the  fruit  trees  that  they 
may  bear,  and  on  their  way  to  immersion  they  take 
branches  of  olive  or  myrtle,  and  dip  them  in  the  water, 
and  on  their  return  they  put  them  in  the  vessels  con- 
taining corn,  &c.,  or  in  the  four  corners  of  the  house. 
This  also  is  done  by  the  Christians. 

Makrisi*  mentions  that  the  Fatimite  caliphs  of  Egypt 
used  to  keep  the  Meelad,  or  birthday  of  Christ,  and  the 
Get^s,  or  Epiphany  ;  and  says  that  the  Egyptians  of  their 
day  believed  that  the  water  of  the  Nile,  on  the  night  of 
the  latter,  had  the  power  of  healing  diseases. 

The  feasts  I  have  just  mentioned  are  popular  feasts,  in 
which  men,  women,  and  children  participate,  and  are  rather 
times  of  rejoicing  than  religious  festivals.  They  are  taken 
from  the  Christians.  The  feasts  of  which  we  now  shall 
treat  are  not  spoken  of  commonly,  but  found  in  their 
books,  and  are  those  on  which  the  secret  assemblies  for 
the  participation  in  the  sacrament  take  place.  I  shall  not 
mention  all  of  them,  but  refer  the  reader  to  the  transla- 
tion of  M.  Catafago's  notice  of  an  Ansairee  Book  of 
Festivals,  given  at  the  end  of  the  volume. 

The  most  important  one  is  that  of  Nurooz,  which  is  a 
Persian  word  for  the  vernal  equinox. f  In  the  book  just 
mentioned  one  section  is  on  "  the  Nurooz,  or  the  4th  of 
April,  and  the  first  day  of  the  Persian  year."  J  Accord- 
ingly the  Ansaireeh  celebrate  it  on  the  4th  of  April,  old 
style,  and  my  lad  knows  of  the  feast  by  that  name,  namely, 
''  fourth  of  April." 

Makrisi  mentions  it  §  as  kept  by  the  Fatimite  caliphs, 
and  calls  it  the  Nurooz  il  Kubtee,  or  Coptee.  But  if  it  be 
the  same  as  the  Nurooz  kept  by  the  Copts  of  to-day,  which 

*  Description  of  Cairo,  vol.  i.  p.  490. 

f  The  word  Nurooz  is  derived  from  the  two  words  naw,  nu,  or  no, 
•*  new,**  and  roz,  "  day."  That  is,  New  Year's  Day,  being  the  first  day 
of  the  Persian  year.     I  have  written  the  word  as  if  an  Arabic  one. 

t  Journ.  Asiat.  Feb.  1848,  p.  154.  §  Ubi  supra. 


RELIGIOUS   FESTIVALS.  179 

occurs,  says  Lane*,  on  the  Copts'  New  Year's  Day  (or  the 
10th  or  11th  of  September),  it  was  not  held  at  the  same 
time  as  the  Ansairee  feast  of  the  same  name.  Makrisi 
says  that  the  Nurooz  was  first  kept  by  Djamsheed,  one  of 
the  early  Persian  kings.  He  says  that  the  word  means  in 
Arabic,  Djadeed,  or  new.  It  was  reputed  to  be  the  day 
on  which  Solomon's  ring  was  restored  to  him,  and  the 
birds  brought  water  in  their  beaks  and  sprinkled  it  before 
him;  hence  the  Persian  kings  used  to  keep  it  as  a  festival, 
with  sprinkling  of  water.  The  Ansairee  book  alludes  to 
the  "ceremony  of  sprinkling  with  water  "  thus  practised. f  . 
It  is  mentioned  in  my  Ansairee  MS.  (p.  132),  where  are 
some  lines  of  poetry  called  "  the  Nurooz,"  which  are  read 
over  the  cup  of  wine  in  the  Mass.  This  day  is  also 
specially  mentioned  in  the  catechism.  On  it,  and  on 
other  great  festivals,  there  is  a  Nidr  or  vow,  which  is  a 
feast  at  the  house  of  some  sheikh.  Different  sheikhs  have 
acquired  the  habit  or  right  of  celebrating  particular  feasts. 
Thus  the  Nurooz  is  held  at  the  house  of  a  certain  sheikh 
Mahmood,  in  the  village  of  Kurdahah.  Any  one  present, 
even  Christians,  may  partake  of  the  feast,  that  is,  of  the 
eatables  of  it,  with  the  Kumreeh  sect ;  but  I  have  heard 
men  of  the  Shemseen  or  stricter  sect  blame  them  for 
allowing  this,  saying  that  with  them  women  would  not  be 
allowed  to  eat  of  the  slain  animal. 

It  is  at  this  and  similar  feasts  that  the  sheikhs  take  the 
initiated  adults  to  some  private  place,  in  a  house  or 
the  open  air,  and  perform  their  sacramental  prayers. 
Now  is  the  time  to  contradict,  once  and  for  all,  the  com- 
monly received  stories  of  the  promiscuous  meetings  of 
the  Ansaireeh.  We  have  seen  that  on  their  popular 
feasts,  when  men,  women,  and  children  assemble  by 
night  to  visit  their  ze}arehs,  there  is  no  approach  to 
anything  wrong ;  and  it  is  this  custom  which  has  chiefly 
given  rise  to  the  false  stories  alluded  to.     On  other  occa- 

*  Modern  Egyptians,  ii.  268. 
f   See  translation  of  "  Day  of  Nurooz,"  Chap.  X. 
M  2 


180  THE   ASIAN  MYSTERY. 

sions,  men  meet  together  for  a  short  time,  and  then  only 
to  partake  of  the  sacramental  wine.  It  is  thus  so  clear 
that  there  is  neither  time  nor  opportunity  for  any  such 
guilty  doings  as  are  ascribed  to  the  Ansaireeh,  that  I  con- 
sider the  matter  set  at  rest  for  ever ;  and  I  will  only  add, 
that  they  are  as  moral  as  the  majority  of  Christians  who 
are  not  seriously  influenced  by  their  faith.  That  most 
fearful  of  all  vices,  which  is  so  awfully  prevalent  among  the 
Mussulmans  of  Syria  that  they  have  come  to  look  on  it 
and  to  talk  of  it  without  shame,  and  which  can  only  be 
just  alluded  to,  is  scarcely  known  among  the  Ansaireeh ; 
and  only  among  those  who  have  been  corrupted  by  inter- 
course with  the  Mussulmans.  Hence  one  of  the  curses 
which  they  direct  against  the  Mussulmans  is,  as  guilty  of 
this  abominable  crime. 

Another  great  festival,  which  my  boy  has  heard  spoken 
of,  and  which  is  mentioned  in  the  Ansairee  books,  is  that 
of  the  Gadeer ;  a  name  which  is  applied  to  a  pool  of  water, 
such  as  those  left  by  the  Nile  on  its  retreat.  This  feast 
is  kept  in  our  neighbourhood  by  the  sheikhs  of  a  village 
called  Beyt  Reehan.  A  common  expression  is,  "  Thou 
shalt  sufl^er  the  punishment  of  all  that  has  been  said  on 
the  festival  of  Gadeer."  My  lad  has  known  it  as  kept  in 
the  spring,  and  perhaps  the  time  is  regulated  by  that  of 
the  Nurooz.  This  feast  is  mentioned  in  my  MS.*  with 
great  respect,  connected  with  that  of  Nurooz,  and  a  certain 
convention,  or  covenant,  to  serve  Ali  is  called  the  Bey  at  il 
Gadeer.f  It  is  also  specially  mentioned  in  the  Book  of 
Feasts,  and  also  by  Makrisi. 

The  Mihrdj^n  is  another  Persian  feast,  that  of  the 
autumnal  equinox.  About  that  time  a  family  of  sheikhs, 
says  my  lad,  are  in  the  habit  of  celebrating  a  feast.  This 
feast  is  held  the  16th  day  of  October. 

The  17th  day  of  March,  shortly  before  the  festival  of 
Nurooz.  is  also  held  in  great  respect,   Ali  is  invoked  more 

*  P.  132.  t  !*•  105. 


RELIGIOUS   FESTIVALS.  181 

than  once  in  my  book*  "  by  the  truth  of  the  17th  of  March," 
and  it  is  spoken  of,  and  a  prayer  for  it  given,  in  the  Book 
of  Festivals.f  My  lad  has  often  heard  them  speak  of  it  in 
the  expression,  "  Thou  shalt  eat  the  stroke  of  the  treasure 
and  the  wall,  and  the  17th  of  March;"  which  words  in 
Arabic  are  a  kind  of  rhythm,  and  are  found  in  my  MS. J 
The  wall  here  alluded  to  is  the  one  mentioned  in  the 
Koran  (chap,  xviii.). 

Other  feasts  follow  the  Mohammedan  reckoning ;  being 
kept  also  by  the  Mussulmans,  and  taken  from  them.  One 
of  them,  Ashoora,  the  tenth  of  Moharram,  is  especially 
kept  by  the  Persian  Mussulmans,  in  commemoration  of 
the  death  of  Hosein,  which  took  place  on  that  day.  There 
is  a  prayer  also  in  the  Book  of  Feasts  for  the  eve  of  the 
middle  of  Shab^n,  the  eighth  month  of  the  Mohammedan 
year.  "  This  night  is  held  in  great  reverence  by  the 
Mooslims  as  the  period  when  the  fate  of  every  living  man 
is  confirmed  for  the  ensuing  year."§  This  day  is  styled 
the  last  of  the  Khuseebee,  that  is,  of  the  Ansairee,  year. 
Mention  is  also  made  in  the  Book  of  Feasts  of  the  festival 
of  Fitr,  the  breaking  of  the  fast,  the  first  of  the  three 
days  of  the  "  Lesser  feast "  which  the  Mussulmans  keep 
after  Ramadan  ;  as  also  of  the  feast  of  Adha,  which  is  the 
feast  of  the  sacrifice,  kept  by  the  Mussulmans  on  the  first 
day  of  the  three  of  the  "  Greater  feast,"  held  by  them  on 
the  tenth  day  of  the  last  month  of  their  year.  My  lad 
has  heard  it  spoken  of  under  its  other  name  of  Dahee. 

It  is  customary  to  give  to  the  poor  on  the  occasion  of 
feasts,  as  might  be  expected.  Once  I  knew  the  sheikhs 
to  be  considerably  out  about  the  time  of  the  feast  of  Bar- 
bara, and  consequently  of  the  subsequent  feasts.  In  the 
mountains  to  the  south  of  us  the  fires  were  lit  a  day  before 
the  time. 

I  have  often  spoken  to  the  people  with  respect  to  the 
fast  of  Ramadan.     Sometimes  they  say,  what  is  the  truth, 

*  Pp.  106,  147.  t  «^ourn.  Asiat.  Feb.  1848,  p.  168. 

t  P.  106.  §  Lane,  vol.  ii.  p.  229. 

N    3 


182  THE    ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

that  they  think  nothing  of  fasting.  At  other  times  they 
say  that  their  sheikhs  fast ;  and  some  of  them,  who  affect 
Mussulman  manners,  do  fast  sometimes.  But  we  have  seen 
that  it  has  ever  been  a  part  of  the  system  of  these  secret 
sects  to  explain  away  all  the  positive  commands  of  Moham- 
medanism, and  the  Ansaireeh  allegorise  and  personify  the 
month  of  Ramad^tn,  as  in  the  case  of  prayer  and  alms. 
Thus  there  is  the  expression  in  my  MS.,  "  by  the  truth 
of  the  month  of  fasting,  and  of  its  persons ;  "  so  that  the 
prayer  for  Ramadan,  given  in  the  Book  of  Feasts,  must  be 
one  suited  to  such  a  view  of  the  fast.  The  sheikhs  have 
sometimes  made  attempts  to  get  the  people  to  fast  for  a 
short  time;  but,  as  my  Ansairee  servant  said  of  such  a 
fast  only  for  seven  days,  a  few  years  ago,  "  the  Ansaireeh 
cannot  endure  fasting,  and  were  unable  to  keep  the  fast 
prescribed." 

I  proceed  now  to  describe  the  Ansairee  customs  on  the 
occasion  of  circumcision,  marriage,  and  death. 

The  boy  is  circumcised  at  the  age  of  five  or  six  years, 
or,  as  among  the  peasants  of  Egypt,  not  unfrequently 
much  later,  at  the  age  of  twelve,  thirteen,  or  fourteen 
years.*  There  is  nothing  peculiar  in  their  mode  of  cele- 
brating this  festival,  in  which  they  follow  the  Mussulmans. 
I  was  once  present  on  an  occasion  of  the  kindf ,  which 
lasted  for  a  day  or  two ;  and  as  the  rejoicings  are  much 
the  same  as  those  on  the  occasion  of  a  marriage,  I  shall 
leave  what  I  have  to  say  concerning  them  till  I  describe 
the  ceremonies  of  the  latter.  I  must,  however,  mention 
that  by  the  Ansaireeh  circumcision  is  called  Tatheer, 
purification. 

With  the  Ansaireeh  especially,  even  perhaps  more  than 
other  Easterns,  marriage  is  considered  almost  indispens- 
able ;  though  I  have  heard  of  one  sheikh,  the  brother  of 
Sheikh  Hhabeeb,  who  seemed  to  be  spoken  of  with  re- 
spect although  unmarried,  as  being  one  who  despised  the 

*  Lane,  i.  82.  j  Ansaireeh  and  Ismaeleeh,  p.  176. 


ANSAIREE   CUSTOMS.  183 

world.  Nevertheless,  in  most  cases,  it  would  be  consi- 
dered disgraceful  to  remain  single,  and  marriage  is  entered 
into  at  a  very  early  age.  Frequently  a  girl  of  eleven  or 
twelve  becomes  a  bride,  while  beardless  boys  are  urged  to 
wed.  ]\ry  lad,  who  is  about  seventeen  or  eighteen,  would 
ere  this  have  taken  a  wife  had  he  not  come  to  my  school, 
and  ^that  though  he  is  still  a  mere  boy  in  appearance. 
Women  among  the  Ansaireeh  do  not  veil,  and  therefore 
a  young  man  has  every  opportunity  of  seeing  and  choosing 
his  intended. 

When  he  has  seen  a  girl  who  pleases  him,  he  speaks 
with  her  relatives,  and  agrees  upon  the  sum  to  be  paid  to  her 
father,  which  ranges  from  500  to  5000  piastres,  or  from 
4  to  30,  40,  or  50  pounds,  according  to  the  dignity  of  the 
girl's  family.  100  piastres  of  this  are  given  to  the  girl  as 
"  Dum  ir-Rakabel,'^  "  the  blood  of  the  neck,"  or  head,  as 
it  is  termed:  and  her  father  also  gives  her  something, 
according  to  his  pleasure  ;  sometimes,  if  rich,  bedding 
and  a  box,  which  are  carried  in  procession  with  her 
when  she  is  taken  to  the  bridegroom's  house.  But  the 
small  sum  returned  from  the  dowry  to  the  girl  herself, 
and  the  way  in  which  the  whole  transaction  is  con- 
ducted and  spoken  of,  lay  the  Ansaireeh  open  to  the 
accusation  of  selling  their  daughters.  The  price  thus 
given  for  the  girl  is  called  her  "  burteel,"  or  bribe.  Some- 
times she  has  been  vowed  when  young  to  some  zeyareh,  and 
then  the  vower  makes  a  feast,  and  her  price  is  agreed  upon 
before  the  sheikh,  who  receives  it,  giving  some  part  of  it 
to  the  father.  The  sheikh  retains  a  part  in  money,  as 
alms,  and  the  rest  is  spent  in  eating.  When  only  half  the 
girl  has  been  vowed,  the  father  settles  the  price,  and  gives 
half  to  the  sheikh  of  the  zeyareh  in  question.  No  contract 
is  given,  nor  surety  money  necessarily  paid.  When  the 
kutbeh,  or  betrothal,  has  been  thus  entered  upon,  the 
bridegroom  can  claim  the  girl  when  he  pleases.  When 
the  ceremony  is  to  come  off,  he  makes  a  feast  in  his  house 
for  two  or  four  nights  before  the  occasion,  so  that  she  may 

N    4 


184  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

be  taken  home  on  an  *^  odd  "  day.  On  the  first  evening  his 
friends  assemble  only  to  dance.  They  light  a  fire,  which 
is  kept  up  by  boys  and  others,  while  the  men  and  women, 
mostly  the  younger  ones,  join  hands  in  a  ring,  and  jump 
round  the  fire  in  a  kind  of  dance,  from  left  to  right. 
After  stamping  the  foot  in  two  places,  they  give  a  slight 
bound  to  the  right,  and  so  on  again,  singing  a  suitable  tune. 
A  piper  is  engaged  on  such  occasions.  In  our  neighbour- 
hood lives  a  blind  one,  whose  pipe  is  formed  of  two  tubes 
of  bone  bound  together,  and  he  is  considered  no  bad  player. 
He  has  often  also  to  instruct  those  who  are  to  be  initiated. 
He  receives  presents  from  the  people  at  the  feast,  and 
shouts  out  their  names  as  they  fee  him.  Gipsies  likewise 
called  Kurbat,  come  with  drums  and  fifes  to  help  on  such 
occasions. 

On  the  next  morning  after  the  rejoicings  have  been  com- 
pleted at  the  bridegroom's  house,  his  friends  go  to  the  house 
of  the  bride,  and  sometimes  he  himself,  with  a  present  of 
burghool  and  other  eatables,  or  of  other  articles.  In  the 
evening  a  feast  is  made,  attended  with  dancing  as  before. 
Next  morning,  which  is  the  last  of  the  series,  a  feast  is 
again  made  at  the  bride's  house,  and  she  is  brought  out 
covered  with- a  veil,  and  in  high  boots,  such  as  those  worn 
by  the  sheikhs.  The  friends  of  the  father  of  the  girl  then 
give  presents,  which  are  called  Nuktah,  of  which  the  girl 
takes  a  half.  It  is  looked  on  as  a  loan,  for  the  father  gives 
to  his  friends  on  similar  occasions.  A  brother  or  cousin 
places  himself  at  the  door,  and  will  not  let  tjie  girl  come 
out  till  he  has  received  some  such  present  as  a  gun.  The 
bridegroom  also  gives  something  to  her  mother.  All  this 
only  takes  place  when  the  bride  is  of  some  consideration. 
She  is  then  placed  on  a  horse,  and  taken  in  procession  to 
the  bridegroom's  house,  visiting  two  .  or  three  zeyarehs 
on  the  way.  Her  mother  and  other  women  accompany 
her  on  the  road,  uttering  their  shrill  zalagheets. 

Before  she  goes  into  the  house  the  bridegroom  puts 
some  millet  and  figs  in  his  pocket,  and  goes  up  to  the  roof 


ANSAIREE    CUSTOMS.  185 

with  liis  friends,  he  and  they  having  each  a  long  stick  in 
their  hands.  One  of  her  relatives,  who  has  carried  a 
flag  in  procession,  stands  below  with  other  of  her  friends, 
provided  also  with  sticks.  An  amicable  contest  takes  place, 
during  which  the  standard-bearer  endeavours  to  enter  the 
house,  and  shots  are  fired.  I  should  have  said  that  the 
firing  of  guns  forms  an  invariable  part  of  every  rejoicing. 
Tliey  are  crammed  as  full  of  powder  as  they  will  bear,  so 
as  to  make  as  much  noise  as  possible,  but,  having  flint 
locks,  they  often  miss  fire.  It  is  not  pleasant  to  have  them 
going  off  in  all  directions,  at  one's  very  ear.  When  the 
standard-bearer  has  got  in,  the  mother,  or  other  female 
relative  of  the  girl,  gives  her  a  piece  of  leaven,  which  she 
sticks  over  the  door,  when  the  bridegroom  gives  her  a  blow 
with  his  stick,  and  then  throws  the  millet  and  figs  upon 
her  and  the  by-standers.  The  bride  then  goes  in,  and  a 
little  after  is  brought  out,  still  veiled,  when  the  friends  of 
the  bridegroom  make  him  presents  of  money.  They  then 
have  a  feast,  and  towards  evening  every  one  goes  home. 
I  should  mention  that  before  the  girl  gets  off  the  horse 
the  bridegroom  gives  her  thirty  or  sixty  piastres,  that 
is,  five  or  ten  shillings,  which  is  called  the  tanzeeleh,  or 
"  causing  to  dismount." 

It  is  said  that  an  Ansaireeh  who  marries  a  Christian 
woman  can  only  be  purified  after  washing  in  forty  foun- 
tains which  have  their  openings  turned  towards  the  south 
(the  direction  of  Mecca). 

Sometimes  a  man  will  run  off  with  a  girl,  but  he  will 
afterwards  agree  with  her  family  on  the  price  to  be  paid 
for  her. 

Divorce  only  needs  the  will  of  the  man,  but  it  is  hot 
common.  It  is  more  usual  for  a  man  merely  to  send  off 
his  wife  to  take  care  of  herself,  and  she  cannot  marry 
unless  he  '*  takes  his  hand  oft'  her,"  except  in  another  part 
where  she  is  unknown.  It  is,  however,  unusual  to  dismiss 
a  woman  who  has  children.  One  man  of  my  acquaintance 
lias  had  no  less  than  three  wives,  giving  them  up  as  they 


186  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

get  old  and  plain.  It  is  usual  for  those  who  are  well  off 
to  take  two  or  three  wives,  who  sometimes  live  together  in 
one  room.  When  they  have  children,  each  has  a  house  of 
her  own.  But  of  this  I  will  speak  in  the  chapter  on  the 
present  state  of  the  Ansaireeh. 

When  a  man  or  woman  dies  a  sheikh  is  brought.  Water 
is  warmed  and  the  dead  person  taken  out  of  the  house, 
when,  in  the  case  of  a  man,  the  sheikh  washes  the  body, 
first  pouring  water  on  it  three  times  from  head  to  foot. 
This  is  called  mushahidel,  or  "  testifying."  A  woman  is 
of  course  washed  by  a  woman.  A  piece  of  linen,  unsewn, 
is  wound  round  the  body  as  grave-clothes,  and  then  the 
clothes  even  to  the  turban  are  put  on,  and  the  body  buried 
in  them.  In  the  case  of  a  woman  much  beloved  by  her 
relatives,  her  jewels  and  rings  are  buried  with  her,  and 
in  all  cases  needle  and  thread.  A  bier  is  then  made  of 
two  poles  connected  by  rope ;  an  outer  garment  being 
placed  on  it,  and  the  corpse  above,  covered  with  a  quilt. 
The  poles  are  not  brought  back  from  the  tomb  till  after 
seven  days.  The  sheikh  heads  the  procession  to  the  grave, 
uttering  prayers  till  it  arrives  at  the  sepulchre.  Two 
men  go  down  into  the  grave,  which  is  four  to  five  feet 
deep.  One  side  is  hollowed  out,  so  as  partly  to  receive  the 
corpse,  which  is  then  covered  by  large  stones,  supported, 
that  is  leaning,  against  the  hollowed  side.  The  nose,  ears, 
and  mouth  of  the  corpse  are  stopped  with  cotton.  As  in 
the  case  of  the  Mohammedans,  nothing  blue  is  placed  in 
the  grave.  They  then  fire  their  guns  and  return  home. 
They  sit  in  the  house  of  the  deceased,  condoling  with  the 
friends,  and  partake  of  a  repast,  some  of  which  may  have 
been  brought  by  the  guests.  These  also  give  the  deceased's 
friends  alms  for  the  sheikh,  who  perform  the  same  duty  in 
return  on  similar  occasions.  When  the  earth  has  been 
thrown  into  the  grave,  a  man  or  woman  with  a  good  voice 
sings  something  in  praise  of  the  deceased,  and  from  time  to 
time  stops,  when  the  by-standers  weep.  I  was  once  present 
at  a  most  melancholy  funeral.     Two  of  the  men  of  my 


ANSAIREE    CUSTOMS.  187 

village  (one  of  whom  was  the  only  one  who  could  read,  and 
the  most  sensible  of  the  people  of  it)  were  killed  in  a  fight. 
In  the  morning  they  were  engaged  in  building  my  house, 
and  on  an  alarm  being  given  went  off  to  a  fight,  from 
which  they  were  brought  home  dead  towards  evening. 
Their  bodies  were  laid  side  by  side  at  the  burial-place,  and 
the  men  of  the  village  who  had  come  back  tired,  begrimed 
with  powder,  and  excited,  helped  alternately  to  dig  their 
graves.  There  was  much  unseemly  altercation  as  to  who 
should  perform  this  act  of  charity,  all  professing  themselves 
to  be  too  tired.  The  old  mother  of  one  of  those  killed 
"was  informed  of  the  death  of  her  eldest  son,  and  came 
beating  her  breast,  till  at  length  she  swooned  away.  The 
brothers  of  the  other  also  came,  and  a  man,  sitting  at  the 
head  of  the  corpse,  sang  some  verses  in  a  melancholy  voice. 
Altogether  the  scene  was  most  distressing,  and  painful  in 
its  desolation. 

On  returning  to  the  house  there  is  more  singing ;  and 
for  three  successive  days  the  people  go  out  in  the 
morning  to  the  grave,  and  sing  and  Aveep ;  ending  always 
with  firing  off  their  guns. 

During  the  next  six  days  the  friends  of  the  family  in 
other  villages  collect  and  send  money  and  articles  of  food, 
and  on  the  seventh  day  they  assemble  at  the  house  of  the 
deceased  and  partake  of  a  feast,  and  afterwards  go  out  to 
the  tomb  and  act  as  before.  This  occasion  is  called  the 
usbooa,  or  "  week."  Incense  is  burnt  in  the  house  on  the 
day  of  the  burial,  in  the  evening ;  and  when  they  pay  a 
visit  to  the  tomb,  on  the  day  of  the  usbooa,  the  mistress  of 
the  house  takes  Avith  her  incense  in  a  sherd,  which  is  burnt 
on  the  tomb.  The  whole  village  think  it  disgraceful  for 
any  one  to  wash  before  the  usbooa  has  passed,  and  the 
friends  appear  sorrowful  for  a  month  or  two,  but  wear  no 
mourning,  except  their  unwashed  clothes,  which  are  con- 
sidered as  such. 

I  have  often  alluded  to  the  sheikhs.  This  name,  among 
the  Fellaheen,  is  applied  to  the  religious  teachers,    and 


188  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

when  they  employ  the  term  in  the  more  usual  sense  of  the 
head  man  of  a  village,  they  add  iz-zulm,  that  is,  of 
"injustice;"  calling  their  teachers,  in  contradistinction, 
"  sheikh  il-ulm,"  that  is,  of  "  knowledge."  All  the  chief 
sheikhs  are  such  by  descent,  the  office  being  hereditary  in 
their  families ;  but,  as  M.  Langlois  saj^s,  "  any  one  who 
knows  how  to  read  and  write  may  become  a  sheikh."  Some- 
times men  are  laughed  at  on  assuming  a  white  turban,  one 
mark  of  a  sheikh,  but  they  can  only  pass  themselves  off  as 
such  where  they  are  unknown ;  for  to  do  so  in  their  own 
district  must  depend  on  the  countenance  of  the  acknow- 
ledged sheikhs.  My  lad,  when  at  school,  went  to  visit  a 
sheikh  in  a  neighbouring  village.  He  reckoned  (hasab)  for 
him,  and  then  said,  "  You  were  a  sheikh  in  your  time,  and 
in  a  former  generation  I  knew  you,  for  you  were  of  my 
relations,  and  I  often  partook  of  your  hospitality."  He 
hereupon  kissed  the  boy's  hand  and  gave  him  ten  piastres, 
as  alms  paid  to  a  sheikh,  and  said,  "  If  there  is  a  nidr,  or 
feast,  and  you  take  alms  at  it,  you  will  not  sin." 

When  a  sheikh's  son  is  about  fifteen  or  sixteen  years  old, 
he  is  consecrated  as  sheikh. 

This  ceremony  is  called  Rasm  or  Taknees.  My  An- 
sairee  liturgical  book  was  written  by  the  uncle  of  such  a 
boy,  to  be  given  him  as  his  "  direction  for  sheikhs"  at  his 
consecration  ;  as  is  stated  by  the  said  uncle  and  copyist. 

The  dress  of  a  sheikh  consists  of  a  white  turban,  which 
even  their  children  wear  (having  from  their  earliest  youth 
the  title  of  sheikh),  and  a  white  shirt,  waistcoat,  and  wide 
trousers,  with  red  high  boots,  and  often  a  red  girdle.  They 
do  not  carry  arms,  and  their  dress  is  usually  pretty  clean. 
The  people  treat  the  chief  sheikhs  with  great  respect,  and 
kiss  the  hands  of  all  on  occasion.  Matters  of  controversy 
are  referred  to  them,  and  they  have  to  do  with  the  whole 
public  and  private  life  of  the  people,  and  are  constantly  to 
be  seen  going  about  with  their  donkeys  receiving  alms  in 
tlie  shape  of  wheat,  &c. 

They  will  not  eat  of  any  food  which  they  suspect  may 


ANSAIREE   CUSTOMS.  189 

have  been  bought  with  money  fraudulently  obtained ;  and 
consequently  will  not  partake  of  the  hospitality  of  any 
who  are  given  to  robbing ;  neither  will  they  eat  the  food 
of  Christians,  though  they  eat  that  of  the  Mussulmans. 
Sheikh  Hhabeeb  once,  when  he  partook  of  coffee  at  my 
house,  paid  my  servant  first  for  it,  though  he  was  reported 
at  the  time  to  have  said  that  he  only  did  this  that  people 
might  not  talk,  for  that  he  himself  considered  my  pro- 
perty Halal,  or  lawful.  The  Bagdad  sheikh  ate  without 
any  scruple,  and  laughed  at  other  sheikhs  for  theirs. 
Sheikh  Hassan  il  Kinanee  also  ate  frequently  at  my  house, 
though  privately. 

They  pretend  to  a  knowledge  of  future  events,  by  means 
of  astrology,  divination,  and  ruml,  and  also  to  the  power 
of  exorcism,  writing  amulets,  &c.  They  have  some  ac- 
quaintance with  the  names  of  the  stars,  and  tell  a  man, 
"  Your  sign  of  the  zodiac  is  such  and  such,  and  therefore 
such  and  such  a  line  of  life  would  suit  you."  My  lad's 
name  was  such  and  such,  but  as  he  was  always  ill  it  was 
by  the  advice  of  a  sheikh  changed  to  another. 

They  pretend  to  reckon  or  divine  by  means  of  a  string 
of  beads  and  looking  into  a  book. 

Ruml  consists  in  making  a  number  of  fine  dots,  like 
sand,  on  a  piece  of  a  paper,  from  which  the  sheikh  divines 
what  will  happen  to  any  one.  When  at  Hamah,  on  one 
occasion,  an  Ansairee  sheikh  "  reckoned"  for  me  in  this 
way,  and  presented  me  with  the  paper  of  which  he  had 
made  use. 

A  family  of  sheikhs  in  our  neighbourhood  profess  to 
have  the  power  of  exorcising  evil  spirits.  A  poor  man 
in  a  village  immediately  below  my  own  became  mad, 
and  yet  was  still  allowed  to  go  at  large.  After  a  little 
time  he  severely  wounded  his  wife,  who  was  brought  to 
us  on  a  Sunday  morning  covered  with  blood.  Soon 
afterwards  he  set  fire  to  his  house  and  took  refuge 
in  a  cave  near,  whence  he  took  to  flight,  and  has 
never  since  been  heard  of.     During  his  illness  a  sheikh 


190  THE   ASIAN   IMYSTERY. 

was  brought  to  cure  him.  He  addressed  the  evil  spirit, 
and  was  supposed  to  receive  answers  through  the  man 
himself.  The  sheikh  ordered  the  spirit  to  enter  into  me, 
but  he  refused,  as  he  considered  me  too  good,  and  was 
then  told  to  go  to  Hamah.  The  spirit  asked  whence  he 
was  to  come  out,  from  the  man's  toe  or  mouth,  and  re- 
ceived directions ;  but  the  issue  of  all  was  that  the  man 
remained  uncured. 

It  is  a  very  common  thing  for  the  sheikhs  to  write 
amulets ;  and  I  have  a  book  in  which  are  described  a 
variety  of  most  potent  charms,  which  if  written  and  worn 
will  be  all-powerful  against  every  variety  of  disease  and 
calamity.  Some  of  them  are  mere  repetitions  of  particular 
letters.  Most  of  the  children  have  some  in  their  head- 
dress, or  suspended  round  their  necks  by  a  string,  in  little 
cases  of  leather.  Sheikh  Hassan  il  Kinanee  is  also  accused 
of  writing  love  charms,  and  of  other  improper  practices. 

When  a  man  is  ill  a  sheikh  comes  and  reads  over  him 
in  a  loud  voice  what  is  called  Azai-im,  for  which  he  re- 
ceives five  piastres  or  so.  Sometimes  he  brings  a  lad  with 
him,  whom  he  puts  under  what  is  called  the  Sir-ah,  and 
then  gets  him  to  say  what  is  the  cause  of  the  man's  dis- 
ease. If  it  be  suspected  to  be  a  devil,  he  is  exorcised ;  and 
sometimes  the  sheikh  tells  the  man  that  his  illness  is  in 
consequence  of  breaking  a  vow,  or  some  other  sin  of  omis- 
sion or  commission.  I  have  been  told  that  the  eyes  of  one 
who  has  often  been  put  under  the  Sir-ah  become  red. 

There  are  numerous  pretenders  to  second-sight.  A 
certain  sheikh,  called  Ali  Zahir,  living  near  Ahmed  Kirfas, 
tells  a  man  all  that  he  may  have  done  on  the  road,  and 
acquaints  people  with  the  locality  of  stolen  property.  This 
and  similar  stories  are  told  in  the  most  circumstantial 
manner. 

The  people  fear  the  evil  eye,  which  they  call  Nudrah, 
and  believe  in  enchantment.  Soon  after  I  had  esta- 
blished myself  in  the  mountains  there  was  a  fight  be- 
tween the  inhabitants  of  my  own  district  and  those  of  the 


ANSAIKEE   CUSTOMS.  191 

neighbouring  one.  These  last  were  worsted,  and  ascribed 
their  defeat  to  a  whistle  with  which  I  had  been  accus- 
tomed to  summon  my  servants.  They  said  that  I 
had  been  seen  riding  on  my  white  mare  at  the  time 
of  the  fight,  and  that  I  had  blown  my  whistle,  which 
brought  small  birds  upon  them,  and  in  some  way  or  other 
their  balls  were  made  to  fall  short,  while  their  adversaries' 
balls  reached  them.  They  consequently  threatened  the 
destruction  of  my  life  and  property,  while  the  story  was 
made  a  subject  of  merriment  with  my  own  people,  who, 
however,  warned  me  of  danger. 

The  Ansaireeh  will  not  eat  of  some  things  which  even 
the  Mussulmans  consider  clean,  as  the  hare  and  eels, 
which  they  wrongly  call  salloor.  Neither  will  they  eat 
any  kind  of  fish  without  scales.  In  some  of  these  things 
they  follow  the  law  of  Moses.  AVhen  a  man  has  killed  a 
wild  boar,  he  will  sell  it  to  a  Christian,  but  spends  the 
money  obtained  only  in  buying  powder  and  shot.  "  I 
have  found,"  says  Niebuhr,  "in  ray  Nusairee  book,  that 
Maana  had  forbidden  them  to  eat  of  the  camel,  hare,  and 
eel ;  that  Ism  had  not  permitted  them  to  partake  of  pork, 
blood,  and,  in  general,  the  flesh  of  beasts  not  properly 
killed ;  and  that  Bab  had  forbidden  them  the  zellor  (a  certain 
black  fish  of  the  Orontes),  and  everything  burnt."* 

The  Ansaireeh  have  a  great  regard  for  myrtle.  Like  the 
Mussulmans,  they  place  it  about  the  tombs.  Mention  is 
made  in  my  Ansairee  MS.  of  "  what  is  lawful,  and  the  re- 
verse, above  the  myrtle ; "  f  and  it  is  said  that  he  who  in  a 
religious  assembly  ''  chatters  above  the  myrtle"  will  be- 
come dumb  t ;  and  once,  in  a  district  near  Mount  Cassius, 
one  of  my  Christian  servants  fell  in  with  a  man  who  was 
on  his  back,  throwing  up  his  legs,  and  performing  most 
extraordinary  antics  round  a  myrtle  bush.  The  myrtle 
is  also  mentioned  in  the  second  class  given  by  M.  Ca- 
tafago. 

*  Vol.  ii.  p.  361.  t^-1'79.  ±P.  180. 


192  THE   ASIAN   IklYSTERY. 

The  Ansaireeh  shave  the  hair  of  the  armpits,  and  the 
Kumreeh  sect  that  under  the  chin  likewise.  The  Shemseeh 
do  not ;  so  when,  during  one  of  the  fights,  an  old  man 
of  this  sect  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  people  of  our 
district,  they  shaved  him.  The  people  of  a  bordering 
village  having  become  Kumreeh  have  shaved  the  same 
part. 

In  my  Ansairee  MS.  *  tobacco  is  spoken  of  as  "  for- 
bidden above  the  myrtle " ;  but  it  is  a  Shemseen  book, 
and  by  that  sect  tobacco  is  considered  unlawful,  so  that 
their  sheikhs  do  not  smoke. 

*  Page  186. 


193 


CHAP.  VIIL 

TRESENT   STATE   OF   THE   ANSAIREEH. 

I  CANNOT  better  preface  what  I  have  to  say  on  the  pre- 
sent state  of  the  Ansaireeh  than  by  relating  the  events 
of  the  last  few  years  in  their  neighbourhood.  The  reader 
will  then  be  able,  even  before  I  descend  into  particulars, 
to  guess  pretty  accurately  what  must  be  the  social  state 
of  a  people  so  circumstanced.  I  shall  confine  my  remarks 
principally  to  my  own  district,  and  thus,  by  entering  into 
a  rather  detailed  account  of  particular  occurrences,  give 
a  clearer  picture  of  the  general  state  of  things. 

When  on  my  way  out  from  England,  in  1853,  to  com- 
mence the  mission  which  I  had  determined  on  after  my 
first  visit  to  the  Ansaireeh,  I  passed  the  English  and 
French  fleets  on  their  passage  up  the  Dardanelles  to 
commence  the  Russian  war.  I  consequently  found  a 
very  different  state  of  things  in  Syria,  and  in  the  An- 
saireeh country,  from  that  which  I  had  seen  the  previous 
year.  The  town  of  Ladikeeh  was  in  confusion  from  the 
irregular  levies  of  the  neighbourhood,  who  to  the  num- 
ber of  three  or  four  hundred  were  assembling  to  start 
for  Erzeroom,  Kars,  and  Lake  Van,  to  defend  that  por- 
tion of  the  Sultan's  dominions.  Miserably  armed  and 
clothed,  they  were  possessed  with  greater  enthusiasm 
than  I  should  have  expected  from  Mohammedan  shop- 
keepers and  the  refuse  of  town  populations.  They  marched 
about  the  streets  crying  out :  "  The  gate  of  Paradise  is 
open !"  "  God  give  victory  to  the  Sultan  !  May  Allah  burn 
the  infidels !  "     They  were  at  least  as  dangerous  to  their 

0 


194  THE    ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

friends  as  to  their  enemies.  AYhen  well  rid  of  them  (poor 
fellows,  few  outlived  the  cold  and  the  sword  of  the  enemy), 
one  morning  a  number  of  sailing  vessels  entered  the  port 
of  Ladikeeh  with  a  still  more  truculent  band.  These 
were  of  the  worst  character,  black  galley-slaves  from 
Acre  and  professed  robbers,  who  kept  the  town  in  terror 
for  some  days.  They  had  been  originally  embarked  in  an 
Austrian  steamer,  but  on  bad  weather  coming  on  they  had 
rushed  to  seize  their  arms  and  gain  possession  of  the 
vessel,  so  that  the  captain  had  put  them  on  shore  at  the 
next  port;  hence  their  unwelcome  arrival  in  our  harbour. 
Armed  with  great  knobbed  sticks,  studded  with  nails, 
they  assaulted  and  robbed  people  with  impunity ;  and  I 
have  reason  to  remember  them,  as  part  of  my  dinner  was 
one  day  intercepted  by  them. 

When  I  first  passed  through  the  Ansairee  country,  I 
found  a  little  army  of  2000  regular  troops  engaged  in 
taking  conscripts,  and  hence  the  peasantry  were  humble 
and  submissive.  The  case  was  now  very  different.  On 
my  first  ride  to  the  mountains  to  look  for  a  piece  of  land 
as  the  site  of- mission  premises,  I  encountered  on  the  plain 
an  assembly  consisting  of  men  from  the  districts  of  Kelbeeh 
•  and  Muhailby,  and  irregular  horsemen  of  the  government. 
Long-established  ill-feeling  between  the  two  districts  had 
begun  to  break  out,  the  country  was  denuded  of  regular 
troops,  and  each  accused  the  other  of  having  been  guilty 
of  a  recent  robbery  in  the  plains. 

The  Kelbeeh  district,  where  I  determined  to  establish 
myself,  had  always  been  notorious  for  wild  lawlessness. 
Burckhardt  *  says  :  "  During  our  stay  at  Tripoli,  Berber 
[the  then  pasha,  who  had  risen  from  a  low  rank,  but  who 
is  described  by  Burckhardt  as  a  "  man  of  great  spirit, 
firmness,  and  justice  "]  was  in  the  neighbourhood  of  La- 
dakia  making  war  against  some  rebel  Anzeyrys."  It  was 
with  the  Kelbeeh  district  that  Berber  was  at  war,  and  for 

*  Travels,  p.  171  :  London,  1822. 


MURDER  OF  CAPTAIN  BOUTIN.  195 

the  following  reason.  Captain  Boutin,  a  Frenchinan,  was 
travelling  southward,  past  the  Nahr-cs-Seen.  When  cros- 
sing: a  bridofe  some  stones  or  shells  which  he  had  in  a 
bag  rattled  in  such  a  way  as  made  some  of  the  miserable 
Arabs,  called  Arab-il-Mulk,  who  encamp  there,  suppose 
that  he  had  much  money  about  him.  He  was  therefore 
set  upon  and  murdered,  and  his  body  chopped  into  small 
pieces  to  avoid  detection.  Lady  Hester  Stanhope,  who 
was  then  in  the  Lebanon,  urged  Berber  to  take  vengeance. 
The  chief  murderer  escaped  totheKelbeeh  district,  and  the 
people  of  it,  according  to  their  notions  of  the  duties  of  hospi- 
tality, refused  to  give  him  up  on  demand.  The  consequence 
was  that  Berber  attacked  the  district,  and  raised  all  the 
surroundinor  districts  aofainst  it.  The  war  went  on  with 
varying  success.  Once  the  Kelbeeh  were  driven  to  the 
very  highest  part  of  their  mountains,  and  took  refuge  in 
a  deep  valley  near  Djaafar  Tayyar,  from  which  issuing 
after  a  little,  they  drove  their  enemies  completely  out  of 
their  country.  But  in  the  end  Berber  got  the  better  of 
them.  The  Arab  refugee  requited  their  kindness  by 
stealing  a  mare  and  making  off  to  Hamah,  while  they  had 
to  pay  tribute. 

An  old  Sahyoon  man,  called  Abu-Saleb,  who  was  between 
seventy  and  eighty  years  old,  once  interested  me  much  by 
giving  me  an  account  of  these  times.  His  had  been  an 
eventful  life,  and  he  had  seen  strange  and  fearful  scenes. 
He  remembered  two  earthquakes,  and  a  plague  which, 
he  said,  had  destroyed  half  the  population,  besides  fights 
innumerable.  Once  he  had  been  seized  by  a  pasha  of 
Ladikeeh,  by  name  Ibn-il-Maner,  a  suspected  Ansairee,  who 
had  intended  to  kill  him,  after  having  nearly  scourged  him 
to  death  ;  but  he  effected  his  escape,  and  with  a  com- 
panion afterwards  killed  the  pasha.  He  was  with  Ber- 
ber in  his  combats  with  the  Kelbeeh,  and  related  with 
glee  how  Berber  had  struck  off  seven  of  their  heads  at  a 
time.  Those  were  the  days,  said  he.  The  dragoman  of 
the  English  Vice-Consulate  at  Ladikeeh,  lately  deceased, 

o  2 


196  THE   ASIAN  MYSTERY. 

well  remembered  those  times,  and  assured  me  more  than 
once  that  on  Berber's  visits  to  Ladikeeh,  the  Ansairee 
prisoners  used  to  be  taken  to  meet  him  on  the  road,  when 
he  would  behead  them  and  cause  them  to  be  impaled.  I 
should  say  that  the  Ansaireeh  are  not  considered,  like  Jews 
and.Christians,  to  be  "  people  of  a  book;"  and  consequently, 
according  to  strict  Mussulman  law,  not  even  their  sub- 
mission and  tribute  should  be  accepted,  but  they  ought  to 
be  put  to  the  sword,  and  their  wives  and  children  sold  as 
slaves.  The  Karmatians  were  condemned  to  this  by  the 
fetwas,  or  decisions,  of  the  orthodox  Mussulman  doctors 
of  their  day  ;  and  a  certain  vile  and  ignorant  fanatic 
called  Sheikh  Ibraheem  il  Mograbee,  who  died  about 
1827  *,  gave  a  fetwa  for  which  his  memory  is  accursed 
among  the  Ansaireeh,  that  the  lives  and  property  of  the 
Ansaireeh  were  at  the  free  disposal  of  the  Mussulmans. 
Berber,  not  content  with  slaying  the  people,  cut  down  their 
fruit  trees;  and  almost  the  only  trees  to  be  found  in  my 
own  village,  for  instance,  are  fig  trees  which  have  sprung 
from  the  roots  of  those  destroyed  in  his-  time.  Before 
then  much  silk  was  produced,  and  we  have  already  seen 
that  in  Maundrell's  time  much  and  good  wine  was  made. 

When  on  my  first  visit  to  the  district  in  search  of  land, 
a  man  entered  the  house  where  I  was,  to  persuade  those 
there  to  go  on  an  expedition  with  him,  of  which  I  heard 
the  result  on  returning  to  town.  Four  men  of  the  Kelbeeh 
had  gone  to  rob  in  the  district  of  Suirt  Kublee.  They 
were  seen,  and  the  arms  of  one  of  them  were  taken  from 
him.  A  number  of  the  Kelbeeh  people  in  revenge  went  and 
seized  a  large  flock  and  their  shepherd.  While  returning 
they  were  attacked  by  the  people  of  Suirt  Kublee  and  the 
Beni  Ali,  when  two  of  the  Suirt  Kublee  men  were  killed, 

*  He  may  be  considered  to  be  the  patron  saint  of  Ladikeeh.  A  hand- 
some mosque  has  been  built  to  him  behind  the  town.  Lately  a  thun- 
derbolt struck  the  minaret,  and  the  Mussulmans  of  the  town  thanked 
the  saint  who  had  thus  stretched  out  his  hand  and  seized  it,  preventing 
its  descending  on  tiie  town. 


PURCHASE    OF    SITE.  197 

«an(l  several  of  the  Kelbeeh  people  wounded.  I  noted  at 
the  time  that  the  "  woman  who  recounted  the  story 
laughed  as  if  much  pleased ;  and,  indeed,  they  intend  to 
kill  the  booty  at  their  great  feast,  which  shortly  takes 
place." 

Having  agreed  with  a  man  for  a  piece  of  land,  he  was 
to  have  returned  to  me  the  same  afternoon  to  draw  out  the 
contract ;  but  some  Mussulmans  of  the  town  had  mean- 
while heard  of  his  intention,  and  informed  the  governor, 
who  sent  for  the  man  and  so  frightened  him  that  he 
refused  to  proceed  any  further  in  the  business.  I  wrote 
to  Beyrout  to  complain  to  the  Consul-General.  He  men- 
tioned the  affair  to  the  pasha,  who  told  the  governor  not 
to  interfere  with  me  in  future  as  to  buying  land,  but  at  the 
same  time  begged  the  Consul-General  to  inform  me  dis- 
tinctly that  the  government  would  not  be  responsible  for 
my  safety,  for  I  was  going  to  a  rebellious  district.  This 
did  not  at  all  move  me,  as  I  had  all  along  known  the 
weakness  of  the  Turkish  government  in  such  matters,  and 
that  I  should  have  to  depend  on  the  people's  own  sense  of 
hospitality,  which,  as  far  as  life  was  concerned,  was  a  pretty 
good  security. 

Having  taken  up  my  goods  on  camels  to  the  village 
where  I  proposed  to  build,  I  pitched  my  tents  on  the  flat 
roofs  of  some  inhabited  houses,  and  placed  my  property  in 
a  room  below.  The  next  night  I  was  awakened  by  a  shot, 
and  it  turned  out  that  four  men,  who  had  seen  my  boxes, 
had  come  to  dig  through  the  wall  of  the  room  where  they 
were,  but  had  been  seen  by  my  dog,  who  by  his  barking 
had  awakened  the  people  of  the  quarter.  The  robbers  were 
afterwards  discovered,  and  the  chief  men  spoke  of  writing  a 
bond,  that  if  any  one  were  killed  in  an  attempt  to  plunder 
me,  no  price  should  be  demanded  for  his  blood.  Whenever 
at  this  time  I  used  to  be  rather  late  on  my  return  from  my 
rides,  I  was  met  by  people  of  the  village,  who  had  come  to 
look  after  me,  professing  fear  for  my  safety.  When  I  first 
went  to  the  mountains  I  used  to  ride  up  over  the  plain  by 

o  3 


198  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

moonlight,  but  the  chief  man  of  my  district  sent  to  beg 
me  to  discontinue  doing  so,  lest  anything  should  happen 
to  me  from  the  people  of  other  districts,  and  he  and  his 
bear  the  blame. 

One  morning  I  saw  a  little  dirty  bag  in  my  tent,  with 
earth  and  myrtle  leaves  in  it.  I  took  no  notice  of  it  at  the 
time,  but  threw  it  outside.  Two  months  after,  my  Arab 
school  teacher  asked  me  if  I  knew  what  the  bag  was.  He 
said  that  he  had  not  liked  to  speak  of  it  at  the  time,  but 
that  it  contained  earth  from  the  sepulchres,  and,  according 
to  a  prevalent  superstition,  had  been  thrown  into  the  tent 
with  the  idea  of  causing  sleep,  so  that  a  robbery  might  be 
quietly  eifected.  After  this  occurrence  the  chief  man  of 
the  village,  unknown  to  me,  slept  outside  my  tent. 

I  had  gone  up  to  the  mountains  on  June  2nd,  1854,  and 
early  on  the  morning  of  August  15th  a  man  rode  breath- 
lessly into  the  village,  and  told  how  an  inhabitant  of  the 
district  had  been  killed  by  the  Muhailby  people.  "  Indabb 
is-Sarot,"  as  it  is  phrased,  literally,  "  the  voice  crept  on ;" 
that  is,  an  alarm  was  given,  by  shouting  and  firing,  to  the 
different  villages  of  the  district,  and  in  an  incredibly  short 
space  of  time  the  people  of  my  own  and  other  villages 
rushed  off  to  the  scene  of  conflict.  Often  have  I  since 
heard  similar  alarms,  and  at  night  they  have  a  solemn 
effect  in  those  wild  mountains.  Soon  the  increased  firing 
showed  me  that  the  fight  had  commenced  in  earnest,  and 
shortly  afterwards  one  of  the  men  of  the  village,  who  had 
received  a  fearful  gun-shot  wound  in  his  mouth,  came 
riding  towards  me  on  a  donkey,  with  his  head  reclining  on 
his  breast,  which  was  streaming  with  blood.  Expecting 
many  such  cases,  as  another  soon  afterwards  came  with  a 
ball  lodged  in  his  cheek,  I  rode  off  quickly  to  Djebileli,  to 
endeavour  to  procure  an  Arab  surgeon.  A  Mussulman 
there,  however,  who  had  credit  for  treating  wounds,  re- 
fused absolutely  to  come,  saying  that  if  the  men  died  he 
should  have  the  blame  of  it  with  the  Ansaireeh  ;  and  he 
was  not  far  wrong,  as  I  myself  learned  by  experience  after- 


FIGHT   WITH   MUHAILBY   PEOPLE.  199 

wards.  Others  said,  "  Please  God,  five  hundred  will  be 
killed  on  one  side,  and  six  hundred  on  the  other!"  The 
first-named  man  died  in  a  fortnight,  and  in  the  whole 
four  of  the  Kelbeeh  people  were  killed,  and  six  of  the 
Muhailby.  The  fight  had  been  brewing  for  some  time, 
but  the  immediate  cause  was  a  quarrel  about  a  cu- 
cumber. 

The  Muhailby  people,  having  lost  most  men,  vowed 
revenge  ;  and  there  were  several  false  alarms.  But  one 
morning,  September  30th,  as  the  people  of  the  village  were 
engaged  on  my  house,  it  was  found  that  the  threatened  at- 
tack was  really  being  made.  The  Muhailby  people  came 
on  our  district  in  two  places,  east  and  west  of  the  moun- 
tain, which,  dividing  the  district,  leaves  openings  at  its 
extremities.  To  the  west  they  were  at  first  victorious,  and 
I  feared  for  the  moment  for  myself,  for  a  common  threat 
of  theirs  was  that  they  would  come  and  destroy  my 
serayel,  or  palace,  as  it  was  called.  However,  the  people 
of  my  own  district  assembling  in  force  poured  in  a  volley, 
and  soon  drove  them  back  far  into  their  own  district, 
burning  the  villages  as  they  came  to  them.  On  the  east 
they  were  equally  victorious,  and  it  was  a  painful  sight  to 
see  villages  burning  at  noonday.  In-  this  fight  about 
eleven  of  the  Muhailby  people  were  killed,  and  fifteen  of 
the  Kelbeeh,  two  of  them  being  the  men  of  my  own 
village  whose  funeral  I  have  described. 

The  Kelbeeh  had  it  now  all  to  themselves,  and  made 
marauding  expeditions  into  their  enemies'  country.  The 
women  and  children  were  active  on  such  occasions. 
When  a  fight  takes  place,  the  women  seem  like  demons, 
encouraging  the  men,  and  supplying  them  with  water. 
When  the  fights  were  ended,  I  used  to  see  them  returning 
laden  with  pots,  pans,  quilts,  &c.,  in  fact  everything 
they  could  lay  their  hands  on  ;  while  the  children  would 
bring  chickens,  and  such  like  things.  The  wife  of  my 
Ansairee  servant,  of  whom  I  shall  hereafter  speak  more 
particularly,  was  very  active  on  such  occasions ;  and  I 

o  4 


200  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

could  see  her  on  the  hill  near  my  house,  stretching  out 
her  hands  to  the  Sultan  Djaafar  Tayyar,  praying  for  suc- 
cess and  the  safety  of  her  husband. 

One  day  fifty  horsemen  came  to  our  district,  and  their 
leader  got  our  chief  men,  under  promise  of  safe  conduct, 
to  accompany  him  to  the  governor,  in  order  that  matters 
might  be  settled  between  them  and  the  Muhailby.  But 
directly  they  arrived  they  were  seized  and  put  in  prison 
at  Ladikeeh.  This  piece  of  injustice  exasperated  the  people 
of  my  district,  and  seventy  of  them  went  down  to  Ladikeeh 
by  night,  where  they  broke  open  the  prison,  released  their 
chiefs,  and  carried  them  off  in  triumph  to  the  mountains. 
The  governor,  Ali  Bey,  who  for  such  a  position  was 
more  clever  and  able  than  would  have  been  expected, 
was  now  exasperated  in  his  turn,  and  would  not  be  satis- 
fied except  with  conditions  which  could  not  possibly  be 
complied  with.  He  assembled  a  mob  of  some  two  thou- 
sand men,  from  his  own  irregulars  and  the  surrounding 
districts,  at  the  small  town  of  Djebileh,  immediately  under 
my  own  district.  He  required  me  more  than  once  to 
come  down,  or  rather  to  leave  my  house,  and  I  always  re- 
fused, on  the  plea  that  if  I  did  so  my  property  would  be 
destroyed. 

Meanwhile  utter  confusion  reigned  in  the  plains.  The 
Kelbeeh  robbed  at  pleasure,  and  I  heard  in  one  case  that 
a  man  and  woman  had  been  burnt  in  a  house  which  they 
had  set  fire  to,  and  this,  I  fear,  was  only  too  true.  My 
servant  was  one  evening  on  his  way  up  from  Ladikeeh 
with  letters  and  other  articles,  when  he  was  seized  by 
some  Muhailby  people,  thrown  down,  and  robbed,  on  the 
pretence  that  his  master  had  become  a  Kelbanee,  one  of 
the  Kelbeeh  people,  and  I  have  never  found  out  who  were 
the  robbers. 

At  length,  on  Monday,  November  27th,  drums  were 
heard  in  the  plain,  and  soon  after  the  governor's  force 
came  into  sight,  and  filed  past  my  house,  the  villagers 
having   previously   taken    flight,    after   firing    off    their 


ATTACK   BY    ALI    BEY.  201 

muskets  in  derision.  The  camp  was  pitched  in  the  village 
of  Kurdahah,  al)out  half  an  hour's  ride  to  the  east  of  my 
own.  All  was  now  desolation.  The  people  had  driven 
off  their  cattle  to  the  higher  mountains,  and  buried  their 
wheat.  Just  under  my  house  I  witnessed  a  cow  hunt,  the 
animal  being  brought  down  after  many  shots  had  been 
fired  at  her.  The  people  of  the  Muhailby  and  other  dis- 
tricts flocked  into  the  Kelbeeh  villages,  and  opened  and 
emptied  the  corn  stores.  One  afternoon,  I  was  sitting  out- 
side my  room  door,  which  commanded  a  view  of  all  the 
surrounding  hills,  when  I  saw  three  men  enter  a  house  in 
a  village  separated  from  me  by  a  valley.  Fortunately  for 
them  they  did  not  remain  long,  for,  on  emerging,  they 
were  seen  by  some  of  our  men  who  had  been  down 
into  the  plain,  and  were  pursued.  One  of  them  perched 
himself  on  the  mountain  which  divided  the  districts,  and 
made  an  oration,  as  Jotham  did  to  the  men  of  Shechem 
from  Mount  Gerizim.  I  had  hoisted  a  handkerchief,  in 
default  of  a  flag,  hoping  that  it  might  tend  to  keep  off 
marauders  from  the  camp,  for  the  Mussulmans  of  Sahyoon, 
as  they  passed  my  house,  had  threatened  to  return  and 
destroy  it.  So  the  Muhailby  men  said: — "Ah!  you 
Kelbeeh  think  much  of  yourselves,  because  you  have  a 
*  consul '  and  flag  in  your  district.  Just  wait  till  to- 
morrow, and  see  if  we  don't,  before  the  cock  crows,  enter 
his  house  and  curse  his  father."  That  same  night  my 
friend  Ahmed  Selhab  of  Bahluleeh  slept  in  my  house, 
and  some  of  the  people  of  the  neighbouring  village  of  th6 
Merj,  who  had  received  permission  from  the  governor  to 
return,  had  come  to  make  complaints  to  him,  and  after- 
wards slept  in  a  house  of  the  higher  quarter.  Some  of  the 
inhabitants,  who  used  to  return  every  evening  to  see  how 
I  was  getting  on,  were  also  sleeping  there,  when,  just  at 
dawn,  the  house  was  surrounded  by  some  thirty  horsemen, 
and  the  inmates  summoned  to  surrender.  This  they  would 
not  do,  but  rushed  out  firing  on  the  horsemen.  I  made  sure 
that  the  Muhailby  people  had  kept  their  promise,  and  that 


202  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

they  were  come  to  attack  my  house ;  but,  on  looking  out,  I 
saw  the  real  state  of  things.  Observing  a  tent  of  myrtle- 
boughs  on  fire,  I  thought  the  horsemen  were  about  to  burn 
the  village,  and  went  up  among  them.  They  were  in  a 
state  of  great  excitement,  two  of  them  being  wounded.  I 
attempted  to  rescue  a  horse  which  they  had  seized,  when 
a  Kurdish  horseman  put  his  gun  behind  my  back  more 
than  once,  as  I  was  afterwards  told  by  a  Sahyoon  man 
who  professed  to  have  knocked  it  aside.. 

On  Wednesday,  the  third  day  of  these   scenes,  I  de- 
termined to  make  one  more  effort  to  bring  about  peace, 
and  rode  over  to  the  governor,  to  ask  him  to  allow  me 
to  go  up  to  the  chief  man,  and  try  to  get  him  to  come 
down.     He  said :  "  No ;  it  is  not  well."     I  then  asked  him 
for  two  horsemen,  for  the  protection  of  my  house.   He  was 
for  sending  them,  but  the  Cadi  of  Ladikeeh,  his  main  ad- 
viser, said :  "  The  evening  will  do."     The  evening  never 
came  to  the  poor  governor.     I  had  scarcely  reached  my 
house  on  my  return  when  I  heard  firing,  and,  to  my  utter 
surprise,  saw  the  hills  crowned  with  the  flying  horsemen 
of  Ladikeeh.     I  thought    at   first   that   they  were   only 
choosing  better  ground  for  the  conflict,  but  few  minutes 
elapsed  before  streams  of  fugitives  passed  my  house  on 
both  sides,  dropping  their  muskets  in  their  flight.     They 
seemed  to  be  in  absurd  haste,  but  the  cause  was  soon  mani- 
fest.    Wild  fellows  of  my  own  and  the  Djenneeh  people 
came  rushing  by,  with  loud  cries  of  "  Yallah,  yallah !"  and 
soon  reached  and  shot  the  hindermost  of  the  runaways. 
One  man,  who  had  been  stripped  of  his  things,  and  could 
apparently  run  no  farther,  was  walking  as  if  in  despair  in 
the  grounds  under  my  house.    I  sent  my  servant  to  bring 
him  back,  but,  before  he  could  reach  him,  I  saw  a  man 
deliberately  shoot  at  him,  fortunately  without  touching 
him.     The  man  who  fired   the  shot,  being  a  stranger,  at 
first  did  not  recognise  my  servant,  and  was  for  stripping 
him.     I  had  the  satisfaction  to  save  in  all  some  ten  or 
twelve  stripped   and   wounded   men.     The  cook   of  the 


DEATH    OF    ALI    BEY.  203 

governor,  an  Armenian,  came  in  crying  quarter,  having 
been  robbed,  and  having  had  a  very  narrow  escape  for  his 
life.     I  never  saw  a  man  more  frightened. 

Some  poor  fellows  in  the  valley  below  my  house  were 
overtaken,  or  rather  shot,  before  they  could  reach  the 
opposite  ascent,  and  I  was  told  that  their  bodies  were 
piled  together  and  burnt. 

In  the  evening  I  was  shocked  at  hearing  that  the  Bey 
had  been  killed.  He  had  gallantly  endeavoured  to  rally 
his  men,  and  having  delayed  too  long  had  been  shot  in 
the  back  when  endeavouring  to  escape.  On  riding  towards 
Kurdahah  next  morning  to  recover  his  corpse,  I  saw  the 
bodies  of  men  who  had  been  killed  stripped  utterly  naked 
and  lying  in  the  road.  In  one  place  three  w^re  thus  lying 
on  their  faces.  The  people  I  met  returning  to  their  villages 
shouted  to  me,  asking  me  where  I  was  going ;  and  some 
who  guessed  my  object  told  me  scornfully  that  I  was  too  late, 
as  the  Bey  was  buried.  However,  on  hastening  forward  I 
found  the  chief  man  and  others  assembled  round  a  hole 
they  were  digging  to  receive  the  body,  which  was  lying 
near,  stripped  almost  naked.  On  asking  the  chief  man 
whether  I  could  have  it,  he  said :  "  Oh,  yes ;  where  are 
your  servants  ?  take  it  away  as  soon  as  possible."  I  had 
compelled  four  men  of  the  fugitives  to  accompany  me  to 
Kurdahah ;  and,  a  bier  having  been  formed,  the  corpse  was 
placed  upon  it,  and  they  were  forced  to  carry  it,  as  no  one 
else  would  do  so. 

Hearing  that  the  son  of  the  chief  man  of  Sahyoon  was 
wounded  and  lying  in  a  house  near,  I  went  and  attempted 
to  ransom  him.  But  it  was  useless  to  endeavour  to  treat 
with  the  people,  who  seemed  like  wild  beasts  after  the  fight, 
and  were  particularly  indignant  with  the  Sahyoon  men 
who  had  cut  down  some  of  their  trees,  and  shown  them- 
selves especially  hostile.  A  young  Mussulman  lad  also 
wished  to  follow  me,  but  was  prevented.  Pie,  however, 
afterwards  told  the  governor  of  Sahyoon  what  I  had 
tried  to  do  for  his  brother,  which,  perhaps,  proved  the 


204  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

saving  of  my  life.  Soon  afterwards  I  heard  that  the 
poor  man,  whose  thigh  was  already  shattered,  had  been 
strangled. 

Finding  that  his  father,  who  had  been  killed,  was  lying 
unburied,  I  gave  a  sum  of  money  to  an  Egyptian  Mus- 
sulman living  among  the  Kelbeeh  to  bury  him.  As 
he  was  proceeding  to  do  so,  they  brought  and  cast  down 
the  body  before  me,  where  I  sat  conversing  with  the  chief 
men,  when  a  brutal  fellow,  who  had  been  before  engaged 
about  pay  house  as  a  builder,  took  a  stone  and  threw  it  at 
the  skull  of  the  dead  man.  One  or  two  of  the  by-standers 
uttered  a  faint  disapprobation. 

On  remonstrating  with  a  sheikh  about  the  bodies  re- 
maining unburied,  and  asking  him  whether  it  was  not 
wrong,  he  said:  "  Yes ;  men  are  of  dust,  and  they  ought  to 
be  restored  to  dust;"  but  had  not  the  least  wish  that  his 
words  should  be  followed.  So  the  bodies  remained  ex- 
posed, till  after  two  or  three  days  the  jackals  took  courage 
and  devoured  them. 

As  there  was  a  prospect  of  utter  confusion  in  the  pro- 
vince of  Ladikeeh  (and  indeed  the  people,  if  they  had 
known  their  power,  might  have  taken  and  plundered  the 
town  itself),  I  determined  to  go  off  to  Beyrout  with  a 
public  statement.  While  it  was  being  written,  intel- 
ligence came  that  the  body  of  the  Bey  had  been  thrown 
aside  by  those  who  carried  it,  and  was  lying  near  a 
fountain.  This  had  happened  while  my  man  was  delayed 
on  a  message  to  my  house.  He  chanced  on  his  return  to 
see  in  the  hands  of  the  people  my  outer  garment,  which  I 
had  placed  on  the  bier,  and  had  some  difficulty  in  recovering 
it.  It  was  now  quite  late,  and  I  had  the  unpleasantness 
of  going  down  over  the  desolate  plain  by  night.  The  poor 
cook  took  every  shadow  for  a  marauder.  I  had  not  pro- 
ceeded far  on  my  way  when  a  man  started  up  from  among 
the  myrtles,  and  begged  for  protection.  He  had  hidden 
himself  during  the  preceding  night,  having  escaped,  though 
with  one  ear  nearly  severed.     I  have  forgotten  to  mention 


A   PRISONER   KILLED.  205 

that  when  the  horsemen  attacked  our  village  they  wounded 
one  poor  fellow  so  severely  that  he  was  barely  able  to  drag 
himself  to  some  myrtles  below,  where  his  body  was  found 
a  day  after  the  fight.  He  was  one  of  the  most  inofi^ensive 
and  well  to  do  men  of  our  district. 

On  my  return  from  Beyrout  I  found  that  the  people  of 
my  own  district  had  kept  pretty  faithfully  a  promise  to 
me  that  they  would  be  quiet  during  my  absence  ;  but 
their  allies,  the  Djenneeh,  had  committed  many  robberies. 
At  length  about  sixty  of  them  went  to  rob  a  village  in  the 
district  of  the  Baier.  On  their  return  the  inhabitants  of  the 
plain,  of  the  Shemseen  sect,  surrounded  them,  and  after  a 
hard  fight  killed  twelve  of  them  and  took  nine  prisoners. 
The  people  of  Ladikeeh  on  this  occasion  behaved  in  a  brutal 
and  cowardly  way,  just  as  I  should  have  expected  from 
them.  Just  outside  the  town  a  horseman  slew  one  of  the 
prisoners,  who,  he  said,  had  killed  his  brother ;  and  the 
townspeople  went  out  and  insulted  the  dead  body,  finally 
casting  it  into  a  well. 

After  many  "  parliaments''  among  the  inhabitants  of  my 
district,  which  were  held  in  the  open  air,  and  in  which  all 
spoke  at  once,  there  being  as  many  opinions  as  people  pre- 
sent, I  had  the  satisfaction  of  accompanying  the  chief  men 
to  Ladikeeh  ;  and  for  some  time  matters  went  on  quietly. 
Soon  afterwards  I  w^as  stopped  in  the  Sahyoon  district ;  and 
if  I  had  but  spoken  the  word,  that  district  w^ould  probably 
have  been  entirely  destroyed.  The  Kelbeeh  people  were 
indignant  at  what  had  happened  to  me,  which  they  looked 
on  as  an  insult  to  themselves,  and  with  their  friends  and 
others  of  the  Ansaireeh  would  have  been  too  glad  to  have 
had  an  excuse  for  attacking  their  hereditary  enemies,  and, 
as  they  said,  "  not  leaving  a  mill  nor  a  house  standing." 
Once  before  the  Sahyoon  people  had  been  ejected  from  their 
district;  and  it  is  only  the  support  of  their  co-religionists 
of  the  government  which  maintains  them  in  their  position 
among  a  large  Ansairee  population. 

At  the  beginning  of  1856  I  heard  of  a  dreadful  crime. 


206  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

Some  of  the  people  of  Harf,  a  village  in  the  plains  near 
Wady  Kandeel,  had  been  engaged  in  the  fight  against  the 
Djenneeh  people  where  so  many  of  these  were  killed.  To 
avenge  themselves,  the  latter  invited  six  of  the  chief  men 
of  Plarf  to  an  entertainment,  and  then  cut  off  their  heads. 
The  following  extract  from  my  journal,  written  at  the 
time,  will  show  how  such  an  act  was  generally  looked 
upon,  and  furnish  an  instance  of  the  usual  replies  of  the 
sheikhs :  — 

"  Ismaeel  Dayoob,  father  of  one  of  my  boys,  who  came 
some  five  or  six  days  ago,  could  not  be  brought  to  think 
badly  of  what  the  Djenneeh  people  had  done ;  saying  that 
the  others  had  previously  killed  some  of  the  Djenneeh. 
When  I  told  him  that  this  had  been  done  in  open  fight, 
and  not  by  treachery,  he  said,  *  But  those  people  do  not 
love  our  Sharee-ah  (or  law),  for  they  are  Mawakhaseh  (a 
name  for  the  Shemseen  sect).  A  sheikh  from  Cumeen 
came  with  him  for  medicine.  He  did  not  seem  to  think 
at  all  differently,  smiling  when  I  spoke  to  him.  I  told  him 
it  must  be  a  defect  in  their  religion,  which  did  not  prevent 
such  things.  But  he  turned  off  the  conversation  to  steal- 
ing, saying  that  the  people  stole  from  even  sheikh's  houses. 
I  asked  him  why  they  did  not  teach  them  better  when 
young.  He  said,  *  We  do ;  but  when  they  grow  up  they 
cast  it  all  aside.'  " 

Shortly  after  there  was  a  fight  in  the  Beni  Ali  district, 
in  which  several  were  killed  on  each  side.  Not  long  be- 
fore the  Kerahileh  to  the  south  had  attacked  the  district 
of  the  Merkab,  and,  being  surrounded,  many  of  them  were 
slain.  Thus  scarcely  a  month  passed  in  the  mountains 
without  a  fight  somewhere. 

After  a  time  things  began  again  to  look  dark.  The 
governor  of  Ladikeeh,  finding  the  people  did  not  pay 
their  taxes,  sent  for  two  of  the  chief  men,  and,  thougli 
they  went  down  to  him  under  safe  conduct,  he  put 
them  in  prison.  He  then  gave  orders  to  the  irregular 
horse  to  attack  the  lower  part  of  the  district.      These 


ANOTHER    ATTACK.  207 

men  were  well  armed  and  mounted,  being  levies  from  the 
neighbourhood  of  Mosul,  wlio  had  been  under  training  as 
Basha-Bazooks  for  the  Crimea.  When  disbanded  at  the 
close  of  the  Russian  war,  they  had  entered  the  service  of 
the  government.  Some  seventy  of  them  made  an  attack 
on  some  of  our  people  who  were  engaged  in  the  plain. 
These  did  not  deliver  themselves  up,  but  took  refuge  in  a 
ruin,  and,  though  but  fifteen  or  twenty  in  number,  de- 
fended themselves  gallantly.  Two  or  three  of  them 
—  one  a  cripple  or  blind  —  were  wounded,  the  horsemen 
having  leaped  the  part  of  the  ruin  where  they  were  and 
speared  them.  The  cripple  was  killed.  This  fight  hap- 
pened on  June  22nd  of  this  year  (1856). 

The  next  day  as  I  was  riding  to  Ladakeeh  I  observed 
a  number  of  our  people  among  ruins  situated  on  a  hill 
by  the  wayside.  I  soon  saw  the  reason.  On  the  plains 
below  were  about  two  hundred  horsemen,  who  were  gra- 
dually approaching  the  hill-side.  I  rode  up  to  our  men 
and  asked  them  what  was  going  on.  One  of  them  replied 
that  the  government  was  attacking  them  without  right. 
I  said,  "  You  will  not  pay  your  taxes."  "  Yes,"  he  said, 
"  we  will."  I  asked  if  I  might  tell  the  commander  of 
the  horse  as  much.  They  said  *' Yes;"  so  I  rode  down 
to  him,  and  asked  him  to  delay  attacking  the  district  for  a 
day  or  two  till  I  had  seen  what  could  be  done  in  Ladikeeh. 
He  replied  that  he  would  not  fire  on  the  people  unless  they 
fired  on  him.  I  rode  back  to  tell  them  so,  and  they  asked 
me  to  return  and  ask  the  Aga  commanding  the  horsemen 
not  to  touch  a  village  in  the  plain  near  which  he  was. 
He  said  he  would  pay  for  even  a  cup  of  cold  water  from 
it.  I  continued  my  ride;  and  had  the  gratification  of 
learning  afterwards  that  the  horsemen  had  immediately 
returned  to  Djebileh.  It  was  rather  a  pretty  sight  to  one 
riding  down  from  the  mountains ;  for  the  horsemen  were 
clustered  on  the  plain,  and  on  the  hills  which  run  down  to 
it  were  parties  of  the  Kelbeeh  people  on  the  look-out, 
while  at  the  base  of  those  more  distant  were  men  engaged 


208  THE    ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

in  the  peaceful  occupation  of  treading  out  wheat   with 
oxen. 

To  conclude  the  history  of  the  relations  of  the  district 
with  the  government.  Towards  the  close  of  the  year 
there  was  another  collision  between  the  horsemen  of  the 
town  and  the  Kelbeeh,  who  pursued  them  towards 
Djebileh,  and  to  their  hurt  killed  the  son  of  the  chief 
Mussulman  of  Ladikeeh,  who  was  a  mere  lad  serving 
with  his  uncle  in  the  horse.  The  uncle  and  father  have 
vowed  vengeance  against  the  Kelbeeh  ever  since,  and  have 
had  many  opportunities  of  wreaking  it. 

Next  year  the  Nawasieh  people  fought  with  the  Boodeh, 
the  mountain  part  of  the  Beni  Ali  district ;  and  the  Kel- 
beeh and  Amamareh,  taking  sides  with  their  respective 
friends,  fought  against  each  other,  when  as  usual  the  Kel- 
beeh were  the  victors.  But  this  was  the  close  of  their 
victorious  course.  The  Boodeh  chief  became  friendly  with 
the  government,  who  made  use  of  him  against  the  Kelbeeh. 
Towards  the  close  of  1858  the  government  collected  about 
200  men  armed  with  Minie  rifles  and  a  small  cannon,  with 
some  of  the  above-mentioned  well-trained  horsemen.  The 
chief  men  as  usual  put  the  commoner  sort  forward,  but, 
when  they  found  the  Mini^  bullets  reach  themselves  where 
they  stood,  a  panic  seized  them  and  they  gave  ground. 
Some  of  the  people  were  in  a  valley,  and  being  sur- 
rounded by  the  horsemen  about  forty  were  killed.  So 
terrified  were  they  by  the  results  of  this  and  the  next 
day's  fight,  that  they  met  by  niglit  and  selected  five  of  the 
children  of  the  chief  men,  whom  they  surrendered  to 
government  on  the  morrow,  and  who  have  been  detained 
till  the  present  time,  so  that  the  people  have  been  brought 
to  a  state  of  great  submission. 

The  government,  instead  of  being  content  with  a  just 
and  sufficient  amount  of  punishment,  has  taken  advantage 
of  the  opportunity  to  harass  the  people  in  every  way,  and 
by  imposing  new  taxes,  and  making  fresh  demands,  is  in 
danger  of  driving  them  to  despair.     Such  a  thing  as  a 


WANT   OF    SECURITY.  209 

just  uniform  system  of  government  is  a  thing  unknown 
in  the  outlying  provinces  of  Turkey.  As  it  was  in  the 
days  of  Maundrell,  more  than  a  hundred  and  fifty  years 
ago,  so  is  it  now.  The  Ottomans  only  retain  Syria  by 
setting  tribe  against  tribe,  making  use  of  one  to  weaken  and 
subdue  the  other,  thus  fostering  desolating  feuds  among 
neighbours,  which  the  forces  at  the  command  of  govern- 
ment are  utterly  unable  to  check,  even  when  desirous 
of  doing  so.  Every  man  in  the  country  districts  has 
to  go  armed,  and  to  defend  his  life  and  property  for 
himself. 

Were  I  to  allow  myself  to  dwell  on  this  subject  I  might 
say  much  of  the  fearful  state,  not  only  of  the  province  of 
Ladikeeh  but  of  other  parts  of  Syria,  and  that  not  on 
doubtful  testimony.  I  might  speak  of  the  utter  want  of 
security  in  some  parts,  and  the  systematic  perversion  of 
justice  in  others.  For  this  our  government  is  responsible, 
in  so  far  as  it  has  deemed  it  necessary  to  strengthen  an 
empire  which  cannot  protect  its  subjects  from  murder, 
robbery,  and  wrong  ;  and  whose  only  proof  of  sovereignty 
lies  in  spasmodic  efibrts  to  collect  tribute  and  recruits. 
Doubtless  our  rulers  hope  for  the  inauguration  of  a  better 
state  of  things,  and  are  always  ready  to  insist  upon  it ;  but 
meanwhile  they  have  ordered  their  consuls  to  look  calmly 
on,  while  the  people  of  the  provinces  are  passing  through 
a  dreadful  ordeal.  When  I  was  at  Ladikeeh,  at  the  close  of 
last  year  (1859),  the  government  was  engaged  in  burning 
villages  belonging  to  the  Djenneeh ;  and  murders  had  been 
committed  with  the  connivance  of  the  government  offi- 
cials, nay,  traced  to  one  of  the  chief  of  them ;  while  the 
poor  sufferers.  Christians  and  others,  had  nowhere  to  turn 
for  redress.  Thus  desolation  was  daily  becoming  tenfold 
more  desolate,  till  it  seemed  as  if  the  land  would  be  left 
without  inhabitants.  As  it  is  the  population  must  de- 
crease instead  of  increasing. 

It  may  be  said  that  it  appears  clearly  enough  that  the 
Ansaireeh  themselves  are  much  to  blame.     But  are  they 

p 


210  THE   ASIAN  MYSTERY. 

SO  much  to  blame  as  their  rulers,  who  are  unable  and  un- 
willing to  restrain  them  from  such  excesses  ?  Would  not 
the  Ansaireeh  quickly  become  another  people  under  a  just 
and  firm  system  of  government,  supported  by  such  a  force 
as  would  render  anything  like  rebellion  hopeless  ?  If  the 
Ansaireeh  had  anything  to  hope  or  fear  from  the  Mus- 
sulman local  officials  of  Ladikceh,  soon  would  disorders 
vanish,  and  a  most  fertile  province  sustain  a  numerous 
population. 

I  have  hitherto  spoken  of  the  quarrels  of  my  own  district 
with  the  government  and  with  other  districts.  One  would 
suppose  that  such  a  multiplicity  of  foes  without  would  lead 
to  internal  union ;  but  this  is  far  from  being  the  case.  I 
have  before  mentioned  the  names  of  the  five  chief  houses 
or  families :  Hasoon,  Djirkis,  Ali,  Ahmed,  and  Aloosh. 
They  have  old  standing  feuds,  some  of  which  are  kept 
purposely  unsettled,  that  he  who  has  a  claim  may  keep  his 
antagonist  in  a  state  of  fear  and  uncertainty.  When 
Ibrahim  Pasha  was  driven  out  of  Syria,  Beyt  Hasoon 
killed  the  then  chief  man,  who  belonged  to  Beyt  Djirkis, 
and  up  to  the  present  time  the  price  of  blood  has  not 
been  paid  nor  accepted.  Just  after  my  first  visit  to  the 
district  in  search  of  land,  a  quarrel  took  place  in  which  a 
brother  of  Ismaeel  Osman,  the  present  chief  man  of  the 
district,  who  is  of  Beyt  Hasoon,  was  slain,  and  one  or 
two  others ;  and  though  the  late  Sheikh  Hhabeeb  settled  the 
price  of  blood  of  the  supernumerary  man  of  Beyt  Hasoon, 
who  was  then  killed  over  and  above  those  killed  of  Beyt 
Aloosh,  at  10,000  piastres,  the  money  has  not  yet  been 
accepted  by  Beyt  Hasoon.  When  I  was  present  one  day 
at  the  taking  up  of  stones  for  my  house,  1  saw  one  of  the 
men  who  was  at  work  suddenly  run  ofi*  to  a  tree  near  and 
seize  his  arms  which  were  hanging  on  it,  and  on  looking 
up  I  saw  the  reason  in  the  appearance  of  Ismaeel  Osman. 
This  same  man  was  one  of  those  who  fell  afterwards  in 
the  fight. 

Not  only   in   the   district  generally  are   there   feuds. 


FEUDS.  211 

but  in  the  village  where  my  house  is  situated.  The  in- 
habitants are  descended  from  two  brothers,  great-grand- 
fathers of  the  present  generation,  one  of  whom  killed 
the  other;  so  their  descendants  have  ever  since  borne 
mutual  ill-will.  One  day  some  of  them  were  working 
on  my  premises,  when  a  slight  quarrel  arose,  and  each 
party  rushed  off  for  their  arms,  which  the  women  eagerly 
supplied.  I  was  in  the  schoolroom  at  the  time,  and 
hearing  the  noise  ran  out  and  found  them  fighting  in 
the  courtyard.  With  the  greatest  difficulty  I  separated 
them,  and  made  some  sit  on  an  elevated  place  in  the 
yard,  while  others  went  to  the  upper  part  of  the  vil- 
lage. Hearing  these  last  still  shout  and  jeer,  I  went  up 
to  pacify  them,  when  suddenly  one  of  their  relations,  who 
had  heard  of  the  quarrel  at  a  distance,  came  rushing  by 
towards  the  houses  of  the  lower  quarter.  Those  who 
were  sitting  in  ray  yard  ran  out  after  him,  and,  before  I 
could  reach,  four  of  them  struck  him  with  their  swords, 
till  he  fell  covered  with  blood  into  a  ditch.  His  brothers 
came  to  defend  him  and  wounded  his  opponents.  When 
I  got  to  the  place  I  raised  him  and  conducted  him  to 
my  house.  Wounded  as  he  was,  he  vowed  vengeance, 
and  threatened  them  with  his  gun  (which  was  fortunately 
unloaded),  so  that  I  had  great  difficulty  in  getting  him 
along.  His  appearance  was  scarcely  human.  He  could 
only  be  kept  from  swooning  by  pouring  cold  water  on 
him ;  yet  in  a  month  he  recovered.  His  brother,  how- 
ever, was  badly  wounded.  His  head  was  in  some  mea- 
sure saved  by  a  dollar  which  happened  to  be  in  his  red 
cap,  but  the  small  bone  of  his  arm  was  quite  divided. 
He  bled  so  much  that  I  apprehended  the  worst  conse- 
quences ;  but  after  a  time  his  arm  healed,  though  it 
remained  a  little  crippled.  It  was  not  permitted  to  talk 
of  compensation,  till  it  was  seen  what  the  injury  would 
be.  The  two  quarters  of  the  village  remained  openly 
hostile  to  one  another;  and  my  own  Ansairee  servant 
was  in  danger  if  he  went  out  of  his  house  by  night.     I 


212  THE   ASIAN   MYSTEEY. 

insisted  that  each  party  should  come  to  my  house  un- 
armed, and  their  friends  in  other  villages  assented  to  the 
reasonableness  of  this  demand.  Scarcely  were  their  wounds 
skinned  over,  before  there  was  a  quarrel  with  another 
village  arising  from  some  trifling  discussion  while  at  work 
in  the  fields;  and  forgetting  for  the  time  their  internal  feud, 
they  rushed  off  in  a  body  to  the  fight.  I  was  again  in 
the  schoolroom  when  told  of  this,  and  urged  to  go  and 
endeavour  to  prevent  bloodshed.  I  immediately  rode 
off^,  and  was  just  in  time.  Shots  were  fired  in  bravado 
in  my  very  presence  ;  and  one  obstinate  fellow  I  had  the 
greatest  difficulty  in  restraining  from  rushing  on  his 
opponents,  and  that  only  by  dismounting,  running  up 
to  him,  and  pulling  him  back.  He  once  told  me  his 
melancholy  story,  which  removed  any  wonder  I  might  have 
felt  at  his  fierceness.  In  the  time  of  Ibrahim  Pasha  his 
brothers  were  taken  as  recruits,  and  he  was  left  with  his 
old  mother  in  a  house  robbed  of  nearly  everything.  About 
six  months  after  the  village  fight,  I  and  the  friends  of 
each  party  persuaded  them  to  an  accommodation,  and  the 
wounded  man  accepted  the  sum  of  500  piastres  from  his 
opponents,  as  compensation  for  the  injury  he  had  received. 
I  got  them  also  to  swear  on  the  New  Testament  that  they 
would  be  friends ;  but  as  my  lad,  who  is  the  wounded 
man's  brother,  told  me  the  other  day,  the  ill-will  still 
remains,  and  will  yet  break  out. 

That  the  reader  may  not  suppose  that  my  own  district 
is  singular  in  its  savageness,  I  will  make  an  extract 
from  my  journal  to  show  that  such  is  not  the  case.  It 
is  with  reference  to  the  Beni  Ali  district,  which  I  have 
said  consists  of  two  parts :  the  mountain  part,  called  the 
Boodeh,  being  under  Sukkur  Fadil ;  and  the  plain  country, 
under  the  family  of  Sukkur  of  the  village  of  Ain  Sukkur, 
and  of  their  cousins  of  the  house  of  Abu-Shalhah. 
"  Ahmed  Sukkur  of  Ain  Sukkur  was  Mekuddam  in  the 
time  of  Ibrahim  Pasha,  and  oppressed  Sukkur  Fadil  and 
his  family,  who  are  but  very  distantly  related  to  that  of 


FEUDS.  213 

Sukkur,  and  sent  them  to  the  army.    Some  years  ago  Man- 
soor,  of  the  family  of  Abu-Shalhah,  cousins  of  the  house 
of  Sukkur,  was  Mekuddam  (chief  man),  and  Sukkur  the 
son  of  the  above  Ahmed  Sukkur  hired  a  man  in  Ladikeeh 
to  shoot  him.    I  stayed  with  this  Sukkur  three  years  ago.* 
Since  then   he  has  been   poisoned,   and   this   winter  his 
brother  Rahman  was  shot  by  Khair  Bey  the  brother  of 
Mansoor.    Khair  Bey  was  afterwards  murdered  by  Sukkur 
Fadil,  and  his  effects  plundered ;  and  his  brother,  Abu- 
Shalhah,  having  been  to  Beyrout  to  complain,  has  been 
made  Mekuddam  ;  and  I  have  heard  that  Sheikh  Hhabeeb 
has  made  peace  between  the  parties."     But  such  a  peace 
lasts  for  a  very  short  tiuie.     The  Beni  Ali  people  border 
on   our   district   to   the   south,    and    the   Kelbeeh    have 
gained  part  of  their  possessions  from  them,  so  that,  as  a 
Beni  Ali  man  told  me,  there  is  and  has  been  unceasing 
hostility  between  the  two.     The  politics  of  the  districts 
and  of  the  mountains  are  of  a  most  complicated  character. 
Men  who  are  fighting  against  one  another  to-day,  will  to- 
morrow join   against  a  third  party  ;  not  so  as  to  forget 
their  mutual  feud,  but  with  full  intention  to  return  to  it 
on  occasion.     I   sometimes  have  wondered  how  any  one 
was  left  alive.     A  man  grows  up,  has  a  young  child  or 
two,  and  then  is  cut  off  in  one  of  the  numerous  internal 
quarrels  or  external  fights,  or  else  by  secret  assassination 
or  poisoning.     How  many  of  those  whom  I  knew  in  my 
first  travels  through  the  country  have  been  cut  off  since ! 
I  have  mentioned  Sukkur  of  Ain  Sukkur.     Another  man 
I   stayed   with   was  a  young   Christian   of    Muzaiba-al, 
whom   I   described   as    then   ill.  f     He   has   since   been 
poisoned  by  the  Ansairee  inhabitants  of  Fidyo,  a  village 
in   the    plain,    whose    inhabitants   are   addicted   to   this 
horrible  mode  of  assassination.     Scarcely  is  there   a  vil- 
lage around  me,  where  one  or  other  of  the  inhabitants  has 
not  fallen  victim  to  these  dreadful  quarrels  in  my  time. 

*  Ansaireeh  and  Ismaeleeh,  p.  188.  f  Ibid.  p.  166. 

r  3 


214  THE   ASIAN  MYSTERY. 

When  I  first  went  to  the  mountains  I  remonstrated  with 
tlie  people  for  not  planting  more.  I  now  know  the  reason. 
The  more  property  a  man  has,  the  more  is  he  liable  to  the 
attacks  of  his  enemies.  When  in  the  mountains  a  short 
time  ago,  a  man  openly  threatened  the  chief  man  in  my 
presence,  that  if  he  oppressed  him  he  would  cut  down  his 
trees  by  night.     This  is  often  done. 

It  is  not  the  government  only  that  oppresses.  The 
chief  men  themselves  make  use  of  the  time  of  collecting 
taxes,  for  exacting  it  doubly  from  those  unable  to  defend 
themselves.  They  eat  part ;  the  Christian  scribe  who  enters 
the  sums  paid  eats  part ;  the  irregular  horsemen  who  are 
quartered  to  collect  the  taxes  eat  part ;  and  the  remainder 
goes  to  support  the  miserable  local  officials  at  Ladikeeh,  or 
if  any  remain  over  and  above  to  the  Pasha  at  Bey  rout. 
Not  a  para  goes  to  Constantinople ;  and  I  believe  that 
scarcely  any  revenue  from  Syria  reaches  that  place  (at 
least  so  the  people  who  pay  the  taxes  suppose),  except  the 
customs  levied  at  the  seaports,  which  are  let  to  farmers 
ct  Constantinople  itself. 

Let  it  not  be  supposed  that  there  are  not  many  among 
the  people  who  sigh  for  a  better  state  of  things.  True, 
some  young  men  delight  in  the  frequent  fights.  A  wild 
fellow  of  the  village,  who,  like  a  wild  beast,  seems  to  have 
been  born  only  to  engage  in  such  scenes  and  is  always  to 
be  found  at  them,  once  said  to  me  that  he  was  looking  out 
for  the  time  when  the  harvest  should  be  gathered 
in  (the  chief  time  of  combat),  which,  said  he,  putting  his 
tarboosh  on  one  side,  is  the  time  for  such  men  as  I  am. 
There  are  others  who  long  for  security,  and  an  oppor- 
tunity of  sitting  quietly  under  their  own  vine  and  fig-tree ; 
but  as  it  is,  they  see  the  uselessness  of  acquiring  property. 

Every  man  goes  armed.  No  man  thinks  of  going  any 
distance,  even  in  his  own  district,  without  arms  of  some 
kind,  except  it  be  the  protected  peasantry ;  for  there  are 
some  in  every  village  who  plough  for  those  Avho  are  nearly 
as  poor,  but  who  are  too  lazy,  or  think  it  a  disgrace  to 


FEUDS.  215 

plough  for  themselves,  preferring  to  fight  and  rob;  and, 
when  not  engaged  in  this,  to  boast  and  brag. 

Often  have  I  been  reminded  of  the  condition  of  the 
children  of  Israel  in  the  time  of  the  Judges,  when  every 
man  did  what  was  right  in  his  own  eyes.  The  robbery  of 
the  house  of  Micah  by  the  children  of  Dan  is  an  exact 
counterpart  of  what  happens  at  the  present  day  in  the 
mountains  of  the  Ansaireeh.  They  had  eifected  a  robbery 
in  open  day,  and  turned  and  departed,  putting  "  the  little 
ones  and  the  cattle  and  the  carriage  before  them.  And  when 
they  were  a  good  way  from  the  house  of  Micah,  the  men 
that  were  in  the  houses  near  to  Micah^s  house  were  gathered 
together,  and  overtook  the  children  of  Dan.  And  they 
cried  unto  the  children  of  Dan:  and  they  turned  their 
faces,  and  said  unto  Micah,  What  aileth  thee,  that  thou 
comest  with  such  a  company  ?  And  he  said,  Ye  have  taken 
away  my  gods  which  1  made,  and  the  priest,  and  ye  are 
gone  away ;  and  what  have  I  more  ?  And  what  is  this 
that  ye  say  unto  me.  What  aileth  thee  ?  And  the 
children  of  Dan  said  unto  him.  Let  not  thy  voice  be  heard 
among  us,  lest  angry  fellows  run  upon  thee,  and  thou  lose 
thy  life,  with  the  lives  of  thy  household.  And  the  children 
of  Dan  went  their  way  :  and  when  Micah  saw  that  they 
were  too  strong  for  him,  he  turned  and  went  back  unto  his 
house."  * 

It  is  impossible  for  one  who  has  not  lived  in  a  similar 
state  of  society  to  conceive  the  vivid  reality  of  such  a  story. 
Often,  too,  have  I  been  reminded  of  the  condition  of  Eng- 
land in  the  middle  ages,  when  the  lord  of  one  castle  fought 
with  the  lord  of  another,  quite  independently  of  the  central 
government,  and  a  feud  lasted  nearly  two  centuries. 
Meanwhile  the  poor  trader  or  peasant  was  trodden  under 
foot  by  both  parties.  Yet  these  much  lauded  mediaeval 
times  must  have  been  still  more  intolerable  than  even  the 
present  lawless  state  of  parts  of  Syria,  since  it  was  neces- 

*  Judges,  xviii.  21 — 26. 
p  4 


216  THE    ASIAN  MYSTERY. 

sary  to  make  regulations  for  the  protection  of  the  hus- 
bandman, and  the  confining  of  war  to  certain  days  of 
the  week. 

It  is,  indeed,  melancholy  to  live  under  such  an  order  of 
things,  in  which  all  the  finer  and  more  useful  qualities  of 
man  are  repressed,  and  the  deserving  and  humane  must 
go  to  the  wall.  It  is  melancholy  to  see  desolation  ad- 
vance ;  and  while  hoping  to  see  the  ruins  crowning  some 
hillock  once  more  filled  with  life,  to  behold  on  the  contrary 
flourishing  villages  burnt,  their  inhabitants  slain  or  scat- 
tered, and  the  once  tilled  land  overgrown  with  thistles  or 
brushwood.  Yet  such  is  the  tendencynow  in  the  province  of- 
Ladikeeh.  The  population  cannot  increase.  Never  in  the 
memory  of  man  was  the  state  of  things  worse  than  it  has  been 
since,  the  Eussian  war.  During  that  time  justice  was  in  a 
measure  secured,  and  the  country  in  the  main  kept  quiet, 
by  the  exertions  of  the  English  and  French  consuls ;  but 
now,  since  the  former  have  been  commanded  to  stay  . 
their  hands,  and  are  rebuked  if  they  exceed  their  func- 
tions in  defence  of  men  who  are  not  English  subjects,  albeit 
to  save  their  lives,  where  is  justice  to  be  obtained  by  the 
miserable  peasant,  Ansairee  or  Christian?  Even  his  hopes 
from  the  growing  weakness  of  a  government  which  does  not 
and  cannot  protect  him  are  destroyed,  because  he  finds  it 
bolstered  up  by  powerful  friends,  and  therefore  likely  to 
linger  long  in  all  its  impotence. 

And  as  man  decreases,  the  wild  beasts  of  tha  field 
and  creeping  things  increase.  It  is  mournful  to  hear 
on  winter  nights  the  howling  of  the  jackals  who  have  fed 
on  the  carcasses  of  the  slain;  and  in  rides  over  waste 
tracts,  through  the  myrtle  bushes,  to  see  one  of  these 
vile  brutes  a  few  feet  distant  looking  at  you  unscared. 
An  increase  of  population  would  soon  bring  about  a 
decrease  of  noxious  animals.  As  it  is  they  abound  in  the 
fields  and  houses.  In  ridding  my  farm  of  myrtle  bushes 
very  many  snakes  were  killed,  and  often  have  I  had 
dangerous  ones  in  and  about  my  house.     Entering  the 


DIVISION   OF   PEOPERTY. 

schoolroom  one  evening,  I  saw  a  deadly  snake  on  the 
point  of  descending  on  the  boys,  who  were  asleep.  I  struck 
at  it,  but  it  escaped  among  the  stones  of  the  wall. 

Scorpions  are  very  common ;  scarcely  one  of  those 
about  me  escaped  being  bitten.  The  pain  does  not  remain 
ordinarily  more  than  twenty-four  hours,  and  is  often  imme- 
diately stopped  by  a  few  drops  of  liquor  ammonia)  taken  in- 
ternally.' Once  1  heard  a  commotion  in  the  fireplace,  and 
found  a  centipede  and  scorpion  in  such  close  combat  that 
it  was  easy  to  step  in  and  settle  the  matter.  At  another 
time  I  found  a  young  scorpion  immediately  under  me  on 
rising  in  the  morning.  It  is  possible  to  get  indifferent  to 
the  existence  of  such  things  about  one,  though  not  to  their 
bites  or  stings. 

When  hostilities  have  ceased  it  is  usual  to  raise  a  flag 
and  fire  guns.  The  Kelbeeh,  as  well  as  the  people  of  other 
districts,  have  a  distinguishing  flag.  Theirs,  for  instance, 
is  white,  while  that  of  the  Muhailby  is  red. 

One  fruitful  cause  of  quarrel  is  the  division  of  property. 
My  lad's .  father,  for  example,  has  five  children  by  two 
wives.  When  his  elder  brothers,  by  the  first-  wife  came 
of  age,  each  took  a  part  of  the  property.  The  remaining 
three,  as  they  come  of  age,  will  each  claim  a  part,  and  the 
father  in  this  case  remain  without  anything,  his  younger 
sons  providing  for  him.  In  other  cases  the  father  retains 
a  part  equal  to  that  taken  by  each  son.  When  a  woman 
has  a  sou  she  is  sure  of  support;  for  when  the  son  comes 
of  age  he  can  claim  his  portion  of  the  property.  The 
people  of  a  village,  or  of  a  family,  do  not  always  divide  the 
land  belonging  to  them  definitively,  but  retain  it  in  com- 
mon, and  agree  every  year  how  much  each  quarter  or  family 
shall  take,  in  proportion  to  its  position  and  numbers. 
Hence  frequent  disputes.  If  both  man  and  woman  are 
willing,  a  man,  as  with  the  Jews,  will  take  his  deceased 
brother's  -Nvife. 

The  collection  of  the  taxes  is  effected  in  a  curious 
way.     Besides  the  land-tax,  called  Meeree,  there  is  the 


218  THE    ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

poll-tax  or  Furdee,  and  lately  the  poor  people  have  been 
unjustly  saddled  with  a  third  tax,  called  Ushr  or  tithes, 
which  used  only  to  be  levied  on  those  who  paid  no  poll-tax. 
Moreover,  when  last  in  the  mountains,  the  government 
demanded  half  the  taxes  of  the  succeeding  year  as  a  loan, 
and  I  had  to  pay  my  share  on  the  portion  of  the  lands  of 
the  village  in  my  occupation.  Many  other  demands 
were  made,  which,  combined  with  a  bad  harvest,  the 
raising  of  the  export  duty  on  tobacco,  and  a  prohibition 
against  sending  corn  from  the  town  to  the  mountains,  was 
near  bringing  the  people  to  their  wits'  end,  so  that  they 
told  me  they  might  as  well  fight  it  out  at  once,  and  en- 
deavour to  live  somewhere  else,  as  die  of  starvation  where 
they  were. 

But  to  return  to  the  mode  of  collection.  The  govern- 
ment sends  a  certain  number  of  horsemen  to  the  chief  man 
of  a  district.  He  quarters  them  on  particular  villages, 
some  in  every  house.  The  good  man  of  the  house  has  to 
provide  food  for  his  unwelcome  guest,  and  fodder  for  his 
horse,  till  he  receives  a  receipt  as  having  paid  his  taxes. 
Taxes  however  sometimes  remain  unpaid,  and  I  asked  the 
head  man  of  our  village  how  that  could  be  under  such 
circumstances.  "  Oh,"  said  he,  "  we  feed  our  guest  pretty 
well  the  first  day,  and  gradually  diminish  his  allowances 
till  he  has  nothing  to  do  but  to  take  himself  off."  My 
Ansairee  servant  once  made  use  of  another  plan.  In 
the  province  of  Ladikeeh  much  tares  grow  among  the 
wheat.  The  effect  of  these,  when  made  into  bread,  is 
to  make  a  man  giddy  and  intoxicated,  and  such  bread,  if 
partaken  of  in  great  quantities,  may  kill  a  man.  He  slily 
put  a  good  deal  of  these  tares  in  the  bread  of  the  man 
quartered  on  him,  who  consequently  fell  into  a  state  of 
coma,  and  could  only  indistinctly  ask  for  "  quarter."  Let 
me  add  that  the  "  tares,"  called  in  Arabic  Zu-an,  a  name 
nearly  identical  with  the  Zizania  of  Scripture,  are  a  bastard 
kind  of  wheat,  nearly  resembling  it,  and  quite  different 
from  what  are  called  tares  in  England. 


II 


ROBBERY   AND    MURDER.  219 

As  the  Ansaireeh  are  oppressed  by  the  government*,  so, 
like  most  semi-barbarous  mountain  tribes,  they  take  their 
revenge  by  descending  and  plundering  on  the  plains ;  and 
requite  the  hatred  of  the  Mussulmans  by  robbing  and 
murdering  them  without  mercy,  when  pretty  sure  of 
escaping  punishment.  My  own  district,  and  especially 
my  own  village,  have  been  noted  for  these  crimes,  and 
among  the  people  of  this  last  the  ringleaders  were  the 
brothers  of  my  lad  and  my  own  Ansairee  servant.  Of 
this  man  I  had  bought  my  land,  and  as  he  was  my  neigh- 
bour I  took  him  into  my  service  at  the  small  monthly 
salary  of  five  shillings  and  his  food.  It  is  true  he  and  his 
household  profited  in  many  ways  from  his  position.  For 
instance,  I  would  buy  wheat  for  the  school.  A  quarter 
of  this  would  be  wasted  in  sifting  out  the  tares.  I  found 
that  at  the  water-mill  about  a  quarter  was  stolen.  This 
I  ascertained  beyond  doubt  by  weighing  it.  The  remainder 
would  be  made  into  flat  loaves,  which  were  given  to  the  An- 
sairee's  wife  to  bake  ;  and  once  she  was  so  audacious  as  to 
take  a  third  of  the  number  as  payment.  On  being  re- 
monstrated with  she  would  strike  work,  and  we,  on  look- 
ing out  in  the  morning  for  bread,  would  find  that  none 
was  yet  forthcoming,  on  account  of  the  sulkiness  of  this 
termagant. 

Well,  this  man  has  committed  many  murders  in  his 
time.  His  father  was  shot  when  engaged  in  robbery,  and 
his  wife  thanks  me  for  "  causing  him  to  repent,"  and  thus 
probably  saving  his  life.  Once  a  man  wounded  him  in 
the  leg  and  was  coming  on  him,  when  he  knelt  and  fired, 
killing  his  adversary,  whose  body  he  threw  into  the  exca- 
vations near  the  Nahr-es-Seen.  One  of  my  lad's  brothers 
has  thus  also  taken  many  lives  in  his  time.  Nothing  is 
thought  of  thus  killing  a  Mussulman  as  a  natural  enemy, 

*  I  mean  always  the  local  government ;  for,  though  the  defects  of  that 
of  Constantinople  on  the  spot  and  its  powerlessness  at  a  distance  are  well 
known,  yet  in  principle,  now,  it  is  just  to  the  different  orders  of  its 
subjects. 


220  THE    ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

or  a  Christian  as  an  unclean  thing.  For,  as  T  have  before 
shown  by  instances,  the  Christian  is  after  all  more  despised 
than  the  Mussulman,  who  has  at  least  this  recommendation, 
that  he  acknowledges  Mohammed ;  though  Christians  may, 
after  a  fashion,  be  more  liked  as  harmless  and  fellow- 
sufferers  under  oppression. 

I  will  give  an  extract  from  an  entry  made  at  the  time, 
regarding  an  occurrence  in  Sheikh  Hhabeeb's  house. 
We  were  sitting  round  the  fire  in  the  evening,  some  men 
being  present  who  had  come  to  the  sheikh  to  settle  a 
dispute  about  land.  "  One  man  of  the  Beyt-il-Wahsh, 
of  Wady  Beyt  Ahmed  (in  the  Kelbeeh  district),  spoke 
of  an  expedition  which  he  had  made  to  near  Kulat-il- 
Husn.  He  had,  with  his  party,  first  seen  two  Mussul- 
mans, whom  he  bound  and  laid  on  the  roadside.  An- 
other man  was  about  to  give  the  alarm,  and  so,  said 
he,  I  shot  him  and  threw  him  among  the  myrtle.  They 
asked  him  of  what  religion  he  was.  He  said,  a  Christian. 
Sheikh  Hhabeeb  expressed  some  dissatisfaction  ;  but  they 
made  it  a  matter  of  laughter  when  I  told  the  man  that 
the  crime  was  still  upon  him,  and  that  he  would  yet  have  to 
give  an  account  for  it.  Sheikh  Hhabeeb  then  said  that 
the  sitting  in  their  presence  was  *Haram'  (unlawful). 
The  brother  of  the  man  made  a  kind  of  apology,  saying 
"  that  when  their  father  died  they  had  been  left  poor." 

Lately  five  poor  Mussulman  hucksters  were  murdered 
in  one  spot. 

In  a  distant  district  I  met  a  man  who  had  formerly  been 
accustomed  to  accompany  my  servant  on  marauding  ex- 
peditions, the  latter  having  gone  a  long  way  to  him  for 
that  purpose.  They  will  go  a  great  distance  over  the 
plains  by  night,  and  return  with  incredible  celerity ;  or, 
if  overtaken  by  dawn,  will  remain  with  their  booty  con- 
cealed in  some  cave  till  the  succeeding  evening.  When 
a  robbery  is  detected,  and  comes  to  the  ears  of  govern- 
ment, they  send  to  the  chief  man  of  the  district  claiming 
the   property;    but  the  robbers  do  not   give  it  up  till 


OTHER   BAD   TRAITS.  221 

they  have  received  a  *^  Helwiln  "  (sweetener )  from  the 
owners,  which  of  course  is  a  premium  for  stealing. 

When  I  have  taken  my  servant  to  Djebileh  or  else- 
where, we  have  been  met  by  people  of  whom  he  would 
say :  "Oh,  I  know  that  man ;  I  robbed  hira  or  his 
brother." 

While  I  was  with  them,  he  and  others  of  the  village  gave 
up  robbing.  At  one  time,  I  believe,  entirely.  I  found 
him  other  things  to  do.  I  would  send  him  to  collect  eggs 
or  fowls,  or  to  accompany  my  Christian  servant  charged 
with  buying  butter  or  wheat ;  and  often  on  messages 
in  the  mountains.  Sometimes  I  would  give  him  harder 
work,  namely,  to  help  the  Christians  in  cutting  and  load- 
ing wood.  He  would  return  tired  and  angry,  having 
done  all  he  could  to  shift  the  task  off  himself.  What 
annoyed  him  most  was  being  called  by  the  women  "  little 
woodcutter."  "  Ah,"  he  would  say,  "  that  I  should 
ever  come  to  this  1 "  He  was  a  difficult  subject  to  deal 
with  ;  as  often  sulking  as  smiling. 

The  people  not  only  rob  others,  but  one  another. 

"  Let  him  take  who  has  the  power, 
And  let  him  keep  who  can,'* 

is  their  motto. 

I  come  now  to  other  bad  features  of  the  Ansairee 
character.  The  reader,  after  what  has  preceded,  will  be 
prepared  for  the  development  of  the  worst  passions.  How 
can  people  so  situated,  with  a  religion  such  has  been 
described,  be  free  from  them  ?  That  religion,  indeed,  in 
word  inculcates  the  doing  good  to  "  brethren,"  and  the 
abstaining  from  injuring  them ;  the  keeping  free  from 
fornication,  lying,  and  backbiting ;  the  remembering  that 
the  "cord  of  believers  is  united  to  the  cord  of  their 
Lord,"  and  that  he  who  injures  them  injures  Him ;  the 
behaving  becomingly  in  God's  house,  with  humility  and 
without  a  display  of  finery,  and  the  abstaining  from  talking 
at  the  time  of  prayer,  laughing,  or  anything  which  may 
interrupt  the  religious  service ;    during  which  "  no  one 


222  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

should  have  anything  in  his  mind  but  thoughts  of  God." 
All  this,  and  more,  will  be  found  in  the  sermon  given  in 
the  next  chapter.  Even  the  great  rule  of  duty  towards 
one's  neighbour,  "  to  desire  for  him  what  one  would 
desire  for  oneself,  and  to  dislike  in  his  case  what  one 
would  dislike  in  one's  own,"  is  borrowed  from  the 
Gospel,  and  there  given.  But  these  precepts  confess- 
edly do  not  extend  to  outsiders,  and  are  almost  a  dead 
letter  even  among  "brethren."  The  children  are  not 
initiated  into  these  good  counsels,  and  when  they  are, 
they  are  past  profiting  by  them.  The  sheikhs  can  make 
use  of  no  exhortations,  except  a  few  ordinary  sayings,  to 
inculcate  them  ;  and  are  notoriously  too  busy  in  collecting 
alms,  and  too  fearful  of  stemming  the  stream,  to  give 
themselves  trouble  in  doing  so.  Hence  the  state  of  society 
is  a  perfect  hell  upon  earth. 

1  think  it  impossible  for  any  one  to  understand  the 
full  force  of  St.  Paul's  allusions  to  the  wickedness  of  the 
unconverted  heathen  of  his  day,  without  having"  lived 
amongst  or  had  some  intercourse  with  some  long  neg- 
lected barbarous  tribe,  such  as  the  Ansaireeh,  unre- 
strained by  civil  government  or  by  religion.  I  never 
understood  it  before,  but  I  felt  it  fully  soon  after  my 
settlement  in  the  mountains.  I  allude  to  such  passages 
as  that  in  the  first  of  Komans.*  "Being  filled  with  all 
unrighteousness,  fornication,  wickedness,  covetousness, 
maliciousness ;  full  of  envy,  murder,  debate,  deceit,  malig- 
nity ;  whisperers,  backbiters,  haters  of  God,  despiteful,  proud, 
boasters,  inventors  of  evil  things,  disobedient  to  parents, 
without  understanding,  covenant-breakers,  without  na- 
tural affection,  implacable,  unmerciful."  Every  one  of 
these  evil  qualities  was  illustrated  in  those  around  me  ; 
some,  such  as  disobedience  to  parents,  enty,  debate, 
whisperers,  &c.,  in  the  most  shocking  way. 

When  I  first  went  to  the  mountains  to  build,  our  tents 

*  Verses  29—31. 


INGRATITUDE.  223 

were  pitched,  as  1  have  said,  on  the  roofs  of  some  houses 
in  the  village.  Every  morning  and  evening  there  was  a 
perfect  Babel  of  quarreling.  Brother  would  draw  sword 
against  brother,  and  curse  father  or  mother  without  fear 
or  shame.  It  was  comparatively  paradise  to  enter  our 
own  house  when  just  finished;  but  even  then,  as  soon  as 
the  day  dawned,  the  shouting  both  of  men  and  women 
would  commence,  with  the  utterance  of  the  most  dreadful 
oaths  and  unclean  sayings. 

At  other  times  envy  would  be  at  work,  and,  though  even 
a  brother  was  receiving  a  favour,  an  attempt  would  be 
made  by  backbiting  to  displace  him.  To  see  a  good  office 
done  to  another,  was  quite  sufficient  to  obliterate  the  sense 
of  all  good  offices  formerly  received.  I  could  scarcely  be- 
lieve such  ingratitude  as  I  have  experienced  to  exist  else- 
where, did  not  I  see  from  missionary  reports  that  it  is  the 
rule,  not  the  exception,  with  savages  and  semi-savage 
peoples. 

My  house  was  at  first  built  by  contract.  I  had  observed 
that  the  people,  between  thirty  and  forty  in  number,  who 
were  working  on  it,  were  only  doing  half  a  day's  work, 
hiding  themselves  and  the  like  to  get  rest.  So  the  first 
day  that  I  commenced  operations  on  my  own  account  I 
employed  but  three  men,  one  of  them  of  another  village; 
for  1  had  seen  him  to  be  a  hardworking  man.  An  old 
man  of  the  village,  indignant  at  this,  rushed  up  to  him 
and  said,  "  You  shall  not  raise  another  stone."  I  waited 
to  see  what  the  by-standers  would  say.  They  took  my 
part,  and  I  told  the  old  fellow  that  as  an  Englishman  I  felt 
a  pressure  even  on  my  little  finger,  and  that  if  I  was  to 
build  under  compulsion  I  should  not  build  at  all.  I  also 
informed  those  who  clamoured  for  work  that  I  had  none, 
except  I  should  pull  down  what  had  been  already  built, 
or  begin  constructing  a  wall  to  Ladikeeh.  By  making  a 
stand  at  once  I  was  less  troubled  in  this  way  afterwards. 
But  I  found  my  neighbours  very  troublesome.  Continual 
subjects  of  dispute  arose;  for  their  ideas  of  their  own  im- 


224  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

portance  and  rights  were  of  the  highest.  Sometimes,  when 
in  a  rage,  they  would  curse  my  religion  in  my  own  house, 
though  not  before  my  face,  and  soon  after  return  to 
civility.  One  day  my  English  schoolmaster  saw  that  one 
of  them  had  been  stealing  my  water-melons,  and  had  con- 
cealed the  skins  under  a  myrtle  bush.  When  told  of  this 
he  was  furious,  and  went  about  the  village  denouncing 
the  schoolmaster,  calling  him  the  *^  father  of  a  pot,"  in 
allusion  to  his  cap.  A  day  or  two  afterwards  I  saw  him 
quietly  sitting  in  one  of  my  rooms  eating.  I  could  not 
restrain  myself  at  this,  and  told  my  Ansairee  servant  that 
it  was  a  disgrace  to  him  to  allow  such  a  man,  after  what 
he  had  done  and  said,  to  come  into  my  house.  At  this  the 
culprit  was  ready  to  burst  with  rage ;  and  yet  a  short  time 
after,  at  their  feast  of  Nuzelleh,  he  came  with  the  rest  to 
salute  me.  He  had  before  asked  the  cook  how  he  should 
approach  me ;  and,  before  I  could  restrain  him,  he  kissed, 
the  ground  and  then  my  foot.  In  fact  their  conduct  used 
to  remind  me  of  that  of  spoiled  children.  One  day  I  would 
be  their  "father"  and  "sultan;"  another  no  name  was 
bad  enough  for  me  and  mine. 

Nothing  would  satisfy  them.  They  would  take  the 
bread  out  of  my  servants'  mouths,  sitting  with  them  at 
meals ;  coming  down  like  locusts  after  having  finished 
their  own  dinners.  They  would  consider  it  a  matter  of 
the  greatest  offence  if  it  were  hinted  that  their  absence 
was  desirable  on  such  occasions ;  and  really  I  feared  at 
times  to  be  "  eaten  out  of  house  and  home,"  in  its  literal 
meaning.  When  a  child  was  born  anywhere  near,  even  the 
women  of  chief  men  would  come  for  oil  to  anoint  it ;  an- 
other for  a  little  rice  for  a  child  who  was  ill,  which  rice 
might  serve  as  a  meal  for  themselves  who  had  suddenly 
taken  a  fancy  to  some.  Like  most  poor  people,  the  way 
to  the  affections  of  the  Ansaireeh  is  through  their  stomachs, 
which  they  love  dearly.  They  go  miles  to  the  gardens  of 
Djebileh  to  get  a  little  unripe  fruit. 

Hospitality  with  them  is  the  one  virtue.     As  they  say 


HOSPITALITY.  225 

themselves,  a  man  may  do  anything  he  likes  with  us  if  he 
will  feed  us.  One  who  "  gives  bread  to  eat "  is  with 
them  almost  synonymous  with  a  perfect  character.  Their 
sheikhs  accordingly  are  very  bountiful  in  this  respect, 
and  their  example  was  held  up  to  me  for  my  encourage- 
ment and  imitation.  It  was  in  vain  for  me  to  say  that 
I  would  readily  imitate  these  gentry,  if  I  were  allowed 
to  do  as  they  did, — beg  with  one  hand  and  distribute 
with  the  other ;  but  that  I  really  could  not  undertake 
to  feed  the  district,  buying  as  I  did  all  things  at*  full 
price. 

As  Dr.  Taylor  well  observes,  "  Hospitality  and  generosity 
were  deemed  by  the  Arabians  virtues  paramount  to  all 
others.  This,  indeed,  is  always  the  characteristic  of  a 
semi-barbarous  people;  'an  open  hand'  is  regarded  by 
the  vulgar  of  every  nation  as  an  atonement  for  the  worst 
vices,  not  only  because  its  benefits  are  felt  more  peculiarly 
by  themselves,  but  because  men  must  have  advanced  to 
that  point  in  civilisation  when  the  notion  of  property  is 
rightly  conceived,  before  they  can  discover  that  improvi- 
dence is  a  crime  and  prudence  a  virtue."  * 

Men  would  come  to  me  for  assistance  who  were  thus 
making  a  great  show  in  their  houses.  Every  one  who  has 
come  even  from  half  an  hour's  distance  expects  to  be  asked 
to  eat ;  and  among  themselves  it  is  considered  a  mark  of 
churlishness  and  covetousness  if  the  inviter  does  not  press 
his  guest  even  to  the  extent  of  swearing  that  he  shall 
eat.  Hospitality  in  such  cases,  with  hungry  and  poverty- 
stricken  neighbours,  becomes  a  serious  thing. 

AVith  respect  to  the  morality  of  the  Ansaireeh,  I  have 
already  anticipated  what  I  was  going  to  say  here,  and 
have  cleared  their  character  of  the  worst  accusations 
made  against  them.  They  are  probably  not  more  immoral 
than  Western  nations.  Early  marriages  on  one  hand  favour 
morality,  while  on  the  other  the  facts  that  families  are 

*  History  of  Mohammedanism,  p.  57. 
Q 


226  THE   ASIAN  MYSTERY. 

herded  together  in  one  room,  and  that  females  remain 
without  education  and  religion,  foster  immorality ;  and 
no  nation  can  be  considered  a  moral  one,  where  polygamy 
is  permitted  with  unlimited  freedom  of  divorce. 

"  The  depraving  effects  of  this  freedom  of  divorce,  upon 
both  sexes,"  says  Lane,  speaking  of  Egypt  *,  "  may  be 
easily  imagined.  There  are  many  men  in  this  country 
who,  in  the  course  of  ten  years,  have  married  as  many  as 
twenty,. thirty,  or  more  wives ;  and  women,  not  far  ad- 
vanced in  age,  who  have  been  wives  to  a  dozen  or  more 
men  successively."  The  Ansaireeh  do  not  go  to  such  an 
excess  of  libertinism  ;  but  divorce  is  by  no  means  uncom- 
mon among  them.  No  increase  of  evil  seems  to  arise  from 
the  fact  that  their  women  go  unveiled. 

While  speaking  of  the  women,  I  must  admit  that,  with 
the  exception  of  being  hard-working,  they  have  few  redeem- 
ing qualities.  In  violence,  the  use  of  oaths,  and  unclean 
language,  they  unhappily  imitate  and  sometimes  go  beyond 
the  men. 

With  such  fathers  and  mothers  it  is  needless  to  say  what 
the  children  are  in  the  use  of  bad  language  and  in  every 
other  growing  vice.  Nothing  shocked  me  more  than  to 
see  the  schoolboys,  when  the  fight  took  place  in  the  village, 
seem  utterly  unmoved  by  the  sight  of  blood,  and  apparently 
pleased  with  the  excitement  of  the  scene,  using  joking 
expressions  on  what  had  happened. 

Swearing,  with  old  and  young,  is  not  an  occasional  but 
constant  thing.  Few  words  come  out  of  their  mouths  un- 
accompanied with  an  oath,  and  that  when  utterly  uncalled 
for.  A  sentence  will  have  more  of  the  concomitants  of  the 
oath  in  it,  than  of  information.  When  remonstrated  with 
for  this,  they  say  that  they  are  obliged  to  swear  or  they 
would  not  be  believed.  They  consequently  swear  falsely 
with  little  fear. 

It  was  long  before  I  could  teach  any  of  the  boys  to 

♦  Vol.  i.  p.  251. 


HABIT    OF    SWEARING.  227 

leave  off  this  evil  habit.  Even  when  taught  to  say 
"Yes,"  they  called  it  swearing  by  "yes;"  so  entirely 
did  they  conceive  that  every  assertion  must  be  accom- 
panied by  an  oath.  They  would  say,  "  By  the  truth  of 
yes,"  in  answering  a  question  affirmatively.  Hence  they 
were  called  the  house  of  "  Hukh  N4am,"  or  the  "  truth  of 
yes."  The  other  day  I  heard  one  young  boy  who  had 
been  in  the  school  repeat  continually  before  me,  "  With 
respect  to  that ;"  and  I  did  not  understand  at  first  that  he 
was  filling  up  the  blank  left  by  the  absence  of  oaths. 

I  have  already  said  that  with  themselves  the  oath  for 
confirmation  is  by  one  of  their  visiting- places ;  and  in 
matters  between  them  and  the  government  they  will  swear 
by  the  sword  and  Koran. 

It  is  well  known  that  lying  is  a  universal  vice  of 
Eastern  nations.  They  will  not  answer  directly  a  direct 
question,  but  ask  another,  not  for  information's  sake,  but 
because  they  intend  to  tell  some  lie,  and  only  wish  to  gain 
time,  that  they  may  know  of  what  shape  and  colour  it 
should  be,  and  because  they  fear  to  commit  themselves  by 
letting  even  the  shadow  of  the  truth  appear.  The  An- 
saireeh,  as  possessing  a  secret  religion  which  they  are 
bound  under  the  greatest  penalties  to  conceal,  have,  over 
and  above  this  general  facility  of  lying,  contracted  an 
additional  habit  of  deceit,  which  serves  them  as  an  impene- 
trable shield.     None  can  lie  with  better  grace. 

Drunkenness  is  a  vice  to  which  they  would  be  more 
prone,  had  they  more  facilities  for  its  indulgence.  As  it 
is,  many  of  them  drink  deeply  at  their  yearly  feasts, 
partly  of  arrack  brought  from  town,  and  partly  of  that 
distilled  in  the  mountains  from  dried  figs,  a  kind  which 
seems  to  have  almost  a  maddening  effect  on  those  who 
take  much  of  it. 

Such  are  some  of  the  vices  and  bad  qualities  of  the  An- 
saireeh ;  and  it  is  not  by  going  to  the  towns,  or  among 
Mussulmans  and  native  Christians,  that  they  can  learn 
anything  better.     The  province  of  Ladikeeh  seems  utterly 

<i2 


228  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

corrupt.  As  the  Ansaireeh  learn  evil  from  the  towns- 
people, so  these  last,  who  many  of  them  in  great  measure 
gain  their  livelihood  by  traffic  with  the  Ansaireeh,  are 
debased  by  the  contact,  and  fall  below  the  level  of  their 
co-religionists  in  other  parts.  I,  for  certain  reasons,  draw 
a  veil  over  the  corruption  of  the  Laodiceans ;  but  will  give 
one  instance  of  the  ignorance  of  the  Christians.  My 
ploughman,  who  had  during  his  stay  with  me  become 
slightly  acquainted  with  the  Bible,  heard  one  of  the 
priests  rebuke  a  child  who  was  talking  in  the  church,  by 
using  the  common  expression,  *'  Curse  your  father."  **  My 
father,"  said  my  servant,  "is  it  right  to  curse  ?  "  "  Oh," 
said  he,  "  it  was  only  from  my  lips."  "  But  does  not  the 
psalmist  say.  Keep  the  door  of  my  lips  ?  "  "  That,"  replied 
the  priest,  "  is  only  in  the  English  Bible." 

I  cannot,  however,  omit  to  mention  one  occurrence  to 
show  the  dreadful  cheapness  in  which  life  is  held  even 
among  Christians,  and  the  ease  with  which  murder  itself  is 
overlooked.  During  my  stay  at  Ladikeeh  two  years  ago, 
on  my  return  from  England,  where  I  had  been  sent  on 
account  of  illness,  an  awful  crime  was  perpetrated.  It  hap- 
pened at  the  very  time  of  my  arrival,  and  was  this.  A 
respectable  Christian  merchant  had  a  daughter  who  had 
a  liaison  with  a  servant.  To  facilitate  her  guilty  inter- 
course, she  had  resort  to  poison,  and  gave  the  servant 
arsenic  to  put  in  the  food  of  the  family.  About  sixteen 
persons  partook  of  it,  but  only  one,  the  father,  died.  The 
police  laid  hold  of  the  servant,  and,  taking  him  out  to  the 
sepulchres  at  night,  so  terrified  him  that  he  confessed  to 
his  participation  in  the  crime.  The  Greek  Christians  in 
the  town,  however,  got  hold  of  him,  and  favoured  his 
escape  to  the  mountains.  When  I  went  up  to  my  house, 
I  found  him  in  the  courtyard,  which  I  of  course  imme- 
diately made  him  quit.  On  going  down  to  the  town,  I 
asked  an  influential  Greek  Christian  whether  it  were  not 
a  shame  that  such  a  man  should  be  allowed  to  escape.  He 
said,  "  Ohj  poor  fellow,  the  Mussulmans  were  hard  upon 


LOVE   OF   OFFSPRING.  229 

him,  and  treated  him  unjustly ;  '^  so,  rather  than  let  a 
Christian  be  punished  by  the  Mussulmans,  he  was  to 
escape  altogether.  I  asked  what  would  be  done  to  the 
daughter.  *'  Nothing,"  was  the  reply,  that  the  family  may 
not  be  disgraced.  On  returning  lately  a  second  time  to 
my  house,  I  found  the  man  still  there,  and  I  saw  a  lame 
petition  which  he  had  drawn  up  to  the  governor,  saying 
that  the  Christians  accused  him  unjustly.  He  seemed  to 
be  frightened  at  my  presence  in  the  village,  and  I  was 
told  that  he  had  made  off  for  Tarsoos.  That  he  was  sus- 
pected of  so  fearful  a  crime  seemed  to  make  no  difference 
in  the  conduct  of  the  Ansaireeh  towards  him. 

They  have  the  good  quality  that  they  will  protect  a 
guest,  though  they  may  at  the  same  time  metaphorically 
eat  him  up ;  but  this  becomes  a  vice  when  exercised, 
as  it  usually  is,  in  unworthy  cases. 

They  have  another  good  quality,  which  however  they 
share  with  brutes,  love  for  their  progeny,  in  which  they 
are,  after  their  blind  fashion,  behind  no  other  people. 

An  Ansaireeh  has  few  friends  away  from  his  own  race, 
therefore  it  is  almost  death  to  him  to  leave  his  mountains 
for  long ;  and  even  a  short  visit  to  town  is  distasteful  to 
him. 

I  shall  now  make  a  few  remarks  on  the  appearance  of 
the  people,  their  food,  arms,  and  dwellings. 

As  to  their  appearance,  I  cannot  do  better  than  quote 
some  words  of  Mr.  Walpole,  on  account  of  their  accuracy. 
"  They  are  a  fine  large  race,  with  more  bone  and  muscle 
than  is  generally  found  among  Orientals  ;  browner  than  the 
Osmanlee,  but  lighter,  fairer  than  the  Arab ;  brown  hair 
is  not  by  any  means  uncommon.  The  women,  when 
young,  are  handsome,  often  fair,  with  light  hair  and  jet- 
black  eyes;  or  the  rarer  beauty  of  fair  eyes  and  coal- 
black  hair  or  eyebrows."  * 

Their  arms  consist  of  a  long  gun,  with  flint  lock  and 

*  Ansayrii,  or  Assassins,  vol.  iii.  p.  345.  The  reader  will  there  find 
other  remarks  on  their  dress,  &c. 

Q  3 


230  THE    ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

coarse  powder,  generally  made  in  the  mountains.  It  is  as 
common  almost  for  their  muskets  to  miss  fire  as  to  go  ofi^, 
and  this  of  course  is  very  disadvantageous  to  them  in 
a  fight.  They  have  besides  a  short  bent  sword,  which 
is  often  blunt,  and  in  every  way  little  serviceable ;  and  they 
use  their  swords  in  the  most  unscientific  manner.  When 
in  want  of  lead  they  will  borrow  for  the  time  the  roofing 
of  Djaafar  Tayyar,  to  be  restored  afterwards.  They  carry 
but  a  small  supply  of  balls,  of  irregular  sizes,  so  that 
their  aim  is  qji  uncertain  one.  I  have  seen  no  good  shots 
among  them ;  and  they  look  on  a  shot  flying  as  a  great 
performance.  Though  individually  brave,  their  last  en- 
counter with  the  government  shows  that  they  are  unable 
to  meet  regular  troops ;  for  these  were  in  small  numbers, 
and  by  their  own  accounts  some  2000  to  3000  Ansaireeh 
were  assembled.  The  war  in  Morocco  has  proved  how 
little  half-trained  men  can  do  against  European  troops 
armed  as  they  now  are. 

Their  houses  are  in  some  cases  not  ill-constructed, 
though  only  with  a  door,  and  without  window  or  chimney. 
The  invariable  type  is,  four  walls  formed  of  unhewn  loose 
stones  piled  up  in  two  rows  with  rubble  between.  The  roof 
is  supported  on  pillars  of  wood,  which  carry  transverse 
beams.  These  in  their  turn  support  smaller  branches, 
and  these  still  slighter,  till  over  all  myrtle  or  gorse  is 
placed,  and  then  earth  some  inches  thick,  which  is  mudded 
over  at  the  approach  of  every  winter.  A  fire  inside,  for 
fuel  is  plentiful,  gives  an  air  of  comfort  to  the  dwelling. 
One  or  two  mats  and  quilts,  and  mud  receptacles  for 
wheat,  &c.,  complete  the  furniture  of  the  house. 

I  once  spoke  to  one  of  the  chief  sheikhs  on  the  supe- 
riority of  Europe,  and  the  miserable  condition  of  the 
Ansaireeh.  He  said  he  did  not  see  that,  for  every  one 
had  a  felt  mat  and  quilt,  and  enough  to  eat. 

As  to  food,  though  it  is  of  the  commonest  quality,  they 
are  perhaps  not  so  badly  off;  and,  when  their  climate  is 
considered,  there  is  less  misery  on  the  whole  among  them 


II 


DIET.  231 

than  in  large  town  populations,  even  in  England.  Se- 
curity for  life  and  property  is  all  they  want.  Had  they 
but  this  they  might  for  a  century  to  come  have  all  that 
heart  could  wish  in  matters  of  food. 

Their  chief  diet  is  burghool,  which  is  nothing  more 
than  wheat,  boiled,  dried,  stored,  ground,  and  boiled  again 
with  a  little  melted  butter.  They  seldom  eat  meat,  but 
have  in  summer  water-melons  and  fresh  figs ;  and  in  winter 
the  same  dried,  with  a  little  butter  and  some  milk.  Rice 
is  a  rare  luxury. 

Such  is  the  picture  of  the  present  state  of  the  Ansai- 
reeh  and  of  the  province  where  they  dwell,  so  far  as  I 
have  dared  to  sketch  that  of  the  last.  If  the  reader  thinks 
it  a  melancholy  one,  I  can  assure  him  that,  though  it  may 
be  in  a  measure  distorted  from  not  being  filled  up  in 
all  its  details,  it  is  not  exaggerated ;  and  was,  with  many 
attractions,  a  sad  scene  to  live  in.  Often  had  I  to  console 
myself  with  such  lines  as  these  in  the  "  Christian  Year :  " — 

**  Bethink  thee  what  thou  art  and  where, — 
A  sinner  in  a  life  of  care." 

God  seems  still  to  have  a  controversy  with  the  inha- 
bitants of  Syria,  "  because  there  is  no  truth,  nor  mercy, 
nor  knowledge  of  God  in  the  land.  By  swearing,  and 
lying,  and  killing,  and  stealing,  and  committing  adultery, 
they  break  out,  and  blood  toucheth  blood.  Therefore 
shall  the  land  mourn,  and  every  one  that  dwelleth  therein 
shall  languish,  with  the  beasts  of  the  field,  and  with  the 
fowls  of  heaven;  yea,  the  fishes  of  the  sea  also  shall  be  taken 
away.  They  sacrifice  upon  the  tops  of  the  mountains, 
and  burn  incense  upon  the  hills,  under  oaks,  and  poplars, 
and  elms,  because  the  shadow  thereof  is  good."* 


*  Hosea,  iv.  1—3,  13. 
q4 


232  THE    ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

As  it  was  beside  the  purpose  of  this  book  to  give  a 
history  of  my  mission,  I  have  omitted  to  allude  to  the 
troubles  which  led  to  its  premature  close.  But  as  some 
of  the  kind  friends  who  supported  the  school  may  read 
it,  I  will  add,  that,  though  a  sudden  illness  caused  the 
entire  suspension  of  my  labours,  yet  I  have  lately  had 
good  reason  to  hope  that  blessed  results  may  arise  from 
the  mission ;  and  1  intend,  if  my  life  be  spared,  once  again 
to  live  amongst  the  Ansaireeh,  and  by  intercourse  with 
them  to  do  what  I  can  for  their  welfare.* 


*  As  stated  in  a  note  appended  to  the  preface,  the  Author  did  not  live 
to  see  this  work  through  the  press.  There  is  great  prospect,  however, 
of  the  good  results  he  hoped  for  being  realised. 


II 


233 


CHAP.  IX. 

EXTRACTS   FROM   THE    "  MANUAL   FOR   SHEIKHS." 

I  PURPOSE  devoting  this  chapter  to  a  description  of  my 
Ansairee  MS.,  and  to  a  translation  of  its  most  interest- 
ing parts.  I  had  thought  of  translating  the  whole,  but 
as  I  have  already  given  the  most  important  passages 
from  several  of  the  sections,  and  as  many  of  these  are 
so  similar  that  from  one  an  idea  may  be  formed  of  the 
rest,  I  shall  content  myself  with  presenting  a  summary  of 
the  contents  of  the  book,  and  a  translation  of  those  por- 
tions alluded  to  in  preceding  chapters.  I  have  made  use 
of  other  parts  in  my  notes  on  the  catechism. 

The  Manuscript  contains  188  pages  12mo,  and  is  called 

II  Mashyakhah,  or  "  Manual  for  Sheikhs."  It  is  in  the 
handwriting  of  a  certain  Sheikh  Mohammed  of  the  village 
of  Bishrago,  and  is  said  by  him  to  have  been  copied  at 
the  consecration  of  his  nephew  Ali,  son  of  Sheikh  Eed, 
in  A.H.  1239  (a.d.  1824).  The  closing  part  is  written 
in  a  very  bad  hand,  and  the  sheikh  excuses  himself  on 
account  of  the  badness  of  the  ink.  The  handwriting  of 
the  greater  part  of  the  book  is  good,  but  it  is  full  of  the 
most  ridiculous  and  inexcusable  grammatical  and  other 
errors.  Thus,  where  the  intention  is  to  call  Ali  the  refuge 
of  those  who  seek  him,  by  a  wrong  diacritical  mark 
the  meaning  becomes  the  terrifier  of  the  same. 

The  book  contains  all  the  chief  parts  of  the  religion  of 
the  Ansaireeh.  Being  a  manual,  it  contains  the  different 
prayers  to  be  recited  at  the  administration  of  the  sacra- 
ment, and  in  other  offices,  and  ends  with  the  form  of  initia- 
tion, &c.     The  book  is  put  together  in  some  order.     First, 


234  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

comes  a  proof  of  the  divinity  of  Ali,  and  a  reference  to 
the  Trinity,  Maana,  Ism,  and  Bab,  and  the  hierarchies; 
and  then  a  description  of  the  names  of  each  of  these,  be- 
ginning from  the  lowest,  or  the  hierarchies,  and  so  on 
through  Aytam,  or  orphans,  the  Bab,  and  Ism,  to  the 
Maana,  or  the  names  of  Ali.  Then,  after  the  testimony  of 
Mohammed  to  Ali,  come  the  different  passages  of  the 
"Mass"  and  the  "Mass"  itself;  and  finally  the  initia- 
tion, and  a  sermon  to  be  read  at  the  Mass. 

I.  The  book  opens  with  the  proof  of  the  divinity  of 
Ali,  from  his  testimony  to  himself,  in  his  interpretation  of 
the  words  of  the  Koran,  which  he  makes  to  apply  entirely 
to  himself,  and  in  various  discourses  pronounced  by  him 
from  the  pulpit.  This  section  concludes,  like  all  the  others, 
with  an  invocation  to  Ali,  by  the  truth  and  influence  of 
all  that  has  been  alleged,  that  he  would  pardon  and  bless 
the  souls  of  all  the  brethren  present  and  absent,  and  give 
them  all  temporal  benefits. 

II.  This  section  begins  with  a  tradition  of  Mohammed, 
to  the  effect  that  God  draws  nigh  to  those  who  draw  nigh 
to  Him.  And  "  wherever  my  believing  servant  seeks  me, 
he  finds  me ;  for  the  heavens  and  the  earth  cannot  con- 
tain me ;  and  nothing  can  contain  me  but  the  heart  of  my 
believing  servant ;  for  the  heart  of  my  believing  servant 
is  my  peculiar  abode,  and  it  is  not  right  that  anything 
should  dwell  there  but  myself."  It  concludes  with  an  in- 
vocation that  Ali  may  cause  his  people  to  recall  to  mind 
what  they  might  have  forgotten  of  their  religion. 

III.  The  third  section  also  opens  with  a  tradition  of 
Mohammed,  of  like  meaning,  and  is  called  the  **  section  of 
mutual  making  mention ; "  of  Ali  by  his  followers,  and  of 
his  followers  by  Ali,  according  to  his  promise. 

lY.  A  prayer  to  Ali  to  favour  the  seven  hierarchies  of 
the  two  worlds,  ending  with  the  usual  invocation  "  by  the 
truth  "  of  the  same. 

V.  An  invocation  by  the  seven  hierarchies  of  the  great 
world  of  light  with  their  forty-nine  degrees. 


INVOCATIONS.  235 

VI.  An  invocation  by  seventeen  names  of  prophets. 

VII.  An  invocation  by  the  names  of  the  twenty-eight 
Nudjaba,  in  the  human  world  and  that  of  light. 

VIII.  An  invocation  by  the  names  of  the  intercessors 
of  the  great  and  glorious  Door  (Bab)  of  God,  which  is 
surrounded  by  light.  The  names  are  those  of  the  seven 
manifestations  of  the  Bab  from  Gabriel  to  Salmon  il 
Farisee,  and  of  the  succeeding  ones  from  him  to  the  time 
of  the  eleventh  Imam. 

IX.  Invocation  by  the  names  of  twenty-five  orphans. 

X.  Invocation  by  the  names  of  the  fifty  five  personi- 
fications of  the  Door  in  the  books  of  the  Unitarians. 

XI.  Invocation  by  the  names  of  the  personifications  of 
the  Door,  and  its  orphans,  in  the  six  spiritual  stations. 
The  seventh  station,  that  of  Salman,  is  not  given. 

XII.  Invocation  by  the  personifications  of  the  Door  in 
the  Domes  (periods),  styled  Bahmaneel  (or  of  the  kings 
of  Persia).     This  section  contains  only  Persian  names. 

XIII.  Invocation  by  the  eleven  appearances  of  the 
Door  from  Salman  to  Abu-Shuaib,  son  of  Nusair,  the  Door 
in  the  time  of  Hassan  il  Askeree,  the  eleventh  Imam. 

XIV.  Invocation  by  the  names  of  the  Name  (Ism), 
according  to  the  rules  of  language. 

XV.  Invocation  by  the  nine  essential  names  of  the 
Name. 

XVI.  Invocation  by  the  names  of  the  Name  in  the 
Adillah.  This  word,  if  written  right  according  to  Ansairee 
fashion  (as  it  seems  to  be,  for  it  is  used  in  another  place, 
p.  109,  where  Ali  is  called  "  the  framer  of  the  Adillah  "), 
can  only  have  any  meaning  by  supposing  that  the  letter 
Dad  is  used  for  Za,  as  is  frequently  the  case  in  the 
Ansairee  mountains,  and  in  the  MS.  itself.  It  may  then 
mean  "  Shades  "  or  "  Shadows." 

XVII.  Invocation  by  the  five  names  of  the  Name  in  the 
Dome  of  Abraham. 

XVIII.  Invocation  by  the  five  names  of  the  Name  in 
the  Dome  of  Moses. 


236  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

XIX.  Invocation  by  the  five  names  of  the  Name  in 
the  Dome  of  Mohammed. 

XX.  Invocation  by  the  sixty-three  names  made  use 
of  by  the  Name,  when  by  a  consecutive  prophesying  and 
apostleship  it  testified  to  the  Maana. 

XXL  Invocation  by  the  names  of  the  personifica- 
tions of  prayer. 

XXII.  Invocation  by  the  attributive  names  of  the  Ism, 
which  belong  peculiarly  to  the  Maana. 

XXIII.  The  names  of  Ali  extracted  from  the  fifth 
section  of  the  Egyptian  epistle,  and  there  inserted  from  a 
line  of  tradition  passing  up  through  II  Khaseebee  and 
Abu-Shuaib  ibn-Nusair,  to  Hassan  il  Askeree.  The  sec- 
tion closes  as  usual  with  an  invocation. 

XXIY.  The  names  of  Ali  from  the  books  of  Seth, 
Enoch,  Noah,  and  Abraham,  given  by  Abu-Saeed,  in  his 
book  "  Ir-raddalair-muirtadd,"  "Reply  to  the  Backslider,'^ 
on  the  authority  of  the  Book  of  Direction  (Hadayeh), 
written  by  II  Khaseebee  from  traditions  mounting  to 
Hassan  il  Askeree. 

XXV.  Rubric.  "  And  he  [the  sheikh]  must  read 
the  discourse  of  the  Convention  [acknowledgment  of  a 
sovereign  by  taking  an  oath  to  him]  of  the  House,  with 
our  Lord  the  Prince  of  true  believers,  which  is  this,  please 
God.     To  Him  belongeth  perfection  !  " 

This  section  is  a  pretended  testimony  of  Mohammed  to 
the  divinity  of  Ali,  and  I  propose  to  give  a  translation  of 
it,  with  its  repetitions,  so  as  to  afi^ord  a  better  idea  of  the 
kind  of  writings  which  please  the  ignorant  Ansaireeh. 
It  is  of  course  impossible  to  imitate,  in  a  literal  transla- 
tion, the  jingling  rhythm  of  the  Arabic,  so  delightful  to 
Arab  ears. 

"  In  the  name  of  God,  the  compassionate,  the  merciful. 
By  tradition  received  from  Abu-il-Hasan,  Raik  ibn-Khudr 
il  Gessanee,  known  as  the  Mehmelee,  may  God  most  high 
have  mercy  on  him  !  He  said :  Abu-Abdullah  Ishak  ibn- 
Fihd  (may  God  be  pleased  with  him!)  told  me  from  in- 


TESTIMONY   TO    ALL  237 

formation  immediately  received  from  Salmon  il  Farisee 
(to  him  belongs  salutation).  Said  Salman,  my  master  the 
greatest  lord,  Mohammed  (from  him  is  peace)  invited 
me  on  a  certain  day  to  the  house  of  Umm  Salamah  (one 
of  the  chief  wives  of  Mohammed),  and  caused  to  be  present 
a  number  of  the  chief  of  his  companions ;  among  them, 
Mikdad  ibn-il-Aswad  il  Kindee,  and  Abu-id-Durr  Djundub 
ibn-Djenadah  il  Ghifaree,  and  Ammar  ibn-Yasir,  and  Abu- 
Ayyoob  Khalid  ibn-Zeijd  the  Ansaree,  in  all  forty  men. 
And  Mohammed*  the  son  of  Abu-Beer  was  with  us,  being 
a  youth  at  that  time,  and  brought  us  food.  So  we  ate 
and  drank  and  washed  our  hands.  Then  the  apostle  of 
God  (from  him  is  peace)  said  to  us  :  Be  of  good  comfort ; 
you  are  well  off;  for  I  have  not  invited  you  except  for 
your  good :  hear  and  mind  what  your  prophet  says  to 
you. 

"  Do  you  believe  in  God  most  high  and  in  me?  We  all 
of  us  said,  we  believe  in  God  most  high  and  in  you.  Then 
he  said :  Am  I  not  truthful  to  you,  and  no  liar  ?  By 
Allah,  we  replied,  0  apostle  of  God,  we  have  never  at  all 
for  a  moment  doubted  you.  Then  said  Lord  Mohammed  ; 
God  is  a  witness  against  you,  do  not  lie  in  what  I  tell  you. 
We  all  said  :  We  hear  and  obey  thee  in  all  things.  He 
said  :  Hear  now  what  I  tell  you,  and  beware  of  doubting 
what  you  hear  from  me.  Know  that  I  call  you  to  Ali  son 
of  Abu-Taleb,  as  I  call  you  to  the  great  and  glorious  God. 
Is  not  Ali  my  Lord  and  your  Lord,  for  you  are  the  chief 
of  my  companions  ?  I  say  unto  you,  as  Jesus  son  of 
Mary  said  to  the  apostles,  *  Who  are  helpers  with  God  ? 
The  apostles  said,  we  are  God's  helpers.  So  part  of  the 
children  of  Israel  believed,  and  part  were  unbelieving,  and 
we  strengthened  those  who  believed  against  their  enemies, 
and  they  became  victorious.'!     They  are  God's  witnesses, 

*  He  was  a  great  supporter  of  Ali.  He  was  present  at  the  assassina- 
tion of  Othman.  Being  taken  prisoner  by  Moawiyab,  he  was  sewn  up 
in  an  ass's  skin  and  burnt  alive. 

"f  Koran,  c.  61,  v.  14. 


238  THE    ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

and  his  chosen  ones.  I  call  you  to  All  with  my  eyes  open, 
I  and  those  who  follow  me.  Exalted  be  God!  I  am  not 
one  of  the  polytheists  [those  who  associate  other  gods 
with  God].  I  call  you  to  Ali  by  his  command;  take  care 
of  doubt.  Is  not  my  office  of  prophet  under  the  dominion 
of  Ali,  for  he  has  sent  me  as  a  prophet  to  you,  for  I  was 
created  from  the  light  of  his  essence  ?  Did  not  Ali  teach 
me  the  Koran  ?  Did  not  Ali  send  me  to  you  ?  Has  not 
Ali  sent  me  as  an  apostle  to  you  ?  Is  not  Ali  my  Lord 
and  your  Lord  ?  Is  not  Ali  my  creator  and  your  creator  ? 
Therefore  obey  him.  Is  not  Ali  your  framer  ?  Then 
know  him.  Is  not  Ali  your  God?  Then  respect  him. 
Is  not  Ali  your  producer  ?  Then  fear  him.  Is  not  Ali 
your  healer  ?  Then  be  afraid  of  him.  Is  not  Ali  your 
witness,  and  leader,  and  driver  ?  Then  mind  him.  Is 
not  Ali  your  governor  ?  Then  know  him.  Is  not  Ali 
your  balance  ?  Then  make  your  scales  heavy,  and  weigh 
with  a  just  steelyard,  that  is  more  advantageous  for  you, 
and  of  better  interpretation.*  Is  not  Ali  your  keeper  ? 
Then  seek  him.  Is  not  Ali  your  keeper,  so  that  he  sees 
you  though  absent  from  you  ?  Then  mind  him.  Is  not 
Ali  your  enricher  ?  Then  ask  him.  Is  not  Ali  the  giver, 
and  the  withdrawer  ?  Then  seek  his  bounty.  Is  not  Ali 
near,  hearing  the  prayer  of  the  praying  ?  Then  pray  to 
him ;  he  will  answer  you,  if  ye  be  true.  Is  not  Ali  your 
Lord  ?  Then  believe  in  him,  and  he  will  pardon  you  your 
faults,  and  spare  you  to  an  appointed  time,  and  cause  you 
to  enter  the  gardens  of  Eden  under  which  flow  rivers,  and 
good  habitations,  that  is  the  great  acquisition. f  Is  not 
Ali  lord  of  the  throne  ?  To  him  are  all  things  committed, 
and  it  is  said  ;  Him  praise  all  that  is  in  heaven  and  earth, 
and  that  which  is  between  them,  and  that  which  is  under 
ground.  Does  not  Ali  know  what  is  secret  and  what  is 
open  in  you,  and  your  private  conversations,  and  what 
you  expose  or  conceal  ?^   Is  not  Ali  the  subject  of  your 

*  Koran.  f  Koran,  c.  61. 


TESTIMONY   TO    ALL  239 

worship  ?  Then  worship  him,  and  associate  nothing  with 
him,  and  be  kind  to  your  parents.*  Is  not  Ali  the  creator 
of  the  heavens  and  the  earth  and  the  Lord  of  the  east  and 
the  west  ?  Is  not  Ali  the  Lord  of  the  east  and  the  west, 
there  is  no  God  but  he?  Then  take  him  as  your  patron. 
Is  not  Ali  the  living  One,  there  is  no  God  but  he?  Then 
pray  to  him,  keeping  sincere  in  his  religion ;  praise  be  to 
God,  Lord  of  the  worlds !  Does  not  Ali  (there  is  no  God 
but  he),  quicken  and  kill  ?  He  is  your  Lord,  and  the 
Lord  of  your  first  ancestors.  Is  not  Ali  he  besides  whom 
there  is  no  God,  if  you  are  firm  believers  ?  Is  not  Ali 
(there  is  no  God  but  he)  Lord  of  the  great  throne  ? 
There  is  no  God  but  he,  the  creator  of  all  things,  therefore 
worship  him ;  and  he  is  patron  of  all  things.  Has  not 
Ali  the  keys  of  heaven  and  earth,  giving  bountifully  and 
sparingly  to  whom  he  pleases ;  for  *he  is  all  powerful  ? 
Ali,  can  eyes  discern  him  ?  Yet  he  discerns  the  eyes, 
and  is  the  kind,  the  knowing  one.  Does  not  Ali  seize  all 
souls  ?  To  him  all  things  tend.  Does  not  Ali  render  se- 
cure him  who  believes  in  him  and  accepts  his  sovereignty  ? 
Does  not  Ali  preserve  him  who  commits  himself  to  him 
with  true  knowledge  and  obedience  ?  Is  not  God  witness 
to  him  who  witnesses  to  his  Lordship,  and  confesses  his 
unity  ?  Does  not  he  whom  All's  mercy  embraces  acquire 
a  great  acquisition  ?  Does  not  he  receive  mercy  on 
whom  Ali  has  mercy  ?  Does  not  he  receive  pardon  whom 
Ali  pardons  ?  Is  not  Ali  he  to  whom  you  return  ?  There- 
fore fear  him  and  obey  him,  and  declare  his  unity,  and 
praise  him,  and  sanctify  him,  and  glorify  him,  and  say 
there  is  no  God  but  he,  and  magnify  him ;  that  is  better 
for  you,  if  you  but  know  it ;  for  there  is  no  escape  from 
him  except  to  him.  To  him  is  the  going  back  and  return. 
Therefore  hasten  to  the  knowledge  of  him,  and  advance 
to  his  obedience  ;  believe  in  him,  and  do  not  disobey  him; 
know  him,  and  be  not  rebellious  against  him  in  what  he 

♦  Words  used  frequently  in  Koran. 


240  THE    ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

commands  you,  and  die  Moslems.  And  now  avoid  lying, 
and  take  not  hold  of  it ;  and  let  not  your  being  spared 
deceive  you.  Do  not  forsake  Ali,  for  know  that  he  is 
before  and  behind  you,  and  in  your  front,  and  at  your 
back,  and  on  your  right  and  left,  and  above  you.  Does 
he  not  comprehend  all  things  ?  He  knows  your  thoughts, 
and  your  secrets,  and  what  your  breasts  conceal,  and  what 
your  eyes  wink  at.  Now  I  have  made  plain  to  you  the 
verses  (of  the  Koran),  if  you  have  understanding.  Is  not 
Ali  your  creator  and  your  framer,  and  your  enricher,  and 
he  who  sends  you  life  and  death :  then  to  him  will  you 
return?  Is  not  Ali  your  witness,  and  producer,  and 
sender,  and  he  who  will  assemble  you  to  judgment,  and  he 
who  will  ask  you  what  you  used  to  do  ?  Is  not  Ali  he 
who  cannot  be  comprehended,  nor  described,  nor  named  ? 
He  begot  not,  nor  was  begotten,  neither  has  he  any  equal ; 
neither  has  he  been  incarnate  in  any  body,  nor  taken  to 
him  a  female  companion,  nor  a  child.  Neither  has  he  any 
partner  in  his  dominion,  nor  any  to  protect  him  from 
contempt,  therefore  magnify  him  greatly.*  He  has  no 
partner  in  his  dominion,  nor  helper,  nor  aid,  nor  supporter, 
nor  like,  nor  one  similar,  nor  one  of  equal  weight  or 
sameness.  He  is  the  first  without  resemblance  and  without 
beginning,  and  he  is  the  last  without  decay,  passing  away, 
or  end.  He  appears  (is  iz-Zahir)  in  revelation  (or  through 
miracles),  and  is  concealed  (is  il-Batin)  in  created  things. 
Is  not  Ali  he  beside  whom  there  is  no  God,  the  living,  the 
self-existent?  Neither  slumber  nor  sleep  seizeth  him. 
His  is  all  that  is  in  heaven  and  earth ;  who  will  intercede 
with  him,  except  by  his  permission  ?  He  knows  what  is 
before  you,  and  behind  you ;  none  comprehend  anything 
of  his  knowledge,  except  what  he  pleases  ;  his  throne  fills 
heaven  and  earth,  neither  does  the  preservation  of  them 
tire  him  ;  he  is  the  lofty  and  great  one.f  Is  not  Ali  he 
in  whose  hand  are  wealth  and  mercy  ?    He  is  all  powerful. 

*  Koran,  xvii.  111.  t  Koran,  ii.  256. 


EXTRACTS   FROM  MANUAL.  241 

Is  not  Ali  the  knowing  one  and  the  creator  of  the  earth  ? 
No  one  can  bear  the  siglit  of  him,  nor  can  any  one  stand 
in  his  sight. 

"  Then  he  turned,  and  our  Lord,  the  prince  of  true  be- 
lievers (may  his  strength  be  exalted !),  was  sitting  on 
his  right  hand.  So  he  said  to  him :  I  ask  thee  by  the 
strength  of  thy  strength,  and  the  might  of  thy  glory,  and 
thy  greatness,  and  the  dignity  of  thy  Godhead,  and  the 
greatness  of  thy  kingdom  ;  —  and  our  Lord  Mohammed 
(from  him  is  peace),  had  not  finished  his  words  before 
our  Lord,  the  prince  of  bees  (may  he  be  glorified  and 
exalted!),  absented  his  person,  and  there, shone  upon  us 
a  great  light,  whose  nature  could  not  be  comprehended,  nor 
its  vision  and  end  be  attained  to ;  and  already  a  swoon  had 
come  on  us  from  the  intensity  of  its  shining,  and  we  saw 
it  as  it  were  in  dream  ;  and,  if  it  had  been  by  the  sight 
of  the  eyes,  we  should  have  lost  our  sight,  and  our  reason  ; 
but  there  fell  on  us  as  if  slumber  and  a  swoon.  And  we 
continued  saying:  'Praise  be  to  thee,  how  great  is  thy 
dignity !  We  believe  in  thee,  and  believe  thine  apostle.' 
And  there  was  not  one  of  us  who  did  not  worship,  and 
see  a  vision,  from  the  awe  and  fear  which  had  fallen  upon 
us.  And  trembling  and  palpitation  seized  us ;  and  our 
spirits  departed,  and  we  became  like  dead  men.  We  had 
no  power  of  reasoning,  but  were  in  a  dream ;  and  saw 
as  a  sleeper  seeth,  and  our  spirits  left  our  bodies,  until 
an  hour  of  the  day  had  passed  over  us.  Then  we  awoke, 
being  like  one  who  sleeps  when  he  is  aroused  from  his 
sleep.  And  we  saw  the  apostle  of  God  (on  him  be 
peace  !),  who  said  to  us,  How  long  have  you  remained  ? 
We  said.  An  hour,  or  part  of  an  hour.  He  said.  No,  you 
have  remained  seven  nights  and  eight  days.  But  two 
of  the  people  who  were  infidels  apostatised,  and  said  : 
'  This  is  evident  sorcery,  shall  we  believe  in  two  men 
like  us,  whose^ people  are  our  servants?'*     The  people 

*  An  expression  taken  from  the  Koran. 
R 


242  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

of  iz-Zahir  [the  Mussulmans]  are  acquainted  with  this 
day,  and  it  is  called  the  *  Convention  of  the  house.' 
This  convention  is  before  that  of  the  Ghadeer  [pool]. 
What  manifestation  is  more  evident,  and  what  witness 
greater,  and  what  proof  more  just  than  that  which  is 
given  in  this  information  received  from  the  greatest 
Lord,  Mohammed  (may  God  favour  and  preserve  him!), 
and  which  he  has  manifested  to  the  people  of  truth 
and  faith,  and  exposed  to  those  endued  with  intellect 
and  understanding,  with  respect  to  the  evidencing  and 
making  known  the  unity  of  our  Lord,  and  his  indication 
of  him,  for  the  greatest  of  his  end  and  Meaning  [Maana]  ? 
May  God  be  exalted,  and  His  names  sanctified ! 

"  0  God,  I  ask  thee,  my  Lord,  by  the  truth  of  this 
discourse  of  the  Convention  of  the  house,  and  by  the 
truth  of  Mohammed  the  chosen,  and  by  the  truth  of 
Salman  the  righteous,  and  by  the  truth  of  the  pure 
Orphans,  and  by  the  truth  of  Yasir  and  Ammar*, 
and  by  the  truth  of  all  the  lights,  and  by  the  cer- 
tainties of  the  mysteries,  and  by  the  truth  of  the  treasure 
and  the  wall,  and  the  17th  of  March  f,  and  by  their  truth 
with  thee,  and  by  thy  dignity  over  them,  0  great,  0 
powerful  one,  0  creator  of  the  night  and  of  the  day ;  (I 
ask  thee)  that  thou,  my  Lord,  wilt  pardon  us  and  all 
our  brethren  the  true  believers,  all  our  faults  and  weighty 
sins,  and  deliver  us  from  the  world  of  confusion  and 
sorrows,  and  transport  us  to  the  companionship  of  the 
pure,  and  keep  from  us  the  wickedness  of  the  wicked,  and 
the  snares  of  the  unholy,  and  the  violence  of  the  violent, 
and  the  heat  of  fire,  and  the  injustice  of  neighbours ; 
and  that  thou  wilt  clothe  us  with  the  envelopes  of  light, 
and  give  posterity  to,  and  bless,  the  possessors  of  this 
goodness  and  of  this  favour  and   of  these  impressions ; 

*  Yasir,  son  of  Ammar,  was  one  of  the  companions  of  IVFohammed 
especially  reverenced  by  the  Ansaireeh.  "  He  was  appointed  governor 
of  Cufa  by  Omar  and  deposed  by  Othman.  He  died  fighting  for  AH  at 
Saffair  (year  37)."     El  Masudi,  Nicholson,  p.  112. 

t  See  above,  Ch.  VII. 


EXTRACTS   FROM   MANUAL.  243 

and  that  thou  wilt  cause  favour  and  peace  to  come  on 
our  Lord  il  Khudr-il-Akhdar  [the  evergreen  Khudr] 
and  king  Djaafar  Tayy^r  *  ;  and  that  thou  wilt  sanctify 
and  have  mercy  on  the  souls  of  our  brethren  the  true 
believers,  in  all  quarters  and  all  capitals,  0  prince  of 
bees,  0  lofty  one  [Ali],  0  great  one !  " 

XX VI.  Rubric.  "  Then  he  shall  read  another  discourse ; 
that  is,  the  discourse  of  the  Awham  [fancies,  doubt]." 
This  discourse  consists  of  an  ascription  of  praise  to  Ali, 
under  different  designations,  as  he  who  created  the  spirits, 
seas,  rivers,  &c. ;  the  queen  bee  of  religion ;  the  founda- 
tion of  foundations ;  causing  to  appear  Jesus  of  the  gospel ; 
the  creator  of  the  Veils  ;  the  Lord  of  every  lord  ;  the  ele- 
ment of  elements ;  the  first,  the  last ;  the  Batin,  the  Zahir. 

XXYIL  Buhric.  "  Then  he  shall  read  the  Tawdjeeh 
(turning  the  face,  to  commence  prayer),  which  is  this. 
In  the  name  of  God  the  compassionate  and  merciful!  God 
is  most  great !  He  is  great !  Many  thanks  be  to  God  ! 
Praise  be  to  God,  morning  and  evening  !  I  turn  my  face 
toward  the  manifest  greatness,"  &c.  The  Mussulmans 
use  a  similar  prayer,  and  one  commencing  with  similar 
words,  as  a  preparation  to  prayer.  This  prayer,  with 
others,  is  to  be  read  at  the  mass. 

XXIX.  This  section  contains  the  morning  and  evening 
prayer  to  be  said  by  an  Ansairee.  I  have  already  trans- 
lated the  chief  part  of  the  section,  wjiich  closes  with  a 
tradition  of  Mohammed.  Then  comes  the  service  of  the 
mass.  This  section  is  indicated  by  a  side  note,  as  the 
Khutbeh,  or  discourse  jt^ar  excellence^  which  is  mentioned 
in  the  "  rubric  "  of  the  mass  as  among  the  things  to  be 
read  at  that  service. 

XXX.  Rubric,  "  Then  he  shall  read  the  arrangement 
and  order  of  the  prayer  (of  the  mass).  And  when  you 
[the  sheikh]  have  read  in  full  the  names  of  the  prince  of 
true  believers  [contained  in  a  previous  section],  if  the 

*  See  above,  Ch.  V. 
B  2 


244  THE   ASIAN  MYSTERY. 

prayer  be  a  mass  [Kuddas],  you  will  omit  the  Klmtbeh 
[^see  last  section]  and  the  Tawdjeeh  [see  last  section  but 
one]  and  the  Khabr  [a  sermon  given  at  the  end  of  the 
book],  and  you  will  read  the  five  bodies  [probably  the  five 
luminous  bodies,  or  the  five  orphans,  alluding  to  the  sec- 
tions concerning  them],  and  you  will  read  the  first  mass, 
and  the  indication  [contained  in  it],  and  the  second 
mass  and  the  Ain  of  Alf.  Now  this  is  the  prayer  of  the 
mass  ;  two  prostrations  from  a  sitting  posture.*  And  if 
the  prayers  be  longer,  you  will  read  to  the  *  testimony  * 
foccurring  nearly  at  the  end  of  the  complete  service]. 
But  in  the  prayer,  when  complete,  you  will  read  the 
name  of  the  prince  of  true  believers,  and  the  Khutbeh 
and  the  Tawdjeeh  and  the  Khabr.  Then  you  will  read 
the  first  [probably  of  the  above  sections  of  the  names  of 
All,  &c.],  and  mix  the  wine  with  water.  Then  you  must 
read  the  passage,  the  words  of  the  most  high  :  '  And 
when  the  Koran  is  read,  attend  thereto  and  keep  silence  ; 
that  ye  may  obtain  mercy.  And  meditate  on  thy  Lord  in 
thine  own  mind,  with  humility  and  fear,  and  without  loud 
speaking,  evening  and  morning ;  and  be  not  one  of  the 
negligent.  Moreover,  the  angels  that  are  with  thy  Lord 
do  not  proudly  disdain  his  service,  but  they  celebrate  his 
praise  and  worship  him.'  f  Then  you  will  say :  Bow 
down  to  the  ground.  Then  you  will  read  the  second  [of 
the  sections  to  be  read],  and  kiss  the  right  and  left  hand 
[or  the  first  standing  on  your  right  and  left],  and  will 
read  the  *  worshipping,'  the   words  of   the  Most  High : 

*  To  understand  this  and  other  coming  allusions  to  the  posture  of 
prayer  such  as  **  to  the  ground,"  "  like  a  bow,"  &c.,  I  must  refer  the 
reader  to  the  letter-press  and  illustrations  of  Lane's  Modern  Egyptians, 
vol.  i.  p.  107. 

t  Koran,  c.  vii.  v.  203.  In  this  and  subsequent  passages  I  have  fol- 
lowed Sale's  translation,  which  is  acknowledged  by  the  greatest  Arabic 
scholars  to  bo  generally  correct.  It  would  have  been  pedantic  in  the 
present  case  to  have  acted  otherwise.  I  have  also  followed  the  Koran 
and  not  the  ungrammatical  quotations  of  it  in  my  MS.,  which  exceed- 
ingly distressed  my  Mohammedan  sheikh. 


EXTRACTS   FROM   MANUAL.  245. 

'  T.  S.  M.  These  are  the  signs  of  the  perspicuous  book. 
Peradveiiture  thou  afflictest  thyself  unto  death,  lest  the 
Meccans  become  not  true  believers.  If  we  pleased  we 
could  send  unto  them  a  convincing  sign  from  heaven, 
unto  which  their  necks  would  humbly  submit.'  *  To  the 
ground.  The  words  of  the  most  high :  '  Kemember 
when  thy  Lord  said  unto  the  angels,  Verily  I  am  about  to 
create  man  of  dried  clay,  of  black  mud,  wrought  into 
shape ;  when,  therefore,  I  shall  have  completely  formed 
him,  and  shall  have  breathed  of  my  spirit  into  him ;  da 
ye  fall  down  and  worship  him.'  f  To  the  ground.  And 
the  words  of  the  Most  High  ;  *  Verily  they  only  believe 
in  our  signs,  who,  when  they  are  warned  thereby,  fall 
down  adoring,  and  celebrate  the  praise  of  their  Lord, 
and  are  not  elated  with  pride.'  J  To  the  ground.  And 
the  words  of  the  Most  High :  *  By  the  star,  when  it 
setteth  ;  your  companion  Mohammed  erreth  not ;  nor  ia 
he  led  astray ;  neither  doth  he  speak  of  his  own  wiH.  It 
is  no  other  than  a  revelation  which  hath  been  revealed  to 
him.  One  mighty  in  power,  endued  with  understanding, 
taught  it  him  :  and  he  appeared  in  the  highest  part  of  the 
horizon.  Afterwards  he  approached  unto  the  prophet, 
and  near  unto  him,  until  he  was  at  the  distance  of  two- 
bows'  length  from  him,  or  yet  nearer.'  §  A  how  [that  is, 
a  bending  in  the  shape  of  a  bow,  which  forms  part  of  the 
Mussulman's  prayer].  Then  you  will  command  those  on 
your  right  to  pray,  each  one  as  he  is  able.  Then  you  will 
read  the  passage,  the  words  of  the  Most  High :  '  The 
approaching  day  of  judgment  draweth  near;  there  is 
none  who  can  reveal  the  exact  time  of  the  same,  besides 
God.  Do  ye,  therefore,  wonder  at  this  new  revelation ; 
and  do  ye  laugh,  and  not  weep,  spending  your  life  in  idle 
diversions  ?  But  rather  worship  God,  and  serve  him.'  || 
To  the  ground.     Then  you  will  order  him  who  is  on  your 

*  Koran,  xxvi.  1.  f  lb.  xv.  28.  {  lb.  xxxii.  15. 

§  lb.  liii.  1.  II  lb.  Hii.  58. 

R  3 


246  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

right  to  pray  the  prayer  of  '  worshipping/  and  he  who  is 
on  his  right  to  pray  the  prayer  of  *  the  hierarchies '  [a  pre- 
vious section],  and  you  must  kiss  one  another's  hands, 
and  you  will  say,  at  the  kissing  of  the  hand,  '  On  you  be 
peace,  my  brother,  and  the  best  of  salutations,  by  the 
truth  of  the  Khudr  and  Abraham.  Then  you  will  take 
the  cup,  and  read  over  it  the  first  mass  [Kudd^s,  conse- 
cration] .     Which  is  this :  — 

"  In  the  name  of  God,  the  compassionate,  the  merciful ! 
Praise  be  to  God  for  ever !  Ali  is  the  light  of  mortals ! 
Ali  is  the  Lord  of  might !  Ali  is  the  cleaver  of  the  grain 
[of  wheat,  &c.]  !  *  Ali  is  the  Imam  of  imams !  Ali  is  the 
producer  of  the  breath !  Ali  is  the  Imam  of  the  Mihr^b 
[place  in  mosque,  towards  which  prayer  is  said,  as  being 
in  the  direction  of  Mecca]  !  Ali  is  the  remover  of  the 
the  gate !  f  Ali  is  the  disperser  of  sorrows  !  Ali  is  the 
possessor  of  miracles  !  Ali  raised  the  heaVens  !  Ali 
caused  the  waters  to  flow !  Ali  spread  out  the  earth  ! 
Ali  is  he  by  whose  hands  the  soul  is  taken  [from  the  body]. 
Ali  is  the  beauty  of  grey  hairs  !  Ali  knows  what  is  absent ! 
Ali  is  the  Lord  of  lords !  Ali  is  the  possessor  of  necks 
[*  neck  '  being  applied  to  captives,  &c.]  !  Ali  is  the  secret 
of  secrets !  Ali  causes  the  vow  to  be  completed !  Ali  is 
acquainted  with  the  mystery  !  Ali  is  master  of  this  world ! 
Ali  is  Lord  of  the  next  world,  and  the  first !  Ali  is  the 
creator  of  things  beautiful  in  our  age !  Ali  is  lofty  in 
station  !  Ali  is  frequent  in  miracles !  Ali  is  the  Lord  of 
the  east  and  of  the  west !  Ali  is  the  horseman  among 
horsemen  !  Ali  is  the  quickener  of  decaying  bones!  Ali 
is  the  light  of  vision !    Ali  clave  the  moon  !  J     Ali  is  the 

*  Used,  in  the  Koran,  of  God,  as  causing  grains  of  wheat  to  vegetate. 

f  It  is  said  that  when  besieging  the  Jewish  town  of  Khaiban,  which 
was  taken  mainly  through  his  valour,  he  took  the  gate  off  its  hinges  as 
a  shield. 

J  Alluding  to  the  passage  in  the  Koran,  ch.  liv.  ver.  1  :  "  The  hour  of 
judgment  approacheth;  and  the  moon  hath  been  split  in  sunder ;"  which 
some  interpret  of  an  actual  occurrence,  already  taken  place,  and  one  of 
the  four  miracles  of  Mohammed  mentioned  in  the  Koran. 


EXTRACTS  FROM  MANUAL.  247 

charging  [on  the  enemy]  imam !  Ali  is  the  striker  with 
the  sword  [literally,  '  that  which  has  joints,  like  a  back- 
bone,' a  name  given  to  Mohammed's  sword]  !  Ali  is  the 
lion  frequent  in  attacks  !  Ali  is  the  creator  of  the  night 
and  of  the  day !  Ali  is  powerful !  Ali  is  victorious !  Ali 
is  the  first  and  the  last !  Ali  is  Batin  and  Zahir !  Ali 
causes  to  find,  and  is  present !  Ali  is  Samit  and  Natik 
[expressions  used  of  the  mute  and  speaking  prophets  by 
the  original  Ismaeleeh,  see  Chap.  lY.]  !  Ali  tears  open  and 
repairs!  Ali  is  the  great  building!  Ali  is  the  straight 
road !  Ali  is  the  haiderah  [lion]  who  has  no  hair  on  the 
temples  [among  the  Arabs  a  mark  of  a  generous  and  good 
character]  !  Ali  is  brotherly  to  Joshua  [one  of  his  mani- 
festations] !  Ali  is  the  master  of  him  of  the  fish  [Jonah]  1 
Ali  is  the  eye  of  eyes !  Ali  is  the  filler  of  the  seas !  Ali  is 
the  frequented  house  [the  Caabah  of  Mecca]  !  Ali  is  the 
blower  of  the  trumpet  [that  is,  of  the  judgment  day]  ! 
Ali  is  the  ancient  of  days  !  Ali  is  the  speaker  of  truth ! 
Ali  is  the  true  one  in  speaking !  Ali  is  the  guide  of  the 
heavens  !  Ali  is  the  friend  of  those  who  praise  [him]  ! 
With  Ali  is  the  knowledge  of  the  book  !  Ali  causes  the 
clouds  to  move  I  Ali  is  the  Imam  of  imams !  Ali  is  the  key 
of  mercy !  Ali  is  the  breaker  of  idols !  Ali  is  the  supporter  of 
the  demonstration  of  religion  and  Isl^m !  Ali  is  the  de- 
stroyer of  the  violent  one  [or  giant]  !  Ali  is  the  light  of 
lights !  Ali  is  true  of  promise  !  Ali  is  one !  Ali  is  single ! 
Ali  is  Abel,  Ali  is  Seth,  Ali  is  Joseph,  Ali  is  Joshua,  Ali  is 
Asaph,  Ali  is  Shamoon,  is  Safa  [Simon  Cephas],  Ali  is  the 
Emeer-il-Moomeneen  [prince  of  true  believers,  a  name  only 
to  be  given  to  Ali],  the  remembrance  of  him  is  glorious  and 
to  be  magnified  !  And  it  is  such  a  one,  0  brethren,  that 
we  mean  and  intend,  and  refer  to  as  former  ages  referred 
to  him,  and  as  Unitarians  have  indicated  the  priority  of  his 
essence,  from  the  beginning  of  creation  until  this  time. 
We  refer  to  him,  as  did  refer  our  sheikh  and  lord,  and 
crown  of  our  heads,  and  learned  one  of  our  age,  the  sheikh 
of  the  season,  and  exemplar  of  his  period,  Abu- Abdullah 

R  4 


248  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

il  Hosein  ibn-Hamd^n.  We  refer  to  him  as  did  refer  his 
sheikh  and  lord,  Abu-Mohammed  Abd- Allah,  the  ascetic, 
the  intellectual.  We  refer  to  him  as  did  refer  the  Orphan 
of  the  time  [or  rare,  i.  e.  noted.  Orphan],  Mohammed  ibn- 
Djundub.  We  refer  to  him  as  the  Door  referred,  and  the 
Veil  indicated  his  *  meaning,'  in  the  Seven  Periods.  My 
reference  and  yours  is  with  all  certainty  to  our  Lord  Ali, 
prince  of  true  believers;  without  hair  on  temples;  with 
great  belly  [one  of  Ali's  characteristics]  ;  the  undivided 
atom,  which  cannot  be  broken  up  into  portions  and  parts, 
nor  separated,  nor  distributed  [an  allusion  to  the  atomic 
theory  of  philosophers]  ;  to  whom,  from  the  greatness  of 
his  dignity  and  awfuliiess,  necks  submit  themselves  and 
hard  matters  become  easy. 

*'  Then  they  shall  rise  up,  and  he  shall  take  the  chalice  in 
his  hand,  and  read  the  Nurooz,  which  is  this  [in  doggerel 
verse]  :  — 

*  By  the  Nurooz  of  truth,  full  of  benefit,  taking  spoils, 
Made  exact  by  the  care  of  the  most  honourable  of  the   house   of 

Hashim, 
On  the  day  that  God  manifested  his  appearance 
Before  the  Arabs  in  the  Persian  periods, 
And  was  exalted  by  it  towards  heaven,  and  they  saw 
In  it  the  prevailing  benefits  by  an  exact  opinion ; 
And  on  that  day  was  the  appearance  of  Salsal  as  an  observer  of  men, 
Who  was  conformable  to  our  Ajicient  One  [Ali]  the  predecessor. 
They  drink  of  the  pure  wine,  for  it 
Is  a  day  whose  light  has  appeared  from  the  clouds. 
Namely,  the  day  of  the  pool  [Ghadeer],  and  Mohammed  has  already 

referred 
In  intention  to  God,  the  knowing  Lord.' 

"  Then  thou  shalt  say  the  *  reference  *  [or  *  indication']  to 
the  end*,  and  then  read  the  second  mass  [Kuddas];  which 
is  this:  — 

"  In  the  name  of  God,  the  compassionate,  the  merciful! 
The  information  is  derived  from  our  sheikh  and  lord,  Abu- 
Abdullah-il-Hoseyn  ibn-Hamdan  il  Khaseebee,  possessor  of 

•  What  this  is  does  not  appear.  The  word  may  signify  the  signs 
made  by  the  hand,  for  it  is  used  in  this  sense,  as  also  of  reference  to  a 
thing  by  words. 


EXTRACTS   FROM   MANUAL.  249 

the  correct  opinion  (the  good- will  of  God  be  on  him  at 
every  sunrise  and  sunset !).  He  said  that  when  Abd-in- 
Noor  [the  wine,  called  '  servant  of  light,'  or  of  Ali]  was 
present  in  his  hands,  he  used  to  take  the  cup  in  his  right  hand 
and  drink  three  draughts  of  it,  and  chant  over  it  this  blessed 
mass,  and  say*:  Praise  be  to  God,  who  alone  is  the  lofty 
one,  who  has  executed  his  promise,  and  given  victory  to 
his  servant,  and  strengthened  his  armies,  and  destroyed 
liis  opposers,  and  alone  put  to  flight  the  conspirators  !  f 
There  was  no  God  before  him,  neither  shall  there  be  any 
God  after  him  ;  the  refuge  of  those  who  seek  him ;  the  end 
of  those  who  have  knowledge  ;  God  of  the  first  ages,  and 
God  of  the  last ;  to  him  belongeth  the  pur  ereligion,  and 
what  you  call  on  instead  of  him  is  vain.  J  God  is  the  lofty 
and  great  one,  the  prince  of  true  believers ;  the  true  and 
manifest  king.  0  God,  favour  our  Lord  Mohammed  and 
the  family  of  our  Lord  Mohammed,  and  Salsal  and  the 
family  of  Salsal,  the  lamps  of  darkness  and  the  keys  of 
words,  the  guides  of  created  things  in  ancient  times,  the 
testimony  of  deliverance  until  the  time  when*  there  shall 
be  no  escape.  0  God,  this  thy  servant,  Abd-in-Noor,  is  a 
person  whom  thou  hast  rendered  lawful  and  honoured 
and  favoured,  for  those  who  know  thee,  by  a  determinate 
decree,  and  rendered  unlawful  to  thiile  enemies,  who  deny 
and  disown  thee,  by  a  manifest  prohibition ;  as,  0  God,  my 
Lord,  thou  hast  rendered  it  lawful  unto  us.  Enrich  us 
by  it  with  safety  and  security,  and  health  from  sicknesses, 
and  keep  from  us  through  it  care  and  sorrows,  and  make 
our  assembling  together,  and  such  like  meetings,  result  in 
what  is  pleasing,  and  by  similar  meetings  give  us  what  is 
beneficial,  and  make  our  meeting  pure  in  thine  obedience, 
and  fit  us  for  doing  what  may  please  thee  ;  and  begin  (in 
the  conferring  of  thy  benefits)  with  our  brethren,  the  true 

*  All  the  first  pari  of  this  mass  is  used  by  Mussulmans  on  the  occa- 
sion of  a  feast. 

f  Used,  in  the  Koran,  of  the  hostile  idolatrous  Arabs. 
J  From  the  Koran. 


250  THE    ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

believers,  in  the  earth,  its  east  and  west,  north  and  south ; 
and  cause  our  word  and  theirs  to  unite  in  the  ascription  of 
unity  to  thee ;  and  after  them  adorn  us,  and  do  not  separate 
between  us  and  them ;  for  thou  art  lofty  [Ali]  and  great, 
and  able  to  do  what  thou  pleasest.  The  words  of  the 
Most  High  *  :  '  When  thou  lookest,  there  shalt  thou  behold 
delights  and  a  great  kingdom.  Upon  them  shall  be 
garments  of  fine  silk  and  of  brocades,  and  they  shall  be 
adorned  with  bracelets  of  silver  :  and  their  Lord  shall  give 
them  to  drink  of  a  most  pure  liquor ;  and  shall  say  unto 
them,  Yerily  this  is  your  reward ;  and  your  endeavour  is 
gratefully  accepted.'  From  the  fountains  of  Tasneen  [a 
fountain  in  Paradise]  he  shall  be  made  to  drink  wine  of 
Salsal,  sealed  with  sweet  odours.  May  God  cause  us  and 
you,  0  brethren,  to  drink  a  draught  from  the  palm  of 
Salsal ;  there  shall  be  no  thirstiness  after  it  on  the  day  of 
the  great  thirst !  Remember  the  secret  [of  Ain  the  first 
letter  of  Ali],  may  God  enrich  you  with  its  blessing  and 
acceptance  ! 

"  And  when  you  have  finished  you  will  mix  the  drink 
with  water  and  give  to  drink  to  the  one  who  is  on  your 
right  and  the  one  on  your  left,  and  you  will  say  to  him, 
'  0  brother,  drink  of  my  cup,  may  God  make  it  healing 
and  health  to  thee  !*^  Then  you  will  say,  *  0  brother, 
give  me  to  drink  of  thy  cup,  may  God  give  thee  to  drink 
a  draught  from  the  palm  of  Salsal,  after  which  there  will 
be  no  thirstiness  on  the  day  of  the  great  thirst ! ' 

"  Then  you  will  read  the  passage,  the  words  of  the  Most 
High  f ;  '  And  their  Lord  shall  give  them  to  drink  of  a 
most  pure  liquor ;  and  shall  say  unto  them.  Verily  this  is 
your  reward,  and  your  endeavour  is  gratefully  accepted. 
Yerily  we  have  sent  down  to  thee  the  Koran  by  a  gradual 
revelation.  Wherefore  wait  patiently  the  judgment  of 
thy  Lord ;  and  obey  not  any  wicked  person  or  unbeliever 
among  them.     And  commemorate  the  name  of  thy  Lord, 

*  Koran,  Ixxvi.  20.  t  !!>•  l^^vi.  22. 


EXTRACTS   FROM   MANUAL.  251 

in  the  morning  and  in  the  evening ;  and  during  some 
part  of  the  night  worship  him,  and  praise  him  a  long  part 
of  the  night.'  A  how.  And  the  words  of  the  Most 
High  * :  *  To  God  belongeth  the  east  and  the  west ;  there- 
fore, whithersoever  ye  turn  yourselves  to  pray,  there  is 
the  face  of  God ;  for  God  is  omnipresent  and  omniscient. 
They  say  God  hath  begotten  children  :  God  forbid  !  To 
him  belongeth  whatever  is  in  heaven  and  on  earth.  All  is 
possessed  by  him.'  A  how.  Then  you  will  order  the 
perfume  to  be  sprinkled  (rose-water  or  the  like),  and  will 
read  :  '  I  testify  that  Ali  is  the  God  of  created  beings,  the 
disposer  of  what  is  in  the  heart ' :  — 

'  And  God  has  not  veiled  himself  from  his  creation, 
But  they  have  become  veiled  by  their  faults  ; 
And,  if  they  liad  but  believed  and  been  pious, 
They  would  have  become  angels  in  the  invisible  world, 
Praising  (God)  in  his  ancient  kingdom, 
Being  purified  from  all  their  errors.* 

"  Then  you  will  read  the  passage,  the  words  of  the  Most 
High  * ;  *  Carefully  observe  the  appointed  prayers  and 
the  middle  prayer,  and  be  assiduous  therein,  with  devo- 
tion towards  God.'  A  how.  Then  thou  wilt  command 
those  on  the  left  to  pray,  every  one  as  he  conveniently 
can  ;  and  wilt  read  the  passage,  the  words  of  the  Most 
High  :  J  *  The  Merciful  taught  his  servant  the  Koran. 
He  created  man  ;  he  hath  taught  him  distinct  speech.  The 
sun  and  the  moon  run  their  courses  according  to  a  certain 
rule ;  and  the  vegetables  which  creep  on  the  ground,  and 
the  trees  worship.'  To  the  ground.  Then  thou  wilt  com- 
mand him  on  the  left  to  pray  the  prayer  of  *  worship- 
ping,' and  him  who  is  on  his  left  to  pray  the  prayer 
of  *  peace.'  Then  the  imam  [the  leader  of  the  prayers] 
shall  invoke  the  twelve  Imams,  and  shall  say,  '  0  God, 
we  remain  steadfast  in  thine  obedience  with  the  utmost 
steadfastness.'  Then  you  will  read  the  Imamayeh  [pro- 
bably the  name  of  the  Imams  in   some  composition  for 

*  Koran,  ii.  109.  t  ^^-  ii-  239.  %  lb.  Iv.  1. 


252  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

that  purpose]  ;  and  Avill  read  the  passage,  the  words  of 
the  Most  High  *  :  '  When  the  angels  said,  0  Mary,  verily 
God  hath  chosen  thee,  and  hath  purified  thee,  and  hath 
chosen  thee  above  all  the  women  of  the  world :  0  Mary, 
be  devout  towards  thy  Lord,  and  worship,  and  bow  down 
Avith  those  that  bow  down.'     To  the  ground, 

"  Then  thou  shalt  kiss  the  ground,  and  say,  ^  This  is  for 
God  and  the  Imam.'  Then  thou  shalt  take  the  chalice, 
and  say :  '  The  secret  of  the  Imam,  the  requiring,  the 
cotiquering,  who  strikes  the  crowns  with  the  edge  of  the 
cleaving  swords,  Ali  son  of  Abu-Taleb,  and  this  is  his 
secret.'  Then  thou  shalt  mix  the  drink  with  water^  and  shalt 
say  :  *•  The  secret  of  the  Imam  of  every  imam,  my  Lord 
Ali,  master  of  every  age  and  every  time;  the  secret  of 
his  Veil,  the  Lord  Mohammed ;  the  secret  of  his  Door ;  the 
Lord  Salman ;  the  secret  of  his  Orphans,  and  the  hierarchies 
of  peace;  the  secret  of  our  sheikh  and  lord,  Abu-Ab- 
dullah il  Hosein-ibn  Hamdan,  who  manifested  to  us  the 
religions  in  all  countries  (on  him  and  on  his  disciples  may 
there  be  from  God  the  greatest  favour  and  peace!);  the 
secret  of  II  Djalee  Abu-Saeedf,  and  of  the  sheikhs  of 
knowledge,  the  Unitarians ;  the  secret  of  every  true  be- 
liever and  religious  man  in  all  countries,  and  therefore 
thy  secret  {,  0  illustrious  sheikh,  and  favoured  beloved 
one,  and  polished  sword,  and  pure  and  original  branch 
(may  God  guard  thee  and  preserve  thee,  and  not  deprive 
thee  of  his  benefits,  and  may  he  have  mercy  on  thy  mother 
and  thy  father;  and  may  God  cause  to  be  frequented 
through  thee  the  sittings  of  the  Unitarians,  by  the  truth 
of  the  book  Tadjreeh !  § ;  thy   secret,  aiid    the   secret  of 

*  Koran,  iii.  37. 

f  An  authority  or  doctor  of  the  Ansaireeh,  mentioned  Journ.  Asiat. 
Feb.  1848,  p.  157. 

%  Besides  the  sheikh  who  reads^  the  greater  part  of  the  service,  it 
appears  from  what  has  preceded  and  follows  that  there  is  a  chief  sheikh 
present,  who  acts  as  imam,  or  president  of  the  meeting. 

§  Tliere  is  a  book  among  the  Mussulmans  so  called,  as  compiled  from 
various  others  ;  perhaps  there  is  a  similar  one  among  the  Ausaireeh. 


EXTRACTS   FROM   MANUAL.  253 

the  person  near  whom  stands  Ali,  the  Imam  of  imams 
[perhaps  the  reader  of  all  this]  ;  from  him  [Ali]  may- 
God  enrich  you  and  all  your  brethren,  the  true  believers, 
with  acceptance  and  mercy ;  thy  secret,  and  the  secret  of 
thy  right  and  of  thy  left  [those  standing  there],  and  of 
thy  preeminence  above  all  thy  brethren  ;  your  secret,  0 
Mohammedan  assembly,  and  the  secret  of  him  who  unites 
you  in  assembling  in  this  place  (may  God  not  cut  off 
your  secret,  nor  your  mysteries,  in  all  times  and  ages,  by 
the  dignity  of  the  pure  Imams,  and  the  1 7th  of  March  !); 
your  secret  (may  God  not  harm  you  !).'  Then  you  will 
mix  the  drink  with  water,  and  enter  into  convention  (as 
by  taking  the  hand  in  offering  the  oath  to  a  sovereign) 
with  him  on  your  right,  and  him  on  your  left,  and  you 
will  say :  *  We  have  drunk  the  secret  of  the  Imam,  and 
thou  hast  drunk  our  secret,  and  we  have  drunk  thy  secret. 
May  God  make  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord  easy  to  thy 
heart !  May  God  cause  to  continue  thy  drink,  and  cause 
thee  to  obtain  thy  wish  !  May  God  deliver  thee  from  all 
thy  sorrow  and  afflictions !  May  God  reckon  with  thee 
with  an  easy  reckoning,  and  not  a  difficult  one  ! '  Then 
you  will  read  the  Khabr  [the  sermon  to  be  given  here- 
after], and  will  then  read  the  passage,  the  words  of  the 
Most  High  * :  *  When  we  appointed  the  holy  house  of 
Mecca  to  be  a  place  of  resort  for  mankind,  and  a  place  of 
security;  and  said.  Take  the  station  of  Abraham  for  a 
place  of  prayer;  and  we  covenanted  with  Abraham  and 
Ishmael,  that  they  should  cleanse  my  home  for  those  who 
should  compass  it,  and  those  who  should  be  devoutly 
assiduous  there,  and  those  who  should  bow  down  and 
worship.'  A.bow.  Then  you  will  read  the  chapter  of 
the  Mountain  f,  and  will  then  read  the  passage,  the  words 
of  the  most  high  J :  '  0  true  believers,  bow  down,  and 
prostrate  yourselves,  and  worship  your  Lord ;  and  work 
righteousness,  that  ye  may  be  happy.'     To  the  ground, 

*  Koran,  ii.  119.  t  ^^-  ^^'i-  t  ^^-  ^^ii.  79. 


254  THE    ASIAN    MYSTEKY. 

"  Then  thou  shalt  drink  the  secret  of  the  people  of  the 
house  [of  Mecca],  and  shalt  say:  *  The  secret  of  the 
habitation,  and  what  the  habitation  contains  ;  the  secret 
of  my  Lord  Mohammed,  master  of  every  habitation ;  the 
secrets  of  the  four  corners  of  the  house,  masters  of  the 
habitation  ;  Hamza  and  Talib  and  Djaafar  and  Akeel, 
the  brothers  of  the  prince  of  true  believers  (may  these 
be  on  us  from  the  remembrance  of  their  favour  and 
mercy!);  your  secret,  brethren,  all  of  you,  may  God 
not  cut  off  your  secret  by  the  truth  of  the  forty  holy 
men  !  ^  *  Then  you  must  enter  into  convention  with  him 
on  your  right,  and  on  your  left,  and  say :  '  We  have  drunk 
the  secret  of  the  masters  of  the  habitation,  and  thou  hast 
drunk  our  secret,  and  we  have  drunk  thy  secret ;  may  God 
render  the  knowledge  of  thy  Lord  easy  to  thy  heart !  May 
God  continue  thy  drink  !  May  God  cause  thee  to  obtain  thy 
wish  !  May  he  deliver  thee  from  all  thy  sorrow  and  afflic- 
tions !  May  God  reckon  with  thee  with  an  easy  reckoning, 
and  not  a  difficult  one ! '  Then  you  will  read  the  Hedjabeeh 
[discourse  on  prayer  of  the  Veil],  and  will  then  read  the 
passage,  the  words  of  the  Most  High  f  :  '  When  Joseph 
said  unto  his  father,  0  my  father,  verily  I  saw  in  my 
dream  eleven  stars,  and  the  sun  and  the  moon  ;  I  saw  them 
make  obeisance  unto  me.'  A  bow.  Then  thou  shalt  read 
the  Nakeebah  [discourse  or  prayer  of  Nakeebs],  and  then 
read  the  passage,  the  words  of  the  Most  High  J  :  *  Blessed 
be  He  who  has  placed  the  twelve  signs  in  the  heavens  ; 
and  has  placed  therein  a  lamp  by  day,  and  the  moon  which 
shineth  by  night !  It  is  He  who  hath  ordained  the  night 
and  the  day  to  succeed  each  other,  for  the  observation  of 
him  who  will  consider,  or  desireth  to  show  his  grati- 
tude. The  servants  of  the  merciful  are  those  who  walk 
meekly  on  the  earth,  and,  when  the  ignorant  speak  unto 

*  There  is  more  than  one  mountain  in  Syria  called  Djebel-il-Arbaem, 
or  mountain  of  the  forty.  I  have  spoken  of  the  one  among  the  An- 
saireeh. 

t  Koran,  xii.  4.  |  lb.  xxx.  62. 


I 


EXTRACTS    FROM   MANUAL.  255 

them,  answer,  Peace  :  and  who  pass  the  night  adoring  the 
Lord,  and  standing  up  to  pray  unto  him.*     A  boiv. 

"  Then  thou  shalt  drink  the  secret  of  the  Nakeebs  and 
Nadjeebs,  and  shalt  say :  '  The  secret  of  my  Lord,  the 
Nakeeb  of  every  Nakeeb,  and  the  Najeeb  of  every  Najeeb ; 
the  secret  of  the  twelve  Nakeebs ;  the  secret  of  the 
twenty-eight  Nadjeebs ;  the  secret  of  the  forty  Poles*  ;  the 
secret  of  Mohammed  ibn-Sinan  iz-Zahiree;  the  secret  of 
Abdullah  ibn-Sabaf ;  thy  secret,  0  Nakeeb,  and  the  secret 
of  thy  Nakeebship ;  thy  secret,  0  Nadjeeb,  and  the 
secret  of  thy  Nadjeebship  [probably  those  on  the  right  and 
left  hand,  or  two  others  present].'  Then  thou  shalt  enter 
into  convention  with  the  one  on  thy  right  and  on  thy  left, 
and  say :  '  We  have  drunk  the  secret  of  the  Nakeebs  and 
Nadjeebs,  and  thou  hast  drunk  our  secret,  and  we  have 
drunk  thy  secret.  May  God  make  the  knowledge  of  thy 
Lord  easy  to  thy  heart ;  may  God  continue  thy  drink,  and 
cause  thee  to  obtain  thy  wish  ;  and  may  God  deliver  thee 
from  thy  sorrow  and  afflictions,  and  reckon  with  thee  with 
an  easy  reckoning,  and  not  a  difficult  one ! '  Then  you  will 
say  :  '  0  brethren,  let  him  who  has  a  prayer  pray  ;  and  he 
who  has  no  prayer,  let  him  say.  Amen,  for  he  prays  who 
says  Amen,  and  the  acceptance  and  answer  is  with  God ; 
and  our  Lord,  the  prince  of  true  believers,  has  said, 
When  one  of  you  has  finished  his  prayer,  let  him  raise  his 
hand  in  supplication  towards  heaven.'  Then  you  will  read 
the  passage,  the  words  of  the  Most  High  J :  '  The  apostle 
believeth  in  that  which  hath  been  sent  down  unto  him 
from  his  Lord,  and  the  faithful  also.  Every  one  of  them 
believeth  in  God,  and  his  angels,  and  his  scriptures,  and 
his  apostles :  we  make  no  distinction  at  all  between  his 
apostles.    And  they  say.  We  have  heard,  and  do  obey  ;  we 

*  Section  35  of  the  Ansairee  Book  of  Feasts,  described  by  M.  Catafago 
(Jour.  Asiat.  Feb.  1848),  consists  of  the  "  Story  of  the  Nakeeb  Mo- 
hammed ibn-Sinan." 

f  The  first  to  teach  the  divinity  of  Ali. 

j  Koran,  ii.  285. 


256  THE    ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

implore  thy  mercy,  O  Lord,  for  unto  Thee  must  we  return. 
God  will  not  force  any  soul  above  its  capacity :  it  shall 
have  the  good  which  it  giveth,  and  it  shall  suffer  the  evil 
which  it  gaineth.  0  Lord,  punish  us  not  if  we  forget,  or 
act  sinfully.  0  Lord,  lay  not  on  us  a  burden  like  that 
which  thou  hast  laid  on  those  who  have  been  before  us ; 
neither  make  us,  0  Lord,  to  bear  what  we  have  no  strength 
to  bear,  but  be  favourable  unto  us,  and  spare  us,  and  be 
merciful  unto  us.  Thou  art  our  patron,  help  us  there- 
fore against  the  unbelieving  nations.*  When  Noah  (and 
he  is  the  manifest  apostle)  said :  My  Lord,  make  me  to 
dwell  in  a  blessed  habitation,  for  thou  art  the  best  of  those 
who  cause  to  dwell !  To  the  ground.  The  Masheyakhah 
[Manual  of  Sheikhs]  is  completed,  praise  be  to  God  alone, 
and  after  him  to  the  Ism  and  the  Bab  !  " 

The  copyist  then  proceeds  to  give  the  date,  and  his 
own  lineage,  and  the  occasion  when  the  book  was  written, 
namely,  the  ordination  of  his  nephew. 

The  three  following  documents  are  afterwards  added 
by  and  for  the  same  sheikh,  but  in  worse  handwriting ; 
an  excuse  being  added,  that  the  writer  had  "  no  ink  wortli 
anything." 

XXXL  "  We  will  write  the  contract  [entered  into  between 
the  lad  to  be  initiated  and  his  Seyyid,  lord,  or  Amm,  *  uncle,' 
-who  teaches  him  the  prayers,  &c.]  ;  which  is  this:  — 

"  In  the  name  of  God  the  compassionate,  the  merciful ! 
In  the  name  of  the  ancient  Maana,  and  the  great  Ism,  and 
the  lasting  Door,  and  the  high  road  of  those  rightly  di- 
rected, and  the  eye  of  certainty,  and  the  foundation  of 
religion,  I  make  between  you  (with  your  mutual  consent, 
and  with  freedom  of  determination,  with  respect  to  what 
you  are  mutually  agreed  upon  before  these  present  nota- 
bles) a  free  and  not  a  constrained  contract.  And  if  he 
(the  disciple)  shall  say :  '  Make  the  contract,'  say  :  You 
must  keep  rightly  the  ordinances  of  God,  and  tie  by  their 
halters  the  members  created  by  him,  that  they  may  not 
act  coptrary  to  them. 


EXTRACTS   FROM   MANUAL.  257 

"  Now  the  rights  due  to  the  Seyyid  from  his  son  are, 
that  he  reveal  not  his  secrets,  nor  disobey  his  commands, 
nor  bear  malice  against  him  in  his  breast,  nor  uncover 
his  veil  [by  publishing  his  doings],  nor  be  friendly  with 
his  enemies,  nor  be  hostile  to  his  friends  ;  and  that  he 
assist  him  all  his  days  with  eye,  hand,  and  tongue.  And 
the  rights  due  to  a  son  from  his  Seyyid  are,  good  bringing 
up  and  proper  instruction  ;  and  that  he  do  not  put  hard- 
ships on  him,  nor  teach  him  in  a  faulty  way ;  and  that 
he  shall  communicate  to  him  what  trustworthy  persons 
have  communicated,  and  warn  him  against  all  trans- 
gression and  lusts.  Now  the  words  of  a  Seyyid  against 
his  son  may  be  received,  but  not  the  words  of  a  son 
against  his  Seyyid.  Do  you  accept  freely  the  conditions 
I  have  placed  on  you  ?  And  if  they  shall  say,  '  We 
accept,'  say :  0  God,  I  call  thee  and  thine  angels  to 
witness  what  these  two  have  become  bound  by,  of  thy 
statutes  and  the  walking  in  thine  ordinances,  and  that 
they  have  become  obedient  to  the  fulfilment  of  thy  cove- 
nant. I  have  made  a  contract  between  you,  the  contract 
of  Ain,  Meem,  Seen,  the  weapons  of  the  pious.  And 
thou  art  he  who  art  gracious  to  the  true  believers,  and 
he  who  causeth  vengeance  to  descend  on  the  infidels  and 
deniers  of  the  truth.  As  he  has  said  in  his  book*  which 
was  sent  down  on  his  prophet,  the  apostle  :  '  They  who 
enter  into  convention  with  thee,  enter  into  convention  with 
God.  The  hand  of  God  is  above  their  hands  [the  con- 
vention being  made  by  giving  the  hand].  Now  he  who 
violates  the  convention  violates  it  to  his  own  hurt,  but  he 
who  fulfils  what  he  has  covenanted  with  God,  God  shall 
give  him  a  great  reward.'  " 

XXXII.  This  section  contains  the  oath  taken  from  a 
lad  before  he  is  initiated.  Rubric,  "  Then  he  shall  read 
the  discourse  to  the  disciple,  after  the  question  has  been 
put  to  him.    When  the  book  is  in  his  hand,  thou  shalt  read 

*  Koran,  xlviii.  10. 


258  THE    ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

over  him  the  Fatihah  [opening  chapter  of  the  Koran],  and 
shalt  say :  '  Now  those  who  enter  into  convention  with 
thee  ['swear  fealty  :' aS^Z^],  enter  into  convention  with 
God  ;  the  hand  of  God  is  over  your  hands.  And  he  who 
violates  the  convention,  violates  it  to  his  own  hurt,  but 
he  who  fulfils  what  he  has  covenanted  with  God,  God 
will  give  him  a  great  reward.'*  Then  thou  shalt  say:  0 
righteous  boy,  and  chosen  disciple,  may  God  dispose  you  to 
his  obedience  and  acceptance ;  therefore  tell  me  what  your 
idea  is,  and  what  seems  right  to  you  after  serious  considera- 
tion, and  what  you  require  from  your  Seyyid  ?  Then  he 
shall  say :  My  wish  is  that  he  would  free  my  neck  from 
the  yoke  of  bondage,  and  direct  me  to  the  right  knowledge 
of  God,  and  deliver  me  from  the  darkness  of  blindness  f, 
and  grant  me  life  everlasting.  Theii  thou  shalt  say: 
Know  (may  God  fit  you  to  be  rightly  directed,  and 
cause  you  to  obtain  the  consummation  of  your  wish  !) 
that  thou  hast  prepared  thyself  for  the  demand  of  a  great 
matter,  and  an  important  discourse  ;  for  it  is  the  mystery 
of  mysteries,  and  the  article  of  faith  of  the  righteous ; 
none  but  devout  breasts  and  pure  understandings  can 
comprehend  it,  nor  can  any  but  sharp  [as  of  sword] 
hearts,  and  first-rate  [jewel-like]  intellects  receive  it. 
For  thy  Lord  Is-Sadik  [Djaafar-is-Sadik]  (from  him  is 
peace,  and  to  him  belongeth  salutation)  has  said :  If 
any  one  readily  receives  our  instruction,  it  opens  for  him 
the  door  of  his  heart,  so  that  he  becomes  an  able  man ; 
but  he  who  receives  it  with  doubt  and  uncertainty  will 
only  by  it  be  removed  to  a  greater  distance  [from  us]. 
God  most  high  has  said,  '  We  will  place  on  thee  a  heavy 
saying.'  Then  the  lad  [walad,  or  disciple]  shall  say : 
Thou  shalt  find  me  patient,  please  God.  Then  thou  shalt 
say:  Know  (may  God  most  high  help  thee!)  that  what 
thou    seekest   from  me   is   an  honourable   secret,  and  a 

*  Koran,  xlviii.  10. 

t  Another  word,  "  Shanbaweyeh,"  is  here  added,  which  my  Mussul- 
man teacher  could  not  explain.  It  is  not  in  the  Kamoos,  and  is,  he 
thinks,  a  mistake  for  "  Shunbeh,"  or  cold. 


EXTRACTS   FROM   MANUAL.  250 

serious  discourse,  and  an  illustrious  doctrine,  and  a 
weighty  danger,  which  the  mountains  cannot  bear,  nor 
the  people  of  error  receive ;  and  my  mind  will  not  let 
me  reveal  it,  on  account  of  the  greatness  of  its  dignity 
and  honour :  for  it  is  cure  and  health  to  him  who  keeps 
it,  and  by  it  draws  nigh  to  God,  and  reverences  it,  but  a 
fatal  poison  to  whoever  reveals  it,  and  discloses  it  to 
those  who  have  no  right  to  it ;  and  it  is  a  most  difficult 
and  weighty  thing.  Know,  too,  that  if  you  shall  know 
it,  and  doubt  or  uncertainty  about  it  enter  your  mind, 
or  if  you  divulge  it  or  reveal  it  to  those  who  have  no 
portion  in  it  nor  right  to  it,  you  will  be  one  of  those 
who  misplace  things,  who  are  the  brethren  of  devils,  and 
you  will  have  merited  through  doing  so  the  being  changed 
into  horrid  forms,  and  being  made  to  walk  in  vile  en- 
velopes. Have  you  not  heard  what  has  been  reported 
from  the  mouth  of  our  Lord,  the  prince  of  true  believers, 
(may  the  remembrance  of  him  be  glorified  and  mag- 
nified !)  that  he  said:  Our  doctrine  is  a  difficult  and 
weighty  matter  ;  no  one  can  bear  it  but  an  angel  who 
is  allowed  to  approach  near  to  God,  or  a  prophet  sent 
as  an  apostle,  or  a  believer  whose  heart  God  has  tried  in 
knowledge  and  faith.  Now  your  position  is  a  free  one 
before  knowing  this  secret,  but  know  that  if  you  shall 
have  known  it,  and  shall  reject  it,  or  there  enter  thee 
with  respect  to  it  doubt  and  uncertainty,  you  will  be 
transported  into  horrid  shapes,  and  will  be  made  to  trans- 
migrate continually,  and  will  be  tortured  in  every  revo- 
lution of  time  ;  therefore  consider  what  thou  wilt  choose. 
Then  the  lad  shall  say  :  I  am  firm  in  the  knowledge  of  God, 
please  God.  Then  thou  shalt  say:  May  God  make  thee 
firm  in  his  firm  word,  in  this  life  and  the  next ;  and 
may  he  make  what  thou  shalt  learn  of  the  concealed  secret 
of  God  most  high  to  be  kept  secret  by  thee  and  not 
revealed  !  Then  he  shall  say :  Favour  me,  my  lord,  with 
the  knowledge  of  God  most  high. 

"  Then  thou  shalt  say  :  That  which  thou  seekest  from  me 

s  2 


260  THE    ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

is  a  great  matter,  and  a  glorious  doctrine,  and  an  honour- 
able secret,  and  a  high  discourse  ;  and  it  is  a  weighty  and 
difficult  matter.  Have  you  not  heard  what  has  been  re- 
ported of  Bahir-il-Ulm  [Mohammed-il-Bakir,  the  fifth 
Imam]  (from  him  is  peace),  how  he  said :  Our  secret  is  a 
concealed  secret,  a  weighty  and  difficult  matter  ;  none  can 
bear  it  but  an  angel  who  is  permitted  to  approach  near  to 
God,  or  a  prophet  who  is  an  apostle,  or  a  believer  whose 
heart  God  has  tried  in  knowledge  and  faith ;  for  there  are 
many  angels,  and  none  of  them  can  bear  our  doctrine  but 
those  who  are  permitted  to  approach  near  to  God  ;  and  the 
prophets  are  many,  but  none  of  them  can  bear  our  doc- 
trine but  such  of  them  as  are  apostles  ;  and  believers 
xre  many,  but  none  of  them  can  bear  our  doctrine  but 
such  as  are  tried.  Now  your  position  is  a  free  one, 
before  you  hear  it ;  but  know  that  if  you  shall  have  heard 
it,  and  shall  divulge  it  or  reveal  it  to  those  who  have  no 
right  to  it,  God  will  make  thee  to  taste  the  heat  of  iron 
and  its  cold.  Therefore  consider  in  yourself  what  you 
will  choose.  Then  he  shall  say  :  I  am  firm  in  the  know- 
ledge of  God,  please  God  most  high.  Then  thou  shalt 
say:  May  God  most  high  make  thee  firm  in  the  firm 
saying,  in  this  life  and  the  next,  &c.  &c.*  Have  you 
not  heard  what  has  been  reported  of  the  Aalim  [Bahir- 
il-Ulm],  (from  him  is  peace),  how  that  he  said:  Our 
saying  is  a  weighty  and  difficult  matter,  a  sense  [such 
as  the  five  senses]  discerned :  none  can  bear  it  but  an 
angel,  &c.*  And  in  our  saying  is  .a  concealed  secret 
veiled  in  mystery  ;  do  not  place  it  except  in  guarded 
breasts  and  secure  hearts.  He  said,  too ;  The  bosoms  of 
the  free  are  the  fortresses  of  secrets.  He  said,  also :  He  who 
places  knowledge  with  those  to  whom  it  does  not  belong, 
is  iniquitous  in  his  saying,  and  will  repent  of  his  act.  He 
said,  moreover :  He  who  places  knowledge  with  those  to 
whom  it  does  not  belong,  is  as  one  who  hangs  pearls  on 

*  The  words  following  are  precisely  the  same  as  those  which  have 
been  given  before  in  connexion  with  tiie  preceding  words. 


EXTEACTS   FROM   MANUAL.  2G1 

the  necks  of  swine.  He  said,  also :  Take  care  of  divulging 
the  secret,  for  the  doing  so  cuts  off  property,  and  shortens 
life.  He  said,  also :  Whoever  divulges  our  secrets,  we  will 
cause  him  to  taste  the  heat  of  iron  and  its  cold.  Attend 
thou  to  this  saying  with  thine  intellect,  and  meditate  on 
it  with  thine  understanding ;  for  thou  art  free  in  thy 
position  before  thou  hearest  this  secret.  Therefore  con- 
sider what  thou  wilt  choose  ;  for  after  warning  [neg- 
lected] there  is  no  being  wary  ;  and  the  being  trans- 
formed into  horrid  shapes  only  comes  on  a  man  after 
obedience,  from  doubt  after  certainty,  and  denial  after 
confirmation.  Then  he  shall  say :  I  am  firm  in  the  know- 
ledge of  God  most  high.  Then  thoushaltsay :  May  God  make 
thee  firm  in  the  firm  saying,  in  this  life  and  the  next,  and 
cause  what  thou  hearest  of  the  concealed  secret  of  God  to 
be  kept  safe  with  thee,  not  divulged,  and  firm,  not  retracted  ! 
Then  he  shall  say :  Favour  me,  my  lord,  with  the  know- 
ledge of  God  most  high. 

"  Then  thou  shalt  say :  If  thou  be  truthful  in  thy  saying, 
and  firm  in  these  covenants,  there  is  one  thing  which  I  com- 
mand thee  to  do,  and  another  which  I  prohibit  thee  from 
doing  ;  and  if  thou  shak  disobey  one  of  these  commands,  it 
will  be  the  cause  of  thy  destruction,  and  you  will  leave  the 
pale  of  faith,  and  return  to  the  degrees  of  imperfection. 
Then  he  shall  say :  Make  me  know  what  that  is,  my 
lord.  Then  thou  shalt  say :  Now  the  first  command  is  to 
take  care  of  your  brethren,  and  to  pay  attention  to  them, 
and  to  mind  them,  and  to  continue  to  visit  them,  and 
do  good  to  them,  and  keep  up  connexion  with  them ;  and 
all  that  you  desire  for  yourself  you  must  desire  for  them. 
Know,  too,  that  the  fifth  of  your  property  absolutely 
belongs  to  them,  every  year.  And  you  must  observe 
prayer  in  its  times,  and  give  alms  to  those  whose  due 
it  is,  and  be  constant  in  performing  the  ordinances,  and 
hasten  to  fulfil  duties  and  requirements ;  and  you  must  be 
obedient  to  your  Seyyid,  praying  for  him  gratefully,  re- 
membering him ;  doing  him  good  in  all  that  you  can,  and 

s  3 


262  THE    ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

he  may  accept ;  abstaining  from  every  wrong  thing  which 
he  may  abhor.     Now  the  second  command  is  to  guard 
against  injuring  your  brethren,  or  wronging  any  one  of 
them ;  to  abstain  from  divulging  their  faults,  and  to  not 
act  contrary  to  their  wishes,  but  take  care  of  hurting 
them.     For  know  that  blindness  follows  the  looking  at 
their  Hhareems  with  an  improper  eye ;  and  deafness  fol- 
lows the  listening  to  backbiting  and  scandal  against  them  ; 
and  leprosy  and  elephantiasis  follow  the  making  light  of 
them,  or  lowering  their  position ;  and  poverty  and  want 
follow  the  being  miserly  and  covetous  towards  them;  and 
there  is  no  calamity,  open  or  concealed,  which  does  not 
follow  the  injuring  them,  for  the  cord  of  believers  is  united 
with  the  cord  of  their  Lord ;  and  his  anger  with  their 
anger ;  and  his  pleasure  with  their  pleasure.     Avoid  also 
lying  and  all  forbidden  acts,  and  iniquities  and  abomi- 
nations open  and  secret.     Now,  if   you    have   accepted 
what   I   have   related   to   you,   with  a  right  acceptance, 
obediently,    freely,    without    dislike,    and    without     con- 
straint, I  will  order  your  Seyyid  (the  boy's  Aram)   to 
agree  to  your  petition  in  that  in  which  is  your  deliver- 
ance; and  to  favour  you  with  the  lasting  favour,  and 
eternal  life  ;  and  to  bring  you  out  of  darkness  and  blind- 
ness, and  cause  you  to  enjoy  the  illumination  of  light; 
after  he  has  taken  from  you  God's  promise  and  covenant, 
which  was  taken  from  his  prophets  and  apostles.     Do  you 
then   accept   the   conditions  I  have   demanded  of  you  ? 
Then  the  disciple  simll  say  :  I  accept  them  freely. 

"  Then  you  will  make  known  to  him  the  religion  and  faith 
[Deen  and  Im^n,  practice  and  faithj,  after  you  have  de- 
manded sureties  for  him.  And  you  loill  say  before  you 
swear  him :  O  God,  I  am  guiltless  of  thy  [the  boy's]  sin 
[or  hurt,  that  is,  injury  to  the  lad  if  he  sins]  ;  for  thou 
hast  so  commanded  in  thy  book  sent  down  on  thy  prophet, 
the  apostle  *,  and  hast  said  :  *  When  believing  women  come 

*  Koran.  Ix.  10. 


EXTRACTS  FROM  MANUAL.  263? 

unto  you  as  refugees,  try  them  :  God  well  knoweth  their 
faith.  And  if  ye  know  theui  to  be  true  believers,  send 
them  not  back  to  the  infidels/  Thou  hast  so  commanded, 
and  hast  also  said :  Do  not  give  knowledge  to  the  people 
of  knowledge,  except  after  covenants  and  contracts. 

''  Then  thou  shalt  say  :  Wallah,  Billah,  Tillah,  and  seven 
oaths  by  Allah;  I  have  confidence  in  God,  and  in  what  you 
commit  to  me  of  the  secret  of  God.  I  will  not  sell  it 
nor  divulge  it,  nor  contend  about  it  with  the  uninitiated, 
nor  with  respect  to  it  make  myself  known  to  any  one, 
except  to  a  brother  who  makes  himself  known  to  me  and 
1  to  him  [by  signs,  &c.]  ;  and  if  I  do  otherwise,  be  guilt- 
less before  God  and  his  books  and  his  apostles :  and  may 
God  be  party  and  witness  to  what  I  say  !  Then  say  : 
AYallah  and  Billah,  and  a  second  Wallah,  and  seven  oaths 
by  God,  a  great  oath,  and  by  what  was  taken  from  the 
prophets  of  covenant  and  contract,  I  have  confidence  in 
God,  and  in  what  you  commit  to  me  of  the  secret  of  God, 
and  will  conceal  all  that  I  hear  and  know  from  my  Seyyid, 
and  will  follow  what  he  directs  me  to,  and  will  abstain 
from  what  he  forbids  me ;  God  is  party  and  witness  to 
what  I  say  !  T%en  say :  Wallah  and  Billah,  and  three 
oaths  by  God,  and  seven  oaths  by  God,  and  eighty  oath& 
by  God,  forty  standing  and  forty  sitting;  I  have  con- 
fidence in  God,  and  what  you  commit  to  me  of  the  secret 
of  God.  I  will  not  sell  it,  nor  divulge  it,  nor  command  its 
being  written  for  those  who  have  no  right  to  it,  neither  in 
your  lifetime  nor  after  your  death ;  neither  in  a  state  of 
covetousness,  nor  in  a  state  of  acceptance,  nor  in  a  state 
of  hardship ;  I  am  also  under  these  conditions,  and  will 
abstain  from  all  that  may  hurt  my  brethren,  from  killing 
any  one,  from  fornication,  and  from  what  is  forbidden ; 
and  from  corruption,  and  lying,  and  aiding  the  unjust, 
and  usury,  and  the  like ;  and  I  will  not  reveal  what  you 
have  discovered  to  me  of  the  secret  of  God  to  any  of 
God's  creation,  except  to  a  brother  of  my  brethren,  who 
shall  make  himself  known  to  me  and  I  to  him  ;  and  if 

s  4 


264  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

I  act  contrary  to  this,  be  guiltless  before  God  and  his 
books  and  his  apostles  !  God  is  party  and  witness  to 
what  1  say ;  he  will  violate  the  compact  with  him  who 
violates  it ! 

*'  Then  say  to  him :  Arise  !  God  make  thee  of  the  number 
of  true  believers,  who  praise  God  in  the  earth,  and  are 
rightly  directed  through  the  light  of  their  Lord. 

*'  Then  you  will  deliver  him  to  his  ten  brethren^  and  the 
sureties^  and  they  shall  swear  him,  and  deliver  him  to  the 
Naheeb,  to  his  Seyyid,  who  shall  cause  him  to  drink  the 
secret  of  the  two  [the  two  masses']  ;  after  he  shall  have  read 
them,  and  the  imdm  have  read  a  passage,  and  they  have 
bended  in  adoration  and  prayed  while  adoring ^  And  to  the 
end. .  And  he  shall  read  the  Fatihah  to  the  people  of  the  way 
and  the  people  of  the  truth,  as  shall  be  convenient.  Then  the 
blessed  entrance  [that  is,  then  the  lad  becomes  in  all  things 
one  of  the  initiated]  ;  and  praise  be  to  God  alone,  and  may 
his  favours  be  on  the  best  of  his  creation,  Mohammed,  and 
on  his  good  and  pure  family !  Invoke  great  peace  on  him 
till  the  day  of  resurrection  and  judgment.  Praise  be  to 
God,  Lord  of  the  worlds  ! 

''  Now,  the  foregoing  is  from  the  wor3s  of  the  well- 
directed,  aided,  and  rightly  guided  teacher,  the  Hippo- 
crates of  his  age  and  Aristotle  of  his  time  ;  the  illustrious 
lad,  and  favoured  desired  one,  the  copious  rain,  and  greatly 
learned  one  ;  the  chief  Seyyid,  and  precious  hero ;  the  most 
beloved  and  rare  sheikh,  and  glorious  lion  and  well-bred 
falcon  ;  our  dear  cousin  and  cherished  desired  one ;  the 
Sheikh  Hassan,  son  of  the  Sheikh  Ramadan  ;  may  God  grant 
him  favour  and  the  obtaining  of  his  desire  and  wishes,  and 
cause  him  to  attain  the  world  of  those  that  attain !  Amen. 

'*  We  have  written  this  at  the  ordination  of  our  dear 
nephew,  Sheikh  Ali,  son  of  Sheikh  Eed." 

XXXIIL  Sermon,  called  the  Khabr,  or  information.  It 
is  full  of  mistakes  and  in  wretched  handwriting;  with  bad 
grammar  and  most  imperfect  construction. 

*'  In  the  name  of  God  the  compassionate,  the  merciful. 


EXTRACTS   FROM   MANUAL.  265 

The  information  as  to  what  is  lawful  and  unlawful  above  the 
Tuyrtle  tree  is  derived  from  authority.  Hear,  0  brethren. 
May  God  give  you  good-raorning,  and  give  you  an  evening 
of  acceptance  and  felicity !  [common  morning  and  evening 
salutations  among  the  Ansaireeh].  Our  Lord  Djaafar, 
son  of  Mohammed-is- Sadik,  said  that  on  the  making 
mention  of  him  the  talker  should  be  silent,  and  on  the 
making  mention  of  God  should  be  silent  and  attentive  ; 
and  that  a  man  should  keep  the  ordinances  of  God  most 
hifrh,  and  take  the  inner  doctrine  from  those  advanced  in 
learning ;  and  that  he  should  abstain  from  all  that  is 
Avrong  and  iniquitous,  by  night  and  by  day.  And  it  is 
said  in  the  Khabr  [information]  derived  from  the  possessor 
of  miracles  and  power  [Ali],  that  he  said :  He  who  en- 
ters my  assembly  [or  house]  and  speaks  in  it  of  anything 
but  the  remembrance  of  me,  I  have  no  part  in  him,  nor  he 
in  me ;  and  he  who  is  profuse  in  talking  above  the  myrtle 
shall  remain  mute  of  tongue ;  and  he  who  is  full  of  vain 
talk  and  backbiting  and  scandal,  God  shall  destroy  his 
good  works.  And  he  who  makes  a  display  of  finery  to 
outshine  his  brethren,  God  most  high  shall  bring  him 
down  and  lower  him;  and  he  who  unjustly  accuses  his 
brother  is  as  he  who  takes  a  stick  and  beats  me  with  it ; 
and  he  who  assails  the  reputation  of  his  brother's  family 
is  as  if  he  broke  down  my  house  with  his  hand  ;  and  he 
who  is  proud  and  violent  to  his  brethren  shall  have  in  my 
sight  sins  as  weighty  as  the  lofty  mountains ;  and  he  who 
puts  himself  out  of  his  place  shall  be  oppressed  with  the 
weight  of  sin  ;  and  he  who  causes  the  im^m  to  retract  his 
^vords,  contradicts  God  and  his  apostle ;  and  he  who  intends 
anything  but  prayer,  his  prayer  is  unlawful ;  and  he  who 
enters  with  the  intention  of  eating  and  drinking,  and  not 
Avith  the  intention  of  praying  and  worshipping,  his  work 
is  as  the  scattered  motes  in  the  sunbeam ;  and  he  who 
speaks  contrary  to  obedience  has  with  me  no  merchandise ; 
and  he  who  speaks  at  the  time  of  calling  to  prayer,  his 
tongue  shall  be  unable  to  articulate  at  the  time  of  death. 


266  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

"  Now  it  is  incumbeDt  on  every  well-instructed  believer, 
when  he  enters  the  sittings  of  the  people  of  the  doctrine 
and  Unitarian  religion,  that  he  should  be  truthful  in  his 
intention  with  respect  to  God,  praising  God  at  the  time  of 
praise,  and  saying  *  Amen '  to  God  at  the  time  of  saying 
Amen;  and  that  he  should  not  speak  of  worldly  things; 
and  that  he  should  make  himself  the  least  of  those  at  the 
sitting.  And  he  should  not  doubt,  nor  associate  any  one 
with  the  Compassionate  One,  nor  abhor  any  one  of  his 
brethren.  And  his  attention  should  be  fixed  on  prayer, 
repenting  towards  God,  and  desiring  his  favour.  And  he 
should  be  contented  with  the  property  that  may  accrue  to 
him,  be  it  much  or  little.  Then,  through  the  fairness  of 
the  truthfulness  of  his  love,  and  the  purity  of  his  intention, 
his  faults  will  fall  from  off  him,  though  their  number  be 
as  the  sand.  But  the  hypocritical  man,  when  he  enters 
into  the  sitting  of  the  people  of  the  doctrine  and  of  the 
Unitarian  religion,  seeks  to  eat  and  drink,  and  distracts  the 
attention  of  those  on  his  right  and  left,  and  will  doubt  his 
Lord  and  his  brethren,  and  will  tell  deceiving  news,  and 
keep  apart  from  the  preaching,  and  conceal  the  good 
tilings  that  he  may  see  [in  his  brethren].  So  in  the  contra- 
riety of  his  intention,  and  the  smallness  of  his  love,  God 
most  high  shall  load  him  with  great  and  weighty  sins.  Know, 
too,  0  brethren,  (may  God  strengthen  us  and  you  !)  that 
you  must  take  care  of  having  dirty  shirts  [at  times  of 
solemn  meeting],  which  God  has  tried  the  people  of  sorrow 
with  [unwashed  clothes  are  the  sign  of  mourning  with  the 
Ansaireeh],  which  they  had  not  to  put  on  except  after 
knowing  the  truth  and  rejecting  it,  and  hearing  the  word 
of  the  im^m  and  disobeying  it,  and  engaging  in  what  is 
wrong  [that  is,  none  suffer  calamity  except  from  having 
been  guilty  of  some  disobedience,  as  follows]  :  for  there  is 
no  infirmity  attacking  the  body,  such  as  leprosy,  and 
elephantiasis,  and  idiotcy,  and  pleurisy,  and  dumbness, 
and  deafness,  and  poverty,  and  sickness,  and  accident,  nor 
any  pain,  but  what  arises  from  a  failure  in  fulfilling  what 


EXTRACTS   FROM   MANUAL.  267 

is  due  to  one's  brethren,  and  from  disobedience  to  the  Com- 
passionate One.  Know,  moreover,  0  brethren,  that  God  has 
rendered  unlawful  to  his  servants,  the  true  believers,*  joking 
and  intermixing  [probably  with  outsiders],  and  taking  and 
giving,  and  selling  and  buying,  and  partnership  and  renting, 
and  doubt  and  backbiting  and  slander,  and  separation  and 
disputing  and  harsh  looks,  and  the  avoiding  one  another,  and 
hatred  and  malice  and  envy,  and  playing  cards,  and  evil 
surmisings,  and  the  detracting  from  the  dignity  of  sheikhs 
[literally,  children  of  the  chimneys,  or  houses  of  liberal 
men]  ;  and  the  putting  on  shoes,  and  throwing  the  aba 
[outer  cloak]  over  the  shoulder,  and  carrying  arms  [all 
this  at  a  solemn  meeting].  Moreover,  he  who  makes  a 
mock  of  the  poor  and  wretched,  and  him  who  is  imperfectly 
instructed  in  religion,  assails  religion.  All  usury  is  un- 
lawful ;  and  the  removing  persons  from  their  places  [at  the 
meeting] ;  and  the  wearing  dresses  like  those  of  outsiders, 
such  as  a  black  handkerchief  f,  or  a  blue  turban,  or  thimble 
of  bone,  or  two-edged  knife  ;  and  the  wearing  a  long  robe 
without  slitsj ;  and  raising  the  eyes  at  the  time  of  worship; 
and  worshipping  before  the  imam  worships,  and  rising 
before  the  imam  rises ;  and  raising  the  voice  above  the 
voice  of  the  im^m  ;  according  to  the  words  of  the  Most 
High§  :  *  0  true  believers,  raise  not  your  voices  above  the 

*  A  word  occurs  here  which  is  evidently  written  wronglj.  The  next 
word  is  "  opposers,"  and  the  passage  ra ay  mean  that  God  forbids  the 
following  matters  to  be  engaged  in  "  with  "  outsiders.  Or  the  obscure 
word  may  mean  "  except,"  and  the  sense  be  that  God  forbids  entirely 
what  follows,  and  that  all  will  obey  except  the  disobedient.  If  so  the 
buying  and  selling  unjustly  is  meant,  one  would  think,  or  buying  and 
selling  in  the  case  of  sheikhs. 

f  Such  as  is  put  round  the  head  by  Christians,  black  being  the 
colour  till  lately  used  by  them  conipulsorily  (with  other  like  colours) ; 
and  being  originally  the  colour  peculiar  to  the  Abbasides  of  Bagdad, 
the  enemies  of  the  house  of  AH.  The  blue  turban  is  also  worn  by 
Christians. 

if  The  Ansairee  men  wear  long  shirts,  but  open  on  the  side  up  to 
the  hips,  having  thus  a  disagreeable  and  indecent  appearance. 

§  Koran,  xlix.  2. 


268  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

voice  of  the  prophet ;  neither  speak  loud  unto  him  in 
discourse,  as  ye  speak  loud  unto  one  another,  lest  your 
works  become  vain,  and  ye  perceive  it  not.'  The  aiding 
the  unjust  is  also  unlawful ;  and  the  continually  saying, 
*  This  was  said,'  and  '  That  was  said ; '  also  trafficking 
and  shopkeeping  [or  acting  as  merchants];  and  telling 
this  story  and  alleging  that  tradition ;  and  an  Osmanlee 
shirt* ;  and  long  mustachios ;  and  the  hair  of  the  arm- 
pits; and  the  buttoning  of  buttonsf ;  and  trimming  up 
the  sleeves  ;  and  cracking  the  fingers ;  and  combing  the 
beard  with  the  hand.  J  Tobacco  also  is  forbidden,  for  it 
is  blamed  above  the  myrtle. § 

"  Know,  0  brethren,  that  God  has  ordained  to  his  ser- 
vants, the  true  believers,  in  the  times  of  prayer,  purity  of 
intention  and  right  deeds,  and  the  cleansing  of  the  heart, 
and  mutual  friendship,  and  your  forgiving  one  another ; 
and  if  there  is  any  enmity  or  hatred  between  any  one  and 
his  brother  in  respect  of  woi-ldly  matters,  he  must  forgive 
him.  And  you  must  make  your  love  to  one  another  pure, 
0. brethren,  and  seek  pardon  and  forgiveness,  according  to 
the  saying  of  our  Lord  II  Aalim  [Mohammed-il-Bahirj, 
(from  him  is  peace) :  A  believer  does  not  become  such 
really  till  he  desires  for  his  brother  what  he  desires  for 
himself,  and  dislikes  in  his  case  what  he  would  dislike  for 
himself.  Know  too,  my  brethren,  that  your  brother,  the 
master  of  this  sitting  [some  sheikh  or  chief  person  at 
whose  house  it  is  held],  has  assembled  you  only  for 
prayers,  and  to  ascribe  unity  to  God  (may  he  be  exalted  and 
glorified !) ;   for  God  most  high  has  said  in  his  precious 

*  Which  has  not  the  long  sleeves  of  the  Ansairee  shirt ;  for  of  this 
last  the  part  under  the  wrist  is  lengthened  out  greatly,  until  it  terminates 
in  a  point. 

t  This,  like  many  other  things  thrown  loosely  together  in  this 
"  sermon,"  is  not  generally  attended  to  by  the  Ansaireeh. 

t  Some  of  these  directions,  like  preceding  ones,  seem  to  refer  only  to 
the  times  of  meeting. 

§  This  shows  that  the  MS.  belongs  to  the  Shemseen  sect,  whose  slieiklis 
do  not  smoke. 


EXTRACTS   FROM   MANUAL.  269 

book*:  *  And  meditate  on  thy  Lord  in  thine  own  mind, 
with  humility  and  fear,  and  without  loud  speaking, 
morning  and  evening ;  and  be  not  one  of  the  negligent/ 
That  is  to  say,  at  the  times  of  prayer  it  is  not  permitted 
to  any  one  to  have  in  his  breast  any  matter  which  has  not 
reference  to  God ;  but  all  the  members  must  be  employed 
only  in  the  remembrance  of  God  (may  he  be  praised  and 
exalted !).  Make  then  your  intentions  pure,  till  the  inten- 
tion shall  be  but  as  one  intention.  And  know,  0  brethren, 
that  you  have  put  me  forward  to  pray  for  you,  who  am 
the  meanest  and  most  despicable,  and  poorest  and  least 
among  you  ;  and  I  have  no  power  to  be  your  im^m,  but, 
as  a  slave  and  the  least  of  servants,  I  serve  you  in  lowli- 
ness and  meanness,  without  lordship  or  self-exaltation  ; 
for  our  Lord  Abu-Saeed,  in  the  book  called  *  That  which 
comprises  the  knowledge  of  Fetwas  f  [or  the  decisions  of 
religious  doctors],  has  said:  It  is  not  permitted  to  any 
one  to  take  precedence  in  an  assembly,  if  he  knows  that  at 
the  sitting  there  is  one  better  instructed  than  himself,  ex- 
cept with  his  pleasure  and  permission ;  and  I  testify  with 
respect  to  myself,  that  I  am  the  least  of  you  as  to  know- 
ledge and  good  deeds,  and  the  most  full  of  faults  and 
iniquity,  and  errors  and  mistakes.  But  I  hope  from  God, 
and  from  the  sea  of  your  universal  benevolence,  that  you 
will  forgive  me,  and  help  me  with  your  prayers.  It  may 
be  God  will  accept  our  and  your  prayers.  My  head 
touches  the  dust  on  which  your  feet  have  trodden,  and 
here,  as  before  God,  I  kiss  your  feet ;  may  God  forgive 
him  who  forgives  !  Here  ends  the  Khabr,  May  my  Lord 
be  exalted !     We  all  of  us  say,  Amen  ! " 

*  Koran,  vii.  204.  f  "  Kitab-il-Hawi  Ala  Ulm-il-Fetawi." 


270  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 


CHAP.   X. 

EXTRACTS    FROM    PUBLISHED   ANSAIREE    DOCUMENTS. 

In  this  chapter  I  shall  give  translations  of  the  most  impor- 
tant of  the  published  documents  concerning  the  Ansairee 
religion;  and  first  of  the  Ansairee  catechism,  as  the 
most  complete  and  interesting.  This  was  sent,  with  a 
French  version,  to  the  King  of  Prussia,  by  M.  Catafago, 
dragoman  of  the  Prussian  Consul- General  at  Beyrout.* 
As  I  have  had  no  opportunity  of  seeing  the  original  MS., 
my  translation  is  made  from  copious  extracts  published  in 
the  Journal  of  the  German  Oriental  Society. f  These 
are  in  the  German  language,  and  made  by  Dr.  Wolff 
from  a  copy  of  the  catechism  lent  to  him  by  M.  Catafago 
during  his  stay  at  Beyrout.  I  have  added  some  notes  where 
I  have  thought  them  desirable.  It  will  be  seen,  on  com- 
paring this  catechism  with  the  sketch  I  have  given  of 
my  MS.,  the  "  Manual  of  Sheikhs,"  that  the  arrangement 
and  contents  are  in  the  main  the  same.  Even  single  ex- 
pressions are  nearly  identical,  and  would  probably  be 
found  to  be  exactly  so  could  the  two  Arabic  texts  be 
compared.  The  catechism  has  the  air  of  being  genuine, 
and,  iu  any  case,  most  certainly  contains  the  Ansairee 
doctrines  and  formularies  found  in  their  various  books. 
The  title  only,  the  "  Book  of  Instruction  in  the  Ansairee 
Religion,"  seems  open  to  suspicion.  Perhaps  it  does  not 
belong  to  the  MS.  as  it  once  stood.  Dr.  Wolff  proceeds 
as  follows :  — 

*  Jaliresbericht  der  Deutschen  Morgenland.  Gesell.  1845-6,  p.  130. 
t  Vul.  iii.  p.  302. 


ANSAIREE    CATECHISM.  271 

The  book  is  in  thirty-eight  heaves,  large  octavo,  and   is 
called  the  Book  of  Instruction  in  the  Ansairee  Religion. 

The  introduction  contains  an  invocation  of  the  eternal 
God,  and  a  thanksgiving  "  for  the  communication  of  his 
divine  secret,  and  the  truth  of  the  holy  religion  ;"  which 
consists  in  the  perception  of  his  great  Name,  and  of  his 
holy  Door,  through  the  person  of  the  Abd-in-Noor,  which 
he  has  assumed  for  the  sake  of  his  saints,  who  know  liim ; 
also  a  thanksgiving  for  all  the  benefits  received  from 
God.  Hereupon  follows  the  two  portions  of  the  catechism; 
called,  the  one  theoretical,  which  speaks  of  instruction,  and 
the  other  practical,  which  speaks  of  customs  and  cere- 
monies. The  first,  or  theoretical  part,  contains  the  fol- 
lowing questions  and  answers  :  — 

I.  Who  created  us  ? — Ans.  Ali  son  of  Abu-Taleb. 

II.  Whence  do  we  know  that  Ali  is  God  ? — Ans.  Through 
his  own  testimony,  given  in  a  public  discourse  held 
from  the  pulpit, 

(In  the  discourse  which  is  now  given,  it  is  said 
among  other  things,  "  I  am  the  Lord  of  lords,  who  com- 
mands life  and  death,  who  begat  Jesus  in  the  womb  of  his 
mother  Mary,  who  sent  the  apostles/' &c.) 

III.  Who  has  called  us  to  the  perception  of  our  Lord  ? 
—  Ans*  Mohammed,  as  he  himself  said  in  his  discourse 
which  ends  thus,  "  He  (Ali)  is  my  Lord  and  yours." 

IV.  If  Ali  is  God,  how  did  he  take  man's  nature  ? — 
Ans.  He  did  not  take  it,  but  he  concealed  liimself  in 
Mohammed  in  the  period  of  his  change  of  shapes,  and  took 
the  name  of  Ali. 

y.  How  often  has  our  Lord  changed  his  form,  and 
shown  himself  in  the  likeness  of  man  ?    Ans.  Seven  times. 

a.  He  took  the  name  of  Abel,  and  took  Adam   as  his  Veil. 

b.  „  „  Seth  „       Noah 


c/.                      , 
C.                   , 

aetu 

Joseph 

Jacob 

d. 

>                        » 

Joshua 

Moses 

e.              , 

)                            J5 

Asaf 

Solomon 

/• 

»                            JJ 

Peter 

Jesus 

9- 

'                            » 

Ali 

» 

Mohammed 

272  THE   ASIAN  MYSTERY. 

VI.  How  could  he  so  conceal  and  manifest  himself  ? 
—  Ans,  That  is  the  mystery  of  the  transformation,  which 
God  alone  knows,  as  he  himself  says. 

(Then  follow  passages  cited  from  the  Koran  and  Bible.) 

VII.  Will  he  yet  once  more  manifest  himself? — Ans. 
Yes,  as  he  is,  without  any  transformation,  in  pomp  and 
glory. 

YIII.  What  is  the  divine  appearance  ? — Ans.  It  is  the 
appearance  of  the  Creator  by  means  of  the  veihng  himself 
in  human  form,  and  the  best  of  sheaths  within  a  sheath. 

IX.  Explain  it  more  exactly.  —  Ans.  As  the  Maana 
entered  into  the  Door,  it  concealed  itself  under  the  name, 
and  took  it  for  itself,  as  our  Lord  Djaafar-is-Sadik  has  said. 

X.  What  are  the  Maana,  the  Ism,  and  the  Bab  ?  —  Ans. 
They  are  an  inseparable  Trinity,  as  one  says,  —  "  In  the 
name  of  God,  the  compassionate,  the  merciful."  The 
word  God  signifies  the  Maana ;  the  words  compassionate 
and  merciful  denote  the  Name  and  the  Door. 

XI.  How  did  the  Maana  create  the  Ism  ;  and  how  did 
the  latter  create  the  Bab  ?  —  Ans.  The  substance  of  sub- 
stances produced  the  Name  out  of  the  light  of  his  unity. 

XII.  Are  the  Maana  and  the  Bab  separable  from  the 
Ism?  —  Ans.  No:  they  are  with  it  —  they  cannot  be 
separated  from  it. 

XIII.  What  names  have  the  Maana,  the  Ism,  and  the 
Bab  ;  and  how  are  they  distinguished  ? — Ans.  These  names 
are  threefold.  1.  Figurative ;  2.  Essential ;  3.  Attri- 
butive. The  figurative  belong  to  the  Maana ;  the  attri- 
butive are  those  of  which  the  Ism  has  made  use,  but 
which  belong  peculiarly  to  the  Maana.  As  when  we  say, 
the  Gracious  One,  the  Compassionate  One,  the  Creator. 

XIV.  What  are  the  sixty-three  names  of  the  Ism, 
which,  spiritually  taken,  denote  the  Maana,  and  personally 
the  Ism,  —  those  of  which  the  Godhead  has  made  use  to 
manifest  himself  in  the  persons  of  the  prophets  and 
apostles?— ^W5.  Among  the  first  of  these  sixty-three  names 
are    Adam,   Enoch,   Kenan ;   then    Edrees,    Noah,    Herd, 


ANSAIREE   CATECHISM.  273 

Solomon,  Lot,  Abraham.     The  last  of  all  is  "the  Imam 
Mohammed  son  of  Hassan,  the  demonstration." 

XV.  What  are  the  attributive  names  of  the  Ism,  which 
peculiarly  belong  to  the  Godhead  ?  —  Ans,  God,  the 
Gracious  One,  Light,  the  Lofty  One,  &c. ;  in  all  forty 
names. 

XVI.  What  are   the  mysterious  names  of  the  Ism  ? 

1.  (Here  follow  the  enigmatical  letters  at  the  commence- 
ment of  some  chapters  of  the  Koran ;  as  A.  L.  M.  of  the 
second,  K.  H.  Y.  A.  S.  of  the  nineteenth,  &c.) 

2.  In  the  Pentateuch,  Mad  al  Mad  (Gen.  xvii.  2). 

3.  In  Gospels,  Paraclet. 

4.  In  Psalms,  Redeemer. 

5.  In  Koran,  Mohammed. 

XVII.  What  are  the  personal  names  of  theism?  — 
Ans,  Adam,  Jacob,  Moses,  Aaron,  Solomon,  Jesus,  Mo- 
hammed Abdullah  the  apostle  of  God,  and  Mohammed 
ibn-Hassan. 

XVIII.  What  are  the  abstract  names  of  the  Ism  ?  — 
Ajis,  The  will,  the  perception,  the  might,  &c. 

XIX.  What  are  the  appellations  of  the  Ism  in  the 
period  of  Abraham  ? 

XX.  What  in  the  period  of  Moses  ? 

XXL  What  in  the  period  of  Mohammed  ? —  Here 
pretty  well  the  same  names  are  given  as  in  the  Druse 
books. 

[Note. — They  have  been  given  above,  Chap.  V.] 

XXII.  What  are  the  names  of  the  great  and  holy  Door 
(Bab)  of  God  ?  (Again  the  same  names  as  in  the  Druse 
books. ) 

XXIII.  What  are  the  names  of  the  personifications  of 
the  Bab  in  the  books  of  the  Unitarians  ?  (By  which  the 
Ismaeleeh,  or  also  the  Druses,  are  to  be  understood.) 
(Here  follow  fifty-five  names,  such  as  throne,  water,  door, 
&c.  &c.) 

XXIV.  What  are  the  names  of  the  six  spiritual  sta- 

T 


274  THE   ASIAN  MYSTERY. 

tions  ?  —  Ans,  In  the  first  Gabriel,  and  his  orphans, 
Michael,  &c. 

XXV.  What  in  the  second  ?  —  Ans,  Yayeel  ibn-Fatin 
and  his  orphans. 

XXYI.  Whatinthe  third?— ^w-s.  Ham  ibn-Koosh. 

XXYII.  What  in  the  fourth  ? — Ans,  Dan  ibn-Sabaoot. 

XXYIII.  What  in  the  fifth?  — ^^5.  Abdullah  ibn- 
Simaan. 

XXIX.  What  in  the  sixth  ?  —  Aiis,  Rozabah  ibn-il- 
Marzaban. 

XXX.  What  in  the  Persian  periods  ?  (Here  the  names 
that  follow  are  all  Persian.) 

XXXI.  What    is    the    Bab    also   called  ?  —  Ans,  The 

perfect  soul,  the  Holy  Ghost,  Gabriel,  &c. 

[Note. — Dr.  AVolflf  has  wrongly  translated  the  expression  In-nefs 
il-Kullee,  which  is,  as  I  have  rendered  it,  "  the  universal  soul,"  the  name 
by  which  the  second  Druse  minister  is  called.] 

XXXII.  What  is  the  name  of  the  Bab  and  its  orphans 
in  the  eleven  appearances  which  God  has  given  us  grace 
to  perceive  ? —  Ans.  In  the  first  onr  Lord  Salman  and  his 
orphans. 

XXXIII.  What  in  the  second?  — ^n5.  Abu-Abd-ir- 
Kalman. 

XXXIY.  What  in  the  third  '?—Ans,  Abu-al-Ula. 

XXX Y.  What  in  the  fourth  ?— 4/25.  Abu-Khalid. 

XXXVI.  What  in  the  fifth?— .4n5.  Yahya  ibn- 
Maamar. 

XXX YII.  What  in  the  sixth? — Ans.  Abu-Mohammed 
Djabir. 

XXXYIIL  What  ill  the  seventh? — Ans,  Abu-Ismaeel 
Mohammed. 

XXXIX.  What  in  the  eighth?  —  Ans,  Abu-Abdallah 
al  Mufdal. 

[Note.— Properly  Mufudhal.] 

XL.  What  in  the  ninth  ?  —  Ans,  Abu-Djaafar  Moham- 
med. 

XLI.  What  in  the  tenth  ?  —  Ans,  Abu-al-Kasim. 


II 


\ 


ANSAIREE   CATECHISM.  275 

XLII.  What  in  the  eleventh? — Ans.  Khatib  Mohammed. 

[Note. — Here  Dr.  Wolff  has  evidently  made  a  mistake  from  glancing 
quickly  at  the  manuscript.  The  Bab  given  in  my  MS.  is  Abu-Shuaib 
Mohammed  ibn-Nusair  in-Numeyree,  the  name  of  the  last  of  whose 
orphans  is  given  as  Ahmed  ihn- Mohammed  ibn-il-Furat  il  Katib  (or 
scribe);  which  name  Dr.  Wolff  has  taken  by  an  oversight  as  that  of  the 
Bab.] 

XLIII.  What  are  the  names  of  our  Lord,  Emeer  il 
Moomeneen,  in  the  various  languages  ?  —  Ans,  The  Arabs 
have  given  him  the  name  of  Ali ;  he  himself  has  taken  the 
name  of  Aristotle.  In  the  New  Testament  he  is  called 
Elias,  which  means  Ali.     The  Indians  call  him  Kankara. 

XLIY.  What  are  the  other  names  of  our  Lord,  with 
their  meaning  and  explanation  ?  —  Ans,  The  elements, 
the  law,  the  faith,  the  victory,  &c. 

XLY.  What  is  the  apparent  name  of  the  mother  of 
our  Lord  ?  —  Ans,  Fatimeh. 

[Note. — Fatimeh  was  the  name  also  of  his  wife,  the  daughter  of  Mo- 
hammed.] 

XL VI.  What  are  the  names  of  his  brothers  ?  —  Ans, 
Haraza,  Talib,  &;c. 

XLVII.  What  are  the  human  names  of  the  children  of 
our  Lord  ?  — Ans,  Hassan,  Hosein  ;  his  daughters,  Teynah, 
Umm  Kulthoom. 

XLVIII.  Where  is  his  grave  ?  —  Ans.  In  Dakwat  il 
Beyd,  west  of  Cufa. 

XLIX.  What  are  the  peculiar  names  belonging  to  him 
in  appearance  (in  iz-Zahir)?  —  Ans,  The  word,  eternity 
&c.  (twenty-nine  names). 

L.  Why  do  we  call  our  Lord  Emeer  in-Nahl  (Prince 
of  Bees)?  —  Ans,  The  true  believers  are  like  bees,  which 
seek  the  best  flowers.     Therefore  is  he  so  called. 

LI.  What  name  did  the  beings  give  him  who  inha- 
bited the  world  before  men  ?  —  Ans.  Al-Hoo.     "  He." 

LIL  What  are  the  spirits  called  who  inhabited  the 
world  before  men?  —  Ans.  They  are  the  Djann,  and  the 
Bann,  and  the  Tumm,  and  the  Ramm,  and  the  Djan. 

T  2 


276  THE   ASIAN  MYSTERY. 

LIIl.  How  many  worlds  are  there  ? — Ans.  Many  ;  God 
alone  knows  them  ;  among  them  are  the  great  luminous 
world,  and  the  little  earthly  world,  the  residence  of  men. 

LIV.  Which  is  the  great  world?  —  Ans,  The  heaven, 
which  is  the  light  of  lights. 

LV.  Which  is  the  little  world  ?  —  Ans.  The  earth. 

LYI.  What  does  the  great  world  include  ?  —  Ans,  The 
seven  hierarchies.  The  Abwab,  the  Aytam,  the  Nadjeebs, 
the  Naheebs,  the  Mukhtasseen,  the  Mukhliseen,  and  the 
Mumtahaneen. 

LVII.  What  are  the  names  of  the  degrees  of  the  seven 
hierarchies  ?  —  Ans,  Of  the  first,  which  numbers  400 
doors,  they  are  the  names,  the  lights,  the  clouds,  the 
suns,  &c. 

[Note. — I  give  the  names  of  the  respective  degrees  from  my  MS.  Of 
the  Abwab  they  are :  "  the  doors,  the  veils,  the  verse  (of  Koran),  the 
lights,  the  suns,  the  firmaments,  the  clouds."] 

L  VIII.  What  in  the  second  hierarchy  ?  —  Ans.  The 
500  orphans,  who  have  seven  degrees ;  namely,  the  stars, 
the  comets,  the  thunder,  &c. 

[Note. — The  east,  the  west,  the  moons,  the  new  moons,  the  stars,  the 
thunders,  the  lightnings.] 

LIX.  What  of  the  third?  — ^n5.  That  of  Naheebs, 
who  are  600,  and  have  seven  degrees ;  namely,  prayer, 
alms,  fasts,  pilgrimage,  the  Hadjrah,  the  holy  war,  the  in- 
vocation (namely,  of  those  who  are  considered  the  highest 
prophets). 

[Note. — These  names  are  the  same  in  my  MS.] 

LX.  What  of  the  fourth  ?  —  Ans.  Of  the  Nadjeebs, 
700  in  number,  and  in  seven  degrees  ;  the  mountains,  seas, 
clouds,  &c. 

[Note. — The  mountains,  rainy  clouds,  seas,  rivers,  winds,  clouds, 
thunderbolts.] 

LXI.  What  of  the  fifth?  — ^n5.  Of  the  Mukhtasseen, 
800  in  number,  in  seven  degrees  ;  as,  night,  day,  morning, 
&c. 

[Note. — Night,  day,  morning,  Ushee  (time  an  hour  and  a  half  after 
sunset),  travelling  in  the  morning,  the  afternoon,  floods.] 


ANSAIREE    CATECHISM.  277 

LXII.  What  of  the  sixth?  — ^/25.  Mukhliseen,  900  in 
number,  in  seven  degrees ;  as,  camels,  bees,  birds,  &c. 
[Note. — Cattle,  beasts,  camels,  bees,  birds,  cloisters,  conventicles.] 

LXIII.  What  in  the  seventh  ?  — ^n5.  The  Mumta- 
haneen,  1100  in  number,  in  seven  degrees;  houses, 
temples,  vines,  &c.  These  seven  hierarchies  make  to- 
gether forty-nine  degrees. 

[Note. — Houses,  places  of  worship,  palm  trees,  grapes,  pomegranates, 
olives,  figs.] 

LXIV.  How  were  these  hierarchies  called  in  the  world 
of  light,  before  their  appearance  in  the  earthly  world  ?  — 
Ans.  They  had  other  names  in  heaven. 

[Note. — I  will  add  what  is  said  in  my  MS.*,  because  of  its  absurdity 
and  curiosity :  — 

"  Now  these  names  belonged  to  them  (the  degrees)  previously,  before 
these  beneficial  things,  such  as  figs  and  olives  and  palm  trees  and 
grapes,  and  like  names  mentioned  in  the  words  of  the  Koran,  were  called 
so  by  us  in  the  world.  So  that  these  names  became  the  names  of  these 
beneficial  things  in  the  world  over-against  the  names  of  the  degrees  of 
the  hierarchies  in  the  luminous  world.  Thus  the  words  of  the  Koran 
in  their  outer  meaning  (iz-Zahir)  denote  the  beneficial  things  of  this 
world,  and  in  their  inner  meaning  (il-Batin)  the  names  of  the  degrees 
and  of  the  hierarchies  of  the  luminous  world."] 

LXY.  What  does  the  little  earthly  and  human  world  con- 
tain ? —  Ans.  14,000  near  ones,  15,000  sacrifices,  15,000 
cherubim,  16,000  spirits,  17,000  saints,  18,000  hermits, 
19,000  listeners,  20,000  followers;  in  all,  119,000  beings. 

LXVI.  What  are  the  names  of  the  Nadjeebs  of  the 
little  or  earthly  world  ?  (Here  follow  twenty-five  names, 
of  which  the  first  is  Abu- Ayoob,  and  the  last  Abdullah  ibn- 
Saba.) 

LXVII.  How  are  the  Nadjeebs  called  in  the  world  of 
light  ?  —  Ans,  The  lion,  virgin,  balance,  crab,  bull,  &c. 
(in  all  twenty- seven  names). 

[Note. — Probably  twenty-eight,  as  in  my  MS.,  being  the  names  of 
the  twenty-eight  mansions  of  the  moon.] 

LXVIII.  How  is  it  that  the  Nadjeebs  have  two  names, 
•  MS.  p.  29. 

T   3 


278  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

one  in  the  earthly  world,  and  the  other  in  the  world 
of  light  ?  (The  answer  is  only  that  they  have  just  two 
names.) 

LXIX.  What  are  the  names  of  those  who  have  been 
prophets,  and  how  many  of  them  are  there  ?  —  Ans. 
Seventeen.  The  first  is  called  Ibn-il-Haratee  (Zeid-ibn-il- 
Harithee),  and  the  last  Omar  ibn-el-Hamak. 

LX-X.  How  are  the  twenty-five  orphans  called  ?  (These 
are  utterly  unimportant  names.) 

LXXI.  How  many  books  have  the  Unitarians  ?  —  Ans. 
114. 

LXXII.  What  is  the  Koran  ?  —  Ans,  The  forerunner 
of  the  appearance  of  our  Lord  in  human  form. 

LXXIII.  Who  taught  Mohammed  the  Koran  ?  —  Ans. 
Our  Lord,  who  is  the  Maana,  by  the  mouth  of  Gabriel. 

LXXIV'.  What  is  the  token  of  our  brethren  the  true 
believers?  —  Ans,  A.  M.  S.  A.  means  Ali ;  M.  Moham- 
med; S.  Sals?/". 

LXXY.  Is  it  true  that  the  Messiah  was  crucified,  as 
the  Christians  assert  ?  —  Ans.  No ;  the  Jews  were  de- 
ceived by  a  resemblance.     (Kor.  iii.  163.) 

LXXYI.  What  is  the  mass  ?  —  Ans.  The  consecration 
of  the  wine,  which  is  drunk  to  the  health  of  the  Nakeeb  or 
Nadjeeb. 

(Die  Weihung  des  Weines,  den  man  trinkt  auf  die  Ge- 
sundheit  des  Nakib's  oder  Nadschib's.) 

QNoTE. — This  expression,  "  drink  to  the  health  of,"  is  probablj  due  to 
a  faulty  translation  of  Dr.  Wolff's.] 

LXXYIL  What  is  the  ofi'ering  (Kurb^n)  ?  —  Ans. 
The  consecration  of  the  bread,  which  the  true  believers 
take  in  hand  for  the  souls  of  their  brethren,  and  on  that 
account  the  mass  is  read. 

LXXVin.  Who  reads  the  mass,  and  brings  the  offer- 
ing ?  —  Ans.  Your  great  imams  and  preachers. 

LXXIX.  What  is  the  great  secret  (mystery)  of  God  ? 
—  Ans.  The  flesh  and  the  blood,  of  which  Jesus  has  said: 
"  This  is  my  flesh  and  my  blood ;  eat  and  drink  thereof, 
for  it  is  eternal  life." 


ANSAIREE    CATECHISM.  279 

LXXX.  Where  do  the  souls  of  your  brethren,  the  true 
believers,  go  when  they  leave  their  graves  ?  —  Ans.  Into 
the  great  world  of  light. 

LXXXI.  What  will  happen  to  the  godless  and  poly- 
theists?  —  Ans.  They  will  have  all  torments  to  suffer  in  all 
ages. 

LXXXIL  What  is  the  mystery  of  the  faith  of  the 
Unitarians  ?  What  is  the  mystery  c "  mysteries  and  chief 
article  of  faith  of  the  true  believers  ?  —  Ans.  It  is  the 
veiling  of  our  Lord  in  light,  that  is,  in  the  eye  of  the 
sun,  and  his  manifestation  in  his  servant  Abd-in-Noor. 

L XX  XIII.  What  will  happen  to  those  who  doubt  this 
mystery,  after  they  have  once  acknowledged  it  ?  —  Ans, 
They  will  be  reprobated,  &c. 

LXXXIY.  What  are  the  stipulations  which  the  believer 
must  enter  on,  if  he  will  receive  the  secret  of  secrets  ?  — 
Ans.  He  must,  before  all  things,  assist  his  brethren  with  all 
his  means  ;  he  must  give  them  the  fifth  parr,  of  his  goods  : 
he  must  pray  at  the  appointed  hours  ;  fulfil  his  obligations  ; 
give  to  all  their  dues ;  obey  his  Lord,  invoke  him,  thank 
him,  often  pronounce  his  name,  in  all  points  submit  him- 
self to  his  will,  and  keep  himself  from  everything  that 
may  displease  him. 

LXXXV.  What  is  the  second  thing  which  the  believer 
must  keep  himself  from  ? — Ans.  From  afi^ronting  or  injur- 
ing his  brethren. 

LXXXYI.  Is  the  believer  allowed  to  make  known  to 
any  one  the  secret  of  secrets  ? — Ans.  Only  to  those  of  his 
religion,  else  will  he  lose  the  favour  of  God. 

LXXXVII.  What  is  the  first  mass?— ^W5.  It  is  that 
which  is  spoken  before  the  prayer  of  Nurooz. 

LXXXYIII.  What  is  the  prayer  of  Nurooz  ?—Ans. 
The  words  of  consecration  of  the  wine  in  the  chalice. 

LXXXIX.  Say  that  prayer.  Among  other  things,  it 
is  said :  "  Drink  of  this  pure  wine,  for  one  day  its  lights 
will  be  covered  with  thick  clouds." 

[Note. — This  translation  differs  from  the  one  given  by  me,  Chap.IX.^ 

T  4 


280  THE   ASIAN  MYSTERY. 

which  was  made  with  the  assistance  of  a  competent  Mussulman  sheikh 
of  Cairo,  and  is  I  believe  the  true  one.] 

XC.  What  is  the  consecrated  wine  called  which  the  be- 
lievers drink  ? — Ans,  Abd-in-Noor. 

XCI.  Wherefore  so? — Ans,  Because  God  has  manifested 
himself  in  the  same. 

XCI  I.  What  is  the  concealed  secret  of  God,  which 
stands  between  the  K  and  N? — Ans.  Light,  according  to 
his  word :  "  Let  there  be  light,  and  there  was  light." 

XCIIL  What  is  light  ?—Ans.  The  eternal  Maana,  which 
is  concealed  in  light. 

XCIV.  If  our  Lord  is  concealed  in  light,  where  does  he 
manifest  himself  ? — Ans,  In  the  wine,  as  is  said  in  the 
Nurooz. 

XCY.  Why  does  the  believer  direct  his  face,  when  he 
prays,  towards  the  sun  ? — Ans,  Know  that  the  sun  is  the 
light  of  lights. 

XCVI.  Why  do  we  say  that  our  Lord  makes  turnings 
(transmigrations)  and  revolutions  ? — The  answer,  which  is 
no  answer,  is :  He  does  so,  and  manifests  himself  periodi- 
cally in  all  revolutions  and  periods,  from  Adam  to  the  son 
of  Abu-Talib. 

XCVII.  What  do  the  outer  and  inner  word  denote? — 
Ans.  The  inner,  the  Godhead  of  our  Lord  ;  the  outer,  his 
manhood.  Outwardly  we  say  that  he  is  spoken  of  as 
"  Our  Lord,  Ali  son  of  Abu-Talib :  "  and  this  denotes  in- 
wardly the  Maana,  the  Ism,  and  the  Bab ;  one  gracious 
and  compassionate  God. 

XCVIII.  Which  of  our  sheikhs  spread  our  faith  in  all 
lands  ? — Ans.  Abu-Abdullah  Al  Husein  ibn-Hamd4n. 

XCIX.  Why  do  we  hear  the  name  of  the  Khasaibis  ? — 
Ajis,  Because  we  follow  the  teaching  of  our  sheikh  Abu- 
Abdullah  Al  Husein  ibn-Hamd^n  il  Khasaibi. 

[Note. — 1  have  always  written  this  word  Khaseebee  (the  absence  of 
vowel  points  admitting  of  both  readings),  as  my  lad  says  that  the  word 
is  so  pronounced  by  his  people.] 

C.  Let  me  know  the  names  of  the  persons  of  prayer  and 
the  obligatory  and  free-will  times  of  the   same? — Ans, 


ANSAIREE   CATECHISM.  281 

The  first  obligatory  time  is  midday ;  the  prayer  at  this 
time  has  eight  prostrations:  the  second  that  of  five 
hours  after  midday ;  this  prayer  has  four  prostrations  : 
the  third  is  of  sunset,  with  five  prostrations :  the  fourth 
of  midnight,  with  four  prostrations :  the  fifth  of  the 
dawn,  with  two  prostrations.  Between  every  two  of  these 
obligatory  times  of  prayer  are  those  of  free  will. 

This  is  the  theoretical  part  of  the  catechism.  In  the 
second,  practical  portion,  there  is  first  given  a  general  for- 
mula of  prayer ;  then  follows  a  formula  for  mass.  Ac- 
cording to  this,  when  the  cup  is  given,  these  words  are 
spoken  :  "  Drink,  my  brother,  of  my  cup  ;  may  its  contents 
be  holiness  and  health  to  you  !  Let  me  drink  of  your  cup  ; 
may  God  let  you  sometime  drink  of  the  hand  of  Salsal,  to 
quench  your  thirst  in  the  day  of  the  great  thirst !  " 

[Note. — Here  again  I  suspect  that  the  translation  of  Dr.  Wolff  is 

erroneous.] 

At  this  time  also  the  healths  are  drunk  of  Ali,  Mohammed, 
Abu- Abdullah,  and  the  sheikh  for  the  time  being  (i.  e.  the 
present  head  of  the  sect) ;  during  which  Sooras  from  the 
Koran,  as  that  of  the  Mountain,  are  read;  also  there  are 
many  prostrations. 

[Note. — The  expression,  "  drink  to  the  health  of  Ali,"  &c.,  is  doubtless 
an  erroneous  translation.     See  above.] 

After  the  formula  of  mass  follows  the  formula  which  must 
be  said  on  reception  into  the  community.  According  to  this, 
among  other  things,  to  the  question  "  What  do  you  wish?" 
it  must  be  answered :  "  I  desire  that  my  lord  would  make 
my  head  free  from  the  yoke  of  slavery  ;  that  he  will  direct 
me  into  the  true  perception  of  the  Lord,  that  he  will  take 
me  out  of  the  darkness  of  delusion,  and  will  give  me  to 
live  in  everlasting  life.''  At  the  conclusion  of  this  formula, 
the  proselyte,  who  at  each  question  must  declare  that  he 
will  learn  to  know  the  Highest  Being,  is  admonished  to 
avoid  lies  and  all  wicked  actions.  At  the  oath,  which  he 
takes  after  a  set  formula,  all  the  assembly  throw  themselves 
upon  their  knees.     The  conclusion  of  the  formulary  is  a 


282  THE   ASIAN  MYSTERY. 

formula  for  marriage  settlements.     A  kind  of  calendar  of 
festivals  follows  as  an  appendix. 

[Note. — Has  Dr.  Wolff  mistaken,  through  haste,  the  Akad,  or  contract 
between  the  boy  and  his  Seyyid,  for  a  contract  for  marriage  ?] 


I  propose  next  to  give  a  translation  of  the  paper  sent  by 
M.  Catafago  to  the  "  Journal  Asiatique  *,  "  because  I  have 
had  frequently  to  refer  to  it,  and  it  may  not  easily  be 
procurable  by  English  readers. 

Letter  to  M,  Wildenhruch,  Prussian  Consul-General. 

Sir,  —  I  have  the  honour  to  announce  to  you  that  I 
have  just  made  the  discovery  and  acquisition  of  an  An- 
sairee  MS.  of  the  greatest  interest. 

This  manuscript,  in  410  pages  4to,  is  entitled  "  Collec- 
tion of  Feasts,  Proofs,  and  Veritable  Traditions,  with  their 
signs  and  significations,  which  ought  not  to  be  revealed 
either  to  father  or  mother,  or  brother  or  sister ;  composed 
by  the  very  illustrious  and  virtuous  learned  young  sheikh, 
the  source  of  goodness,  and  of  the  Unitarian  religion,  of 
virtue  and  devotion,  Abu-Saeed  Mayraoon,  son  of  Kasim 
at-Tabaranee.  May  God  sanctify  his  soul,  and  illuminate 
his  tomb !  " 

After  this  title  the  author  commences  with  a  preface, 
which  is  a  solemn  profession  of  faith,  in  which  he  renders 
thanks  to  Ali  as  God,  in  whom  he  distinguishes  three 
principles.  1.  The  divinity,  properly  so  called,  or  the 
essence  of  beings.  2.  Light,  or  the  veil  (Hedj^b),  which 
manifests  itself  to  men  under  their  own  form,  in  the  person 
of  the  apostles  and  prophets.  3.  The  Door,  Bab,  which 
is  the  faithful  spirit  or  water. 

After  this  preface  the  author  passes  to  the  subject  of  the 
work,  and  declares  that  he  had  received  these  facts,  by 
tradition,  from  one  of  the  twelve  imams,  called  Al  Aalim, 
at  Tripoli  of  Syria,  in  fhe  year  398  of  the  Hedjrah  (a.d. 

*  Feb.  1848.     Notice  sur  les  Ans^riens. 


M.    CATAFAGO*S   PAPER.  283 

1007).  He  divides  the  feasts  of  his  co-religionists  into 
two  categories  —  Arab  and  Persian;  and  gives  an  enu- 
meration of  them,  reserving  the  treatment  of  each  one  in 
particular,  and  the  exposition  of  the  prayers,  histories, 
discourses,  &c.,  which  belong  to  each  of  them,  for  the 
body  of  the  work. 

Although  the  simple  titles  of  the  chapters  contained  in 
this  volume  are  not  sufficient  to  give  an  idea  of  the  interest 
which  this  work  oflfers,  nevertheless  I  will  transcribe  the 
list  according  to  the  order  established  by  the  author 
himself :  — 

I.  History  of  the  month  of  Ramadan,  after  the  traditions 
of  our  lords.     May  peace  be  with  them  ! 

II.  Prayer  of  the  month  of  Ramadan. 

III.  Of  the  feast  called  Fitr. 

TV,  Discourse  of  the  feast  of  Fitr. 

V.  Prayer  of  the  feast  of  Fitr. 

YI.  Of  the  feast  of  the  sacrifice  (Adha). 

YII.  Prayer  of  the  same. 

YIII.  Explanation  of  the  seventy  names,  given  in  his 
dwelling,  by  Abu-Ali  of  Busra,  at  Shiraz,  a.  h.  327, 
(a.d.  938). 

IX.  Discourse  of  the  feast  of  Adha. 

X.  History  of  the  feast  of  Gadeer,  and  its  virtues. 

XI.  Poem  of  the  Gadeer,  by  the  Lord  Abu- Abdullah  al 
Khousseibi.* 

XII.  Prayer. 

XIII.  Discourse  of  the  feast  of  Gadeer. 
XIY.  Another  discourse  for  the  same  feast. 

XY.  Discourse  of  the  Gadeer,  pronounced  by  our  Lord, 
the  Prince  of  true  believers. 
XYI.  Idem. 

X  YII.  History  of  II  Kahree. 
XYIIL  OfthefeastofMubahileh. 
XIX.  Of  the  transfigurations  (of  the  Deity). 

*  My  lad  says  that  his  people  pronounce  the  word  Khaseebee  as  I 
have  written  it. 


284  THE    ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

XX.  Of  the  letter  Cam,  which  has  a  mystic  significa- 
tion in  the  transfigurations  (Tadjallee). 
XXL  Prayer  of  the  feast  of  Mubahileh. 

XXII.  Another  prayer. 

XXIII.  Of  the  prayer  of  the  bed. 
XXIY.  Poem  of  the  feast  of  the  bed. 
XXY.  Prayer  of  the  feast  of  the  bed. 

XXVI.  Of  the  feast  of  Aashoor. 

XXVII.  The  day  of  Kerbela  (followed  by  three  poems). 

XX VIII.  Absence  and  manifestation  of  the  Divinity. 

XXIX.  History  of  Tafoof. 

XXX.  Visitation  of  day  of  Aashoor. 

XXXI.  Another  visitation. 

XXXII.  Slaughter  of  Dalam.    (May  Allah  curse  him  !) 

XXXIII.  Prayer  of  the  day  of  the  slaughter  of  Dalam. 

XXXIV.  Mid-Shaban,  or  the  last  day  of  the  Khaseebee 
year. 

XXXV.  History  of  the  Naheeb  Mohammed  ibn-Sinan. 

XXXVI.  Visitation  called  Numeyreyeh. 

XXXVII.  A  second  visitation. 

XXXVIII.  A  third  visitation. 

XXXIX.  Prayer  of  Mid-Shaban. 

XL.  History  of  ZalM  and  B^l.  May  Allah  curse  both 
of  them ! 

XLI.  History  of  Mid-Shaban. 

XLII.  History  of  Christmas  Eve  *,  which  is  the  twenty- 
fourth  day  of  December  of  the  Greek  calendar;  or  the 
birth-day  of  the  Lord,  the  Messiah,  of  the  holy,  pure,  and 
spotless  Virgin,  Mary,  daughter  of  Amran. 

[Note. — In  appearance,  so  the  Arabic  given  by  M.  Catafago  in  this 
case.] 

XLIV.  Prayer  of  the  feast  of  Christmas. 
XLV.  The  1 7th  of  March,  extracted  from  the  book  of 
the  luminous  transmigrations  and  revolutions. 
XLVL  Prayer  of  the  17th  of  March. 

*  That  is,  the  commencement  of  Christmas-day  in  the  East. 


II 


m:.  catafago's  paper.  285 

XLVII.  Of  the  Nurooz,  which  is  the  fourth  of  April, 
and  the  first  of  the  Persian  year. 

XLY III.  History  of  the  chaplet. 

XLIX.  History  of  the  inner  meaning  of  the  Nurooz. 

L.  Idem. 

lil.  History  of  the  Nurooz,  and  of  the  good  and  alms- 
giving which  one  ought  to  perform  on  it. 

LII.  Of  the  Mihrdjan  and  Nurooz. 

LI  11.  Prayer  to  the  sun. 

LIY.  Prayer  of  the  Nurooz. 

LV.  Discourse  of  the  Nurooz. 

LYI.  Prayer  of  the  Mihrdjan. 

LVII.  Another  prayer  for  the  Mihrdjan. 

Such  are  the  matters  contained  in  this  work.  I  have 
thought  it  right  to  give  them  according  to  the  order  fol- 
lowed by  the  author ;  but  it  is  only  by  reading  the  work 
itself  that  one  can  appreciate  its  importance.  It  leaves 
nothing  to  be  desired  in  details,  and  makes  fully  known  the 
religion  of  the  Ansaireeh. 

I  am  led  to  believe  that,  with  the  aid  of  this  manuscript 
and  of  the  catechism  which  you  already  possess,  one  could 
do  for  the  Ansairee  religion  what  M.  De  Sacy  has  done 
for  the  religion  of  the  Druses.  Meanwhile,  I  will  attempt 
to  translate  the  most  interesting  passages,  the  manuscript 
being  too  voluminous  to  allow  me  to  translate  it  entirely, 
as  I  should  have  desired. 

In  the  hope  that  you  will  deign  to  indicate  to  me  the 
course  I  should  take,  &c.  &c. 

I  am,  &c. 

J.   CATAFAGO. 


OF   THE   EVE   OF   CHRISTMAS   AND    ITS   VIRTUES. 

Christmas-eve  *  is  the  twenty-fourth  of  December ;  it  is 
the  last  day  of  the  Greek  year,  and  is  part  of  the  last 
quarter  of  the  month. 

*  See  previous  note. 


286  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

The  Lord,  the  Messiah  (may  peace  be  with  him !) 
manifested  *  in  that  night  his  birth  of  the  holy,  pure,  and 
spotless  Virgin  Mary,  daughter  of  Amran  (so  Mohammed 
styles  the  father  of  the  blessed  Virgin),  of  which  God  has 
made  mention  in  his  holy  book,  where  he  praises  it  in 
these  terms :  "  Mary,  the  daughter  of  Amran,  preserved 
her  virginity  intact ;  we  breathed  our  spirit  on  her ;  she 
believed  in  the  word  of  her  Lord,  gave  credence  to  his 
books,  and  was  obedient/' 

However,  she  is  none  other,  in  the  Mohammedan  Dome 
(period),  than  Amina,  daughter  of  Wahab,  mother  of 
our  lord  Mohammed.  Many  of  our  co-religionists  say 
that  she  is  the  same  as  Fatima  (may  peace  be  with 
her  !)  ;  they  base  their  assertion  on  the  words  which  our 
lord  Mohammed  addressed  to  her  once  when  she  entered 
his  presence :  "  Come  in,  0  thou  who  art  the  mother  of 
thine  own  father  f  or,  as  others  say,  "  Welcome,  0  thou 
who  art  the  mother  of  thine  own  father."  But  the 
prophet  only  used  this  language  to  her  to  indicate  that 
she  was  the  mother  of  the  three  letters  H,  that  is  to  say, 
Hasan,  Hosein,  and  Mohsin. 

As  to  the  mother  of  our  lord  Mohammed,  she  was  no 
other  than  Amina,  daughter  of  Wahab,  who,  under  the 
name  of  Mary,  gave  birth  under  the  Christian  Dome  to 
the  lord  the  Messiah,  in  the  same  way  that  lord  Mo- 
hammed manifested  his  birth  in  his  mother  Amina, 
daughter  of  Wahab.  The  proof  of  what  I  advance  is  the 
recital  which  my  lord  and  sheikh  made  to  me.  He  said 
to  me :  "  Having  betaken  myself  to  my  lord,  the  virtuous 
Sheikh  Abu-il-Hosein  Mohammed,  son  of  Ali  Al  Djalee, 
and  having  questioned  him,  among  other  things,  about 
Mary,  daughter  of  Amran,  he  replied  to  me  that  she  was 
the  same  who,  in  the  Mohammedan  period,  was  called 
Amina,  daughter  of  Wahab,  mother  of  lord  Mohammed, 

*  The  word  translated  by  M.  Catafago  "  manifested,"  appears  from  a 
small  portion  of  the  Arabic  text  given  by  him  to  be  the  word  Zahir, 
meaning  that  the  manifestation  and  birth  were  merely  in  appearance. 


M.    CATAFAGO'S   PArER.  287 

(may  peace  be  with  him  !)*'  Pie  added  that  God  Iiad  spoken 
of  her,  in  his  revealed  book,  in  these  terms :  "  Celebrated 
is  Mary,  in  the  book  par  excellence ;  celebrated  is  the  day 
in  which  she  separated  herself  from  her  family,  on  the  side 
of  the  East :  she  took  in  secret  a  veil  which  belonged  not 
to  her  parents,  and  we  sent  her  our  spirit  under  a  human 
form.  The  compassionate  one  is  my  refuge,  cried  she, 
&c.  &c."* 

Our  lord  El  Khaseebee  has  spoken  on  the  subject  of 
the  holy  virgin  in  his  poem,  which  commences  with  these 
words :  — 

"  The  daughter  of  Amran,  Mary,  having  presented  her 
son  to  her  family,  God  caused  him  to  speak,  although  he 
was  in  his  cradle.  I  am  the  servant  of  God,  said  the 
child  to  them ;  he  will  save  me.  I  am  his  spirit,  whom 
he  has  sanctified.  It  is  he  who  has  created  me ;  if  he 
will,  he  can  make  me  live,  or  make  me  die." 

Besides,  God  has  said,  in  another  passage  of  his  holy 
book :  "  We  presented  Jesus  and  his  mother  to  the  ad- 
miration of  the  universe;  we  took  them  to  a  place  of 
sojourning,  where  dwells  peace  and  flows  pure  water." 

Our  lord  El  Khaseebee  has  spoken  on  the  subject  of  the 
pure  virgin  in  his  poem  which  commences  with  these 
words :  "  In  a  dwelling  where  sojourns  peace  and  flows 
pure  water,  Mary  brought  forth  Jesus  Christ,  the  Messiah, 
the  Redeemer,  whom  I  love  sincerely."  The  celestial 
degrees  of  Ahmed  (the  name  by  which  Mohammed  says 
he  was  mentioned  in  the  gospels),  for  which  I  give  my 
soul,  are  between  the  letter  h  and  the  letter  L  The  lord 
Christ  (may  peace  be  with  him !)  eflected  his  birth 
through  the  Virgin,  and  spake  miraculously,  as  has  said 
our  lord  in  his  book  :  "  He  will  make  his  word  be  heard 
by  men,  from  the  cradle  to  old  age,  and  will  be  of  the 
number  of  the  Just." 

Since,  then,  the  lord  Christ  (may  peace  be  with  him !) 

*  See  Koran,  ch.  iii. 


288  THE   ASEAN  MYSTERY. 

spoke  in  this  night,  and  manifested  himself  in  it,  it  has 
been  sanctified  and  honoured. 

It  is,  then,  the  duty  of  the  faithful  to  sanctify  and 
honour  this  same  night  as  it  deserves,  and  to  bless  it  by 
prayers  addressed  to  God. 

Prayer  of  the  Eve  of  Christmcbs, 

Thou  shalt  say :  "  0  Lord  my  God,  thou  art  the  lofty 
and  great  One,  the  Sole,  the  only  One,  the  eternal ;  thou 
hast  neither  been  born,  nor  hast  begotten,  nor  hast  thou 
any  equal.  Thou  hast  manifested  in  this  night  thy 
Name,  which  is  thy  Soul,  thy  Veil,  thy  Throne,  to  all 
creatures  as  a  child  and  under  human  form ;  whilst  that, 
with  thee,  this  same  Name  is  the  greatest  and  most 
sacred  thing  of  all  that  is  found  in  thy  kingdom.  Thou 
hast  manifested  it  to  men  to  prove  thine  eternity  and  thy 
divinity.  Thou  wilt  manifest  thyself  to  them  in  the 
person  of  thy  demonstration,  to  recompense  those  who 
shall  have  recognised  thy  divinity  at  the  epoch  when 
thou  calledst  to  thy  religion,  in  sacrificing  thyself  for 
their  redemption.  Most  blessed  Lord,  my  God,  who  is 
so  great  as  to  be  put  in  comparison  with  thee  ?  Who  is 
so  wise  as  to  attain  to  thy  wisdom  ?  Who  is  so  merciful  as 
to  be  so  as  much  as  thou  art  ?  Who  is  so  generous  as  to 
attain  to  the  same  degree  of  generosity  as  thyself  ?  Thou 
fillest  all  creatures  with  thy  bounty.  Thou  callest  to 
them  by  thy  benevolence,  thy  periodic  manifestations  in 
the  turnings  (transmigrations)  and  revolutions.  Thy 
mercy  fills  those  who  have  been  already  the  object  of  thine 
infinite  goodness. 

"  I  adjure  thee,  0  Lord,  my  God,  by  thy  most  great 
Maana,  by  thy  great  Ism,  and  by  thy  honourable  Bab,  to 
increase  in  us  thy  favour;  I  adjure  thee,  0  Lord,  by  the 
merits  of  this  night,  not  to  deprive  our  hearts  of  thy 
knowledge.  After  having  placed  us  in  thy  right  way,  grant 
to  us,  0  Lord,  entire  mercy,  pardon,  forgiveness,  and  in- 


M.    CATAFAGO'S   PAPER.  289 

(lulgence  for  our  sins ;  make  us  hope  to  meet  thee ;  grant  us 
thy  satisfaction,  and  give  us  what  none  other  but  thee  can 
give. 

"  0  Lord,  our  God,  suffer  us  not  to  be  deprived  of  thy 
favour,  nor  to  be  subjected  to  those  who  would  lead  us  to 
adore  another  besides  thee.  0  Prince  of  bees,  great  Ali, 
be  our  aid  and  refuge !  "  Here  you  will  make  a  prostration, 
praying  for  thyself  and  thy  brethren,  that  God  will  hear 
your  wishes  and  prayers. 


OF   THE   DAY   OF   NUROOZ. 

The  feast  of  Nurooz  is  celebrated  every  year,  for  ever,  on 
the  4th  day  of  April.  It  is  the  first  day  of  the  Persian 
year,  of  the  month  called  Afzooz  dermah.*  It  is  a  very 
holy  and  solemn  day,  and  of  very  great  merit  with  God 
and  our  lords.     May  you  rely  on  them ! 

I  proceed,  then,  with  the  aid  of  God,  to  recount  to  you 
the  great  wonders  which  have  been  effected  this  day; 
which  I  hold  in  part  by  tradition  from  our  lords,  and 
have  in  part  drawn  from  our  books. 

Know  then  (may  God  direct  you  in  the  path  of  his 
obedience !)  that  the  kings  of  the  line  of  Chosroes  sancti- 
fied this  day  and  recognised  its  excellence.  They  carried 
on  this  day  crowns  of  myrtle  and  chrysanthemums,  and 
celebrated  the  ceremony  of  sprinkling  with  water.  For 
this  reason  the  day  has  been  called  Nurooz.  The  kings  of 
the  line  of  Chosroes  celebrated  this  festival  in  felicitations 
to  one  another,  and  in  sending  presents  consisting  of 
myrtle,  chrysanthemums,  and  olive  branches;  they  re- 
garded this  day  as  fruitful  in  great  blessings. 

The  Lord  (may  he  be  glorified  !)  manifested  himself  in 
the  person  of  the  Persian  kings,  and  it  is  in  them  that  he 
eflfected  the  manifestations  of  his  Names,  his  Doors,  and 

*  I  find  no    such  name  in  Richardson's   Persian  and  Arabic  dic- 
tionary. 

U 


290  THE    ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

his  sacred  hierarchies,  which  compose  the  great  world  of 
light. 

Our  lord  Al  Khaseebee  (may  God  sanctify  his  soul !)  has 
explained  to  us  this  point  in  one  of  his  epistles,  and  has 
rendered  it  clear  to  us  in  his  treatise  in  the  Seyakah. 

[Note. — The  Seyakah  refers  to  Gabriel,  Michael,  &c.,  the  bearers  of 
the  throne.] 

After  having  disappeared,  Adam  manifested  himself 
in  the  person  of  Enos;  the  Maana,  which  was  then  Seth, 
caused  him  to  disappear,  and  manifested  itself  under  his 
resemblance. 

Adam  having  manifested  himself  in  Alexander  of  the 
two  horns,  the  Maana,  which  was  then  Daniel,  caused 
him  to  disappear,  and  manifested  itself  under  his  re- 
semblance. 

Adam  then  manifested  himself  in  the  Persian  period,  in 
the  person  of  Ardesheer  son  of  Babek,  the  Persian,  the 
first  of  the  kings  of  the  line  of  Chosroes  [i.e.  the 
Sassanides] ;  and  the  Maana,  which  was  then  under  the 
form  of  "  the  two-horned,"*  caused  him  to  disappear,  and 
manifested  itself  under  his  resemblance. 

Adam  having  manifested  himself  in  the  person  of  Sapor 
son  of  Ardesheer,  the  Maana,  which  was  then  Ardesheer, 
caused  him  to  disappear,  and  manifested  itself  under  his 
resemblance. 

Adam  manifested  himself  next  in  the  Arab  periods,  and, 
in  the  first  place,  in  the  person  of  Lavva  [properly  Luai] 
son  of  Kaleb ;  this  last  was  called  Lavva,  he  who  turns 
aside,  because  he  turned  aside  the  lights  from  the  Persians, 
to  cause  them  to  reign  in  Arabia,  on  account  of  the  ma- 
nifestation in  that  country  of  the  Maana,  the  Ism,  and  the 
Bab. 

On  quitting  the  Persians  to  manifest  himself  with  the 
Arabs,  the  Divinity  delegated  to  the  first,    the   stations 

*  Alexander  is  called  the  two-horned,  from  his  coins,  in  which  he  is 
represented  with  horns,  as  the  son  of  Jupiter  Ammon. 


M.    CATAFAGO'S  PAPER.  291 

(Makaras)  of  liis  wisdom,  to  be  transmitted  successively 
to  their  kings,  and  designated,  as  personifications  of  the 
Maana,  the  Ism,  and  the  Bab,  those  called  Sherween, 
Karween,  and  Chosroes;  then  other  trinities  until  Chos- 
roes,  Abraarim,  and  Anoorshirwan  :  but  a  change  having 
taken  place  in  this  last,  who  gave  himself  up  to  pride,  and 
disobeyed  our  lord  Mohammed*,  the  Persians  lost  their 
royalty  through  their  disobedience.  However,  their  Ma- 
kams  continued  to  celebrate  the  Nurooz  and  the  Mihrdjan  ; 
they  carried  on  them  chaplets  of  chrysanthemums,  myrtle, 
and  olive  branches ;  they  practised  the  ceremony  of  sprink- 
ling, as  well  as  all  the  other  usages  of  the  festival  of 
Nurooz. 

All  the  Persians  observed  these  solemnities,  since  they 
had  been  instituted  by  the  Makams  ;  as  the  Arab  festivals 
are  the  institution  of  our  lord  Mohammed  (may  his  peace 
be  upon  us!),  who  instituted  in  the  Mohammedan  period 
the  three  Arab  festivals,  namely,  that  of  Fitr,  that  of  II 
Adha,  and  that  of  Gadeer.  Thus  was  established  the  duty 
of  celebrating  always  and  for  ever  all  these  festivals ;  by 
the  Persians  as  an  annual  solemnity  consecrated  by  their 
kings  in  their  periods,  and  by  the  Arabs  as  institutions 
prescribed  in  the  Mohammedan  period,  in  virtue  of  orders 
given  to  that  effect  by  lord  Mohammed.  All  these  festivals, 
then,  will  be  celebrated  until  the  future  manifestation  of 
the  Kaim  [chief,  i.e.  the  last  imam],  (may  his  peace  be 
with  you !). 

Our  lord  Al  Khaseebee  (may  God  honour  his  Mak^m  !), 
in  speaking  of  the  merits  of  the  Persians  as  personifications 
of  the  Bab,  in  another  chapter  of  his  treatise  attributes  to 
them  wisdom,  because  the  Maana  and  the  Ism  manifested 
themselves  in  them  in  the  two  Makams  of  their  first  kings, 


*  It  is  curious  to  see  the  connexion  and  sympathy  existing  between 
all  the  secret  heretical  sects  of  the  East.  Anoorshirwan  exterminated 
the  socialist  followers  of  Masdek,  a  Magian  sect  who  had  even  gained 
over  his  father  Kobad  ;  and  we  see  that  for  this  he  has  a  bad  name  with 
this  Ansairee  author. 

u  2 


292  THE   ASIAN  MYSTERY. 

namely,  Ardesheer  son  of  Babek,  and  Sapor  his  son  ;  he 
adds,  moreover,  that  the  Persian  kings  have  inherited 
wisdom,  which  was  transmitted  in  them  to  the  last  trinity, 
namely,  Sherween,  Karween,  and  Chosroes.  These  three 
kings  have  the  same  degree  of  wisdom  as  the  Maana,  the 
Ism,  and  the  Bab,  of  which  they  are  the  servants,  since 
they  recognise  them.* 

The  Lord  on  quitting  the  Persians  deposited  his  wisdom 
with  them.  He  left  them  well  content  with  them,  and 
promised  them  to  return.  It  is  he  himself  who  said  with 
respect  to  this :  "  The  Most  High  had  deposited  his  mystery 
with  you  (the  Arabs),  and  it  was  among  you  that  he 
manifested  his  great  works.  He  had  destined  you  for  re- 
ceiving it,  but  you  have  lost  it ;  while  the  Persians  have 
preserved  it,  even  after  its  disappearance,  by  the  means  of 
the^r^  and  light  in  which  he  manifested  himself.'^ 

The  Lord  said,  in  the  history  of  Moses,  that  when  he 
saw  the  burning  bush  he  said  to  his  family  :  *'  Stop,  I  per- 
ceive fire.  Perhaps  I  shall  bring  you  a  piece  of  burning 
wood  to  warm  you."  When  he  had  approached,  a  voice 
cried  to  him :  '*  Moses,  I  am  thy  God  ;  put  off  thy  shoes, 
thou  art  in  the  holy  valley  of  Torva."  f 

We  read  in  the  treatise  of  Fikh  (instruction),  "  The 
Persians  have  sanctified  jire^  from  which  they  await  the 
manifestation  of  the  Divinity;"  and,  in  fact,  the  manifesta- 
tion will  take  place  among  them,  for  they  await  this  same 
manifestation,  and  the  accomplishment  of  the  promises  of 
the  Divinity  in  that  element. 

It  is,  then,  for  this  reason  that  the  Persians  celebrate 
the  Nurooz  and  the  ceremony  of  chaplets. 


*  These  words  tend  to  explain  the  incongruity  of  the  preceding  with 
the  general  system  of  tlie  Ansairecli.  These  Persian  kings  are  not  true 
manifestations  of  tlie  Maana,  the  Ism,  and  the  Bab,  but  in  some  sense 
representations  of  tliem.  I  may  add  that  I  have  had  only  the  French 
translation  by  M.  Catafago  to  follow;  I  should  have  much  preferred  to 
have  had  the  original  Arabic  text. 

f  Koran. 


M.    CATAFAGO'S   PAPER.  293 

Extract  from  the  Chapter  entitled  "  The  Mystical  Sense  of  the 
Nurooz,  eocplained  by  the  Imam  Is-Sadik  to  Omar  el  Mouf- 
del:'* 

When  God  created  Adam  lie  commanded  the  angels  to 
adore  him,  and  they  did  so.  The  same  order  being  given 
to  the  devil  (Iblees),  he  and  his  refused  from  pride  to 
submit  to  it.  The  believers  were  then  luminous  bodies, 
inanimate.  Iblees  and  his  companions  entered  them, 
admiring  their  splendour,  and  were  much  astonished  at 
their  own  obscurity,  without  however  understanding  the 
reason  of  the  difference. 

Then,  after  God  had  formed  Adam  after  the  model  of 
these  bodies,  after  he  had  caused  him  to  be  adored  by  the 
angels,  and  Iblees  had  disobeyed,  saying  that  he  was  of  a 
superior  nature  to  these  bodies,  since  he  could  enter  into 
them  without  their  being  able  to  enter  into  him,  God 
ordered  the  clouds  to  rain  to  punish  Iblees ;  every  drop 
which  fell  on  one  of  the  bodies  animated  it,  since  these 
drops  were  but  souls  ;  this  rain  being  nothing  else  than 
the  essence  which  dwells  in  all  beings.  To  punish  Iblees 
the  more,  God  changed  the  disobedience  of  that  rebel  into 
fire,  which  should  devour  him  and  his.  Iblees,  seeing 
himself  on  the  point  of  perishing,  demanded  as  the  only 
favour  that  God  would  put  off  his  punishment  to  the  day 
of  the  resurrection  ;  but  God  granted  him  a  less  consider- 
able period,  and  it  was  put  off  only  to  the  day  of  the 
arrival  of  the  Mohdi,  who  is  to  punish  the  infidels  and 
merge  all  religions  into  one. 

It  is  for  this  reason  that  this  day  has  been  called  by 
God  Noor  (light).  The  Persians  have  called  it  Nurooz,  a 
word  derived  from  noor  and  zi^  which  signifies  a  see-sawf , 
alluding  to  the  transmigration  of  souls. 

*  Properly  Al  Mufaddal  ibn-Omar.  M.  Catafago  makes  the  same 
mistake  in  this  name  as  Dr.  Wolff.  El  Mufaddal  is  mentioned  as  the 
eighth  Door  to  the  chain  of  imams. 

f  I  have  already  given  the  true  derivation  of  Nurooz,  from  which 
will  appear  the  utter  ignorance  and  presumption  of  this  Ansairee 
"  doctor." 


294  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

As  to  water,  which  is  sprinkled  on  this  day,  it  is  the 
symbol  of  the  rain  which  animated  the  luminous  bodies. 

As  to  the  fire  which  is  lighted,  and  in  which  figures  like 
dolls  are  burned,  allusion  is  made  to  that  which  one  day 
will  devour  Iblees  and  his  companions. 

Extract  from  the  same  Cliajpter, 

Abu-il-Katib  says  that  he  who  acknowledges  the  excel- 
lence of  the  day  of  Nurooz  will  never  be  subject  to  the 
transmigration  of  souls. 

The  Imam  Djaafar-is-Sadik  adds,  after  Al  Moufdel  [pro- 
perly Mufaddal],  that  the  Maana  manifested  itself  in  the 
time  of  the  Persians  twice  each  year,  namely,  at  the  times 
of  the  change  from  cold  to  heat,  and  of  heat  to  cold. 

The  change  from  cold  to  heat  was  called  Nurooz ;  and 
that  from  heat  to  cold  Mihrdjan.  These  two  days  have 
been  held  sacred  by  the  Persians  as  days  of  great  solemnity, 
the  more  because  the  Maana  then  manifested  itself  in  trans- 
migrations among  them.  It  was  on  these  two  days  that 
he  effected  his  manifestation  by  the  chaplet  and  the  fleece, 
and  it  was  also  for  this  reason  that  the  Persians  celebrated 
on  these  two  days  the  ceremony  of  "  eating  and  drink- 
ing/' * 

Let  those  who  have  understanding  understand,  adds  Al 
Moufdel. 

The  day  of  Nurooz  is  celebrated  every  year,  on  the  4th 
of  April,  and  that  of  Mihrdjan  on  the  16th  of  October. 


I  will  now,  for  the  sake  of  completeness,  give  what 
Niebuhr  says  of  the  Ansairee  book  which  fell  into  his 
possession,  because,  though  it  may  be  easily  procured,  I 
wish  to  put  together  in  this  chapter  all  the  most  impor- 
tant documents  that  have  been  published  with  reference 

*  II  akl  wa  ish  shirb.  M.  Catafago,  Journ.  Asiat.  July  1848,  gives 
*'  takdees  il  akl  wa  ish  sliirb,"  the  consecration  of  the  food  and  drink,  as 
another  expression  for  kuddas,  the  mass. 


NiEBUim.  295 

« 
to  the  Ansaireeh.     This   extract  with  the  two  preceding 
includes   nearly   everything   trustworthy  that   has   been 
written  on  the  subject  of  their  religion. 

Niebuhr  says*  that  the  book  had  been  probably  found 
by  Turkish  officials  in  the  room  of  an  Ansairee,  whom 
they  had  surprised  in  the  night  and  taken  to  prison. 

"  It  is  the  original  book,  but  incomplete,  and  moreover 
badly  written,  and  so  full  of  obscure  expressions  that  the  au- 
thor says  himself  in  one  place  that  the  Ansaireehs  had  taken 
a  wall  from  the  country  of  Gog  and  Magog,  i.  e.  that  they 
made  use  in  their  books  of  obscure  expressions  to  conceal 
their  mysteries  from  the  infidels.  Thus  no  one  that  is  not 
an  Ansairee  will  ever  understand  what  the  author  means 
when  he  speaks,  for  example,  of  Gabriel,  the  raven,  ark, 
ring,  helkiSy  the  rod  of  Moses,  the  dromedary  of  Saleh,  the 
cow  of  the  Israelites,  the  concealed  apostles.  Similar  ex- 
pressions are  met  with  in  every  page,  without  any  ex- 
planation being  found  of  them  or  of  what  they  signify. 
However,  I  will  here  add  the  following  remarks,  which 
I  have  taken  from  the  bookf  :  — 

"  The  Ansaireeh  are  called  Mameveen  (true  believers). 
They  speak  of  the  unity  of  God,  that  is  to  say,  of  Ali,  who 
is  to  come  out  of  the  eye  of  the  sun  and  judge  the  world ; 
and  of  five  persons  who  are  united  to  him.  They  are 
called  1.  Maana;  2.  Ism,  he  who  possesses  always  the 
true  wisdom,  and  whom  Maana  always  guides ;  3.  Bab ; 
4.  Itam  (orphans)  ;  and  5.  Hosein.  I  confess  that,  as  I 
am  not  initiated  in  the  mysteries  of  this  religion,  I  under- 
stand nothing  of  this  Quintite.  I  have  not  been  able  any 
the  more  to  understand  what  follows ;  however,  I  have 
been  willing  to  give  it  here,  because  it  appertains  to  the 

*  Travels,  vol.  iii.  p.  358. 

•f  It  is  not  strange  that  Niebuhr  should  have  found  it  difficult  to 
understand  the  expressions  used.  He  has  but  badly  represented  many 
of  the  names,  but  I  have  thought  it  best  to  give  them  just  as  they  are 
printed  in  his  "  Travels,"  reminding  the  reader  that  they  are  to  be  read 
with  a  French  pronunciation.  Many  of  the  j's,  however,  are  German, 
and  are  to  be  read  as  y,  the  book  of  travels  having  been  translated  from 
German  into  French. 


296  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

principal  dogmas  of  the  Ansaireeh.  Whoever  has  no  wish 
to  read  it  can  pass  it  over. 

"  God  has  appeared  seven  tnnes  in  the  world.  The  first 
time,  i.  Maana  was  Abel ;  ii.  Ism,  Adam ;  iii.  Bab,  Ga- 
briel ;  iv.  the  Itam  were  also  five  persons,  as  1.  Michael 
(perhaps  the  archangel),  2.  Israfil  (perhaps  the  angel  who, 
as  say  the  Mohammedans,  is  to  sound  the  trumpet  at  the 
last  judgment),  3.  Asrael  (perhaps  the  angel  of  death), 
4.  Maleh  (perhaps  the  doorkeeper  of  hell,  according  to  the 
Mohammedans ;  5.  Riddnan  (perhaps  the  doorkeeper  of 
heaven) ;  v.  Hosein  appeared  the  first  time  under  the 
name  Kaseh  ibn-Mefluch.  The  enemies  of  the  Divinity 
at  the  first  incarnation  were,  1.  Kabib  (Cain),  2.  Anak 
(the  sister  of  Cain),  3.  Bahlu  (vizier  of  Cain),  4.  the 
Serpent,  5.  the  Peacock.* 

"  The  second  time,  i.  Maana  was  Seth ;  ii.  Ism,  Noah  ; 
iii.  Bab,  Jael  ibn-Fatim;  iv.  the  Itam  were,  1.  Aukil, 
2.  EfFrakun,  3.  Kinan,  4.  Efii-ikakil,  5.  EfFrikan ;  v. 
Hosein  appeared  in  the  person  of  Hanseh.  This  time  the 
enemies  of  the  Divinity  were,  1.  Ham  ibn-Noah,  2. 
Sheikh  Hasa,  3.  Jauk,  4.  Jafut,  5.  Nisser. 

"  The  third  time,  i.  Maana  was  Joseph  ;  ii.  Ism,  Jacob  ; 
iii.  Bab,  Ham  ibn-Kuseh ;  iv.  the  Itam  were,  1.  Jahud, 
2.  Haschur,  3.  Malch,  4.  Mamlek,  5.  Aukil;  v.  Hosein 
appeared  in  the  person  of  Mamhe  ibn-Mansur.  The 
enemies  who  opposed  themselves  this  time  to  the  Divinity 
were,  1.  Chadsseldul,  2.  Sima,  3.  the  King  of  India, 
4.  Ilabt^r,  and  5.  Naatel. 

"  The  fourth  time,  i.  Maana  was  Joshua ;  ii.  Ism,  Moses, 
iii.  Bab,  Dan  ibn-Sabacht;  iv.  the  orphans  were,  1.  Jahn- 
dan,  2.  Haruk,  3.  Abdulla,  4.  Israel,  5.  Omr^n;  v.  Hosein 
Rubil  ibn-Saleh.  The  adverse  parties  were,  1.  Pharaoh, 
2.  Haman  ;  3.  Karim. 

"  The  fifth  time,  i.  Maana  was  Asaph  ;  ii.  Ism,  Solomon  ; 
iii.  Bab,  Abdullah  ibn-Schamaan  ;  iv.  the    orphans   were, 

•  Emblem  of  the  Yezidees. 


NIEBUIIR.  297 

1.  Schaoira,  2.  Schadla,  3.  Harnaseh,  1.  Maskul,  5. 
Astir;  v.  Iloseiii  appeared  under  the  name  Jantores 
Dekne.  Then  the  adversaries  of  the  Divinity  were,  1. 
Ninirod,  2.  A  ad,  3.  Samud. 

*' The  sixth  time,  i.  Maana,  Shemmaan  (Peter)  ;  ii.  Ism, 
.Fesus ;  iii.  Bab,  Rizoba  ibn-Merzaban  ;  iv.  the  Itam  were 
then,  1.  Jean  fuin  essahab,  2.  Jean  Delami,  3.  Paul, 
4.  Peter,  5.  Matthew ;  v.  Hosein  was  Aywsch  ibn-Man- 
kidsja.  The  adverse  parties  were,  1.  Herod,  2.  Jabs, 
3.  Taus. 

"  The  seventh  ti  n3,  Maana  was  Ali;  ii.  Ism,  Moham- 
med el  hambd;  iii.  Bab,  Suleiman  ibn-Buheire  el  Chiddre; 
iv.  the  Itam  were,  1.  Makdad  ibn-el-Aswadel  Kendi,  2. 
Abudur  Jendab  ibn-Junado  el  Gafari,  3.  Abdulla  ibn- 
Ruba  el  Masrari,  4.  Othman  ibn-Madun  Madsejeschi,  5. 
Kambar  ibn-Kaden  Dusi ;  v.  Hosein  was  called  this  time 
Hamdan.  The  enemies  of  the  Divinity  were,  1.  Abu- 
Samuel,  2.  Segdu,  3.  Sendsjkuk. 

"  In  another  place  the  author  says  that  an  Ansairee  must 
believe  that  Mohammed,  Fatir  (Fatimah),  Hassan,  Hosein, 
and  Mohsin  are  but  one  Unity,  and  denote  Ali.  Besides 
that,  a  true  believer  must  hold  that  there  have  always 
been  5  Itam;  12  Nukaba  (chiefs  of  the  family  of  Mo- 
hammed)*; 28  Nudjaba  (or  chosen  ones);  Machtassin 
(singular  ones)  ;  Machlassin  (devout  ones)  ;  Muntachabin 
(elect  ones).  He  must  likewise  equally  recognise  the  four 
Sittars,  namely,  1.  Sittar  el  Imam,  or  the  chain  of  imams 
from  Abel  to  Ali ;  2.  Sittar  il  imma,  that  is  to  say,  the 
Patriarchs  from  the  first  Hassan  to  the  last  Hassan ;  3. 
Sittar  Rassala,  or  the  chain  of  Apostles,  as  Edris,  Noah, 
Hud,  &c. ;  4.  Sittar  Nibbna,  the  chain  of  poets,  or  respect- 
able men,  Annseh,  Ishak,  Jacob,  &c. 

"  Our  author  calls  Adam,  Abraham,  Moses,  Jesus,  and 
Mohammed,  prophets;  and  Jael,  Hammdan,  Abdulla,  Sal- 
man, Abulchatil,    Mohammed,   Mufdil,    and  Abu-Schaib, 

*  Of  Moses  ? 
X 


298  THE   ASIAN   MYSTERY. 

apostles.  He  calls  a  certain  Ishak  the  greatest  enemy  of 
the  Ansaireeh,  because  he  had  wished  to  kill  Seiid  Abu- 
Schaiib." 

I  have  before  given  what  Niebuhr  quotes  about  trans- 
migration and  eating  unclean  things.     He  concludes : 

"  The  author  requires  of  the  Ansaireeh  that  they  discover 
nothing  of  their  religion  to  strangers ;  to  love  their 
brethren ;  to  be  charitable  ;  to  abstain  from  theft ;  not  to 
swear  nor  use  any  oaths  :  to  suffer  poverty  patiently,  and 
to  bear  ill-treatment  on  the  part  of  their  women." 


I  will  add  another  document,  being  a  translation  from 
the  first  of  the  Masses  given  by  M.  Catafago  in  the  Ger- 
man Oriental  Society's  Journal*,  which  is  extracted  from 
the  Book  of  Festivals,  of  which  portions  have  been  given 
above.  I  give  this  piece  because  it  is  a  type  of  Ansairee 
prayers,  such  as  those  found  in  my  MS. ;  because  it  is 
nearly  identical  (as  are  the  other  two)  with  those  given 
by  M.  Victor  Langloisf ;  and  lastly,  because  its  opening 
gives  an  idea  of  the  better  parts  of  the  Ansairee  books. 
There  is  nothing  useful  or  seilsible  in  them  but  such  like 
passages,  which  are  rare. 

MASS   OF    THE    OINTMENT.J 

In  the  name  of  God,  the  Compassionate,  the  Merciful. 
The  Mass  of  the  Ointment.  For  every  dear  brother.  0 
true  believers!  hear  and  obey!  Consider  this  my  Ma- 
kam  (station,  place  of  religious  assembly,  with  Ansaireeh), 
in  which  you  are  met  together.  Remove  hatred,  and 
envy,  and  malice  from  your  hearts ;  so  will  your  religion 
be  perfect,  and  God  will  answer  your  prayer.     For  know 

♦  Vol.  ii.  p.  388. 

t  Revue  d' Orient,  June,  1856 ;  a  notice  which  has  been  often  re- 
ferred to. 

J  Teeb,  used  by  Ansaireeh  of  any  good  scent 


MASS    OF   THE    OINTMENT.  299 

that  God  is  present  and  found  among  you,  hearing  and 
seeing  you,  for  he  knows  what  is  in  the  breast.  Take  care, 
believers,  of  laughing  and  boisterous  mirth  at  the  times 
of  prayer  with  the  Djahhal  (initiated),  for  so  will  your 
good  works  be  lowered,  and  your  circumstances  changed ; 
for  that  is  of  the  way  of  Iblees  the  accursed  (may  God 
most  high  curse  him !)  Hear  what  the  imam  says  to  you, 
for  he  is  standing  among  you  in  obedience  to  the  Most 
High  (or  he  supports  among  you  obedience  to  the  Most 
High),  the  All-Knowing.  This,  the  Mass  of  Ointment, 
after  the  formation  of  a  good  intention,  is  a  prayer  of 
truth,  in  which  the  Messiah  specially  used  the  letter  Seen 
(S),  until  the  time  when  every  soul  shall  be  given  what  it 
desired.  He  said  in  the  blessed  mass,  Praised  (A^ubhan) 
be  he  who  made  water  life  to  everything*  ;  praised  {Sub- 
ban)  be  he  who  quickeneth  the  dead  in  Sarsarf  by  his 
power,  the  lofty  one,  the  great !  God  is  most  great !  I 
ask  thee,  0  God,  my  Lord,  by  the  truth  of  this  Mass  of 
Ointment,  and  by  the  l^ruth  of  lord  Mohammed,  the  be- 
loved, in  whose  hand  the  rod  became  green ;  may  he  (God) 
cause  blessing  to  descend  in  your  dwellings,  0  possessors 
of  this  favour  and  of  this  ointment ;  and  mayst  thou 
sanctify  the  spirits  of  our  brethren,  the  true  believers,  him 
who  is  far  off,  and  him  who  is  near  of  them,  0  my  Lord, 
Prince  of  bees,  0  Ali,  0  great  one ! 

*  Koran,  ch.  xxi.  v.  31. 

■f  A  cold  destructive  wind  mentioned  in  the  Koran. 


THE   END. 


LONDOW 

PEINTBD     BY     8POTTI8WOODB     AND     CO. 

KBW-STBSET    SQUABB 


r 


LIST 


WOEKS  IN  GENERAL   LITERATUKE 


PUBLISHED    BY 


MESSRS.   LONGMAN,   GREEN,   LONGMAN,   AND   ROBERTS 
'   39  Pateenostee  Row,  London. 


CLASSIFIED       INDEX. 


Agriculture    and    Rural 
Affairs. 

Sayldon  on  Valuing  Ilents,  &c.  -  4 

"             Road  Legislation  -  » 

Caird's  Prairie  Farming         -  -  6 

Cecil's  Stud  Farm          "        *  '  ,„ 

Hoskyns's  Talpa    -        *        "  "  {^ 

London's  Aijricultnre     -        -  -  " 

Low's  Elements  of  AuricuUure  -  I-' 

Morion  on  Landed  Property  -  16 

Arts,   Manufactures,    and 
Arcbitecture. 

Bourne's  Catechism  of  the  Steam 

Engine        -        -        -          ,   '  ! 
Brande's  Dictionary  ofScience.&c.  4 
"        Organic  Chemistry-       -  4 
Cresy'8  Civil  Engineering      ."        "  5 
Fairbairn's  Infofma.  for  Engineers       ' 
Gwilt's  Encyclo.  of  Architecture   -  8 
!           Harford's  Plates  from  M.  Angelo  -  8 
I           Humphreys's  Pn»<i6JM  Illuminated  11 
1           Jameson's  Saints  and  Martyrs       -  11 
"         Monastic  Orilers   -        *  *| 
'                   "         1-egends  of  Madonna    -  11 
"         Commonplace-Bi'ok     -  11 
Konig'sPictonal  Life  of  Luther    -      8 
Loudon's  Rural  Architecture         -  13 
MacDomgall's  Campaigns  of  Han- 
nibal           i* 

M.icDougall's  Theory  of  War     ,-  1* 

Moseley's Engineering  -       -       -  16 

Piesse's  Art  of  Perfumery      -         -  '? 

Richardson's  Art  of  Horsemanship  18 

Scoffern  on  Projectiles,  &c.  -  -  19 
Steam-Engine, by  the  Artisan  Club      4 

Ure'8  Dictionary  of  Arts,  &c.  -  23 

Biograpliy. 

Arago's  Lives  of  Scientific  Men  -  3 
Baillic's  Memoir  of  Bate  '  '  ^ 
Brialmont's  Wellington  -        -      4 

Bunsen's  Hippolytus  -  -  -  5 
Bunting's  (Dr.)  Life  -  -  -  6 
Crosse's  (Andrew)  Memorials  -  6 
Green's  Princesses  of  Enuland  -  8 
Harford's  Life  of  Michael  Angelo  -  8 
Lardner's  Cabinet  Cycloptedia  -  12 
Marshman's  Life  of  Carey,  Mawh- 
man,  and  Ward  .        -        - 

Maunder's  Biographical  Treasury- 
Morris's  Life  of  BecVet 
Mountain's  (Col.)  Memoirs    - 
Parry's  (Admiral)  Memoirs   - 
Russell's  Memoirs  of  Moore  - 
"  (Dr.)  Mezzofanti   - 

SchiminelPenninck's  (Mrs.)  Life  - 
Southey '8  Life  of  Wesley       -       - 
Stephen's  Ecclesiastical  Biography 
Strickland's  Queens  of  England    - 
Sydney  Smith's  Memoirs 
Symond's  (Admiral)  Memoirs 
Taylor's  Loyola      .        -        -       - 
"      Wesley     -        -        -        - 
Uwins's  Memoirs  -'•     - 
Waterton's Autobiography* Essays  24 

looks  of  General  Utility. 

Acton's  Bread-Book       ...  3 
"        Cookery      ....  3 
Black's  Treatise  on  Brewing  -       -  4 
Cabinet  Gazetteer  ....  5 
"        Lawyer     ....  5 
Cust's  Invalid's  Own  Book     -       -  7 
Hints  on  Etiquette         ...  9 
Hudson's  Executor's  Guide    -       -  10 
"      on  Making  Wills        -        -  10 
Kesteven's  Domestic  Medicine      -  12 
Lardner's  Cabinet  Cyclopsedia      -  12 
Loudon's  Lady's  Country  Compa- 
nion    .-----  13 


Maunder's  Treasury  of  Knowledge  10 

"         Biograpnical  Treasury  1-5 

"         Geographical  Treasury  15 

"         Scientific  Treasury       -  14 

"         .Treasury  of  History      -  15 

"  Natural  History   -        -  15 

Piesse's  Art  of  Perfumery      -        -  18 

Pitfs  How  to  Brew  Good  Beer      -  18 

Pocket  and  the  Stud      ...      9 

Pvcrofl's  English  Reading     -        -  18 

Rich's  Comp.  to  Latin  Dictionary  18 

Richardson's  Art  of  Horsemanship  18 

Riddle's  Latin  Dictionaries    -        -  18 

Roget'g  English  ThesauiuB  -        -  19 

Rowton'a  Debater  ...        -  19 

Short  Whist 20 

Simpson's  Handbook  of  Dining    -  20 

Thomson's  Interest  Tables    -        -  23 

Webster's  Domestic  Economy       -  24 

Willich's  Popular  Tables        -        r  24 

Wilmofs  Blackstone     -        -        -  24 

Botany  and  Gardening. 

Hassall's  British  Freshwater  Algte  9 

Hooker's  British  Flora    -         -        -  9 

"        Guide  to  Kew  Gardens  -  9 

Lindley's  Introduction  to  Botany  13 

"        Synopsis  of  the  British 

'Flora     -        ...  13 

"         Theory  of  Horticulture  -  13 

Loudon's  Hortus  Britannicus         -  13 

"          Amateur  Gardener         .  13 

••         Trees  and  Shrubs  -        -  13 

"         Gardening      .        -        .  13 

"          Plants     -        -        -        .  13 

Pereira'8  Materia  Medica       -        -  17 

Rivera's  Rose-Amateur's  Guide    -  19 

Watson's  Cybele  Britannica           -  24 

WiUon's  British  Mosses         -        -  24 


Chronology. 

Brewer's  Historical  Atlas 
Bunsen's  Ancient  Egypt 
Haydn's  Beitson's  Index 
Jaquemet's  Chronology 


-  4 

-  6 

-  9 

-  11 
Abridged  Chronology  -  11 

Nicolas's  Chronology  of  History  -  12 

Commerce  and  Mercantile 
Affairs. 

Gilbart's  Logic  of  Banking    -        -  8 

•■'        Treatise  on  Banking        -  8 

I^orimer's  Your.g  Master  Mariner  -  13 
M'Culloch'8  Commerce  &  Navigation  14 

Thomson's  Interest  Tables     -        -  23 

Tooke's  History  of  Pi  ices      -        -  23 

Criticism,    History,    and 
Meuioirs. 

Brewer's  Historical  Atlas     -    -    -  4 
Bunsen's  Ancient  Egypt       -        -  6 
"         Hippolytus     -        .        -  6 
Chapman's  Gustavus  Adolphus     -  6 
Conybeare  and  Howson's  St.  Paul  6 
Connolly's  Sappers  and  Miners     -  6 
Crowe's  History  of  France      -        -  6 
Frazer's  Letters  during  the  Penin- 
sular and  Waterloo  Campaigns  8 
Gleig'8  Essays         ....  8 
Gumey's  Historical  Sketches         -  8 
Hayward's  Essays  ...        -  9 
Herschel's  Essays  and  Addresses  -  9 
Jeffrey's  (Lord )'E8says           -        -  11 
Kemble's  Anglo-Saxons        -        -  11 
Lardner's  Cabinet  Cyclopsedia      -  12 
Macaulay'8  Crit.  uid  Hist.  Essays  13 
"         History  of  England     -  18 
"         Speeches      -       -       -  13 


Mackintosh's  Miscellaneous  Works    14 
"  Historv  of  England  -    14 

M'Culloch'sGeographicalDictionary  14 
Maunder's  Treasury  of  History      -    16 
Merivale'8  History  of  Rome  -       -    15 
"  Roman  Republic  -        -     16 

Milner's  Church  History  -  -  15 
Moore's  (Thomas)  Memoirs, &c.  -  16 
Mure's  Greek  Literature  -  -  16 
Normanby's  Year  of  Revolution  -  17 
Perry's  Franks  ...  -  17 
Porter's  Knights  of  Malta  -  -  18 
Raikes's  Journal  -  -  -  -  18 
Riddle's  Latin  Lexicon  -        -     18 

Rogers's  Essays  from  Edinb.  ReviewI9 
"       (Sam.)  Recollections       -    19 
Roget's  English  Thesaurus    -        -     19 
SchimmelPennincV's   Memoirs   of 

Port  Royal         -        -        -    19 
SchimmelPenninck's   Principles  of 

Beauty,  &c.        -        -        -    19 

Schmitz's  History  of  Greece  -     19 

Southey's  Doctor  -        -        -       -    21 

Stephen's  Ecclesiastical  Biography    21 

"     Lectures  on  French  History    21 

Sydney  Smith's  Works  -       -        -    20 

"  Lectures        -        -    21 

"  Memoirs        -        -    20 

Taylor's  Loyola     -        -       -        -    21 

"        -Wesley    -        -       -        -    21 

Thirlwall'8  History  of  Greece        -    23 

Turner's  Anglo  Saxons  -        -    23 

Uwins's  Memoirs    -         ...    23 

Vehse '8  Austrian  Court  -        -    23 

Wade's  England's  Greatness        -    23 

Young's  Christ  of  History    -        -    'Zi 


Geography  and  Atlases. 

Brewer's  Historical  Atlas      -        -  4 

Butler's  Geography  and  Atlases   -  5 

Cabinet  Gazetteer  -        -        -        -  5 

Johnston's  General  Gazetteer         -  II 
M'Culloch's  Geographical  Dictionary  14 

Maunder's  Treasury  of  Geography  15 

Murray's  Encyclo.  of  Geography  -  16 

Sharp's  British  Gazetteer       -       -  20 


Juvenile  Books. 

Amy  Herbert  ....  20 

CleveHall 20 

Earl's  Daughter  (Tne)   -       -       -  20 

Experience  of  Life  -       -       -  20 

Gertrude  .....  20 

Hewitt's  Soy's  Country  Book        -  10 

"        (Mary)  Children's  Year    -  10 

Ivors        --....  20 

Katharine  Ashton   •        -        -        -  20 

Laneton  Paisonas^e         -        -        -  20 

Margaret  Percivil  .         -        -        -  20 
Piesse's   Chymical,    Natural,    and 

Physical  Magic  .  -        -        -  18 

Pycrofl's  Collegian's  Guide    -       -  '  18 


Medicine,  Surgery,  Sec. 

Brodie's  Psychological  Inquiries  -  3 

Bull's  Hints  to  Mothers  -       .        .  5 

"     Management  of  Children    -  6 

"       on  Blmdness        -        .        .  5 

Copland's  Dictionary  of  Medicine  -  6 

Cust's  Invalid's  Own  Book     -        .  7 

Holland's  Mental  Physiology         .  9 

"        Medical  Notes  and  Reflect.    9 

Kesteven's  Domestic  Medicine       -  12 

Pereira's  Materia  Medica        -        -  17 

Richardson's  Cold- Water  Cure      -  18 

Spencer's  Psychology     -        -        -  21 

Todd's   Cyclopaedia    of  Anatomy 

and  Physiology    -       -        .        -  21 


CLASSIFIED  INDEX  TO  GENERAL  CATALOGUE. 


MiBceUaneons  and  General 
IiiteratTxre. 

Bacon's  (Lord)  AVorks   -        -        -  3 

Dtfenct  of  Sclipst  of  Faith    -       -  7 
De  Fonblanque  on  Arm;  Adnii»ig  ■ 

tiation  -  -  -  »  -  7 
■Eclipse  of  Faith  -  -  -  -  7 
Fischer's  Bacon  and  Realistic  Phi- 
losophy .  •  -  -  -  T 
Greathed's  Letters  from  Delhi  -  8 
Greyson's  Select  Correspondence  -  8 
GurncT's  Evening  Recreations  -  8 
HassalVs Adulterations  Detected,&c.  8 
Haydn's  Book  of  Dignities  -  -  9 
Holland's  Mental  Physiology  -  9 
Hooker's  Kew  Quids  -  -  -  9 
Hewitt's  Raral  Life  of  England  -  10 
"  Visitsto  RemarkablePlaces  10 
Jameson's  Commonplace-Book  -  11 
Last  of  the  Old  Squires  -  -  17 
Letters  of  a  Bttrothed  -  -  -  13 
Macaulay's  Speeches  -  "  "  J? 
Mackintosh's  Miscellaneous  Work  8  U 
Martinean's  Miscellanies  -  -  U 
Pvcroffs  English  Reading  -  -  18 
Rich's  Comp.  to  Latin  DictionaTT  18 
Riddle's  Latin  Dictionaries  -  -  18 
Rowton's  Debater  -  -  -  1» 
Sir  Roger  De  Coverley  •  "  *  ?? 
Southey's  Doctor,  &c.    -        "        "  „J 


Spencer's  Essays 
StoWs  Training  System  -  -  21 
Thomson's  Laws  of  Thought  -  23 
Trevelyanon  the  Natire  Langaages 


of  India 


WiUich's  Popular  Tables       -        -  24 

Yonge's  English-Greek  Lesicon  -  24 

"       Latin  Gradus  -        -  24 

Zumpt's  Latin  Grammar       -       -  24 

Natural  Histoxr  in  general. 


Agassiz  on  Classification 
CatloWs  Popular  Conchology 
Ephemera's  Book  of  the  Salmon    - 
Garratfs  Marvels  of  Instinct 
Gosse's  Natural  History  of  Jamaica 
Kirby  and  Spence's  Entomology    - 
Lee's  Elements  of  Natural  History 
Maunder's  Natural  History    - 
Morris's    Anecdotes    in     Natural 

History 

Quatrefages'  Naturalist's  Rambles 
Stonehenge  on  the  Dog 
Turton's  Shells  oftheBritishlslands 
Van  der  Hoeven's  Zoology     - 
Waterton's  Essays  on  Natural  Hist. 
Youatt's  Work  on  the  Dog    - 
Youatt's  "Work  on  the  Horse 


1-VoInme    Encyclopeedias 
and  Dictionaries. 

Blaine's  Rural  Sports      -        -        -      4 

Brande's  Science, Literatnre^snd  Art  4 

Copland's  Dictionary  of  Medicine  -      6 

Cresy's  Civil  Engineering       -        .      3 

Gwilt's  Architecture       -        -        -       8 

Johnston's  Geographical  Dictionary  11 

Loudon's  Agriculture     -        -        -     13 

"        Rural  Architecture         -    13 

"        Gardening       -       -        -     13 

"        Plant*     -       -        -       -    18 

"        Trees  and  Shrubs    -        -     13 

M'CuIloch'sGeographicalDictiosary  14 

"         DiclionaryofCommerce  14 

Murray's  EncTclo.  of  Geography  -    16 

Sharp's  British  Gazetteer       -        -    20 

Ure's  Dictionary  of  Arts,  &c.  -        -    23 

Webster's  Domestic  Economy       -    24 

aellKiouB  At  Moral  VTorks. 

Afternoon  of  Life    -       -        -       •  3 

Amy  Herbert           -        ...  20 

Bloomfield'sGreekTestameat        -  4 

Banyan'*  Pilgrim's  Progress         -  5 

Calvert's  Wife's  Manual          .        -  6 

Cat/,  and  Farlic's  Moral  Emblems  6 

CleveHall       ----."  ^0 

Conybeare  and  Howson's  8t.  Pan!  • 
Cotton's  Instructions  in  Christianity   8 

Dalt's  Dnotestic  Litnrjy         .        -  7 

Defence  of  Belipte  of  faith  -        -  7 

Earl's  Daughter  (The)    -       -        -  20 

Eclipse  of  Faith      -        -        -  7 

Enclishman's  Greek  Concordance  7 

«            Heb.A<:h*Id.Coac«»itl.  7 

Experience  (The)  of  Life        -       -  20 

Gortmde » 

Hairison'sLlnhtofUjeForc*       -  8 

Home's  Introduction  to  Scnptwnw  10 

"        AhridgmCTit  of  ditto          -  10 

Hue's  ChrisUanity  in  China  -        -  10 

Haa4)hr«yt'a  Parmblm  Ulamin*Ud  11 


Ivors  ;  or,  the  Two  Cousins           -  20 
Jameson's  Sacred  Legends     -        -  11 
"        Monastic  Legends  -        -  11 
"       Legendsof  the  Madonna  11 
"       Lecture*  on  Female  Em- 
ployment    ...        -        -  11 
Jeremy  Taylor's  Works  -        -        -  11 
Katharine  Ashton           -        -        -  20 
Ronig's  Pictorial  Life  of  Luther    -  8 
Laneton  Parsonage                  -        -  20 
Letters  to  my  Unknown  Friends  13 
LyraGerroaaica     -        -        -        -  6 
Maguire's  Rome     -        -        -        -  14 
Margaret  Percival  -        -        -        -  20 
Marshman'sSerampore  Mission  -  14 
Martinean's  Christian  Life  -        -  ^4 
"                Hymns       -       -        -  14 
'                 Studies  of  Christiaiiity  14 
Merivale's  Christian  Records         -  15 
Milner's  Church  of  Christ      -        -  15 
Moore  on  the  Use  of  the  Body       -  16 
"          "       Soul  and  Body         -  16 
"    '8  Man  and  his  Motives       -  16 
Morning  Clouds      -        -        -        -  16 
Neale's  Closing  Scene     -        -       -  16 
Pattison's  Earth  and  Word  -        -  17 
Powell's  Christianity  without  Ju- 
daism     -        -        -        -  18 
"        Order  of  Nature       -        -  18 
Readings  for  Lent          -        -        .  20 
"           Confirmation    -        -  20 
Robinson's  Lexicon  to  the  Greek 

Testament  -         -        -        -        -  19 

Self-Examination  for  Confirmation  20 
Sewell's     History    of    the    Early 

Church        -        -                .       .  20 

Sinclair's  Journey  of  Life       -       -  20 

Smith's  (Sydney)  Moral  Philosophy  21 

"       (G.)  Wesleyan  Methodism  20 

«        (J.)  St.  Paul's  Shipwreck  -  20 

Southey's  Life  of  Wesley       -       -  21 

Stephen's  Ecclesiastical  Biography  21 

Taylor's  Loyola      -       .       -       -  21 

"        Wesley      -        -       -        -  21 

Theologia  Germanica    -        -        -  5 

Thumb  Bible  (The)                -        -  23 

Ursula 20 

Young'sChrist  of  History      -        -  24 

"       Mystery  -        -        -        -  24 


Poetry  and  the  Drama. 

Aikin's(Dr.lBritUh  Poets      -       -  3 

Arnold's  Merope  ,  -        -        -        -  3 

"       Poems      -        -        .       -  3 

Baillie's  (Joanna)  Poetical  Works  3 

Goldsmith's  Poems,  illustrated     -  8 

L.  E.  L.'s  Poetical  Works                -  13 

Linwood's  AnthologiaOxonien»l«-  13 

Lyra  Germanica    -       -        -       -  6 

Macaulay's  Lays  of  Ancient  Rome  14 

Mac  Donald's  Within  and  "Without  14 

"                Poems    -        -        -  14 

Montgomery's  Poetical  Works      -  15 

Moore's  Poetical  Works          -        -  16 

"        Selections  (niustiated)     -  16 

"       LallaEookh      -        -        -  16 

"        Irish  Melodies  -       -        .  16 

"        National  Melodies    -        -  16 

"        Sacred  Songs  (with Mutie)  16 

"       ?ongs  and  Ballads   -        -  16 

Shakspeare,  by  Bowdler         -        -  19 

Southey's  Poetical  Worka       -       -  21 

Thomson's  Seasons,  iiluitrated     -  23 


The   Sdences    in    general 
and  Mathematics. 

Arago's  Meteorological  Essays      -  3 

"         Popular  Astronomy  -        -  3 
Bourne's    Catechism    of   8te«m- 

Engine        -        -        .        .        .  4 

Boyd's  Naval  Cadet's  Manual        -  4 

Brande's  Dictionary  of  Science,  *c.  4 

"  Lectures  on  Organic  Chemistry  4 

Conington'R  Chemical  Analysis    •  6 

Cresy's  Civil  Engineering       -       -  6 

De  la  Rive's  Electricity           -        -  7 

Grove's  Correla.  of  Phvwical  Fotcet  8 

Hemchel's  Outiines  of  Astronomy  9 

Holland's  Mental  Physiology        •  9 

Humboktt's  AspecU  of  Naturv     •  10 

"             Cosmos      -        -        -  10 

Hunt  on  Light       -        -        -        -  11 

Lardners  Cabinet  Cyclopwdia       -  U 

Mare«f«(Mrs.)ConverMiti«>ns       -  14 

Morrll's  Elements  of  Psychology  -  16 
Moteley'sEn«nneering*Architectnr*  IS 

Of  ilvie's  Master- Builder's  Plan    -  17 

Owen's  Lectureaon  Comp.  Anntomy  17 

Pereir*  on  Polarised  Light    -        -  17 


Peschel's  Elements  of  Physics  -  ,  1 

Phillips's  Mineralosy      -        -  -  j 

"  Guide  to  Geology  -  -  17 
Powell's  Unity  of  Worlds  -  .  is 
Smee's  Electro-Metallurgy  -  -  20 
Steam  Engme  (The)  -  -  .  j 
Webb's  Celestial  Objects  for  Com- 
mon Telescopes          -        -  -  24 


Rural  Sports. 

Baker's  Rifle  and  Hound  in  Ceylon 
Blaine's  Dictionary  of  Sports 
Cecil's  Stable  Practice   -        -       - 
"      Stud  Farm  -        -        -       - 
Davy'sFishing  ExcursioDS,2 Series 
Ephemera  on  Angling   -        -       - 
"         's  Book  of  the  Salmon  - 
Freeman  and  Salvin's  P'alconry    - 
Hawker's  Young  Sportsman  - 
The  Hunting- Field 
Idle'3  Hints  on  Shooting 
Pocket  and  the  Stud       -        -        - 
Practical  Horsemanship 
Pycroft's  Cricket  Field  -        -       - 
Richardson's  Horsemanship  - 
Ilonalds'  Fly-Fisher's  Entomology 
Stable  Talk  and  Table  Talk  - 
Stocehenge  on  the  Drg  -        -        . 

"  on  the  Greyhound 

The  Stud,  for  Practical  Purposes  - 


Veterinary  Medicine^  &c. 

Cecil's  SUble  Practice  -  -      6 

"     Stud  Farm  -        .  -      c 

Hunt's  Horse  and  his  Master  -    11 

Hunting-Field  (The)     -        -  - 

Miles's  Horse-Shoeing  -        -  -     1 

"    on  the  Horse's  Foot      -  -     1 

Pocket  and  the  Stud       -        -  - 
Practical  Horsemanship 

Richardson's  Horsemanship  -     ^. 

Stable  Talk  and  Table  Talk  -  -       . 

Stonehenge  on  the  Doe  -       -  -21 
Stud  (The)       .--..;, 

Youatt's  Work  on  the  Dog    -  -    2 1 

Youatt's  Wotk  on  the  Horse  -    21 


Voyasres  and  Travels. 

Baker's  Wanderings  in  Ceylon      -  3 

Earth's  African  Travels          -        -  4 

Burton's  East  Africa       -        -        -  5 

"       Medina  and  Mecca  -       -  5 

Domenech's  Texas         -        -        -  7 

"      Deserts  of  North  America  7 

First  Impressions  of  the  New  World  7 

Forester's  Sardinia  and  Corsica    -  8 

Hinchliif  8  Travels  in  tiie  Alps      -  9 

Hewitt's  Art-Student  in  Munich  -  10 

"        (W.)  Victoria  -       -       -  10 

Hue's  Chinese  Empire    -       -        -  10 

Hudson    and     Kennedy's    Mont 

Blanc  -        -       -                .        .  10 

Humboldt's  Aspects  of  Nature      -  10 

Hutchinson's  Western  Africa        -  11 

Kane's  Wanderings  of  an  Artist    -  11 

Lady's  Tonr  round  Monte  Rosa    -  13 

M'Clure's  North- West  Passage      -  17 
MasDougaH'sVoyageoftheiUsohtle  14 
Minium's  New  York  to  Delhi 
Mdllhausen's  Journey  to  the  i^xna 

of  the  Pacific      -        -        -        -  15 

Osborn's  Quedah    -        -        -        -  17 

Peaks,  Passes,  and  Glaciers          -  17 

Schener's  Central  America  -        -  19 
Senior's  Journal  in  Turkey  and 

Greece 19 

Snow's  Tierra  del  Fnego        -        -  21 

Tennent's  Ceylon  -        -        -        -  21 
Von  Temp8ky*s  Mexico 

Wanderings  in  Land  of  Ham         -  3S  ] 
Weld's  Vacations  in  Ireland  -        -Ml 

"        Pyrenees    -        -        -        -  241 

"        United  States  and  Canada-  34 j 


Works  of  Fiction. 

Connolly's  Romance  of  the  Ranks 
Cruikthank**  Falstaff    -        -        - 
Hewitt's  Tallangetta     - 
Mildred  Noiman     .        -        -        - 
Moore  s  Epicurean 
Sewell'sUriUla       -        .        -        - 
Sir  Roger  De  Coverley    -       -       - 
Sketches  (The),  Three  Tkles 
Southey's  The  Doctor  *e.     - 
TroUope's  Barchester  Towers 
"  Warden 


ALPHABETICAL  CATALOGUE 

of 

NEW    WORKS    and    NEW    EDITIONS 

PUBLISHED  BY 

MESSES.   LONGMAN,    aREEN,    LONGMAN,    AND    EOBEETS, 

PATERNOSTER  ROW,  LONDON. 


Miss  Acton's  Modern  Cookery  for  Private 

Families,  reduced  to  a  System  of  Easy  Prac- 
tice in  a  Series  of  carefully-tested  Receipts, 
in  which  the  Principles  of  Baron  Liebig  and 
other  eminent  Writers  have  been  as  much  as 
possible  applied  and  explained.  Newly-re- 
vised and  enlarged  Edition  ;  with  8  Plates, 
comprising  27  Figures,  and  150  Woodcuts. 
Fcp.  8vo.  78.  6d. 

Acton's  English  Bread-Eook  for  Domestic  Use, 

adapted  to  Families  of  every  grade.  Fcp. 
Svo.  price  4s.  6d.  cloth. 

The  Afternoon  of  Life.     By  the  Author 

of  Morning  Clouds.  Second  and  cheaper 
Edition,  revised  throughout.     Fcp.  Svo.  5s. 

Agassiz.— An  Essay  on  Classification. 
By  Louis  Agassiz.    Svo.  12s. 

AiMn.  — Select  Works  of  the  British 

Poets,  from  Ben  Jonson  to  Beattie.  With 
Biographical  and  Critical  Prefaces  by  Dr. 
AiKiN.  K^ew  Edition,  with  Supplement  by 
Lucy  Aikin  ;  consisting  of  additional  Selec- 
tions from  more  recent  Poets.    Svo.  18s. 

I  AragoCF.)— Biographies  of  Distinguished 

Scientific  Men.  Translated  by  Admiral 
W.  H.  Smyth,  D.C.L.,  F.R.S.,  &c. ;  the  Rev. 
B  ADEN  Powell,  M.  A.;  andRoBEET  Q-eant, 
M.A.,  F.R.A.S.     Svo.  ISs. 

Axago's  Meteorological  Essays.  With  an 
Introduction  by  Baron  Humboldt.  Trans- 
lated under  the  superintendence  of  Major- 
General  E.  Sabine,  R.A.,  Treasurer  and 
Y.P.R.S.     Svo.  ISs. 

rago's  Popular  Astronomy.  Translated  and 
edited  by  Admiral  W.  H.  Smyth,  D.C.L., 
F.R.S. ;  and  Robert  aEANT,M. A., F.R.A.S. 
With  25  Plates  and  358  Woodcuts.  2  vols. 
Svo.  price  £2.  5s. 


Arnold.— Poems.    By  Matthew  Arnold. 

FiEST  Seeies,  Third  Edition.  Fcp.  Svo. 
price  5s.  6d.    Second  Seeies,  price  5s. 

Arnold- —  Merope,  a  Tragedy.  By  Matthew 
Aenold,  With  a  Preface  and  an  Historical 
Introduction.    Fcp.  Svo.  5s. 

Lord  Bacon's  Works.    A  New  Edition, 

revised  and  elucidated  j  and  enlarged  by  the 
addition  of  many  pieces  not  printed  before. 
Collected  and  edited  by  Robeet  Leslie 
Ellis,  M.A.,  Fellow  of  Trinity  College, 
Cambridge ;  James  Spedding,  M.A.  of 
Trinity  College,  Cambridge  ;  and  Douglas 
Denon  Heath,  Esq.,  Barrister-at-Law,  and 
late  Fellow  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge. — 
VoLS„  I.  to  v.,  comprising  the  Division  of 
Philosophical  Works ;  with  a  copious  Index. 
5  vols.  Svo.  price  £4.  6s.  YoL.  VI.  price  18s. 

**♦  YoL.  YII.,  completing  the  Division  of 
Literary  and  .Professional  fTorks,  is  just  ready. 

Joanna  Baillie's  Dramatic  and  Poetical 

Works :  Comprising  the  Plays  of  the  Pas- 
sions, Miscellaneous  Dramas,  Metrical  Le- 
gends, Fugitive  Pieces,  and  Ahalya  Baee; 
with  the  Life  of  Joanna  Baillie,  Portrait, 
and  Yignette.  Square  crown  Svo.  21s. 
cloth ;  or  42s.  bound  in  morocco  by  Hayday. 

Baker.  —  The  Rifle  and  the  Hound  in 

Ceylon.  By  S.  W.  Bakee,  Esq.  New 
Edition,  with  13  Illustrations  engraved  on 
Wood.    Fcp.  Svo.  4s.  6d. 

Baker.  —  Eight  Years'  Wanderings  in  Ceylon. 
By  S.  W.  Bakee,  Esq.  With  6  coloured 
Plates.     Svo.  price  15s. 

Bate.— Memoir  of  Capt.  W.  Thornton 

Bate,  R.N.  By  the  Rev.  John  Baillie, 
Author  of  "  Memoirs  of  Hewitson,"  "Me- 
moir of  Adelaide  Newton,"  &c.  Neu; 
Edition  ;  with  Portrait  and  4  Illustrations. 
Fcp.  Svo.  53. 

B  2 


KEW  WORKS  AND  NEW  EDITIONS 


Bartli.  —  Travels   and    Discoveries    in 

North  and  Central  Africa  :  Being  the  Jour- 
nal of  an  Expedition  undertaken  under 
the  auspices  of  Her  Britannic  Majesty's  Gro- 
vernment  in  the  Years  1849—1855.  B}^ 
Henet  Bahtk,  Ph.D.,  D.C.L.,  Fellow  of  the 
Royal  Geographical  and  Asiatic  Societies, 
&c.  With  numerous  Maps,  Wood  Engrav- 
ings, and  Illustrations  in  tinted  Lithography. 
5  vols.  Svo.  £5.  5s.  cloth. 

Bayldon's  Art   of  Valuing^  Rents  and 

Tillages,  and  Claims  of  Tenants  upon 
Quitting  Farms,  at  both  Michaelmas  and 
Lady-Day  ;  as  revised  by  Mr.  Donaldson. 
Seventh  Edition,  enlarged  and  adapted  to  the 
Present  Time :  With  the  Principles  and 
Mode  of  Valuing  Land  and  other  Property 
for  Parochial  Assessment  and  Enfranchise- 
ment of  Copyholds,  under  the  recent  Acts  of 
Parliament.  By  Robeet  Baker,  Land- 
Agent  and  Valuer.    Svo.  lOs.  6d. 

Bayldon's  (R.)  Treatise  on  Road  Legis- 
lation and  Management ;  with  Remarks  on 
Tolls,  and  on  Repairing  Turnpike-Roads  and 
Highways.     Svo.  3s.  6d. 

Black's  Practical  Treatise  on  Brewing, 

based  on  Chemical  and  Economical  Princi- 
ples :  With  Formulae  for  Pubhc  Brewers,  and 
Instructions  for  Private  Families.  New 
Edition,  with  Additions.    Svo.  10s.  6d. 

Blaine's  Encyclopsedia  of  Rural  Sports ; 

or,  a  complete  Account,  Historical,  Prac- 
tical, and  Descriptive,  of  Hunting,  Shooting, 
Fishing,  Racing,  &c.  New  Edition^  revised 
and  con'ccted  ;  with  above  600  Woodcut 
Illustrations,  including  20  now  added  from 
Designs  by  John  Leech.  In  One  Volume, 
Svo.  price  423.  half-bound. 

Bloomfield.  —  The    Greek    Testament, 

with  copious  English  Notes,  Critical,  Phi- 
lological, and  Explanatory.  Especially 
adapted  to  the  use  of  Theological  Students 
and  Ministers.  By  the  Rev.  S.  T.  Bloom- 
field,  D.D.,  F.S.A.  Ninth  Edition,  revised. 
2  vols.  Svo.  with  Map,  price  £2.  Ss. 

Dr.  Bloomfleld's  College  and  School  Edition  of 
the  Greek  Texiawent :  With  brief  English 
Notes,  chiefly  Philological  and  Explanatory. 
Seventh  Edition ;  with  Map  and  Index. 
Fcp.  Svo.  78.  6d. 

Dr.  Bloomfield*s  College  and  School  Lexicon 
to  the  Greek  Testament.  New  Edition, 
carefully  revised.     Fcp.  Svo.  price  lOs.  6d. 


Bourne.  — A   Treatise   on  the  Steam- 

Engine,  in  its  Application  to  Mines.  Mills, 
Steam-Navigation,  and  Railways.  By  the 
Artisan  Club.  Edited  by  John  Boubne,  C.E. 
New  Edition ;  with  33  Steel  Plates  and  349 
Wood  Engravings.     4to.  price  27s. 

Bourne's  Catechism  of  the  Steam  -  Engine 
in  its  various  Applications  to  Mines,  Mills, 
Steam-Navigation,  Railways,  and  Agricul- 
ture: With  Practical  Instructions  for  the 
Manufacture  and  Management  of  Engines 
of  every  'class.  Fourth  Edition,  enlarged  ; 
with  89  Woodcuts.     Fcp.  Svo.  6s. 

Boyd.  — A  Manual  for  Naval  Cadets. 

Published  with  the  sanction  and  approval 
of  the  Lords  Commissioners  of  the  Admi- 
ralty. By  John  M'Neill  Boyd,  Captain, 
R.N.  With  Compass-Signals  in  Colours, 
and  236  Woodcuts.     Fcp.  Svo.  lOs.  6d. 

Brande.— A  Dictionary  of  Science,  Lite- 

ratui'e,  and  Art :  Comprising  the  History, 
Description,  and  Scientific  Principles  of 
every  Branch  of  Human  Knowledge ;  with 
the  Derivation  and  Definition  of  all  the 
Terms  in  general  use.  Edited  by  W.  T. 
Beande,  F.R.S.L.  and  E.;  assisted  by  De. 
J.  Cattvin.  Tliird  Edition,  revised  and  cor- 
rected ;  withnumerous  Woodcuts.  Svo.  60s. 

Professor  Brande's  Lectures  on  Organic 

Chemistry,  as  applied  to  Manufactures  ; 
including  Dyeing,  Bleaching,  Calico-Print - 
iiig,  Sugar-Manufacture,  the  Preservation 
of  Wood,  Tanning,  &c.  j  delivered  before  the 
Members  of  the  Royal  Institution.  Edited 
by  J.  ScoTTEEN,  M.B.  Fcp.  Svo.  with 
Woodcuts,  price  7s.  6d. 

Brewer.  —  An  Atlas  of  History  and  Geo- 
graphy, from  the  Commencement  of  the 
Christian  Era  to  the  Present  Time :  Com- 
prising a  Series  of  Sixteen  coloured  Maps, 
arranged  in  Chronological  Order,  with  Illus- 
trative Memoirs.  By  the  Rev.  J.  S.  Bbewee, 
M.A.,  Professor  of  English  History  and 
Literature  in  King's  College,  London. 
Second  Edition,  revised  and  corrected. 
Royal  Svo.  12s.  6d.  half-bound. 

Brialmont.— The  Life  of  the  Duke  of 

Wellington.  From  the  French  of  Alexis 
BuiALMONT,  Captain  on  the  Staff  of  the 
Belgian  Annv :  With  Emendations  and 
Additions.  By  the  Rev.  G.  R.  Gleig,  M.A., 
Chaplain-General  to  the  Forces  and  Pre- 
bendary of  St.  Paul's.  Witli  ]\raps.  Plans 
of  Battles,  and  Portraits.  Vols.  I.  and  IT. 
Svo.  30s. 

The  Third  and  Fofeth  VoLrjres  (com- 
pletion) are  now  in  the  press,  and  will  take 
up  the  history  of  the  Duke  from  the  Battle  of 
Waterloo,  representing  him  as  an  Ambassador, 
as  a  Minister,  and  as  a  Citizen. 


PUBLISHED  BY  LONGMAIJ,  GKEEN,  jlhd  00. 


( 


Brodie.  — Psychological  Inquiries,  in  a 

Series  of  Essays  intended  to  illustrate  the 
Influence  of  the  Physical  Organisation  on 
the  Mental  Faculties.  By  Sir  Benjamin  C. 
BEODiEjBart.   Third  Edition.    Fcp.Svo.  Ss. 

Dr.  Thomas  Bull  on  the  Maternal  Ma- 
nagement of  Children  in  Health  and  Disease. 
New  Edition.     Fcp.  8vo.  Ss. 

Dr.  Bull's  Hints  to  Mothers  on  the  Manage- 
ment of  their  Health  during  the  Period  of 
Pregnancy  and  in  the  Lying-in  Room  :  With 
an  Exposure  of  Popular  Errors  in  connexion 
with  those  subjects,  &c. ;  and  Hints  upon 
Nursing.     New  Edition.     Fcp.  8vo.  Ss. 

Dr.  Bull's  Work  on  Blindness,  entitled 

the  Sense  of  Vision  Denied  and  Lost.  Edited 
by  the  Rev.  B.  G.  Johns,  Chaplain  of  the 
Bhnd  School,  St.  George's  Fields.  With  a 
brief  Introductoi'y  Memoir  of  the  Author 
by  Mrs.  Bull.    Fcp.  8vo.  43.  6d. 

Bunsen.  —  Christianity  and   Mankind, 

their  Beginnings  and  Prospects.  By 
Baron  C. C.J.  Bunsen,  D.D.,  D.C.L.,  D.Ph. 
Being  a  New  Edition,  corrected,  remodelled, 
and  extended,  of  Hijppolyhis  and  his  Age. 
7  Tols.  Svo.  £5.  5s. 

*^*  This  Edition  is  composed  of  three  distinct  works, 
which  may  be  had  separately,  as  follows  :— 

1.  Hippolytus  and  his  A^e;  or,  the  Begmnlnj^s  and 
Prospects  of  Christiamty.    2  toIs.  Svo.  price  £1.  IO3. 

2.  Outline  of  the  Philosophy  of  Universal  History  ap- 
plied to  Langua^'e  and  Religion :  Coutairiini;  an  Ac- 
eovmt  of  tlie  Alphabetical  Conferences.  2  vols,  8to. 
price  £1.  ISe. 

S.  Analecta  Ante-Nlcteiia.    S  vols.  8to.  price  £2. 28. 

Bunsen. — Lyra  Germanica.    Translated 

from  the  German  by  Catheeink  Wink- 
WOBTH.  lifth  Edition  of  the  FiEST  Sebies, 
Hymns  for  the  Sundays  and  chief  Festivals 
of  the  Christian  Year.  Hew  Edition  of  the 
Second  Sebies,  the  Chi-istian  Life.  Fcp. 
Sto.  price  Ss.  each  Series. 

HYMNS  from  Lyra  Germanica   ISmo.  Is. 

♦«*  These  selections  of  Gennaii  Hymnn  have  been  made 
firom  collections  published  in  Germany  by  Baron  Bu^rsEW ; 
and  form  companion  volumes  to 

Theologift  Germanica:  Which  setteth  forth 
many  fair  lineaments  of  Divine  Truth,  and 
saith  very  lofty  and  lovely  things  touching 
a  Perfect  Life.  Translated  by  Susanna 
WiNKWOBTH.  With  a  Preface  by  the  Rev. 
Chables  KiNGSLEr  J  and  a  Letter  by  Baron 
BuNgJEN.    Tliird  Edition.    Fcp.  Svo.  5s. 

Bunsen.  —  Egypt's  Place  in  Universal 

History:  An  Historical  Investigation,  in 
Five  Books.  By  Baron  C.  C.  J.  Bunsen, 
D.D.,  D.C.L.,  D.Ph.  Translated  from  the 
German  by  C .  H.  Cottbell,  Esq.,  M.A. 
With  many  Illustrations.  Vol.  I.  Svo.  2S8.; 
Vol.  II.  price  308.  j  and  Vol.  III.  price  25s. 


Bunting.— The  Life  of  Jabez  Bunting, 

D.D. :  With  Notices  of  contemporary  Per- 
sons and  Events.  By  his  Son,  Thomas 
Peecival  Bunting.  In  Two  Volumes. 
Vol,  I.  with  Two  Portraits  and  a  Vignette, 
in  post  Svo.  price  7s.  6d.  cloth;  or  {large 
paper  and  Proof  Engravings)  in  square  crown 
Svo.  lOs.  6d. 

Bunyan's  Pilgrim's  Progress:   With  a 

Preface  by  the  Rev.  Chables  Kingsley, 
Rector  of  Eversley ;  and  about  120  lUus- 
tx'ations  engraved  on  Steel  and  on  Wood 
from  Original  Designs  by  Cliarles  Bennett. 
Fcp.  4to.  price  2l8.  cloth,  gilt  edges. 

Bishop  Butler's  General  Atlas  of  Modem 

and  Ancient  Geography ;  comprising  Fifty- 
two  full- coloured  Maps  ;  with  complete  In- 
dices. New  Edition,  nearly  all  re-engraved, 
enlarged,  and  greatly  improved.  Edited  by 
the  Author's  Son.  Royal  4to.  248.  half-bound. 

/The  Modern  Atlas   of    28  full- 
t      coloured    Maps.      Royal  Svo. 

Separately  j  Th^  Andent  Atlas  of   24  full- 


coloured  Maps, 
price  123. 


Royal   Svo. 


Bishop  Butler's  Sketch  of  Modem  and 

Ancient  Geography.  New  Edition,  tho- 
roughly revised,  with  such  Alterations  intro- 
duced as  continually  progressive  Discoveries 
and  the  latest  Information  have  rendered 
necessary.    Post  Svo.  price  7s.  6d. 

Burton.— First  Footsteps  in  East  Africa  ; 

or,  an  Exploration  of  Harar.  By  Richabd 
F.  BUBTON,  Captain,  Bombay  Army.  With 
Maps  and  coloured  Plates.     Svo.  18s. 

Burton.  —  Personal  Narrative  of  a  Pil- 
grimage to  El  Medinah  and  Meccah.  By 
RiCHABD  F.  BuETON,  Captain,  Bombay 
Army.  Second EditionyVeYiaed;  with  coloured 
Plates  and  Woodcuts.  2  vols,  crown  Svo. 
price  24s. 

The  Cabinet  Lawyer :  A  Popular  Digest 

of  the  Laws  of  England,  Civil  and  Criminal ; 
with  a  Dictionary  of  Law  Terras,  Maxims, 
Statutes,  and  Judicial  Antiquities  ;  Correct 
Tables  of  Assessed  Taxes,  Stamp  Duties, 
Excise  Licenses,  and  Post-Horse  Duties ; 
Post-Office  Regiilationa  j  and  Prison  Disci- 
pline. 18th  Edition,  comprising  the  Pu¥hc 
Acts  of  the  Session  1858.    Fcp.  Svo.  10s.  6d. 

The  Cabinet  Gazetteer;  A  Popular  Geog^ra- 
phical  Dictionary  of  All  the  Countries  of 
the  World.  By  the  Author  of  The  Cabinet 
Lawyer.      Fcp.  Svo.  10s.  6d.  cloth. 

b3 


NEW  WORKS  Aio)  NEW  EDITIONS 


Caird.  —  Prairie  Fanning  in  America: 

With  Notes  by  the  way  on  Canada  and  the 
United  States.  By  James  Caied,  M.P., 
Author  of  "Enghsh  Agriculture,"  "High 
Farming,"  &c.    16mo.  3s.  6d. 

Calverii.  —  The    Wife's    Manual ;    or, 

Prayers,  Thoughts,  and  Hongs  on  Several 
Occasions  of  a  Matron's  Life.  By  the  Eer. 
W.  Calvebt,  M.A.  Ornamented  from  De- 
signs by  the  Author  in  the  style  of  Q^ieen 
Elizabeth's  Prayer-Book.  Second  Edition. 
Crown  8vo.  lOs.  6d. 

Catlow.— Popular  Conchology;  or,  the 

Shell  Cabinet  arranged  according  to  the 
Modem  System  :  With  a  detailed  Account 
of  the  Animals,  and  a  complete  Descriptive 
List  of  the  Famihes  and  (>enera  of  Recent 
and  Fossil  Shells.  By  AG::fES  Catlo-w. 
Second  Edition,  much  improved  ;  with  405 
Woodcut  Illustrations.   Post  8vo.  price  14s. 

Catz  and  Farlie's  Book  of  Emblems.— 

Moral  Emblems,  from  Jacob  Catz  and 
ROBEBT  Faelie  ;  with  Aphorisms,  Adages, 
and  Proverbs  of  all  Nations.  The  Illustra- 
tions freely  rendered  from  designs  found  in 
the  works  of  Catz  and  Farlie,  by  John 
Leighton,  F.S.A.,  and  engraved  under  his 
superintendence.  Imperial  8vo.  with  60 
large  Illustrations  on  Wood,  and  numerous 
Vignettes  and  Tail  Pieces. 

Cecil.  —  The  Stud  Farm ;  or.  Hints  on 

Breeding  Horses  for  the  Turf,  the  Chase,  and 
the  Road.  Addressed  to  Breeders  of  Race- 
Horses  and  Hunters,  Landed  Proprietors, 
and  especially  to  Tenant  Farmers.  By 
Cecil.    Fcp.  8vo.  with  Frontispiece,  5s. 

Cecil's  Stable  Practice ;  or,  Hints  on  Training 
for  the  Turf,  the  Chase,  and  the  Road; 
with  Observations  on  Racing  and  Hunt- 
ing, Wasting,  Ra«e-Riding,  and  Handi- 
capping :  Addressed  to  Owners  of  Racers, 
Hvmters,  and  other  Horses,  and  to  all  who 
are  concerned  in  Racing,  Steeple-Chasing, 
and  Fox- Hunting.  Second  Edition.  Fcp. 
8vo.  with  Plate,  price  58.  half-bound. 

Chapman.  —  History  of  Gustavus  Adol- 

phus  and  of  the  Tliirty  Years'  War  up  to  the 
King's  Death  :  With  some  Account  of  its 
Conclusion  by  the  Peace  of  Westphalia,  in 
1648.  By  B.  CnArMAH,  M.A.,  Vicar  of 
Letherhead.    8vo.  with  Plans,  12e.  6d. 

onington.  —  Handbook  of    Chemical 

Analysis,  adapted  to  the  Unitary  System  of 
Notation.  By  F.  T.  Coninotoit,  M.A., 
F.C.S.  Post  8vo.  79.  6d.  Also  Tables  of 
Qualitative  Analysis,  designed  as  a  Com- 
panion to  the  Handbook,  price  2s.  6d. 


Connolly.— The  Romance  of  the  Ranks ; 

or,  Anecdotes,  Episodes,  and  Social  Inci- 
dents of  Military  Life.  By  T.  W.  J. 
Connolly,  Quartermaster  of  the  Royal 
Engineers.     2  vols.  8vo.  21s. 

Connolly's  History  of  the  Royal  Sappers  and 
Miners  :  Including  the  Services  of  the  Corps 
in  the  Crimea  and  at  the  Siege  of  Sebastopol. 
Second  Edition  i  revised  and  enlarged;  with 
17  coloured  plates.     2  vols.  8vo.  price  SOs. 

Conybeare  and  Howson.~The  Life  and 

Epistles  of  Saint  Paul :  Comprising  a  com- 
plete Biography  of  the  Apostle,  and  a 
Translation  of  his  Epistles  inserted  in 
Chronological  Order.  By  the  Rev.  W.  J. 
CONTBEABE,  M.A. ;  and  the  Rev.  J.  S. 
HowsoN,  M.A.  Third  Edition^  revised  and 
corrected ;  with  several  Maps  and  Wood- 
cuts, and  4  Plates.  2  vols,  square  crown 
8vo.  31s.  6d.  cloth. 

*#*  The  Original  Edition,  with  more 
numerous  Illustrations,  in  2  vols.  4to.  price 
48s. — may  also  be  had. 

Dr.  Copland's  Dictionary  of  Practical 

Medicine :  Comprising  General  Pathology, 
the  Nature  and  Treatment  of  Diseases, 
Morbid  Structures,  and  the  Disorders  es- 
pecially incidental  to  Climates,  to  Sex,  and 
to  the  different  Epochs  of  Life ;  with  nume- 
rous approved  Formulae  of  the  Medicines 
recommended.  Now  complete  in  3  vols. 
Bvo.  price  £5.  lis.  cloth. 

Bishop   Cotton's  Instructions   in   the 

Doctrine  and  Practice  of  Christianity.  In- 
tended chiefly  as  an  Introduction  to  Confir- 
mation.    Fourth  Edition.     18mo.  2s.  6d. 

Cresy's  Encyclopaedia  of  Civil  Engi- 
neering, Historical,  Theoretical,  and  Prac- 
tical. Illustrated  by  upwards  of  3,000 
Woodcuts.  Second  Edition^  revised  and 
brought  down  to  the  Present  Time  in  a 
Supplement,comprising  Metropolitan  Water- 
Supply,  Drainage  of  Towns,  RailwaT!= 
Cubical  Proportion,  Brick  and  Iron  Co\. 
struction.  Iron  Screw  Piles,  Tubular  Bridge 
&c.     8vo.  68s.  cloth. 

Crosse.  —  Memorials,  Scientific  and  Li- 
terary, of  Andrew  Crosse,  the  Electrician. 
Edited  by  Mrs.  Ceosse.    Post  8vo.  98. 6d. 

Crowe.  — The  History  of  France.    By 

Etbe  Evans  Cbowe.  In  Five  Yolumes. 
YOL.  I.  8to.  price  14«. 


PiTBLiSHBD  BY  LONGMAN,  GREEN,  Aim  CO. 


Cmikshank.  —  The    Life   of  Sir  John 

Falstall',  illustrated  in  a  Series  of  Twenty- 
four  .original  Etchings  by  George  Cruik- 
sliank.  Accompanied  by  an  imaginary 
Biography  of  the  Knight  by  RoBEiiT  B. 
Beouqh.     Royal  8vo.  price  12s.  6d.  cloth. 

Lady  Gust's  Invalid's  Book.  — The  In- 

v^d's  Own  Book  :  A  Collection  of  Recipes 
from  various  Books  and  various  Countries. 
By  the  Honourable  Lady  Cust.  Second 
Edition.    Fcp.  8vo.  price  28.  6d. 

Dale.— The  Domestic  Liturgy  and  Family 

Chaplain,  in  Two  Parts  :  Paet  I.  Church 
Services  adapted  for  Domestic  Use,  with 
Prayers  for  Every  Day  of  the  Week,  selected 
from  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer;  Part 
II.  an  appropriate  Sermon  for  Every  Simday 
in  the  Year.  By  the  Rev.  Thomas  Dale, 
MA.,  Canon  Residentiary  of  St.  Paul's. 
Second  Edition.  Post  4to.  2l8.  cloth  j 
31s.  6d.  calf ;  or  £2.  10s.  morocco. 

i  1     /  '^^^  Family  Chaplaiit,  12a. 
separately   \  j,^^^  Dombsxic  LiiuseT,  lOs.  6d. 

Davy  (Dr.  J.)  — The  Angler  and  his 

Friend ;  or,  Piscatory  Colloquies  and  Fish- 
ing Excursions.  By  John  Dayy,  M.D., 
F.R.S.,  &c.    Fcp.  8vo.  price  6s. 

The  Angler  in  the  Lake  District :  or,  Piscatory 
Colloquies  and  Fishing  Excursions  in  West- 
moreland and  Cumberland.  By  John 
Davy,  M.D.,  F.R.S.    Fcp.  8vo.  6s.  6d. 


De  Fonblanque,  —  The  Administration 

and  Organisation  of  the  British  Army,  with 
especial  reference  to  Finance  and  Supply. 
By  Edwaed  BAEEiNaroN  De  Fonblanque, 
Assistant  Commissary-General.     8vo.  12s. 

Ds  la  Rive.— A  Treatise  on  Electricity 

in  Theory  and  Practice.  By  A.  De  la  Riye, 
Professor  in  the  Academy  of  Greneva.  Trans- 
lated for  the  Author  by  C.  V.  Walkee, 
F.R.S.  With  numerous  Woodcut  Illustra- 
tions.    3  vole.  Svo.  price  £3.  13s.  cloth. 

Domenech.  —  Seven  Years'  Residence  in 

the  Great  Deserts  of  North  America.  By 
the  Abbe  Domenech.  With  a  Map,  and 
about  Sixty  Woodcut  Illustrations.  2  vols. 
Svo.  [Just  ready. 


The  Abbe  Domenech's  Missionary  Adventures 
in  Texas  and  Mexico  :  A  Personal  Narrative 
of  Six  Years'  Sojourn  in  those  Regions. 
Translated  iinder  the  Author's  superin- 
tendence.    Svo.  with  Map,  10s.  6d. 


The  Eclipse  of  Faith ;  or,  a  Visit  to  a 

Religious  Sceptic.   dthEdition.  Fcp.  Svo.  Ss. 

Defence  of  The  Eclipse  of  Faith,  by  its 
Author:  Being  a  Rejoinder  to  Professor 
Newman's  Reply :  Includmg  a  full  Exami- 
nation of  that  Writer's  Criticism  on  the 
Character  of  Clirist ;  and  a  Chapter  on  the 
Aspects  and  Pretensions  of  Modern  Deism. 
Second  Edition,  revised.     Post  Svo.  5s.  6d. 

The  Englishman's  Greek  Concordance  of 

the  New  Testament :  Being  an  Attempt  at  a 
Verbal  Connexion  between  the  Greek  and 
the  Enghsh  Texts ;  including  a  Concordance 
to  the  Proper  Names,  with  Indexes,  Greek- 
English  and  English-Greek.  New  Edition, 
with  a  new  Index.    Royal  Svo.  price  428. 

The  Englishman's  Hebrew  and  Chaldee  Con- 
cordance of  the  Old  Testament :  Being  an 
Attempt  at  a  Verbal  Connexion  between 
the  Original  and  the  English  Translations  ; 
with  Indexes,  a  List  of  the  Proper  Names 
and  their  Occurrences,  &c.  2  vols,  royal 
Svo.  £3.  13s.  6d. ;  large  paper,  £4. 14s.  6d. 

Ephemera's    Handbook    of    Angling; 

teaching  Fly-Fishing,  Trolling,  Bottom- 
Fishing,  Salmon-Fishing  :  With  the  Natural 
History  of  River-Fish,  and  the  best  Modes 
of  Catching  them.  Third  Edition,  corrected 
and  improved  i  with  Woodcuts.  Fcp.  Svo.  5s. 

Ephemera's  Book  of  the  Salmon:  Com- 
prising the  Theory,  Principles,  and  Prac- 
tice of  Fly-Fishing  for  Salmon ;  Lists  of 
good  Salmon  FUes  for  every  good  River  in 
the  Empire ;  the  Natural  History  of  the 
Salmon,  its  Habits  described,  and  the  best 
way  of  artificially  Breeding  it.  Fcp.  Svo. 
with  coloured  Plates,  price  148. 

Fairbairn.— Useful  Information  for  En- 
gineers :  Being  a  Series  of  Lectures  delivered 
to  the  Working  Engineers  of  Yorkshire  and 
Lancashire.  With  Appendices,  containing 
the  Results  of  Experimental  Inquiries  into 
the  Strength  of  Materials,  the  Causes  of 
Boiler  Explosions,  &c.  By  William 
Faiebaien,  F.R.S.,  F.G.S.  Second  Edition  j 
with  numerousPlates  and  Woodcuts.  Crown 
Svo,  price  10s,  6d. 

First  Impressions  of  the  New  World  on 

Two  Travellers  from  the  Old  in  the  Autumn 
of  1858  :  with  Map  by  Arrow  smith.  Post 
Svo.  8s.  6d. 

Fischer.— Francis  Bacon  of  Verulam: 

Realistic  Philosophy  and  its  Age.  By  Dr. 
K.  Fischer.  Translated  by  John  Oien- 
FOED.    Post  Svo.  9s.  6d. 

B  4 


NEW  WORKS  AND  NEW  EDITIONS 


Forester.— Rambles  in  the   Islands  of 

Corsica  and  Sardinia:  With  Notices  of 
their  History,  Antiquities,  and  present 
Condition.  By  Thomas  Fobestee,  Au- 
thor of  mrxcay  in  184S-1849.  With 
coloured  Map  ;  and  numerous  Illustrations 
in  Colours  and  Tints  and  on  Wood,  from 
Drawings  made  during  the  Tour  by  Lieut.- 
Col.  M.  A.  BiDDULPH,  R.A.  Imperial 
8vo.  price  28s, 

Frazer.  —  Letters  of  Sir  A.  S.  Frazer, 

K.C.B.,  Commanding  the  Royal  Horse  Artil- 
lery under  the  Duke  of  Welhngton  :  Written 
during  the  Peninsular  and  Waterloo  Cam- 
paigns. Edited  by  Major-Oeneral  Sabine, 
R.A.  With  Portrait,  2  Maps,  and  Plan. 
8vo.  18?. 

Freeman   and   Salvin.  —  Falconry :    Its 

Claims,  History,  and  Practice.  By  Gage 
Eahle  Feeeman,  M. a.  ("  Peregrine"  of  the 
Yield  newspaper) ;  and  Capt.  F.  H.  Salvin. 
Post  870.  with  Woodcut  Illustrations  from 
Drawings  by  Wolf. 

Garratt.— Marvels  and  Mysteries  of  In- 
stinct ;  or,  Curiosities  of  Animal  Life.  By 
Geoege  Q-aeratt.  Second  Edition^  revised 
and  improved ;  with  a  Frontispiece.  Fcp. 
Svo.  price  48.  6d. 

Gilbart.— A  Practical  Treatise  on  Bank- 
ing. By  James  William  Gilbaet,  F.R.S. 
Sixth  Edition^  revised  and  enlarged.  2  vols. 
12mo.  Portrait,  ISs. 

Oilbart's  Logic  of  Bankiiig :  a  Familiar  Ex- 
position of  the  Principles  of  Reasoning,  and 
their  application  to  the  Art  and  the  Science 
of  Banking.     12mo.  with  Portrait,  12s.  6d. 

Gleig.— Essays,  Biographical,  Historical, 

and  Miscellaneous,  contributed  chiefly  to  the 
Edinburgh  and  Quarterly  Reviews.  By  the 
Rev,  G.  R,  Gleig,  M.A.,  Chaplain- General 
to  the  Forces  and  Prebendary  of  St.  Paul's. 
2  vols.  Svo.  21 8. 


1.  Dr.  Chalmerp. 

2.  Our  Defensive  Arma- 

ment. 

3.  Natural  Theology. 

4.  Military  Bridges. 

5.  TheWarofUiePunJaub 


COHTENTS. 

6.  The  Puritans. 

7.  General  Miller. 

8.  India  and  its  Army. 

9.  The  Mfldchenstien. 
10.  Military  Education. 


The  Poetical  Works  of  Oliver  Goldsmith. 

Edited  by  BoLTON  Coenet,  Esq.  Illustrated 
by  Wood  Engravings,  from  Designs  by 
Members  of  the  Etching  Club.  Square 
crown  8vo.  cloth,  2l8. ;  morocco,  £1.  IBs. 

Gosse.  —  A     Naturalist's    Sojourn    in 

Jamaica.  By  P.  H.  Gosse,  Esq.  With 
Plates.     Post  Svo.  price  148. 


Greathed.— Iietters  written  during  the 

Siege  of  Delhi.  By  H.  H.  Greathed,  late 
of  the  Bengal  Civil  Service.  Edited  by  his 
Widow.     Post  Svo.  8s.  6d. 

Green.— Lives  of  the  Princesses  of  Eng- 
land. By  Mrs.  Maey  Anne  Eteeett 
Geeen,  Editor  of  the  Letters  of  Royal  and 
Illustrious  Ladies.  With  numerous  Por- 
traits. Complete  in  6  vols,  post  Svo.  price 
10s.  6d.  each. — Any  Yolume  may  be  had 
separately  to  complete  sets. 

Greyson.  —  Selections  from  the  Corre- 
spondence of  R.  E.  H.  Greyson,  Esq. 
Edited  by  the  Author  of  The  Eclipse  of 
Faith.     Second  Edition.     Crown  Svo.  Ts. 6d. 

Grove.  —  The   Correlation  of  Physical 

Forces.  Bj  W.  R.  Geovb,  Q.C,  M.A., 
F.R.S.,  &c.     Third  Edition.     Svo.  price  7s. 

Gumey.— St.  Louis  and  Henri  IV. :  Being 

a  Second  Series  of  Historical  Sketches. 
By  the  Rev.  John  H.  Gubnet,  M.A.,  Rector 
of  St.  Mary's,  Marylebone.    Fcp.  Svo.  6s. 

Evening  Eecreations ;  or,  Samples  from  the 
Lecture-Room.  Edited  by  the  Rev.  J.  H. 
GuENEY,  M.A.    Crown  Svo.  5s. 

Gwilt's'  Encyclopaedia  of  Architecture, 

Historical,  Theoretical,  and  Practical.  By 
Joseph  Gwilt.  With  more  than  1,000 
Wood  Engravings,  from  Designs  by  J.  S. 
GwiLT.    Fourth  Edition.    Svo.  428. 

Hare  (Archdeacon).— The  Life  of  Luther, 

in  Forty-eight  Historical  Engravings.  By 
GusTAV  KoNiG.  With  Explanations  by 
Archdeacon  Habe  and  Susanna  Winz- 
WOETH.    Fcp.  4to.  price  28s. 

Harford.— Life  of  Michael  Angelo  Buon- 
arroti: With  Translations  of  many  of  his 
Poems  and  Letters  ;  also  Memoirs  of  Savo- 
narola, Raphael,  and  Vittoria  Colonna.  By 
John  S.  Habfobd,  Esq.,  D.C.L.,  F.R.S. 
Second  Edition^  thoroughly  revised  ;  with 
20  copperplate  Engravings.  2  vols.  Svo.  25s. 

'  Illustrations,  Architectural  and  Pictorial,  of 
1  the  Genius  of  Michael  Angelo  Buonarroti. 
I  '  With  Descriptions  of  the  Plates,  by  the 
I  Commendatore  Canina  ;  C.  R.  Cockeeell, 
1  Esq.,  R.A. ;  and  J.  S.  Habfobd,  Esq., 
'       D.C.L.,  F.R.S.    Folio,  73s.  6d.  half-bound. 

;  Harrison.— The  Light  of  the  Forge ;  or. 

Counsels  drawn  from  the  Sick-Bed  of  E.  M. 
'  By  the  Rev.  W.  Habbison,  M.A.,  Domestic 
I  Chaplain  to  H.R.H.  the  Duchess  of  Cam- 
i       bridge.     Fcp.  Svo.  price  5s. 


PUBLISHED  BY  LONGMAN,  aEEEN,  jlnb  CO. 


Harry Hieover— Stable  Talk  and  Table 

Talk  ;  or,  Spectacles  for  Young  Sportsmen. 
By  Harby  Hieoveb.  New  Edition,  2  vols. 
8vo.  with  Portrait,  price  24s. 

Harry  Hieover.- The  Hunting-Field.  By  Harry 
Hieoveb.  With  Two  Plates.  Fcp.  8to. 
58.  half- bound. 

Harry  Hieover.  —  Practical  Horsemanskip. 
By  Habby  Hieoveb.  Second  Edition  ;  with 
2  Plates.     Fcp.  8vo.  Ss.  half-bound. 

Harry  Hieover.— The  Pocket  and  the  Stud;  or, 
Practical  Hints  on  the  Management  of  the 
Stable.  By  Habby  Hieoveb.  Third 
Edition ;  with  Portrait  of  the  Author.  Fcp. 
8to.  price  5s.  half-bound. 

Harry  Hieover.— The  Stud,  for  Practical  Pur- 
poses and  Practical  Men:  Being  a  Guide 
to  the  Choice  of  a  Horse  for  use  more  than 
for  show.  By  Habby  Hieoveb.  With 
2  Plates.    Fcp.  Svo.  price  5s.  half-bound. 

Hassall. —Adulterations  Detected;    or, 

Plain  Instructions  for  the  Discovery  of 
Frauds  in  Food  and  Medicine.  By  Abthub 
Hill  Hassall,  M.D.  Lond.,  Analyst  of  TAe 
Lancet  Sanitary  Commission  ;  and  Author  of 
the  Keports  of  that  Commission  published 
under  the  title  of  Food  and  its  Adulterations 
(which  may  also  be  had,  in  Svo.  price  288.) 
With  225  Illustrations,  engraved  on  Wood. 
Crown  Svo.  17s.  6d. 

Hassall.— A  History  of  the  British  Fresh 

Water  Algae :  Including  Descriptions  of  the 
Desmidese  and  Diatomacese.  With  upwards 
of  One  Hundred  Plates  of  Figures,  illus- 
trating the  various  Species.  By  Abthu* 
Hill  Hassall,  M.D.,  Author  of  Micro- 
scopic Anatomy  of  the  Human  Bodi/,  &c.  2 
vols.  Svo.  with  103  Plates,  price  £1.  15s. 

Col.  Hawker's   Instructions  to  Young 

Sportsmen  in  all  that  relates  to  Guns  and 
Shooting.  11th  Edition,  revised  by  the 
Author's  Son,  Major  P.  W.  L.  Hawkeb  ; 
with  a  Bust  of  the  Author,  and  numerous 
Illustrations.     Square  crown  Svo.  ISs, 

Haydn's  Book  of  Dignities :  Containing 

RoUs  of  the  Official  Personages  of  the  British 
Empire,  Civil,  Ecclesiastical,  Judicial,  Mili- 
tary, Naval,  and  Municipal,  from  the  Earliest 
Periods  to  the  Present  Time.  Together 
with  the  Sovereigns  of  Europe,  from  the 
Foundation  of  their  respective  States ;  the 
Peerage  and  Nobility  of  Great  Britam;  &c. 
Being  a  New  Edition,  improved  and  conti- 
nued, of  Beatson's  Political  Index.  Svo. 
price  25s.  half-bound. 


Hayward.  —  Biographical  and   Critical 

Essays,  i-eprintcd  from  Eeviews,  with  Ad- 
ditions and  Corrections.  By  A.  Haywabd, 
Esq.,  Q.C.     2  vols.  Svo.  price  24s. 


1.  Sydney  Smith. 

2.  Samuel  Rogers. 

3.  James  Smith. 

4.  Geortfo  Selwyn. 

5.  Lord  Chesterfield. 

6.  Lord  Melbourne. 

7.  General  Von  Badowitz. 

8.  Countess  Hahn-IIahn. 
a.  De    Stcndahl    (Henri 

Beyle). 

10.  Pierre  Dupont. 

11.  Ix)rd   Eldon   and  the 

•  Chances  of  tlio  Bar. 


12.  The  Crimean  Campaign. 

13.  American    Orators  and 

statesmen. 

14.  Journalism  in  France. 

15.  Parisian    Morals   and 

Manners. 
Ifl.  The  Imitative  Powen  of 
Music. 

17.  British  Field  S|>ort8. 

18.  Science   and  Literature 

of  Etiquette. 
10.  The  Art  of  Diuing. 


Sir  John  Herschel.— Outlines  of  Astro- 
nomy. By  SiE  John  F.  W.  Heescuel, 
Bart.,  K.H.,  M.A.  Fifth  Edition,  revised 
and  corrected  to  the  existing  state  of  Astro- 
nomical Knowledge ;  with  Plates  and  Wood- 
outs.    Svo.  price  IBs. 

Sir  John  Herschers  Essays  from  the  Edin- 
burgh  and  Quarterly  Reviews^  with  Ad- 
dresses and  other  Pieces.     Svo.  price  ISs. 

Hinchliff.— Summer  Months  among  the 

Alps  :  With  the  Ascent  of  Monte  Bosa. 
By  Thomas  W.  Hinchlipp,  of  Lincoln's 
Inn,  Barrister-at-Law.  With  4  tinted 
Views  and  3  Maps.    Post  Svo.  price  10s.  6d. 

Hints  on  Etiquette  and  the  Usages  of 

Society :  With  a  Glance  at  Bad  Hahits. 
New  Edition,  revised  (with  Additions)  by  a 
Lady  of  Bank.  Fcp.  Svo.  price  Half-a-Crown. 

Holland.  —  Medical  Notes  and  Reflec- 
tions. By  Sib  Henry  Holland,  Bart., 
M.D.,  F.R.S.,  &c.,  Physician  in  Ordinary 
to  the  Queen  and  Prince-Consort.  Third 
Edition f  revised  throughout  and  corrected  j 
with  some  Additions.     Svo.  18s. 

Sir  H.  Holland's  Chapters  on  Mental  Physi- 
ology, founded  chiefly  on  Chapters  contained 
in  Medical  Notes  and  Reflections.  Second 
Edition.     Post  Svo.  price  8s.  6d. 

Hooker.— Kew  Gardens;  or,  a  Popular 

Guide  to  the  Royal  Botanic  Gardens  of 
Kew.  By  Sir  William  Jackson  Hookeb, 
X.H.,  &c.,  Director.     16mo.  price  Sixpence. 

Hooker  and  Arnott.— The  British  Flora ; 

comprising  the  Pheenogamous  or  Flowering 
Plants,  and  the  Ferns.  Seventh  Edition, 
with  Additions  and  Corrections  ;  and  nu- 
merous Figures  illustrative  of  the  Umbelli- 
ferous Plants,  the  Composite  Plants,  the 
Grasses,  and  the  Ferns.  By  Sir  W.  J. 
Hooker,  F.R.A.  and  L.S.,  &c. ;  and  G.  A. 
WALKER-AiiNOTT,  LL.D.,  F.L.S.  12mo. 
with  12  Plates,  price  14s.  j  with  the  Plates 
coloured,  price  21s. 


10 


NEW  WOEKS  AJSJ>  NEW  EDITIONS 


Home's  Introdnction   to   the    Critical 

Study  and  Knowledge  of  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures. Tenth  Edition ^  revised,  corrected, 
and  brought  down  to  the  present  time. 
Edited  by  the  Rev.  T.  Haetwell  Hoene, 
B.D.  (the  Author) ;  the  Eev.  Samuel 
Davidson,  D.D.  of  the  University  of  Halle, 
and  LL.D. ;  and  S.  Peideattx  Teegeixes, 
LL.D.  With  4  Maps  and  22  Yignettes  and 
Facsimiles.    4  vols.  8vo.  £3.  13s.  6d. 

%*  The  Four  Volumes  may  also  be  had  separately  as 
follows  :— 

Vol.  I.— A  Summary  of  the  Evidence  for  the  Genuineness, 
Authenticity,  Uncorrupted  Preservation,  and  Inspiration  of 
the  Holy  Scriptures.  By  the  R«v.  T.  H.  Home,  B.D. .  Svo.los. 

Vol..  II.— The  Text  of  the  Old  Testament  considered :  "With 
a  Treatise  on  Sacred  Interpretation ;  and  a  brief  Introduc- 
tion to  the  Old  Testament  Books  and  the  Apocrypha.  By  S. 
Davidson,  D.D.  (HaUe)  and  LL.D.  T 8vo.  258. 

Voi.  III.— A  Summary  of  Biblical  Geography  and  Anti- 
quities.   By  the  Rev.  T.  H.  Home,  B.D 8vo.  18s. 

Vol.  IV.— An  Introduction  to  the  Textual  Criticism  of  the 
New  Testament.  By  the  Rev.  T.  H.  Home,  B.D.  The 
Critical  Part  re-written,  and  the  reBoainder  revised  and 
edited  by  .S.  P.  Tregelles,  LL.D 8vo.  18s. 

Home. —  A  Compendious  Introdnction 

to  the  Study  of  the  Bible.  By  the  Eev. 
T.  Haetwell  Hoene,  B.D.  New  Edition, 
vdth  Maps  and  Illustrations,     12mo.  99. 

Hoskyns.— Talpa ;  or,  the  Chronicles  of 

a  Clay  Farm  :  An  Agricultural  Fragment. 
By  Chandos  Ween  Hose:yns,  Esq.  Fourth 
Edition.  With  24  Woodcuts  from  the 
original  Designs  by  Geoege  Ceuikshane:. 
16mo.  price  56.  6d. 

Hewitt  (A.  M.)  — An  Art-Student  in 
Munich.  By  Anna  Maet  Howitt.  2 
vol*,  post  8vo.  price  14g. 

Howitt.— The  Children's  Year.  By  Mary 

HowiTT.  With  Four  Illustrations,  from 
Designs  by  A.  M.  Howitt.  Square  16mo.  Ss. 

Howitt.— Tallangetta,    the    Squatter's 

Home :  A  Story  of  Australian  Life.  By 
William  Howitt,  Author  of  T\oo  Years  in 
Vietoria,  &c.     2  vols,  post  8vo.  price  18s. 

Howitt.  —  Land,     Labour,    and    Gold; 

or,  Two  Years  in  Victoria  :  With  Yisit  to 
Sydney  and  Yan  Diemen's  Land.  By 
William  Howitt.  Second  Fdilion,  con- 
taining the  most  recent  Information  re- 
garding the  Colony.  2  vols,  crown  Svo. 
price  lOs. 

Howitt.— Visits  to  Remarkable  Places : 

Old  Halls,  Batile-Fields,  andSccn«BilkiBtra- 
tive  of  Striking  Passages  in  English  History 
and  PoetiT.  By  William  Howitt.  With 
about  80  Wood  Engravings.  Neio  Edition. 
2  vols,  square  crown  8vo.  price  258. 


William  Hewitt's  Boy's  Country  Book: 

Being  the  Eeal  Life  of  a  Country  Boy, 
written  by  himself  ;  exhibiting  all  the 
Amusements,  Pleasures,  and  Pursuits  of 
Children  in  the  Country.  New  Edition ; 
with  40  Woodcuts.    Fcp.  Svo.  price  6s. 

Hewitt.  — The  Rural  Life  of  England.  By 
William  Howitt.  New  Edition,  cor- 
rected and  revised ;  ydth.  Woodcuts  by 
Bewick  and  Williams.     Medium  Svo.  2l9. 

The  Abbe'  Hue's  work  on  the  Chinese 

Empire,  founded  on  Fourteen  Years'  Travels 
and  Residence  in  China-  Peojde's  Edition, 
with  2  Woodcut  Illustratious.  Crown  Svo . 
price  5s. 

Hue- Christianity  in  China,   Tartary, 

and  Thibet.  By  M.  I'Abbe  Hue,  formerly 
Missionary  Apostolic  in  China ;  Author  of 
TJie  Chinese  Empire^  &c.  Vols.  I.  and  II. 
Svo.  21s. ;  and  Vol.  III.  price  10s.  6d. 

Hudson's  Plain  Directions  for  Making 

Wills  in  conformity  with  the  Law.  New 
Edition,  corrected  and  revised  by  the 
Author  ;  and  practically  illustrated  by  Spe- 
cimens of  Wills  containing  many  varieties 
of  Bequests,  also  Notes  of  Cases  judicially 
decided  since  the  Wills  Act  came  into  ope- 
ration.   Fcp.  Svo.  28.  6d. 

Hudson's  Executor's  Guide.    New  and 

enlarged  Edition,  revised  by  the  Author 
with  reference  to  the  latest  reported  Cases 
and  Acts  of  Parhament.    Fcp.  Svo.  Gs. 

Hudson  and  Kennedy.— Where  there  's 

a  Will  there 's  a  Way  :  An  Ascent  of  Mont 
Blanc  by  a  New  Route  and  Without  Guides. 
By  the  Rev.  C.  Hudson,  M.A.,  and  E.  S. 
Kennedy,  B.A.  Second  Edition,  with  Plate 
and  Map.     Post  Svo.  5s.  6d. 

Humboldt's  Cosmos.    Translated,  with 

the  Author's  authority,  by  Mes.  Sabine. 
Vols.  I.  and  II.  16mo.  Half-a-Crown  each, 
sewed  ;  3s.  6d.  each,  cloth  :  or  in  post  Svo. 
12s.  each,  cloth.  Vol.  III.  post  8vo. 
12s.  6i  cloth :  or  in  16mo.  Paet  I.  28.  f 
sewed,  Ss.  6d.  cloth  ;  and  Paet  II.  3s.  §ew< 
43.  cloth.  Vol.  IV.  Paet  I.  post  Svo.  los. 
cloth;  and  16mo.  price  Ts.  6d.  cloth,  or 
78.  sewed. 

Humboldt's  Aspects  of  Nature.  TranBlated, 
with  the  Author's  autliority,  by  Mes.Sabine. 
16mo.  price  6s. :  or  in  2  vols.  3s.  6d.  each, 
cloth  J  2s.  6d.  each,  sewed. 


PUBLISHED  BY  LONGMAN,  GREEN,  and  CO. 


11 


Humphreys.  —  Parables  of  Our  Lord, 

illuminated  and  ornamented  iii  the  style  of 
the  Missals  of  the  Kenaissance  by  Henry 
Noel  IlFMrHREYS.  Square  fcp.  8vo.  21s. 
ill  massive  carved  coverfi  ;  or  30s.  bound  in 
morocco  by  Hay  day. 

Hunt.  —  Researches    on    Light   in  its 

Chemical  Eelations  ;  embracing  a  Con- 
sideration of  all  the  Photographic  Processes. 
By  Robert  Hitnt,  F.R.S.  Second  Edition, 
with  Plate  and  Woodcuts.     8vo.  lOs.  6d. 

Hunt  (Captain).— The  Horse   and  his 

Master :  With  Hints  on  Breeding,  Breaking, 
Stable- Management,  Training,  Elementary 
Horsemanship,  Riding  to  Hound:?,  &c.  By 
Vere  D.  Hunt,  Esq.,  late  109th  Regt.  Co. 
Dublin  Militia.  Fcp.  8vo.  with  Frontispiece, 
price  5a. 

Hutchinson.  — Impressions  of  Western 

Africa  :  With  a  Report  on  the  Peculiarities 
of  Trade  up  the  Rirers  in  the  Bight  of 
Biafra.  By  T.  J.  Hftchinson,  Esq., 
British  Consul  for  the  Bight  of  Biafra  and 
the  Island  o^  Fernando  Po.  Post  Svo. 
price  Ss.  6d.  , 

;  Idle.— Hints  on  Shooting,  Fishing,  &c., 

both  on  Sea  and  Land,  and  in  the  Fresh- 
Water  Lochs  of  Scotland  :  Being  the  Expe- 
riences of  C.  Idle,  Esq.    Fcp.  Svo.  Ss. 

Mrs.  Jameson's  Legends  of  the  Saints 

and  Martyrs,  as  represented  in  Christian  Art  : 
Forming  the  First  Series  of  Sacred  and 
Legendary  Art.  Third  Edition,  revised  and 
improved ;  with  17  Etchings  and  upwards 
of  180  Woodcuts,  many  of  which  are  new 
in  this  Edition.  2  vols,  square  crown  8vo. 
price  31s.  6d. 

Mrs.  Jameson's  Legends  of  the  Monastic 
Orders,  as  represented  in  Christian  Art, 
Forming  the  Second  Series  of  Saered  and 
Legendary  Ari.  Second  Edition,  enlarged  ; 
with  11  Etchings  by  the  Author,  and  88 
Woodcuts.     Square  crown  8vo.  price  288. 

Mrs.   Jameson's   Legends   of  the   Madonna, 

as  represented  in  Christian  Art  :  Forming 
the  Third  Series  of  Sacred  and  Legendary 
Art,  Second  Edition,  corrected  and  en- 
larged ;  with  27  Etchings  and  165  Wood 
Engravings.     Square  crown  Svo.  price  28s. 

Mrs.  Jameson's  Commonplace-Book  of 

Thoughts,  Memories,  and  Fancies,  Original 
and  Selected.  Part  I.  Ethics  and  Character ; 
Part  II.  Literature  and  Art.  Second  Edit. 
revised  and  corrected ;  with  Etchings  and 
Woodcuts.    Crown  Svo.  18s. 


Mrs.  Jameson's  Two  Lectures  on  the 

Social  Employments  of  Women, — Sisters  of 
Charity  and  the  Coun/na/ion  of  Ldhour.  New 
Edition,  with  a  Prefatory  Letter  on  the 
present  Condition  and  Requirements  of  the 
Women  of  England.     Fcp.  Svo.  28. 

Jaquemet'8  Compendium  of  Chronology: 

Containing  the  most  important  Dates  of 
General  History,  Pohtical,  Ecclesiastical, 
and  Literary,  from  the  Creation  of  the 
World  to  the  end  of  the  Year  1854.  '  Second 
Edition.    Post  Svo.  pi*ice  78.  6d. 

Jaquemet's  Chronology  for  Schools :  Contain- 
ing the  most  important  Dates  of  General 
History,  Political,  Ecclesisastical,  and 
Literary,  from  the  Creation  of  the  World 
to  the  end  of  the  year  1857.  Edited  by  the 
Rev.  J.  Alcorn,  M.A.    Fcp.  Svo.  3s.  6d. 

Lord  Jeffrey's    Contributions  to   The 

Edinburgh  Review.  A  New  Edition,  com- 
plete in  One  Volume,  with  a  Portrait  en- 
graved by  Henry  Robinson,  and  a  Vignette. 
Square  crown  Svo.  21s.  cloth  ;  or  30s.  calf. — 
Or  in  3  vols.  Svo.  price  42s.  Comprising — 

1.  General    Literatui'e    and    Literary  Bio- 

graphy. 

2.  History  and  Historical  Memoirs. 

3.  Poetry. 

4.  Philosophy  of  the  Mind,   Metaphysics, 

and  Jurisprudence. 

5.  Novels,  Tales,  and  Prose  Works  of  Fiction. 

6.  Greneral  Politics. 

7.  Miscellaneous  Literature,  &c. 

Bishop  Jeremy  Taylor's  Entire  Works : 

With  Life  by  Bishop  Heber.  Revised  and 
corrected  by  the  Rev.  Charles  Page  Eden, 
Fellow  of  Oriel  College,  Oxford.  Now 
complete  in  10  vols.  Svo.  10s.  6d.  each. 

Keith  Johnston's    New  Dictionary   of 

Geography,  Descriptive,  Physical,  Statistical, 
and  Historical:  Forming  a  complete  Gene- 
ral Gazetteer  of  the  World.  New  Edition, 
rectified  to  May  1859.  In  One  Volume  of 
1,360  pages,  comprising  about  50,000  Names 
of  Places.  Svo.  SOs.  cloth  j  or  35s.  half- 
bound  in  russia. 

Kane.— Wanderings  of  an  Artist  among 

the  Indians  of  North  America ;  from  Canada 
to  Vancouver's  Island  and  Oregon,  tlirough 
the  Hudson's  Bay  Company's  Territory,  and 
back  again.  By  Paul  Kane.  With  Map, 
Illustrations  in  Colom's,  and  Wood  En- 
gravings.    Svo.  21s. 

Kemble.— The  Saxons  in  England :   A 

History  of  the  English  Commonwealtli  till 
the  Norman  Conquest.  By  Johk  M.  Ejem- 
BLi,  M.A.,  &c.    2  vols.  Svo.  28s. 

b6 


NEW  WORKS  AND  NEW  EDITIONS 


Kesteven.— A  Manual  of  the  Domestic 

Practice  of  Medicine.  By  W.  B .  Kestevek, 
Fellow  of  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons  of 
England,  &c.    Square  post  8vo.  7s.  6d. 

Kirby  and    Spence's    Introduction    to 

Entomology  ;  or,  Elements  of  the  Natural 
History  of  Insects  :  Comprising  an  Account 
of  Noxious  and  Useful  Insects,  of  their  Meta- 
morphoses, Food,  Stratagems,  Habitations, 
Societies,  Motions,  Noises,  Hybernation, 
Instinct,  «&c.  Seventh  Edition^  with  an  Ap- 
pendix relative  to  the  Origin  and  Progress 
of  the  work.     Crown  8vo.  Ss. 


A  Lady's    Tour    round  Monte   Rosa; 

With  Visits  to  the  Italian  Valleys  of  An- 
zasca,  Mastalone,  Camasco,  Sesia,  Lys, 
Challant,  Aosta,  and  Cogne :  In  a  Series  of 
Excursions  in  the  Years  1850,  1856,  1858. 
With  Map,  4  Illustrations  in  Colours  from 
Sketches  by  Mr.  G-.  Barnard,  and  8  Wood 
Engravings.    Post  8vo.  14s. 

Mrs.  R.  Lee's  Elements  of  Natural  His 

tory ;  or,  First  Principles  of  Zoology  :  Com 
prising  the  Principles  of  Classification,  inter 
spersed  with  amusing  and  instructive  Ac 
counts  of  the  most  remarkable  Animals 
New  Edition;  Woodcuts.    Fcp. Svo. 78. 6d 


LARDNER'S    CABINET    CYCLOPAEDIA 


Of  History,  Biography,  Literature,  the  Arts  and  Sciences,  Natural  History,  and  Manufactures. 

A  Series  of  Original  Works  by 

Thomas  Keiohtlky, 
John  Forster, 
Sir  Walter  Scott, 
Thomas  Moore, 

AND  OTHER  EMINENT  WRITERS. 

Complete  in  132  vols.  fcp.  8to.  with  Vigniette  Titles,  price,  in  clotli,  Nineteen tSuineas. 
The  Works  separately,  in  Sets  or  Series,  price  Three  Shillings  and  Sixpence  each  Volume. 


Sir  John  Herschel, 
Sir  James  Mackintosh, 
Robert  Southey, 
Sir  David  Brewster, 


Bishop  Thirlwall, 
The  Rev.  G.  R.  Gleig, 
J.  C.  L.  Db  Sismondi, 
John  Phillips,  F.R.S.,  G.S. 


A  List  of  the  Works  composing  the  Cabinet  Cyclopedia  : — 


1.  Bell's  History  of  Russia 


3  vols,  10s.  6d.  I  34.  Lardner  on  Heat 1  yol. ! 


2.  Bell's  Lives  of  British  Poets 2  vols.  7s.         j 

3.  Brewster's  Optics  1  vol.  Ss,  6d. 

*.  Cooley's  Maritime  and  Inland  Discovery  8  vols.  lOs.  6d. 

5.  Crowe's  History  of  France 3  vols.  10s.  Gd. 

6.  De  Morgan  on  Probabilities 1  vol.  Ss.  6d. 

7.  De  Sismondi's  History    of  the  Italian 

Republics  1  vol.  38. 6d. 

8.  De  Sismondi's  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire  2  vols.  78. 

9.  Donovan's  Chemistry  1  vol.  Ss.  6d. 

10.  Donovan's  Domestic  Economy 2  vols.  7s. 

11.  Dunham's  Spain  and  Portugal. 5  vol*.  178. 6d. 

12.  Dunliam's  History  of  Denmark,  Sweden, 

and  Norway 3  vols.  lOs,  6d. 

13.  Dunham's  History  of  Poland 1  vol.  Ss.  6d. 

14.  Dimham's  Germanic  Empire 8  vols.  10s.  6d. 

15.  Dunham's    Europe  during  the   Middle 

Ages 4  vols.  14s. 

16.  Dunham's  British  Dramatists 2  vols.  7s. 

17.  Dunham's  Lives  of  Early   Writers    of 

Great  Britain  1  vol.  Ss.  6d. 

18.  Fergus's  History  of  the  United  States  . .  2  vol«.  78. 

19.  Fosbroke's  Grecian  &  Roman  Antiquities  2  vols.  78. 

20.  Forster's  Lives  of  the  Statesmen  of  the 

Commonwealth  5  vols.  178.  6d. 

».  Gleig's  Lives  of  British  Military  Com- 
manders  3  vols.  lOs.  6d. 

22.  Grattan's  History  of  the  Netherlands  .. .  1  vol.  Ss.  6d. 

23.  Henslow's  Botany 1  vol.  Ss.  6d. 

S>1.  Herschel's  Astronomy 1  vol.  Ss.  Gd. 

26.  Herschel's  Diacours«  on  Natural  Philo- 
sophy   1  vol.  3s.  6d. 

26.  History  of  Rome 2  vols.  78. 

27.  History  of  Switzerland 1  vol.  38. 6d. 

28.  Holland's  Manufactures  in  Metal 3  vols.  lOs.  6d. 

20.  James's  Lives  of  Foreign  Statesmen 5  vols.  178.  6d. 

30.  Kater  and  Lardner's  Mechanics 1  vol.  Ss.  6<1. 

31.  Keightley's  Outlines  of  History 1  vol.  8«.  6d. 

32.  Lardner's  Arithmeti* 1  voL  8«.  6d. 

33.  Lardner's  Geometry •. 1  vol.  Ss.  6d. 


35.  Lardner's  Hydrostatics  and  Pneumatics  1  vol.  Ss.  Gd. 

36.  Lardner  and  Walker's  Electricity  and 

Magnetism 2  vols.  7s. 

37.  Mackintosh,  Forster,  and    Courtenay's 

Lives  of  British  Statesmen 7  vols.  21s.  Cd. 

38.  Mackintosh,  Wallace,  and  Bell's  History 

of  England 10  vols.  35s. 

39.  Montgomery  and  Shelley's  eminent  Ita- 

ll.-m,  Spanish,  and  Portuguese  Authors  3  vols.  lOs.  Od. 

40.  Moore's  History  of  Ireland 4  vols.  lis. 

41.  Nicolas's  Chronology  of  History 1  vol.  Ss.  6d. 

42.  Phillips's  Treatise  on  Geology 2  vols.  78. 

43.  Powell's  History  of  Natural  Pliilosophy  1  vol.  Ss.  6d. 
4-i.  Porter's  Treatise  on  the  Manufacture  of 

Silk 1  vol.  3s.  6d. 

45.  Porter's  Manufactures  of  Porcelain  and 

Glass 1  vol.  Ss.  6d. 

46.  Roscoe's  British  Lawyers 1  vol,  Ss.  Gd. 

47.  Scott's  History  of  Scotland 2  vols.  78. 

48.  Shelley's    Lives    of   eminent    French 

Authors ;...,.  .2  vols.  7s. 

49.  Shuckard  and  Swainson's  Insects 1  vol.  Ss.  Gd. 

50.  Southey's  Lives  of  British  Admirals 5  vols.  17s.  Gil. 

51.  Stebbing's  Church  History 2  vols.  79. 

52.  Stebbing's  Historj-  of  the  Reformation. .  2  vols.  78. 

53.  Swainson's  Discourse  on  Natural  History  1  vol.  Ss.  6d. 
I  &i.  Swainson's  Natural  History  and  Classi- 
fication of  Animals  1  vol.  Ss.  Gd. 

55.  Swainson's    Habits    and    Instincts    of 

Animals 1  vol.  Ss.  6d. 

I  .^G.  Swainson's  Birds 2  vols.  7s. 

I  57.  Swainson's  Fish,  Reptiles,  &o 2  vols.  7s. 

I  58.  Swainson's  Quadruixids 1  vol.  Ss.  6d. 

59.  Swainson's  Shells  and  Shell-Pish 1  vol.  3s.  Gd. 

GO.  Swainson's  Animals  in  Menageries 1  vol.  Ss.  6d. 

Gl.  Swainson's  Taxidermy  and  Biography  of 

Zoologists 1  vol.  Ss.  Gd. 

02.  ThirlwaU'8  History  of  Greece 8  vols.  283. 


PUBLISHED  BY  LONGMAN,  GREEN,  akd  CO. 


13 


The  Letters  of  a  Betrothed.    Fcp.  8vo. 

price  5s,  doth. 

Letters  to  my  Unknown  Friends.    By 

a  Lady,  Author  of  Letters  on  Happiness. 
Fourth  Edition.      Ecp.  8vo.  5?. 

L.E.L.— The  Poetical  Works  of  Letitia 

Elizabeth  Landon  ;  comprising  the  Impro- 
visatricej  the  Venetian  Bracelet,  the  Golden 
Fioletf  tiie  Tioubadour,  and  Poetical  Remains. 
New  Edition  ;  with  2  Vignettes  bj  R.Doyle. 
2  vols.  16mo.  lOs.  cloth  ;  morocco,  2l8. 

Dr.  John  Lindley's  Theory  and  Practice 

of  Horticultvu-e  ;  or,  an  Attempt  to  explain 
the  principal  Operations  of  Gardening  upon 
Physiological  Grounds :  Being  the  Second 
Edition  of  the  Theory  of  Horticulturey  much 
enlarged  ;  with  98  Woodcuts.     Syo.  21s. 

Dr.    John    Lindley's  Introduction  to 

Botany.  New  Edition,  with  Corrections  and 
copious  Additions.  2  vols.  Svo.  with  Six 
Plates  and  numerous  Woodcuts,  price  248. 

Dr.  John  Lindley's    Synopsis    of  the 

British  Flora  arranged  according  to  the 
Natural  Orders ;  containing  Vasculares  or 
Flowering  Plants.  Third  Edition  (reprinted) . 
Fcp.  Svo.  69. 

Linwood.— Anthologia  Oxoniensis,  sive 

Florilegium  e  Lusibus  poeticis  diversorum 
Oxoniensium  Grsecis  et  Latinis  decerptum. 
Curante  Gulielmo  Linwood,  M.A.,  iEdis 
Chi-isti  Alumno.    Svo.  price  148. 

Lorimer's  (C.)  Letters  to  a  Young  Master 

Mariner  on  some  Subjects  connected  with 
his  Calling.    New  Edition.  Fcp.  Svo.  Ss.  6d. 

Loudon's  Encyclopaedia  of  Agriculture : 

Comprising  the  Theory  and  Practice  of  the 
Valuation,  Transfer,  Laying-out,  Improve- 
ment, and  Management  of  Landed  Property, 
and  of  the  Cultivation  and  Economy  of  the 
Animal  and  Vegetable  Productions  of  Agri- 
culture. New  and  cheaper  Edition;  with 
1,100  Woodcuts.     Svo.  3l3.  6d. 

Loudon's  Encyclopaedia  of  Gardening: 

Comprising  the  Theory  and  Practice  of  Hor- 
ticulture, Floriculture,  Arboriculture,  and 
Landscape- Grardening.  With  many  hundred 
Woodcuts.  Corrected  and  improved  by 
Mes.  Loudon.  New  and  cheaper  Edition. 
Svo.  3l8.  6d. 

Loudon's  Encyclopaedia  of  Trees  and 

Shrubs,  or  Arboretum  et  Fruticetum  Britan- 
nicum  abridged :  Containing  the  Hardy  Trees 
and  Shrubs  of  Great  Britain,  Native  and 
Foreign,  Scientifically  and  Popularly  De- 
scribed. With  about  2,000  Woodcuts. 
Svo.  price  50s. 


Loudon's  Encyclopaedia  of  Plants :  Com- 
prising the  Specific  Character,  Description, 
Culture,  History,  Application  in  the  Arts, 
and  every  other  desirable  Particular  respect- 
ing all  the  Plants  found  in  Great  Britain. 
New  Edition,  corrected  by  Mrs.  Loudon. 
With  upwards  of  12,000  Woodcuts.  Svo. 
£3.  13s.  6d.— Second  Supplement,  2l8. 

Loudon's    Encyclopaedia    of    Cottage, 

Farm,  and  Villa  Architecture  and  Furniture. 
New  Edition,  edited  by  MiiS.  Loudon  ;  with 
more  than  2,000  Woodcuts.     Svo.  638. 

Loudon's  Hortus  Britannicus ;  or,  Cata- 
logue of  all  the  Plants  found  in  Great 
Britain.  New  Edition,  corrected  by  Mrs. 
Loudon.    Svo.  3l3.  6d. 

Mrs.  Loudon's  Lady's  Country  Compa- 
nion; or,  How  to  Enjoy  a  Country  Life 
Rationally.  Fourth  Edition,  with  Plates 
and  Woodcuts.    Fcp.  Svo.  5s. 

Mrs.    Loudon's    Amateur    Gardener's 

Calendar,  or  Monthly  Guide  to  what  should 
be  avoided  and  done  in  a  Garden.  New 
Edition.    Crown  Svo.  with  Woodcuts,  78. 6d. 

Low'sElements  of  Practical  Agriculture; 

comprehending  the  Cultivation  of  Plants,  the 
Husbandry  of  the  Domestic  Animals,  and 
the  Economy  of  the  Farm.  New  Edition ; 
with  200  Woodcuts.    Svo.  2l3. 

Macaulay.— Speeches  of  the  Right  Hon. 

Lord  Macaulay.  Corrected  by  Himself. 
Svo.  price  123. — Lord  Macaulay'a  Speeches 
on  Parliamentary  Reform,  16mo.  price  Is. 

Macaulay.  —  The  History  of  England 

from  the  Accession  of  James  II.  By 
theJlight  Hon.  Lord  Macaulay.  New 
Edition.  Vols.  I.  and  II.  Svo.  price  328.  j 
Vols.  III.  and  IV.  price  36s. 

Lord   Macaulay's  History  of  England 

from  the  Accession  of  James  II.  New 
Edition  of  the  first  Four  Volumes  of  the 
Svo.  Edition,  revised  and  corrected.  7  vols, 
post  Svo.  price  6s.  each. 

Lord  Macaulay's  Critical  and  Historical 

Essays  contributed  to  The  Edinburgh 
Review.     Foiu*  Editions,  as  follows  : — 

1.  A  LiBKARY  EDiTioif  (the  Ninth),  in  3  toIs.  8to. 

price  3Gs. 

2,  Completft  in  Oitb  Volume,  with  Portrait  and  Vig- 

nette.    Square  crown  8to.  price  21s.  cloth:  or 
80s.  calf. 

S.  Another  New  Editiox,  in  3  vols.  fcp.  Svo.  price 
21s.  cloth. 

4.  The  People's  EDiTioif,  in  2  vols,  crown  8to.  price 
8s.  cloth. 


14 


NEW  WOEKS  AND  NEW  EDITIONS 


Macaiilay.— Lays  of  Ancient  Rome,  with 

Ivry  and  the  Armada.  By  the  Right 
Hon.  Lord  Macaulat.  New  Edition. 
16mo.  price  4s.  6d.  cloth;  or  10s.  6d. 
bound  in  morocco. 

Lord  Macaulay's  Lays  of  Ancient  Rome. 

With  numerous  Illustrations,  Original  and 
from  the  Antique,  drawn  on  Wood  by 
George  Scharf,  jun.,  and  engraved  by  Samuel 
Wilhams.  New  Edition.  Fcp.  4to.  price 
21s.  boards  ;  or  423.  bound  in  morocco. 

Mac    Donald.  —  Poems.     By   George 

Mao  Donald,  Author  of  Within  and  With- 
out.   Fcp.  8vo.  7b. 

Mac  Donald.— Within  and  Without :   A 

Dramatic  Poem.  By  Geoege  Mac  Donald. 
Second  Edition^  revised.     Fcp.  8vo.  4s.  6d, 

MacDongall.— The  Theory  of  War  illus- 
trated by  numerous  Examples  from  His- 
tory. By  Lieutenant -Colonel  MacDougall, 
Commandant  of  the  Staff  College.  Second 
Edition^  revised.  Post  8vo.  with  10  Pkns 
of  Battles,  price  10s.  6d. 

MacDougall.  -  The  Campaigns  of  Hannibal, 
arranged  and  critically  cansidered,  ex- 
pressly for  the  use  of  Students  of  Military 
History.  By  Lieut.-Col.P.  L.  MacDougall, 
Commandant  of  the  Staff  College.  Post 
8vo.  with  Map,  78.  6d. 

M'Dougall.— The   Eventful   Voyage   of 

H.M.  Jfiscovery  Ship  Resolute  to  the  Arctic 
Heffions  in  Search  of  Sir  John  Franklin  and 
the  Missing  Crews  of  H.M.  Ihseovery  Skips 
Erebus  and  Terror,  1852,  1853,  3854.  By 
Geohge  F.  M'Dougall,  Master.  With  a 
coloured  Chart ;  8  Illustrations  in  tinted 
Lithography  ;  and  22  Woodcuts.  8vo.  price 
21s.  clotli. 

Sir  James  Mackintosh's  Miscellaneous 

Works  :  Including  his  Contributions  to  The 
Edinburgh  Review.  Complete  in  One 
Volume  ;  with  Portrait  and  Vignette. 
Bquare  crown  8vo.  21b.  cloth  ;  or  SOs.  bound 
in  calf:  or  in  3  vole.  fcp.  8vo.  21s. 

Sir  James  Mackintosh's  History  of  England 

from  the  Earliest  Times  to  the  final  Esta- 
bhshment  of  the  Reformation.  Library  Edi- 
tion, revised.    2  vols.  8vo.  2l3. 

M'Culloch's  Dictionary,  Practical,  Theo- 
retical, and  Historical,  of  Commerce  and 
Commercial  Navigation.  Illustrated  with 
Maps  and  Plans.  New  Edition,  revised  and 
adapted  to  the  Present  Time  ;  containing 
much  additional  Information.      [Just  ready. 


M'CuUoch's   Dictionary,    Geographical, 

Statistical,  and  Historical,  of  the  various 
Countries,  Places,  and  principal  Natural 
Objects  in  the  World.  Illustrated  with  Six 
large  Maps.  New  Edition,  r^'vised;  with  a 
Supplement.     2  vols.  8vo.  price  63s. 

Maguire.— Rome ;  its  Ruler  and  its  In- 
stitutions. By  John  Francis  Maghtiee, 
M.P.  Second  Edition^  revised  and  enlarged  ; 
with  a  new  Portrait  of  Pope  Pius  IX. 
cet.  66.     Post  8vo.  lOs.  6d. 

Mrs.  Marcet's  Conversations  on  Natural 

Philosophy,  in  which  the  Elements  of  that 
Science  are  familiarly  explained.  Thirteenth 
Edition,  enlarged  and  corrected;  with  34 
Plates.     Fcp.  8vo.  price  lOs.  6d. 

Mrs.  Marcet's  Conversations  on  Chemistry, 
in  which  the  Elements  of  that  Science 
are  familiarly  explained  and  illustrated  by 
Experiments.  New  Edition,  enlarged  and 
improved.     2  vols.  fcp.  8vo.  price  148. 

Marshman.  —  The  Life  and   Times   of 

Carey,  Marshman,  and  Ward  :  Embracmg 
the  History  of  the  Serampore  Mission. 
By  John  Claek  Marshman.  2  vols.  8to. 
price  258. 

Martineau.  —  Studies    of   Christianity  : 

A  Series  of  Original  Papers,  now  first  col- 
lected or  new.  By  James  MAETiNEAr. 
Crown-8vo.  7s.  6d. 

Martineau.  —  Endeavours  after  the  Christian 
Life  :  Discourses.  By  James  Maetinbau. 
2  vols,  post  8vo.  7s.  6d.  each. 

Martineau.— Hymns  for  the  Christian 

Church  and  Home.  Collected  and  edited  by 
James  Martineau.  Eleventh  Editwn,  12nio. 
3».  6d.  cloth,  or  5s.  calf  j  Fifth  Ediiion^  32mo. 
Is.  4d.  cloth,  or  Is.  8d.  roan. 

Martineau.— Miscellanies :  Comprising  Essays 
on  Dr.  Priestley,  Arnold's  Life  and  Carre- 
spondence^  Church  and  State,  Theodore 
Parker's  Discourse  of  Reliyion,  "  Phases  of 
Faith,"  the  Church  of  England,  and  the 
Battle  of  the  Churches.  By  James  Mar- 
tine  att.     Post  8vo.  93. 


Maunder's  Scientific  and  Literary  Trea- 
sury :  A  new  and  popular  Encyclopaedia  of 
Science  and  the  Belles-Lettres ;  including 
all  branches  of  Science,  and  every  subject 
connected  with  Literature  and  Art.  New 
Edition.  Fcp.  8vo.  price  10b.  cloth  j  bound 
in  roan,  12s. ;  calf,  12s.  6d. 


PTTBLI6HED  BT   LONGMAK,   GREEN,  AlTD   CO. 


16 


Maunder's  Biographical  Treasury ;  con-  i 

sisting  of  Memoirs,  Sketclies,  and  brief 
Notices  of  above  12,000  Eminent  Persons  of 
All  Ages  and  Nations,  from  the  Earliest 
Period  of  History :  Forming  a  complete 
Popular  Dictionary  of  Universal  Biography. 
Eleventh  Edition,  revised,  corrected,  and  ex- 
tended in  a  Supplement  to  the  Present 
Time.  Fcp.  8vo.  lOs.  cloth  j  bound  in  roan, 
128. ;  calf,  128.  6d. 

Maunder's  Treasury  of  Knowledge,  and 

Library  of  Eeference.  Comprising  an  Eng- 
lish Dictionaiy  and  Grammar,  a  Universal 
Gazetteer,  a  Classical  Dictionary,  a  Chrono- 
logy, a  Law  Dictionary,  a  Synopsis  of  the 
Peerage,  numerous  useful  Tables,  &c.  New- 
Edition,  entirely  reconstructed  and  re- 
printed ;  revised  and  improved  by  B.  B. 
"Woodward,  B.A.  F^.A.  :  Assisted  by  J. 
Morris,  Solicitor,  London ;  and  W.  Hugfes, 
F.K.G.S.  Fcp.  8vo.  IDs.  cloth;  bound  in 
roan,  12s. ;  ealf,  12s.  6d. 

Maunder's  Treasury  of  Natural  History; 

or,  a  Popular  Dictionary  of  Animated 
Nature  :  In  which  the  Zoological  Chai*acter- 
istics  that  distinguish  the  different  Classes, 
Genera,  and  Species,  are  combined  with  a 
variety  of  interesting  Information  illustrative 
of  the  Habits,  Instincts,  and  General  Eco- 
nomy of  the  Animal  Kingdom.  With  900 
Woodcuts.  New  Edition.  Fcp.  8vo.  price 
10s.  cloth  J  roan,  128. ;  calf,  12s.  6d. 

Maunder's  Historical  Treasury;  com- 
prising a  General  Introductory  Outline  of 
Universal  History,  Ancient  and  Modern, 
and  a  Series  of  separate  Histories  of  every 
principal  Nation  that  exists ;  their  Rise, 
Progress,  and  Present  Condition,  the  Moral 
and  Social  Character  of  their  respective  In- 
habitants, their  Rehgion,  Manners  and  Cus- 
toms, &c.  New  Edition  ;  revised  through- 
out, with  a  new  General  Index.  Fcp.  8vo. 
lOs.  cloth  J  roan,  128. ;  calf,  12s.  6d. 

Maunder's    Geographical   Treasury.  — 

The  Treasury  of  Geography,  Physical,  His- 
torical,-Descriptive,  and  Political;  contain- 
ing a  succinct  Account  of  Every  Country  in 
the  World  :  Preceded  by  an  Introductory 
Outline  of  the  History  of  Geography;  a 
Familiar  Inquiry  into  the  Yarieties  of  Race 
and  Language  exhibited  by  different  Nations; 
and  a  Yiew  of  the  Relations  of  Geography 
to  Astronomy  and  Physical  Science.  Com- 
pleted by  William  Hughes,  F.R.G.S.  New 
Edition ;  with  7  Maps  and  16  Steel  Fktes. 
Fcp.  8vo.  lOs.  doih ;  roaii,128w ;  calf,  128. 6d. 

Mildred  Norman  the  Nazarene.    By  a 

Working  Man.     Crown  Svo.  5s. 


Merivale.  —  A  History  of  the  Romans 

under  the  Empire.  By  the  Rev.  Charles 
Merivale,  B.D.,  late  Fellow  of  St.  John's 
College,  Cambridge.     Svo.  with  Maps. 

Vols.  I.  nml  IF.  coniiu-isini;  tho  History  to  the  Fall  of 
Jutiut  Casar.    Second  Edition 28b. 

Vol,  III.  to  tlio  establisliment  of  the  MonaroUy  by  Au- 
cnistus.    Second  Kdition 14s. 

■\'OLS.  IV.  and  V.  from  Augusttia  to  Claudius,  B.C.  27  to 

A.D.  54 sat 

Vol.  VI.  from  the  Eeign  of  Nero,  A.».  64»to  the  FaU  of 
Jenitalem,  a.d.  70 IBs. 

Merivale.— The  Fall  of  the  Roman  Republic  : 
A  Short  History  of  the  Last  Century  of 
the  Commonwealth.  By  the  Rev.  C.  Meei- 
VALE,  B.D.     New  Edition.     12mo.  7s.  6d. 


Merivale  (Miss).— Christian' Records : 

Short  History  of  Apostohc  Age.  By  L.  A. 
Meeivaxe.     Fcp.  Svo.  7s.  6d. 

Miles.— The  Horse's  Foot,  and  How  to 

Keep  it  Sound.  Eighth  Edition ;  with  an 
Appendix  on  Shoeing  in  general,  and  Hunters 
in  particular,  12  Plates  and  12  Woodcuts. 
By  W.  Miles,  Esq.    Imperial  8vo.  128.  6d. 

***  Two  Casts  or  Models  of  Off  Fore  Feet,  No.  1,  Shodfbr 
All  Purposes,  No.  2,  Shod  with  Leather,  on  Mr.  Milee's  plan, 
may  be  had,  price  Ss,  each. 

Miles.— A  Plain  Treatise  on  Horse-Shoeing. 
By  William  Miles,  Esq.  With  Plates  and 
Woodcuts.     New  Edition.     Post  Svo.  28. 

Milner's  History  of  the  Church  of  Christ 

With  Additions  by  the  late  Rev.  Isaac 
MiLNEB,  D.D.,  F.R.S.  A  New  Edition, 
revised,  with  additional  Notes  by  the  Rer. 
T.  Geantham,  B.D.    4  vols.  Svo.  price  52s. 

Minturn.— From  New  York  to  Delhi  by 

way  of  Rio  do  Janeiro,  Australia,  and  China. 
By  Robert  B.  Mintttbn,  Jun.  With 
coloured  Route-Map  of  India.  Post  Svo. 
price  7s.  6d. 

Mollhausen.  — Diary  of  a  Jonmey  from 

the  Mississippi  to  the  Coasts  of  the  Pacific, 
with  a  United  States  Government  Expedi- 
tion. By  B.  MoLLHATJSEK,  Topographical 
Draughtsman  and  Naturalist  to  the  Expe- 
dition. With  an  Introduction  by  Baron 
Humboldt  ;  a  Map,  coloured  Illustrations, 
and  WoocLcuts.     2  vols.  Svo.  30s. 


James  Montgomery's  Poetical  Works: 

Collective  Edition  ;  with  the  Autlior's  Auto- 
biographical Prefaces,  complete  in  One 
Yolunie ;  with  Portrait  and  Vignette.  Square 
crown  Svo.  price  10s.  6d.  cloth;  morocco, 
2l8. — Or,  in  4  vols.  fcp.  Svo.  with  Portrait, 
and  7  otlier  Plates,  price  148. 


16 


NEW  WOEZS  AiTD  NEW  EDITIONS 


Moore.— The  Power  of  the  Soul  over  the 

Body,  considered  in  relation  to  Health  and 
Morals.  By  Geoeqe  Mooee,  M.D.  Fifth 
Edition.     Fcp.  8vo.  Gs. 

Moore.— Man  and  Ms  Motives.  By  George 
Mooee,  M.D.    Third  Edition.   Fcp.  8vo.  Gs. 

Moore.— The  Use  of  the  Body  in  relation  to  the 
Mind.  By  Geoege  Mooee,  M.D.  Third 
Edition.     Fcp.  8vo.  6s. 

Moore.  —  Memoirs,  Journal,  and  Corre- 
spondence of  Thomas  Moore.  Edited  by 
the  Right  Hon.  Loed  John  Russell,  M.P. 
With  Portraits  and  Vignette  Illustrations. 
8  Tols.  post  Svo.  price  10s.  6d.  each. 

Thomas  Moore's  Poetical  Works :  Com- 
prising the  Author's  Autobiographical  Pre- 
laces,  latest  Corrections,  and  Notes.  Various 
Editions  of  the  separate  Poems  and  complete 
Poetical  Works,  as  follows  : — 

».  d. 

LALLA  ROOKH,  32mo.  ruby  type 1    0 

LALLA  ROOKH,  16mo.  Vignette 2  6 

LALLA  ROOKH,  square  crowu  Svo.  Plates 15  0 

LALLA  ROOKH,  fcp.  4to.  with  Woodcut  Illustra- 
tions by  TsxiriEL,  in  the  press. 

IRISH  MELODIES,  32mo.  ruby  type  1  0 

IRISH  MELODIES,  16mo.  Vignette 2  6 

IRISH  MELODIES,  square  crown  8to.  Plates 21  0 

IRISH  MELODIES,  illustrated  by  Maclisb,  super- 
royal  Svo 31  6 

SONGS,  BALLADS,  and  SACRED  SONGS,  32mo. 

ruby  type 2  6 

SONGS,  BALLADS,  and  SACRED  SONGS,  16mo. 

Vignette  5  0 

POETICAL  WORKS,  People's  Edit.  10  Pabxs,  each    1  0 

POETICAL  WORKS,  Cabinet  Edition,  10  Vols.  ea.    3  6 

POETICAL  WORKS,  Traveller's  Edit.,  crown  Svo.  12  6 

POETICAL  WORKS,  Library  Edition,  medium  Svo.  21  0 
SELECTIONS,  entitled  "  POETRY  and  PICTURES 

from  THOMAS  MOORE,"  fcp.  4to.  with  Wood  Engs.  21  0 

MOORE'S  EPICUREAN,  ICmo.  Vignette 5  0 

Editions  printed  with  the  Music, 

IRISH  MELODIES,  People's  Edition,  smalUto.  ..  12  0 

IRISH  MELODIES,  imperial.  Svo.  small  music  size  31  6 
HARMONISED  AIRS  from  IRISH  MELODIES, 

imperial  Svo 15  0 

NATIONAL  AIRS,  People's  Edition,  10  Nos.  each. .    1  0 

NATIONAL  AIRS,  imperial  Svo.  small  music  size.,  31  6 
SACRED  SONGS  and  SONGS  from  SCRIPTURE, 

imperial  8to 16  0 

No  Edition  of  Thomas  Moore's  Poetical 
Works,  or  of  any  separate  Poem  of  Moore's, 
can  be  published  complete  except  by  Messrs. 
Longman  and  Co. 

Morell.— Elements  of  Psychology :  Part 

I.,  containing  the  Analysis  of  the  Intellectual 
Powers.  By  J.  D.  Moeell,  M.A.,  One  of 
Her  Majesty's  Inspectors  of  Schools.  Post 
8yo.  7s.  6d. 


Morning   Clouds.     By  the   Author   of 

The  Afternoon  of  Life.  Second  and  cheaper 
Edition,  revised  throughout.      Fcp,  Svo.  5s. 

Morris   (F.  0.)— Anecdotes  in  Natural 

History.  By  the  Rev.  F.  O.  Moeeis,  B,A.» 
Rector  of  Nunburnholme,  Yorkshire,  Author 
of  "  History  of  the  Nests  and  Eggs  of 
British  Birds,"  &c.     Fcp.  Svo.   [Just  ready. 

Morris  (J.) -The  Life  and  Martyrdom 

of  St.  Thomas  Becket,  Archbishop  of  Can- 
terbury and  Legate  of  the  Holy  See.  By 
John  Moeeis,  Canon  of  Northampton. 
Post  Svo.  9s. 

Morton.— The  Resources  of  Estates :  A 

Treatise  on  the  Agricultural  Improvement 
and  Q-eneral  Management  of  Landed 
Property.  By  John  Lockhaet  Moeton, 
Civil  and  Agricultural  Engineer ;  Author 
of  Thirteen  Highland  and  Agricultural 
Society  Prize  Essays,  With  25  Illustrations 
in  Lithography.     Royal  Sro.  Sis.  6d. 

Moseley.— The  Mechanical  Principles  of 

Engineering  and  Architecture.  By  H. 
MosELET,  M,A.,  F.R.S,,  Canon  of  Bristol, 
&c.  Second  Edition,  enlarged ;  with  nu- 
merous Corrections  and  Woodcuts.  Svo.  24fi. 


Memoirs  and  Letters  of  the  late  Colonel 

Aeminb  Mountain,  Aide-de-Camp  to  the 
Q»een,  and  Adjutant-G-eneral  of  Her  Ma- 
jesty's Forces  in  India.  Edited  by  Mrs, 
Mountain.  Second  Edition,  revised  ;  with 
Portrait.     Fcp.  Svo.  price  6s. 

Mure.  —  A  Critical  History  of  the  Lan- 
guage and  Literature  of  Ancient  Greece. 
By  William  Muee,  M.P.  of  Caldwell. 
Second  Edition.  Vols.  I,  to  III.  Svo.  price 
368. ;  Vol.  IV.  price  158. ;  Vol.  V.  price  ISs. 

Murray's  Encyclopaedia  of  Geography ; 

comprising  a  complete  Description  of  the 
Earth  :  Exhibiting  its  Relation  to  the 
Heavenly  Bodies,  its  Physical  Structure,  the 
Natural  History  of  each  Country,  and  the 
Industry,  Commerce,  Political  Institutions, 
and  Civil  and  Social  State  of  All  Nations. 
Second  Edition  ;  with  S2  Maps,  and  upwards 
of  1,000  other  Woodcuts.    Svo.  price  608. 

Neale.  —  The  Closing  Scene  ;  or,  Chris- 
tianity and  Infidelity  contrasted  in  the  Last 
Hours  of  Remarkable  Persons.  By  the 
Rev,  Erskine  Neale,  M.A.  New  Editions. 
2  vols.  fcp.  Svo.  price  6s.  each. 


PUBLISHED  BY  LONGMAN,  GREEN,  aud  CO. 


17 


Normanby  (Lord).— A  Year  of  Revolu- 
tion. From  a  Journal  kept  in  Paris  in  tlio 
Year  1848.  By  the  Marquis  of  NoBMANBT, 
K.G.     2  vols.  8vo.  24s. 

Ogilvie.  — The  Master-Builder's  Plan; 

or,  the  Principles  of  Organic  Architecture 
as  indicated  in  the  Typical  Forms  of  Animals. 
By  Geokqe  Ogiltie,  M.D.  Post  Svo. 
with  72  Woodcuts,  price  6s.  6d. 

Oldacre.— The  Last  of  the  Old  Squires. 

A  Sketch.  By  Cedeic  Oldacee,  Esq.,  of 
Sax  -  Normanbury,  sometime  of  Christ 
Church,  Oxou.    Crown  8?o.  price  93.  6d. 

Osborn.  —  Quedah ;    or,    Stray  Leaves 

from  a  Journal  in  Malayan  "Waters.  By 
Captain  Sheeaed  Osboen,  R.N.,  C.B., 
Author  of  Stray  Leaves  from  an  Arctic  Jour- 
nal, &c.  With  a  coloured  Chart  and  tinted 
Illustrations.    Post  Svo.  price  lOs.  6d. 


Osborn.— The  Discovery  of  the  North- 
west Passage  by  H.M.S.  Investigator^  Cap- 
tain K  M'Cluee,  1850-1854.  Edited  by 
Captain  Sheeaed  Osboen,  C.B.,  from  the 
Logs  and  Journals  of  Captain  R.  M'Clure. 
Third  Edition,  revised ;  with  Additions  to 
the  Chapter  on  the  Hybernation  of  Animals 
in  the  Arctic  Regions,  a  Geological  Paper 
by  Sir  Rodeeick  I.  Muechison,  a  Portrait 
of  Captain  M'Clure,  a  coloured  Chart  and 
tinted  Illustrations.    Bro.  price  16s. 

Owen.  —  Lectures  on  the  Comparative 

Anatomy  and  Physiology  of  the  Invertebrate 
Animals,  delivered  at  the  Royal  College  of 
Surgeons.  By  Richaed  Owen,  F.R.S., 
Hunterian  Professor  to  the  College.  Second 
Edition,  with  235  Woodcuts.     Svo.  21s. 

Professor  Owen's  Lectures  on  the  Comparative 
Anatomy  and  Physiology  of  the  "Vertebrate 
Animals,  delivered  at  the  Royal  College  of 
Surgeons  in  1844  and  184f6.  With  numerous 
Woodcuts.    Vol.  I.  Svo.  price  148. 

Memoirs  of  Admiral  Parry,  the  Arctic 

Navigator.  By  his  Son,  the  Rev.  E.  Paeey, 
M,A.  of  Balliol  College,  Oxford ;  Domestic 
Chaplain  to  the  Lord  Bishop  of  London. 
Sixth  Edition ;  with  a  Portrait  and  coloured 
Chart  of  the  North- West  Passage.  Fcp. 
Svo.  price  5s. 

[Pattison,— The  Earth  and  the  Word; 

or,  Geology  for  Bible  Students.  By  S.  R. 
Pattison,  F.G.S.  Fcp.  Svo.  with  coloured 
Map,  3s.  6d. 


Peaks,  Passes,  and  Glaciers :  a  Series  of 

Excursions  by 


£.  L.  Ambs,  M.A. 
E.  Andebsow, 
J.  Ball,  M.R.I.A. 
C.  H.  Bunbuby,  M.A. 
Rev.  J.  Ll.  Davies,  M.A. 

II.  W.  E.  FOBSTBB, 

Rev.  J.  F.  Habdt,  B.D. 


F.V.  Hawkins.  M.A. 

T.  W.  HiNCULIFF,  M.A. 

E.  S.  Kbnnbdy,  B.A. 
W.  Mathbwb.  Jun.,  M.A. 
A.  C.  Ramsay.  F.US.  &  (J.S. 
A.  Wills,  of  the  Middle  Tom- 
pie,  Barrlster-at-Law,  and 
J.  Tyndall,  F.R.S. 


Edited  by  John  Ball,  M.R.I.A.,  F.L.S., 
President  of  the  Alpine  Club.  Second 
Edition  ;  with  S  Illustrations  in  Chromo- 
lithography,  S  Maps  illustrative  of  the 
Mountain-Explorations  described  in  the 
volume,  a  Map  illustrative  of  the  Ancient 
Glaciers  of  part  of  Caernarvonshire,  various 
Engravings  on  Wood,  and  several  Diagrams. 
Square  crown  Svo.  21s. 

*#*  The  Eight  Swiss  Maps,  accompanied 
by  a  Table  of  the  Heights  of  Mouktaiks, 
may  be  had  separately,  price  3s.  6d. 

Dr.  Pereira's     Elements     of    Materia 

Medica  and  Therapeutics.  Third  Edition^ 
enlarged  and  improved  from  the  Author's 
Materials,  by  A.  S.  Tayloe,  M.D.,  and 
G.  O.  Rees,  M.D. :  With  numerous  Wood- 
cuts. Vol.  I.  Svo.  2Ss. ;  Yol.  II.  Paex  I. 
21s.  J  Yol.  II.  Paet  II.  268. 


Dr.  Pereira's  Lectures  on  Polarised  Light, 
together  with  a  Lecture  on  the  Microscope. 
2d  Edition,  enlarged  from  Materials  left  by 
the  Author,  by  the  Rev.  B.  Powell,  M.A., 
&c.    Fcp.  Sto.  with  Woodcuts,  7s. 


Perry.— The  Franks,  from  their  First 

Appearance  in  History  to  the  Death  of  King 
Pepin.  By  Walteb  C.  Pebby,  Barrister- 
at-Law,  Doctor  in  Philosophy  and  Master 
of  Arts  in  the  University  of  Gottingen. 
Svo.  price  12s.  6d. 

Peschel's  Elements  of  Physics.  Trans- 
lated from  the  German,  with  Notes,  by 
E.  West.  With  Diagrams  and  Woodcuts. 
3  vols.  fcp.  Svo.  2l8. 


Phillips's  Elementary  Introduction  to 

Mineralogy.  A  New  Edition,  with  extensive 
Alterations  and  Additions,  by  H.  J.  Bbooke, 
F.R.S.,  F.G.S. ;  and  W.  H.  Milleb,  M.A., 
F.G.S.  With  numerous  Wood  Engravings. 
Post  Svo.  ISs. 


Phillips.— A  Guide  to  Geology.   By  John 

Phillips,  M.A.,  F.R.S.,  F.G.S.,  &c.  Fourth 
Edition,  corrected  to  the  Present  Time ; 
with  4  Plates.    Fcp.  Svo.  Ss. 


18 


^•£W  WORKS  AND  NEW  EDITIONS 


Piesse's  Chymical,  Natural,  and  Physi- 
cal Magic,  for  the  Instruction  and  Enter- 
tainment of  Juveniles  during  the  Holiday 
Yacation.  With  30  Woodcuts  and  an  In- 
visible Portrait  of  the  Author.  Fop.  8vo. 
3s.  6d.  harlequin  cloth. 

Piesse's  Art  of  Perfumery,  and  Methods 

of  Obtaining  the  Odours  of  Plants  :  With 
Instructions  for  the  Manufacture  of  Perfumes 
for  the  Handkerchief,  Scented  Po-vrders, 
Odorous  Vinegars,  Dentifrices,  Pomatums, 
Cosm^tiques,  Perfumed  Soap,  &c.  ;  and  an 
Appendix  on  the  Colours  of  Flowers,  Arti- 
ficial Fruit  Essences,  &c.  Second  Edition^ 
revised  and  improved  j  with  46  Woodcuts. 
Crown  Svo.  Ss.  6d. 

Pitt.— How  to  Brew  good  Beer :  a  com- 
plete Guide  to  the  Art  of  Brewing  Ale, 
Bitter  Ale,  Table  Ale,  Brown  Stout,  Porter, 
and  Table  Beer.  To  which  are  added  Prac- 
tical Instructions  for  making  Malt.  By 
John  Pitt,  Butler  to  Sir  William  R.  P. 
Geary,  Bart.     Fcp.  Svo.  4s.  6d. 

Porter.  —  History   of    the  Knights    of 

Malta,  or  the  Order  of  the  Hospital  of  St. 
John  of  Jerusalem.  By  Major  Whitwobth 
POETER,  Royal  Engineers.  With  5  Illus- 
trations.    2  vols.  Svo.  24s. 

Powell.— Essays  on  the  Spirit  of  the 

Inductive  Philosophy,  the  Unity  of  Worlds^ 
and  the  Philosophy  of  Creation.  By  the 
Rev.BADEN  Powell,  M.A.,F.R.S.,F.R.A.S., 
F.G.S.,  Savilian  Professor  of  Geometry  in  the 
University  of  Oxford.  Second  Edition,  re- 
vised.   Crown  Svo.  with  Woodcuts,  12s.  6d. 

Cliristianity  wlthoat  Judaism :  A  Second  Series 
of  Essays  on  the  Unity  of  Worlds  and  of 
Nature-  By  the  Rev.  Baden  Powell,  M.A., 
&c.     Crown  Svo.  7s.  6d. 

The  Order  of  Nature  considered  in  reference  to 
the  Claims  of  Revelation  :  A  Third  Series 
of  Essays  on  the  Unity  of  Worlds  and  of 
Nature.  By  the  Rev.  Biden  Powell, 
M.A.,  &c.     Crown  Sro.  12s. 

Pycroft.  —  The  Collegian's  Guide ;   or, 

Recollections  of  College  Days  :  Setting  forth 
the  Advantages  and  Temptations  of  a  Uni- 
versity Education.  By  the  Rev.  J.  Pyoeoft, 
B.A.     Second  Edition,     Fcp.  Svo. 

Pycroft' 8  Conrse  of  English  Reading,  adapted 
to  every  taste  and  capacity;  or,  How  and 
What  to  Read :  With  Literary  Anecdotes. 
New  Edition.    Fcp.  Svo.  price  Ss. 

Pycroft's  Cricket-Field;  or,  the  Science  and 
History  of  the  Game  of  Cricket.  Third 
Edition,  greatly  improved  ;  with  Plates  and 
Woodcuts.    Fcp.  Svo.  price  5s. 


Quatrefages   (A.  De).  —  Rambles   of  a 

Naturalist  on  the  Coasts  of  France,  Spain, 

and  Sicily.      By    A.    Do    Quatrefages,  • 

Member  of  the  Institute.     Translated  by  J 

E.  C.  Otte.     2  vols,  post  Svo.  ISs.  j 

Raikes  (T.)— Portion  of  the  Journal  kept 
by  Thomas  Raikes,  Esq.,  fi'oml831  to  1847: 
Comprising  Reminiscences  of  Social  and 
Political  Life  in  London  and  Paris  during 
that  period.  New  Edition,  complete  in 
2  vols,  crown  Svo.  with  3  Portraits,  price 
12s.  cloth. 

Rich's  Illustrated    Companion  to  the 

Latin  Dictionaryand  Greek  Tjexicon :  Form-    ' 
ing  a  Glossary  of  all  the  Words  representing    ■ 
Visible   Objects   connected   with  the  Arts, 
Manufactures,  and  Every-Day  Life  of  the 
Ancients.     With    about    2,000    Woodcuts 
from  the  Antique.    Post  Svo.  21s . 

Richardson.  — •  Fourteen    Years'  Expe-  j 

rience  of  Cold  Water  :  Its  Uses  and  Abuses. 
By  Captain  M.  Rich aed  son,  late  of  the 
4th  Light  Dragoons.  Post  Svo.  with 
Woodcuts,  price  6s. 

Horsemanship  ;   or,  the  Art  of  Riding 

and  Managing  a  Horse,  adapted  to  the  Guid- 
ance of  Ladies  and  Gentlemen  on  the  Road 
and  in  the  Field :  With  Instructions  for 
Breaking-in  Colts  and  Young  Horses.  By 
Captain  M.  Richardson,  late  of  the  4th 
Light  Dragoons.  With  5  Plates.  Square 
crown  Svo.  14s. 

Riddle's  Copious   and  Critical   Latins 

English  Lexicon,  founded  on  the  German 
Latin  Dictionaries  of  Dr.  William  Freund 
New  Edition.    Post  4to.  Sis.  6d. 

Riddle's   Complete  Latin-English  an< 

English-Latin  Dictionary,  for  the  use  « 
Colleges  and  Schools.  By  the  Rev.  J.  B. 
Riddle,  M.A.  of  St.  Edmund  Hall,  Oxford 
New  and  cheaper  Edition^  revised  and  oor 
rected.    Svo.  2l8. 

c„„„^+^,„   /The  English-Latin  Dictionary,  7s. 
Separately   \j^^^  Latin-English  Dictionary,  158. 

Riddle's  Young  Scholar's  Latin-English 

and  English-Latin  Dictionary.  Nnc  an( 
cheaper  Edition^  revised  and  corrected 
Square  12rao.  lOs.  6d. 

c„„„«.*«w   /The  Latin-Englisli  Dictionarj'.  6b. 
Separately   \r^^Q  English-Lalin  Dictionary,  5s. 

Riddle's  Diamond  Latin-English  Dictionrr 
A    Guide   to   the    Meaning,    Quality,    ; 
right  Accentuation  of  Latin  Classical  Word 
R^yal  32mo.  price  4s. 


PUBLISHBD  »T  LONGMAJST,  GREEN,  akd  CO. 


19 


Eivers's  Rose-Amateur's  Guide ;  contain- 
ing ample  Descriptions  of  all  the  fine  leading 
yarieties  of  Roses,  regularly  classed  in  their 
respective  Families ;  their  History  and 
Mode  of  Culture.     Fop.  8vo.  Ss.  6d. 

Dr.  E.  Robinson's  Greek  and  English 

Lexicon  to  the  Greek  Testament.     A  New 
Edition,  in  great  part  re-written.     8to.  ISs. 

Mr.  Henry  Rogers's  Essays  selected  from 

Contributions    to    the    Edinburgh    Review. 
Second  Edition.     Svols.fcp.  8vo.  price  21s. 

13.  Vanity   and   Glory   of 
Literature. 

14.  Ultramoutsine  Doubts. 

15.  llight  of  Private  Judg- 
ment. 

16.  The  Oxford  Tractarian 
Schools. 

17.  Recent    Developments 
of  Tractarianism. 

18.  Reason  and  Faith. 

19.  Revolution    and    Re- 
form. 

80.  Treatment   of   Crimi- 

nalB. 
21.  Prevention  of  Crime. 


1.  Tliomas  Fuller. 

2.  Aiulrcw  Mar^'ell. 
.S.  Martin  Luther. 

4.  Leibnitz. 

5.  Pascal. 

6.  Plato  and  Soerat«s. 

7.  Descartes. 

8.  John  Locke. 

9.  Sydney  Smith's  Lec- 

tures. 

10.  English  Langmage 

(Structure). 

11.  Enprlish   LangQage 

(History). 

12.  The  British  Pulpit. 


Samuel  Rogers's  Recollections  of  Per- 
sonal and  Conversational  Intercourse  with 


Chahlks  Jaites  Fox, 
Edmund  Burkb, 
Henry  Grattan, 

RiCHAKP  PORSON, 

John  Horne  Tooke, 
Second  Edition,    Fcp.  Svo.  5s. 


PrIKCE  TALtBTBAiri), 

Lord  Erskine, 
Sir  Walter  Scott, 
Lord  Grenyilli,  tmi 
Duke  of  WELuafGxox. 


Dr.  Roget's  Thesaurus  of  English  Words 

and  Phrases  classified  and  arranged  so  as  to 
facilitate  the  Expression  of  Ideas  and  assist 
in  Literary  Composition.  Eighth  Edition, 
revised  and  improved.    Crown  Svo.  10s.  6d. 

Ronalds's     Fly-Fisher's    Entomology: 

With  coloured  Representations  of  the 
Natural  and  Artificial  Insect,  and  a  few  Ob- 
servations and  Instructions  on  Trout  and 
Grayling  Fishing.  Fifth  Edition,  thoroughly 
revised  by  an  Experienced  Fly -Fisher ;  with 
20  new  coloured  Plates.     Svo.  14s. 

Rowton's  Debater :  A  Series  of  complete 

Debates,  Outlines  of  Debates,  and  Questions 
for  Discussion;  with  ample  References  to  the 
best  Sources  of  Information.     New  Edition.    \ 
Fcp.  Svo.  6s.  j 

Russell  (Dr.)  — The  Life   of  Cardinal 

Mezziofanti :  With  an  Introductory  Memoir 
of  eminent  Linguists,  Ancient  and  Modem. 
By  C.  W.  Russell,  D.D.,  President,  of  St. 
Patrick's  College,  Maynooth.  With  Portrait 
and  Facsimiles.     8ro.  12s. 

Bcherzer.— Travels  in  the  Free  States  of 

Central  America  :  Nicaragua,  Honduras, 
and  San  Salvador.  By  Dr.  Cael  Scheezer. 
AVith  a  coloured  Map.     2  vols,  post  Svo.  16s. 


Mrs.  SchimmelPenninck's  Writings  and 

Life,  edited  by  her  relation,  Chuistianx  C. 
Hankin:  — 

Life  of  Mary  Anne  ScMmmelPenninck.  Th\rd 
and  cheaper  Edition,  with  Corrections  and 
Additions  ;  complete  in  One  Volume,  with 
Portrait  Post  Svo.  10^.  Gd. 

Select  Memoirs  of  Fort-Royal.    To  whioli  are 

added  Tour  to  Alot,  Visit  to  Port-Royal, 
Gift  of  an  Abbess,  Biographical  Notices,  &c. 
from  original  Documents.  Fifth  Edition^ 
revised 3  vols,  post  Svo.  21s. 

The  Principles  of  Beauty,   as  manifested 

I       Nature,  Art,  and  Human  Character  :  with 
;       a    Classification   of    Deformities ;     II.  An 
Essay  on   the  Temperaments   (with  Illus- 
trations) ;    III.  Thoughts  on  Grecian  and 
j       Gothic  Architecture Post  Svo.  12*.  6d/. 

Dr.  L.  Schmitz's  School  History  of  Greece, 

i       from  the  Earliest  Times  to  the  Taking  of 
j       Corinth  by  the  Romans,  B.C.  146,  mainly 
1       based    on    Bishop   Tliirlwall's    History   of 
I       Greece.     Fifth  Edition^  with  Nine  new  Sup- 
I       plementary  Chapters    on   the    Civilisation, 
Religion,  Literature,  and  Arts   of  the  An- 
cient Greeks,  contributed  by  Christophee 
Knight  Watson,  MA..,  Triu.  Coll.  Camb. ; 
and  illustrated  with  a  Map  of  Athens  and  137 
Woodcuts,  designed  from  the  Antique  by 
G.  Scharf,  jun.,  F.S.A.     12mo.  7s.  6d. 

Scoflfern  (DrO  —  Projectile  Weapons  of 

War  and  Explosive  Compounds.  By  J. 
ScoFFEEN,  MB.  Lond.,  late  Professor  of 
Chemistiy  in  the  Aldersgate  College  of 
Medicine.  Fourth  Edition,  brouglit  up  to  the 
present  time  in  a  Supplement.  Post  Svo. 
with  Woodcuts,  9s.  6d. 
Supplement,  containing  new  resources  of 
Warfare 2s. 

Senior.— Journal  kept  in  Turkey  and 

Greece  in  tlio  Autumn  of  1857  and  the 
beginning  of  1858.  By  Nassau  W.  Senior, 
Esq.  With  2  Maps  and  2  Views  in  chromo- 
lithography.     Post  Svo.  123. 

Bowdler's  Family  Shakspeare :  In  which 

nothing  is  added  to  the  Original  Text ;  but 
those  words  and  expressions  are  omitted 
which  cannot  with  propriety  be  read  aloud. 
Illustrated  with  Thii-ty-six  Vignettes  en- 
graved on  Wood  from  original  Designs  by 


G.  COOKE,  B.A. 
B.  COOKE, 
H.  HOWARD,  R.A. 
H.  SINGLETON, 
B.  SMIRKE,  B.A. 


T.  BTOTHABD,  B.A. 
H,  THOMSON,  B.A. 
B.  WESTALL,  B.A. 
B.  WOUDFOKDE,  B.A. 


New  Edition,  printed  in  a  more  convenient 
form.  6  vols.  fcp.  Svo.  price  308.  cloth  j 
separately,  5s.  each. 

*^*  The  Libeaey  Edition,  with  the  same 
Illustrations,  in  One  Volume,  medium  Svo. 
price  21s.  cloth. 


20 


NEW  WORKS  AND  NEW  EDITIONS 


Sewell  (Miss).— New  and  cheaper  Col- 
lected Edition  of  the  Tales  and  Stories  of 
the  Author  of  Amy  Herbert.  Complete  in 
9  vols,  crown  8vo.  price  £1.  lOs.  cloth  ;  or 
each  work,  comprised  in  a  single  rolume, 
may  be  had  separately  as  follows  : — 

AMY  HERBERT 2s.  6d. 

GERTRUDE    2s.  6d. 

The  EARL'S  DAUGHTER 2s.  6d. 

The  EXPERIENCE  of  LIFE 2s.  6d. 

CLEVE  HALL Ss.  6d. 

lYORS ;   or,  the  TWO  COUSINS  3s.  6d. 

EA.THARINE  ASHTON 3s.  6d. 

MARGARET  PERCIVAL  5s.  Od. 

LANETON  PARSONAGE  4s.  6d. 


"rpO  the  thoroughness 
-»■  and  integrity,  the  ab- 
solute rectitude  inculcated 
in  thought,  word,  and  deed, 
and  to  the  tender  charity  ex- 
tended to  the  erring  and  re- 
pentant, we  are  inclined  to 
attribute  the  hold  these 
works  take  on  readers  of  all 
classes  and  all  ages.     The 


pure  transparent  sincerity 
tells  even  on  those  who  are 
apt  to  find  any  work  whose 
aim  and  object  are  religious, 
heavy  and  uninteresting. 
Tfie  republication  of  these 
works  in  an  easily  accessible 
form  is  a  benefit  of  which  we 
cannot  over-estimate  the  solid 
advantages,"         Globe. 


Also  ly  the  Author  of  Axa.j  Herbert, 

Ursula :  A  Tale  of  English  Country  Life. 

2  Tols.  fcp.  8vo.  price  12s.  cloth. 

History  of  the  Early  Church,  from  the 

Eirst  Preaching  of  the  Gospel  to  the  Council 
of  Nicea.     18mo.  4s.  6d. 

Self-Examination  before  Confirmation: 

With  Devotions  and  Directions  for  Con- 
firmation-Day.    32mo.  Is.  6d. 

Readings  for  a  Month  preparatory  to 

Confirmation  :  Compiled  from  the  Works  of 
Writers  of  the  Early  and  of  the  English 
Church.     Fcp.  Svo.  price  4s. 

Readings  for  Every  Day  in  Lent:  Com- 
piled from  the  Writings  of  Bishop  Jbeemt 
Ti.TLOE.    Fcp.  Sto.  price  5s. 


Sharp's  New  British  Gazetteer,  or  Topo- 
graphical Dictionary  of  the  British  Islands 
and  Narrow  Seas :  Comprising  concise  De- 
scriptions of  about  Sixty  Thousand  Places, 
Seats,  Natural  Features,  and  Objects  of  Note, 
founded  on  the  best  authorities.  2  vols. 
Svo.  price  £2. 16s. 

Short  Whist;  its  Rise,  Progress,  and 

Laws  :  With  Observations  to  make  any  one  a 
Whist-Player.  Containing  also  the  Laws  of 
Piquet,  Cassino,  Ecarte,  Cribbage,  Back- 
gammon. By  Major  A.  New  Edition  ;  to 
which  are  added.  Precepts  for  Tyros,  by 
Mrs.  B.    Fcp.  Svo.  Ss. 


Simpson.— Handbook  of  Dining;  or,  How 

to  Dine,  theoretically,  philosophically,  and 
historically  considered  :  Based  chiefly  upon 
the  FhysioJogie  du  Gout  of  Brillat-Savariu. 
By  Leonaed  Feancis  Simpson,  M.R.S.L. 
Fcp.  Svo.  53. 

Sinclair.  —  The    Journey   of   Life.    By 

Catheeinb  Sinclaie,  Author  of  The  Busi- 
ness of  Life.     New  Edition,    Fcp.  Svo.  5s. 

Sir  Roger  De  Coverley.  From  the  Spec- 
tator. With  Notes  and  Illustrations,  by 
W.  Heney  Wills  ;  and  12  Wood  Engrav- 
ings from  Designs  by  F.  Tatlee.  Second 
and  cheaper  Edition.  Crown  Svo.  10s.  6d. ; 
or  21s.  in  morocco  by  Hayday. — An  Edition 
without  Woodcuts,  in  16mo.  price  Is. 

The  Sketches:  Three  Tales.    By  the 

Authors  of  Amy  Herbert^  The  Old  Man's 
Home,  and  Eawkstone.  Third  Edition  ;  with 
6  Illustrations.     Fcp.  Svo.  price  4s.  6d. 

Smee's  Elements  of  Electro-Metallurgy. 

Third  Edition,  revised,  corrected,  and  con- 
siderably enlarged ;  with  Electrotypes  and 
numerous  Woodcuts.    Post  Svo.  lOs.  6d. 

Smith  (G.)  —  History  of  Wesleyan  Me- 
thodism. By  Geoege  Smith,  F.A.S., 
Member  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society,  &c. 
YOL.  I.  Wesley  and  his  Times;  and  Voi. 
II.  The  Middle  Age  of  Methodism,  from  tl 
Death  of  Wesley  in  1791  to  the  Confer 
ence  of  1816.  Crown  Svo.  price  lOs.  Cd. 
each  volume. 

Smith  (J.)  —The  Voyage  and  Shipwreck 

of  St.  Paul :  With  Dissertations  on  the  Life 
and  Writings  of  St.  Luke,  and  the  Ships  and 
Navigation  of  the  Ancients.  By  James 
Smith,  of  Jordanhill,  Esq.,  F.R.S.  Second 
Edition  ;  with  Charts,  Views,  and  Wood- 
cuts.    Crown  Svo.  Ss.  6d. 

A  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  Sydney  Smith. 

By  his  Daughter,  Lady  Hollaitd.  With 
a  Selection  from  his  Letters,  edited  by 
Mbs.  AusTur.  NetP Edition.  2  vols.  Svo.  28- 

The  Rev.  Sydney  Smith's  Miscellaneous 

Works  :  Including  his  Contributions  to  The 
Edinburgh  Review.    Four  Editions  : — 

1.  A  LiBEAEY  Edition  (the  Fourth),  in    ■ 
vols.  Svo.  with  Portrait,  368. 

2.  Complete  in  One  Volume,  with  Portrait 
and  Vignette.  Square  crown  Svo.  pric 
21s.  cloth  ;  or  30s.  bound  in  calf. 

3.  Another  New  Edition,  in  3  vols,  ffcwjs 
Svo.  price  21s.  ■il 

4.  The  People's  Edition,  in  2  vols.  crow*|i! 
Svo.  price  Ss.  cloth.  I  ^J 


PUBLISHED  BY  LONGMAN,  GREEN,  akd  CO. 


21 


1.  Hildebraiid, 

2.  Saint  Francis  of  Assisi. 

3.  The  Founders  of  Jesuit- 

ism. 

4.  Martin  Luther, 

5.  Tlie     French     Benedic- 

tines. 
0.  The  Poi-t  Royalists. 


7.  Richard  Baxter. 

8.  The    Evangelical   Suc- 
cession. 

9.  William  Wilberforce. 

10.  The  Clapham  Sect. 

11.  The   Historian   of  En- 
thusiasm. 

12.  The  Epilogue. 


The  Rev.  Sydney  Smith's  Elementary 

Sketches  of  Moral  Philosophy,  delivered  at 
the  Royal  Institution  in  the  Years  1804, 
1805,andl806.  Third  Edition.  Fcp.8vo.7s. 

Snow.— Two  Years'  Cruise  oflf  Tierra 

del  Fnego,  the  Falkland  Islands,  Patagonia, 
and  the  River  Plate  :  A  Narrative  of  Life 
in  the  Southei-n  Seas.  By  W.  Parker 
Snow,  late  Commander  of  the  Mission 
Yacht  Allen  Gardiner;  Author  of  "Voyage 
of  the  Prhice  Albf-rt  in  Search  of  Sir  John 
Franklin."  With  3  coloured  Charts  and  6 
tinted  Illustrations.     2  vols,  post  8vo.  24fl. 

Robert   Southey's    Complete     Poetical 

Works ;  containing  all  the  Author's  last  In- 
troductions and  Notes.  The  Library  Edi- 
iioft,  complete  in  One  Volume,  with  Por- 
trait and  Vignette.  Medium  8vo.  price  21s. 
cloth  ;  42s.  bound  in  morocco.  —  Also,  the 
First  collected  Edition,  in  10  vols.  fcp.  8vo. 
with  Portrait  and  19  Vignettes,  price  35s. 

Southey's    Doctor,    complete    in    One 

Volume.  Edited  by  the  Rev.  J.  W.  Warter, 
B.D.  With  Portrait,  Vignette,  Bust,  and 
coloured  Plate.     Square  crown  8vo.  21s. 

Southey's  Life  of  Wesley ;  and  Rise  and 

Progress  of  Methodism.  Fourth  and  cheaper 
Edition,  with  Notes  and  A-dditions.  Edited 
by  the  Author's  Son,  the  Rev.  C.  C. 
SouTHEY,  M.A.     2  vols,  crown  8vo.  12s. 

Spencer.— Essays :  Scientific,  Political, 

and  Speculative.  By  Herbert  Spencer, 
Author  of  Social  Statics.  Reprinted  chiefly 
from  Quarterly  Reviews.  8vo.  price  128.cloth. 

Spencer.  The  Principles  of  Psychology.  By 
Herbert  Spencer,  Author  of  Social  Statics. 
8vo.  price  16s.  cloth. 

Stephen.— Lectures  on  the  History  of 

France.  By  the  Right  Hon.  Sir  James 
StepheNjK. C.B .,LL.I) ..Professor  of  Modem 
History  in  the  University  of  Cambridge. 
Third  Edition.     2  vols.  8vo.  price  24s. 

Stephen.— Essays  in  Ecclesiastical  Bio- 
graphy ;  from  the  Edinburgh  Review.  By 
theRight  Hon.  Sir  James  Stephen,  K.C.B., 
LL.D.,  Professor  of  Modem  History  in 
the  University  of  Cambridge.  Third  Edi- 
tion.    2  vols.  8vo.  24s. 


Stonehenge.  —  The  Dog  in  Health  and 

Disease :  Comprising  the  Natural  History, 
Zoological  Classification,  and  Varieties  of 
the  Dog,  as  well  as  the  various  Modes  of 
Breaking  and  Using  him  for  Hunting, 
Coursing,  Shooting,  &c, ;  and  including  the 
Points  or  Characteristics  of  Toy  Dogs.  By 
Stonehenge,  Witli  about  70  Illustrations 
engraved  on  Wood.  Square  crown  8vo. 
price  15*.  half-bound. 

Stonehenge's  Work  on  the  Greyhound :  Being  a 
Treatise  on  the  Art  of  Breeding,  Rearing, 
and  Training  Greyhounds  for  Public  Run- 
ning ;  their  Diseases  and  Treatment :  Con- 
taining also  Rules  for  the  Management  of 
Coursing  Meetings,  and  for  the  Decision  of 
Courses.  With  Frontispiece  and  Woodcuts. 
Square  crown  8vo.  21s. 

Stow.— The  Training  System  of  Educa- 
tion ;  including  Moral  School  Training  for 
large  Towns,  and  the  Normal  Seminary  for 
Training  Teachers  to  conduct  the  System. 
By  David  Stow,  Esq.,  Honorary  Secretary 
to  the  Normal  Seminary,  Glasgow.  Eleventh 
Edition,  enlarged  ;  with  Plates  and  Wood- 
cuts.   Post  8vo.  price  Gs.  6d. 

Strickland.  —  Lives   of  the  Queens  of 

England.  By  Agnes  Strickland.  Dedi- 
cated, by  express  permission,  to  Her  Ma- 
jesty. Embellished  with  Portraits  of  every 
Queen,  engraved  from  the  most  authentic 
sources.  Complete  in  8  vols,  post  8vo. price 
78.  6d.  each.  —  Any  Volume  may  be  had 
separately  to  complete  Sets. 

Memoirs  of  Rear-Admiral  Sir  William 

Symonds,  Knt.,  C.B,,  F.R.S.,  Surveyor  of 
the  Navy,  from  1832  to  1847 :  With  Cor- 
respondence and  other  Papers  relative  to 
the  Ships  and  Vessels  constructed  upon  his 
Lines,  as  directed  to  be  pubHshed  under  his 
Will.  Edited  by  James  A.  Sharp.  With 
Sections  and  Woodcuts.     8vo.  price  2l8. 

Taylor.  —  Loyola :  and  Jesuitism  in  its 
Rudiments.  By  Isaac  Taylor.  Post  8vo. 
with  Medallion,  lOs.  6d. 

Taylor.— Wesley  and  Methodism.    By 

Isaac  Taylor.    Post  8vo.  Portrait,  lOs.  6d. 

Tennent.  —  Ceylon :  an  Account  of  the 

Island,  Physical,  Historical,  and  Topo- 
graphical: with  copious  Notices  of  its 
Natural  History,  Antiquities,  and  Produc- 
tions. Illustrated  by  7  Maps,  17  Plans  and 
Charts,  and  101  Engravings  on  Wood.  By 
Sir  J.  Emerson  Tennent,  K.C.S.,  LL.D., 
&c.    2  vols.  8vo. 


■>EVV  WORKS  AND  NEW  EDITIONS 


COM  PLETION 


THE    TRAYELLER'S    LIBRARY. 


Summary  of  the  Contents  of  the  TRAVELLER'S  LIBRARY,  complete  in  102 
Parts,  price  One  Shilling  each,  or  in  50  Volumes,  price  2*.  M.  each  in  cloth. — 
To  be  had  also,  in  complete  Sets  only,  at  Five  Guineas  per  Set,  hotmd  in  cloth^ 
lettered,  in  25  Volumes,  classified  as  follows  .—— 


VOYAGES  AND  TRAVELS. 


IN  EUROPE. 
A  CONTINENTAL  TOUIl by  J.  BARROW. 

^I^/E'i?.^^'.^'.''  } «  ^-  ^™^- 

BRITTANY  AND  THE  BIBLE BT  L  HOPE. 

BRITTANY  AND  THE  CHASE BY  I.  HOPE. 

CORSICA  BY  F.  GREGOROVIUS. 

ICELAND BY  P.  MILES. 

NORWAY,  A  RESIDENCE  IN BY  S.  LAING. 

NORWAY,  RAMBLES  IN by  T.  FORESTER. 

RUSSIA BY  THE  MARQUIS  DE  CUSTINE. 

RUSSIA  AND  TURKEY  . .  BY  J.  R.  M'CULLOCH. 

ST.  PETERSBURG BY  M.  JEBRMANN. 

THE  RUSSIANS  OF  THE  SOUTH,  BY  S.  BROOKS. 

^  MOUNtIiNS^''    ^"^'^^I   ^^  R-  FERGUSON. 

MONT  HLANC,  ASCENT  OF BY  J.  AULDJO. 

SKETCHES^  O^g NATURE  J3^  F.  VON  TSCHUDI. 

VISIT  TO  THE  VAUbdiSI  ^^  ^    T5ATNE<? 

OF  PIEDMONT    J ^^  ^'  ^■A-LN*'». 


IN  ASIA. 

CHINA  AND  THIBET ax  ibcb  ABBE'  HUC, 

SYRIA  AND  PALESTINE "  EOTHEN." 

THE  PHILIPPINE  ISLANDS,  BY  P.  GUIONIERE. 

IN  AFRICA. 

AFRICAN  WANDERINGS by  M.  WERNE. 

MOROCCO BY  X.  DURRIEU. 

NIGER  EXPLORATION.  .BY  T.  J.  HUTCHINSON. 
THE  ZULUS  OF  NATAL B Y  G.  H.  MASON. 

IN  AMERICA. 

BRAZIL BY  E.  WILBERFORCE. 

CANADA BY  A.  M.  JAMESON. 

CUBA BY  W.  H.  HURLBUT. 

NORTH  AMERICAN  WILDS  ....  byC.LANMAN. 

IN  AUSTRALIA. 
AUSTRALIAN  COLONIES by  W.  HUGHES. 

ROUND  THE  WORLD. 
A  LADY'S  VOYAGE by  IDA  PFEIFFER. 


HISTORY  AND  BIOGRAPHY. 


MEMOIR    OF   THE   DUKE 
THE  LIFE  OF    MARSHAL 

TUREXNE 

8CHAMYL  ....  BY  BODENSTEDT  aitd  WAGNER. 
FERDINAND  L  AND  MAXIMI-  \    __     wat^vt? 

LIAN  II J     ^^     ItANKL. 

FRANCIS  ARAGCS  AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 
THOMAS  HOLCROFT'S  MEMOIRS. 


OF  WELLINGTON. 
I  BY  THB  REV.  T,  0. 
COCKAYNE. 


CHESTERFIELD  &  SELWYN,  by  A.  HAl'^VARD. 
SWIFT  AND  RICHARDSON,  by  LORD  JEFFREY. 
DEFOE  AND  CHURCHILL  ....  by  J.  F0R8TER. 
ANECDOTES  OF  DR.  JOHNSON,  BY  MRS.PIOZZL 
TURKEY  AND  CHRISTENDOM. 
LEIPSIC  CAMPAIGN,  bt  the  REV.  G.  R.  GLEIG. 
AN  ESSAY  ON  THE  LIFE  ANDI  BY  HENRY 
GENIUS  OF  THOMAS  FULLER/     ROGERS. 


ESSAYS  BY  LORD  MACAULAY. 


WARREN  HASTINGS. 

LORD  CLIVE. 

WILLIAM  PITT. 

THE  EAFIL  OF  CHATHAM. 

RANKPrs  HISTORY  OF  THE  POPES. 

GLADSTONE  ON  CHURCH  AND  STATE. 

ADDISON'S  LIFE  AND  WRITINGS. 

HORACE  WALPOLE. 

LORD  BACON. 


LORD  BYRON. 

COMIC  DRAMATISTS  OP  THE  RESTORATION. 
FREDERIC  THE  GREAT. 
HALLAM'S  CONSTITUTIONAL  HISTORY. 
CROKER'S  EDITION  OF  BOSWELL'S  LIFE  OF 
JOHNSON. 

LORD  MACAULAY'S  SPEECHES   ON  PARLL^- 
MENTARY  REFORM. 


WORKS  OF  FICTION 

THE  LOVE  STORY,  fbom  SOUTHEY'S  DOCTOR. 


SIR  ROGER  DE  COVERLEY. . . .  }  gp^TATOB. 
MEMOIRS  OF  A  MAITRE-D'ARMES,  BT  DUMAS. 
CONFESSIONS  OF  A   )  __  w  unirvPSTRF 

WORKING  MAN..    ) BY  E.  bOUVESTRE. 


AN  ATTIC   PHILOSO-1 
PHER  IN   PARIS..   / 

SIR    EDWARD    SKAWARD'S 
HIS  SHIPWRECK. 


BY  E.  SOUVESTRE. 
NARRATIVE   OF 


NATURAL  HISTORY,  &c. 


NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  \  „-   r>n    T     kfmp 

CREATION /  ^^    ""•   ^'   ^^-^i- 

INDICATIONS  OF  INSTINCT.  BX  DR.  L.  KEMP. 


ELECTRIC  TELEGRAPH,  &c.  BY  DR.  G.  WILSON. 
OUR  COAL-FIELDS  AND  OUR  COAL-PITS. 
CORNWALL,  ITS  MINES.  MINERS.  &c 


MISCELLANEOUS  WORKS. 


LECTURES  AND  ADDRESSES  {  '  VaRL^'sS 
SELECTIONS   FROM  SYDNEY  SMITH'S 

WRITINGS. 
PRINTING ; btA.STAEK. 


OF 


BY  H.  SPENCER. 


RAILWAY    MORALS   ANDl 

RAILWAY  POLICY f 

MORMONISM  . .  BY  THS  REV.  W.  J.  CONTBKA  RE. 
LONDON    BX  J.  R.  M'CULLOCH. 


PUBLISHED  BY  LONGMAN,  GREEN,  and  CO. 


23 


Thirlwall.— The  History  of  Greece.    By  i 

the  Right  Rev.  the  Lokd  Bishop  of  St. 

David's   (tlie  Rev.  Connop  Tlurlwall).     8  | 

vols.  8vo.  with  Maps,  £3.  — An  Edition  in  i 

8  vols.  fcp.  Svo.  with  Vignette  Titles,  288.  ! 

Thomson's  Seasons.    Edited  by  Bolton  i 

Cornet,   Esq.       Illustrated   with   77  fine 
Wood  Engravings  from  Designs  by  Mem-    ! 
bers  of  the  Etching  Club.    Square  crowTiSvo.    } 
21s.  cloth ;  or  368.  bound  in  morocco. 

Thomson  (the  Rev.  Dr.)  — An  Outline  of 

the  necessary  Laws  of  Tliought :  A  Treatise 
on  Pure  and  Applied  Logic.     By  William 
Thomson,  D.D.,  Provost  of  Queen's  College,    I 
Oxford.    4>i/i  Edition.     Fcp.  Svo.  7s.  6d.        1 

Thomson's  Tables  of  Interest,  at  Three, 

Four,  Foui--and-a-Half,  and  Five  per  Cent., 
from  One  Poimd  to  Ten  Thousand,  and  from 
1  to  365  Days,  in  a  regular  progression  of 
single  Days  ;  with  Interest  at  all  the  above 
Rates,  from .  One  to  Twelve  Months,  and 
from  One  to  Ten  Years.  Also,  numerous 
other  Tables  of  Exchanges,  Time,  and  Dis- 
cocnts.     New  Edition.     12mo.  price  8s. 

The  Thumb  Bible;  or,  Verbum  Sempi- 

ternum.  By  J.  Tayloe.  Being  an  Epi- 
tome of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  in 
English  Verse.  Reprinted  from  the  Edition 
of  1693;  bound  and  clasped.    64mo.  Is.  6d. 

Todd  (Dr.)— The  Cyclopaedia  of  Anatomy 

and  Physiology.  Edited  by  Robert  B. 
Todd,  M.D.,  F.R.S.,  &c., '  Physician  to 
King's  College  Hospital;  late  Professor  of 
General  and  Morbid  Anatomy  in  King's 
College,  London."  Assisted  in  the  various 
departments  by  nearly  all  the  most  eminent 
cultivators  of  physiological  science  of  the 
present  age.  Now  complete  in  5  vols.  Svo. 
pp.  5,350,  illustrated  with  2,853  Wood- 
cuts, price  £6.  63.  cloth. 

Tooke.— History  of  Prices,  and  of  the 

state  of  the  Circulation,  during  the  Nine 
Years  from  1848  to  1856  inclusive.  Form- 
ing Vols.  V.  and  VI.  of  Tooke's  History  of 
Prices  from  1792  to  the  Present  Time;  and 
comprising  a  copious  Index  to  the  whole  of 
the  Six  Volumes.  By  Thomas  Tooke, 
F.R.S.  and  William  Newmaech.  2  vols. 
Svo.  price  523.  6d. 

Trevelyan   (Sir  C.)  —  Original  Papers 

illustrating  the  History  of  the  Application 
of  the  Roman  Alphabet  to  the  Languages 
of  India.  Edited  by  MoifiEB  Williams, 
M.A.,  late  Professor  of  Sanskrit  in  the 
East-India  College,  Haileybury.  Svo.  with 
Map,  123. 


Trollope.— The  Warden :   a  Novel.    By 

Anthony  Tuollopb.  New  and  cheaper  Edi- 
tion.    Crown  Svo.  price  Ss.  6d.  cloth. 

Trollope's  Barchester  Towers,  a  Sequel  to  the 
Warden.  New  and  cheaper  Edition,  com- 
plete in  One  Volume.     Crown  Svo.  Ss. 

Sharon  Turner's  History  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxons,  from  the  Earliest  Period  to  the 
Norman  Conquest.  Seventh  Edition,  revised 
by  the  Rev.  S.  TueneB.    3  vols.  8vo.  368. 

Dr.  Turton's  Manual  of  the  Land  and 

Fresh- Water  Shells  of  Great  Britain :  With 
Figures  of  each  of  the  kinds.  New  Edition, 
with  Additions,  by  Dr.  J.  E.  Gray,  P.R.S., 
&c..  Keeper  of  the  Zoological  Collection  in 
the  Britisli  Museum.  Crown  8vo.  with  12 
coloured  Plates,  price  ISs.  cloth. 

Dr.  Ure's  Dictionary  of  Arts,  Manufac- 
tures, and  Mines :  Containing  a  clear  Expo- 
sition of  their  Principles  and  Practice. 
Fourth  Edition,  much  enlarged  ;  most  of 
the  Articles  being  entirely  re-written,  and 
many  new  Articles  added.  With  nearly 
1,600  Woodcuts.    2  vols.  Svo.  price  60s. 

Uwins.— Memoir  and  Correspondence  of 

Thomas  Uwins,  R.A.,  late  Keeper  of  the 
Rojal  GaUeries  and  of  the  National  Gallery, 
&c.  Edited  by  Mrs.  Uwins.  2  vols,  post 
Svo.  ISs. 

Van  Der  Hoeven's  Handbook  of  Zoology. 

Translated  by  the  Rev.  William  Claex, 
M.D.,  F.R.S.,  &c.  Professor  of  Anatomy 
in  the  University  of  Cambridge.  2  vols. 
Svo,  with  24  Plates  of  Figures,  price  608. 
cloth ;  or  separately.  Vol.  I.  Invertebrata, 
30s,,  and  Vol.  II.  Veriebrata,  30s. 

Vehse.— Memoirs  of  the  Court,  Aristo- 
cracy, and  Diplomacy  of  Austria.  By  Dr.  E. 
Vehse.  Translated  from  the  German  by 
Feanz  Demmlee.    2  vols,  post  Svo.  21s. 

Von  Tempsky.  —  Mitla ;   or.   Incidents 

and  Personal  Adventures  on  a  Journey  in 
Mexico,  Guatemala,  and  Salvador,  in  the 
Years  1853  to  1855.  By  G.F.  Von  Tempsky. 
With  Map,  Illustrations  in  colours,  and 
Woodcuts.     Svo.  18s. 

Wade.  —  England's  Greatness :  Its  Rise 

and  Progress  in  Government,  Laws,  Religion, 
and  Social  Life;  Agriculture,  Commerce, 
and  Manufactures  ;  Science,  Literature,  and 
the  Arts,  from  the  Earliest  Period  to  the 
Peace  of  Paris.  By  John  Wade,  Author  of 
the  Cabinet  Lawyer,  &c.    Post  Svo.  10s.  6d. 

Wanderings  in  the  Land  of  Ham.  By  a 
Dau  ghtee  of  Japhet.    Post  8vo.  Ss.  6d. 


24 


NEW  WOEKS  PUBLISHED  BY  LONGMAN  and  CO. 


Waterton.— Essays  on  Natural  History, 

chiefly  Ornithology.  By  C.  Wateeton,  Esq. 
With  the  Autobiography  of  the  Author. 
2  vols.  fcp.  8vo.  lOs. 

Waterton's  Essays  on  Natural  History.  Third 
Series ;  with  a  Continuation  of  the  Auto- 
biography, and  a  Portrait  of  the  Author. 
Second  Ed'tion,     Fcp.  8vo.  price  6s. 

Watson's  Cybele  Britannica ;  of,  British 

Plants  and  their  Geographical  Relations. 
By  Hewett  Cotthell  Watson.  4' vols. 
8vo.  price  42s.  cloth  ;  or  each  vol.  separately, 
price  10s.  6d.  The  fourth  volume  is  de- 
voted to  general  views  and  tabular  sum- 
maries, showing  the  phyto -geography  of 
Britain  under  various  aspects. 

Webb.  —  Celestial  Objects  for  Common 

Telescopes.  By  the  Rev.  T.  W.  Webb, 
M.A.,  F.R.A.S.,  Incumbent  of  Hardvvick, 
Herefordshire.  With  Woodcuts,  and  a  Map 
of  the  Moon  12  inches  in  diameter  engraved 
on  Steel.     16mo.  7s. 

Webster  and  Parkes's  Encyclopaedia  of 

Domestic  Economy ;  comprising  such  sub- 
jects as  are  most  immediately  connected  with 
Housekeeping :  As,  The  Construction  of 
Domestic  Edifices,  with  the  Modes  of  Warm- 
ing, Ventilating,  and  Lighting  them — A  de- 
scription of  the  various  articles  of  Fumitxire, 
with  the  nature  of  their  Materials — Duties  of 
Servants— &c.  New  Edition ;  with  nearly 
1,000  Woodcuts.    3^0.  price  50s. 

Weld.  —  The  Pyrenees,  West  and  East, 

a  Summer  Holiday  in  1858.  By  Chaeles 
RiCHABD  Weld,  Barrister-at-Law.  With 
8  Illustrations  in  Chromo-xylography  from 
Drawings  by  the  Authoi*.    Post  8vo.  12g.  6d. 

Weld's  Vacation  Tour  in  the  United  States 
and  Canada.     Post  8vo.  with  Map,  lOs,  6d. 

Weld's  Vacations  in  Ireland.  Post  8vo.  with 
View.     lOs.  6d. 

Willich's  Popular  Tables  for  asceiiiain- 

ing  the  Value  of  Lifehold,  Leasehold,  and 
Church  Property,  Renewal  Fines,  &c. ;  the 
Public  Funds  ;  Annual  Average  Price  and 
Interest  on  Consols  from  1731  to  1858  ; 
Chemical,  Geographical,  Astronomical,  Tri- 
gonometrical Tables ;  Common  and  Hy- 
perbolic Logarithms ;  Constants,  Squares, 
Cubes,  Roots,  Reciprocals ;  Diameter,  Cir- 
cumference, and  Area  of  Circles ;  Length  of 
Chords  and  Circular  Arcs  ;  Area  and  Dia- 
gonal of  Squares ;  Dipmeter,  Solidity,  and 
Superficies  of  Spheres  ;  Bank  Discounts ; 
Bullion  and  Notes,  1844  to  1859'.  Fourlh 
EdHion,  enlarged.     Post  8vo.  price^lOs. 


Wilmot's  Abridgment  of   Blackstone's 

Commentaries  on  the  Laws  of  England,  in- 
tended for  the  use  of  Young  Persons,  and 
comprised  in  a  series  of  Letters  from  a  Father 
to  his  Daughter.     12mo.  price  63.  6d. 

Wilson's  Bryologia  Britannica:  Con- 
taining the  Mosses  of  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland  systematically  arranged  and  described 
according  to  the  Method  of  Bruch  and 
Schimper ;  with  61  illustrative  Plates.  Being 
a  New  Edition,  enlarged  and  altered,  of  the 
Muscologia  Britannica  of  Messrs.  Hooker  and 
Taylor.  8vo.  423. ;  or,  with  the  Plates 
coloured,  price  £4.  4s.  cloth. 

Yonge.— ANew  English-Greek  Lexicon 

Containing  all  the  Greek  Words  used  by 
Writers  of   good    authority.      By   C.    D. 
Yonge,  B.A.     Second  Edition^  revised  and 
■  corrected.     Post  4to.  price  21s. 

Yonge's  New  Latin  Gradus  :  Containing 
Every  Word  used  by  the  Poets  of  good 
authority.  For  the  use  of  Eton,  West- 
minster, Winchester,  Harrow,  Charterhouse, 
and  Rugby  Schools;  King's  College,  Lon- 
don ;  and  Marlborough  College.  Sixth 
Edition.  Post  8vo.  price  9s. ;  or  with 
Appendix  of  Epithets  classified,  12s. 

Youatt's  Work  on  the  Horse,  comprising 

also  a  Treatise  on  Draught.  With  numerous 
Woodcut  Illustrations,  chiefly  from  Designs 
by  W.  Harvey.  New  Edition,  revised  and 
enlarged  by  E.  N.  Gabbiel,  M.R.C.S., 
C.V.S.,  Secretary  to  the  Royal  College  of 
Veterinary  Surgeons.  In  One  Volume,  8vo. 
price  10*.  M.  cloth. 

Yonatt.  —  The  Dog.  By  William  Yonatt.  A 
New  Edition;  with  numerous  Engravings, 
from  Designs  by  W.  Harvey.     8vo.  6s. 

Young.  — The  Christ   of  History:   An 

Argument  grounded  in  the  Facts  of  His 
Life  on  Earth.  By  John  Young,  LL.D. 
Second  Edition.     Post  8vo.  Ts.  6d. 


Young.— The  Mystery;  or.  Evil  and  God.  By 
Jqhn  Yotino,  LL.D.     Post  8vo.  Ts.  6d. 

Zumpt's  Grammar  of  the  Latin  Lan- 
guage. Translated  and  adapted  for  the 
use  of  English  Students  by  De.  L.  Schmitz, 
F.R.S.E.  :  With  numerous  Additions  and 
Corrections  by  the  Author  and  Translator. 
4th  Edition,  thoroughly  revised.     8vo.  14s. 

{^Septemher  1859. 


1 


LONDON   :    PRINTKD   BY   SPOTTISWOODE   &  CO.    NEW-1TREKT  SQUARE 

111734 


1/ 


I 


RETURN  TO  the  circulation  clesi<  of  any 
University  of  California  Library 
or  to  the 
NORTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 
BIdg.  400,  Richmond  Field  Station 
University  of  California 
Richmond,  CA  94804-4698 

ALL  BOOKS  MAY  BE  RECALLED  AFTER  7  DAYS 

•  2-month  loans  may  be  renewed  by  calling 
(510)642-6753 

•  1-year  loans  may  be  recharged  by  bringing 
books  to  NRLF 

•  Renewals  and  recharges  may  be  made  4 
days  prior  to  due  date. 


i 


DUE  AS  STAMPED  BELOW 

_ 

MAR  11  2003 

\ 

IAN  2  2  2009 

SENT  ON  ILL 

NOV  2  2  i^006 

U.C.  BERKELEY 

12,000(11/95) 

1 

1 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  BERKELEY 
FORM  NO.  DD6,  60m,  1  /83           BERKELEY,  CA  94720 

®s 

iiliPffiii