lack-bearded and
broad-shouldered, whose massive brows and straight features indicated
noble powers of mind and body.

The two who stood nearest to the chief priest came forward, and taking
from his hands a square linen cloth he bore, bound it across his mouth
and tied it behind his neck in a firm knot by means of strings. Then,
one of them put into his left hand a fan of eagles' feathers, and the
other gave him a pair of wrought-iron pincers. Then they left him to
advance alone to the altar.

He went forward till he was close to the bronze brazier, and stooping
down, he took from the heap of fuel a clean white stick, with the
pincers, which he carefully laid upon the fire. Then with his left hand
he gently fanned the flames, and his mouth being protected by the linen
cloth in such a manner that his breath could not defile the sacred fire,
he began slowly and in a voice muffled by the bandage he wore, to recite
the beginning of the sacrificial hymn:

_"Best of all goods is purity.
Glory, glory to him
Who is best and purest in purity.
For he who ruleth from purity, he abideth according
to the will of the Lord.
The All-Wise giveth gifts for the works which man
doeth in the world for the Lord.
He who protecteth the poor giveth the kingdom to Ahura."_[9]

[Footnote 9: Probably the oldest hymns in the Avesta language.]

Then all the priests repeated the verses together in chorus, their
voices sounding in a unison which, though not precisely song, seemed
tending to a musical cadence as the tones rose and fell again upon the
last two syllables of each verse. And then again, the chief priest and
the other priests together repeated the hymn, many times, in louder and
louder chorus, with more and more force of intonation; till the chief
priest stepped back from the fire, and delivering up the pincers and the
fan, allowed the two assistants to unbind the cloth from his mouth.

He walked slowly up the temple on the left side, and keeping his right
hand toward the altar, he walked seven times around it, repeating a hymn
alone in low tones; till, after the seventh time, he went up to the
farther end of the hall, and stood before the black marble trough in
which the fermented Haoma stood ready, having been prepared with due
ceremony three days before.

Then, in a loud voice, he intoned the chant in praise of Zaothra and
Bareshma, holding high in his right hand the bundle of sacred sta