ure of Paganism, Hebrew, Mohammedan, and Christian. They
profess to regulate their lives by a book called the Sidra, containing
many moral precepts, which, according to tradition, have been handed
down from Adam, through Seth and Enoch; and it is understood to be in
their language (the Chaldee), but written in a peculiar character. They
abhor circumcision, but are very particular in distinguishing between
clean and unclean animals, and likewise in keeping the Sabbath with
extraordinary strictness. The Psalms of David are in use, but they are
held to be inferior to their own book. They abstain from garlic, beans,
and several kinds of pulse, and likewise most carefully from every
description of food between sunrise and sunset during a whole moon
before the vernal equinox; in addition to which, an annual festival is
kept, called the feast of five days. Much respect is entertained for the
city of Mecca, and a still greater reverence for the Pyramids of Egypt,
in one of which they believe that their great progenitor, Saba, son of
Seth, is buried; and to his original residence at Haran they make very
particular pilgrimages, sacrificing on these occasions a ram and a hen.
They pray seven times a day, turning sometimes to the south and
sometimes to the north. But, at the same time, they retain a part of the
ancient worship of the heavenly bodies, adding that of angels, with the
belief that the souls of the wicked are to enjoy a happier state after
nine hundred centuries of suffering. The priests, who are called
sheikhs, or chiefs, use a particular kind of baptism, which, they say,
was instituted by St. John; and the Chaldee language is used in this and
other ceremonies.

The other religion, that of a more numerous branch, the Yezidis, is, in
some respects, like the Mendajaha, but with the addition of the evil
principle, the exalted doctor, who, as an instrument of the divine will,
is propitiated rather than worshiped, as had been once supposed. The
Yezidis reverence Moses, Christ, and Mohammed, in addition to many of
the saints and prophets held in veneration both by Christians and
Moslems. They adore the sun, as symbolical of Christ, and believe in an
intermediate state after death. The Yezidis of Sinjar do not practice
circumcision, nor do they eat pork; but they freely partake of the blood
of other animals. Their manners are simple, and their habits, both
within and without, remarkable for cleanliness. They are, besides,
bra