bases,
and rising to the height of some twenty feet or more. We became the guests
of one of the chief Yezidees of Baa-sheka, whose dwelling, like others in
the place, was a rude stone structure, with a flat terrace roof. Coarse
felt carpets were spread for our seats in the open court, and a formal
welcome was given us; but it was evidently not a very cordial one. My
Turkish cavass understood the reason, and at once removed it. Our host had
mistaken me for a Mahometan towards whom the Yezidees cherish a settled
aversion. As soon as I was introduced to him as a Christian, and he had
satisfied himself that this was my true character, his whole deportment
was changed. He at once gave me a new and cordial welcome, and set about
supplying our wants with new alacrity. He seemed to feel that he had
exchanged a Moslem foe for a Christian friend, and I became quite
satisfied of the truth of what I had often heard,--that the Yezidees are
friendly towards the professors of Christianity.

"They are said to cherish a high regard for the Christian religion, of
which clearly they have some corrupt remains. They practise the rite of
baptism, make the sign of the cross, so emblematical of Christianity in
the East, put off their shoes, and kiss the threshold when they enter a
Christian church; and it is said that they often speak of wine as the
blood of Christ, hold the cup with both hands, after the sacramental
manner of the East, when drinking it, and, if a drop chance to fall on the
ground, they gather it up with religious care.

"They believe in one supreme God, and, in some sense at least, in Christ
as a Savior. They have also a remnant of Sabianism, or the religion of the
ancient fire-worshippers. They bow in adoration before the rising sun, and
kiss his first rays when they strike on a wall or other object near them;
and they will not blow out a candle with their breath, or spit in the
fire, lest they should defile that sacred element.

"Circumcision and the passover, or a sacrificial festival allied to the
passover in time and circumstance, seem also to identify them with the
Jews; and, altogether, they certainly present a most singular chapter in
the history of man.

"That they are really the worshippers of the devil can only be true, if at
all, in a modified sense, though it is true that they pay him so much
deference as to refuse to speak of him disrespectfully, (perhaps for fear
of his vengeance;) and, instead of pronounci