XIII.] THE CAUCASIC PEOPLES. 497 



Other ethnical groups, such as the Druzes^ on the Lebanon 

 and now also in the Hauran district, and the 



, c Ansarieh. 



Ansaneh of the mountain range named from 

 them, still linger on, either as survivals of the old pagan and 

 Christian times, or as Moslem sectaries with secret rites and 

 observances surrounded by much mystery. Theodore Bent J 

 connects the Ansarieh, whom he visited in the Tarsus district, 

 with the Ali-Ullah-hi of north Persia, and thinks their occult 

 religion is practised by many other scattered groups in Asia Minor. 

 Their reputed founder, Barba Nasere, made the Godhead of Ali 

 the basis of the system, and they also admit a Trinity the Ain- 

 Min-Sin. or Ali the Father, Muhammad the Son, and Salman el- 

 Farsi the Holy Ghost which, with the use of wine in their secret 

 feasts, would seem to show that this cult is a graft of the Shiah 

 Moslem sect on some early form of Christianity. The Ansarieh 

 prayers are described as " very beautiful and impressive, and there 

 are many curious points analogous to freemasonry in connection 

 with the initiation of a new member 2 ." 



With the Hebrew or Israelitish inhabitants of south Syria 

 (Canaan, Palestine, "Land of Promise") we are here concerned 

 only in so far as they form a distinct branch of the Semitic family. 

 The term 'Jews 3 ,' properly indicating the children 



L iiC I CvVS, 



of Judah, fourth son of Jacob, has long been applied 

 generally to the whole people, who since the disappearance of the 

 ten northern tribes have been mainly represented by the tribe of 

 Judah, a remnant of Benjamin and a few Levites, i.e. the section 

 of the nation which to the number of some 50,000 returned to 

 south Palestine (kingdom of Judaea) after the Babylonian captivity. 

 These were doubtless later joined by some of the dispersed northern 

 tribes, who from Jacob's alternative name were commonly called 

 the "ten tribes of Israel." But all such Israelites had lost their 

 separate nationality, and were consequently absorbed in the royal 

 tribe of Judah. Since the suppression of the various revolts 



1 your. Anthrop. Inst. June, 1890, p. 225. 



- Ibid. 



3 From Old French Jit is, Lat. Jud<zi> i.e. Sons of Jehudah (Judah). See 

 my article, Jews, in CasselPs Storehouse of General Information, 1893, from 

 which I take many of the following particulars. 



K. 3 2 



