THE YEZIDEES, OR DEVIL-WORSHIPERS. 481 



position of the saints, and by the water of the brook Semsen and 

 the earth of Sheik Adi. They say that Rejel-el-Senne occasion- 

 ally sends his plague-soldiers to vex men ; when they repent of 

 their sins and confess them, the saints intervene to vanquish the 

 pest-soldiers and drive them away. 



The souls of deceased believers are supposed to go into para- 

 dise to dwell with the seven gods, Melek-Taus, and the saints. 

 Sheik Adi is the door-keeper there. The souls of unbelievers and 

 of sinful Yezidees go into the bodies of asses, mules, and dogs. 

 Upon the death of a Yezidee, his mouth is at once filled with the 

 holy earth of Sheik Adi. The body is buried under the direction 

 of a sheik and the kavalin. The body having been laid in the 

 grave, facing the east, some sheep's dung is scattered over it, and 

 the grave is filled up with earth. The women mourn, sing dirges, 

 beat their breasts, and tear their hair for three days ; and, if a 

 traveler comes along, he is entertained for the salvation of the 

 soul of the deceased. The mourners and their friends afterward 

 meet in the house of the deceased, where the Kovechek dance and 

 sing to Melek-Taus till they look him in the face, when they are 

 seized with convulsions, and fall senseless to the ground. This is 

 a sign that the soul of the deceased has entered paradise. The 

 whole winds up with a funeral feast. 



If a man has an evil-disposed son, he secretly buries his wealth, 

 so that it shall not be wasted after his death, and marks the spot 

 with some sign. When he is born again, to lead a new life, as his 

 religion teaches him is to be the case, he will go and recover his 

 treasure. 



New-year's-day is a great festival, and is always observed on 

 the first Wednesday after the vernal equinox. On this day, God 

 collects in paradise all the saints and their relatives, and sells the 

 world's coming year at auction. The highest bidder is made 

 Rejel-el-Senne, the ruler of the year, and has the direction of 

 men's fates according to his will, and the distribution of plenty 

 and happiness, want and disease. On the morning of the previous 

 day the Kochek calls from his house, imploring from Melek- 

 Taus blessing upon all who are within hearing of his voice. The 

 young people then go to the mountains and woods to gather red 

 shkek flowers with which to adorn the doors of their houses ; for 

 no house not thus ornamented can be secure from the afflictions 

 of the year. 



The legend of Sheik Adi's call to be a prophet relates that, 

 as the holy man was riding over the fields one moonlight night, 

 in his twentieth year, there suddenly appeared rising from the 

 ground, in front of the tomb of Abu Rish, a vision of two camels 

 having legs four cubits in length, with heads like those of buffa- 

 loes, hair long and bristly like a thorn-bush, large round eyes 



TOL. XXXIT. — 31 



