MANNERS AND. CUSTOMS. 
or infidelity, which may expose 
him to the bigotry of the people 
or to the legal persecution of the 
Gauzy; but, in the remote parts 
of that country, an injury or an 
insult to a Moollah would itself be 
sufficient to raise a tumult. On 
those occasions, the Moollahs 
send round to their brethren to 
assemble, suspend the public wor- 
ship, and the ceremonies ofbarial, 
pronounce their antagonists in- 
fidels, and formally excommuni- 
cate and curse them. If this fails 
in forcing their enemies to sub- 
mit, they parade the country with 
the green standard of the prophet, 
beating drums, and proclaiming 
the Selaut (or war-cry of the 
Mussulmans). They announce, 
that all who fall in their cause 
will be martyrs, and that all who 
fail to join them are excommuni- 
cated. By these means, they soon 
assemble a mob (or as they call it 
themselves an army); and, as 
the Afghauns are more afraid of 
their anathemas than their arms, 
they generally bring their adver- 
saries totheir terms, whichinclude 
the right to plunder and burn the 
houses of the chief offenders, and 
to impose a fine on their abettors. 
Stories are told of the walls of 
towns falling down at the shout 
of an army of Moollahs; and 
swords are blunted, and_ balls 
turned aside, when aimed at the 
life of these holy personages. 
Yet, a stand was once made against 
them, even near Peshawer, when 
the Haukun of Hushtnugger re- 
sisted an army of them who came 
to enforce an usurious contract, 
and beat them off with loss, to 
the great joy of the neighbour- 
hood. Though treated with great 
respect in this part of the country, 
479 
I believe they are more feared 
than loved. In the west, their 
power is much more limited, and 
their character much morerespect- 
able. They are, in consequence, 
generally popular, particularly in 
the country: but, even there, they 
are complained of for the vices of 
their order, and for their intrusive 
and insatiable demands on the 
hospitality of the inhabitants. 
Even in the west, their power has 
sometimes been felt in the towns, 
particularly during the reign of 
Timoor Shauh, whose Prime Mi- 
nister was a Moollah. At that 
time, they carried their insolence 
to such a pitch at Candahar, that 
a band of them attacked Kefauyet 
Khaun (a Sheah nobleman of 
Persian descent, who had held 
some of the highest offices in the 
state), and rushed into his harem, 
insisting on a present, and pre- 
testing against the injustice of his 
eating rich pilaws, while they had 
only dry bread. It was with diffi- 
culty, and by the king’s interpo- 
sition alone, that the tumult was 
appeased. Their peculiar vices are 
hypocrisy, bigotry, and avarice. 
Their, lives are sanctimonious in 
public, but some of them practise 
all sorts of licentiousness that can 
be enjoyed without scandal ; and 
many are notorious for the prac 
tice ofusury. Lending money on 
interest is expressly prohibited by 
the Koraun; and few decent Mus- 
sulmans openly infringe a prohi- 
bition which it is so easy to evade. 
Mostmen content themselves with 
lending their money to merchants, 
stipulating for a share of the profit 
derived from the use of it, or with 
placing it in the hands of bankers, 
who profess to employ it in com- 
merce, and to secure the owner @ 
