240 



THE LIVING RACES OF MANKIND 



By ]K 



A GROUP OF DERVISHES (RELIGIOUS MENDICANTS), PERSIA. 



in strong contrast with that of his subjects, whose black goat's-hair tents were pitched in 

 hundreds on the hillsides and in the hollows of the surrounding country. It was his habit 

 every morning to take a certain pill supposed to have the power of preserving him from any evil. 

 It was made of ruby, the precious stone being ground fine and mixed with paste. Its virtue 

 failed to avert the catastrophe which closed the chief's career. He had secretly collected a 

 store of arms, and the Shah in time came to suspect his ambitious projects. The chief of 

 the Bakhtians was accordingly invited to visit the Shah at his palace in Ispahan. Violating 

 the sacred rites of hospitality, the Shah caused him to be assassinated. Deprived of its 

 leader, the intended revolt of the Bakhtians fell through. 



The Persians are for the most part Mohammedans of the Shiah sect. This is the most 

 fanatical of the Moslem sects. It denies the right of the first four Caliphs and their immediate 

 successors to the Caliphate, and asserts that All was the true successor of Mohammed. The 

 laws of the Persians are based on the precepts of the Koran. 



