BOUBKE.] SACRED CORDS. 563 



little, as they are both industrious and honest had kept account of 

 the days of their labor. There was a horizontal datum line, as before, 

 with complete circles to indicate full days and half circles to indicate 

 half days, a long heavy black line for Sundays and holidays, and a 

 crescent mooii for each new mouth. These accounts had to be drawn 

 up by the overseer or superintendent of the rancho at which the Indi 

 ans were employed before the latter left for home each night. 



THE SACKED CORDS OP THE PAKSIS AND BRAHMANS. 



I have already apologized for my own ignorance in regard to the 

 origin and symbolical signification of the izze-kloth of the Apache, 

 and I have now to do the same thing for the writers who have referred 

 to the use by the religious of India of the sacred cords with \\ hich, un 

 der various names, the young man of the Parsis or Brahmans is invested 

 upon attaining the requisite age. Xo two accounts seem to agree and, 

 as I have never been in India and cannot presume to decide where so 

 many differ, it is best that I should lay before my readers the exact 

 language of the authorities which seem to be entitled to greatest con 

 sideration. 



&quot;A sacred thread girdle (kustik), should it be made of silk, is not 

 proper; the hair of a hairy goat and a hairy camel is proper, and from 

 other hairy creatures it is proper among the lowly.&quot; 



Every Parsi wears &quot;a triple coil&quot; of a &quot; white cotton girdle,&quot; which 

 serves to remind him of the &quot;three precepts of his morality good 

 thoughts, good words, good deeds. &quot; 



Williams describes the sacred girdle of the Parsis as made &quot;of seventy- 

 two interwoven woollen threads, to denote the seventy-two chapters of 

 the Yasna, but has the appearance of a long flat cord of pure white wool, 

 which is wound round the body in three coils.&quot; The Parsi must take 

 off this kustl five times daily and replace it with appropriate prayers. 

 It must be wound round the body three times and tied in two peculiar 

 knots, the secret of which is known only to the Parsis. 3 



According to Picart, the &quot; sudra,&quot; or sacred cord of the Parsis, has 

 four knots, each of which represents a precept. 4 



Marco Polo, in speaking of the Brahmans of India, says: &quot;They are 

 known by a cotton thread, which they wear over the shoulders, tied 

 under the arm, crossing the breast.&quot; 5 



Picart described the sacred cord of the Brahmans, which he calls the 

 Dsandhem, as made in three colors, each color of nine threads of cotton, 

 which only the Brahmaus have the right to make. It is to be worn after 

 the manner of a scarf from the left shoulder to the right side. It must 

 be worn through life, and, as it will wear out, new ones are provided at 



1 Shayast la-Shayaat, cap. 4. pp. 285, 286. In Sacred Books of the East, Max Miiller s cditioii, vol. 5. 

 J Jlonier Williams, Modern India, p. 50. 



3 Ibid., pp. 179, 180. 



4 Ceremonies et Coutumes, vol. 7, p. 28. 



* Marco Polo, Travels, in Pinkerton s Voyages, vol. 7, p. 163. 



