PREFACE. Vll 



from the Hebrew word yy&, 'to dip,' and it 

 was applied to the followers of El-Hasaih 

 in reference to their frequent ablutions. 

 Their present representatives are the Men- 

 daites, Gnostics, Nazoreans, or, incorrectly, 

 Christians of St. John, so called from their 

 frequent lustrations with water, who dwell 

 in the swamps on the banks of the Tigris 

 near Bassora. 



Besides the Sabians, there were others 

 who took the name, about the year 830 

 of our era, to escape the persecutions of 

 the Chalifs, particularly of El-Ma'mtin, who 

 threatened them with extermination ; as- 

 suming at the same time something of the 

 dress and forms of the persecuting Mussul- 

 mans. These pseudo-Sabians are repre- 

 sented by the modern Yesidis and the 

 Shemsiya, both of whom are fire-worship- 

 pers, or perhaps, rather, worshippers of 



