38 HORMUZD TtASSAM, ESQ.^ ON B[BLICAL LANDS; THEIU 



stantlj liarassecl and persecuted in their religious rites hy 

 their rulers, they deemed it politic to conform to certain 

 ceremonies and usages, and have come to acknowledge the 

 God of revelation as the only true deity. It is remai'kable 

 that though constant mention is made in Holy Writ 

 regarding the idolatry of the different Gentile nations who 

 inhabited those countries formerly, there are now no people 

 that have idols, nor are there any worshippers of the 

 heavenly bodies anywhere in Turkey or Persia. It is true 

 that the Yezeedees have an image of a bird made of brass 

 they call "Malik Tawoos,"* which tlie Kawalls or priests 

 carry about periodically for the purpose of collecting alms, 

 and is to a certain degree revered, but they do not really 

 worship it any more than some Christian sects adore 

 the images and pictures of Christ, the Blessed Virgin, and 

 saints. The Guebresj or Parsees, Avho are called fire wor- 

 shippers, do not really bend the knee before that element, 

 but merely regard it as a hallowed emblem of the sun. 

 They consider it sacrilegious to spit in the fire, and on tin's 

 account they do not bloAv out a candle by the mouth, but 

 put it out by a wave of the hand. About two thousand 

 families of these so-called fire worshippers still exist in 

 Persia, chiefly in Yazd and in other towns in Karman, but 

 nine-tenths of the sect, who are known as Parsees, have 

 established themselves in India, — mostly in the Bombay 

 Presidency. They never allow the sacred fire to be extin- 

 guished. The faith of the Parsees and the Guebres is that 

 of Zoroaster, and the reason that the name of Parsee is 

 given to the former, was because they were emigrants from 

 Pars or Persia. The Parsees have a number of peculiar 

 rites and customs which are not to my purpose to relate in 

 this paper, but as they have a very quaint ceremony per- 

 formed before and after the birth of a child, I think it will 

 not be uninteresting to relate it. When such an event is 

 expected, the mother is conveyed to the ground floor of the 

 house, where she must remain forty days, at the end of 

 which she undergoes purification before again mingling 

 with the family. Five days after the child is born, an 

 astrologer is called in to cast its nativity ; and all the 

 relations assemble to hear wdiat is to be the future fortune 



* Two Arabic words which mean " King Peacock." 



t The common uncomplimentary epithet of Gawir, used bv the Turks 

 for a Christian in a contemptible mannei", is derived from this word,, 

 which means a heathen. 



