TOPOGRAPHY, RAOES^ RELIGIONS, LANGUAGES AND CUSTOMS. 39 



of the babe, and wliat influence it is to exert upon its parents 

 and family. Till the child is six years old, its dress consists 

 of a single garment called the Jubhla, a kind of loose skirt, 

 which extends from the neck to the ankles, and the head is 

 covered with a skull cap. When it has reached the age of 

 six years and three months, the investiture of the child with 

 the siidra and kiista takes place, by Avhich it is solenmly 

 initiated into the religion of Zoroaster. The ceremony com- 

 mences with certain purifications, and the child behig seated 

 before the high priest, after a benediction has been pro- 

 nounced, the emblematic garments are put on. The sudra is 

 made of linen, and the kusti is a thin woollen cord, consisting 

 of seventy-two threads, representing the seventy-two 

 chapters of the Izashne, a sacred book of the Parsees. This 

 cord is passed round the waist three times, and tied with fom* 

 knots, while a kind of hymn is sung. At the first knot the 

 person says, " There is only one God, and no other is to 

 be compared with him," at the second, " The religion given 

 by Zurtosht is true," at the third, " Zurtosht is the true 

 Prophet, and he derived his mission from God," and the 

 fourth and last, " Perform good actions, and abstain from 

 evil ones." 



The semi-pagan. sects existing now in the Holy Land and 

 the so-called Syria are the Ansarees, the Droozes, and 

 Assassins, of whose i;eligious customs I must give a short 

 account. The first of these minor denominations inhabit 

 the range of momitains north of Lebanon, between Tripoli 

 and Antioch. They profess an absurd and strange mass of 

 doctrines, taught by their theological doctors. They allege 

 that God has been incarnate several times, that He has been 

 incarnate, not oaly in Jesus Christ, but also in Abraham, 

 Moses, and other persons celebrated in the old Testament. 

 They attribute also the same honour to Mohammed. They 

 imagine that they honour Jesus Christ by maintaining that 

 He did not die on the cross as the Christians profess, but 

 that God had substituted another in His place, as the Moslems 

 believe. They likewise say that Mohammed appointed that 

 another body in place of his own should be put into the 

 tomb which had been prepared in his stead. They have 

 borrowed from Christianity the practice of observing the 

 Lord's Supper, but they celebrate it with wine and a morsel 

 of meat. They admit only the male sex to the communion, 

 and observe it in secret. They celebrate some of the 

 festivals observed amongst Christians, such as Christmas, the 



