90 The Persian Travels Book II. 



whereof ends in one (ingle Nut, which being cover'd with Earth produces the Palm- 

 tree. Mod of the people of the Country do lay, that in regard there is among the 

 Palm-trees the diftinftion of Male and Female , that therefore they muft be planted 

 one by another , for that otherwife the Female Tree will bear no Fruit. But others 

 affirm that nicety to be unnecclTary, and that it iuffices, whentheMaleisinBloflbm 

 to take a Flower from the Male, and put it into the Heart of the Female a little 

 above the Stem j for unlets they fhould do fo, all the Fruit would fall off before it 

 came to maturity. 



There is at Balfara a Cady that adminifters Juftice , and who is eftablifh'd by the 

 authority of the Prince that commands there. In the City are alio three forts of 

 Chriftians, Jacobites, Neftorians, and Chriftians of St. John. There is alio a Houfe 

 or Italian Carmelites • and there was a Houle of Portugal Ah/1 in-Fr: ins , but they have 

 foriak'n the Town ever fince their Country-men quitted the Trade. 



The Chriftians of St. John are very numerous at Balfara , and the Villages there- 

 abouts} who anciently liv'd by the River of Jordan y where St. John Baptiz'd - and 

 from whom they took their Name. But fince the time that Mahomet conqucr'd 

 Paleftme, though Mahomet formerly gave them his Hand and his Letters of Pri- 

 vilege that they fhould not be molefled , neverthelefs they that fucceeded the 

 falle Prophet relblv'd to extirpate them all :, to which purpofe they ruin'd their 

 Churches , burnt their Books , and exercis'd all manner of cruelties upon their Per- 

 fons: which oblig'd them to retire into Mefpotamia and Chaldea, and for fome time 

 they were under the Patriarch of Babylon , from whom they feparated about a 

 hundred and fixty years ago. Then they remov'd into Perfia and Arabia , and the 

 Towns round about Balfara - as Sontcr, Devoid, Rumtz. , Bitoum , Mono, Endccan, 

 Calafabat, Aveza, Dega, Dorech, Mafqncl, Gumar, Cananoiu, Balfara, One^er, Zech, 

 Loza. Nor do they inhabit City or Village by which there does not run a River 

 And many of their Bifhops have aflur'd me, that the Chriftians in all the foregoing 

 places make above five and twenty thoul'and Families. There are fome among them 

 who are Merchants ^ but the moft part of them are Trades-men , especially Gold- 

 fmiths, Joyners, and Lock-fmiths. 



Their Creed is full of fables and foul errours. The Perfans and Arabians calT them 

 Sabbi , a People that have foriak'n their own Religion , to take up a new one. In 

 their own Language they call themfelves Mendai Jahia, or 'Difciples of St. John, 

 from whom, as they afcertain us, they have receiv'd their Faith, their Books, and 

 their Traditions. Every year they celebrate a Feaft for about five days , during 

 which time they go in Troops to their Bi (hops, who Baptize them according to the 

 Baptilm of St. John. 



They never Baptize but in Rivers , and only upon Sundays. But before they 

 go to the River they carry the Infant to Church , where there is a Bifhop who 

 reads certain Prayers over the Head of the Child } from thence they carry the Child 

 to the River, with a Train of Men and Women , who together with the Bifhop 

 go up to the knees inWater.Then the Bifhop reads again certain Prayers out of a Book 

 which he holds in his Hand , which done he fprinkles the Infant three times, faying, 

 Beefmebrad er-Rabi, Kaddemin, Akreri, MenhaLel gennet Alii Koulli Kralek ; or, In the 

 Name of the Lord, firft and loft of the World and of Paradife , the high Creator of all 

 thum. After that, the Bifhop reads fomething again in his Book, while the God- 

 father plunges the Child all over in the Water •, after which thev go all to the Parents 

 Houle to feaft. If any tax their Baptifm for infufficient, in regard the Three Perfons 

 ot the Divinity are not nam'd therein, they can make no rational defence for them- 

 lelves. Nor have they any knowledge of the Myftery of the Ho'y Trinity, only 

 they fay that Chrift is the Spirit and Word of the Eternal FatheT Thev are fo 

 blind as to believe the Angel (fabriel to be the Son of God \ begotten upon Lit?ht; 

 yet will not believe the Eternal Generation of Chrift, as God. Yet they confefs 

 he became Man , to free us from the Punifhmentof Sin : and that he was conceiv'd 

 in the womb of a Virgin without the knowledge of Man, by means of the Water 

 of a certain Fountain which fhe drank of. They believe he Was crucifi'd by the 

 Jem s that he rofe the third day, and that his Soul afcending lup to Heaven, his 

 Body remain d on Earth. But like the Mahometans they cornet their Faith, by 



laying, that Chrift vanifh'd when the Jwcarae to take him, ancf that he deluded 

 their rmpif-v with h c cUo«-U,„ ' T 



their cruelty with his Shadow, 



In 



