AN ETHNOLOGIC STUDY OF THE YURUKS. 187 



Sipylus to the Tmolus Mountains are named " Kizil-Bach." Their 

 tribe is the most important and the most numerous ; they comprise 

 nearly two thirds of the Yuruk element. In the ethnologic point 

 of view their study presents the most interest. 



The Kizil-Bach, as, in fact, all the Yuruks, are the followers of 

 Ali, whom they consider as their prophet. Therefore, Mohammed 

 has no worshipers among them, and this explains why they do not 

 observe the precepts of the Koran. 



A curious thing to notice is also a slight mixture of paganism 

 in their creed. For instance, in the spring and fall of every year 

 they set large tents in a remote place, and when night comes men 

 and women gather to celebrate religious banquets and mysterious 

 ceremonies, followed by songs and dances. 



Their principal poems express veneration for Ali. They also 

 possess remarkably exalted hymns to chant their adoration to the 

 Supreme Being and their love for their brethren. The dance, per- 

 formed only by the women, has an original and Asiatic character ; 

 its rhythm is grave and slow, the gestures and motions of the 

 dancers show kindness and amiability for their guests. Only 

 those initiated in their mysteries are allowed to attend the above 

 ceremonies, while vigilant and unmerciful guardians, posted in 

 the surroundings, prevent the approach of strangers on pain of 

 immediate death. 



Besides these banquets and nocturnal ceremonies, which recall 

 the Saturnalia of the Romans in the time of Tiberius, another fact 

 leads me to believe that the Yuruks have preserved pre-Islamitic 

 doctrines that we can also trace in the darkest paganism. For in- 

 stance, their belief in metempsychosis. The Yuruks, indeed, assert 

 that human souls return into the bodies of animals, and that the 

 spirits of the latter take also a human form and appear at deter- 

 mined epochs. This is certainly the reason why they are so kind 

 to animals. M. Elise'e Reclus says that a Yuruk loves his horse as 

 much as his family. The horses have their place under the tent, 

 and it is not uncommon to see them warmly wrapped in a mag- 

 nificent robe when the Yuruk and his children are covered with 

 rags. Some other customs attest also a pagan origin; in the 

 Orient everybody knows that the Yuruks worship certain trees 

 and rocks. These facts yield sufficient evidence that monotheism 

 is by no means the essential dogma of their religion. 



Among the qualities possessed by the Yuruk, hospitality is, no 

 doubt, prominent. Deprived, by the very influence of his adventur- 

 ous life, of all the fierce instincts which characterize the Turko- 

 mans; restricted, because of his occupations, to the woods, the 

 plains, or the mountains ; constantly exposed to the inclemency of 

 the seasons, to dangers and enemies of all kinds, the Yuruk has 

 conceived a generous and noble idea of hospitality, and he prac- 



