156 EEV. G. E. WHITE, ON SUEVIVALS OF PRIMITIVE 



be spared, but, if this could not be, that his soul might go direct 

 to Paradise. In a few hours he was well ; his pain was gone ; 

 and he rose and went to tell the doctor that there were remedies 

 available when medical skill failed. 



When I find myself in a region where I am a stranger and 

 meet a man with whom to exchange greetings, I sometimes ask, 

 " Isn't there a place named Klmddur Ellez near here ? " And 

 the answer .usually comes, " Why, yes," and then follows a 

 description of the place known by that name, which is under- 

 stood to mean St. George, though there is some confusion as to 

 the exact identity of St. George, and especially as to his relation 

 to the prophet Elias, Ellez. St. George is venerated by 

 Armenians, Greeks and Turks alike. I know a Khuddur Ellez 

 visited by a whole village of Greeks on St. George's Day, and 

 visited at all times by Turks, who pray and sacrifice there, 

 especially for such children as are slow in learning to walk. 

 The abundant candles of the Greek Church are said to be in 

 honour of saints, and certainly the actual worship of the Greek 

 Christians of Turkey is very largely saint worship. The same 

 is true of the Alevi or Shia Turks, a great part of whose 

 practical religion consists in their visiting ziyarets, or sacred 

 places, and worshipping in the name of the saints buried 

 there, with the aim of securing their merciful intercession. 

 Mohammedans and Christians resemble each other in this part 

 of their worship, and people of one faith often resort to shrines 

 in the keeping of the other faith. I have seen shrines now 

 Christian once Mohammedan, and, conversely, shrines now 

 Mohammedan which were once in Christian keeping. 



Corresponding to the lore connected with saints is that 

 concerning jinns or evil spirits. To the common Anatolian 

 earth and air and sky are peopled with spirits malign as well 

 as benign, and to neutralise the one is quite as important at 

 the proper time as to utilise the other. A miifti, venerable in 

 beard and furs, informed me that God created first the holy 

 angels, then the devilish jinns of seventy-two classes corres- 

 ponding to the seventy- two races of men, and thirdly, God 

 created man with character and possibilities partly angelic and 

 partly devilish. The character oS. jinns may be understood from 

 the fact that one day after the afternoon call to prayer they 

 destroyed eighty tliousand prophets. Tliis was before the creation 

 of man ! How there could be eighty-thousand prophets before 

 the creation of man is a question tliat perhaps never occurred 

 to tlie mvfti, and if one sliould put it to him it might seem like 

 needless homiletic nicety. For this transgression Allah wiped 



