dMfr' 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL AND EAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
aad enveloping themselves with" ; their cast-off 
mantles, silently disappear. 
The Abdals include the various classes of the 
stoics, who generally pretend to a total renuncia¬ 
tion of all worldly comforts. Sometimes clothed 
in the coarsest garments, and again half naked, 
and even with lacerated bodies, they wander 
throngh the Mohammedan dominions, a miserable 
set of frantic, idle, and conceited beggars. They 
may, in fact, be considered the “communists” of 
the East, who despising honest pursuits, live upon 
the community at large. 
They commit the worst extravagances under the 
pretence of heavenly raptures, and are even sup¬ 
posed to be divinely inspired. Idiots and fools 
are esteemed by the Mohammedans as the favor¬ 
ites of Heaven; their spirits are supposed to have 
deserted their earthly tenements, and to he hold¬ 
ing converse with angels, while their bodies still 
wander about the earth. 
It would be wearisome to go into further de¬ 
tails; for infinite is the diversity of the orthodox 
theologies of the Mohammedans, with the 235 ar¬ 
ticles of the creed, on which all the doctors of 
divinity differ: hopeless must be the task of the 
student to surmount the commentaries of the 280 
canonical authors, not to mention the innumera¬ 
ble heretical tenets of other sects, which mast be 
studied to be controverted. 
Verily we would suggest the recipe of a certain 
Molla, who must have given up in dire despair, 
" Whenever yon meet with an infidel, abuse him 
with all your might, and no one will doubt you are 
a staunch believer.” 
As long as war and its exciting scenes occupied 
the restless minds of the Arabs, there was no time 
for religions or party intrigue. The simple “La 
Illah-Ulallah,'' satisfied the momentary breathings 
of their souls heavenward. The turmoil of their 
life, the glitter of their arms and dreadful carnage 
RESULTS OF MIL WARD’S TOUR. 
In our last paper we gave a very interesting 
letter from our young townsman, H. A. Ward, 
addressed to Prof. Dewey, detailing a part of his 
geological tour in Europe. The summary of the 
resnlts and advantages is presented in the follow¬ 
ing additional letter. Ilia adherence to the one 
great scientific purpose, is admirable, and will give 
him favor with the intelligent and decided.— 
Though not designed for the press, this summary 
gives even more pith to his correspondence, while 
it shows the great collection of admirable fossils 
for the illustration. Such a collection must be an 
invaluable acquisition for the illustration of Ge¬ 
ology in any College, or in any Museum. Mr. Ward 
is evidently destined to make a prominent and 
enduring mark, and must ere long be widely ap¬ 
preciated by scientific men and scholars.— [Ed. 
Rural. 
>8 one of the most beautiful in our language, j 
With silent awe, I hail the sacred morn 
Which slowly wakes while all the fields are still. 
With soothing calm On every breeze is born ; 
A graver murmur gurgles from the rill. 
And echo answers softer from the hill, 
And softer singe the linnet from the thorn ; 
The skylark warbles in a tone less shrill. 
Hail! light serene ; hail J racred Sabbath morn ; 
The rooks float silent by, In airy drove ; 
The enn & placid yellow luster shows ; 
The gales that lately sighed along the grove, 
Have hashed their downy wiogs in sweet repose 
The hovering rack of clouds forgets to move : 
So smiled the day when the first morn arose. 
For Moore's Rural New-Yorker 
TEARS. 
Parts, France, March 21, 185T. 
As 1 am now at home in this city, I am looking 
over the resnlts of my tour, surrounded by the 
collections gathered in my couise. T gave yon 
only a brief outline of my doings, but enough 
probably to satisfy you that I have closely adhered 
to the original object, the visiting of the most in¬ 
teresting geological localities, and the acquisition 
of knowledge and of those objects of Natural 
History, which would the better tit me for the du¬ 
ties in which I hope to employ ray life. To visit 
the cities and view their sights—to study their 
architecture, paintings, statuary and fine arte—I 
could not afford the time or money. But the tour, 
it was hoped, would afford a practical application 
of the knowledge of the principles I had been 
studying uuder such favorable circumstances in 
this city. In this my success has far exceeded all 
that I had dared to hope. To you, as my friend, 
permit me to offer some evidence of the progress. 
Not only have I directly seen many things of 
great interest in Geology, of which only arid 
descriptions had come to me, but I have also be¬ 
come acquainted with a large number of things 
entirely new to me. I find myself possessed of a 
more correct and definite idea of the true princi¬ 
ples of the science to which I anticipate the devo¬ 
tion of myself, and of the importance of extensive 
preparation in various knowledge and science for 
the most successful prosecution aud diffusion of 
my favorite objects. 
The collateral advantages ot the tour are varied 
and great. I have obtained a distinct and con¬ 
nected, though ol necessity a partial, acquaintance 
with the geology of a considerable part, of Europe, 
and have become conversant with much of the 
geological investigation which is being made at 
the present time omthe Continent I have receiv¬ 
ed from the various geologists visited in the tour 
near a hundred publications, each containing from 
ten to three hundred pages of scientific matter of 
great interest They are mostly written in German 
or Italian, both of which are read with far greater 
taeility from the months spent among the native 
speakers. 
Besides, my collections have been large, and of 
the most interesting character,—fourteen boxes of 
good size. 1 hough 1 have collected many fine and 
TURK, 
RELIGIOUS SECTS IN TURKEY 
circular railing, constitutes the scene of their rit¬ 
ual, or ceremonies. A gallery occupies three sides 
of the building, in which is the latticed apartment 
of the Saltan, aud the place tor the Turkish ladies. 
In every mosque, and here also, there is a niche 
opposite the entrance, called the ATihrab, which 
indicates the direction of Mecca. The walls are 
adorned with entablatures, ornamented with verses 
from the Koran, and with ciphers of Sultans, and 
mottos in memory of other benevolent individuals 
who have endowed the Tekke. 
The Sbeikb, or leader of the community, sits in 
front of the Alirhah, on an Angora goat skin, or a 
carpet, attended by two of his disciples. 
An attenuated old man, 
with a visage furrowed and 
wit ered by time, bronzed 
by many successive suns,hi8 
long and grizzly beard wit- 
nessing to the ravages of 
age, while his prominent f||lllp^ v $ 
eyes, sparkling like light- 
ning amid the surround- , v >: 
ing darkness, are the only wm 
symbols of animation or V 
life, in his worn-out frame. 
The dervishes, as they enter, 
make a low obeisance with 
folded hands to this patron ___ “vfypfigr 
saint, with an air of mystic 
veneration, and take their 'V 
stand with their faces to- ~ 
ward Mecca. The old sheikh ~~ 
arises, and presiding over 
the assembly, commence^ ji. 
the services. ^ 
Their peculiar head-gear, ^ 
called sikke, ©f thick brown 
felt, in the shape of a sugar loaf; and long and 
flowing robes o i varied hues, make them seem like 
fantastic representations of some other sphere, 
particularly when they commence the slow and 
measured prostrations of Mussulman worship. 
Prayers being over, each dervish doffs his man¬ 
tle, and appears in a long white fustanella, trailing 
the polished floor, and of innumerable folds, with 
a tightly fitting vest of the same pure color. They 
now defile two by two before the sheikh, who, ex¬ 
tending his hand towards them, seems to diffuse a 
sort of magnetism, which irradiates every coun¬ 
tenance. As they stand immovable, the wild and 
thrilling music slowly pervades every sense, until 
suddenly one of the number extends his arms, and 
begins to revolve noiselessly, with slow and meas¬ 
ured step. The lolds of his ample skirt now grad¬ 
ually open like the wings of a bird, and with the 
swiftness of his motion, expand, until the dervish 
only appears like the centre of a whirlwind. The 
rest are all alike in motion, arms extended, eyes 
half closed as in a dream, the head inclined on 
one side, they move round and round to the meas¬ 
ured time of the music, as if floating iu ecstasy. 
The calm and unimpassioned chief, with slow 
and stealthy step, wanders among their evolutions. 
Suddenly they cease and march around the circle. 
The music increases its measure, and the dervish¬ 
es again commence their giddy motions; old and 
yonug seem to be in a visionary rhapsody. Pet- 
haps transported in the bewildering whirl to the 
regions of the blest, they languish with rapture in 
the arms of the hour’s of Paradise; or lose their 
earthly senses amid the glories which surround 
the throne of Allah; till suddenly they stand 
transfixed, their outspread and snowy drapery 
folding around them like the marble investment of 
“The Sultan and his People,’’—a valuable and 
entertaining work from the pen of Mr. Oscanyan, 
a native Turk, recently issued by Derby t% Jack- 
son, New York,—contains some interesting de¬ 
scriptions and illustrations of the religious cere¬ 
monies and superstitions of the Mohammedans. 
Through the courtesy of the publishers, we shall 
be enabled to furnish two or three illustrated arti¬ 
cles on prominent subjects discussed in the work, 
and commence by giving the substance of a 
chapter on 
SECTARIANISM AMONG THE TURKS. 
Besides the Koran, there are other sacred and 
traditional hooks called the Someth, the produc¬ 
tions of Abubekir, Omer, and Osman, the succes¬ 
sors of the Prophet. The ancient caliphs of Egypt 
and Babylon have also added their own. These 
books have numerous commentaries npon them, 
which constitute the principal part of the Moham¬ 
medan literature, and have been the source ot 
much dissension. Sectarianism, therefore, pre¬ 
vails among the Mussulmans as in every part of 
the world. We will only mention those sects with 
whom the traveler in the East is apt to come in 
contact. The principal schism which divides the 
Mohammedan nation is that of the Stinnees and 
the Sheyees. 
more abundantly fulfill. And what are the tears 
that shall be wiped away when the light and glory 
of heaven shall stream in through the open win¬ 
dow of the purified soul? This morning, when the 
sun looked smilingly over the eastern Mila, his 
light surprised the widow at her morning prayer, 
and heard her bless God for her onlj son, who 
knelt reverently beside her; but to-night, before 
the same golden sunshine had faded fronYout the 
western sky, she was childless and alone: and as 
she watched by her dead, and wept as if Bhe would 
pour out her very soul in tears, her voiceless 
prayer, gone before on the viewless wings of the 
spirit, is answered, in the low, sweet voice that 
whispers, “God shall wipe away all tears from 
their eyes,” audio! heaven is in her face. ITboseare 
bitter tears—whose bitterness few may know— 
which a father and mother are shedding over a 
wayward and profligate son. Such were the tears 
David shed when he exclaimed, “0 my son Absa¬ 
lom, my son, my son Absalom; would God I had 
died for thee; 0 Absalom, my son, my 30 r.”_ 
That son, too, is weeping, while the.'calm, still hours 
are breathing about him, and his thoughts are busy 
with the past. Before the words, “ I will arise and 
go to my father” have died away’from his lips, 
kind arms are about his neck aad the hot tears 
are npon his face,—G od did not wait for them to 
get to heaven before he wiped away their tears. 
Tears there are even more sorrowfhl than those 
of the widowed and bereaved: they are the tears 
she weeps, who looks upon the bloodshot eye, the 
bloated face and swaggering gait of him, to whom, 
in the guileless simplicity of her girlhood’s hours, 
she gave np the keeping of her young andjiopeful 
heart Once he came home to her with a sweet 
kiss of welcome; now he reels home from the 
midst of his drunken companions only to abuse 
her; aud when she looks upon him, and remem¬ 
bers how good and noble her young hopes had 
made him—when she thinks what he might have 
been—what he might be even now, but for the dram¬ 
shop,— the tears come so thick and fast, that they 
can scarcely find an outlet throngh the aching 
eye-lids — God hasten to wipe away such tears! 
But there are tears more hitter than all,—so hit¬ 
ter, that to human view, God can never wipe them 
away—the tears of one who is weeping for the loss 
of innocence she can never recover on earth. 0 
where shall there he found mercy so unbounded as 
to wipe away these tears! If thou has “sought 
for repentence carefully with tears,” He who never 
said seek ye my face in vain, will wipe away thy 
tears when thou shalt pass through the’gate into 
the city; for there's no weeping there. 
Could all the tears shed in this city alone, be 
collected to-night; the tears of the hungry poor, 
crying for bread; of the wretched, shivering npon 
their damp bed of straw; of the widow for her 
dead husband; 
“Of the widower, when he sees 
A Lite lost form, whom sleep reveals, 
And moves his doubtful arms and feels 
Her place is empty 
Of parents weeping for their dead of to-day and 
years ago; of children for their parents; of friend 
for friend: what a conception would it give us of 
human woe! And these tears were all wrung out 
from hearts like yours and mine, kind reader! and 
if onr tears are not flowing to-night, mention but 
the name—the dear name of one who left our fire¬ 
side, when the autumu winds sighed through the 
leafless trees, and onr eyes are full; we can write 
no more. 
You can scarce enter a household hut you find 
an empty seat at the table, that shall never be filled; 
some precious relic of the dear departed; and as 
the mother opens the drawer where, for a long 
time they have been hidden, how the heart swells 
and the eyes fill! 
“ There 1a no flock, however watched and tended 
But some dead lamb ls thete ; 
There is no Sreside howsoe’er defended 
But haa one vacant chair.” 
To the Christian, whose inheritance may have 
been tears and tears continually, what a charm 
must this thought give to heaven,— tkere's no weep¬ 
ing there. 
Take courage, then, tearful traveler in this vale 
of tears; if God have touched thee and sent out 
the tears from thy soul-depths surely, when the 
night has passed, thy joy, full as the joy of angels, 
shall come in the morning of that day of unend¬ 
ing gladness, and thou shalt know how blessed it 
is to have the tears wiped away from off’ thy face. 
Rochester, .V. Y., 1S67. S. A, E. 
The Sunnees are the orthodox party 
and believe in the traditions attributed to the 
Prophet and ki9 successors, and are strict in all 
their observances. Whereas the Sheyees reject all 
traditions and are strict legitimists, adhering to 
Aali, who married the Prophet’s daughter, as the 
rightful successor, and rendering their homage to 
his descendants. 
The Turks are all Sunnees, and the Persians 
Sheyees, the one is more fanatical, the other more 
supeistitions, and as the difference between them 
is small, so is their mutual hatred proportionally 
intense. 
The Suneea repudiate Aali, the infallible direc¬ 
tor of tbe Sheyees, who, in their turn, decapitate 
the representatives of tbe Prophet, Abnbekir, 
Omer, and Osman in effigy. For they erect these 
persons in sugar at their festivals, and when merry 
over their wines, cut the respected friends of Mo¬ 
hammed into pieces and actually drink them in 
solution. 
The Turks elevate the sacred color, green, to 
their headB and turbans with the greatest respect, 
but in contradistinction, the Persians choose this 
hue for their shoes, trowsers, and every other dis¬ 
respectful use their ingenuity can devise. When 
the one shaves, the other does not, and scorns the 
thorough ablutions of his rival. Indeed, no mat¬ 
ter bow or what, so it be vice versa. 
Apart from the foregoing, the very meaning of 
the word Islam, or resignation to the service and 
commands of God, has been a source of much dis¬ 
sertation and dissension, and has produced a va¬ 
riety of sects, of which the Hanefees, Mevlevees, 
Rifayees, and Abdals, are the most noted in Tur¬ 
key. The Hanefees are the contemplative philos¬ 
ophers, Oriental spiritualists or transeendentalists; 
and to this class the Sultan and the principal part 
of the people belong. The Mevlevees are the 
dancing or whirling dervishes, and they may 
therefore be considered as the Oriental Shakers. 
Their object is practical resignation to God, which 
state of mind they think they attain by whirling 
round and round until their senses are lost in the 
dizzy motion. 
They conform to the general tenets and obser¬ 
vances, but their form of worship is peculiar. 
ABDAL, OR STOIC. 
of all infidels, sufficed to ease their fancy, and 
satisfy the thirst for excitement. 
It was as they wiped their blood stained scimi¬ 
tars, and during tbe reaction which comparative 
peace and luxury created, that their minds, free 
from more substantial food and activity, sought 
greater refluement of spirituality. In the absence 
of the real, the speculative began to grow, until 
Imams and Ulema found that they could turn the 
tide of human affairs to their own advantage, bv 
exciting polemical and theological controversies. 
A comparative study of the niceties of Mussul¬ 
man doctrine, and hair-breadth distinctions with 
those of more refined and enlightened creeds, 
while it displays many and striking similarities, 
only illustrates, with startling vividness, the time 
worn maxim, that “there is nothing new under 
the sun.” 
For known and unknown purposes, in the tiny 
mountain brooks and in the wide ocean, fishes are 
seen in unceasing motion, darting in all directions, 
traveling now siogle, and now in shoals. Their 
regular journeys are mostly undertaken for the 
purpose of spawnii g; the delicate mackerel 
moves 
southward when its time comes, and the beautiml 
sardine of the Mediterranean goes, in spring west¬ 
ward, aud returns in autumn to the east The 
sturgeon of Northern Europe is seen Bingly to as¬ 
cend the great rivers of the Continent, and the 
orunl, or migratory salmon of the Polar seas, 
travels, we know not how, through the river aud 
lake, up into fhe Baikal, and there swims, in whim¬ 
sical alterations, but always iu immense crowds, 
first on the southern and then on the northern 
bank. The travels of the salmon are probably best 
known, because the fish was a favorite already in 
the days of Pliny: and yet straDge enough, it is 
found iu every sea, in the Arctic, near the Equator, 
aud off New HoUand, only not in the Mediterrane¬ 
an. They press in large, triangular masses up all 
the great northern rivers of Europe, Asia and 
America. They enter Bohemia by sea, sailing up 
the river Elbe; they approach Switzerland iu the 
green water of the Rhine, and even the foot of 
the Curdileras by a journey of 3,000 miles up the 
Amazon! Their crowds are not unfrequently so 
dense that they actually stem for awhile the car* 
reut of the mighty rivers; stiLl, these bands are 
formed with great regularity. The strongest and 
largest females lead, followed by others of the 
same sex, traveling two and two at regular inter¬ 
vals; after them come the male in like order.— 
With a noise like the distant roaring of a storm, 
they rush up the stream, now sporting in easy, 
graceful motiou, and now darting ahead with 
lightning speed that the eye cannot follow. Do 
they come to some rock or wall that impedes their 
way, they leap with incredible force, and repeat 
the effort until they have overcome their difficulty; 
it is even said that, at the foot of cataracts, they 
will take their tail in their month aud then sud* 
denly letting go like an elastic spring, rise twelve 
or fitteen feet iu the air. Tims they travel on, un¬ 
dismayed and untired, until they have found a 
suitable place for depositing their eggs, and with 
the same marvellous instinct return, year alter year 
to the distant ocean.— Selected. 
PHYSICIANS AT ANTIOCH. 
A doctor is thought nothing of here unless he 
resorts to violent remedies. I was told a curious 
anecdote of a soi-distant doctor, who acquired a 
great reputation in Beilan. He was much given 
to administering emetics, and, having a very deli¬ 
cate patient, resorted as usual to this method of 
cure, leaving in the hands of the patient’s brother 
three strong doses of emetic, which he directed 
should bo administered at invervals of three hours. 
The brother, finding that the first powder had no 
immediate effect, gave the unfurtunate invalid the 
remaining two within five minutes. The result 
was violent sickness, succeeded by spasms and 
cramp, which in a few hours terminated fatally.— 
Next day, the doctor was astounded to learn, on 
inquiring, that his patient was dead ; and evinced 
his concern in his face. “Never mind,” said the 
brother, “it was so fated; but, Marshalls] you are 
a groat doctor; the medicino you gave never ceas¬ 
ed operating till the moment of my brother’s death. 
It was lino medicine, and if it couldn’t cure him, 
nothing earthly could.” — NeaPs Syria, Palestine 
and Asia Armor. 
tekkk. 
- r heir religious edifices are called Tek/ces, which 
are open every Tuesday and Friday, and are fre¬ 
quently visited by the Sultan aud Europeans in 
general. 
A large square space, which is surrounded by a 
an antique statue. They are all prostrated,— and 
apparently completely exhausted by their ecsta¬ 
sies, and immovable, until the sheikh recalls them 
to the realities of time by his holy benediction, 
wheu they slowly rise again, compass the buildintr. 
No cloud can overshadow the Christian, but his 
faith will discern a rainbow in it. 
There are six or seven generations of gnats in 
a summer, and each lay 250 eggs. 
