MOULLAHS, VILLAGE-SCHOOLMASTERS. 
465 
belt, to the honour of a Khan. The profession of my host ranks 
with the most learned of the East; a sort of successor to the old 
Magi; having the religion, philosophy, and tuition of the country 
entirely in the hands of its professors. But, of course, these 
sacerdotal wise men, like men in all other callings, differ in 
degrees of rank and acquirements; some, according to their 
original stations ; others, according to their natural abilities. The 
Moullahs of a village, are not, in general, of the most learned 
degrees ; but they are often the most amiable men. Not being 
initiated in the deepest doctrines of their faith, they know nothing 
of systems, and less of party-spirit: hence, though devout, we 
seldom find them bigoted; a feature rather too prominent with 
some of the great doctors of their Moslem law. 
The qualifications most in demand for a village Moullah, or 
priest, are, to be able to read, in an audible voice, the appointed 
chapters from the Koran; to drawl out the daily prayers, in a 
regular nasal cadence ; and to call out the awzaun , or summons 
of his flock to divine service, at the several stated times of the 
day ; which are an hour before sun-rise, noon, and at sun-set. 
The awzaun is declared from the roof of the mesched. Minarets 
are not now to be seen attached to any mosque in Persia; 
though they are in constant use over every other part of Ma- 
homedan Asia. 
As the office of tutor to princes, and other great men, is 
usually given to Moullahs of superior endowment, so the task of 
schoolmaster in a village, commonly devolves on its Moullah ; 
who, in whatever other sort of lore he may be scant of breath, 
never fails to fully accomplish his pupil in the long-drawn notes 
with which he chants his orisons ; and some, the most favoured, 
are perfected in the holy signal for the hours of prayer; which 
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