it nothing hurtful, is not the institution with all its parade childish, for does it enjoin anything better than the practical duties of Christianity or even than those of the Ansairee system, which duties are limited, as we have seen, to a freemasonic brotherhood?

The duties are contained in two principal precepts. At the time of initiation a lad is informed that two things are required of him, obedience to a command and observance of a prohibition. The command is, that he should "guard, and be attentive to, and take care of his brethren, and be constant in visiting them and defending their character, and in intercourse with them; and that everything that he should desire for himself, he should desire for them;" and it is added, "that one fifth of his property every year becomes their due." * The prohibition is "against being unjust to, or injuring his brethren, and against proclaiming their failings, or doing anything to displease or hurt them. Because every calamity would befall him should he injure them in their honour, or listen to backbiting and scandal about them, or make light of them, or be covetous with regard to them." The lad is also to avoid lying and every kind of wickedness and reprobate conduct, secret or

open.

Nothing can be better, moreover, than some of the precepts and ideas to be found in the sermon already alluded to. It would be well if the Ansaireeh attended to them with respect to their brethren, and extended the observance of them to all men ; but unfortunately they do neither the one nor the other. True, some of the sheikhs and people, of the Shemseen sect especially, living on the higher mountains, seem to be simple-minded men, who take some of these rules as their guide, but they complain with reason that the majority of their fraternity treat them as a dead letter.

Von Hammer alludes to the connexion between the

* Mussulmans have to give a fourth of the tenth part of their property every year in obligatory alms. Lane, i. 130.

Assassins or Ismaeleeh and Templars. He says that there is an analogy between the constitution of the Assassins and those of some modern orders; and that "many points of similarity are found, which can neither be accidental, nor yet spring from the same cause." He mentions one instance of accordance, that between the white dresses and red fillets of the Assassins, and the white mantle and red cross of the Templars; and the Ansaireeh of the present day mostly dress in white, while they are also fond of red jackets and red handkerchiefs, or of red and white mixed. We have already alluded to the fact that the Templars dwelt in the immediate neighbourhood of and among these secret sects, while, as is known, a degree of freemasonry is called that of the Templars. With these remarks we will leave the subject to those who are, or consider themselves to be, acquainted with the history of the freemasonic body.

CHAP. VII.

CUSTOMS OF THE ANSAIREEH.

WE have thus described the theoretical and ceremonial parts of the Ansairee religion. But it is with the Ansaireeh as with people of all other religions, especially with those who are in a semi-barbarous state, religious theory has little to do with the direction of their lives; and a description of their theological system gives but an imperfect idea of their state as affected by religion. Something more palpable and visible is found to be the moving principle, the active influence, in the case of the great mass of the people; and among the Ansaireeh, but for this popular belief and the customs which in most countries have a semi-religious character, such as those connected with marriage, death, &c., the women and children would be absolutely without religion.

With respect to their opinion about women, there is a great difference between the Druses and the Ansaireeh. With the former some women are initiated into the highest secrets, while the majority of men are excluded; but, with the latter, women are entirely excluded from any participation in religious ceremonies and prayers, and from all religious teaching; and that, not only because females are considered, as elsewhere, inclined to reveal a secret, but because they are considered by the Ansaireeh as something unclean. Many stories are told of their original wickedness, and of the faithlessness of those of the present day, by men who do not reflect that it is their own treatment and contempt of women which leave them such as they are. However, as the Ansaireeh believe that

the soul of a brute may have in a former state animated a wicked man, so they suppose that a man may be punished for his sins in a previous generation by being born in a woman's form in the succeeding one; so that, commonly, if a woman fulfils all the duties of which she is capable, well and virtuously, there is hope of her again coming into the world as a man, and becoming one of the illuminati and possessors of the secret. And as no one can remain without some form of religion, and women are naturally more religiously inclined than men, the Ansairee women are more fearful perhaps even than the men of bringing on themselves the ill-will of those whom they most fear,—the holy men of former times, who have tombs and visiting-places in every part of the mountains.

This brings me to speak of the zeyârehs or visiting-places; and it is proper to do so at the commencement of this chapter on the customs of the Ansaireeh; for of all things which exercise a practical, religious, or rather superstitious, influence on them, the zeyârehs are, without comparison, the most powerful. Nearly all good is looked for from them, and all ill dreaded from their displeasure.

The word "zeyâreh" properly means "a visiting," and hence is used for the place visited, being the appellation given to the reputed sepulchres of men who have enjoyed distinction in the Ansairee sect. These tombs are generally situated on conspicuous spots, such as the tops of the highest hills, or amid groves of evergreen oak. They recal to mind in a very striking manner the worship of the ancient Canaanites, on every high hill and under every green tree. Many of these groves are doubtless very old, perhaps as old as the Canaanites. The tombs found

under them are often very apocryphal; for instance, about a quarter of a mile to the west of my village is a fine grove of trees, in which are sixteen small tombs enclosed by a rude wall, in which I have before now seen snakes, a fit emblem of that old serpent who still deceives the dark Ansairee mountains, where he has so long established his

แ

rule in ignorance, bloodshed, and the commission of every diabolical act. Near at hand is a ruined village, once belonging to the Keratileh, the former possessors of the district. These tombs are doubtless those of the ancient inhabitants of the village, but now they are supposed to be those of some sheikhs who had come from Banyâs, and hence the tombs are called the Banwaseyeh. These tombs may be considered the Penates of the people of my village; for they are visited by them on all great occasions, and solemn oaths are taken by them. "By the Banwaseyeh and the sixteen tombs" is a common, but rather long, form of asseveration. To the east of my village, about a mile distant, under a magnificent deciduous oak, is another famous tomb, reputed to belong to a certain Sheikh Bedr (full moon) il Halabee (from Aleppo), and to have the power of curing bad eyes, and of restoring sight to the blind. Often have people come to me for the cure of ophthalmia, who have borne marks of having previously visited the tomb, a forehead smeared with earth from it, and leaves of the oak stuck in their head-dress. When I say that the tomb has the power of cure, I mean the spirit of him buried within it, which is commonly supposed to be there or within hearing distance. However, sometimes the good man is supposed to be "on a journey;" and hence Friday is considered an especially favourable day for a visit, as then all the "prophets" are said to be in their respective places. I once had to prescribe for a man who, from some inflammation, had his muscles in a state of rigidity, and seemed at the point of death. I placed a blister on his abdomen, having previously asked the people to wash the part, but on applying it found that there was earth there, which interfered much with the action of the blister. However the man recovered, but I fear the earth, which was from a zeyâreh, had more of the credit of the cure than the blister.

When riding home one evening, towards dusk, I saw a large, bright, blue ball of fire descend slowly, apparently