Esmayly.

THE situation and character of another Sect in Syria, named Ishmaelites, or Ismayly, will be learnt from the following extracts.

Maszyad (situate between Aleppo and Tripoli, but nearer to Tripoli) is remarkable from being the chief seat of the religious Sect called Ismayly. Inquiries have often been made concerning the religious doctrines of this Sect, as well as of those of the Anzeyrys and Druses. Not only European Travellers and Europeans resident in Syria, but many Natives of influence, have endeavoured to penetrate the mysteries of these idolaters, without success; and several causes combine to make it probable that their doctrines will long remain unknown. The principal reason is, that few individuals among them become acquainted with the most important and secret tenets of their faith; the generality contenting themselves with the observance of some exterior practices, while the arcana are possessed by the select few. It will be asked, perhaps, whether their religious books would not unveil the mystery. It is true that all the different Sects possess books, which they regard as sacred; but they are intelligible only to the initiated. Another difficulty arises from the extreme caution of the Ismaylys upon this subject. Whenever they are obliged to visit any part of the country under the Turkish Government, they assume the character of Mussulmans; being well aware, that if they should be detected in the practice of any rite contrary to the Turkish Religion, their hypocrisy, in affecting to follow the latter, would no longer be tolerated: and their being once clearly known to be Pagans, which they are only suspected to be at present, would expose them to the heaviest exactions, and might even be followed by their total expulsion or extirpation. Christians and Jews are tolerated,

because Mohammed and his immediate successors granted them protection, and because the Turks acknowledge Christ and the Prophets; but there is no instance whatever of Pagans being tolerated.

(Burckhardt's Travels in Syria: pp. 151, 152.)

Niebuhr, so copious in his accounts of other Sects, is, upon this, extremely concise. He observes

Concerning the religion of the Ishmaelites, I have learnt nothing certain. The Mahomedans and the Oriental Christians relate of them things incredible. The number of the Ishmaelites is not great. They live principally at Killis, a town between Shugr and Hama; also in Gebel Kalbie, a mountain not far from Latachia between Aleppo and Antioch. They are called Keftûn, from the name of a village in this country.

Speaking of the Metawâli, Ansari, and Ishmaelites, Niebuhr adds

These nations, taken on the whole, are in general so weak that they can scarcely resist the Turkish Pachas. The Druses, on the contrary, are masters of the chief part of Mount Lebanon, and consequently more powerful.

(Niebuhr: Vol. II. pp. 361, 362.) The notice taken of this Sect by the Jesuit Missionaries is also exceedingly brief: they write

The Ishmaelites inhabit a small territory named Cadmus. Their life is so brutal and shameful, that they are not fit to be spoken of; except it be to humiliate man, by making him feel, that there is no depth of degradation, disorder, and extravavagance, to which he may not sink, when he takes his passions for his guide.

(Lettres Edifiantes et Curieuses : Vol. I. p. 365.)

Yesidiens.

THE Yesidiens may not improperly be quoted, as forming a part of the population of Syria. They are by some considered to have had their origin in Persia; but they are met with in the countries which lie between Persia and the north of Syria*, and even in Syria itself, as may be inferred from the fact of a Jesuit Missionary's seeking them out, in his visits to Aleppo and Scanderoon. An account of them is found in Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History: Vol. IV. pp. 252, 253. and Note: Century 16. Sect. III. Part 1. The following brief extracts are from Niebuhr, in his Travels near Mosul; and from the Jesuit Missions in Syria.

Speaking of a village entirely inhabited by Yesidiens, Niebuhr thus describes them :

They are called Yesidiens, and also Dauasin: but as the Turks do not allow the free exercise of any religion in their country, except to those who possess Sacred Books, as the Mahomedans, Christians, and Jews, the Yesidiens are obliged to keep the principles of their religion extremely secret. They, therefore, pass themselves off for Mahomedans, Christians, or Jews; following the party of whatever person makes inquiry into their religion. They speak with veneration of the Koran, of the Gospel, of the Pentateuch, and the Psalms; and, when convicted of being Yesidiens, they will then maintain that they are of the same religion as the Sonnites. Hence it is almost an impossibility to learn any thing certain on the

* Tournefort says of them that they are a wandering race, and "stretch every year quite from Mosul or New Nineveh, to the sources of the Euphrates." (English Translation of Tournefort's Voyage into the Levant: Vol. II. Letter 6th.)

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subject. Some charge them with adoring the Devil, under the name of "Tscillebi", that is to say, Lord. Others say that they exhibit a marked veneration for the sun and for fire, that they are downright Pagans, and that they have horrible ceremonies. I have been assured that the Dauasin do not invoke the Devil; but that they adore God only, as the Creator and Benefactor of all men. They cannot, however, bear to speak of Satan, nor even to hear his name mentioned. When the Yesidiens come to Mosul, they are not apprehended by the Magistrate, although known: but the people often endeavour to trick them; for when these poor Yesidiens come to sell their eggs or butter, the purchasers contrive first to get their articles in their possession, and then begin uttering a thousand foolish expressions against Satan, with a view to lower the price; upon which the Yesidiens are content to leave their goods, at a loss, rather than be the witness of such contemptuous language about the Devil. The Yesidiens practise circumcision like the Mahomedans.

(Niebuhr, Voyage en Arabie: Vol. II. pp. 279, 280.)

The Jesuit Missionaries observe

The conversion of the Jasidies was a new object for the zeal of Father Besson. The Jasidies are a people who adore the sun, and who offer worship to the Devil as the author of evil.

Father Besson formed the resolution of conveying to them the knowledge of the True God; but, having been charged with the government of our Missions, and being no longer able himself to execute this design, he sent some Missionaries to them. The hour for the conversion of this unhappy people was not yet come. It was not long before this was perceived by the Missionaries, whom Father Besson sent to them. They returned, after having shaken off the dust from their feet. We wait the moment, when God shall be pleased, in his mercy, to dissipate the darkness which hinders these blind men from seeing the horrors of their mystery of iniquity. (Lettres Edifiantes et Curieuses: Vol. I. p. 135.)

This Sect is further alluded to, and little more than alluded to, in the Third Volume of these Lettres, p. 462.

Ir may, in some measure, require an apology, to have exhibited to English Readers such a tissue of various customs and notions, many of them almost unmeaning, others utterly absurd, and not a few of them impious.

The principal motive, which the Author had in making this brief introductory compilation, may be, perhaps, its best excuse. It was his wish hereby to facilitate the inquiries, or rather to disembarrass the course, of other Missionaries, who may in future times visit this country.

Many Missionaries will have had neither leisure nor opportunity, previously to their arrival in Syria, for inquiring what are the notions or usages of the various Sects existing there. On arriving, they will soon hear a degree of importance, greater or less, attached to all this floating capital of human imaginations. Without some preparation from books, they may enter on investigations of what has long been known; with a prospect, probably, of advancing no further than others have advanced before them: and this in the pursuit of an object, concerning which, if they had possessed the information already existing, they would have learned to regard additional inquiries as of very little worth.

These remarks may be exemplified in the instance of the Druses, of whom a fuller account has been collected in the preceding pages than of any other Body of men. The situation of this people is one