his betrothed; Magenoon and Leila, a lover and his beloved.

Kizilarsalon, the king offered for each one of his poems not less than fourteen estates. His tomb now at Gendsheh is visited by hundreds of pious pilgrims.

In the eastern part of Persia the theosophical mysticism was preeminently cultivated, especially in Azerbijon state. A great number of these mystics are in Oroomiah, my city. They speak in allegorical form in glowing songs of wine and love.

Again in this province we find Sunayee in the thirteenth century and Fariduddin Attar, born 1216. A still greater man in this peculiar field was Djalal Eddin Romi born at Balkh and who died 1266. He was the founder of a still existing and most popular order of darwishes. His poems on contemplative life have made him the oracle of oriental mysticism up to this day.

I will give one of his rhymes which will show the spirit of his mysticism: "Gar Kasi wasf ou Zman Posad, bidil oz binishon chiguyan baz, ashikon kushtagon mashookand, bar nayayad Z kooshtagon awaz." The thirteenth century was one of the most brilliant in the annals of Persian poetry. The greatest seer of the era was Sheikh Musli Eddin Sahdie of Shiraz who died in the year 1291. He stands unrivaled as Persia's foremost didactic poet. His Boston and Guliston—"the fruit of the garden and roses,"—are universally known and loved in Europe.

At the beginning of the fourteenth century we made several meritorious imitations of Sahdi in didactic poetry. But far above all these as above all other Persian lyrical and erratic poets shines Hafiz. The "Sugar Lip" is a book in which he sang of wine and love, nightingale and flowers, bee and roses. Below is given a quotation from one of his poems about the nightingale and the miller: "Ai morgh saher ashk zparwana beyamoz, Kan sukhtara jan shud wawaz nayamab" translation: "O thou the bird of morning, you must learn love from the miller. It burned itself in the fire but did not make any noise." Haji Mollah Kozim translated this rhyme as follows: "The morning bird is the nightingale—little smaller than the sparrow, but it has a very loud voice as clear as a golden bell." All poets in Persia agree that it is a better singer than any other bird in Asia. Besides his singing he is the bird that has more love for his mate than any other bird in the world. They generally sing in the morning and the evening time. When the female is on her nest the male sits in the same tree, or very near, and sings for his mate. At times the male sits on the nest and his mate perched near by sings for him in a wonderfully sweet voice. The nightingale is a general favorite, and many popular songs have been written about this bird, and are sung by nearly every young man and young lady, boy and girl in Persia.

This author says of the miller that it loves light more than any other insect. From its love of light it throws itself into the fire, as everyone has seen in America of a summer evening about an electric lamp. Sahdi takes this example for himself to illustrate his love to God. He says the love of the miller is more than the love of the nightingale because the nightingale shows its love by singing and making noise; but the miller, though it has a living body, makes no noise when it is burning in the fire. "So," says he, "ought to be my love to God."

The city of Shiraz from the beginning until this day has been the seat of religion and especially of poetry because these two eminent poets, Sahdi and Hafiz, were born, lived, wrote and died here. Their tombs are visited annually by thousands of pilgrims. They are dead but their influence still lives and it has much effect on Persia and especially on the inhabitants of the city of Shiraz. Many students are enrolled at the great cathedral mosque in the city, where some of the ablest professors of the country are instructors. Professor Yooseph, a graduate of this institution, told me that the air and the very dust of that city has in it the spirit of poetry. Even the small boys who sell grapes, apples, etc. in the streets sing some very charming poems about their fruits, though they themselves may never have learned to read.

THE SWEETNESS OF PERSIAN LANGUAGE FOR POETRY.

The Persians have one poem about the sweetness of their language for poetry, as follows:

"The original language was the language of Arabs. The Turkish language is hard. But the Persian language is honey comb." In comparison with the other Asiatic languages many scholars think it is indeed honey-comb and the sweetest of Asiatic languages, if not also of European languages, for the expression of poetry.

PART II. RELIGION.

CHAPTER I.

PARSEE RELIGION.

This was the prevailing religion of Persia in ancient times. Zerdush was either the founder or a reformer of that religion. The general belief is that he was the founder, since the religion and its followers are called by his name. Some suppose that this religion, the religion of Hindoo, were originally the same and that they were divided by some political affair between the Iranians and the Aryans. The Hindoo branch took the name Brahminian. The doctrines changed somewhat after the separation, but the fundamental principles remained the same.

Different dates are given for the beginning of the Zerdush religion. Some authorities date its beginning at 1200 B.C. while others place it at 500 B.C. The latter is generally agreed upon. There are two prevailing ideas about his place of birth, both Babylonia and Oroomiah, Persia being claimed as his native city. There are many good reasons for believing that Oroomiah was his birthplace. First, the original worshipers were Persians, and the religion was started in Persia. Second, all Oriental scholars and writers supposed that this was his native city. Third, in the district immediately surrounding Oroomiah the writer has seen more than thirty immense hills of ashes, the remaining monuments of the fire-worshippers of this religion. Fire was their god and a continuous flame was kept burning through the centuries. Some of these mountains of ashes are so huge in size that it would take a man an entire day to walk around it, and as high as the Masonic Temple of Chicago, a twenty story office building. Some of these hills are named as following: De-ga-la, Sheikh-Ta-pa, Gog-ta-pa, etc. Among these hills we find the "Tower of Silence", a large structure built of stone and containing the remains of kings and other notable men of ancient times.

BIBLE AND DOCTRINES.

The bible of the Parsees is called Avesta, which means the revelation. The language is Zend from which the Persian language is derived. The founder of this religion taught as pure monotheism as was taught by Mohammed. Zerdush taught the existence of but one deity, who was called Maz-daw or as it is pronounced now in Persia, Hurmizd. To this god was attributed the creation of all good fortune, government, long life, honor, health, beauty, truth, joy and happiness. But later this doctrine of monotheism became dualism, i.e., the supposition of two primal causes of the real and intellectual world, the Vahu Mano; the good mind or reality and Akem Mano or the naught mind or naught reality. Ah-ra-man, the god of darkness has created devils, he causes evil thoughts, evil deeds, wars, misfortune, sorrow, death, and hell. Zerdush taught there are two lives, one mental and the other physical. He believed in the immortality of the soul; that there are two abodes for the departed, heaven, the house of angels and hell the dwelling-place of the devil and his angels. Between the two there is a bridge of judgment over which only the followers of Zerdush will be able to cross safely. Before the general resurrection the Sosiosh, the son of Zerdush, will be spiritually begotten. He will come as a messenger from Ahuramazdoo and will foretell the time of the resurrection and judgment. The world at that time will be utterly steeped in wretchedness