and darkness and sin; will then be renewed, death, the arch fiend of creation, will be slain and life will be everlastingly holy; and righteousness will dwell in the renewed world. This Zoroastrian creed flourished until the time of Alexander the Great throughout ancient Ironiona including Cabuliston, Bakhria, Media and Persia, and then declined. But again under Ardashir, who has been called Bobegon, and who claimed to be the descendant of Zerdush, the religion of his ancestors was renewed, and the lost parts of the holy book, Avesta, were found and put together. He chose a magician the ablest of 40,000 magician priests, to translate the book into vernacular language, thus renewing the religion. Unfortunately the Avesta was utterly destroyed in A.D. 640 by the followers of Mohammed.

Now we have in Persia only 15,000 Zoroastrians. The Mohammedans called them gabrees, i.e., ungodly. Most of them live in Kerman Yezd on the soil of their motherland. The men are good citizens, humble, honest, and generous, especially to their own brethren, and are industrious, intelligent, handsome, clean in appearance and faithful to their religion. The women are most beautiful, delicate in frame, small hands, small nose, clear complexion, with pink cheeks, black eyes and eyebrows. They do not cover their faces when in public, except to Mohammedans, whom they consider wicked men. The women are good faithful housewives and honest to their husbands.

THEIR RITUALS.

A Parsee child must be born on the ground floor of the house of its parents as a sign of humility and that the child may begin its life with good thoughts, words and actions, and as a sign of loyalty to its parents. The mother cannot go out for forty days. After that she washes herself with holy water which has been sanctified by the priest.

A Parsee rises early, washes his hands and face, and recites his prayers toward the sun. He rejects pork, ham and camel flesh and will not eat anything cooked by one outside of the Parsee religion. Marriages can be contracted only with persons of their own creed. Polygamy is forbidden except after nine years of sterility, then a man is allowed to marry another woman. Divorces are entirely forbidden. The crimes of fornication and adultery are very severely punished. They worship the clean creations of the great Hurmizda such as the sun, moon, fire, etc. Aha-ramazda is the origin of light, the sun and fire having come from him, he having first been created by Hurmizda. In the case of a hopelessly sick person the priest will recite some text of the holy bible Avesta, as a consolation to the dying person. After death the body is taken to the ground floor, the place of its birth, to be washed and anointed with perfumes, dressed in white and put upon an iron grating. A dog is brought in to take a last look, and he drives away all evil spirits. The friends and relatives go before the door, bow down and raise their hands to their heads after touching the floor, as an indication of their last respect to the departed soul. The body upon the bier is covered. Two men will bring it out and give it to four pall-bearers dressed in white, who, followed by a great procession take it to the "Tower of Silence." The last prayer will be recited in the holy temple, a building in which the holy fire burns continually through the ages. The body is then taken from the "Tower of Silence" and, placed on an iron bier, is exposed to the fowls of the air and the dew of heaven and to the sun until the flesh has disappeared, and the bleached bones fall through into a pit beneath, and are afterwards buried in a cave.

They believe the holy fire is brought down from heaven. Only priests can approach it and they must wear a half-mask over the face lest their breath should defile it, and never touch it with hands, but by instruments. Tobacco smoking is prohibited as the smoker would defile the holy fire. They say there are five kinds of fire and great respect is shown to them. I remember having had a conversation with a Parsee in which he said: "Fire purifies all things, is stronger than all things, is cleaner than all other things, more beautiful than all things; therefore, fire is god. Your own Bible says: 'I am a consuming fire.'"

The Parsees have five kinds of sacrifices. These are the slaughtering of animals for the public and poor men; prayer, the Doruns sacrament with its consecrated bread and wine in honor of the founder of the law, Heromah (or Sama) and Dahman. This sacrament resembles our Lord's Supper. It is eaten publicly as a feast of joy. Fourth, the sacrifice of expiation which is offered by all men and is killed in their temples. Lastly the sacrifice for the souls of the dead. The removal of moral and physical impurities is effected by holy water and earth and by prayer. Prayer and holy words from the Avesta are recited several times every day. Fasting and celibacy are hateful to the divinity. The ethical code may be summed up in three words—purity of thought, of words and of deeds. This, they claim, will become the universal religion of the world.

A Parsee believes the soul of a dead man is for three days walking near the tomb where the dead body is laid. The fourth day the gates of heaven will be opened and he will approach the bridge of Chin-vat. Here the good and evil deeds of his life will be weighed in the balances of justice. If the good deeds of his life outweigh the bad, he will pass over the bridge into heaven. If the bad are heavier than the good the candidate falls beneath the bridge into hell. In both heaven and hell there are three states. In heaven, good words, thoughts, deeds and words. In hell, bad words, thoughts and deeds.

CHAPTER II.

MOHAMMEDANISM.

Mohammed means "Praised One." One of the Mohammedan divines once spoke in the presence of the writer of the similarity in the Arabic language of "Ahamad" and the "Holy Spirit" and he claimed to believe that Ahamad or Mohammed was the Holy Spirit which Jesus promised to send into the world. When told in reply that Jesus promised to send the Comforter into the world immediately after His departure, and that Mohammed did not live until 570 years after Christ, the priest had no more to say.

This great prophet of the desert who converted the wild Arabs was born about A.D. 570 at Mecca. He was the only child of Abdulla and his mother Halima, both from the noble family of Koreish who claimed that they were the descendants of Ismael and that their family was hereditary guardians of the sacred Kaaba mosque in which was kept the holy black stone worshipped by all Arabs.

The Moslems have many legends and traditions regarding the birth of Mohammed. The sun moved from its place and gave a more brilliant light, with the seven colors of the rainbow; the angels bowed themselves to him and sung a new song in heaven; all the trees were shaken as by a strong wind. He was born circumcised and with his navel cut. A seal of prophecy was written on his back in letters of light. Immediately prostrating himself on the ground he raised his hands and prayed. Three persons as brilliant as the sun, one holding a silver goblet, another an emerald tray and the third a silken towel appeared in company with the angel Gabriel, the latter holding in his hand a knife. Gabriel cut open the child's belly, the first angel poured cleansing water over the child to wash away all sin, the second held the emerald tray beneath him and the third dried him with the silken towel, and then all saluted him and called him the "prince and savior of mankind." His father died at the age of twenty-five years, before his son was born. He left his widow five camels, a few goats and a slave girl, her name being Amina. At the age of six years Mohammed had a fit of epilepsy. He frequently fell down and foamed at the mouth, and snored like a camel. About this time his mother died and he was reared by his grandfather Abdul-mota-Kalib and his uncle Abu-ta-lif and nursed by his faithful slave Amina. For a