talismans, &c. They who are not possessed of the requisite ingenuity
to subsist by the credulity of others, take charge of an inferior
school, or write letters, and draw up marriage and other engagements,
for those who are unequal to the task. They mix at the same time
largely in the domestic concerns of families. But in addition to
these and other vocations, a considerable number of the lowest priests
derive a scanty support from that charity which no one denies to
the true believer. These men wander as fakirs from place to place,
carrying news, and repeating poems, tales, &c., mixed with verses from
the Koran. The heterodox religions are very numerous; nor is Irián
without her free-thinkers, as the Kamúrs and Mu'tazelís, (Mitaulis,)
who deny everything which they cannot prove by natural reason. A third
sect, the Mahadelis, or Molochadis, still maintain the Magian belief
that the stars and the planets govern all things. Another, the Ehl
el Tabkwid, (men of truth,) hold that there is no God except the four
elements, and no rational soul or life after this one. They maintain
also, that all living bodies, being mixtures of the elements, will
after death return to their first principles. They also affirm that
paradise and hell belong to this world, into which every man returns
in the form of a beast, a plant, or again as a man; and that in this
second state, he is great, powerful, and happy, or poor, despicable,
and unhappy, according to his former merits or demerits. In practice
they inculcate kindness to and respect for each other, with implicit
obedience to their chiefs, who are called Pir, (old men,) and are
furnished with all kinds of provisions for their subsistence. This
sect is found in the provinces of Irák and Fárs.

"The Táríkh Zenádikah (way of the covetous) are directly opposed to
the last on the subject of transmigration; and they believe that God
is in all places, and performs all things. They likewise maintain