to offer, in human sacrifice, Imri, the little granddaughter of Ama, an
aged Persian woman, and daughter of an Arab, Uzza, who, though married
to a Persian, lives at Oman with his wife, and knows nothing of the
sacrifice until it is over.

The death of the child, though beneath his own hand, immediately strikes
horror to the heart of the priest. His whole soul revolts against the
inhumanity of the act, which has not brought to him or Ama the blessing
he had hoped for, and he rebels against the religion which has, though
ever so rarely, permitted the exercise of such an atrocious rite. He
becomes more than ever dissatisfied with the vagueness of his belief. He
cannot find the rest which he desires; the Zendavesta of Zoroaster can
no longer satisfy his heart's longing; his country-people are sunk in
idolatry, and, instead of worshiping the God of whom the priests have a
vague conception, persist in bowing down before the symbols themselves,
discerning naught but the objects--the sun, moon, stars, fire--light,
all in all.

Yusuf, indeed, has a clearer idea of God; but he worships him from afar
off, and looks upon him as a God of wrath and judgment rather than as
the Father of love and mercy. In his new spiritual agitation he
conceives the idea of a closer relation with the Lord of the universe;
his whole soul calls out for a vivid realization of God, and he casts
about for light in his trouble.

From a passing stranger, traveling in Persia--a descendant of those
Sabæan Persians who at an early age obtained a footing in Arabia,
and whose influence was, for a time, so strongly marked through
the whole district known as the Nejd, and even down into Yemen,
Arabia-Felix,--Yusuf has learned of a new and strange religion held by