MASZYAD
152
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.
The Ismaylys are generally reported to adore the pudendum
muliebre, and to mix on certain days of the year in promiscuous debauchery. ¬
When they go to Hamah they pray in the mosque, which
they never do at Kalaat Maszyad. This castle has been from
ancient times their chief seat. One of them asserted that his religion
descended from Ismayl, the son of Abraham, and that the Ismaylys
had been possessed of the castle since the time of El Melek el
Dhaher, as acknowledged by the Firmahns of the Porte. A
few years since they were driven out of it by the Anzeyrys, in consequence ¬
of a most daring act of treachery. The Anzeyrys and
Ismaylys have always been at enmity, the consequence, perhaps,
of some religious differences. In 1807, a tribe of the former having -
quarrelled with their chief, quitted their abode in their mountains, ¬
and applied to the Emir of Maszyad for an asylum. The
latter, glad of an opportunity to divide the strength of his enemies,
readily granted the request, and about three hundred, with their
Sheikh Mahmoud, settled at Maszyad, the Emir carrying his hospitality ¬
so far as to order several families to quit the place, for
the purpose of affording room for the new settlers. For several
months all was tranquil, till one day, when the greater part of the
people were at work in the fields, the Anzeyrys, at a given signal,
