the Abbasside'caliphs and the other Muf^sulmans. Mis- sionaries were sent througli all the territories settled by the followers of Mohammed, at this time torn in pieces bj' scores of sects, to advocate the claims of the house of Ismael. They flourished in the 9th and 10th centu- ries under the name of Kannatiam (q. v.), and consti- tuted a secret band, governed by laws very much like the freemasons, admitting, however, some very dangerous tenets, and advocating the extirpation of their enemies by the sword. They received additional strength in the 11th century of our aera, when a family of chiefs, through the means of superstition, established an iiiHu- cnce over the minds of the Ismaelians that enabled them for two centuries to control the aifairs of Persia. The first of these chiefs was Hussun Subah (from whose name the Ismaelites of this period are often called /hts- suni or Jlossoni — a title, however, having no connec- tion [as has been erroneously supposed by some] with the English word assassin, which is really equivalent to '' hashish-eateTsf see Assassins), who, after many years of persecution, succeeded in obtaining a strong- hold, and, there fortifying himself, founded upon the Is- maelitic model a sect of his own. Besides maintaining the principles of the Ismaelites so far as regarded their rights of succession to the office of imaum, he also " in- troduced many new tenets more conformable to the opinions of the Siiffis, or pliilosophical deists, than to those of orthodox Mohammedans. The Koran, he ad- mitted, was a holy volume; but he insisted that its spirit, and not its literal meaning, was to be observed. He rejected the usual modes of worship, as true devo- tion, he said, was seated in the soul, and prescribed forms might disturb, though they could never aid, that secret and fervent adoration which it must alwaj's oifer to its Creator (jNIalcolm, from a Persian ]\IS.). But the principal tenet which Hussun Subah inculcated was a complete and absolute devotion to himself and to his descendants. His disciples were instructed to consider him more as their spiritual than their worldly leader. The means he took to instil this feeling into their minds must have been powerful, from the effect which was produced. " When an envoy irom Malik Shah came to Allahamout, Hussim commanded one of his subjects to stab himself, and another to cast himself headlong from a precipice. Both mandates were instantly obeyed! ' Go,' said he to the astonished envoy, ' and explain to your master the character of my followers' " (Malcolm, Ilisf. of Persia, i, 399). One reason which may be as- signed for this control of Hussun over his adherents is that he formed them into a secret order, and, besides, promised them advancement from one degree to an- other, in the highest of which a foretaste of the life that is to come was given them. This extraordinary mode of procuring the devotion of his disciples he is said to have produced by drugs. "A youth who was deemed worthy, by his strength and resolution, to be initiated into the Assassin service was invited to the table and conversation of the grand master, or grand prior; he was then intoxicated with hashish (the hemp-plant), and carried into the garden — a true Eastern Paradise — where the music of the harp was mingled witli the songs of birds, and the melodious tones of the female singers harmonized with the murmurs of the brooks. Everything breathed pleasure, rapture, and sensuali- ty, and this, on awakening, he believed to be Paradise ; everything around him, the houris in particiUar, con- tributed to confirm his delusion. After he had expe- rienced as much of the pleasures of Paradise, which the Prophet had promised to the blessed, as his strength would admit — after quaflSng enervating delight from the ej'es of the houris, and intoxicating wine from glitter- ing goblets, he sank into the lethargy produced by nar- cotic draughts, on awakening from which, after a few hours, he again found himself by the side of his supe- rior. The latter endeavored to convmce him that cor- poreally he had not left his side, but that spiritually he had been rapt into Paradise, ana had there enjoyed
a foretaste of the bliss which awaits the faithful, who devote their lives to the service of the faith and the obedience of their chiefs. Thus did these infatuated youths blindly dedicate themselves as the tools of mur- der, and eagerly seek an opportunity to sacrifice their lives, in order to become partakers of a Paradise of sen- sual pleasure. What Mohammed had promised in the Koran to the Moslem, but which to many might ap- pear a dream and mere empty promises, they had en- joyed in reality ; and the joys of heaven animated them to deeds worthy of hell" (Madden, Turkish Emjiire, ii, 185, based on Hammer's Gesvh. der A ssassineii). Mal- colm thinks this an improbable tale, invented by the ortliodox Mohammedans, who hold the Assassins in great abhorrence, because " the use of wine was strictly forbidden then), and they were enjoined the most tem- perate and abstemious habits." But this seems to us only an additional reason why we should believe it to be true ; for if Hussun used the hashish to intoxicate his followers when their nen-es needed strengthening for some atrocious deed, we could not expect him to advocate the free use of intoxicating beverages. Nay, its truth is further confirmed by the revelations which the fourth successor of Hussun as grand master made of the im- posture. The use also to this day at Constantinople and at Cairo of opium with hoibane shows what an in- credible charm they exert on the drowsy indolence of the Turk and the fierj' imagination of the Arab.