Page:The Nestorians and their rituals, volume 1.djvu/292

238 over which he recited the above form; after which he told me that not only was the water thereby purified from all defilement, but the flesh of the cow, which before was unclean from having been drowned, might now be eaten. The more common use of this office, however, is at burials: thus, if there happens to be a running stream in the road over which a funeral has passed, on returning from the grave the company stand on its banks whilst the priest goes through the service; if not, it is read over a bowl filled at the same spring or well from whence the water was brought with which the dead body was washed. It appears, therefore, that in all these cases the water is supposed to be contaminated by contact with corpses, and not the persons of those who touch or wash them. The Chaldeans, since their union with the Church of Rome, have abolished this ceremony.

As might be expected in a people among whom education has been neglected for so many ages, and who cannot consequently be supposed to possess any deep or adequate sense of the high and holy truths which they profess, the Nestorians entertain many superstitions respecting the powers of evil, and the value of certain talismans to allay or counteract them. Thus they have charms against the evil eye, the poison of reptiles and plants, the rot and other diseases in sheep, the tyranny of rulers and the designs of wicked men, &c. most of which adverse influences are believed to be destroyed by certain passages of Holy Writ which are profanely used to this end. I have in my possession an entire volume of these charms, from which the following specimens are translated.

In the name of our, who is the security of the world and the peace of the universe, reconcile A. B. with C. D. by the power of that voice which called unto Cain the fratricide from heaven, saying, "Am I my brother's keeper?"

In like manner, and by the power of the same voice, may the malice and hatred of A. B. be openly destroyed, and all quarrels and disputes cease betwixt these two parties; so that A. B. and C. D. may agree together in love, and the gate of the sanctuary and the door of mercy be open to them, and the mouth of the devil be stopped against them, and they never again turn to