According to one of their treatises, they call God Kajak,* and believe him to be one, infinite, all mighty; they maintain his manifestation under three forms, as the Hindus; they say, if any one finds God, he converses with him without the aid of a palate and of a tongue: this is the condition of a prophet. They declare moreover that the spirit is eternal, and that spirits are sent down; the soul, if it knows itself and God, ascends to the upper world; if not, it remains in the nether world. The author of this book heard from one of their distinguished personages that, when the rational soul separates from this body, it goes to the upper world; and from the heavens it rises further; and above this there is a sea, in which is a mountain; and on its top God, the supreme Lord, resides. If that soul has been virtuous, the divinity manifests itself to it under a pleasing form; so that from its aspect the soul derives superlative delight, which no tongue can express, and remains eternally without change, happy and blissful in its contemplation. But if the soul has been iniquitous, God appears to it under a strange and terrific figure, than which none can be more repulsive and hideous, so that from terror it throws itself from the heavens down, and becomes confined in dust. Among these sectaries was a man called Pawn Pishna, exceedingly pious. Of this saint's miracles they relate that, having jumped upon a stone, the trace of his foot remained impressed upon it, and now they perform pilgrimages to it. They say further that, when this perfect man reaches the term of his life, he convokes the people about him, and out of the crowd he chooses one, to whom in their presence he delivers his books and his effects, and says: “I will come to thy house;” after that, his soul leaves the body, which is buried according to their customs. The wife of this guardian then brings forth a son, whose tongue develops itself so as to speak in one year, or sooner; he convokes witnesses, and in their presence he takes the things which are counted to him by the guardian, to whom he then remits them again, and utters not a word until the usual age of speech. When he attains the period of adultness, he takes the state of a durvish. They say that such an elect man comes into the world for the conversion of wicked men. These sectaries have temples of idols, which they call Chet­harten,* and in which they perform their worship. According to their custom, when a man has two sons, he destines one of them to become a durvish; and the king himself, having two sons, makes one of them a durvish. They believe that there are two mansions; the first of this, the second of the other, world; the son who becomes a durvish takes pos­session of the latter, the son who associates with people of business acquires the portion of the nether world; when the body of the father and mother become weak and tottering from age, it is the worldly son who tenders them his services; but when the soul of the parents separates from the body, it devolves upon the son who is a durvish to serve them. When a great number of such young durvishes assembles, then the son of the king, or of any other chief becomes their head, and they go to Bármîánek, which is a magnificent temple of theirs. When they return from this pilgrimage, they become Lámas, that is, Hájís, “pilgrims.” The Lámas abstain from eating flesh and from women, and keep remote from all worldly affairs; they wear their hair entangled, and eat from the skull of a man; they carry joints of human hands filed together upon a string, instead of a rosary;* and instead of horns for trumpets, they keep bones of human forearms;* they say: “We are dead; and dead men have nothing to do with the things of the living.”

This class of men have not their equals in enchant­ments, juggling, spells, and magic. Their king, if his mother be not of royal blood, is by them called Arghún, and not considered their true king; who­ever of this sect belongs to the worldly people, does not abstain from killing animals, eating flesh and meats forbidden by religion, and associates with every body in eating. When the author of this book conversed with a learned man of this sect by means of an interpreter, whenever a question about some subtilty occurred, the translator could not always by his interpretation satisfy him.