ch was overshadowed by the antique splendor of
the adjoining temple of fire. A fanatic Iman deplored, in his sermons,
the scandalous neighborhood, and accused the weakness or indifference of
the faithful. Excited by his voice, the people assembled in tumult; the
two houses of prayer were consumed by the flames, but the vacant ground
was immediately occupied by the foundations of a new mosch. The injured
Magi appealed to the sovereign of Chorasan; he promised justice and
relief; when, behold! four thousand citizens of Herat, of a grave
character and mature age, unanimously swore that the idolatrous fane had
_never_ existed; the inquisition was silenced and their conscience was
satisfied (says the historian Mirchond ) with this holy and meritorious
perjury. But the greatest part of the temples of Persia were ruined
by the insensible and general desertion of their votaries. It was
_insensible_, since it is not accompanied with any memorial of time or
place, of persecution or resistance. It was _general_, since the whole
realm, from Shiraz to Samarcand, imbibed the faith of the Koran; and the
preservation of the native tongue reveals the descent of the Mahometans
of Persia. In the mountains and deserts, an obstinate race of
unbelievers adhered to the superstition of their fathers; and a faint
tradition of the Magian theology is kept alive in the province of
Kirman, along the banks of the Indus, among the exiles of Surat, and in
the colony which, in the last century, was planted by Shaw Abbas at
the gates of Ispahan. The chief pontiff has retired to Mount Elbourz,
eighteen leagues from the city of Yezd: the perpetual fire (if it
continues to burn) is inaccessible to the profane; but his residence is
the school, the oracle, and the pilgrimage of the Ghebers, whose hard
and uniform features attest the unmingled purity of their blood. Under
the jurisdiction of their elders, eighty thousand families maintain an
innocent and industrious life: their subsistence is derived from some
curious manufactures and mechanic trades; and they cultivate the earth
with the fervor of a religious duty. Their ignorance withstood the
despotism of Shaw Abbas, who demanded with threats and tortures the
prophetic books of Zoroaster; and this obscure remnant of the Magians is
spared by the moderation or contempt of their present sovereigns.

The Northern coast of Africa is the only land in which the light of
the gospel, after a long and perfect establi