rrid in summer, frigid in winter; in certain quarters
one passes from 104 deg. above zero to 40 deg. below, from the cold of Siberia
to the heat of Senegal. Violent winds blow which "cut like a sword."
But in the valleys along the rivers the soil is fertile. Here the
peach and cherry are indigenous; the country is a land of fruits and
pastures.

=The Iranians.=--Aryan tribes inhabited Iran. Like all the Aryans,
they were a race of shepherds, but well armed and warlike. The
Iranians fought on horseback, drew the bow, and, to protect themselves
from the biting wind of their country, wore garments of skin sewed on
the body.

=Zoroaster.=--Like the ancient Aryans, they first adored the forces of
nature, especially the sun (Mithra). Between the tenth and seventh[29]
centuries before our era their religion was reformed by a sage,
Zarathustra (Zoroaster). We know nothing certainly about him except
his name.

=The Zend-Avesta.=--No writing from the hand of Zoroaster is preserved
to us; but his doctrine, reduced to writing long after his death, is
conserved in the Zend-Avesta (law and reform), the sacred books of the
Persians. It was a compilation written in an ancient language (the
Zend) which the faithful themselves no longer understood. It was
divided into twenty-one books, inscribed on 12,000 cow skins, bound by
golden cords. The Mohammedans destroyed it when they invaded Persia.
But some Persian families, faithful to the teaching of Zoroaster, fled
into India. Their posterity, whom we call Parsees, have there
maintained the old religion. An entire book of the Zend-Avesta and
fragments of two others have been found among them.

=Ormuzd and Ahriman.=--The Zend-Avesta is the sacred book of the
religion of Zoroaster. According to these writings Ahura Mazda
(Ormuzd), "the omniscient sovereign," created the world. He is
addressed in prayer in the following language: "I invoke and celebrate
the creator, Ahura Mazda, luminous, glorious, most intelligent and
beautiful, eminent in purity, who possessest the good knowledge,
source of joy, who hast treated us, hast fashioned us, and hast
nourished us." Since he is perfect in his goodness, he can create
only that which is good. Everything bad in the world has been created
by an evil deity, Angra Manyou, (Ahriman), the "spirit of anguish."

=Angels and Demons.=--Over against Ormuzd, the god and the creator, is
Ahriman, wicked and destructive. Each has in his service a legion of
sp