BABYLON AND PERSIA

I50MEDIA, BABYLON, AND PERSIA.doubtedly aportion of the vast extent known as"Turan."Mgr. de Hariez further points out that the Nasuclosely corresponds to those evil spirits of Shumirand Accad from whose persecution men are neversafe,who fall as rain from the sky,who spring fromthe earth, who creep in at the door like serpents,who steal the child from the father's knee,whowithhold from the wife the blessing of children.*Besides, the Nasu-Druj is not alone ; here, as inTuranian Chaldea, their name is Legion. ChapterXI. of the Vendidad, which is entirely compo.sed ofincantations and. exorcisms to repel the evil influ¬ence from the house, the fire, the earth, the tree, thecow, the faithful man and woman, etc., gives a longlist of fiends whose names have not yet been identi¬fied or explained. Here, as there, too, the Northis the fateful region ; in tlie north lies Mount Arezura,the meeting-place of the daevas, with its gateof hell opening from the west.27. The excessive reverence shown to Fire andexpressed in observances so strict and ritualistic asto have gained for the Zoroastrians the name of"Fire-worshippers" from superficial ob.server.s, alsoappears to have been a later development. Theword Athravan (" Keeper of the Fire "), whichdesignates the priest throughout the later Avesta,does not occur once in the Gathas. The priest isthere designated by a descriptive periphrasesuchas " Master of Wisdom," " Messenger of the Law."Now the worship of the elements is a well-known* See " Story of Chaldea," pp. 155. i56.