among his troops; but the standard-bearer of the Tenth Legion, with the Roman eagle in his hand, invoking the gods, plunged into the waves, called on his comrades to follow him, and do their duty to their general and to the republic; and so the whole army made good their landing.

The bronze or silver eagle of the Roman standards must have been of small size, not larger than the eagles on the color-poles of modern colors, since a standard-bearer under Julius Cæsar, in circumstances of danger, wrenched the eagle from its staff, and concealed it in the folds of his girdle; and the bronze horse preserved in the collection at Goodrich Court is equally small, as will be seen by the engraving on a previous page, which represents it as half the dimensions of the original. Another figure, used as a standard by the Romans, was a ball or globe, emblematic of their dominion over the world.

STANDARDS OF THE TURKS AND MOSLEMS.

TURKISH AND MOSLEM STANDARDS. The basarac or sandschaki sheriff, or cheriff, is a green standard, which was borne by Mahomet, and, being believed by his devout followers to have been brought down from heaven by the Angel Gabriel, is preserved with the greatest veneration. It is enveloped in four coverings of green taffeta enclosed in a case of green cloth. It is only on occasions of extreme danger that this sacred symbol is brought from its place of deposit. It was formerly kept in the imperial treasury at Constantinople, but, latterly, deposited in the mosque of Ayyub, where the sultans at their investiture are guarded with the sword of the caliphate. In the event of rebellion or war, it is obligatory upon the Sultan to order the mullahs to display the banner before the people and to proclaim the Iihad, or holy war, exhorting them to be faithful to their religion, and to defend the empire with their lives. The usual address is as follows: "This is the prophet's banner; this is the standard of the caliphate. It is planted before you and unfurled over your heads, O true believers, to announce to you that your religion is threatened, your caliphate in peril, and your lives, your women and children and property, in danger of becoming a prey to cruel enemies! Any Moslem, therefore, who refuses to take up arms and follow this holy Bairak is an infidel amenable to death." According to another account, it is carefully preserved in the seraglio, in a case built into the wall on the right-hand side as you enter the

chamber in which is the grand seignior's summer-bed. The standard is twelve feet high, and the golden ornament, a closed hand, which

surmounts it, holds

a copy of the Koran written by the Caliph Osman III. In times of peace this banner is guarded in the hall of the Noble Vestiment, as the dress which was worn by the prophet is

The Doseh.2

teeth, the holy beard, the sacred stirrup, the sabre, and the bow of Mahomet. Every time this standard is displayed, by a custom which has become law, all who have attained the age of seventeen who profess the Mahometan faith are obliged to take up arms, those who refuse being regarded as infidels

1 An English author, Mr. Thornton, has published, in his work on Turkey, copious details relating to this standard, which the Turks, who hold it in the highest veneration, believe to be the original Mahomet's standard from the temple of Mecca, -a delusion carefully nursed by their modern rulers, though history describes many standards of various colors which have served in its place, the original of which was white, then black, and lastly of green silk.

2 Suspecting the above cut was an exaggeration of this Turkish ceremony, I wrote the the Rev. Cyrus Hamlin, D.D., President of the Bangor Theological Seminary, and long a resident of Constantinople, who, under date Feb. 24, 1879, replied, "The engraving is an

unworthy the title of Mussulmans, or True Believers. The unfurling of this standard is supposed to insure success to the Ottoman arms; and despite the many tarnishes its honor has suffered, the Turks continue to rally around it with implicit belief in its sanctity. So jealously is it watched over, that none but emirs may touch it, emirs are its guard, the chief of the emirs is alone privileged to carry it, and Mussulmans are alone permitted to see this holy trophy, which, touched by other hands, would be defiled, and if seen in other hands, profaned. The ceremony of presenting the banner is called alay, a Turkish word signifying triumph. The ceremonies consist of an open-air masquerade. All the trades, professions, and occupations of the inhabitants, seated in gaudy carriages, are represented and paraded in front of the assembled army, each trade performing in dumb show the manual operations of its art: the carpenter pretends to saw, the ploughman to drive his oxen, and the smith to wield his hammer. After these have passed, the sandschaki cheriff is brought out with great veneration from the seraglio, and solemnly carried along and presented to the army. The blessed banner, having thus been presented to the adoring eyes of the true believers, is carried back to its depository; and the troops, inspired with confidence and victory, set forth on their march to death and glory. The observance of this ceremony in the war between Turkey and Russia in 1768 was the occasion of frightful outrages upon the Christians. So long a period had elapsed since its last presentation, that much of the sanctity of the occasion had been forgotten, and the Christians, expressing a wish to observe the ceremony, found the Turks ready and eager to let windows and house-tops at high prices to the unbelievers, who accordingly mustered strong on the line of the procession to gratify their curiosity. A few minutes, however, before the starting of the banner, an emir appeared in the streets, crying: "Let no infidel dare to profane with his presence the holy standard of the prophet; and

exaggerated representation of the Doseh ceremony. When the sacred standard is brought out, a scene is witnessed which no doubt resembles that represented in the wood-cut. The believers crowd all the narrow streets where it passes. They fall down before it, but not in this extended, stretched-out manner. It is the regular worship prostration; their heads do not often come very near the horse's feet. Some of the excessively devout may throw themselves before the horse, but the trained, intelligent Arabian would no more tread upon them than a mother would tread upon her child. But of such a scene of universal worship and prostration, it is a very moderate stretch of the Greek fancy and fidelity to represent the horse and his attendants as travelling upon a compact pavement of living believers. Were there no greater exaggerations than this about Oriental affairs, one-half of our supposed knowledge of the East would be disposed of."

1 Dictionary of Useful Knowledge.

let every Mussulman, if he sees an unbeliever, instantly make it known, on pain of punishment." At this a sudden madness seized upon the people, and those who had let their premises to the greatest advantage became the most furious in their bigoted zeal, rushing among the amazed Christians, and with blows and furious violence tearing them from their houses, and casting them into the streets among the infuriated soldiery. No respect was paid to age, sex, or condition. Women in the last stages of maternity were dragged about by the hair, and treated with atrocious outrage. Every description of insult, barbarity, and torture was inflicted upon the unoffending Christians, the usual gravity of the Turk having on the instant given way to a fanaticism more in accordance with fiends than men. The whole city, as one man, was seized with the same furor; and if a victim managed to escape from one band of miscreants, he was certain to fall into the hands of others equally savage and remorseless.1

According to another account, this sacred standard of Mahomet is not green, but black; and was instituted in contradistinction to the great white banner of the Koraishites, as well as from the appellation okab (black eagle), which the prophet bestowed upon it. Mahomet's earliest standard was the white cloth forming the turban which he captured from Boreide. He subsequently adopted for his distinguishing banner the sable curtain which hung before the chamber of his wife Ayesha, and it is this standard which is said to be so sacredly preserved and so jealously guarded from infidel sight. It descended first to the followers of Omar, at Damascus, thence to the Abassides, at Bagdad and Cairo, from whom it fell to the share of the bloodhound Selim I., and subsequently found its way into Europe under Amurath III. The device upon it is "Nasrum min

Allah, "The help of God."

Besides their sacred standard, the Turks have the sanjak, which is a red banner; the alem, a broad standard; and the tugh, consisting of one, two, or more horse-tails, the number varying with the rank of the person who bears it.

The title of 'pacha' is merely a personal one, denoting the official aristocracy, civil and military, of the Ottoman Empire, and is derived from two Persian words, signifying "the foot of the king." In former times, when the chief territorial divisions were called 'sanjaks,' ruled over by beys, the larger sanjaks, or two or more smaller ones, were put under a pacha, and called 'pachaliks.' The military governors of provinces, who were only subordinate to the grand vizier, were 1 Baron Tolt's Memoirs of the Turks and Tartars. Two vols. 1785.

styled 'beylerbeys,' or 'bey of beys.' European Turkey was divided into two beylerbeyliks, Roumelia and Bosnia; the latter included Servia, Croatia, and Herzegovina. Constantinople and Wallachia and Moldavia were not included in any of these jurisdictions. The archipelago was under the capitan pacha. The pachas consisted of three classes, and were distinguished by the number of horse-tails borne before them as standards, a custom brought from Tartary, said to have originated with some chief, who, having lost his standard, cut off his horse's tail and displayed it as a substitute. The governors of the larger districts were viziers, by virtue of office. Their insignia were the alem, a broad standard, the pole of which was surmounted by a crescent; the tugh, of three horse-tails, artificially plaited; one sanjak, or green standard, similar to that of the prophet; and two large ensigns, called bairak. Other pachas had but two tails, with the other insignia. A bey had only one, together with one standard. The sultan's standard counts seven horse-tails, and the famous Ali Pacha, of Janina, arrogated to himself no less than thirteen. At the present day all this is much modified.

In the time of Omar, the General Mesiera Ibu Mesroud was given a black flag, inscribed " There is no God but God. Mahomet is the Messenger of God." 1

At the battle of Yermouk, Abu Obeidah, a Moslem general, erected for his standard a yellow flag given him by Abu Beker, Mahomet's immediate successor, being the same which Mahomet had displayed in the battle of Khaibab. One of Mahomet's standards was a black eagle. When Monwyah rebelled against Ali, the bloody garment of Othman was raised in the mosque at Damascus as the standard of rebellion.

The crescent standard, which has been set against the cross in so many battle-fields, representing the opposing force of Mahometanism, had its origin in the simple circumstance that the ancient city of Byzantium was saved from falling into the hands of Philip of Macedon, from the approach of his army being betrayed to the inhabitants by the light of the moon. In consequence, they adopted the crescent, which the Turks, when the place came into their possession, found everywhere as an emblem, and retained, believing it to be of good omen; probably in its meaning they saw a promise of increasing power. The origin of the crescent as a religious emblem is as old, certainly, as Diana; in fact, the very beginning of history.

1 Burkhardt's Notes on the Bedouins.

* Appleton's Journal.

2 Irving's Successors of Mahomet.