2. A poem in praise of Šeiḫ ‘Adî. 3. The principal prayer of the Yezidis, in the Kurdish language. 4. A description of the Yezidi sacerdotal system. 5. A petition to the Ottoman government to exempt the sect from military service, presented in the year 1872 A. D. An analysis of the texts shows that the material is taken from different sources: part of it is clearly derived from the religious books of the sect; another part from a description of the beliefs and customs of the sect given by a member of it to an outsider; a third, partly from observations by an outsider, partly from stories about Yezidis current among their Christian neighbors. Unfortunately the compiler does not specify whence each particular part of his information is obtained. On closer examination it is evident that part, at least, of the Arabic in hand is a translation from Syriac. The Yezidis, frequently called “Devil-Worshippers,” are a small and obscure religious sect, numbering about 200,000.[3] They are scattered over a belt of territory three hundred miles wide, extending in length from the neighborhood of Aleppo in northern Syria to the Caucasus in southern Russia. The mass of them, however, are to be found in the mountains of northern and central Kurdistan and among the Sinjar Hills of Northern Mesopotamia. By reason of their mysterious religion, the Devil-Worshipers have been an object of interest and investigation for several generations. Our chief firsthand sources of information in regard to the manners, customs, and practices of these people are: Sir Henry Layard, _Nineveh and its Remains_ (1849), _Nineveh and Babylon_ (1853); G. P. Badger, _The Nestorians and their Rituals_ (1852); my honored teacher, Rev. A. N. Andrus, veteran missionary of the A. B. C. F.M., resident in Mardin, Mesopotamia, “The Yezidis,” in the _Encyclopaedia of Missions_; P. Anastase, “The Yezidis,” in the Arabic periodical, _Al-Mašrik_, Vol. II (1899); Professor A. V. Williams Jackson, of Columbia University, _Persia Past and Present_ (1906); “The Yezidis,” in the _International Encyclopaedia, s. v._; also in _J A O S_, XXV, 178; M. N. Siouffi, in the _Journal Asiatique_, 1882 (vii^e série, T. 20), p. 252, and 1885 (viii^e série, T. 5), p. 78. Siouffi was the first to discover and establish the historical character of Šeiḫ ‘Adî, about whom the scholars had been puzzled. He published an extract relating to ‘Adî from Ibn Ḫallikân’s _Wafaiyât ‘al-Ayân_ (bibliographical work). Of the second-hand sources of information may be mentioned _Les Yezidis_, by J. Menant (Paris, 1892), and the article by Victor Dingelstedt, “The Yezidis,” in the _Scottish Geographical Magazine_, Vol. XIV, pp. 259 ff.[4] In addition to these descriptions, several manuscripts have come to light of recent years which give a great deal of information about the beliefs and customs of the Yezidis.