[16] محص _mahs_ and احصا _ihśa_, are derived from the same root, حص _haś_, “making an impression;” _ihśa_ is interpreted in Richardson’s Dict., new edit., “numbering, computing.” [17] This Turkish word signifies “red head,” and is applied by the Turks to the Persians, who, since the time of Ismâíl Sofi, the founder of the present dynasty of Persia, wear a red turban with twelve folds around it, in honor of the twelve Imáms. [18] This consists in exclaiming “God is greatest.” [19] Shah Abbas I. has been already mentioned in a note (vol. II. p. 146), where, according to sir John Malcolm’s History of Persia, the duration of his reign is stated to have been forty-three years; his age seventy; and the date of his death A. D. 1628; somewhat differently from Herbelot, who makes his reign forty-five, his age sixty-three, and the date of his death A. D. 1629. Abbas I., called the Great, on account of his magnificent buildings, and his skilful interior policy, was very much attached to the religion of Ali, which was always, until our days, dominant in Persia; his taking possession of Baghdád, Nudjef, Kerbelah, Kásmín, and Sámerah, where the remains of Ali and his descendants are buried, was more agreeable to the Persians than the whole of his other conquests; dressed with the mantle of the saints of Arbeli, that is of Sofi and Haidar, ancestors of the present Persian kings, Abbas was almost adored by his subjects. This renders the recital above, respecting his religious zeal, very probable. It will be remembered that this Shah sent sir George Shirley as his ambassador to England; and that king James I. dispatched sir Drodmore Cotton on an embassy to Persia, in 1626. [20] This was the manner of death chosen by Mokanna, in the year of the Hejira 563 (A. D. 776). This upstart prophet (see note 1, p. 3), being pent up in a mountain-castle by the forces of the khalif Mohadi, without hope of escape, poisoned the garrison and his family, and then plunged into a vessel full of aqua fortis, which consumed every part of his body except his hair; he hoped that, from his disappearance, he should be supposed to have been taken up to heaven. One of his concubines, who by concealment had escaped destruction, and had seen every thing, revealed what had taken place; but many of his followers continued to believe in his divinity and future reappearance. I shall here remark, that destroying human bodies by means of aqua fortis is an ancient practice, mentioned in the Desátir (Engl. transl., p. 29), and accounts for the fact of so many funeral urns being found in Asia without ashes in them. CHAPTER IX. OF THE RELIGION OF THE ROSHENIAN: IN THREE SECTIONS.