one angel to preside over all the seven hells, who is named by them Vanánd Yezád, and, as they teach, assigns punishments proportionate to each person's crimes, restraining also the tyranny and excessive cruelty of the devil, who would, if left to himself, torment the damned beyond their sentence.5 Those of this religion do also mention and describe various kinds of torments, wherewith the wicked will be punished in the next life; among which though they reckon extreme cold to be one, yet they do not admit fire, out of respect, as it seems, to that element, which they take to be the representation of the divine nature; and, therefore, they rather choose to describe the damned souls as suffering by other kinds of punishments: such as an intolerable stink, the stinging and biting of serpents and wild beasts, the cutting and tearing of the flesh by the devils, excessive hunger and thirst, and the like.6 Before we proceed to a description of the Mohammedan paradise, we must not forget to say something of the wall or partition which they imagine to be between that place and hell, and seems to be copied 1 Poc. not. in Port. Mosis, p. 289-291. 2 Nishmat hayim, f. 32; Gemar. in Arubin, f. 19; Zohar. ad Exod. xxvi. 2, &c.; and Hyde, de Rel. Vet. Pers. p. 245. 1 Midrash, Yalkut Shemuni, part II, f. 116. 2 Zohar. ad Exod. xix. 3 Yalkut Shemuni, ubi sup. f. 86. 4 Nishmat hayim, f. 83; Gemar. Arubin, f. 19. Vide Kor. c. 2, p. 10, and 3, p. 34, and notes there. 5 Hyde, de Rel. Vet. Pers. p. 182. 6 Vide Eundem, ibid. p.