“O, thou God living above, Abiash! Who hast clad the earth with grass, Who hast given leaves to the tree, Who hast provided the calves with flesh, Who didst bring forth hair on the head, Who didst create all the creatures, Who prepares every thing present! Thou hast created the stars, O God! O, Alton Pi, who hast exalted the father, O, Ulgen Pi, who hast exalted the mother, Thou creator of all created things, Thou preparer of all that is prepared, O God, thou creator of the stars, O give us cattle, O God! Give food, O God! Give us a chief, O God! Thou preparer of all things prepared, Thou creator of all things created! I prayed to my Father To bestow on me his blessing, To give me help, To me, in my house, And to my cattle, in the herd! Before thee I bow down. Give thy blessing, O Kudai, Thou Creator of all things created, Thou preparer of all things prepared!” The sacrifices consisted in the offering up of cattle and particularly, on solemn occasions, of white horses. Their priests, called _Táltos_, occupied a pre-eminent place, not only in the political but also in the social life of the Magyars. They were a kind of augurs and soothsayers, whose prophecies were based either upon certain natural phenomena, or upon the inspection of certain portions of slaughtered animals, such as the intestines, the heart, and shoulder-blade, which latter was put into the fire, good and bad auspices being prognosticated from the different positions of the cracks produced. Religious faith being always open to outside or foreign influence, it was but natural that the Hungarians, in that long march from the interior of Asia into Europe, should have borrowed many novel features from the religious life of the countries through which they passed. Thus, in the earlier faith of the Magyars, we meet with many distinctive traits of the Parsee religion, of that of the Khazars, and of the religions of many Ugrian races, for, like other families of the Uralo-Altaic race, the Magyars were conspicuous for their spirit of toleration towards other believers.