remained unshaken. This manifestation and conversion of the first disciple took place on May 23, 1844, almost exactly one thousand years after the "Lesser Occultation." Mulla Husayn at once began to spread the "good news" among the followers of Sayyid Kazim, many of whom immediately set out for Shiraz, so that very soon was gathered round the Bab a devoted band of believers, which included, besides the followers of Sayyid Kazim, others who were attracted by the new faith. The various kinds of persons who were thus attracted may be summed up as follows: I. The Shaykhis.

2. Shiites, who believed that the Bab's teaching was the fulfilling of the Koran.

3. Men who saw in it a hope of national reform. 4. Sufis and mystics.

To these four classes we may add to-day:

5. Those to whom the life and teaching of the Bāb and Beha appeal in a general way; and among these must be numbered those Western converts who do not fall under the next head.

6. Those who regard Bābism as a fulfilment of Christianity.

At this period the Bab had already written several works, and these were now eagerly perused by his disciples, who, from time to time, were also "privileged to listen to the words of the master himself, as he depicted in vivid language the worldliness and immorality of the Mullas, or Mohammedan clergy, and the injustice and rapacity of

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the civil authorities," and the like. prophesied that better days were at hand. this time, however, he did not openly attack Islam. Thus do we find Mirza Ali Mohammad in the first stage of his mission, setting forth claims to be the Bab, or channel of grace between the Imam Mahdi and his church, and inveighing against the corruptions of the clergy and the government, by whom he naturally came to be regarded with suspicion and dislike. Not long after his manifestation, when his fame had already spread throughout the country, he set out to perform the pilgrimage to Mecca. It was probably in the Holy City itself that he, once and for all, freed himself from the prophet's faith, and conceived the thought of "ruining this faith, in order to establish in its place something altogether differing from it." He returned from Mecca in August, 1845, possessed of more definite aims and ideals with regard to his own mission. Meanwhile, the clergy and the government had determined that the movement was dangerous, and that it bade fair to become more so. Active measures must, therefore, be taken for its suppression, while this was yet an easy matter. Several of the Bab's disciples were, accordingly, seized in Shiraz, and, having been bastinadoed, they were warned to desist from preaching. On landing in Bushire, the Bab was arrested and brought to Shiraz, where he underwent an examination by the clergy in the presence of the governor of that town. He was pronounced

a heretic, and ordered to remain in his house until further orders. No very strict watch was, however, kept over him, and, like St. Paul before him, he was visited by and conferred with the faithful.

In the spring of 1846 he escaped to Ispahan, where he remained under the protection of the governor of that town. In the following year this governor died, and his successor in office immediately sent the Bab in the direction of Teheran under an armed escort. The Shah's ministers, however, deeming that the Bab's presence in the capital might prove dangerous, gave orders that he should be taken off to the distant frontier-fortress of Maku, where he composed a great number of works and was in constant correspondence with his followers. In order to put a stop to this correspondence and to set him in closer confinement, the Bāb was removed to Chihrik, whence not long after he was summoned to Tabriz, to undergo examination by some of the leading clergy in the presence of the Crown Prince (afterwards Shah Nasir-ud-Din). This examination was, of course, a pure farce and the verdict a foregone conclusion. His inquisitors hoped to catch him tripping, but their victim drove them to exasperation by the attitude of dignified silence which he adopted towards their bullying questions. Finally, they ordered him to be beaten and sent back to Chihrik, where he was now subjected to such close confinement that he was only able to communicate with his followers by means of the most peculiar devices: scraps of paper were,

for example, concealed among sweetmeats or wrapped in waterproof and sunk in milk.

While he was confined in Chihrik his teaching underwent some development, for he now declared himself to be not merely the Gate leading to the Imam Mahdi, but to be the point of revelation, the Imam himself. What he had hitherto preached in parables only he would now openly proclaim. He declared that his mission was not final, and spoke of one yet greater than himself who should come after, and should be "He whom God shall manifest." He laid great stress on this point, and expressed an urgent desire that men should receive the next manifestation better than they had received this one. He further added: "They are to remember that no revelation is final, but only represents the measure of truth which the state of human progress has rendered mankind capable of receiving."

We cannot, within the space of an article, enter into the question of the philosophic theory of numbers which played so important a part in Bābi tenets. It must, however, be mentioned that the number 19, from a variety of causes, is held in especial esteem among them. Thus, the year, in the Bab's reformed calendar, was composed of nineteen months of nineteen days each, and so forth. And thus, too, he elected among his followers eighteen chosen disciples, whom he called the "Letters of the Living," of whom he, the nineteenth, was the "Point of Unity" which completed the sacred

number. There was a sort of apostolic succession among these "Letters," so that when one died some other Bābi was appointed to his place. The Bab composed about a dozen works in all, the most important of which was the Bayan, a work containing a precise statement of all the doctrines taught by him during the final stage of his mission. It was, in fact, the Babi Bible.

Leaving the Bab for a while in the prison of Chihrik, we must turn to consider the fortunes and misfortunes of his now numerous followers. Of the eighteen chosen "Letters," three fill a most conspicuous place in the early history of the Bābi movement: namely, Mulla Husayn of Bushrawayh, who, as we have seen, was the first convert to the new faith; Mohammad Ali of Balfarush; and a woman named Kurrat ul-Ayn, or "Coolth o' the Eyn." To no one does Bābism owe more for its spread throughout Persia than to Mulla Husayn, who, during the Bab's confinement in prison, travelled the whole country over carrying the new gospel visiting, in turn, Ispahan, where he met with much success; Kashan, with like result; Teheran, whence he was expelled; Nishapur, where he made numberless converts, and Meshed, where he was seized by the Shah's uncle. He managed, however, to escape to Nishapur, whence he set out westward with an ever-increasing band of followers.

This was in 1848, a year as eventful almost in Persia as it was in the states of Europe. The