Kurnai Initiation.-TheKurnai, an Australian tribe, performed rites of initiation into manhood, somewhat similar to those of the 0-Kee-Pa (725), as did also all the Tasmanian tribes. ; But details are not known; the nature of the `rites is only inferred from the fact that all young men examined by Europeans were found to be deeply scarified on the shoulders, thighs, and muscles of the breast. The Kurnai mysteries are chiefly referred to here because of the curious parallel they offer in the use of an instrument resembling the poubos, which was one of the sacred objects in the Eleusinian mysteries(72). The Kurnai call the instrument theturndun; it is a flat piece of wood, fastened by one end to a thong, for whirling it round, and producing a roaring noise, to warn off the women. For a woman to see it, or a man to show, it her, was, by native law, death to both . It is not unknown in England; we call it a whizzer or bullroarer. A similar instrument is used by the Kafirs of South Africa, where it is used for just its two principal Australian purposes, namely, for rain-making, and in connection with the rites of initiation to warn the women off. . The bullroarer was also in use in New Zealand. In Australia it is known by the names of witarna and muyumkar.
Liberty, Knights of.-Asect formed in 1820 in France against the government of the Bourbons. Its independent existence was brief, as it was soon merged in that of the Carbonari.
Lion, Knights of the.-This was one of the transformations assumed in Germany in the last century by Masonic Templars.
Lion, The Sleeping.-This was a society formed in Paris in 1816, with the object of restoring Napoleon to the throne of France. The existing government suppressed it.
Ludlam's Cave.-A comic society, formed at Vienna in 1818, and so named after a somewhat unsuccessful play of Oehlenschlager. The members were called bodies; candidates, shadows . The latter underwent a farcical examination, and if found very ignorant, were accepted. Many literary men belonged to it; but though their professed object was only' amusement, the society was in 1826 suppressed by the police of Vienna.
Mad Councillors.-This comical order was founded in 1809 by a Doctor Ehrmann of Frankfort-on-the-Main. Diplomas, conceived in a ludicrous style, written in Latin, and bearing a large seal; were granted to the members. Jean Paul, Arndt, Goethe, Iffland, had such diplomas; ladies also received them. On the granting of the hundredth, in 1820, the joke was dropped.
Magi, Order of the.-Is supposed to have existed in Italy in the last century, as a modification of the Rosicrucians. Its members are said to have worn the costume of .Inquisitors.
Mahdrajas.-This is an Indian sect of priests. It appears abundantly from the works of recognised authority written by Maharajas, and from existing popular belief in the Vallabhacharya sect, that Vallabhacharya is believed to have been an incarnation of the god Krishna, and that the Maharajas, as descendants of Vallabhacharya, have claimed and received from their followers the like character of incarnations of that god by hereditary succession. The ceremonies of the worship paid to Krishna through these priests are all of the most licentious character. The love and subserviency due to a Supreme Being are here materialised and transferred to those who claim to be the living incarnations of the god. Hence the priests exercise an unlimited influence over their female votaries, who consider it a great honour to acquire the temporary regard of the voluptuous Maharajas, the belief in whose pretensions is allowed to interfere, almost vitally, with the domestic relations of husband and wife. The Maharaja libel case, tried in 1862 in the Supreme Court of Bombay, proved that the wealthiest and largest of the Hindoo mercantile communities of Central and Western India worshipped as a god a depraved priest, compared with whom an ancient satyr was an angel. Indeed, on becoming followers of that god, they make to his priest the offering of tan, man,anddhan,or body, mind, and property; and so far does their folly extend, that they will greedily drink the water in which he has bathed . There are about seventy or, eighty of the Maharajas in different parts of India. They have' a mark on the forehead, consisting of two red perpendicular lines, meeting in a semicircle at the root of the nose, and having a round spot of red between them. Though not a secret society, strictly speaking, still, as their doings. were to some extent kept secret, and their worst features, though proved by legal evidence, denied by the persons implicated, I have thought it right to give it.a place here.
Mane Negra.-This association, the Black Hand, in the south of Spain, is agrarian and Socialistic, and its origin dates back to the year 1835. It was formed in consequence of the agricultural labourers. having been deprived of their communal rights, the lands on which they bad formerly had the privilege to cut timber and pasture their cattle having been sold, in most instances, far below their value, to the sharp village lawyers, nicknamed caciques, who resemble in their practices the gombeen men of Cork, though these latter do not possess the political influence of the former. The 'caciques, though they bought the land, in many instances had not capital enough to cultivate it, hence the agricultural labourer was left to starve, a, condition which led to many agrarian disturbances. The members of the society were bound' by oath to punish their oppressors by steel, fire, or poison; incendiarism was rife. The association was strictly secret; to reveal its doings by treachery or imprudence meant death to the offender . The society had a complete organisation, with its chiefs, its centres, its funds, its secret tribunals, inflicting death and other penalties on their own members, and on landlords and usurers, such as the caciques. The members, to escape detection, often changed their names; they corresponded by cipher, and had a code of precautions, in which every contingency was provided against. From 1880 to 1883 the society was particularly active, especially in Andalusia, which induced the Spanish Government to take the most severe repressive measures against it. Many trials of members took place in 1883. The rising was a purely Spanish one ; it was absolute hunger which drove the Spanish peasant into the hands of native agitators. Foreign anarchists endeavoured to utilise the movement, but had little influence on it.
Melanesian Societies.-The groups of islands stretching in a semicircle from off the eastern coast of Australia to New Caledonia, including New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, the New Hebrides, New Caledonia, and also the Fiji Islands, all abound with secret societies, which, however, . have nothing formidable in them, since all their secrets are known; the people join, but laugh at them; their lodges are their clubs, chiefly devoted to feasting; strangers are admitted to them as to inns; they exclude women, though on the Fiji Islands there are societies which admit them. Young men are expected to be initiated ; those who are not, do not take a position of full social equality with those who are members. When the ceremonies and doctrines were as yet mysteries, outsiders thought that the initiated entered into association with the ghosts of the dead, a delusion strengthened by the strange and unearthly noises heard at times in and around the lodges, and the hideously-disguised figures, supposed to be ghosts, which appeared to the "dogs outside." Now it is known that the ghosts are merely members, wearing strangely-decorated hats made of bark and painted, which hats cover the whole head and rest on the shoulders, while the mummers are dressed in long cloaks, made of leaves, and shaped in fantastic designs. It is also known that the noises which used to frighten the natives are produced by a flat smooth stone, on which the butt-end of a fan of palm is rubbed, the vibration of which produces the extraordinary sound. At the ceremony of initiation the usual pretence of imparting secret knowledge is gone through on a par with that imparted in some societies nearer home, and, as with the latter, it is all a question of fees, though in some societies there is also some rougher ceremony to be submitted to; thus in that called welu,the neophyte has to lie down on his face in a hole in the ground, cut exactly to his shape, and lighted cocoanut fronds are cast upon his back.
He cannot move, and dare not cry; the scars remain on his back as marks of membership. The neophyte, when initiated, remainsgoto,that is, secluded for a number of days-in some societies for one hundred days-during which time he has to attend to the oven and do the dirty work of the lodge. Learning the dances, which the initiated on certain festivals perform in public, as particularly pleasing to their gods, seems to be the principal item of the instruction received in the sanctuary. The number of societies, as already stated, is very large, and they are known by various names. The New Britain Society is called Duk-Duk (693) ; that of Florida, Matambala; that of the Banks Islands, Tamate; that of the Northern New Hebrides, Qatu; that of Fiji, Nanga. The ghosts supposed to be present are called duka inFlorida the consultation of the ghosts is known as paluduka. The lodge is called Salagoro; it is usually situate in some retreat near the village, in the midst of lofty trees, and must not be approached by women; masked figures guard the path to it, which is marked by bright orange-coloured fruits stuck on reeds, and the customary soloi taboo marks, forbidding entrance. The members of different societies are distinguished by particular badges, consisting of leaves or flowers, and to wear such a badge without membership is a punishable offence.
Mumbo-Jumbo.-We have seen (687) that there is a Californian society, whose object it is to keep their women in due subjection. Among the Mundingoes, a tribe above the sources of the river Gambia, a somewhat similar association exists. Whenever the men have any dispute with the women, an image, eight or nine feet high, made of the bark of trees, dressed in a long coat, crowned with a wisp of straw, and called a Mumbo-Jumbo, or Mamma Jambah, is sent for. A member of the society conceals himself under the coat and acts as judge. Of course his decisions are almost always in favour of the men. When the women hear him coming they run. away and hide themselves, but he sends for them, makes them sit down, and afterwards either sing or dance, as he pleases. Those who refuse to come are brought by force, and he whips them. Whoso is admitted into the society has to swear in the most solemn manner never to divulge the secret to any woman, nor to any one not initiated. - To preserve the secret inviolable, no boys under sixteen years of age are admitted. About1727 the King of Jagra, having a very inquisitive wife, disclosed to her the secret of his membership, and the secrets connected therewith. She, being a gossip, talked about it ; the result was, that she and the king were killed by the members of the association.
Obeah,see Egbo Society.
Odd Fellows.-This Order was founded in England about the middle of the last century. The initiatory rites then were of the usual terrifying character we have seen practised in the ancient mysteries, accompanied by all the the atrical display intended to overawe the candidate, who had to take the oath of secrecy. The Order has its signs, grips, words, and passwords; one word wasFides, which was uttered letter by letter; one sign was made by placing the right hand on the,left breast, and at the same time pronouncing the words, "Upon my honour." Another sign was made by taking hold of the lower part of the left ear with the thumb and forefinger of the right hand. What the signs, grips, and passwords now are, it is impossible 'to tell, since these, as the only secrets of the Order, are kept strictly secret. Every half-year a new password is communicated to the lodges. In 1818 the Order was introduced into the United States. There are three degrees : the White, Blue, and Scarlet; there is also a female degree, called Rebecca, and High Degrees are conferred in "Camps." The Odd Fellows in the lodges wear white aprons, edged with the colours of their degree; in the camps they wear black aprons similarly trimmed. Since the American prosecutions of the Freemasons, which also affected the Odd Fellows, the oath of secrecy is no longer demanded (see 74.1).
O-Kee-Pa.-A religious rite, commemorative of the Flood, which was practised by the Mandans, a now extinct tribe of Red Indians. The celebration was annual, and its object threefold, viz. : (1) to keep in remembrance the subsiding of the waters; (2) to dance the bull-dance, to insure a plentiful supply of buffaloes (though the reader will see in it an allusion to the bull of the zodiac, the vernal equinox)- ; and (3) to test the courage and power of endurance of the young men who, during the past year, had arrived at the age of manhood, by great bodily privations and tortures. Part of the latter were inflicted in the secrecy of the "Medicinehut," outside of which stood the Big Canoe, or Mandan Ark, which only the "Mystery-Men" were allowed to touch or look into . The tortures, as witnessed by Catlin, consisted in forcing sticks of wood under the dorsal or pectoral muscles of the victim, and then suspending him by these sticks from the top of the hut, and turning him round until he fainted, when he was taken down and allowed to recover consciousness; whereupon he was driven forth among the multitude assembled without, who chased him round the village,, treading on, the cords attached to the bits of wood' sticking in his flesh, until these latter fell out by tearing the flesh to pieces. Like the ancient mysteries, the O-Kee-Pa ended with drunken and vicious orgies. The Sioux at Rosebud Agency, in Dakota, still practise the same barbarous rites, but in a milder form.
Pantheists.-An association, existing in the last century in this country and in Germany; Bolingbroke, Hume, and other celebrities belonged to it. Its object was the discussion of the maxims contained in Toland's"Pantheisticon." John Toland was born in Ireland about 1670, and was a Deistical writer, who anticipated, two centuries ago, the higher criticism" of the present day in his "Christianity not Mysterious." His writings attracted much attention here and in Germany, which country he repeatedly ) visited. As his teaching was considered atheistical, its followers had to study it secretly. The members of the association met at the periods of the solstices and of the equinoxes, and the profane, and even the servants, were rigorously excluded from the meetings.
Patriotic Order Sons of America.-This Order was organised in Philadelphia in 1847. It suspended operations during the Civil War, but at its conclusion it was reorganised, and now counts over 200,000 members. The aims and objects of the Order are the teaching of American principles; born Americans only are admitted. Its lodges are called camps. It is a benefit society, and, like all similar associations, has no secrets, but simply endeavours, by certain symbols and signs of recognition, to impress on their members their principles and brotherhood. Pednosophers, see Tobaccological Society.
Phi-Beta-Kappa.-The Bavarian Illuminati, according to some accounts, spread to America. Students of universities only are admitted to the Order. The password is 4PtXoo•o0iaBtovkvf3epvfTrc, philosophy is the guide or rule of life. The three letters forming the initials of the Greek sentence were chosen as the name of the society, whose object is to make philosophy, and not religion, the guiding principle of man's actions. The Order was introduced into the United States about the year 1776. It had its secret signs and grips, which, however, were all made public, when about the year 1830the society ceased from being a secret one: the sign was given by placing the two fore fingers of the right hand so as to cover the left corner of the mouth, and then drawing it across the chin. The grip was like the common shaking of hands, only not interlocking the thumbs, and at the same time gently pressing the wrists. The jewel or medal, always of silver or gold, and provided at the candidate's expense, is suspended by a pink or blue ribbon. On it are the letters Pb, B, and K, six stars, and a hand. The stars denote the number of colleges where the institution exists. On the reverse is S. P. for Societas Philosophise, and the date December 5, 1776,which indicates the time of the introduction of the Order into the States.
Pilgrims.-A society whose existence was discovered at Lyons in 1825, through the arrest of one of the brethren, a Prussian shoemaker, on whom was found the printed catechism of the society. Though the Pilgrims aimed above all at religious reform, yet their catechism was modelled on that of the Freemasons.
Police, Secret.-Whilst revolutionaries and disaffected subjects formed secret associations for the overthrow of their rulers, the latter had recourse to counter-associations, or the Secret Police. In France it was very active in the early part of the last century, but chiefly as the pander to the debaucheries of the Court. For political purposes women of loose morals were employed by preference. Thus a famous procuress, whose boudoirs were haunted by diplomatists, a Madam Fillon, discovered and frustrated the conspiracy of Cellamare, the Spanish ambassador in 1718 at the court of the Regent (Philippe d'Orleans, who governed France during the minority of Louis XV.), which was directed against the reigning family, in favour of the Duke of Maine. The ambassador was obliged to leave France. From the chronique scandaleuse of those times it is evident that the police were always closely connected with the ladies of easy virtue, whom they employed as their agents. Towards the end of the eighteenth century the police were secretly employed in preventing the propagation of philosophical works, called bad books. The Revolution abolished this secret police as immoral and illegal; but it was, as a political engine, re-established under the Directory, to which the expelled royal family opposed a counter-police, which, however, was discovered in the month of May 1800. Napoleon, to protect himself against the various conspiracies hatched against him, relied greatly on the secret police he had established; but there is no doubt that the mad proceedings of Savary, Duke of Rovigo, Napoleon's last chief of police, hastened the downfall of the Empire. Under Louis Philippe again the secret police had plenty of work to do, in consequence of the many secret societies, whose machinations we have already described (597). In Prussia also the secret police was very active from 1848 to the Franco-Prussian war, during which its chief duty was to protect the King of Prussia, his allied princes, and Bismarck against the attempts at assassination which were then so rife. How the secret police had plenty of occupation in Russia, where it was known as the "Third Division," we have seen in the account of the Nihilists. In this country a secret police has never been tolerated; it is opposed to the sentiment of the people, who always connect it withagents provocateurs. We have seen (693) that a kind of secret police exists in New Pomerania and Western Africa.
Portuguese Societies.-Duringthe early part of this century various secret societies with political objects were formed in Portugal, but as they never attained to any importance or permanence, it will be sufficient to mention the names of three of theih: the Septembrists, Chartists, and Miguellists, the latter founded in favour of Don Miguel, who for a time occupied the throne of Portugal. 732. Purrah, The.-Between the river of Sierra Leone and Cape Monte, there exist five nations of Foulahs-Sousous, who form among themselves a kind of federative republic. Each colony has its particular magistrates and local government; but they are subject to an institution which they call Purrah. It is an association of warriors, which from its effects is very similar to the secret tribunal formerly existing in Germany, and known by the name of the Holy Vehm (206); and on account of its rites and mysteries closely resembles the ancient initiations. Each of the five colonies has its own peculiar Purrah, consisting of twenty-five members; and from each of these particular tribunals are taken five persons, who form the Grand Purrah or supreme tribunal. To be admitted to a district Purrah the candidate must be at least thirty years of age ; to, be a member of the Grand Purrah, be must be fifty years old. All his relations belonging to the Purrah become security for the candidate's conduct, and bind themselves by oath to sacrifice him, if he, flinch during the ceremony, or if, after having been admitted, he betray the mysteries and tenets of the association.
In each district comprised in the institution of the Purrah there is a sacred wood whither the candidate is conducted, and where he is confined for several months in a solitary and contracted habitation, and neither speaks nor quits the dwelling assigned to him. If he attempt to penetrate into the forest which surrounds him, he is instantly slain. After several months' preparation the candidate is admitted to the trial, the last proofs of which are said to be terrible.
All the elements are employed to ascertain his resolution and courage; lions and leopards, in some degree chained, are made use of; during the time of the proof the sacred woods resound with dreadful howlings; conflagrations appear in the night, seeming to indicate general destruction ; while at other times fire is seen to pervade these mysterious woods in all directions. Every one whose curiosity excites him to profane these sacred parts is sacrificed without mercy.
When the candidate has undergone all the degrees of probation, be is permitted to be initiated, an oath being previously exacted from him that he will keep all the secrets, and execute without demur all the decrees of the Purrah of his tribe, or of the Grand and Sovereign Purrah. , Any member turning traitor or rebel is devoted to death, and sometimes assassinated in the midst of his family. At a moment when a guilty person least expects it, a warrior appears before him, masked and armed, who says : "The Sovereign Pnrrah decrees thy death." On these words every person present shrinks back, no one makes the least resistance, and the victim is killed. The common Purrah of a tribe takes cognisance of the crimes committed within its jurisdiction, tries the criminals, and executes their sentences; and also appeases the quarrels that arise among powerful families.
It is only on extraordinary occasions that the Grand Purrah assembles for the trial of those who betray the mysteries and secrets of the Order, or rebel against its dictates; and it is this assembly which generally puts an end to the wars that sometimes break out between two or more tribes. From the moment when the Grand Purrah has assembled for the purpose of terminating a war, till it has decided on the subject, every warrior of the belligerent parties is forbidden to shed a drop of blood under pain of death. The deliberations of the Purrah generally last a month, after which the guilty tribe is condemned to be pillaged during four days. The warriors who execute the sentence are taken from the neutral cantons; and they disguise themselves with frightful masks, are armed with poniards, and carry lighted torches. They arrive at the doomed villages before break of day, kill all the inhabitants that cannot make their escape, and carry off whatever property of value they can find. The plunder is divided into two parts; one part being allotted to the tribe against which the aggression has been committed, whilst the other part goes to the Grand Purrah, which distributes it among the warriors who executed the sentence.
When the family of the tribes under the command of the Purrah becomes too powerful and excites alarm, the Grand Purrah assembles to deliberate on the subject, and almost always condemns it to sudden and unexpected pillage; which is executed by night, and always by warriors masked and disguised.
The terror and alarm which this confederation excites amongst the inhabitants of the countries where it is established, and even in the neighbouring territories, are very great. The negroes of the bay of Sierra Leone never speak of it without reserve and apprehension; for they believe that all the members of the confederation are sorcerers, and that they have communication with the devil. The Purrah has an interest in propagating these prejudices, by means of which it exercises an authority that no person dares to dispute. The number of members is supposed to be about 6000, and they recognise each other by certain words and signs.
Pythias, Knights of.-This Order was instituted shortly after the American Civil War in 1864at Washington, whence it soon spread through the United States. Its professed object was the inculcation of lessons of friendship, based on the ancient story of Damon and Pythias. It calls itself a secret organisation, but in reality is only an ordinary benefit society, though it may have a secret object, since it has within itself a "uniform rank," which in its character is essentially military. The drill has been so revised as to bring it into perfect harmony with the tactics of the United States army; the judges at the competitive drills of the order are officefs of the United States army. This"uniform rank" counts upwards of30,000 members.
Rebeccaites.-A society formed in Wales about 1843, for the abolition of toll-bars. Like the Irish White-Boys the members dressed in white, and went about at night pulling down the toll-gates. Government suppressed them. The supposed chief of the society was called Rebecca, a name derived from the rather clever application of the passage in Genesis xxiv. 6o, "And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her. . . Let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate thee."
Redemption, Order of. - A secret and chivalrous society, which in its organisation copied the order of the Knights of Malta. Its scope is scarcely known, and it never went beyond the walls of Marseilles, where it was founded by a Sicilian exile.
Red Men.-In 1812, during the war between England and the United States, some patriotic Americans founded a society with the above title. They took its symbolism from Indian life: the lodges were called tribes; the meeting-places, wigwams; the meetings, council fires, and so on. On festive occasions the members appeared in Indian costume. A great many Germans, settled in America, joined the society, but being looked down upon by the thoroughbred Yankees, the Germans seceded and founded an order of their own; and called it the " Independent Order of Red Men." In both societies there are three degrees-the English has its Hunters, Soldiers, and Captains; the German is divided into the Blacks, Blues, and Greens. There are higher Degrees conferred in "camps." The two societies count about forty thousand members. After the cessation of the war with England (1814) the societies lost their political character, and became mere benefit societies, which they now are.
Regeneration, Society of Universal.-Itwas composed of the patriots of various countries who had taken refugen in Switzerland between 1815 and" 1820. But though their aims were very comprehensive, they ended in talk, of which professed patriots always have a liberal supply on hand.
Saltpetrers.-The county of Hauenstein, in the Duchy of Baden, forms a triangle, the base of which is the Rhine from Sackingen to Waldshut. In the last century the abbot of the rich monastery of St. Blasius, which may be said to form the apex of the triangle, exacted bond-service against the Hauensteiners. This they resented; a secret league was the result. From its leader, Fridolin Albiez, a dealer in saltpetre, it took the name of Saltpetrers. The abbot, supported by Austria in1755finally compelled them to submit, though the sect was revived at the beginning of this century to oppose reformatory tendencies in church and school. Mutual concessions in 1840 put an end to the_ strife and to the society. In Tirol the Manharters, so called after their leader, Manhart, had the same object in view-resistance to Reformation principles-and were successful in attaining them, they being warmly supported by the Pope.
Sikh Fanatics.-The Sikhs-Sikh means a disciple, or devoted follower-first came into notice in 1510 as a religious sect. Their prophet was Nanuk. Two centuries afterwards Guru Govindu developed a more military spirit; he added the sword to their holy book, the "Granth." From 1798 to 1839 the Sikhs were at the zenith of their power. Their distinguishing marks were a blue dress, because Bala Ram, the brother of Krishna, is always represented as wearing a blue dress, with long hair and beard ; every man had to carry steel on his person in some form. The ordinary Sikh now dresses in pure white. All the sect were bound in a holy brotherhood called the Khalsa (meaning the saved or liberated), wherein all social distinctions were abolished.
The fierce fanatical Akalis were soldier-priests, a sombre brotherhood of military devotees, chiefly employed about their great temple at Amritsar (meaning the fountain of immortality). They initiate converts, which is done by ordering the neophyte to wear blue clothes, by being presented with five weapons-a sword, a firelock, a bow and arrow, and a pike. He is further enjoined to abstain from intercourse with certain schismatic sects, and to practise certain virtues. As, according to tradition, Govindu, when at the point of death, exclaimed, "Wherever five Sikhs are assembled, there I- shall be present," five Sikhs are necessary to perform the rite of initiation. The Sikhs may eat flesh, except that of the cow, which is a sacred animal to them as well as to the Hindus.
The phase of Sikh fanaticism which revealed its existence in 1872 by the Kooka murders may be traced to the following sources:-The movement was started a good many years since by one Ram Singh, a Sikh, whose headquarters were fixed at the village of Bainee, in the Loodhiana district. His teaching is said to have aimed at reforming the ritual rather than the creed of his countrymen . His followers, moreover, seem to have borrowed a hint or two from the dancing dervishes of Islam. At their meetings they worked themselves into a sort of religious frenzy, which relieved itself by unearthly howlings; and hence they were generally known as the "Shouters." Men and women of the new sect joined together in a sort of wild war-dance, yelling out certain forms of words, and stripping off all their clothing, as they whirled more and more rapidly round. Ram Singh himself had served in the old Sikh army, and one of his first moves was to get a number of his emissaries enlisted into the army of the Maharajah of Cashmere. That ruler, it is said, would have taken a whole regiment of Kookas into his pay ; but for some reason or another this scheme fell to the ground.
Possibly he took fright at the political influence which his new recruits might come in time to wield against him or his English allies. Ram Singh's followers, however, multiplied apace; and out of their number he chose his lieutenants, whose preaching in time swelled the total of converts to something like 1000,000. Of these soubahs, or lieutenants, some twenty were distributed about the Punjab. The great bulk of their converts consisted of artisans and people of yet lower caste, who, having nothing to lose, indulged in wild dreams of future gain. Their leader's power over them appears to have been very great. They obeyed his orders as cheerfully as the Assassins of yore obeyed the Old Man of the Mountain. If he had a message to send to one of his lieutenants, however far away, a letter was entrusted to one of his disciples, who ran full speed to the next station, and handed it to another, who forthwith left his own work, and hastened in like manner to deliver the letter to a third. In order to clinch his power over his followers, Ram Singh contrived to interpolate his own name in a passage of the " Granth "-the Sikh Bible-which foretells the advent of another Guru, prophet or teacher. But, whatever the teachings of this new religious leader, there is reason to think that his ultimate aim was to restore the Sikhs to their old supremacy in the Punjab by means of a religious revival; and he stirred up the religious fervour of his followers by impressing on them that their war was a war against the slayer of the sacred cow, which to their European conquerors of course is not sacred, and has ceased to be so to many natives of India. But the insurrection was quickly suppressed. The whole band, which never numbered three hundred, was literally hunted down, and the ringleaders blown from guns . This may appear severe punishment; but it is to be borne in mind that though the number of insurgents who were taken with arms in their hands was only small, they had behind them a body of nearly 100.000 followers, bound together by one common fanaticism, who had to be taught by very prompt and severe action that our power in India is not to be assailed with impunity. The Sikhs are divided into numerous sects, the most important being the Govind Sinhi community, comprehending the political association of the Sikh nation generally. The Sikh sect, as a religious and secret one, is rapidly diminishing .
Silver Circle, Knights of the.-Asecret organisation formed in the Rocky Mountains in 1893 against the suspension of silver coinage. The Knights threatened, in case the Sherman Law should be repealed, to compel Colorado to leave the American Union and unite with the republic of Mexico, which is a silver coinage country. The western states were at that time honeycombed with secret societies deliberating the question of secession. Many of these societies were armed organisations, and were, it is said, in the habit of holding moonlight meetings for purposes of drill. The members had secret signs and passwords to recognise one another in public. But the repeal of the Sherman Act in August 1893 crushed their hopes, and caused the collapse of the society.
Sonderbare Gesellen.-Germansocieties,formedon the model of the English Odd Fellows, whose name they took, and of which the above is a literal translation. They now call themselves Freie Gesellen (Free Brethren), or Helfende BrUder (Helping Brethren). But, unlike their English prototypes, who have no other secrets than their signs, grips, and passwords, the German Gesellen are closely connected with Freemasonry, which, as we have seen, is not so colourless abroad as it is here, and they proclaim themselves an institution for the deliverance of nations from priests, superstition, and fanaticism. The Order was introduced into Germany in 1870, and gradually into Switzerland, France, Holland, Mexico, Peru, Chili, Sweden, Spain, and even some Polynesiai islands, so that now it counts upwards of fifty grand lodges and nearly eight thousand lodges, exclusive of English ones (724). 742. Sophisiens."The Sacred Order of the Sophisiens," or Followers of Wisdom, was founded by some French generals engaged in the expedition to Egypt (1798-99), and was to a certain extent secret. But some of its pursuits oozed out, and were to be found in a book, partly in MS. and partly printed, the title of which is "Melanges relatifs h l'ordre sacra des Sophisiens, etabli dans les Pyramides de la Republique francaise," in 410. (See No. 494 in the catalogue of Lerouge.) Where is the book now?
Star of Bethlehem.-This Order claims a very ancient origin, having, it is alleged, been founded during the first century of the Christian era. In the thirteenth century it was an order of monks called Bethlehemites, closely identified with the Church of' the Nativity built by the Empress Helena in the year 330, in the centre of which is the grotto of the Nativity, where a star is inlaid in the marble floor in commemoration of the star which shone over Bethlehem. The Order was introduced into England in 1257, and soon became a benevolent order, and members were called Knights of the Star of Bethlehem. Women were admitted to membership in 1408. In 1681 it was introduced into America by Giles Cory, of ye City of London, but fanaticism soon drove it out of that continent, for in September 1694 the grand commander was cruelly put to death "for holding meetings in ye dead hours of ye night." It was reintroduced into New York in 1869 by A. Gross of Newcastle-on-Tyne. In 1884 the members dropped the title of Knights, and the original name of Order of the Star of Bethlehem was reassumed.
Thirteen, The.-To Balzac's fertile imagination we are indebted for the book entitled Lee Treize, the fictitious story of a society of thirteen persons who during. the First Empire bound themselves by fearful oaths, and for objects the author dare no more reveal than the names of the members, mutually to support one another. The work consists of three tales, the first being the most interesting for us, since it pretends to record the stormy career of Ferragus, one of the associates, and chief of the Devorants spoken of in the French Workmen's Unions (369). Asociety of thirteen (not secret) has recently been founded in London, in imitation, I assume, of a society formed in 1857 at Bordeaux for the same purpose 'as the London one, namely, by force of example to extirpate the superstition regarding the number thirteen, of which very few persons know the origin. In the ancient Indian pack of cards, consisting of seventy-eight cards, of which the first twenty-two have special names, the designation of card xiii . is "Death," and hence all the evil influences ascribed to that number !
Tobaccological Society.-When in 531 Theodora from a ballet girl had become the wife of the Emperor Justinian I., she wished to be surrounded by philosophers, especially the expounders of Pythagoras. But for once the philosophers stood on their dignity, and declined imperial patronage. This led to their persecution, and the closing of their schools and academies; they were not allowed to hold meetings. But Pythagoreans must meet, hence they met in secret, first in a ruined temple of Ceres on the banks of the Ilissus, and afterwards in an octagonal temple, built by one of them, at the foot of Mount Hymettus. They called themselves Pednosophers, which in a philologically incorrect manner they interpreted as meaning " Children of Wisdom. For their symbol they adopted the anemone, which flower was said to have sprung from the blood of Adonis, wounded by a wild boar-so philosophy arose afresh from philosophy persecuted by superstition. At first women and children were admitted, but they were told part only of the secret, whatever , it was. The sign was crossing the arms on the breast, so that the index finger touched the lips. The sacred word was theus-theos, "Hope in God." The chief of the Order was known to but a few members by his real name; to the rest he passed under a pseudonym. - There were different degrees in the Order, which perpetuated itself until 1672 in various countries, England included. In this year Charles II. prohibited all secret societies, and the Pednosophers changed, their name to Tobaccologers, and adopted the tobacco plant as their emblem, its red flower suggesting to them philosophy persecuted by Justinian and others. At their meetings they discussed chiefly academical subjects ; in fact, modern academies owe to them, their origin. Many men of note belonged to the Order, which was divided into four degrees-the glamour of secrecy must be kept up to the last ! The members in the lodge wore a triangular apron. Towards the end of the last century the Order declined in this country, and its papers, its records, and mysteries eventually fell into the hands of the French Marquis d'Etanduere, who left them to his son, at whose death they were examined by a M. Doussin, to whom he had left them; and this M. Doussin thereupon reconstituted the society at Poitiers in 1806, where it continued till about the year 1848. The tobacco plant, its culture and manufacture, were the subjects of symbolical instructions, and for the real names of the towns where lodges existed, The names of localities famous for fine sorts of tobacco were substituted. Persons known to belong to the society popularly went by the designation of snufftakers.
Turf, Society of the.-When the failure of the Carbonaro conspiracy, and especially its non-success in its attempt on Macerata (562), led to the temporary suppression of the Carbanaro society, the youths of Italy, who had hoped to distinguish themselves by fighting and driving the Austrian out of Italy, felt sorely disappointed. The more rational ones submitted to the inevitable, and returned to peaceful occupations. But the more hot-headed and restless members of the society sought outlets for their exuberant spirits in forming associations of various kinds, and sometimes of the most objectionable character. Such a one was the Compagniadella Teppa,or Turf Society, which arose at Milan in 1818. 1 Two derivations of the name of the society are given. The members of the society wore plush hats, and it was a regulation that this plush was to be cut as short and as smooth as turf. The other, and more probable, origin of the name is the fact that the members held their meetings at first on the lawns of beautiful turf in the Piazza Castello at Milan. Their pursuits may be described as a revival of Mohocking; they bound themselves to beat every man they met in the streets after dark, which practice, however, was chiefly resorted to against men having handsome wives, whom members of the society wished forcibly, or with consent, to disgust with their husbands or abduct from their homes; and a certain' amount of ridicule attaching to the infliction of such a beating, the victims in most cases made no public complaint. Of course, in many cases it was the Turfists who got the worst of the encounter. The Austrian police shut its eyes to all these proceedings, of which, through its spies, it was fully cognisant, on the principle that it was better these young men should vent their overflow of spirits, their physical and mental energies, on such follies, and even on criminal exploits, than employ them in political schemes and pursuits, which would be certain to be directed against Austrian rule and rulers.
The society might have subsisted longer than it did had it not grown foolhardy by long impunity. What at last compelled the police to interfere was as follows:-There lived in the Via Pennacchiari a dwarf known by the nickname of Gasgiott, who earned his living by artificialflower making. He was of a violent and quarrelsome temper, but thought himself a great favourite with the women; none of them, he fancied, could withstand him. One night, as some members of the Teppa happened to be in the Via Pennacchiari, a girl complained to one of them,, Milesi (the author of the MS. consulted by Rovani?), a man of athletic proportions,, that Gasgiott had grossly insulted her. Milesi bestowed on the dwarf a sound thrashing, and carrying him to an inn, where Baron Bontempo, the chief of the Teppa, was waiting for him, suggested shutting up the dwarf, with scanty food, for some time in the country to "cool his blood," which was done. But one idea suggests another: the capture of one dwarf led to a regular hunt after the species, and in a short time about a dozen of them were -shut up in a mansion belonging to Baron Bontempo, called Simonetta, and situate outside the walls of Milan. Then another thought suggested itself to the members of the Teppa.
Among the fine pretences with which they sought to justify their questionable proceedings was the allegation that it was their duty to redress wrongs of which the law took no cognisance. Now, they argued, there are every year hundreds of men, young men, just entering life, and married men with families, ruined through the wiles and the extravagance of designing women, whom the law cannot touch for the injuries they have inflicted on their victims. Many women, notorious for such conduct, some of them ladies of position, and connected with aristocratic families, were then living at Milan. It struck the Turfists they would be suitable companions for the imprisoned dwarfs. The idea was carried out.' About ten ladies were by treachery or force brought to Simonetta, and there shut up with the dwarfs. The orgy that ensued, says Rovani, could only be described by the pen of an Aretino. But it is easy to understand that a number of ladies, so entrapped, would not quietly submit to such abduction or the advances of the dwarfs. The authors of the mischief were only too glad to release them on the very next day, and the dwarfs also. As all the prisoners had been brought to the mansion by roundabout ways, and in close carriages, and were taken away in the same manner, they had no clue to the position of their prison; but a scheme like this could not be carried out without a good many persons being let into the secret; the ladies who had been carried off cried aloud for vengeance, and many young men, belonging to respectable families, who had joined the society from curiosity, or, as they fancied, to increase their own importance, seeing the dangerous practices in which they had involved themselves, were ready to give information. The police could no longer shut its eyes and pretend ignorance, and so one morning, in the year 1821, more than sixty members of the society were arrested, and, for want of more suitable accommodation, at first imprisoned in the convent of St. Mark, whence some were sent to Szegedin and Komorn, or drafted into the army. Many others were arrested afterwards; some of the members made their escape, having been warned beforehand. Thus the society collapsed, between three and four years after its foundation.
The members recognised one another by the one saluting the other with both bands joined, whereupon the other nut his right hand to his side, as if going to place it on the hilt of his sword. There were only two degrees, that of captain and that of simple brother; the former was bound to initiate four new members. General meetings were always held in the same place, special ones in different localities, which were constantly changed. The society was, moreover, divided into two grand centres, the centre of Nobles and that of Commoners.
Utopia.-A society founded at Prague in the fifties, and which had such success that in 1885 it reckoned eightyfive lodges in Germany, Austria, Hungary, Switzerland, and other countries. A council of the league was held at Leipzig in 1876, and another at Prague in 1883. The president of every lodge is called Uhu (screech-owl); at manifestations of joy they cry "Aha! " and at transgressions against the laws of Utopia, "Oho!" The members are divided into three degrees: Squires, Younkers, and Knights ; guests are called Pilgrims. The German name of the society is Allschlaraf a; Schlaraffenland in German means the "land of milk and honey," the land of Cocagne, where roast-pigeons fly into your mouth when you open it, and roasted pigs run about the streets with knife and fork in their backs. From the name, the character of the society may be inferred.
Wahabees.-Thi ssect, the members of which attracted considerable attention in 1871, on account of their suspected connection with the murders of Chief-Justice Norman at Calcutta, and of Lord Mayo in 1872, has the following origin: About 1740 a Mohammedan reformer appeared at Nejd, named Abdu'l Wahab, and conquered great part of Arabia from the Turks. He died in1787,having founded a sect known as the Wahabees. The word Wahab signifies a Bestower of Blessings, and is one of the epithets of God, and Abdul Wahab means the servant of the All Bountiful. The Wahabees took Mecca and Medina, and almost expelled the Turk from the land of the Prophet. But in 1818 the power of these fierce reformers-their doctrine being a kind of Islam Socinianism, allowing no title to adoration to Mohammed-waned in Arabia, to reappear in India under a new leader, one Saiyid Ahmad, who had been a godless trooper in the plundering bands of Amir Khan, the first Nawab of Tonk. But in 1816 he went to Delhi to study law, and his fervid imagination drank in greedily the new subject. He became absorbed in meditation, which degenerated into epileptic trances, in which he saw visions. In three years he left Delhi as a new prophet, and journeying to Patna and Calcutta, was surrounded by admiring crowds, who hung upon his accents, and received with ecstasy the divine lesson to slay the infidel, and drive the armies of the foreigner from India. In 1823 he passed through Bombay to Rohilkhand, and having there raised an army of the faithful, he crossed the land of the Five Rivers, and settled like a thundercloud on the mountains to the northeast of Peshawur. , Since then the rebel camp thus founded has been fed from the head centre at Patna with bands of fanatics, and money raised by taxing the faithful. To account for such success, the reader will have to bear in mind that in Mohammedan countries a doctor of civil law, such as Saiyid Ahmad was, may hold the issues of peace or war in his hands, for with Mohammedans the law and the gospel go together, and the Koran represents both. Akbar, the greatest Mohammedan monarch, was nearly hurled from the height of his power by a decision of the Jaunpur lawyers, declaring that rebellion against him was lawful. And the Wahabee doctrine is, that war must be made on all who are not of their faith, and especially against the British Government, as the great oppressor of the Mohammedan world. Twenty sanguinary campaigns against this rebel host, aided by the surrounding Afghan tribes, have failed to dislodge them; and they remain to encourage any invader of India, any enemy of the English, to whom they would undoubtedly afford immense assistance. Though the general impression in England and India seems to be that the murder of Mr. Norman is not to be attributed to a Wahabee plot, yet so little is known of the constitution, numerical strength, and aims of the secret societies of India, that an overweening confidence in the loyalty of the alien masses-as the Times curiously enough terms them-on the part of the English residents in India, is greatly to be condemned, for there still exists an active propaganda of fanatic Wahabees at great Mussulman centres ; and though the vast Mussulman community throughout India look on the fanatics with dislike or indifference, yet they need careful lookingafter by Government (°1 Cyclopedia of India," by SurgeonGeneral Edward Balfour. Three vols. London, 1885).
A few, lines higher up we referred to secret societies of India; from among these we may specially mention the Mina robber settlement at Shahjahanpur, which town formed part of the possessions. of the Rohilla Patans, whose dominion was overthrown by the British in 1774. The Minas are the descendants of Rohilla chiefs, and the district they occupy being the centre of a small tract of land, entirely surrounded by independent native states, affords them refuge and ready means of escape when pressed by the British police. And they are doubtless fostered and protected by the minor chiefs and head-men of native states, who share the spoil. They are supposed to form a corporation somewhat similar to the Garduna Q06-310- It has been suggested that the Minas, possessing a splendid physique and animal courage, the very qualities needed for such a purpose, should be utilised in frontier and border forces, as, the Mazbis, a similar marauding tribe, were utilised and reclaimed.
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