Howard, E. I.: The Shia school of Islam and its branches, especially that of the Imamee-Ismailies: a speech delivered in the Bombay High Court in June, 1866 (Bombay, 1866)

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in Islam. Iixdeed it is absurd to suppose it possible that a nation or
tribe should have been suffered by their neighbours, or could possibly
have existed as prof eased murderers for a period of 150 years. One

thinks of the famous cats of Kilkenny.-------------

The Judge : "What is the Etymology of the word " Assassins" 1
Me. Howard : The word comes from " Haschish." I may men-
tion here that the most valuable thing in Von Hammer's History
is the interesting paper at the end written by Be Sacy ; from which
it appears that the Ismaili Haschishin, known to the Crusaders, were
so called from the use of " haschish," and that the word was corrupted
into " Assassins" by the Europeans. We know how innocent words
become by religious spite, dyslogistic. The word "miscreant," by
origin, only means one who believes amiss, yet to all' ears, it now
denotes one who is steeped in the last degree of infamy. A " Jew"
means a sordid, cheating usurer; a " Turk" a furious bully. A
" Jesuit" a scheming liar. So with these Ismaili employers of
hashisch; they are gibbeted for ever as professional murderers. Your
Lordship will probably recollect that in Dumas' novel of Monte Cristo,
the effect of a dose, of hashisch is described. The use the Assassins
made of it is not quite certain. One story which is told by Marco
Polo the Venetian traveller of the 14th century, is very curious.
He says that when the Old Man of the Mountains met witli a strong
and likely young man whom he thought fit to serve his purpose, he
invited him to supper, in the course of which hashich was given him.
The guest straightway fell into a swoon. Whilst in that condition he
was conveyed into a delightful garden, where on his awaking, he
found himself surrounded by beautiful young women and by all kinds
of objects that delighted the senses. He was allowed to enter into
the enjoyments of the place, and after a while, more haschish was
given him, when again he fell into a trance, on recovering from which
he found himself sitting at table with the Grand Master, by whom he
was told, on recounting what he had witnessed, that it was but an
imperfect vision of Paradise which would be the reward of all who
became the Shaik's followers. We know the carnal scheme of Mahom-
med's Paradise, and the promise of dark-eyed houris, whose caresses
all good Mussulmans are taught to expect at the moment of death,
and probably such a realistic production of those heavenly joys was
an admirably contrived device to influence the novice. Another