CHAPTER XLV.
[(1.)] “Others believe in one who was called Molwa.”—If, as Neumann supposes, a Molla or Mussulman priest is here implied, I would venture to suggest that allusion is made to Hassan, founder of the sect of Assassins or Mulahidah. The partisans of “the Old Man of the Mountain” had not been entirely exterminated by the Mongols, for not only were they in Asia after Marco Polo, but they reappeared in India at a later period, where the Bohras, another Ismailis sect, existed, and with whom they have been frequently confounded. “The nature of their doctrine indeed”, says Colonel Yule (Marco Polo, i, 154), “seems to be very much alike, and the Bohras like the Ismailis attach a divine character to their Mullah or chief pontiff, and make a pilgrimage to his presence once in life”.—Bruun.