A Zoroastrian baptism in Persia. Etching after B. Picart.

"The Gaures never circumcise, but wash, their children, which is a kind of baptism, or ceremony, practis'd by them, as they say, for the purification of the soul. The new-born infant is brought to church, and presented to the Hyrbad before the sun and the fire, who holds the child for a few moments over the latter by way of sanctification. 'As soon as a child is born', according to Lord, the priest, (whom he calls Daroo) 'waits on the parents, at their own house; and after he has made a memorandum of the hour and moment in which the child came into the world, he calculates his nativity; after that he consults with the father and mother about the name, and when the point is fully settled and adjusted, the latter, without any further ceremony, declares the child's name before all the company then present.' 'Tis after the performance of all this, that the child is carried to church (which Lord calls Eggareum) where the priest takes some clean water, and pours it on the bark of a certain tree, which the same author calls a Holm. In the next place, he sprinkles the infant with this consecrated water, and prays that it may contribute towards his purification. This baptismal ceremony is performed, according to Tavernier, by plunging or dipping the infant all over in a kind of tub, or bathing vessel, set apart for that purpose. The two former ceremonies are delineated in the print annexed."--Picart, loc. cit.