the influence of a hot temperature, or brandy and
soda, as the case may he.
Sightseers, of course, go and stare at the Dokhmar
or Tower of Silence, where the Parsees deposit their
dead on a sort of gridiron, suspended in mid-air, over
which hover a number of vultures ready to make a
sudden descent upon every new arrival. There are
many unpleasant tales related of the habits of these
voracious brutes, too disgusting to be committed to
paper, and I will merely add that it is perfectly true
th a t the victim’s eye is always the first object of
attack, which causes much fighting amongst them.
As a counterpart, I may as well state at once th a t
the Hindus show the greatest respect for their dead.
They reverently carry them on a bier, covered with
flowers, excepting the face, and place them on a
funeral pile for cremation, generally near the water’s
edge, the latter receiving the ashes. The height of
the pile, as well as the quantity of the wood supplied,,
depends upon the position and the caste of the
deceased. Sandalwood is in much request for this
purpose, although only used by the rich.
The Parsees, who are very numerous at Bombay,
look down upon the Hindus as idolaters. They pride
themselves upon the antiquity and purity of then-
own religion, and ascribe the Zend Avesta (Zend—
commentary, and Avesta—original or sacred text) to
Zoroaster, the spiritual head of the ancient Persians.
TTis doctrine is founded on the worship of the Sun
—“Fire,” its emblems on earth—as representing the
creative and preserving elements, the source of all
organic life. The earliest fragments of the Avesta,
the five Gathas, his followers believe to have been
composed fifteen hundred years B.C., and the whole
collected about a thousand years later, thus accords
ing closely with Buddha’s appearance in India (as
also with a great historical event, the capture of
Babylon by Cyrus, B.C. 538, which foreshadowed the
period of the most glorious dynasty in Persian
history, and which came to an end when two centuries
later Alexander the Great conquered Persia).
One afternoon I was asked to witness the curious
ceremony of a Parsee wedding, and a very grand and
costly affair it was to be. On reaching the quarter
inhabited by these so-called “ Fire worshippers,” I
found the entire street lined with men and women
in their festive attire, the former in white, and
the latter in gay-coloured silks, and covered with
jewellery. The inside of the parental house, the
bridegroom’s father’s, where the company assembled,
was crowded to excess with relations and friends of
the betrothed couple ; and here were exhibited the