22 TOWER OF SILENCE. 



the influence of a hot temperature, or brandy and 

 soda, as the case may be. 



Sightseers, of course, go and stare at the Dokhma, 

 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 

 that 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 that 

 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 their 

 own rehgion, and ascribe the Zend Avesta (Zend — 



