CHAPTER XXII. 



THE PARSIS 



Origin — settlement in India after Mohammedan invasion — tower 

 of silence — dress — benevolence — we go to a wedding — 

 religion. 



By far the most superior of the natives of India 

 who have come to Zanzibar are the Parsis, mostly 

 from Bombay. They are a most interesting people, 

 quite different in nearly every way from the other 

 children of India. They are, to begin with, very 

 much lighter in colour, most of them being as light 

 as the people of Southern Europe, and some even 

 lighter. None of them, resident in Zanzibar, ap- 

 pear to have any colour in their cheeks, and the 

 children, perhaps from the climate, are too lead- 

 coloured. 



Their name of Parsi is taken from their original 

 country " Pars " or " Ears " in Persia. It was after 

 the Mohammedan invasions (the first of which be- 

 gan A.D. 633) and conquest, that the rich Parsis, 

 rather than give up their own religion as followers 

 of the prophet Zoroaster, left their homes, and after 

 many vicissitudes landed in India at Din, a.d. 697, 



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