THE PARSIS 



four wells sunk thirty and forty feet deep outside 

 the tower — they are connected by drains with the 

 pit in the centre ; charcoal and sandstones drain 

 and purify the fluid before it enters the wells, and 

 at the bottom of them there is sand for five or 

 seven feet. The building of a "dokhina," or tower 

 of silence is attended with much ceremony, both 

 when laying the foundation-stone and on comple- 

 tion. Parsis then take the opportunity of seeing it 

 and Europeans are allowed to do so too, but after 

 it has been consecrated it is closed against both. 

 It is really a most sanitary method of disposing of 

 the dead — very much better than pointing the 

 ground by burying, although I have heard it stated 

 by Anglo-Indians that there is a certain disadvan- 

 tage in the vultures eating the flesh, as they are apt 

 to carry stray fingers some distance, and drop them 

 into people's gardens. It was not found possible to 

 build a tower of silence in Zanzibar, so there they 

 have a cemetery for burial of their dead. 



Now many Parsis follow various professions, 

 viz., that of the law, medicine or engineering ; most 

 of them, though, are merchants and contractors, 

 others clerks, many of these last in Government 

 employ. Some of each have settled in Zanzibar. 

 The barristers dress absolutely like Englishmen, but 

 the others still retain their headdress, which reminds 

 one of the mouthpiece of a flute, made of some 

 shiny material, either of black or mauve spotted with 



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