PARSIS AND ANTELOPE 



below, whence they are removed by the relatives, through 

 subterranean passages under the towers and cast into the 

 sea. 



Curiously enough, however, the Parsis, except for this 



barbarous fashion of treating their defunct relations, are 



1 singularly civilized and intelligent race. Believed to be 



lescendants of the ancient Persians who migrated to India 



on the conquest of their country by the Arabs, they appear 



to have settled down in large numbers in Bombay, where 



they are frequently to be found filling important positions 



both under Government and in the conmiercial world. 



are mostly good scholars too, and almost invariably 



.^.,-.k several languages. 



In addition to their curious burial customs they have 

 some others almost as unique as, for instance, the practice 

 »>f benevolence, which being one of the great principles of 

 their religion is carried to such an extent that a Parsi 

 beggar is a thing unknown. Then again, they are Fire- 

 Worshippers, and as such probably the only people in the 

 world who do not smoke, as their intense reverence for 

 this element debars them from using it for so trivial a 

 purpose as the smoking of a hookah, pipe, or cigar. In 

 fact, taking them all round, the Parsis would appear to be 

 the most unique and interesting people of any that inhabit 

 British India, as they are probably the most enlightened. 



After a stay of two or three days in Bombay, I prepared 

 to set out on my journey to Guzerat, part of which was to 

 be performed by train and the rest by road in bullock 

 carts. This last is a mode of travel much disliked by 

 Europeans as a rule, being slow and generally imcomfort- 

 ible, but I was looking forward to it for I had learnt from 

 mquirics I had made that the road passed through vast 

 cultivated plains on which antelopes in hundreds were 

 frequently to be seen. 



This discovery naturally roused my sporting instincts, 

 but it had come so unexpectedly that it found me un- 

 |>i< pared. For some reason unexplained — fimmcial, most 

 l>r(»bably ! — neither a gun nor a ritle had been included in 

 my outfit, and I had hitherto trusted to being able to beg, 

 I"-- ■ ■• or steal one or the other from my father when we 



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