532 The National Geographic Magazine 



life, have lived the worthy descendants 

 of the ancient Persian people, true to 

 their faith, and have substantially pre- 

 served and transmitted the main char- 

 acteristics of their ancestral race. The 

 Parsee stands unique in the history of 

 mankind. 



The Parsees of India have been ex- 

 ceedingly prosperous and have steadily 

 increased in number, now being vari- 

 ously estimated at about 100,000 souls. 

 They are most numerous in Bombay. A 

 few have settled in China and remote 

 places in India for the purpose of trade, 

 but these outlying settlements do not 

 contain more than perhaps 4,000 people. 

 It is calculated that about 85 per cent of 

 the Parsees in India reside in the Bom- 

 bay presidency, which was found by the 

 census taken by the government of India 

 in 1901 to be 78,552. Of these 46,231 

 reside in city of Bombay. 



On the spread of Mohammedanism to 

 India they became again the subject of 

 persecution. Since the occupation of 

 India by the British they have fared 

 better, and now form a peaceful, intelli- 

 gent, wealthy, and influential commu- 

 nity. 



PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS 



Physically they are tall and erect, hav- 

 ing remarkably small hands and feet, 

 with facial features resembling the Eu- 

 ropeans. They have a quickness of ac- 

 tion bordering on nervousness. Their 

 hair is jet black and their eyes are dark. 

 In their manners they are exceedingly 

 polite, kind, and hospitable, often put- 

 ting themselves to great inconvenience 

 to accommodate a stranger. In the 

 habit of diet they are religiously ab- 

 stemious, and are exceedingly temperate 

 in the use of tobacco and intoxicating 

 liquors. 



Excepting, perhaps, fis'n, fowl, and 

 mutton, they are not a "meat-eating 

 people." Iyike most oriental nations, 

 a principal food among them is rice, 

 served in curries and in a hundred (lif- 

 erent ways. 



Fully three-fifths of the population of 

 the globe live on rice ; the founders of 

 the five great religions of the world 

 were nourished by it. It might be worth 

 while for scientists to look a little more 

 closely into the brain-making qualities 

 of this worthy food. 



They were never known to have prac- 

 ticed the barbarous custom of ' ' suttee, ' 1 

 the burning of the widow on the funeral 

 pyre with the corpse of her husband, or 

 of following their Hindoo neighbors in 

 the cruel practice of prohibiting their 

 widows, often mere infants, from re- 

 marrying. They are also free from the 

 caste system so rigidly practiced by the 

 Hindoos. Since they have freed them- 

 selves from Hindoo influences and be- 

 come amenable to Western civilization, 

 the practice of infant marriage has sub- 

 stantially ceased among them. Their 

 women are treated with respectful con- 

 sideration and have long since been lib- 

 erated from the seclusion of the zenana 

 and the use of the purdah. 



The long, flowing " saree" of many 

 silken tints, wrapped about the body 

 in graceful folds, gives to the female 

 Parsee a garment of exquisite beauty 

 and rare comfort. It would be a matter 

 of great regret if this graceful dress 

 should give place to modern European 

 fashion, with the tight corset and the 

 high- heeled shoe, that destroy the grace- 

 ful carriage and health of the wearer. 



The Parsee women are generally of 

 good figure and of pleasing and intelli- 

 gent countenance. Many of them have 

 a light olive complexion and are consid- 

 ered very handsome. They appear to 

 great disadvantage by being obliged to 

 conceal their hair, of which nature has 

 graced them in a most luxuriant manner, 

 under the " mathabana," a custom re- 

 garded as a token of feminine modesty. 

 A Parsee historian states that there is 

 no injunction against keeping the head 

 uncovered ; yet the Parsees have imbibed 

 the notion, supported by long usage and 

 originally imported from Persia, that it 

 is sinful and contrary to religion to leave 



