History of the Parsis : including their manners, customs, religion and present position : with coloured and other illustrations : in two volumes

58 HISTORY OF THE PARSIS. [CHAP. II.

Mancherji had a son named Sorabji who gained for himself a still more honourable name than either his father or uncles. He has left an imperishable reputation among the Parsis for his benevolence of character and charitable disposition. During the ereat Gujarat famine thousands of starving persons came to Bombay from that province in search of food, and Sorabji fed these people twice a day for nearly a whole year. There was no charitable institution in the city which did not benefit by his purse, and his name was associated with many acts of benevolence. He was a merchant by profession, and had two ships of his own, the Shah Minocher and Shah Kaikhoshru. He traded extensively with China, in partnership with Mahomed Ali bin Mahomed Husen Rogay.*

In the year 1757 a Parsi named Beramji Homji was rewarded by the Hon. Mr. Bourchier, Governor of Bombay, with a free grant of land in recognition of some important services rendered by him to the East India Company. He was an influential man in his

bay, an Armenian who was a fellow-passenger, and who pretended to have a knowledge of astrology, informed him that if after his death he allowed his bones to mix with those of any other person his wealth and his family would soon be extinct. He therefore ordered a tower of silence to be built for himself, but it so happened that he died before its completion. His body was therefore covered and deposited on the hill for a month, by which time the tower was ready, and it was then placed in it with due ceremony. 1 Grandfather of Mr, Mahomed Ali Rogay.