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

INTRODUCTION. xvii

on trade in Gujarat and along the western coast of India generally. Of these the principal at first was Surat, and there the Parsis were employed as middlemen or commission agents, not more by the Portuguese and Dutch than by the English. In fact it was owing to the representations of the last named that the Parsis first settled in Bombay, and that at a date preceding the transfer of that place from the hands of the Portuguese to the English im the year 1668.

Parsi prosperity may be said to date from the first connection with the English, and still more precisely from the time of settlement in Bombay. But it is a characteristic fact in the history of my people that they have invariably lived on good terms with the other races with whom they happen to have been brought into contact, no matter how different their creeds and their customs, and that they have always adapted themselves to circumstances, however unpleasant they might be. I have traced their career, in as close detail as the meagreness of the authorities extant will allow, from the time of their expatriation to the present hour, when they occupy so prominent and honourable a position in the Indian community, which enjoys tranquil security under the strong arm of English power. While it will be seen that they have throughout possessed the happy knack of getting on well with everybody, they have retained almost