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

INTRODUCTION. . xxi

the Parsis enjoyed no inconsiderable share of the profitable trade with China, which was steadily increasing during the whole of that generation. The greatest fortunes among the Parsis were made in this manner, and the well-known Sir Jamshedji Jijibhai amassed by this means the wealth which he was subsequently able to dispense with such generous beneficence.

But, strangely enough, after the treaty of Nankin in 1842, and also, it must be added, after the introduction of steam navigation, the share of the Parsis in the China trade gradually dwindled, and their place was taken by the large Jew firms of Bombay and Calcutta. I will not attempt to explain the causes of this to us regrettable loss of a foremost share in the most remunerative branch of the external trade of India; but the reader will find in the first two chapters of the second volume a sufficiently complete description of the principal of these merchants, and of the families of which they were the founders.

But the Parsis did not restrict their attention to the China trade. They turned their energies into whatever channel seemed to afford a profitable return, and thus they were to be found in almost every industry and profession keenly emulating the enterprise of Europeans. In no other department was this more conspicuous than in shipbuilding, where it seemed as if the conditions were more arduous, and