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

xxvi . INTRODUCTION.

runner of many other agencies subsequently created for the spread of education by the efforts of the Parsis themselves. Their value is clearly shown in the result, for among no Hastern population has education made more rapid strides, or is 1t more generally spread, than among our community. The natural consequence has followed in the Parsis turning their attention to matters outside trade. They have adopted the professions with zeal, and their worldly success has grown with the increase of their opportunities, notwithstanding the great adversity through which they passed at the time of “the share mania.” I have supplied the facts in the chapter on Education that bear out this statement, and the Parsis are naturally proud of the position which many of their members have gained in the Government services, at the Bar, and in the medical and other professions. The Parsis have attracted notice not merely by their general aptitude, but still more particularly for their exceptional fluency in speaking English. In all these matters the rising generation of Parsis promises to show as marked a progress over the last generation as that itself did over the Parsis of the olden time.

Qn one point I feel sure that the sympathies of the English reader will be with the efforts of my people, and that is on the subject of female education.

In Asiatic countries that question presents peculiar