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

CHAP. I1.] THE GUEBRES. 63

their co-religionists in India for rescue. The few who from time to time have found their way to Bombay often asked the question, “Cannot the influential Parsis of Bombay do something to relieve our countrymen in Persia through the representation of the British ambassador to the court of Teheran ? The court of St. Petersburg, and other European powers, have obtained various rights and privileges for the Christian inhabitants of Persia, and why cannot the English do as much for the Parsis?” This appeal did not remain unanswered, as will be seen later on, by the Parsis of Bombay.

It is not to be concealed that the Persian Government has very negligently observed its promises in regard to the Christians who inhabit its dominions. In the capital, where these people are immediately under the protection of the ambassadors of the Christian courts, their condition is comparatively easy, but in the provinces they are a prey, equally with the Jews and the Parsis, to the tyranny of the local governors and the fanatical race among whom they dwell.

The treatment which the Zoroastrians endure at the hands of the Mahomedan subjects of the Persian monarchy is harsh and oppressive. They are contemptuously styled “ Guebres,” and experience from the Mussulmans much the same sort of treatment as the low-caste Mahar in India receives at the hands of