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

go HISTORY OF THE PARSTS. [CHAP, II.

passage of myriads of busy feet and the march of heavy bodies of soldiery in ancient times, where now even the caravan dare not pass, and the wild robbers of the hills gain a precarious subsistence by plundering the plains, or by tending cattle, which form their sole source of wealth. Im short, here is a country, once the most powerful, groaning under fanatical and despotic rulers, while the few descendants of the ancient race that created its glory are sunk into utter insignificance. We again say that the history of no other race more forcibly reminds us of the instability of human grandeur. To a Parsi, however, the decline and fall of the old Persian empire are and must always be a subject of peculiar interest. That strong feeling of association which binds to the present the memory of the last stages of a man’s private existence,—that same feeling recalls vividly to our minds the memory of what our forefathers were. Our race in India enjoys, under the English rule, all the blessings of an enlightened and liberal government; and our only wish is that our brethren on Persian soil may yet be as happy and as fortunate

as we are ourselves.