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

92 HISTORY OF THE PARSTS. [CHAP. III.

far the largest number of Parsis are to be found in Western India. But even there the number is exceedingly small relatively to the total population of the Presidency of Bombay. The Parsis only number 82,091, out of 16,454,414, being one Parsi to every 200 persons. In the city of Bombay, the capital of the Western Presidency of India, where the Parsi population is the largest, viz. 48,597, its number is still very small when compared with the other principal races, the Hindus and Mussulmans, the number of the former being 502,857, and of the latter 158,696, the total of the whole population of all the races being 723,196.

Of the total Parsi population of 85,397 in India, 43,598 are males and 41,799 females. The Parsis have settled in China and other remote places out of India, for purposes of trade, but these outlying settlements do not contain more than 3,000 people. Adding these to the Parsi population in India, it gives a total, in round numbers, of about 88,000. To this must be added about 8,000 in Persia. The number of persons professing at the present day the ancient Zoroastrian faith may therefore be estimated at the approximate figure of 100,000.

Out of the total number of 85,397 Parsis in India, 82,091, as shown above, are in the Western Presidency alone. The rest, 3,306, are spread over the other parts of India. Of those in the Western