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

CHAP. III.] PARST CHILDREN. 97

The great weight of Parsi children as compared with the development of children born of other races is also a further proof of the vitality of this race. It has attracted the attention of even medical authorities. The largest percentage of children under one year of age in each class of the population of Bombay is among the Parsis.*

We have already referred to the large survival of infants as evidence of the high state of civilisation among the Parsi people. The proportion of children to full-grown women found in 1881 in each race also indicated greater vitality and greater care of infant life in the Parsi population than among any other class in Bombay. It will be of interest to know the proportion of children to full-grown women in each race, The percentage of children under two years of age to women of the ages between fifteen and fortyfive, according to the census report of 1881, was among Hindu of other castes, 22°24; Hindu low castes, 24°60; Mussulman, 24:9; Jew, 25°19; Eurasian, 29°95; European, 33°69; Parsi, 30°27.

The proportion of males to females in 1881 among the Parsis was 108 to 100, but the balance of the sexes was more equal than in 1872. In the indigenous popula-

1 Jain, 183; Brahman, 2°51; Lingaet, 2:23; Bhattia, 2:7; Hindus of other castes, 2°79; Hindu low castes, 3°54 ; Mussulman, 3°03 ; Negro-African, 1:16; Jew, 3°44; Native Christian and

Goanese, 2°49; Hurasian, 3°77; European, 3:12; Buddhist, -59; Parsi, 4°09.

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