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

54 HISTORY OF THE PARSTS. [CHAP. II.

changed. ands once fertile had become dreary wastes, and fields where the golden corn had waved, now deserted by the husbandman, afforded pasture for wild animals ; while the ploughshares were beaten into swords, and the pruning-hooks had been exchanged for spears. Hence the country which had been the home of peace and prosperity was thrown into the greatest confusion, and hordes of robbers, driven to crime by the distress of the times, traversed every part of the land, perpetrating the most cruel atrocities.

Persia once fallen never revived, but sank gradually into its present insignificance. Perhaps no country in the world has witnessed so many revolutions as that unhappy land. The tyrants who have filled the throne owed their elevation to treachery and bloodshed. The followers of every religion, with the exception of that of Islam, have endured constant persecution, while those of the inhabitants who adhered to the ancient faith of Zoroaster have experienced the greatest barbarities. Constant oppression and tyranny have naturally reduced their numbers. In less than two centuries after the invasion the greater part of the population had embraced Islamism. In the tenth century of the Christian era remnants of the Zoroastrian population were only to be found in the provinces of Fars and Kerman; and the reader may form an idea of