occupy the ladies, with the addition of Jace, jewels, intrigues, and the latest fashions; or, if there be any newly-ar rived young women, the making and breaking matches for them furnish employment for the ladies of the colony till the arrival of the next cargo. Such is the company at an English Bombay feast. The repast itself is as costly as possible, and in such profusion that no part of the table-cloth remains uncovered. But the dinner is scarcely touched, as every person eats a hearty meal called tiffin, at two o'clock, at home. Each guest brings his own servant, sometimes two or three; these are either Parsees or Mussulmans. It appears singular to a stranger to see behind every white man's chair, a dark, long bearded, turbaned gentleman, who usually stands so close to his master, as to make no trifling addition to the heat of the apartment; indeed, were it not for the punka, (a large frame of wood covered with cloth,) which is suspended over every table, and kept constantly swinging, in order to freshen the air, it would scarcely be possible to sit out the melancholy ceremony of an Indian dinner.

On leaving the eating-room, one generally sees or hears, in some place near the door, the cleaning of dishes, and the squabbling of cooks for their perquisites. If they are within sight, one perceives a couple of dirty Portuguese (black men who eat pork and wear breeches) directing the operations of half a dozen still dirtier Pariahs, who are scraping dishes and plates with their hands, and then, with the same unwashen paws, putting aside the next day's tiffin for their master's table.

The equipage that conveys one from a party, if one does not use a palankeen, is curious. The light and elegant figure of the Arab horses is a strong contrast with the heavy carriages and clumsy harness generally seen here; the coach map is always a whiskered Parsee, with a gay-coloured turban, and a muslin or chiniz gown, and there are generally two massalgees, or torch-bearers, and some times two horse-keepers, to run before

one.

On getting home, one finds a sepoy or peon walking sound the open virandas of the house, as a guard. We have four of these servants, two of whom remain in the house for twenty-four hours, when they are rehered by the two others. These men carry messages, go to market, and attend to the removal of goods or furniture, bat will carry nothing theinselves heavier than a small book. The

female servants are Portuguese, and they only act as ladies'-maids, all household work being done by men, as well as the needle-work of the family.

ENGLISH MANUFACTURES.

In Bombay there are a good many Banyans, or travelling merchants, who come mostly from Guzerat, and roam about the country with muslins, cottoncloth, and shawls, to sell. On opening one of their bales, I was surprised to find at least half of its contents of British manufacture, and such articles were much cheaper than those of equal fineness from Bengal and Madras. Excepting a particular kind of chintz made at Poonah, and painted with gold and silver, there are no fine cotton-cloths made on this side of the peninsula; yet still it seems strange, that cotton carried to England, manufactured, and returned to this country, should undersell the fabrics of India, where labour is so cheap. But I believe this is owing partly to the uncertainty and difficulty of carriage here, although the use of machinery at home must be the main cause. The shawls are brought here direct from Cashmeer, by the native merchants of that country, so that we sometimes get them cheap and beautiful. The Banyans ought to be Hindoos, though I have known Mussulmans adopt the name, with the profession; their distinguishing turban is so formed as to present the shape of a rhinoceros' horn in front, and it is generally red.

NATIVE MANNERS.

On first coming here, one would imagine that none of the people ever slept at night; for, besides that the copper smiths and blacksmiths generally work all night, and sleep all day, on account of the heat, there are processious going) about from sunset till sunrise, with tomtoms (small drums), kettle-drums, citarrs, vins, pipes, and a kind of large brazen trumpet, which requires two people to carry it, making altogether the most horrible din I ever heard. These processi ons, with the picturesque dresses of the natives, and their graceful attitudes, the torches carried by children, and the little double pipe blown by boys, whose wildness might make them pass for satyrs, put one strongly in mind of the ancient Bacchanals. It is usually on account of marriages that these nocturnal feasts are held; when they are in honour of a god," they take place in the day, when the deity is carried on a litter in triumph, with banners before and behind, and priests carrying flowers, and milk and

rice, while hardly any one joins the procession without an offering. All this looks very well at a distance, but, when one comes near, one is shocked at the meanness and inelegance of the god, and at the filth and wretchedness of his votaries.

THE PARSEES.

It appears that there have been two legislators of the name of Zoroaster, one of whom lived in times of such remote antiquity, that no dependence can be placed on the traditions concerning him. The last flourished as late as the reign of Darius, the son of Cambyses. He appears to have reformed the religion of his country, which there is reason to think was till that time the same with that of India, to have built the first fine temples, and to have written the books of Guebre laws, of which only some fragments remain.

The Parsees acknowledge a good principle under the name of Hormuzd, and an evil principle under that of Abrimane. Subordinate to Hormuzd, the ferishta, or angels, are charged with the creation and preservation of the material world. The sun, the moon, and the stars, the years, the months, and the days, have each their presiding angel; angels attend on every human soul, and an angel receives it when it leaves the body. Myrh, or Mithra, is the ferishta to whom this important charge is assigned, as well as that of judging the dead; he is also the guardian of the sun, and presides over the sixth month, and the sixth day of the month. The good ferishta have corresponding evil genii, who endeavour to counteract them in all their functions; they particularly encourage witchcraft, and willingly hold converse with enchan ters of both sexes, sometimes revealing truly the secrets of futurity for inalicious purposes. As in other countries, the old, the ugly, and the miserable, are stigmarized as witches, and the Indian Bramins are regarded by the Guebres as powerful magicians.

Fire is the chief object of external worship among the Parsecs. In each atsh khaneh, or fire-house, there are two fires, one of which it is lawful for the vulgar to behold, but the other, atsh. baharam, is kept in the most secret and holy part of the temple, and is approached only by the chief dustoor; it must not be visited by the light of the sun, and the chimneys for carrying off the smoke are so constructed as to exclude his rays. The atsh-babaram must be composed of

five different kinds of fire, among which I was surprised to hear the dustoor mention that of a funeral pile, as the Guebres expose their dead; but he told me that it was formerly lawful to return the body to any of the four elements; that is, to bury it in the earth or in the water, to burn or to expose it, but that the latter only is now practised; consequently, if the atsh-baharam goes out, they must travel to such nations as burn their dead, to procure the necessary ingredient to rekindle it. When the last atshkhaneh was built in Bombay, a portion of the sacred fire was brought from the altar at Yezd, in a golden censer, by land, that it might not be exposed to the perils of the sea,

The sun and the sea partake with fire in the adoration of the Guebres. Their prayers, called zemzemé, are repeated in a low murmuring tone, with the face turned towards the rising or the setting sun, and obeisance is made to the sea and to the full moon. The Parsee year is divided into twelve lunar months, with intercalary days, but there is no division of time into weeks. The festivals are the nowroze, or day of the new year, and six following days; the first of every month, and the day on which the name of the day and that of the month agree, when the same forishta presides over both.

A Parsee marries but one wife, excepting when he has no couldren; then, with the consent of the first, he may take a second. An adopted child miherits equally with legitimate children, but, if there be none, before all other relations. The death of a father is observed as an annual festival. The body must not touch wood after death; it is accordingly laid upon an iron bier, to be conveyed to the repository for the dead, where it is left exposed to the air till it is consumed. In Bombay these repositories. are square inclosures, surroun led by high walls: the vulgar Parsees superstitiously watch the corpse, to see which eye is first devoured by the birds, and thence angor the happiness or misery of the soul.

The sacred books are in the Zend and Pehlavi languages, both ancient dialects of Persia. The fragments of these which escaped during the troubles that followed the Mahomedan conquest of Persin, are all that the Guebres have to direct either their practice or their faith; and, where these are found insufficient, the dustoors supply rules from their own judgment, The chief doctrines of the itmoning

books

books respect future rewards and pu. nishments, injunctions to honour parents, and to marry early, that the chain of being be not interrupted, and prohibitions of murder, theft, and adultery.

When the Guebres were driven from their own country by the Mussulmans, a considerable body of them resolved to seek a new land, and accordingly put to sea, where they suffered great hardships. After attempting to settle in various places, they at length reached Suujum in Guzerat, and sent their chief dustoor, Abah, on shore, to ask an asylum. This was granted by the Rajah on certain conditions, and a treaty to the following effect was drawn up: The Guebres shall have a place allotted to them for the performance of their religious and burial rites; they shall have lands for the main tenance of themselves and their families; they shall conform to the Hindoo customs with regard to marriages, and in their dress; they shall not carry arms; they shall speak the language of Guzerat, that they may become as one people with the original inhabitants; and they shall ab stain from killing and eating the cow. To these conditions the Parsees have scrupulously adhered, and they have always been faithful to their protectors.

The Parsees in British India enjoy every privilege, civil and religious. They are governed by their own punchait, or village council. The word panchait lite rally ineans a council of five, but that of the Guebres in Bombay consists of thir teen of the principal merchants of the sect; these were chosen originally by the people, confirmed by the government, and have continued hereditary. This little council decides all questions of property, subject however to an ap peal to the recorder's court; but an appeal seldom happens, as the panchait is jealous of its authority, and is consequently cautious in its decisions. It superintends all marriages and adoptions, and inquires into the state of every individual in the community; its members would think themselves disgraced if any Parsee were to receive assistance from a person of a different faith; accordingly, as soon as the children of a poor man are old enough to marry, which, in conformity to the Hindoo custom, is at five or six years of age, the chief merchants subscribe a sufficient sum to portion the child; in cases of sickness, they support the individual or the family, and maintain all the widows and fatherless.

The panchaît consists both of dustoors

and laymen; all religious ceremonies and festivals come under its cognizance, toge. ther with the care of the temples, the adjusting the almanack, and the subsistence and life of the dogs. I could not learn with certainty the origin of the extreme veneration of the Parsees for this animal; every morning the rich merchants employ koolis to go round the streets with baskets of provision for the wild dogs; and, when a Parsee is dying, he must have a dog in bis chamber to fix his closing eyes upon. Some believe. that the dog guards the soul, at the moment of its separation from the body, from the evil spirits; others say that the veneration for the dogs is peculiar to the Indian Guebres, and that it arose from their having been saved from shipwreck in their emigration to India, by the barking of the dogs announcing their approach to the land in a dark night.

The Parsees use some solemnities when they name their children, which is done at five or six months old; when the muslin shirt is put on the first time, a sacred fire is lighted, prayers are repeated, and the name is given. Since their intercourse with Europeans, they persist in calling this ceremony christening, because it is performed when the first or proper name is given; the second name is a patronymic; thus Nurozejee Junsheedjee, is Norozejee the son of Jumsheedjee.

The Parsees are the richest individuals on this side of India, and most of the great merchants are partners in British commercial houses. They have generally two or three fine houses, besides those they let to the English; they keep a number of carriages and horses, which they lend willingly, not only to Euro peans, but to their own poor relations, whom they always support. They often give dinners to the English gentlemen, and drink a great deal of wine, particularly Madeira. The Guebre women enjoy more freedom than other oriental females, but they have not yet thought of cultivating their minds. Perhaps this is owing in great measure to the early marriages which, in compliance with the lindoo customs, they contract. By becoming the property of their husbands in their infancy, they never think of acquir ing a further share of their affection, and, with the hope of pleasing, one great incitement to mental improvement is cut

off.

The Parsees are in general a handsome large people, but they have a more