a quarter of beef.

An entirely different mode of burial is used among the Parsees, who are
descendants of the ancient Persians, and live in the western part of
India where they were driven from Iran by the Mohammedans. They profess
the religion of Zoroaster and are fire-worshipers. They regard the
earth, air, water and fire as sacred objects, but a corpse, on the
contrary, as something unclean, and therefore they would not pollute the
fire by burning the dead, nor soil the earth or the sea by burying them.
In place of this they expose the dead bodies in the open air to be
devoured by birds of prey. For this purpose are erected towers of stone,
on the top of which are iron grates to put the bodies on. In one of the
suburbs of Bombay are three such towers on Malabar hill. They are called
"The Towers of Silence." Each of them has only one entrance, and they
are about twenty feet high. Large flocks of ravens and vultures surround
them sitting on branches of the palm trees in the vicinity. As soon as a
corpse is exposed there is a fierce rush for it, and within an hour the
birds have consumed everything except, of course, the bones, which drop
down into a vault under the tower, or are thrown there by means of tongs
held by gloved servants, who afterward clean themselves by bathing and
change of clothing.

CHAPTER XXII.

Heathenism and Christianity--The Religion of the Hindoos--Caste--The
Brahmins--Their Tyranny--Superstition--The Influence of
Christianity--Keshub-Chunder-Sen, the Indian Reformer--His faith and
Influence.

Having given a sketch of the divine worship, religious rites and
sacrificial feasts of the Hindoos, I shall now call the attention of the
reader to a brief description of their religion and spiritual culture in
general.

"In the hoary past India had mighty religious leaders and authors who
laid claim to divine authority. Religious systems were announced, and
voluminous, erudite verses were published for the guidance of the
people, or rather the Brahmins or priests, which writings are still the
Bibles of the Hindoos. The most important of these books are called
'Vedas,' 'Shastras,' and 'Puranas.' The lively imagination of the
authors and the religious enthusiasm of the people were not content with
a few deities, therefore their number has been increased from time to
time, until they now amount to thirty-three million gods and goddesses.
The most important of the former are Brahma, Visnu