esday. The road was monotonous and dusty; however, the
nights were cool and comfortable. Our compartment, although commodious,
was covered with, it seemed, the dust of ages, but on pointing it out to
our stupid servant he immediately took off his turban of white cheese
cloth and mopped with it the seats and floor, shook off the dust,
literally, and replaced it in form of a turban, slightly changed in
coloring. The chiaroscuro was striking. The meals obtained at the
stations were most unattractive.

Bombay is built upon an island, although the separation from the
mainland is scarcely perceptible. The waters of the bay are studded with
islands, and the harbor is capacious enough for the commerce of the
world. The beautiful road skirting the bay leads to Malabar Hill, upon
which are the homes of the foreign officials, and upon this boulevard is
the exquisite statue in white marble, most delicately carved, of Queen
Victoria in her palmy day appearance, when youth and hope make the
countenance brighter. This statue was rudely defaced during the recent
plague (1899) by unknown hands. On the summit of Malabar Hill are the
Towers of Silence, surrounded by a grove of palm trees, with well laid
out grounds. On either side of the entrance to these towers are chapels
on whose altar burns the unquenchable fire and in whose purification the
following of Zoroaster believe.

There are eighty steps to ascend to reach these towers, the place where
the Parsee dead are deposited. Four carriers support the bier, followed
closely by two long-bearded men (who alone enter the tower, handling the
corpse with tongs and gloved hands). Fifty or a hundred men follow, two
by two (clothed in white, with the funnel-shaped hat worn by the
Parsees). One peculiarity of this solemn procession was the tying of the
right and left hand of each couple, which had some religious
signification. A short burial service is held in the chapel and then the
body deposited at the foot of a ladder that clings to and reaches the
door of the tower. This aperture is about five feet from the top of the
tower, wherein lies a gridiron circular in form, ready for the dead.
The tower is cylindrical in shape, built of strong masonry, at a cost of
from $100,000 to $150,000. There are four of these in the enclosure; the
largest is twenty-five feet high, and from eighty to one hundred feet in
diameter. A deep well is underneath the tower, and as the flesh is
consumed by the vultur