is
procured in a golden censer from Mount Elbourg, near Yezd, where
resides the chief pontiff, and where the holy flame is perpetually
maintained. The Behram fire is said to have had its origin from the
natural bituminous fires on the shores of the Caspian, and to have
never been extinguished. It is supposed to be fed with sandal and
other precious and aromatic woods, and is kept burning on a silver
grating.

The Parsees are the only Eastern nation who abstain from smoking. They
do not eat food cooked by a person of another religion, and object to
beef and pork.

When a Parsee dies, a dog must be present, as it is supposed to drive
away evil spirits, who are on the alert to seize upon the dying man's
soul. This precaution is called the _sagdad_, or dog-gaze. One of the
chief reasons for the great veneration in which dogs are held by
Parsees arises from the tradition that in their emigration from Persia
to India their ancestors were, during a dark night, nearly driven upon
the shores of Guzerat, and that they were aroused and first warned
of their impending danger by the barking of the dogs on board their
ships.

[Illustration: PARSEE CHILDREN, BOMBAY.]

When a Parsee dies, the body is dressed in clean, but old clothes, and
conveyed to its last resting-place on an iron bier; meat and drink are
placed at hand for three days, as during that time the soul is
supposed to hover around in the hope of being reunited to its late
earthly tenement.

[Illustration: A PARSEE.]

The Parsee sepulchres are of so peculiar a character as to merit
particular notice. Should any of my readers ever go to Bombay, he will
find two of these _dakhmas_, or Temples of Silence, in a secluded part
of Malabar Hill, though admittance is denied within the walls
enclosing the melancholy structures to aught but Parsees. The interior
is fitted up with stages or stories of stone pavement, slanting down
to a circular opening, like a well, covered with a grating, into which
the bones are swept, after the fowls of the air, the dew, and the sun
have deprived them of every particle of flesh.

The Parsees assign as their reason for not burying their dead, that,
having received many benefits from the earth during their lifetime,
they consider it defiled by placing dead bodies in it. Similarly, they
do not adopt the Hindoo custom of burning their dead, as another
element, fire, would be rendered impure.

The chief distinctive feature of the Parsee dres