ace, and such a trader
now possesses a thousand camels. There are schools there, four Fire
Temples, and several Towers of Silence. About twenty kilometres to the
south-west is the town of Taft, where was preserved for a very long
time the permission to keep up openly the sacred fire. The community
has a high priest, and also a lay chief, Ardeshir Meherban. Some of
the Guebres are naturalised Englishmen, and thanks to them, for the
last fifty years the trade of Yezd has grown by their intercourse
with India. Their role is similar to that performed in the open
ports of Japan by the compradores and the Chinese agents into whose
hands nearly all business passes. This activity is due to the efforts
of their co-religionists in India, for in spite of their recognised
probity and practical intelligence, the Guebres have long been exposed
to the most humiliating vexations.

Kirman is the chief city of ancient Caramania [43] and stands in
the centre of four great highways which run from the south and the
west. Its situation makes it a very important centre of commerce
between the Persian Gulf and the markets of Khorassan, Bokhara, and
Balk. Of the twelve thousand Guebres who were formerly resident in this
locality, there only remain, according to the census taken in 1878
by the orders of the Governor, thirteen hundred and forty-one. [44]
At the time of the Arab invasion, Kirman served as a place of refuge
for King Yezdezard, and passed successively into the hands of the
Beni-Buzak, the Seldjoukides Turks, the kings of Kharezm (Khiva), and
a Kara-Kitaienne family which remained in power till the year 1300;
and it was also the See of the Nestorian metropolitan bishopric of
Fars. This city had to suffer much from the invasions, from the east
and west, of Gengis-Khan, Timour, the Afghans and Nadirshah. The
siege it sustained in 1494 is memorable for the massacres ordered
by Aga Mahomed Khan. [45] It was within its walls that the last of
the family of the Zends, Luft Ali-Khan, had taken refuge. Betrayed
by his followers, the young prince contrived, however, to escape
the cruelty of the redoubtable Kadjar eunuch. For three months the
soldiers committed all sorts of excesses, the town was given up to
plunder [46] and finally razed. A little later, having been rebuilt
by Fath-Ali-Shah, it recovered by degrees its ancient prosperity,
thanks to a capable and at the same time avaricious and strict
governor, Vekil-ul-Mulk. The ruins of Kirm