taking work in Persia are greatly to be admired for their pluck,
patience, and tact.

The Yezd C.M.S. Mission was started in May, 1898, by Dr. Henry White, who
had a year's previous experience of medical work at Julfa and Isfahan. He
was then joined in December of the same year by the Rev. Napier Malcolm,
who had just come out from England. The European community of Yezd is
very small. Besides the above mentioned people--who do not always reside
in Yezd--there are two Englishmen of the Bank of Persia, and a Swiss
employed by the firm of Ziegler & Co. That is all.

The fact that the Persian Government recognizes the "race religions,"
such as those of Armenians, Parsees and Jews, has led many to believe
that religious liberty exists in Persia. There is a relative tolerance,
but nothing more, and even the Parsees and Jews have had until quite
lately--and occasionally even now have--to submit to considerable
indignities on the part of the Mullahs. For new sects like the Behai,
however, who abandon the Mussulman faith, there is absolutely no official
protection. Great secrecy has to be maintained to avoid persecution.
There seems, nevertheless, to be a disposition on the part of the
Government to go considerably beyond this point of sufferance, but wider
toleration does not exist at present, nor is it perfectly clear to what
length the Government of the country would be prepared to go.

CHAPTER XXXIX

The Guebres of Yezd--Askizar--The Sassanian
dynasty--Yezdeyard--The name "Parsees"--The Arab invasion of
Persia--A romantic tale--Zoroaster--Parsees of India--Why the
Parsees remained in Yezd and Kerman--Their
number--Oppression--The teaching of the Zoroastrian religion and
of the Mahommedan--A refreshing quality--Family
ties--Injustice--Guebre places of worship--The sacred
fire--Religious ceremonies--Three excellent points in the
Zoroastrian religion--The Parsees not "fire
worshippers"--Purification of fire--No ancient sacred
books--Attire--No civil rights--The "jazia" tax--Occupations--The
Bombay Parsees Amelioration Society and its work--The pioneers of
trade--A national assembly--Ardeshir Meheban Irani--Establishment
of the Association--Naturalized British subjects--Consulates
wanted--The Bombay Parsees--Successful traders--Parsee
generosity--Mr. Jamsetsji Tata.

Yezd is extremely interesting from a historical point of view, and fo