A Woman's Journey Round The World, From Vienna To Brazil, Chili, Tahiti, China, Hindostan, Persia, And Asia Minor By Ida Pfeiffer
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The Most Wealthy Among People Owning Property Here Are The Fire-
Worshippers, Called Also Gebers, Or Parsees.
They were expelled
from Persia about 1,200 years since, and settled down along the west
coast of India.
As they are remarkably industrious and hard-
working, very well disposed and benevolent, there are no poor, no
beggars to be found among them - all appear to be prosperous. The
handsome houses in which the Europeans reside mostly belong to them;
they are the largest owners of land, ride out in the most beautiful
carriages, and are surrounded by innumerable servants. One of the
richest of them - Jamsetize-Jeejeebhoy - built, at his own expense, a
handsome hospital in the Gothic style, and provides European medical
men and receives the sick of every religious denomination. He was
knighted by the English government, and is certainly the first
Hindoo who could congratulate himself on such a distinction.
While speaking of the Fire-worshippers, I will relate all that I
myself saw of them, as well as what I learnt from Manuckjee-
Cursetjee, one of the most cultivated and distinguished among them.
The Fire-worshippers believe in one Supreme Being. They pay the
greatest reverence to the four elements, and especially to the
element of fire, and to the sun, because they look upon them as
emblems of the Supreme Being. Every morning they watch for the
rising sun, and hasten out of their houses, and even outside of the
town, to greet it immediately with prayers.
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