CHAPTER VI.

PROGRESS AND PRESENT POSITION.

Parsi qualities-The "bania"-The commerce of Bombay-Extent of Parsi enterprise-Parsi bankers-Cotton-mills-A large engine-Old Parsi weavers-The construction of railways-Parsi share in them-Parsi shipwrights-The China trade-Jews v. Parsis-“The share mania”—Some of the staple trades-Commercial morality of Parsis-Parsi officials-"The salt of the Bombay community "-Parsi benevolence-Special cases-The public works of Bombay--Female doctors-Hindu charity-Parsi mendicants-Parsi loyalty - Prayers during Crimean War-Speech of Sir Jamshedji Jijibhai-The Indian Mutiny-The Queen - Empress-The royal family-The Prince of Wales-His serious illness-Prayer for his recovery-Parsi thanksgiving day-The Prince of Wales in India-His reception in Bombay-The national anthem-The Gujarati textParsis well behaved-Parsi converts-A period of excitement-Dr. Wilson-The present position of Parsis.

WHEN strangers in India are reminded that the Parsis of Bombay are the descendants of a small band which emigrated from Persia under the most miserable circumstances, it is a matter of surprise to them that they should hold at the present day in that city a pre-eminent position among the natives. The causes are not far to seek. Descended originally from an enterprising, courageous, industrious, and self-sacrificing people, who at one time were masters of a vast empire, they did not absolutely lose those characteristic qualities of their race, although

adverse circumstances forced upon them a life of inactivity for more than a thousand years. The old fire of their ancestors continued to burn, however faintly, in their breasts, and it only required the least encouragement to revive. Situated as they were in the midst of alien races, following different faiths and constantly at war with each other for territorial supremacy, it was not possible for the Parsis to lift up their heads. They had perforce to be content with the! occupation of agriculture, in which their ancestors were famous for their skill. It was under the peaceful rule of Akbar that their pent-up energies at last found opportunities of development, and from that wise monarch the Parsis first received some encouragement and assistance to improve their condition. But it is to the British power in India that the Parsis are chiefly indebted for their present position.

The arrival of Europeans and the establishment of trading factories in Western India, and especially at Surat, opened up an unexpected field for the energy, industry, and enterprise of the Parsis; and from that time the commercial activity by which they have made a name may be said to take its date. No doubt the shrewd "bania" of Surat, of whom European travellers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries speak, possessed all the commercial instincts of his race; but he seldom sought any scope for them beyond the walls of the town where he carried on business.

The spirit of foreign adventure was almost wholly absent. The oppression and rapacity of the conquering races who swayed the country in turn had diminished that spirit, if at any time it existed. Again, the barriers of caste and custom, which even a century and more of British rule has not availed to demolish, acted as a formidable obstruction. The Parsis, however, had always been free from caste prejudices, and on the advent of Europeans soon betook themselves to occupations they had never attempted before. In the factories of the Portuguese, the Dutch, the French, and the English, the chief native agents were Parsis, acting as middle-men between the Europeans and natives. In this capacity a field for commercial enterprise was opened to them of which they were not slow to take advantage. Niebuhr has made mention of them. Anquetil du Perron has remarked on their enterprise from personal experience acquired during a stay of some years in the city of Surat. After the decadence of Surat as a commercial centre the Parsis came to Bombay and there found increased opportunity for the employment of their energy, as the biographical sketches of the most prominent of them show. Lavji and some of his descendants continued their connection with the Government dockyard, but members of the other branches of his family established themselves as merchants. A large number of Parsis also began business as merchants, traders, shopkeepers,

and contractors. The business of commission agents to the European merchantmen which used to arrive annually in Bombay was entirely monopolised by them. The Parsis were foremost to seize and take advantage of every opening created by the increase of British power and the advent of British merchants.

Within a few generations of their settling in Bombay they themselves commenced to trade with the most distant countries of Europe and Asia, and to follow the history of the commerce of Bombay is to trace that of the commercial enterprise of the Parsis. It is said that their direct trade with Europe was not very extensive, but it is unquestionable that from the time the island of Bombay was ceded to the English up to forty years ago the whole of the European trade of the port passed through their hands. as middle-men in one shape or another. As regards their Eastern trade, it was direct and most extensive. The bulk of the commerce, including the valuable opium trade, of Bombay with China, in some of the ports of which they had established their own firms, was, until forty years ago, entirely in their hands, and many of the ships which carried the merchandise belonged to them. They, however, did not confine their operations to China alone. They had business relations on an extensive scale with Bengal, Burmah, and the Straits, and at one time there were Parsi firms even in Java and the Mauritius.

It was the Eastern trade which brought the Parsis a mine of wealth. The Readymoneys, the Dadiseths, the Banajis, Sir Jamshedji Jijibhai the first baronet, the Kamas, and many others amassed their wealth in this trade. It will thus be seen that the Parsis were the first to bring prosperity to Bombay, which prosperity, as times went on, supported and fostered by British power and the enterprise of British merchants, has raised Bombay at this day to the proud position of second city of the British Empire.

Not long after their settlement in Bombay a great many Parsis went to Northern, Southern, and Central India, and established themselves as shopkeepers dealing in European articles, a business which was beset a century ago with innumerable obstacles on account of the difficulty of transit from one place to another. There were then not only no railroads but no roads of any kind for traffic. Ten miles a day in bullock carts was all that could be accomplished in those times. Then, again, the goods had to be protected from the depredations of the lawless marauders who infested the country, yet it was Parsi energy alone which supplied the wants of the increasing British forces in the different military stations in India. The persons who engaged themselves in this kind of business in both Bombay and other cities were honest and respectable, and at all the principal stations in former years they acted as the bankers