History of the Parsis : including their manners, customs, religion and present position : with coloured and other illustrations : in two volumes

CHAP. III.] LADIES JEWELLERY. 123

This ornament was made of three pearls in a gold ring an inch in diameter, one of the pearls beg a pendant supposed to fall gracefully upon the upper lip; but their good taste at last led them to abandon the barbarous practice of perforating the nose.

Parsi ladies possess jewellery worth from five hundred to twenty thousand pounds sterling. They generally wear slippers at home, and a good many of them still use them for outdoor purposes ; but the practice of wearing boots and shoes now largely prevails. The slippers worn by Parsi ladies are undoubtedly a graceful mode of covering the feet. Lord Lytton, the late Viceroy and Governor-General of India, when presiding at an exhibition of a Parsi girls’ school, expressed himself agreeably pleased with this particular item of their dress.

The Parsi mode of life may be described to be an eclectic ensemble, half-European and half-Hindu. As they advance every year in civilisation and enlightenment, they copy more closely English manners and modes of livmg. The Greek historians have remarked that of all nations the ancient Persians were most distinguished by their readimess in imitating foreign manners and customs. This peculiarity their descendants have retained to the present day. During their sojourn in Gujarat they willingly adopted the language, dress, and other social customs of that country, and they now have taken as