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

324 HISTORY OF THE PARSTS. [CHAP, VI.

reader will have noticed that the instruction imparted therein is in Gujarati, the vernacular of the Parsis, We are glad to say that English is now finding a place in their course of instruction. In connection with the subject of female education it is worthy of remark that among the natives of India, at all events among those of Western India, the Parsi girls were the first to learn English. Before the schools were opened wherein English is at present taught to native girls, a few Parsi families had introduced English education into their homes. But to a Parsi gentleman is due the credit and honour of having established a seminary where a knowledge of Enelish was imparted. We refer to Mr. Manakji Kharshedji Shroff, formerly a judge of the Court of Small Causes at Bombay, a man who has been in many respects in advance of his co-religionists. He has thrice visited Europe, and is well known to many men of note in England. He was the first native of India to have been enrolled as a member of the Royal Asiatic Society.’ In the year 1863 he established an

* “Royal Asiatic Society.—At the General Meeting of this Society, held at two o’clock on Saturday the 17th January, Sir Henry Willock in the chair, Manakji Kharshedji, a highly-respected native Parsi gentleman of Bombay, was unanimously elected a non-resident member. This is the first instance in which the Society has drawn into its body a native of India, and may be regarded as an auspicious evidence of the desire of the better class of natives to associate with us in the work of social and of moral improvement.’—The Atlas, London, 25th January 1835.