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

90 HISTORY OF THE PARSIS. [CHAP. II.

sion of Edmund Burke, the industry of man carefully husbands the precious gift of God. He would see—and not only in Bombay, but also at Navsari in the north and Khandala in the south—*dharmshalas,” the homes of charity, in which the houseless and the wanderer find refuge and relief. He would behold the noble causeway which unites the islands of Bombay and Salsette. He would see the waterworks at Poona, the bridges at Erla Parla and Bartha. He would see roads, wells, aqueducts, and reservoirs. These, however, are public benefactions patent to the world. The extent of his private charities nobody can tell. Nor were his charities confined to his own caste or race. He gave indiscriminately without reference to caste, colour, or creed. No matter how distant the land or how different the race of people, his sympathetic heart was always moved by their misfortunes, and his purse was opened in order to relieve them.

So widely had the fame of his munificence spread that in 1842 he received the honour of knighthood from our gracious and most beloved sovereign the

an honour which then

Queen and Empress Victoria, for the first time was conferred upon a native of India. As such it was highly gratifying to Sir Jamshedji himself, and the Parsi community felt exceedingly proud that the first native of India who was considered deserying of this high honour should be one of themselves. They presented him with the following address of con-