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

106 HISTORY OF THE PARSTS. (CHAP, II.

owing to the state of its finances the improvement was abandoned, and for the present the matter fell to the ground. Some three or four years back the then Government caused a survey to be made, and the estimate of the engineer was prepared and presented, but owing to a demand on its resources from other quarters they were compelled to postpone the consideration of the subject. In the year 1841 very great calamities occurred through the upsetting of from fifteen to twenty boats while attempting, during the monsoon, to cross the river, occasioning great loss of life. Lady Jamshedji, on hearing of these dreadful accidents, inquired, Why do not the Government build a bridge across these waters to prevent such accidents ? and, on hearing that for the present the rulers of the land were not then prepared to carry out such projects as would prevent a recurrence of them, stated that she herself, out of her private fortune, would willingly defray the expense was she made acquainted with the actual outlay required. Upon this an estimate was framed, which, like the estimates of the engineer officers generally, was in the end found to be a very long way behind the actual cost. The estimate presented at that period computed that Rs.67,000 were sufficient to complete the undertaking, but after this sum had been expended it was found that it was in comparison scarcely one-third of what was absolutely needed. Lady Jamshedji then, rather