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

114 HISTORY OF THE PARSIS. [CHAP. Il.

he introduced the Mauritius sugar-cane, which the Government of Bombay with his co-operation sent out over the Deccan and southern Maratha country, where it has displaced most other varieties.

The labours of this the greatest native improver of the soil in Western India will be best understood by a perusal of an extract from a minute by Sir John Malcolm, then Governor of Bombay. In his account of the Indian administration he thus speaks of Pavai, under the head of improvements in Salsette :—

“A grant was given to Framji of the fine estate of Pavai, in perpetuity, at a moderate quit rent, on an understanding that certain improvements were to be made. My minute of the 30th of November 1830 fully explains how far that good and able man has realised these expectations ; I shall therefore quote it as the best illustration of the consequences that have already resulted from the measures adopted to promote the prosperity of Salsette. I lately paid a visit to the estate of Framji Kavasji at Pavai, and never was more gratified. This highly respectable native has laid out much money in a variety of useful improvements; he has sunk a number of wells, has built houses, made an excellent road, planted a great quantity of sugar-cane, indigo, and mulberries for silkworms; he has erected an excellent sugar-mill, which I saw at work, and all the necessary buildings

of an indigo manufactory. But what I was most