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

132 HISTORY OF THE PARSIS. [CHAP. II.

these qualities. Although he was not rich, he had a generous heart, and when he found that there was no chance of the misappropriated ornaments being produced, and that the injured party would never consent to receive the wife into his home, Kharshedji gave from his own pocket the equivalent in money to the sufferer, thus restoring peace to the disturbed home. This trait in Kharshedji’s character made his name a household word among the Parsis. When he died it was said that the poor man’s friend was gone, and no funeral in the Parsi community in Bombay was more largely attended than that of Kharshedji. Even at this day the Parsis exclaim when there is domestic trouble in a family, “Oh that we had a Kharshedji Manakji among us !” Another Parsi who deserves a record in these pages was Jijibhai Dadabhai, born in 1785. He was exceedingly popular in his own community, and well known to and respected by his own countrymen and the Europeans as well as by the other races on account of his extensive mercantile transactions. In the midst of his business as banker and merchant, which extended over a period of forty years, he found time to assist and promote, by his advice, influence, and wealth, every undertaking calculated to benefit the public. His enterprising spirit assisted in the establishment of three banks in Bombay. It was through

his foresight and energy that steam navigation for