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

250 AISTORY OF THE PARSTS. [CHAP. VI.

Again, the enterprise of another Parsi gentleman of the well-known family of the Wadias, who has been connected with the five large cotton-mills managed by Mr. Dinsha Manakji Petit, has now given to Bombay one of the largest engines in the world. Though the engine had been manufactured at Bolton, where the question of its utility was much discussed, the idea of its construction is entirely due to Mr. Naorozji Nasarvanji Wadia. Result, after all, is the best test, and since the huge monster was set agoing at the Manakji Petit Mills it seems to have given every satisfaction, and it is expected that by savings in coal as well as increase in production there will be an annual gain of a lakh of rupees. Thus in every useful branch of industry the genius and enterprise of the Parsi are conspicuous. He possesses, in fact, many of those qualities which have made the Teutonic race in Europe so powerful and flourishing. 7

While we are on the subject of weaving we must do justice to Parsi ingenuity im the art of hand weaving and spinning in days gone by. Many a Parsi family in old times in Surat, Daman, Navsari, and other small villages and towns where the Zoroastrians had made permanent settlement, occupied itself with the manufacture of silk and cotton fabrics. Whether they learned the art from the Hindus of Gujarat or the Portuguese of Thana, they had the

knack of devising new patterns and new contrivances.