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

56 HISTORY OF THE PARSIS. [CHAP. II.

energy and honesty of the contractors, who in the old times were highly respectable and honest citizens. Jijibhai and his son Hirjibhai were held in the highest estimation by the Government, and the latter was once highly eulogised and publicly thanked by the Governor, the Hon. Stephen Law, for the honest and creditable manner in which he supplied the necessities of the State.

As the European population of Bombay increased, the most lucrative business which the Parsis could undertake was that of importing and selling English wines and liquors, and English provisions and other similar articles, and those who engaged in this line of business secured large profits. The Jasavalas, the Pochajis, the Panthakis, and other well-known names in this trade are of more modern times. They also acted as agents and bankers to their customers. Bhikhaji Beramji Panday appears to have been the first to open this line of business among the Parsis, before the middle of the eighteenth century. The earlier Parsis were noted for their extreme honesty, and Bhikhaji Beramji was generally known among the European officers and merchants as “the honest shopkeeper.” The well at the corner of the new Post Office on the Esplanade in Bombay was built at his expense, a spot at which Parsis may be seen every morning and evening at prayers after washing their faces, hands, and feet. He was a member of the Parsi Panchayet of his day.