tory of Zoroastrianism is the work of a woman, and no picture of women is nobler and higher than that drawn in the Avesta. She helped her husband to suppress evil and propitiate the gods; she was trained in all truth, righteousness, and justice, and after this life was found worthy to be invoked among the saints. the walk round the sacred fire, indicative of a desire to make religion the centre of their joint lives, with all that fire symbolizes of purity and holiness and light. The liturgy is interesting - Ahura Mazda is invoked for happiness. Then follows the curious and quaintly detailed marriage blessing, compassing many sides of life. A fool Of Zoroastrianism itself much has is evidently not easily suffered. May been said and written; we all know you be brilliant;" exhortations to virthat the sun and fire and light are to a tue and piety succeed this, with excelZoroastrian only the greatest exhibition lent maxims for daily life: "Do of the power of a deity. Pure Zoroas- nothing without mature consideratrianism is simply a beautiful form of tion; "Avoid being angry; "Be Theism. The Fire Temple, with its courteous, sweet-tongued, and kind;' priest forever feeding the sacred flame, "Do not indulge in scandal; "Do the incense of the people's prayers not quarrel with the revengeful ;' continually ascending to God, has no and, what certainly does credit to the touch of heathenism, or of anything appreciation of knowledge, "Do not but what is refined and beautiful. All co-operate with the ill-informed." that is wanted now is what Mr. Arnold" Speak in au assembly after mature calls Hebraism or Judaism; we have consideration" may be enjoined on ocenough of Hellenism and to spare. casions other than a marriage. Also, The unity of Zoroastrianism is notice-"In no way annoy your mother." able. The people did indeed divide Then are invoked the thirty angels for. into Kudmis and Shehenshais, but the their respective virtues, and final blessdifference was only as to the date of ings that thoughts, words, and actions the last Persian king. It does not ex- may be good dismiss the patient couple. ist in Persia, and even among Indian The funeral rites are peculiar to PerZoroastrians is of no practical impor- sia. The Parsees will not burn or bury tance whatever. The sects intermarry, their dead, because they consider a and are on the friendliest terms, re-dead body impure, and they will not taining the distinction merely so as not to embarrass old records. suffer themselves to defile auy of the elements. They therefore expose their To view religion now in its concrete corpses to vultures, a method revolting aspect and in its relation to the life of a perhaps to the imagination, but one Parsee. At a child's birth the protect- which commends itself to all those who ing angels are invoked, prayers are are acquainted therewith. And, after offered in the Fire Temples, the astrol- all, one sees nothing but the quiet, oger is consulted, the child's name sug-white-robed procession (white is mourngested (for the goddess of Fate does not write visibly on the blank paper laid ready for its use beside the bed of the young infant). Then comes the time for his admission to the privileges of his race; the investiture with the sudra and kusti, already explained. The next occasion for a ceremony is a marriage — full, as all Eastern ceremonies, of symbolism. It is worth noticing that the marriage knot is a sevenfold cord. seven being a sacred number among the Parsees; the concluding ceremony is also peculiar a caste ing among the Parsees) following the Meanwhile, and for three days after, the priests say constant prayers for the departed, for his soul is supposed not to leave the world till the fourth day after death. On the fourth day of a governing body, the Parsees sothere is the Uthanna ceremony, when licited governmeut aid, and after much large sums of money are given away inquiry and discussion two acts were in memory of the departed. The lit-passed-the Parsee Succession Act and urgy in use is a series of funeral sermons by Zoroaster. the Parsee Marriage and Divorce Act, 1865. Moreover, the Parsce Matrimonial Courts have taken the place of the old Panchayet in the matters they consider, and of the constitution and procedure of this court the curious will find ample explanation in the report of Sir J. Arnold's commission. Of superstitions, the Parsees have had more than they retain. Connected with burial is the popular conception as to the efficacy of a dog's gaze after death. Dogs are sacred, and supposed to guide the souls of the dead to heaven, and to ward off evil spirits; hence it is It remains to add something by way customary to lead a dog into the cham- of apology. I have been hampered by ber of death, that he may look at the the thought that much that I can say corpse before it is carried to the Tower. must be common knowledge. MoreOriental scholars will miss the prom- over, I have tried to avoid what could inence of Parsee legislation. We have be found in books. All that was posno Manu and no Koran. The codes sible was to glance at the Parsees as prepared by the Prophet seem to have they appear in their daily life in India. been lost in early ages. Custom has We find an anomalous little body of guided therefore, and the Panchayet people, with a history and a philosophy, had the final decision in disputes. The planted in a small corner of western first Panchayet was a self-constituted India—themselves in a way both Westcouncil of the influential members of ern and Eastern and thus forming a the community. It was the court of bridge between the continents. Westjustice in all causes, aud any refusal to ern in progressive thought, in educaabide by its decrees was punished by tion, and in social customs; Eastern in excommunication, and, what would location, in birth, in imagination, and have delighted Bentham, public beat- religion, and working in what was a ing with shoes. About the eighteenth foreign country in the most perfect century the Panchayet received govern- harmony with the people and their ment recognition, but it was recon- rulers. Always loyal to her Majesty's structed in 1787, in consequence of Empire, they may be said to be inquarrels and the oppression of the terpreters to the East of the Western members. In its new form it consisted spirit, while the most cordial relations of six priests and six laymen, and it exist between them and the other races worked well. It passed regulations in India. Their religion has found. about such matters as the manner of many expounders and defenders; all mourning; e.g., they were not to cry must acknowledge its beauty, its freein assemblies, or beat their breasts, or dom from superstition, its high moral indulge in any excessive grief. So ideals, its charming symbolism. with sumptuary regulations as to feasts education and social customs we find and fasts. Such a body depended for them almost European. its efficiency entirely on the strength And now the tale is told. We have of the members composing it. As seen the Parsee as he stands before the soon as the older ones died out, and priest in that early, solemn moment of weaker men came to rule, the Pancha-| his life when he is named by the name yet ceased to have any effect. Persons of his Prophet; we have met him were respected in the distribution of in public and private life; we have punishment, and many wicked flour- watched as his hands were bound with ished unmolested. As a result it ceased that sevenfold cord; then, when the to exist in 1836, and has since then been no more thau trustee for the charitable funds of the community. Thus bereft In last rites came to be performed, we listened to the chanting of the funeral dirge, and saw the white-robed proces sion winding to the Silent Tower; and, as they lift him gently to where his foot has never trod, let us turn aside to the hearth and the sandal-wood, that to Ahura Mazda may ascend from us the prayer that the three days may not yet have elapsed, but that even now the spirit of that dead Persia, which once reached so far westward, may rise to inspire her representatives in India with desire and strength, that we may effect our true destiny handed down to us by the Prophet, through the ages even to widen the skirts of light, and make the struggle with darkness narrower. CORNELIA SORABJI. AN important Bulletin on the forest and mineral wealth of Brazil has lately been issued by the Bureau of the American Republics. The forests of Brazil abound in woods of great value, some of the finest of which are said to be entirely unknown in Europe. With regard to mineral resources, Brazil is not less fortunate. Scientific explorers have found great deposits of coal and iron, and have also proved that the country possesses copper, manganese, and argentiferous lead ore. There are also mines of gold and diamonds. Diamonds are co-extensive with the gold deposits, and, like that metal, are most abundant in Minas Geraes, where they have been found since 1789. The most important locality known for the production of these gems is the district of Diamantina, in the abovenamed state. They are found in Parana, in the gravels of the river Tibagy, and in the bed of streams dry during the summer. Since the discovery of diamonds at the Cape of Good Hope, the Brazilian production has greatly diminished. As regards iron, the State of Minas Geraes abounds with it. It is not found in veins or strata, buried deep in the earth, but in enormous beds, often lying at the surface, or in mountain masses. These vast deposits are worked only by small scattered furnaces, charcoal being used in the reduction of the about seven hundred and ninety tons of pig-iron. The ore has about sixty-seven per cent. of iron. In Santa Caterina, not far from a harbor accessible to the largest vessels, are vast deposits of hæmatite, containing, on an average, thirty per cent. of manganese, and twenty to thirty per cent. of iron. In the State of Goyaz, as in Minas Geraes, are found enormous masses of the ore itaberite. Nature. RACE DEGENERACY. - The "degeneracy of the race " is a favorite topic of the "silly season." Opinions are divided. The youth and smallness of the modern British soldier are used as arguments in favor of degeneracy, whilst athletic records and the increased stature of women are urged as proof of our improvement in physique. Probably the vigor of the upper and middle classes is increasing, that of the working classes being stationary, whilst a fringe is deteriorating, owing to the modern crowding of the agricultural population to the towns. From this fraction of the population, apparently, a considerable percentage of our recruits are drawn. Any one who saw the tennis tournament in Devonshire Park, Eastbourne, must have been struck by the extraordinary proficiency of the women. Take them out of the skirts which handicap them, and ladies like Mrs. Hillyard and Miss Shackles would want few points from the best men. As it is, they play half-volleys with equal skill. There is no evidence of degeneracy in lawn tennis, at all events. One wonders with what eyes our great-grandmothers would behold the cat-like activity of their descendants in the tennis courts! Tennis, at all events, should send forward some excellent atavistic propensities into the future. European Mail. For EIGHT DOLLARS remitted directly to the Publishers, the LIVING AGE will be punctually forwarded for a year, free of postage. Remittances should be made by bank draft or check, or by post-office money-order, if possible. If neither of these can be procured, the money should be sent in a registered letter. All postmasters are obliged to register letters when requested to do so. Drafts, checks, and money-orders should be made payable to the order of LITTELL & CO. Single copies of the LIVING AGE, 18 cents. ADDISON'S WALK. Musing on bliss once theirs in very sooth Beneath your boughs, the genius of Hath noon less glory mused upon by night ? Doth June's full heart with lessened fervor glow the place, With soft accost that fits our musing dream? Scholar, divine, or statesman would be seem That reverend air, that pensive-bril liant face And lofty wit and speech of Attic Rich in grave ornament and noble theme : Taught the town truth, and in a selfish Lured fops and toasts to heed a note sublime, Who here had early learned the crowning art, Remembered when the world is wan with snow? Are its warm roses petalled with delight Less fragrant, and their diamond dews less bright Because in winter dark no flower may blow? Doth music of moon-glamoured May-woods flow Less rich to thought, when trees with rime Nay, memory and longing subtly weave more; Spring brightlier blooms by winter's dreamwatched fire; To walk the world like Plato's monarch- Remembered joy in sorrow is reprieve To anguish; long-dead days from happy yore In dark hours rise, lest hearts with pain FRANCESCA DA RIMINI. "Nessun maggior dolore Che ricordarsi del tempo felice Inferno. NECESSITY. For mortal's share, WELL might the memory of the "happy WHAT stern Necessity hath once ordained sighs," The "much desire," whose fair, fruit- Let him not murmur, howsoe'er con boding bloom, Set in the trembling kiss that held their doom, strained, His lot to bear. Burn fiercelier than the flame that never Nor Time, nor Chance, nor Laws, nor By hissing tempest; imminent sorrows And Love, and Hate, and Fear, and Joy, loom When one soul told and one soul wept to 'Tis weakness to resist her stern decree, hear 'Tis impious to rebel ; The tale of happy hours aswerve from The strongest mind, the noblest heart has |