THE SUN WORSHIPERS OF ASIA. BY CHARLES D. POSTON. Reprinted for the Author from the London Edition. SAN FRANCISCO : A. ROMAN & Co., PUBLISHERS. 1877. INTRODUCTION. BL1570 The materials for the preparation of the following Lecture were collected during an official visit to India, China, Japan, etc., accredited by the Government of the United States. Personal intercourse with the Parsees, particularly in India, excited a lively interest in the religion and history of the followers of the ancient Zoroaster. In submitting these crude observations, made upon a subject far beyond my capacity, the concluding paragraph of a circular letter issued by His Excellency, the late Earl of Mayo, Viceroy and Governor-General of India, recommending the writer and his secretary, Colonel Grant, is appended as a grateful tribute to the memory of that eminent representative of Her Majesty's Government in India. "It is the particular desire of His Excel"lency, the Viceroy and Governor-General in 66 Council, that all respect and honor be shown to these gentlemen who are on the eve of "starting for Upper India, and that every fa 66 cility be afforded them in their inquiries at "any stations or places where they may stop. "His Excellency in Council will rely upon "everything being done to show to these repre 66 66 sentatives of a great and friendly power the high estimation in which it is held by the "British Government in the East.” THE PARSEES. THE SUN WORSHIPERS. In the crowded cities of Asia the soul besurfeited by contact with myriads of human beings and longs for companionship with comes nature. If you wander to the beach at sunset to inhale the breezes from the Spice Islands, you will there observe a congregation of the most interesting people in Asia. They are the Parsees, or sun-worshipers of Persia, the followers of the ancient Zoroaster, the teacher of the religion of the Magi. As we stand upon the shore, and witness the adoration paid to the sun by this mysterious remnant of a nearly extinct race, we are carried back to the dawnaye, to the darkness, for |
