rsia, vol. i. ch. viii. p. 275 et seq.

[37] Shah Abbas the Great, desirous of increasing the commerce of
Ispahan, caused 1,500 Guebre families to come and settle outside
the town on this side of the river Zenderoud. Under Abbas II. they
quitted Gehr-Abad and returned to the mountains. We see in Kaempfer
that Abbas II. transported, in fact, nearly six hundred agricultural
families into the Armenian Colony of Sulpha, or Sjulfa, founded by
his ancestor, and which to the south bordered on the quarters of the
Guebres. (Amaenitates exoticae, &c., p. 164, Lemgoviae, 1712.)

[38] The Parsis, their History, Manners, Customs, and Religion,
ch. ii. pp. 31 et seq., London, 1884.

[39] In fifteen years the number has risen by 18 per cent., or 1
1/5 per cent. per year; thus, in February, 1878, there were 1,341
Zoroastrians in Kirman; in August, 1879, the number had risen to 1,378,
viz., an increase of 1 4/5 per cent.

[40] A. Houtum-Schindler. Die Parsen in Persien, ihre Sprache und
einige ihrer Gebraeuche. (See Z. D. M. G., 36 ter Band, pp. 54 et
seq., Leipzig, 1882.) Dupre (1807-1809) and Kinneir (1810) register
the number of Zoroastrians in Persia, and put it down at 4,000
families. Trezel (1807-9) raises it to 8,000 Guebres in Yezd and in
the neighbouring villages; Christie (1819) and Fraser (1821) count
about 3,000 families in all Persia; Abbot (1845) lowers the number to
800 families in Yezd and in the surrounding places. Petermann (1854)
counts 3,000 families, of whom 1,200 men are in Yezd; Goldsmid (1865),
4,500 Guebres in Yezd and Kirman; and finally Capt. Evan Smith (1870)
3,800 families.

[41] Two young officers of the Indian Army have lately attempted
to cross the frightful solitudes of Dusht-i-Kavir. (See Proc. of
the R.G.S., November, 1891, and Asiatic Quarterly Review, October,
1891.) Dush-i-Sut has been more easy to explore, although the danger
is not less, owing to the clouds of sand raised by the winds.

[42] Yezd.--"Yezd enjoys a temperate climate. It is surrounded by
canals and aqueducts which carry the water into the interior of the
town. There are constructed there reservoirs and cisterns, structures
as remarkable as those which are seen at Kaschan. Most of the houses
and edifices, although built of raw bricks, are of great solidity;
besides, the rainfall is very scarce in that country. The town is well
built and very clean, because care is taken to have the rubbish removed
every day from it, which rubbi