ompted him to send a fleet to
ravage the coasts of Thana (Elliot, Hist. i. 415). Tabari (838-921)
and Masoudi (900-950) both prove that the district round Bussorah and
the country under the subjection of the King of Oman were regarded by
the Arabs as forming part of India (Chronique de Tabari, iii. 401;
Prairies d'or, iv. 225). In the seventh century it has been noticed
that several Indians had settled in the principal cities of Persia,
where they enjoyed the free exercise of their religion (Reinaud,
Aboulfeda, 1-11, ccclxxxiv.). It should also be noticed that from
the sixth century, when the Persians commenced taking a leading part
in the commerce and trade of the East, they visited not only India,
but China also (Reinaud, Aboulfeda, 1-11, ccclxxxiii.). Towards
the period of their arrival in India, the Parsis were settled in
China as missionaries, merchants, or refugees. Anquetil du Perron
(Zend-Avesta, 1, cccxxxvi.) speaks of Persians going to China, in
the seventh century, with a son of Yezdezard. According to Wilford
(As. Res. ix. 235), another band of emigrants joined them in 750,
towards the beginning of the reign of the Abbassides. In 758 the
Arabs and the Persians were so strong in Canton that they stirred
up several riots and plundered the town (Reinaud, Aboulfeda, 1-11,
ccclxxxv.). In 846 there is a mention made of Muhapas or Mobeds in
Canton (Yule, Cathay, 1, xcvi.), and sixty years later Masoudi affirms
that there were many fire-temples in China (Prairies d'or, iv. 86)."

It is scarcely probable that there could have been only one migration
of the Persians. There must have been many such, at different periods,
according as the spirit of persecution was more or less strong amongst
the conquerors. The traditions concerning this subject are vague. We
are in absolute ignorance as to the mode of their departure, and the
number of those who, in despair, had to quit the Persian Gulf. The
only information that we can get at concerning this subject is that
contained in a book entitled Kissah-i-Sanjan, [13] written towards
the year 1600 by a Mazdien priest called Behram Kaikobad Sanjana,
who dwelt in Naosari. According to this author, Diu, [14] a small
town on the Gulf of Cambay to the south of the Kathyawar coast,
was the first port where the refugees landed. Here they dwelt for
nearly twenty years, at the end of which they sought for another
residence. There is a mysterious passage in the Kissah-i-Sanjan upon
t