inwards, and so lazily did
they sit there, and so motionless was their whole mien, that except
for their color, they might have been carved out of the stonework.

[Illustration: FIG. 3.--Parsee Towers of Silence (interior).]

No one is allowed to enter the towers except the corpse-bearers, nor is
any one permitted within thirty feet of the immediate precincts. A model
was shown Mr. Williams, and from it he drew up this description:

Imagine a round column or massive cylinder, 12 or 14 feet high and
at least 40 feet in diameter, built throughout of solid stone except
in the center, where a well, 5 or 6 feet across, leads down to an
excavation under the masonry, containing four drains at right angles
to each other, terminated by holes filled with charcoal. Round the
upper surface of this solid circular cylinder, and completely hiding
the interior from view, is a stone parapet, 10 or 12 feet in height.
This it is which, when viewed from the outside, appears to form one
piece with the solid stone-work, and being, like it, covered with
chunam, gives the whole the appearance of a low tower. The upper
surface of the solid stone column is divided into 72 compartments,
or open receptacles, radiating like the spokes of a wheel from the
central well, and arranged in three concentric rings, separated from
each other by narrow ridges of stone, which are grooved to act as
channels for conveying all moisture from the receptacles into the
well and into the lower drains. It should be noted that the number
"3" is emblematical of Zoroaster's three precepts, and the number
"72" of the chapters of his Yasna, a portion of the Zend-Avesta.

Each circle of open stone coffins is divided from the next by a
pathway, so that there are three circular pathways, the last
encircling the central well, and these three pathways are crossed by
another pathway conducting from the solitary door which admits the
corpse-bearers from the exterior. In the outermost circle of the
stone coffins are placed the bodies of males, in the middle those of
the females, and in the inner and smallest circle nearest the well
those of children.

While I was engaged with the secretary in examining the model,
a sudden stir among the vultures made us raise our heads. At least a
hundred birds collected round one of the towers began to show
symptoms of excitement, while others swooped down from neighboring