c. 1328.—"There be also other pagan-folk in this India who worship fire; they bury not their dead, neither do they burn them, but cast them into the midst of a certain roofless tower, and there expose them totally uncovered to the fowls of heaven. These believe in two First Principles, to wit, of Evil and of Good, of Darkness and of Light."—Friar Jordanus, 21.
1552.—"In any case he dismissed them with favour and hospitality, showing himself glad of the coming of such personages, and granting them protection for their ships as being (Parseos) Persians of the Kingdom of Ormuz."—Barros, I. viii. 9.
" "... especially after these were induced by the Persian and Guzerati Moors (Mouros, Parseos e Guzarates) to be converted from heathen (Gentios) to the sect of Mahamed."—Ibid. II. vi. i.
[1563.—"There are other herb-sellers (mercadores de boticas) called Coaris, and in the Kingdom of Cambay they call them Esparcis, and we Portuguese call them Jews, but they are not, only Hindus who came from Persia and have their own writing."—Garcia, p. 213.]
1616.—"There is one sect among the Gentiles, which neither burne nor interre their dead (they are called Parcees) who incircle pieces of ground with high stone walls, remote from houses or Road-wayes, and therein lay their Carcasses, wrapped in Sheetes, thus having no other Tombes but the gorges of rauenous Fowles."—Terry, in Purchas, ii. 1479.
1630.—"Whilst my observation was bestowed on such inquiry, I observed in the town of Surrat, the place where I resided, another Sect called the Persees...."—Lord, Two Forraigne Sects.
1638.—"Outre les Benjans il y a encore vne autre sorte de Payens dans le royaume de Gusuratte, qu'ils appellent Parsis. Ce sont des Perses de Fars, et de Chorasan."—Mandelslo (Paris, 1659), 213.
1648.—"They (the Persians of India, i.e. Parsees) are in general a fast-gripping and avaricious nation (not unlike the Benyans and the Chinese), and very fraudulent in buying and selling."—Van Twist, 48.
1653.—"Les Ottomans appellent gueuure vne secte de Payens, que nous connaissons sous le nom d'adorateurs du feu, les Persans sous celuy d'Atechperés, et les Indous sous celuy de Parsi, terme dont ils se nomment eux-mesmes."—De la Boullaye-le-Gouz, ed. 1657, p. 200.
1672.—"Non tutti ancora de' Gentili sono d'vna medesima fede. Alcuni descendono dalli Persiani, li quali si conoscono dal colore, ed adorano il fuoco.... In Suratte ne trouai molti...."—P. F. Vincenzo Maria, Viaggio, 234.