[452:2] This small tribe of Persians were driven from their native land by the Mohammedan conquerors under the Khalif Omar, in the seventh century of our era. Adhering to the ancient religion of Persia, which resembles that of the Veda, and bringing with them the records of their faith, the Zend-Avesta of their prophet Zoroaster, they settled down in the neighborhood of Surat, about one thousand one hundred years ago, and became great merchants and shipbuilders. For two or three centuries we know little of their history. Their religion prevented them from making proselytes, and they never multiplied within themselves to any extent, nor did they amalgamate with the Hindoo population, so that even now their number only amounts to about seventy thousand. Nevertheless, from their busy, enterprising habits, in which they emulate Europeans, they form an important section of the population of Bombay and Western India.
[452:3] Movers: Quoted in Dunlap's Spirit Hist., p. 261.
[452:4] Prolegomena, p. 417.
[452:5] Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 162.
[453:1] Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 163.
[453:2] Ibid. p. 142, and King's Gnostics, p. 71.
[453:3] Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, pp. 135, 140, and 143.
[453:4] Quoted in Ibid. p. 186.
[453:5] Ibid.
[453:6] Renouf: Religion of Ancient Egypt, p. 81.