Page:Parsees by Dosabhoy Framjee.djvu/301

In the foregoing pages, we have endeavoured to trace the progress of the small remnant of the followers of Zoroaster, who have, under the most changing vicissitudes, clung to the faith of their forefathers. We have watched this people, driven by persecution from their native land, now taking refuge in mountain fastnesses, and now wandering to the shores of the stranger to seek an asylum. At times falling a prey to the sword of an enemy, and again driven almost to desperation by the iron hand of despotism; but under all the miseries through which they have had to pass, it is curious to note the tenacity with which they have preserved those good qualities, and those distinguishing characteristics, which in ancient times rendered the Persians the foremost nation on the earth. The spirit of