fourth day after death, to its final resting-place."

The tower selected for the present funeral was one in which
other members of the same family had before been laid. The
two bearers speedily unlocked the door, reverently conveyed
the body of the child into the interior, and, unseen by any
one, laid it uncovered in one of the open stone receptacles
nearest the central well. In two minutes they reappeared
with the empty bier and white cloth, and scarcely had they
closed the door when a dozen vultures swooped down upon the
body and were rapidly followed by others. In five minutes
more we saw the satiated birds fly back and lazily settle
down again upon the parapet. They had left nothing behind
but a skeleton. Meanwhile, the bearers were seen to enter a
building shaped like a high barrel. There, as the secretary
informed me, they changed their clothes and washed
themselves. Shortly afterwards we saw them come out and
deposit their cast-off funeral garments in a stone
receptacle near at hand. Not a thread leaves the garden,
lest it should carry defilement into the city. Perfectly new
garments are supplied at each funeral. In a fortnight, or,
at most, four weeks, the same bearers return, and, with
gloved hands and implements resembling tongs, place the dry
skeleton in the central well. There the bones find their
last resting-place, and there the dust of whole generations
of Parsees commingling is left undisturbed for centuries.

The revolting sight of the gorged vultures made me turn my
back on the towers with ill-concealed abhorrence. I asked
the secretary how it was possible to become reconciled to