about a table of marble and rosewood, occupying velvet chairs that have traveled unmistakably from London or Paris.  French mirrors and Italian statuettes may have for their vis-a-vis the exquisite mosaics, the massive gold vases and the costly bijouterie of the Orient, strewn so profusely around as to startle unaccustomed eyes; and a genuine Meissonier will be just as likely to be placed side by side with a Persian houri as anywhere else.  The Parsees drive the finest Arab steeds, but on their equipages there is a more lavish display of ornament than we should deem quite in accordance with good taste.  The same is true in regard to personal decoration.  They wear immense quantities of costly jewelry, and nearly all their garments are of silk, generally richly embroidered in gold, and often with the addition of precious stones.  Even little children wear only silk, infants from the very first being wrapped in long, loose robes of plain white silk that are gradually displaced by others more elaborate and costly; while the toilette of a Parsee lady in full evening-dress is often of the value of a hundred thousand rupees (or forty-five thousand dollars).  The female costume consists of silk or cotton skirts gathered full round the waist, and long, loose robes of silk, lace or muslin, all more or less decorated according to the wealth of the wearer.  The dress of the men is composed of trousers and shirts of white or colored silk and long caftans of muslin, with the addition of a fanciful little scarf fringed at the ends, and worn jauntily across one shoulder and under the other arm.  Their caps are made of pasteboard covered with gay-colored silk, embroidered and studded with precious stones or pearls.  The form of a Parsee’s shirt is a matter of vital importance, both in regard to respectability and religion.  It must have five seams, neither more nor less, and be made to lap on the breast exactly in a certain way.  Both sexes wear around the body a double string, which they loosen when at prayer, and which a Parsee is never, under any circumstances, permitted to dispense with.  No engagement or business transaction is legally binding if by any chance this talismanic cord was left off by either party when the contract was made.  The cord is first placed on children when they have completed their ninth year, and this serves to mark the most important epoch of their lives.  Before the investiture the eating of food with Christians or heathen does not defile the juvenile Parsee, and girls may even go about in public with their fathers; but after the bestowal of the sacred cord the girls must be kept in seclusion and the boys eat only with their own people.