Note 507 — Chapter I · (continued 3)

The Parsis, from the most ancient to our times, neither bury nor burn their dead, but expose them to be devoured by birds and wild beasts. They fear to pollute the earth and the fire, which they hold sacred. It is, however, well established that they built formerly very magnificent sepulchres for kings and eminent men, to whom probably the privilege of such monumental graves was confined.—A. T.