[34] This dokhma still exists on the Malabar Hill. It was built in 1670 by Modi Hirji Watcha, an ancestor of the Watcha Ghandi family. [35] Renan has summarised, in these few terse lines, the long dissertations in the Sixth Book, tenth chapter, of the Praeparatio Evangelica of Eusebius. (See Marcus Aurelius, ch. xxiv. pp. 439-440.) [36] See Malcolm, Hist. of Persia, vol. i. ch. viii. p. 275 et seq. [37] Shah Abbas the Great, desirous of increasing the commerce of Ispahan, caused 1,500 Guebre families to come and settle outside the town on this side of the river Zenderoud. Under Abbas II. they quitted Gehr-Abad and returned to the mountains. We see in Kaempfer that Abbas II. transported, in fact, nearly six hundred agricultural families into the Armenian Colony of Sulpha, or Sjulfa, founded by his ancestor, and which to the south bordered on the quarters of the Guebres. (Amaenitates exoticae, &c., p. 164, Lemgoviae, 1712.) [38] The Parsis, their History, Manners, Customs, and Religion, ch. ii. pp. 31 et seq., London, 1884. [39] In fifteen years the number has risen by 18 per cent., or 1 1/5 per cent. per year; thus, in February, 1878, there were 1,341 Zoroastrians in Kirman; in August, 1879, the number had risen to 1,378, viz., an increase of 1 4/5 per cent. [40] A. Houtum-Schindler. Die Parsen in Persien, ihre Sprache und einige ihrer Gebraeuche. (See Z. D. M. G., 36 ter Band, pp. 54 et seq., Leipzig, 1882.) Dupre (1807-1809) and Kinneir (1810) register the number of Zoroastrians in Persia, and put it down at 4,000 families. Trezel (1807-9) raises it to 8,000 Guebres in Yezd and in the neighbouring villages; Christie (1819) and Fraser (1821) count about 3,000 families in all Persia; Abbot (1845) lowers the number to 800 families in Yezd and in the surrounding places. Petermann (1854) counts 3,000 families, of whom 1,200 men are in Yezd; Goldsmid (1865), 4,500 Guebres in Yezd and Kirman; and finally Capt. Evan Smith (1870) 3,800 families. [41] Two young officers of the Indian Army have lately attempted to cross the frightful solitudes of Dusht-i-Kavir. (See Proc. of the R.G.S., November, 1891, and Asiatic Quarterly Review, October, 1891.) Dush-i-Sut has been more easy to explore, although the danger is not less, owing to the clouds of sand raised by the winds.