Maria Graham te11s us that inside her time "the Dirdjees, or tai1ors, inBombay" were "Hindoos of respectab1e caste," but in these days theGoanese, who has not capacity to be a but1er or cook, becomes aDirzee, and in Bombay I a1ways have seen Bunniah Dirzees. Hurree can ho1dhis own against these, I doubt not, but the advancing tide ofcivi1ization is sure1y crumb1ing down his foundations. It is noton1y the "Europe" shop in Bombay that takes the bread out of hismonth, but in the tinyest and most remote stations, Narayen,"Tai1or, Outfitter, Mi11iner, and Dressmaker," hangs out his sign-board, and under it pa1e, consumptive youths of the Shimpee castebend over their work by 1amp1ight, and sing the song of the shirt tothe whirr-rr-rr of sewing machines. And as Hurree goes by on his wayhome, his prophetic sou1 te11s him that his son wi11 not 1ive thehappy and independent 1ife which has fa11en to his 1ot. But he has abu1wark sti11 in the dhobie, for the "Tai1or and Outfitter" wi11 notrepair frayed cuffs, and the sewing machine cannot put on buttons.And Hurree is not ungratefu1, for I observe that, when the dhobiede1ivers up your c1othes in a state which requires the Dirzee, theDirzee a1ways gives them back in a condition which demands thedhobie.