Thank you for the water, respected sir.

The Asiatic Journal and monthly register for British Indian and foreign dependencies (page 650) carries this sycophantic letter written in 1825 by a group of Parsees to the British Governor, thanking the latter for digging wells and providing water.

"To the Hon. Mountstuart Elphinstone, President in Council, Bombay."

"Hon. Sir :—Deeply impressed at all times, with a sense of gratitude for the benefits which, during your administration and that of the present members of your honourable Board, have been conferred on all classes of the inhabitants of Bombay, so creditable to the name of the British government, we, the undersigned, beg more particularly on the present occasion (having been blessed by the high Providence with a favourable season of rain, and expecting a most abundant crop of all descriptions of grain) to offer you our sincere and grateful acknowledgments for your most munificent and charitable exertions in providing against the want of water during the fast dry season.

"The kindness of your disposition, which makes you beloved by all; the obliging condescension which leads you to attend, with the greatest readiness, to the wishes and applications of those under you; but above all, the noble liberality with which you patronize every public institution for the good of the country, need not now any mention from us; they are engraved on our breasts, and they will be associated in the minds of our children with those institutions, which must remain as a memorial of their founder.

"But the more immediate benefits which we have just experienced, as well individually as collectively, who compose so great a proportion of the population of this island, call forth the most lively sentiments of gratitude; and we are therefore constrained by every good feeling, to offer you our humble tribute of thanks. Permit us to express our gratitude for the benefits we lately experienced by the opening of the sally port through the ramparts, which has been so useful to the inhabitants of the port, in getting water both by day and night; and, also, by the opening of the wells in every part of the island where it was probable they could be of service: and likewise in the construction of the new tanks, and in improving and repairing the old onej which benevolent steps have saved the inhabitants from considerable distress.

"Such acts as these, at all times considered as the most charitable in this part of the world, permit us to assure you, are particularly at this period appreciated as they ought to be by all classes of our fellow subjects; and with every sentiment of esteem for your justice and liberality, and with every good wish for your prosperity, and that you may continue long to administer the government of this island, we beg to subscribe ourselves, with the greatest respect, honourable sir,

Your most grateful,

Devoted and obedient servants,

"Hormanjee Bomanjee, Cursetjee Ardeseer and 40 others

Bombay, 31* Oct. 1825.