THE INDIAN MERCHANT 109 



turban and spotless robes, and the Cashmere shawl 

 merchant and many more, pressing on the gentle- 

 man's notice for the last time their most tempting 

 wares and preparing for the long bout of fence which 

 will decide at what point between " asking price " 

 and "selling price" each article shall change 

 ownership. The distance between these two points 

 is wide and variable, depending upon the indications 

 of wealth about the purchaser's person and the 

 indications of innocence about his countenance. 



And when the poor globe-trotter, who has long 

 since spent more money than he ever meant to spend, 

 and loaded himself with things which he could have 

 got cheaper in London or New York, tries to shake 

 off his tormentors by getting up and leaning over 

 the balcony rails, the shrill voice of the snake- 

 charmer will assail him from below, promising him, 

 in a torrent of sonorous Hindustanee, variegated 

 with pigeon English and illuminated with wild 

 gesticulations, such. a superfine tamasha as it never 

 was the fortune of the sahib to witness before. 



Tamasha is one of those Indian words, like 

 bundobust, for which there is no equivalent in the 

 English language, and which are at once so com- 

 prehensive and so expressive that, when once 

 the use of them has been acquired, they become 

 indispensable, so that they have gained a permanent 

 place in the Anglo-Indian's vocabulary. It is not 

 slang, but a good word of ancient origin. Hobson- 

 Jobson quotes a curious Latin writer on the Empire 



