THE BRITISH INDIAN 273 



past been in his hands. Not only is he wonder- 

 fully impervious to the effects of climate, but he 

 possesses that inestimable faculty of easily acquiring 

 a fluent knowledge of native tongues which at 

 once places him on a footing of easy, jocular 

 familiarity with the members of the tribes whose 

 produce he desires to exploit. He has successfully 

 monopolised the whole of this class of commerce 

 in all the extent of the Zambezi Valley, if one 

 should omit centres like Chinde and Tete, where 

 one or two European firms and trading companies 

 maintain agents whose lives must be of a singularly 

 restful and tranquil description, and whose ex- 

 periences probably do not include many of those 

 momentous incidents which, in more populous 

 centres, invest the pursuit of business at times with 

 an air of adventurous uncertainty. I should think 

 it extremely probable that in no part of the world 

 are there keener traders than the British Indians. 

 No profit is too small or inconsiderable ; no time 

 too long to devote to the successful driving of a 

 bargain. His manner of hfe, domestic in the ex- 

 treme, is nevertheless so thrifty, so frugal, and his 

 wants, bounded by a little curry and rice, are so 

 inexpensive, that few there are who cannot remit a 

 few rupees to India at the end of the year, to add to 

 the store which, when business cares and struggles 

 in the waste places of Africa are over, shall support 

 them in an honoured old age in Goa or Bombay. 



The caste of Indian most frequently seen is the 

 Mohammedan. A few Parsis are met with, it is 

 true, but these, with a small admixture of Hindus, 

 remain in the coast ports, and rarely venture very 



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