USURY. 



U7 



coast journey distinguislied by inhumamty. Here 

 the free traveller dies as frequently as the servile. 

 The merchants complain loudly of the ' Pagazi,' 

 or porters : these fellows are prepaid §10 for 

 the trip, and the proprietor congratulates him- 

 self if, after payment, only 15 per cent, abscond. 

 The Hindu's profit must here be enormous, I 

 saw one man to whom $26,000 were owed by the 

 people. 'V\^hat part do interest and compound 

 interest play in making up such a sum, when even 

 Europeans will demand 40 per cent, for moneys 

 lent on safe mortgage or bottomry ? We heard of 

 another case, in which a bond worth $60, and 

 sold for $30, became, by post-obits and other 

 processes, $10,000 : the affair was referred to the 

 Zanzibar Government, which allowed $1000 by 

 way of indemnification. Some of their gains are 

 swallowed up by the rapacity of these savages, 

 whose very princes are inveterate beggars. The 

 pliant Banyan always avoids refusals, like the di- 

 plomatic Spaniard, ' saying no, although he may 

 do no ' ; consequently he will find at his door 

 every evening some 70 or 80 suitors, who 

 besiege him with cries for grain, butter, or a 

 little oil. 



After the dancing ceremony arose a variety of 

 difficulties, resulting from the African traveller's 



