All
goods arriving from Agra at Surat, for dispatch of bills of exchange at
5 per cent., for packing, carriage, and customs, according to their
classes, are charged with from 15 to 20 per cent.
All gold and silver, whether in ingots or coin, pays 2 per cent, on entering Surat.1
The merchant does what he can to avoid this charge ; nevertheless, when
caught, he is let off with paying double and nothing more. The Princes
would like to confiscate the whole sum, but the judges are opposed, and
maintain that Muhammad forbade all custom dues and interest on money.2
I have spoken fully in the second chapter of the first book of the
custom dues, the money, both gold and silver, and the weights and
measures of India, to which I refer the reader.
CHAPTER XIII
Concerning
the frauds which can be practised in manufactures, either by the
roguery of the workers or the knavery of the brokers and buyers.
I shall follow
in this chapter the same order as I have observed in the preceding,
with the object of making plain, for the benefit of the merchant, all
the frauds which can be effected in silk, cotton cloths, cotton, and
indigo, for there are none in the case of spices and drugs.
Frauds in Silken Stuffs.
Silken
stuffs vary in breadth, length, and quality. The length and breadth are
ascertainable by measurement, the quality depends upon whether the
stuffs are uniformly woven, whether the weight is right, and whether
there is any cotton introduced into the web, as the Indians very often
introduce it.
to help digestion, to quicken the spirits, and to cleanse the blood.' {A Voyage to E. India, ed. 1777, pp. 100-1.) The facts are given more fatty by Watt, 364 ff. , * See vol. i, p. 7.
* ' They who swallow down usury shall arise at the Last Day only as he ariseth, whom Satan has infected by his touch ' (Koran, ii. 276, and other texts collected by Hughes, Diet, of Islam, 656 f.).
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