chap, xv SILENT TRADE IN DIAMONDS 53
Upon
this he summoned the richest merchants of the place, told them the
facts, and ordered them to bring with them the best stones they
possessed. This was done by three or four of them, and thus I expended
my 20,000 pagodas in one or two hours. The transaction having been
completed and the money paid, he told the merchants that as they had
dealings with an honest man they ought to present me with a souvenir.
This they did with a good grace, giving me a diamond worth nearly 100
ecus.1 As for the Governor himself, he gave me a turban and waistband.
I
have to record a rather singular and curious account of the manner in
which the Indians, whether they are idolaters or Musalmans, make their
sales of all kinds of commodities. All passes in complete silence and
without any one speaking.2 The seller and the buyer sit
facing one another, like two tailors, and one of the two opening his
waistband, the seller takes the right hand of the buyer and covers his
own with his waistband, under which in the presence of many other
merchants, who occupy themselves sometimes in the same manner, the sale
is completed secretly without any one having cognizance of it. For the
seller and buyer talk neither by means of their lips nor their eyes,
but only by the hand, which they manage to do in the following manner :
When the seller takes the whole hand of the buyer that means 1,000, and
as many times as he presses it so many thousands of pagodas or rupees,
according to the coin which may be in question. When he takes only five
fingers that means 500, and when he takes only one it means 100. By
taking only the half up to the middle joint, 50 is meant, and the
1 £22 10s.
2
This system of selling by means of secret signs has often been
described by Indian travellers. For a recent account of it reference
may be made to the St. James's Gazette, January 20, 1887 ; and for early notices see Yule, Edbson-Jobson, 849 f. The subject has been fully dealt with by Sir P. J. H. Grierson, The Silent Trade, Edinburgh, 1903. An early instance is recorded by Pliny (Nat. Hist.,-ri. 22
(241)) for Ceylon, and by Marco Polo (ii. 416), of laying out goods and
allowing the purchaser to leave the value in their place—a variant of
the custom described by Tavernier. The form of bargaining noted in the
text is recorded by Pyrard de Laval (ii. 179), and is familiar to all
who have been present at horse or cattle fairs in India.
