1 BANKERS.
2 tt tbeur Qoimtiy, and who are imiiid erm in the eMt| wheiei how*
3 Vflr> ^ tradei alliidad tis toe xnoce fieqiiodj aeieiBed Hj Hiiid-
4 .keeB, .a people of Indian origin, -who are aoattered over that .part of
5 A%hauni8taun/ as the Taijika^aie in the west Theae iiationi^ atid
6 the others which contribute to &e populadon of A%|iaun towns, will
7 be oonaidered as distinct raoas^ after I bave descrflbed the Afghauna (
8 at preieiiA I .hanre only to ^peak of the place they oeciipy as citizena
9 of thoae towns. In this point of view, we find them divided into
10 bankers, merdiants, artisans, and labourers.
11 The prohibition in the Koraun against Mussulmans taking intereat,
12 makes most of the business of banking fall into the hands of Hindoos,
13 whose warv and penurious habits snit them atlniirably for the trade.
14 They derive their profits Iroin leiniin;^ monpv, whirh they do at an
15 enormous interest, by nrfjnciat inL^ bills of exchange, and by transac-
16 tions i riiuieeled with tlie Jluetuaiions of the exchange in the place
17 wheie they reside. They also mix tra<le and agency witli their regu-
18 lar banking business. Aiioilier source of profit arises from advancing
19 money to government for bills on tl ic revemie of {mn iiiccs, and this
20 hazardous speculation is lecunnnendc'd by a premium, always large,
21 and increasing with the risk of non-payment. Some of the bankers
22 are very rich, but there arc numberless little shops set up with very
23 small capitals, which practise the same trade as the great ones, aniong
24 the poor people of their particular neighbourhood.
25 When I waa at .IMiawer,^e bankera tfaonght it necessary to
26 oenoeal their wedtfa ; and one, who took up my bills, ftt* the purpose
27 of TODiituig his property to India, would only make his payments in
28 the .iu|^ irfien he dug up hia money, .and paid it to my treasurer
29 with the utmost secrecy. But these precautions were not taken from
30 any present danger so much as wi^ a view to futurity, as Feshewer
31 was on the ere of a revolntion, . wliidi had already commenced in the
32 West. At that very time, 'the bankers had great confidence in the
33 government of , Shaidi Shujan, and kwked'with terror to the prospect
34 of its snbvendon. Nb exactidna weie ever made on them, notwith-
35 standing .the ,Kui|fa uigoit wants { and, in aQ transactions with'
36 II
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