Storia do Mogor 265.17.8

265.17.8

It is the custom to close the shops at six o'clock, as soon as the sun sets, for if this were not done they would be plundered. This is because the soldiers and Kaffirs, dying of hunger, are forced into such conduct. The Baniya shopkeepers, in order to sell their goods — such as garlic, pimento, butter, and the rest — have a hole in the shop-door through which they receive the money and hand out what is wanted. Even this precaution did not avail them always, for some thieves pretending they wanted to buy something, a shopkeeper put his hand through the hole to take the money ; they seized his hand and pricked it with a knife and asked for the goods required, saying if he did not give them they would cut off his hand. The shopkeeper, seeing himself in this fix, could think of nothing but making the best bargain he could. So, calling to his wife to bring all he had, he offered the amount to the thieves. As soon as they had the money they released his hand. Let the reader just think of that Baniya's affliction, they being a very timid and avaricious class. When reports of this case reached the other Baniya shopkeepers, to circumvent the thieves they adopted a long wooden spoon to take the money and deliver the goods, and on no account would they put their hand through the hole. Experience had been their teacher.