tives, disguised as poor passengers, are sometimes successful in
bringing a clerk of this character to book. The goods and parcels
traffic also furnishes a wide field for overcharge, and also of
vexatious delay when the stimulus of a commission on the transaction
is lacking.

If a servant is sent to fetch a _tonga_ from the bazaar, more often
than not he will make the driver give him a _pice_ or two, under the
threat of otherwise not giving him any more of his master's custom.
One of the many servants of the average Indian bungalow sits at the
entrance of the front verandah, and he is the channel of communication
between the outside world and the powers within. Door-bells, for some
inscrutable reason, are practically unknown in the Englishman's
bungalow. If the door-attendant happens to be absent, the visitor
shouts "Boy," a word which in Western India is applied, not very
happily, to any household servant of whatever age.

If the caller is a _sahib_, the door-attendant will quickly attend to
his wants and will bring him into rapid communication with his master.
But supposing you are a poor native, wanting to see the sahib on some
matter of business, unless you are lucky enough to waylay him as he
drives in or out, which he may possibly resent, you stand a poor
chance of getting near him unless you are prepared to tip the
door-keeper. It is to be feared that even Hindus, coming in an honest
spirit of inquiry to a missionary's house, have been choked off by an
official of this nature. It is of the utmost importance that the front
verandah of a mission-house should be freely accessible to whoever
likes to step into it.

District officers when they are on tour and living in camp, and who
are honestly anxious to be within reach of everybody who has a real
grievance, have sometimes great difficulty in preventing their good
intentions being frustrated by some of the subordinate officials who
form an inevitable part of their retinue.

Native merchants who deal with Englishmen have the idea so ingrained
that bribes are a necessary part of business, that they imagine that
the way to secure custom, or at any rate more favourable terms, is to
make large offerings of fruit and sweetmeats at Christmas, and
such-like auspicious times. One of the results of this is that most
things in the Indian markets, and even in some of the shops, grow
rather dearer just before Christmas, and the notion is spreading
amongst Hindus and others