he child actually gets better, and the mother in
gratitude pays the Syed from eight annas to a rupee for his kind offices.
So too it is the Syed and the prayers he breathes which exorcise the spirit
of hysteria that so often lays hold of young maidens; and it is likewise
the prayer-laden breath of the devout man which fortifies the souls of them
that have journeyed unto the turnstiles of Night.

XII.

CITIZENS OF BOMBAY.

THE MEMON AND RANGARI.

[Illustration: A Bombay Memon.]

Would you learn how the Memon and the Rangari--two of the most notable
inhabitants of the city--pass the waking hours? They are early risers as a
rule and are ready to repair to the nearest mosque directly the Muezzin's
call to prayer breaks the silence of the approaching dawn, and when the
prayers are over they return to a frugal breakfast of bread soaked in milk
or tea and then open their shops for the day's business. If his trade
permits it, the middle-class Memon will himself go a-marketing, taking with
him a "jambil" or Arab-made basket of date-leaves in which to place his
vegetables, his green spices, his meat and a little of such fruit as may be
in season. His other requisites,--flour, pulse, sugar and molasses,--come
to him in what he calls his "khata,"--his account with a neighbouring
retail-dealer. He is by no means beloved of the Bombay shop-keeper, for he
is strict in his observance of the "sunna" which bids him haggle "till his
forehead perspires, just as it did in winning the money". The Bombay
shop-keeper commences by asking an exorbitant price for his commodities;
our Memon retorts by offering the least they could possibly fetch; and the
battle between the maximum and the minimum eventually settles itself
somewhere about the golden mean, whereupon the Memon hies him homewards as
full of satisfaction as Thackeray's Jew. In many cases the mother of the
house or the sister, if old, widowed and in the words of the Koran
"despairing of a marriage," performs the business of shopping and proves
herself no less adept than her kinsman at driving a bargain.

About mid-day the Memon or Rangari has his chief meal consisting of
leavened or unleavened bread, meat curry or stew or two "kababs" or fried
fish, followed perhaps by mangoes, when in season; and when this is over he
indulges in a siesta whenever his business allows of it. The afternoon
prayers are followed by re-application to business, which keeps him busy in
his shop u