DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11789#0160
150
FACILITIES FOR DECEPTION.
The dragoman turns to the horse-dealer and says:
"I regret that my master is so parsimonious; he
declares he will give but ten piastres; you had bet-
ter take that rather than miss the opportunity ;
for I know him well, and what he once says he
always adheres to." Then turning to his employer
—" The man consents to let his horse go for
twenty-five piastres; it is too much, but I do not
believe you can do better; it is, indeed, the regular
charge. If your friend got one cheaper, it must
have been an inferior article, or perhaps there was
that day less demand for horses than usual." So
the traveller pays twenty-five piastres, of which the
horse-dealer pockets ten and the dragoman fifteen.
In order to guard against detection, a dragoman
will go to a shopkeeper and say : " If my master
comes to buy anything of you, you must sell it to
him for so much (perhaps three times the usual
price); if you do otherwise, you will lose all the cus-
tom which I have it in my power to throw into your
hands." A traveller of my acquaintance, who
could speak besides English only one language, the
Italian, and that but imperfectly, had once occasion,
in the city of -, to employ a valet de place, a
temporary guide and interpreter, to show the way
through the town, and assist him in making some
FACILITIES FOR DECEPTION.
The dragoman turns to the horse-dealer and says:
"I regret that my master is so parsimonious; he
declares he will give but ten piastres; you had bet-
ter take that rather than miss the opportunity ;
for I know him well, and what he once says he
always adheres to." Then turning to his employer
—" The man consents to let his horse go for
twenty-five piastres; it is too much, but I do not
believe you can do better; it is, indeed, the regular
charge. If your friend got one cheaper, it must
have been an inferior article, or perhaps there was
that day less demand for horses than usual." So
the traveller pays twenty-five piastres, of which the
horse-dealer pockets ten and the dragoman fifteen.
In order to guard against detection, a dragoman
will go to a shopkeeper and say : " If my master
comes to buy anything of you, you must sell it to
him for so much (perhaps three times the usual
price); if you do otherwise, you will lose all the cus-
tom which I have it in my power to throw into your
hands." A traveller of my acquaintance, who
could speak besides English only one language, the
Italian, and that but imperfectly, had once occasion,
in the city of -, to employ a valet de place, a
temporary guide and interpreter, to show the way
through the town, and assist him in making some