The Banyan is a born trader, the beau-ideal of a sharp money-making
man. Money flows to his pockets as naturally as water down a
steep. No pang of conscience will prevent him from cheating his
fellow man. He excels a Jew, and his only rival in a market is a
Parsee; an Arab is a babe to him. It is worth money to see him
labor with all his energy, soul and body, to get advantage by the
smallest fraction of a coin over a native. Possibly the native
has a tusk, and it may weigh a couple of frasilahs, but, though
the scales indicate the weight, and the native declares solemnly
that it must be more than two frasilahs, yet our Banyan will
asseverate and vow that the native knows nothing whatever about it,
and that the scales are wrong; he musters up courage to lift it--it
is a mere song, not much more than a frasilah. "Come," he will say,
"close, man, take the money and go thy way. Art thou mad?" If the
native hesitates, he will scream in a fury; he pushes him about,
spurns the ivory with contemptuous indifference,--never was such
ado about nothing; but though he tells the astounded native to be
up and going, he never intends the ivory shall leave his shop.

The Banyans exercise, of all other classes, most influence on the
trade of Central Africa. With the exception of a very few rich
Arabs, almost all other traders are subject to the pains and
penalties which usury imposes. A trader desirous to make a
journey into the interior, whether for slaves or ivory, gum-copal,
or orchilla weed, proposes to a Banyan to advance him $5,000, at
50, 60, or 70 per cent. interest. The Banyan is safe enough not
to lose, whether the speculation the trader is engaged upon pays
or not. An experienced trader seldom loses, or if he has been
unfortunate, through no deed of his own, he does not lose credit;