Men who carried pearls, jewels, and other
articles very valuable compared with their bulk, always depended for
their security from robbers and thieves on their concealment; and
there was nothing which they dreaded so much as the insolence and
rapacity of these custom-house officers, who made them pay large
bribes, or exposed their goods. Gangs of thieves had members in
disguise at such stations, who were soon able to discover through the
insolence of the officers, and the fears and entreaties of the
merchants, whether they had anything worth taking or not.
A party of thieves from Datiya, in 1882, followed Lord William
Bentinck's camp to the bank of the river Jumna near Mathura, where
they found a poor merchant humbly entreating an insolent custom-house
officer not to insist upon his showing the contents of the little box
he carried in his carriage, lest it might attract the attention of
thieves, who were always to be found among the followers of such a
camp, and offering to give him anything reasonable for his
forbearance. Nothing he could be got to offer would satisfy the
rapacity of the man; the box was taken out and opened.
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