Such a rate of interest may appear very high, but is in general practice where money is lent for short dates; and then under good security. It is to be understood, that the money-lending business, especially that on _bunduck_, or pledge, is confined entirely to the Hindus: Mussulmans are prohibited by their sacred institutes from receiving, though they are not so strictly tied down in respect to paying, interest; indeed, owing to the less frugal habits of this sect, and their greater indulgence in ostentatious display, few of its individuals can be considered totally exempt from that heavy fine collected by the Hindu _shroffs_, and _mahajans_, from such inconsiderate persons as have occasion to seek their aid. It is, nevertheless, remarkable, that the generality of such money-lenders as reside at our several cantonments, are extremely liberal in their advances to officers, who, when much in arrears, are often extremely pressed for cash to defray their immediate table expences: and that, too, even on the most economical plan. I have been repeatedly kept from starving, by the accommodation afforded by _shroffs_; whose civility and forbearance form a most striking contrast with the punctual, and greedy, claims of both the Christian, and the Jewish, Shylocks of Britain. It must not be denied, that, when practicable, they will obtain some kind of security for their loans; which is but reasonable: but many hundreds of rupees have been furnished to me, simply on my acknowledgement, on a scrap of paper, barely specifying the sum and date, without any form such as could have validated the claim in case of my demise, or of my being prosecuted on the occasion. The truth is, that, where they see no danger, they feel no reluctance.