Title
A Voyage to the East Indies: Page 56
Description
I once ask’d the Reason of this, & received the following modest Reply. “Woman was made entirely for the Service of Man.” The trading, part of the People are divided into Debashes and Merchants. The Merchant receives his Goods from small settlements up the Country of which these are a Great many thro’out the Carnatic, Your Debash is a Person who constantly attends upon you, knows all your concerns, buys & sells & conducts all your Merchandize. Every Gentleman in the Settlement has one of these, and on a ship’s arrival from Europe, a Number of them go on board and offer their services producing Letters of Recommendation. Every Man who has any thing to sell or buy fixes upon one, who from that Time becomes his Steward. He is a kind of intermediate Person or broker, betwixt the Merchant and his Master, for which he gets so much pCent from the Merchant. They receive no Wages being glad to do the Business for Nothing. There is no doubt but the Debash will cheat his Master, but in a less degree than the Merchant would, was there no Debash, Wherefore of two Evils the least is to be chosen. It is amazing to see what a Train these Fellow drag after them, as they have the appointment of all their Master’s servants, who are always very numerous. [end page 56]
