See quotation.
1830. The price of them [small stores] depends upon the conscience of the purser, who is frequently called in American ships ‘the highwayman,’ and who is allowed by our sapient government, twenty per cent. profit upon ‘slops,’ (that is, ready made clothing,) and some other articles and his own profits upon all others.—N. Ames, ‘A Mariner’s Sketches,’ p. 200.
