The daily gazette., 1877-12-29
Varieties of Currency.

Almost every nation and tribe, as
we'll as every epoch, has its peculiar cur.
rency. Not only gold, silver, copper,
brass, iron, lead and paper, but glass
shells, beads, bark, stones, soap, bits oi
various colored cloth and numerous 9TH
er articles have been used to represent
money; and even in our own day the
tourist in the far-off lands of the east
fluids it no easy matter, as he journeys
from country to country, to keep the run
of the ever-varying currency. The Bur-
mese, Karens, and Shans have no coined
money, lead and silver in bullion being
the ordinary tender in trade. Weight
and purity, are, of course, the standards
Of value, and in testing these the ma
tives are both punctilious and expert.
For very small sums, cowries, or small
shells are used, and in many places it
takes from one hundred and fifty to two
hundred cowries to make single cent ;
so that women going to market need to
carry two baskets-one for the market
ing, and the other for their cowries. In
Siam also shells are used for all sums
less than fuang, which is the silver coin
of the lowest denomination, In value
or bat, as 1t is called by the natives
is a silver coin, worth sixty cents, and
the half-tical and salung. also of silver,
are valued respectively at thirty and fif>
teen cents. There is, besides, an imagi-
nary saung-pie (three and three-quarters
cents, and also pie, or quarter faung
Zone and seven-eight cent? but these are
rarely coined. l have seen few speci>
mems, held by coin-collectors as curiosi-
ties, but though really legal tender,
they are no more used in trade than is
the half>cent piece among our people.
A gold fuang, identical in form and
weight with that of silver, is worth two
ticals, or sixteen times as much as its
silver synonym and larger gold coins,
bearing the same relative value, may be
had at the mint or treasury, but they are
not in general circulation. All the coins
formerly useu III Siam were made in the
form of cylinder, LuTueu In aU os~s-
end so as to resemble a bullet, ard
stamped with small die on one side.
But since the accession Of the present
King, currency modelled after that of
most European nations has superseded
that of the old, while the latter has been,
by royal edict, returned to the Mint, and
is now entirely out Of circulation. Be-
sides the four coins already named, a
tWo>tical piece has been introduced. 1t
| is little larger than our silver dollar,
it's value being one dollar and twenty
cents, and has for the central figure on
one side an elephant, the national EN-
blem OF Siam, and on the reverse three
royal or pagoda-shapsd umbrellas. The
tical, haif-Jical, salung and fuang are all
identical in form with the two-tical piece,
but none of the specimens sent me bear
either date or motto.
Among the Malays, az might have
been expected from their predatory hab-
its, all sorts of coins are found in circula-
ton, while none are claimed as nation
al currency. AT Batavia we find the
Dutch currency; at Singapore and Malac-
ca the Company and Java rupees, the
American dollar, Chinese cash and Ben
galese pice make up the mongrel cata-
1ogue of current coins =; at Sumaria and
Borneo gold in nuggets is most frequent
ly used, except for very small sums; while
at many of the lesser Malayan islands
shells of three distinct varieties, repre-
senting several rupees, annes and pice,
are the ordinary tender.
Salt was for long time the ordinary
still the legal tender of Iceland. Cowries
varying in size and color to represent
larger or smaller sums, are generally
used in Africa by the native tribes among
themselves, while in their trade with for
eigners gold dust and ivory are give in
lieu of coined money. So Wampuin
which was the ordinary currency OF our
American Indians in the days of their
freedom, has been suspended by the bart
a., ff.at aH Htnt
their civilized neighbors.
In the interior provinces Of Northern
China slips of the bark of the mulberry
tree, bearing the imperial "chop" and a
stamp to denote their worth, have long
heen used as we use bank notes, the legal
value being just what appears ON the
face. Marco Polo found these In his
time, and they still have an extensive
local circulation. At all the ports fre-
Quented by foreigners Spanish dollars
are current, but wherever offered they
are carefully weighed and their purity
tested, after which they are stamped
with steel punch, and are thenceforth
known as "chop dollars" AS every
Chinese receiver of these dollars puts a
fresh chop on them, their value is In
time materially diminished, as they
necessarily lose in bulk, and they can be
paid and received only according TO
China "Sycee silver" is, after all, the
real currency of the Empire-that is,
ingots of silver of uniform purity paid
out by weight-and almost every one
carries about his person case of small,
neat ivory steelyards, for the especial
purpose of weighing the silver used in
ordinary traffic. The leang, tseen and
fun, called by foreigners, tael, mace and
candarin, are mere nominal COINS repre-
senting certain weights of silver-seven
hundred and twenty taels or leangs being
the equivalent of one thousand dollars.
The only real coin the Chinese have in
circulation is the copper one known as
"cash," and even tkls is not coined, but
cast. 1t is about thrae-fourths of an
inch in diameG er, with square hole in
the centre, and bears on one side the
dare of the issue, and on the reverse the
name of the reigning Emperor. It's value