The Indianapolis journal., 1890-06-08
PECULIAR CURRENCY.
Some Strange Substitutes for Money In
Early Days.

Some Strange Substitutes for Money In
Early Days.
There was o time when neither coin nor
even metals In the rough was in use among
mankind as circulating medium Numis-
matics, as rule, go no further back than
eight or nine hundred years before the
Christian era to the stamped pieces of
metal circulated among the Greeks and
Lydians.
1t may be of interest to glance at some Of
the early forms of currency and at the
strange substitutes for money still IN use
among barbarous people.
The earliest substitute for coin current
used by man is believed TO have been the
skins of animals. This medium of ex-
change was employed by the ancient kas-
slams and also by tho first settlers OF this
country. Certain tribes of the Alaskan In
dIans to-day use the pelts of bears and
foxes for currency.
The pastoral age succeeded the hunting
age, and men began to use animals them
lating medium.
The ANIMALS principally employed were
sheep and oxen. their relative value being
determined by the ancient Romans at ten
sheep for one OK, which standard is still
recognized among the Mongol tribes.
Traces of this custom are still visible In the
Irish and lcelandic laws.
Among the early Teutonic races fines
were often paid in cattle, and the Zulus
and the Kaffirs in this year of grace make
use of this old-time medium.
A direct link between this practice and
the use of metal coins for moneys is found
in the currency of the early Romans, who
used pieces of brass clipped off from mass.
Later, in the time of Servius Tullius, the
brass was coined and marked with the fig
ure Of an OK. An interesting little bit or
chronological lore is connected with this
custom, for the Latin word for money, Pc
- s.<~I> 49,. st.wx
was derived from pecus. cattle
Metal money was used, however, long be-
fore the time of the Romans. As FAR back
as the days of Abraham, the Egyptians used
gold and silver for currency. 1t was count
ed by weight and not by face value.
The Hebrews had Jewel money" in addi-
tion to shekels and talents. and drachms of
gold and silver. On tie Egyptian tombs
gold IS represented as being weighed in
rings for commercial purposes; rather an
Improvement, it may be considered, on the
earlier metal lump.
Before the introduction OF coined money
into Greece, skewers or spikes OF iron and
copper constituted the currency. six max
ing drachm or handful
This iron money continued in use among
the Spartans for many centuries. and Plu-
tarch tells us that to great quantity and
weight of this but a small value was as
signed. so that to lay up 10 min9 Ia little
over S31) a whole room was required. and
to remove it nothing less than yoke of
oxen.
In certain parts of central Africa iron
spikes are still used after the Spartan fash
ion; and. according to Adam Smith. IL was
not SO long ago that nails were used as
subsidiary coin in Scotland. Hence. per-
haps, we obtain the term 'ten-penny DaiP'
ii. e. ten for q penny.
During the commercial supremacy of Car
thage the common currency used by her
merchants and sailors, both in their trade
at home and with foreign nations. was
pieces of leather stamped with the arms of
the powerful republic.
The currency of the Aztecs consisted of
transparent quills of gold-dust of bits of
tin cut in the form of L, and of bags OF
cocoa Containing a specified number of
grains.
BLESSED money" exclaims the old an
nalist, Peter Martyr, (which excepts its
possess0r from avarice, since 1t cannot be
long hoa rded or hidden under ground
The earliest coinage in America was the
famous "hog money" made in 1872 for the
Virginian Company, at the Sommer Islands,
with the legend "Sommer Island.n and
"hogge on one side. in memory of the album
dance of hogges which were found on their
first landing
The currency OF TIE early colonists was a
very mixed one. At one time musket- balls
passed for change at farthing apiece.
and were a legal tender for sums under a
shilling. Tobacco and tobacco receipts
were also legal tender, and corn, beans,
Goldfish and peltries were likewise en-
Wampum, the shell-bead money of the
Indians, was the currency most In use.
however. being accepted by the colonists as
a convenient token.
Z "wampumeag,n which was white, and made
from the conch or periwinkle, and suck
anhock,n which was dark purple and made
from the bard-shell clam.
The purple was worth twice as much as
the white The shell was broken in pieces
rubbed smooth on q stone till about the
thickness of pipe-stem. then pierced with
drill and strung into necklaces. bracelets
The English. French and Dutch settlers
1640 at six beads for a penny. The strings
were called fathoms, and varied in value
from to 10 shillings.
Shell money has played quite an impor-
tant part in the worlds commerce. The
small. hard shell known as the "cowry' 10
useo to-day in India, the Indian islands
aud Africa In place of subsidiary coin.
In 1881 more than one thousand tons of
these shells were brought from India to
Liverpool to exchange for palm oil. Their
value in Bengal is $500 to the rupee. or
about seventy to the cent.
The list of what may be termed curious
money ia an extensive one. Salt is used IN
Abyssinia and whales teeth in the Feejee
islands.
In some of the South Sea islands red
feathers form the currency. Among the
native Australians greensboro and red
ochre are used.
Female slaves form the standard of value
in the retired districts of New Guinea.
In the rural parts of Norway corn is used
for coin. Pieces of silk pass as currency IN
China, and cakes of tea in Thibet. At the
great fairs of lower Novgorod, in Russia.
tin is the accepted standard of value. In
the British West Indies. pins. slice Of
bread, a pinch of snuff or dram of whisky
African coast axes are the currency moss
in vogue.
The strangest coin Of all. however is the
ideal money spoken of by Montesquieu as
being found in certain parts of Africa. This
singular currency is called ma conte." but
is purely sign of value without a unit.