The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-12-28
QUEER MONEY IN AFRICA.
ODDITIES OF CIRCULATING MEDI-
UNI IN THE DARK CONTINENT.

]
Austrian Maria Theresa Dollars EN-
ployed in About Third Part of the
Whole Territory-Copper, Iron, salt
Paper Mats, Cotton Fabrics, Cattle
Glass Beads, and Ivory Shells Util-
lied in Other Sections-A Wife Costs
From One Up to Ten Cows, or From
Ten TO Hundred Horses.
From the New York Morning Journal.
One of the greatest difficulties that the
British and German colonization societies,
as we'll as all travellers in Africa, have to
contend with is to be always provided with
money for the transaction Of business with
the natives. The difficulty more especially
referred to means the right kind Of money.
There is not one object on earth that would
pass as a medium of exchange throughout
the length and breadth of Africa. And, as
in matters of money the black-skinned sons
Of Africa are just as particular as people OF
other climes, one Of the first things neces-
sary to make Africa good field for oiviliza-
ton and mercantile enterprise is to create
and enforce a common monetary standard.
One great obstacle is the fact that the
population of Africa is split up into num-
berIess tribes and trtbelets, each one of
which in almost every instance has a me-
dunn of exchange of its own and recognizes
no other in It's dealings with strangers.
And these mediums run up and down the
| scale in hundreds of gradations, beginning
| with the Austrian dollar bearing the effgy
| and imprint of Maria Theresa, the empress,
and ending with methodically fattened
dogs
| OF all coined money the Maria Theresa
dollar has by far the largest circulation in
Africa. Its territory extends from Fee in
| Morocco down to that London of the Sou
dan, the great trade emporium, Kano, and
thus comprises more than one-third of the
whole o. Africa, about 100000 square
miles, with population Of 70,000,000, but
even in this coin there are differences.
| In Kassala, for instance, no Maria Theresa
dollar is taken at its full value unless it
| bears the date 1850, the bust portrait of the
empress, the crown adorned with seven
well-defned apples, the decorations on her
| breast and the letters 3. f. near the rim.
Only when all these marks are found on the
coin will it pass for abugn ukhte father Of
contentment) with the masses. And as a
further mark of genuineness the blackish
tint of the metal-acquired by much hand
| ling-is appreciated. The Suahels call such
and will take those by preference.
In 1887, when the English started on their
| expedition to A5yssinia they carried with
them goodly supply OF bright, new Maria
Theresa dollars coined for them in Vienna,
but this coin met well-defined mistrust on
the part of the natives. since it looked so
surprisingly new. Yet the Maria Theresa
dollar is the only available one in all this
part of the dark continent. The conquering
tour OF this coin was achieved with remark
able rapidity.
In 1913, only thirteen years after the
death of the great empress, the first Euro
pean who penetrated the Soudan-the En-
glishman Brawn-found it in large num-
bers. Though at that time mainly used as an
ornament. the handsome silver coin soon
after became regular medium OF ex-
change, percolating into every nook and
corner of Northern Africa.
or other metals which are used in coinage
in civilized lands copper is used to quite an
extent in Africa The cannabalistic Man.
Nam especially like the English bar copper
OF one inch diameter. Expeditions to the
territory of the Niam-Niam, therefore, have
generally been forced to include several
coppersmiths, and these men, as soon as the
| Niam-Niam land was reached, applied
themselves to Transforming the bars of cop
per into rings OF sizes varying from that of
| a bracelet to that of a tiny finger-ring
And so great Is the love of the Mann Nam
for these baubes that even one of the small
copper finger-rings value less than cent
would purchase fat chicken of them.
Iron, too, is made use of in this way
among the Africans. AS it goes into trade
IN stick form, there were up to recently
| such expressions as ''stick of rum" mean
ing the equivalent of stick of iron in
rum-generslly about gallon; "a stick of
tobacco" equivalent to twenty rolls OF the
weed-quite common in central parts of
| Africa At the mouth of the Niger, for
instance, in Bomey, the iron is wrought into
horseshoe-like form and then called igbi, or
MANILA Another form is given to this iron
money in the territory watered by the
tributaries of the White Nile.
The Bongo people have an iron currency
having the shape of q spade, with a handle
and an anchor-like end to it. This they
call loggo colluti. The largest iron coin
circulating here are of the size and shape of
a large plate, being one foot in diameter.
| These treasures are piled up in the ware
| rooms OF native merchants just as silver or
gold bars in other lands. For ten iron
plates of two pounds weight each the love-
lorn Bongo swain buys his inamorata of
her papa. When he can't get ten of such
iron plates he has TO be satisfied with an
elderly beauty.
Besides metals salt Ia a medium of ex-
change in Africa. This is especially the
case in Abyssinia and in certain districts in
Northern Africa. The blocks of salt, called
amole, come from the east of the Abyssian
Alps. They have the shape If a grindstoDe,
with one end pointed, aud weigh originally
about one and quarter pounds. A camel
may carry 500, mule $50, and slave
sixty Of these chunks.
For Maria Theresa dollar the Afar give
100 of these pieces of salt, the people of
Adoa only forty. and those of Gandar but
thirty. TO prevent the amole from losing
its weight by frequent handling 1t is put on
the market In a wrapper Of tree bark. The
| Kissama people or the Koanza in Angola
make use OF their salt in a similar way,
weaving rattan around it.
There is also kind Of paper money in cir
culation in Africa. On the cost of Loango,
for instance, they have umbouRo. sort Of
paper mat, foot square large of which 100
are worth piece of cloth in kano. In the
interior Of the Soudan the tobe, cotton