Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1892-06-15
AFRICAN CURRENCY.
Almost Everything Used for Money In the
Dark Continent.

Almost Everything Used for MoneY In the
Dark Continent.
One of the greatest difficulties that
the British and German colonization
societies, as well as all travellers In
Africa, have to contend with, says
the Chicago Herald, is to be always
provided with money for the trans
action of business with the natives.
The difficulty more especially referred
to means the right kind Of money.
There is not one object on earth which
would pass as medium Of exchange
throughout the length and bredth 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
civilization, and for mercantile en-
terpriSe, is to creaee and enforce a
common monetary standard. OF all
coined money the Maria Theresa dol
lar has by far the largest circulation
in Africa. Its territory extends from
FeZ in Morocco down that London
of the Soudan," the great trade en-
porium, kano, and thus comprises
more than One-third of the whole of
Africa, about 4, 900, 900 square miles,
with a population Of 20, 900, 900. But
even in this coin there are differences.
In kasSala, for instance, no Maria
Theresa dollar is taken at its full
value unless 1t bears the date 1880,
the bust portrait of the empress, the
crown adorned with seven well-de-
fined apples, the decorations on her
breast, and the letters 5. h. near the
rim OF other metals which are used
in coinage in civilized lands copper is
used to quite an extent in Africa; the
Cannibalistic Nam MAN especially,
like the English bar copper OF one
inch diameter Expeditions to the
territory Of the NiamNiam, there
fore, have generally been forced to in-
clude several coppersmiths, and these
men, as soon as the Nam MAN land
was reached induStriously applied
themselves to transforming the bars
OF copper into rings OF sizes varying
from that Of bracelet TO that of a
tiny lingering. And SO great is the
love OF the Niam-Niam for these
| baubles that even one OF the
small copper tinger-r'ngs (value less
than cent? would purchase a fat
chicken of them. Iron, too. is made
use Of in this way among the Afrl-
cans. AS it goes into trade in stick
form, there were up TO recently such
expressions as '.stick of rum"-meau-
ing the equivalent of stick Of iron
in rum-generally about a gallon; IA
stick OF tobacco" equivalent to
twenty rolls of the weed, quite com
mon 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 ter
ritOry watered by the tributaries of
the White Nile. The Bongo people
have an iron currency having the
shape Of a spade, with handle and
an anchor-like end to it. This
they call lOggo colluti. The largest
iron coins 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.
q When he can't get ten OF such iron
prates he has to be satisfied with an
elderly beauty. Besides metals, salt
is a medium of exchange in Africa
This Is especially the case in Abyssinia
and III certain districts in Northern
! Africa. The blocks of salt called
amote come from the East of the
AbYssinian Alps. They have the
shape of a grindstone, with one end
pointed, and weigh originally about
one and quarter pounds. A camel
may carry 500, mule $50, donkey
200, and slave sixty of these chunks
= For Maria Theresa dollar the Afar
gives 100 of these pieces of salt,
the people Of Adoas only forty, those
of Gaudar but thirty. To prevent the
amOle from losing its weight by fire.
quent handling it is put on the mar
ket in a wrapper of treebark. The
4 Kissama people, Of the KoanZa in
Angola, make use of their salt in a
: similar way, weaving rattan around
it. There is also a kind of paper
money in circulation in Africa. On
the other hand, in Dikoa, in
Ademouah, in Loggone, and else
where, small cotton strips as the reg
ular currency. Ia Bagirari these
strips are so small that from seventy
to $50 Of them would have to be
placed together to make shirt. In
| DarfOOr the gray, coarse Shirting cir
! culateS as money, and in TiOut, in
upper Egypt, this material is dyed
dark or blue and then cut into pieces
Of three yards in length. Glass beads
are also much in vogue as money, but
| in them taste differs, and changes so
continually among the different tribes
! that their value as standard medi-
cine is materially decreased An
extensive field is covered by the
kaOri currency, those tiny shells of
porcelain appearance and OF lively
hue which are found in enormous
quantities in the Maldivian group of
islands. y ton of these kaoris costs
in Ceylon from $3.50 to 1915. These
little shells have been in African
trade for many centuries.