The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1896-08-22
SUBSTITUTES FOR CURRENCY.

Eexs are about the o1ucst form OF cur
rency Tschudi. a sober and painstakng
Teoton, whose evidence Is not 10 be QCes-
toned, declares that he found hens eggs
the only money throughout the province
Of Janja, in Peru that; would be some
fifty years ago. The people transmitted
them by thousands to the provincial cap
ital and ma de their purchases Herewith
at the rate OF forty or fifty to the dollar.
We are TO understand that the country
people had little use for cash among them
selves. In Manchur1a br.ok tea End fioss
silk represent money; but the latter Is go
ing out OF fashion. The usual brick OF
tea, ten inches by eight, one and one
half inches thick, is equivalent In trade
with Russians 20 sixty kopecs eighteen
PENCE. 1t is div .ded 20 make any change
necessary Russian merchants have tried
to introduce paper currency, the notes
representing sixty kopecs and parts there
OF, but Tartars reject them. When a
brick gets discred4ted. that il. too much
worn by long circulation, it Is consigned
10 the teapot.
Several old travellers assure that
cats eyes were employed in the great In
dian Kingdom of vijianagar; elsewhere
iron worked into the form Of large
needles, cakes of salt. or again. says Mic
oio Cont. cards Inscribed with the name
of the king. The Abyssinians also sits
uss cakes OF salt IN remote districts. Var
ious negro tribes have a currency of iron
hoes Nongua shells were the money OF
the Indians I'm British Columbia, one
string representing the value OF one bcay-
er. In Australia rough slabs OF free
stone, TO be fashioned into hatchets, rep
resented cash. The men who hawked
these slabs from tribe to tribe were sacr-d,
passing unframed through all the dis
tr1cts even al war. Marco Polo reckon
ed bankno.es among the ofysest suh.ti-
tutes for money: his account OF the notes
issued by KubAaf Kahn ard his reflection
on the system are peculiarly delightful
He tells of people in the great province ~
Thibet who used coral; but we must ark
where they got IT. Had he said Turquoise.
II would hsve been quite inteiliGible. for
the Tdb.tans still employ that stone ~
need Ef~ewhere, Marco speaks a
Springs Of goldr and porcelain" In
the latter case also an error may be slis- |
pected. Our word r. adapted from the |
Portuguese. sirnifying hogs back" their |
name for the cowry-shell: Becoming ao-
quainted with the Chinese manufacture.
they applied the same word 10 = from the
great resemblance TO A cowry. TIE trans
ator Of Marcos work-ro copy OF the orig
inal has been repcrte,i-cOu fused the two
rnss-ings. doubtless; a. least. we venture
the suggestion
ExcertinE regular coinage. no "circuiaf-
ing medium" has vogue 20 compare with
that Of oowry. Perhaps y wo8if not Be
inexsct TO cay that very people n vhose
territory TIE she'll evf-ss oHce used = for
cash But this S@erre very S'rarF>. OF
posed-to conrnon-s-nse ard politics. eeou-
omy. when we hrs- that :he slTppiy f.
limited. Over Thousands OF nliies of
coast a man car gather sscsfui n an
hosr- But the fact - .ndfsputzf,ie. how
EVER II be erpia ned. TIE value fsfctta-ss
Enormously, Of course. over such an I'm
-nersse area. but in very rough way. ws
believe. African traders useS 20 estimate a
-nouzand coxrles ~ shilling. Angso-
Trdsan traders hsr. 20 reed 70 make a
-ecnonsnx prosyabiy. for tho shell. though
re-v largely current among natives. never
PARK counted ~ oo~rie- 70 fhe shlTH.~
= ais cay sni IN fhs co1zt-res WHERE b
gave ied
Pn. ire "bar- was Mugs Currency |
n TIE beginning Z vas literally a s.a- q |
ron imported from Eu-ov-. hs, "A re
ra1s ssveio1esi y tsecS-,e merely q 1ors
z vsIHel Tserfy Jearez % sosssrss, mae
bar" EsEo-l % spirits a s-tsar.s ara ! ,
~ natives would 10 uisafxfy sss5r sny ,
'gs~,uzsfon IN TIRE quz-t.sy. -a~.asr r,o-4
: Iess II - en--xS.tr aewcp--er ire To
-sa nz-5ezs ~ sAs-<rr nso-s ra-n a.
5bss-cv - th~ ~hsr ~ xzs res-a-ess-i /
fs;h ss~Vfcsors. ~ oSs Szrs veusurs.s %
1er - N az parts q no-r@c. Prob
BY. ore nag 81 hsar prs r~eko-ss
: bras gsas-tbz; =. c=sa-o1. sas \ nsaz
80 sas tran>ecttsu~ - that iznso--zr~-
It'i i@sisrsiy trsoszs~ ;se ~srr into 81 /,
~ a. - 5,-~rt 'f-s~- Tse-- zss e.
- when tea o. tx~1fy-,ezna-rs ID A.
s1y -zss f-o- ksri 20 tzrs Tee
fs>.f <zTtrsz were IN fher. 49, -zxsse
scf show - xzto.s-e~f re early ra<s- :
zsn- Per sor a io-r <efs ra-r- ~T~s - ,
:. co-i7.s-s % - sssi-zs - ss-sos
49, r-f-~ sxre h@~r -s~-esF a. <srr~s- "
o. - E-s'es. 49, srzt~i~ '-ssS ss~ssr r-ze-
o.I'y rs5--ertr..sf Ts@.< So Er-ss Z
e-~z. ho~eser. 1us.e srss@sz ros. a. q
-rrs. ~AiV1 xrsz tse MT 50 - rpesk .
So- ts>~isslss- - ths rrzetsc~ - The f~s 7
a-ers s. Esr-zA. WHO r~ckoa tzrr~ =
ia II kssess~A 81 s<.zs &C soz.~- =.