Omaha daily bee., 1896-10-04
MONEY SUBSTITUTES.
Queer Mediums of Exchange Used In
Many Countries.


Eggs are about the oldest form OF cur
rency, relates the London Standard.
Tschudi. a sober and painstaking Teuton.
whose evidence is not to be questioned, de-
clares that he found hens eggs the only
money throughout the Province of Janja.
in Peru; that would be some fifty years ago.
Tho people transmitted them by thousands
to the provincial capital and made 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 themselves. In Manchuria
brick tea and floss silk represent money;
but the latter is going out OF fashion. me
usual brick of tea. 10 inches by inches,
ia inches thick Is equivalent in trade with
Russians to so kopecs $50 pence). 1t is dl-
vided to make any change necessary, Rus
sian merchants have tried to introduce
paper currency, the notes representing 6O
ltopecs and parts thereof, but Tartars reject
them When brick gets discredited, that
is, too much worn by long circulation, IL Is
consigned to tie teapot.
Several old travellers assure us that cats
eyes were employed in the great indian
kingdom of Vijanagar; elsewhere iron
worked into the form of large needles,
cakes of salt, or again, says Nicolo Cont,
cards inscribed with the name of the king.
The Abyssinians also use cakes of salt in
remote districts. Various negro tribes nave
a currency of iron hoes. Nongua shells
were the money Of the Indians i'll Britlsh
Columbia one string representing the value
of one beaver. In Australia rough slabs OF
freestone to be fashioned into hatchets,
represented cash. The men who hawked
these slabs from tribe to tribe were sacred,
passing unharmed through all the districts,
even at war Marco Polo reckoned bank
notes among his ,oddest substitutes for
money: his account of the notes issued by
Kuglia Khan and his reflections on the sys-
tenn are peculiarly delightful. lie tells OF
people in the great province of Thibet VINO
used coral. but we must ask where they got
it. Had he said turquoise 1t would have been
quite inteligiblc, for the Thibetans still en-
ploy that stone at need Elsewhere Marco
speaks Of "sprgs of gold and porcelain.
In the latter case, also, an error may be
suspected. Our word is adapted from the
Portuguese, signifying hogs back, their
name for the cowry shell. Becoming ac-
Guainted with the Chinese manufacture they
applied the same word to 1t from the great
resemblance to cowry. Ihe translator
of Marcos work-no copy of the original
has been reported-confused the two mean
lngs. doubtless; at least, we venture the
suggestion
Excepting regular coinage, no "circulat-
ing medium has a vogue to compare with
that of the cowry. Perhaps 1t would not be
inexact to say that every people in whose
territory the shell exists once used 1T Tor
cash. But this seems very strange, opposed
to common sense and political economy,
when hear that the supply is unlimited.
Over thousands of miles of coast, a man
can gather a sackful in an hour. But the
fact is indisputable, however it be e2-
planned. The value fuctuates enormously.
of course, over such an immense area but
in a very rough way, we believe, African
traders used to estimate 600 cowries at
shilling. kngo-Indan traders had no need
to make reckoning probably, for the shell,
though very largely current among the ma
tives, was never reckoned into their trans
actions. Mungo Park counted 250 cowries
to the shilling in his day and in the coun-
tries where he travelled
But the "bar" was Mungos currency. In
the beginning it was literally bar of iron
imported from Europe, but as the trade
developed it became merely a word of
value Twenty leaves of tobacco made
bar" a gallon of spirits bar" and the
| natives would not willingly allow any fluc-
tuation in the quantity, whether more or
less. If an energetic newcomer tried to
push business by Offering more rum or to-
bacco to the "bar' he was regarded with
suspicon; no old hand ventured to offer
less. In all parts of Borneo, probably. one
may still hear prices reckoned in brass
Suns-that is cannon but q man who has
transactions of that Importance will in
stantly translate the sum into dollars at the
present time. There was an age when ten
Or twenty pcunders did actually pass from
hand to hand. The Malay empires were
rich then and made such a show as aston
ished the early navigators. But for long
while past even in the dominions of the
sultan of Bruni brass guns have been
merely an expression of value, the article
itself being practically non-existent. There
are great stores, however, quite useless
now at Bruni, which was the mint. to
speak,
Not dissimilar is the practice of the Red
Karens in Burmah, who reckon large sums
in kyeezees or drums of copper; but they
always had currency Of silver ingots. The
drums are peculiar however in the respect
that their value does not lie in the weight
of metal or even in the excellence of work
manship, though they are adorned with fig
ures of birds, animals and fish. 1t is the
quality and volume of sound they emit
which decide their worth; objects not vlsi-
bly, differing may be estimated at f5 to $50.
One might think that connoisseurs would
disagree upon the quality of the sound, but
drum no doubt, Is more easily valued in
that respect than any other musical instru-
ment. Since British trade has approached
their territories, however-the Red Karens
are not vet annexed, we beleye-and the
enterprising Chinaman has permeated it,
this picturesque usage Is dying out fast.
The kyeezees are as much reyerenced as
ever, but they sell for prosaic dollars, though
taste still asserts itself by putting very
fancy price upon article specially melodi-
Gus.
o.1t- r-1t e,1r