, 1898-08-09
CURRENCY M WEST AFRICA
Only Cowrie sh'il. and slaves Are Used
In rIslne.s.

Only Cowrie sh'il. and slaves Are Used
In rIs.ne.s.
The only recognized currency in kano
and throughout the greater part of the
west African Einterland consists of
cowrie shells and slaves. Near the coast
300 cowrie shells represent the value of
AL English penny. In the far interior
the value of a shell is doubled. Even
here 10 shillirgs' worth Of money weighs
100 pounds.
Cowrie shells are indeed n perfcc.
Caricarurc of what Il currency should be,
lacking as they do tn three chaiaCtcris-
tics which, according to political como
mists, a medium of exchange should
pUsSess-name!y, intrinsic value, scar
city and portability. Where any larger
amount is concerned than can easily be
paid in shells, slaves are used as the
medium of exchange.
a sort of feudal system p~rcvails
throughout the greater part of west At
RIGA, the smaller towns paying annual
tribute to the larger. Thus Kano has
upward of 200 towns which pay tribute
to its king, while it in turn pays tribute
to Sokoto. Nearly tho whole of this
tribute is paid in slaves.
Were slavery suddenly abolished this
whole system Of government would be
disOrgnnizcd, and it would be impossibls
for most of the towns to find any other
currency in which to pay. What obvi.
Ously needs to be done is to introduce a
regular coinage. This can only be done
by the presence i'll largely increased
numbers of Europeans in the country,
by whose means any coin which might
be thought desirable would soon obtain
a cir :ulatiOn.
Tie only coin which is at present rec.
og1.i2cd in the interior is the Maria
Theresa dollar. This coin. which is
IL adc in Vienna and bears date 1856. is
manufactured exclusively for export to
pntral Africa. 1t contains about , shil-
iings' worth of silver, and its purchas-
ing value i'll the Sudan varies from 3
shillings to is. Cd. 1t will pass III any
of the larger towns. but not. lis Il rule,
i'll the country districts.
The wholesale introduction Of .his CT
of any similar coin, which can howCv-
or, only be effected pari passu with the
general extension of European Influence,
would greatly decrease the difficulties
connected with the abolition of the
slave trade. AS the case is now, when
a well to do native sets ont OH IL jour
ncy of any length he calculates before
hand the probable expense and takes Il
corresponding number Of slaves. These
he turns into cowria shells at tho. vari-
Gus markets which he passes on his
route. The value of n slave varies from
100, 900 to 300, 900 shells, or from ca to
80, These are tho average market prices.
Slaves sold by private arrangement and
whose character is known often fetch
mucl: higher prices.
The English traveller who objects on
principle to ccepting slaves in payment
of II debt is often subjected to serious
Inconvenience iii consequence. One na.
tive king to whom | had sold some rolls
Of silk became indebted to me to the
extent of 100, 600 cowrics. AS | refused
to receive payment i'll slaves l had to
wait altogether two months in order to
extract what was due to me, and finally
left the neighburhood in despair, when
many thousands of shells were still W
ing.
The only advantage, as far as | could
see, which the native derives from the
use Of the crwric shells as money is the
unlimited O portunitics which it affords
him for cheating the white man. The
latter, who mas seldom either time or
patience to count his money, is compel
led to accep. from 10 to % per cent less