Indian Antiquary Vol 27

SR No.: 032519
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 404
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 15 MB

Page 49

FEBRUARY, 1898.]
CURRENCY AND COINAGE AMONG THE BURMESE.
To clinch this point and clear it up at the same time, in the Straits Settlements Directory for 1883, loc. cit., the weights for opium are given in terms of the Sino-Cambodian (ante, pp. 14 ff., 34 ff.) scale thus:
10 Tee are 1 Hoon95
10 Hoon,, 1 Chee 10 Chee,, 1 Tahil
Lastly, there is a fine specimen of mixed influence, Spanish, Malay, Chinese and Commercial, in the statements for Manilla for 1775 by Stevens, Guide, p. 127, which ran thus:
Manilla Weights.
16 Ounces are 1 lb., by which all sorts of Goods are weighed
10
1 Tale of Gold Weight97
11
39
19
9
22
1
39
99
1 Manilla Pound makes 1 lb. 03 dec. Avoirdupoise
8 Ounces are a Mark of Silver
,, 1 Tale of Silk and other Things
27
1 Punto07 of Gold and Silver Thread 1 Catty"
1 Mexico Dollar in Weight"
10 wang
4 suku
The existing British Colonial denominations for money, which differ radically in Penang from Singapore and Malacca (vide Swettenham, Vocabulary, Vol. II., Appx. on Currency, Weights and Measures), is a mixture of foreign adopted terms, modern newly-coined vernacular terms, and the real vernacular terms, all applied to the dollar and its parts, and of course is of no help to the present argument, thus:
Singapore and Malacca.
4
duit (cent) are 1 sen (1 cent) 2 sen
39
".
"1
"3
45
1 wang (2 cents)
1 saku (25 cents)
1 ringgit ( dollar)
Penang and Province Wellesley.
10 duit (cent) are 1 kupang (10 cents)
12 duit
1 tali (12 cents)
2 tali
1 suku (25 cents)
4 suku
1 ringgit (dollar)
We have now followed the Malay and Far Eastern Commercial ponderary terminology from a mention of it by a Chinese author of the XVth Century step by step to the present day through all parts of the Archipelago and its surroundings occupied by the Malays. We have followed it also through the renderings of it by English, French, Dutch, Portuguese and Spanish writers and observers, and despite the mistakes they are likely to have made and no doubt have made, and the naturally great variety caused by the conditions in the actual vernacular terms and their senses, it seems to me to be clear that the main points have remained the same throughout. These main points are just those that have been observed already in this Chapter in regard to the Far-Eastern Continental nations; viz., (i) that the Malayan and FarEastern Commercial Scales as such can be olearly separated from the concurrent modern Chinese Decimal Scale; (ii) that the Malayan Scale is virtually the same as the Far-Eastern Continental Scale; (iii) that the Indian and Far-Eastern Scales,
36 Swettenham, Vocabulary, 1881, Vol. II., Appx. on Currency, etc., only gives hun, chi, tahil. 96 Spanish. 97 Chinese, i. 6., 10 ounces silver 1 tael of gold; i. e., gold is to silver as 10 to 1. 99 Commercial.
Malay.