This Coin Is Purer Silver Than Any
Other That I Know, Being Of Virgin Silver Without Alloy, So That In The
Spanish Dollar, The Purest Money In Europe, There Is Some Loss.
Their
money is called rupees, which are of divers values, the meanest being
worth two shillings, and the best about two shillings and nine-pence.
This is their general money of account.
There is in Guzerat a coin of
inferior value, called mamoodies, worth about twelve-pence each. Both
these and the rupees are likewise coined in halves and quarters; so that
three-pence is the smallest piece of current silver in the country. That
which passes current for small change is brass money, which they call
pices, of which three, or thereabout, are worth an English penny.
These are made so massy, that the brass in them, when put to other uses,
is well worth the quantity of silver at which they are rated. Their
silver money is made both square and round; but so thick, that it never
breaks or wears out.
For farther commodities; India yields great store of silk, which they
weave very ingeniously, sometimes mixed with gold or silver. They make
velvets, sattins, and taffetas, but not so rich as those of Italy. This
country also produces many drugs and gums, and particularly the gum-lac,
from which hard sealing-wax is made. The earth also yields abundant
minerals, as lead, iron, copper, and brass, and, as they say, silver;
yet, though this be true, they need not work their silver mines, being
already so abundantly supplied with that metal from other nations. They
have spices from other countries, and especially from Sumatra, Java, and
the Molucca islands. They have curious pleasure gardens, planted with
fruit-trees and delightful flowers, to which nature lends daily such
ample supply, that they seem never to fade. In these places they have
pleasant fountains, in which to bathe, and other delights by various
conveyances of water, whose silent murmurs sooth their senses to sleep,
in the hot season of the day.
Lest this remote country might seem an earthly paradise, without any
inconveniences, I must notice that it contains many lions, tigers,
wolves, and jackals, which are a kind of wild dogs, besides many other
noxious and hurtful animals. In their rivers they have many crocodiles,
and on the land many overgrown snakes and serpents, with other venomous
and pernicious creatures. In the houses we often meet with scorpions,
whose stinging is most painful and even deadly, unless the part be
immediately anointed with an oil made of scorpions.[233] The abundance
of flies in those parts is likewise an extreme annoyance; as, in the
heat of the day, their numbers are so prodigious, that we cannot have
peace or rest for them in any part. They cover our meat the moment it is
set on the table, wherefore we are obliged to have men standing ready to
drive them away with napkins, while we are eating.
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