The
Cargo Of This Ship, On Its Return, Is Usually Worth L200,000 Sterling,
Mostly In Gold And Silver.
Besides this, and the quantities of money
which come yearly out of Europe, which I do not pretend to calculate,
many streams of silver flow continually thither, and there abide.
It is
lawful for all to bring in silver, and to carry away commodities, but it
is a capital crime to carry away any great sums.
All the coin or bullion that comes to this country is presently melted
down and refined, and coined with the stamp of the Mogul, being his name
and title in Persian characters. 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.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 639 of 910
Words from 173438 to 173701
of 247546
