The Current Money Through All Pegu Is Made
Of _Ganza_, Which Is A Composition Of Copper And Lead, And Which
Every
one may stamp at his pleasure, as they pass by weight; yet are they
sometimes falsified by putting in
Too much lead, on which occasions no
one will receive them in payment. As there is no other money current,
you may purchase gold, silver, rubies, musk, and all other things with
this money. Gold and silver, like other commodities, vary in their
price, being sometimes cheaper and sometimes dearer. This _ganza_ money
is reckoned by _byzas_, each _byza_ being 100 _ganzas_, and is worth
about half a ducat of our money, more or less according as gold is cheap
or dear.
When any one goes to Pegu to buy jewels, he will do well to remain there
a whole year; for if he would return by the same ship, he can do very
little to purpose in so short a time. Those who come from San Thome
usually have their goods customed about Christmas, after which they must
sell their goods, giving credit for a month or two, and the ships depart
about the beginning of March. The merchants of San Thome generally take
payment for their goods in gold and silver, which are always plentiful
in Pegu. Eight or ten days before their departure they are satisfied for
their goods. They may indeed have rubies in payment, but they make no
account of them. Such as propose to winter in the country ought to
stipulate in selling their goods for payment in two or three months, and
that they are to be paid in so many _ganzas_, not in gold or silver, as
every thing is most advantageously bought and sold by means of this
_ganza_ money.
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