common catty. In the towns on the eastern side of the Peninsula, the bunkal and catty are found to be about ten per cent. less than these. Pulse, dholl, and rice from Bengal are sold by the bag of 2 bazar maunds, or 1641 lbs. Piece-goods are sold by the corge of 20 pieces, and Java tobacco by the corge of 40 baskets. At Malacca, the picul weighs 135 lbs. av.; and 3 piculs, or a bahr, is 428 lbs. av. Measures.-The measure of length frequently used by the Malays and other natives is the hasta or cubit, equal to 18 English inches; but among Chinese, as well as Europeans, the English yard is always used. The following are the terms employed in land measures: The chief measure of capacity for grain and oil is the gantang, divided into 4 chupahs, each about 2 lbs. av.; the gantang is equal to 271.65 cubic inches, or 14 gallon; 10 gantangs make 1 parah, which is merely a nominal measure; and 80 parahs of rice make a picul; 800 gantangs are counted to a coyan, about 2 tons 7 cwt. Section 7. BURMAH. THERE is no coinage in this country; silver and lead pass current in fragments, and are cut up and weighed, the former of various degrees of purity and of every size, from a round cake weighing 2 or 3 ticals, to small bits. Lead is usually reckoned at 500 to 1 of pure silver; but sometimes 15 viss of lead are given for a tical, and in cities only 7 or 8 viss. The rupee generally circulates as a tical, and the Indian currency is more and more extending throughout Burmah. The whole series of Burmese moneys, weights, and measures, is extremely rude and uncertain, more so than in most other Asiatic nations. Burman weights are exhibited in the following table, and are used both for goods and money : 2 small ruays.........equal 1 large ruay, or 1 pice. 1 mat,.... 2 annas. 4 annas, (62) grains troy.) 1 kyat,............ 1 tical, (252 grains troy.) 1 piakthah or viss......(313 lbs. or 140 tolas.) The small ruay is the little scarlet bean (Abrus precatorius) with a black spot upon it, called in America, crab's eye. The large ruay is the black oblong bean of the Adenanthera pavonina. The other weights are made of brass, handsomely cast and polished. The Burmese have a "poor man's measure," one in common use; and a "chief's," or great man's measure," employed in government measurements. The royal cubit is 19 inches. All these terms are MEASURES OF LENGTH. 8 thits (fingers' breadth) equal 1 maik, (breadth of the hand with thumb extended.) maiks 2 twahs 1 twah (span.) or 1000 tahs...... 140 7000 ...... 1 tah (bamboo or rod.) or 20 tahs.............. 1 oke-tha-pah. 1 daing, equal to 2 miles, 581 ft. 8 in. 1 uzena, or about 12.72 miles (in little use, except in the sacred books.) The teng is what Europeans call a basket, from the basket measure of that capacity. This full of clean rice is a common allowance to a laborer for one month. It is deemed to weigh 58 lbs. av., or sixteen viss, or forty Penang catties. It can be inferred from the terms used in both these table how imperfect and uncertain are the measures used in Burmah. They are gradually giving place to the British-Indian terms, as intercourse extends between Burmah and India. Section 8. INDIAN PRESIDENCIES. BENGAL. THE old moneys of India, though consisting of but a few denominations, were extremely various in their intrinsic value. While the Mogul emperors were sole sovereigns of Hindostan, there was throughout their dominions but one kind of silver coin, denominated the Sicca Rupee, as being of the weight called sicca, which was the unit of size for all other weights. The sicca weight answered to 1793 grains English, and was also divided into 16 annas, each anna subdivided into 12 pie; it was also divided into mashas, but the relative value of the rupee and masha appears to have varied. The gold mohur was of the same weight as the sicca rupee, and both were of extreme fineness. When the native princes established mints in their several states, they in course of time varied from the original standard, particularly in the purity of their coins. Hence the multiplied variety of rupees throughout India. Since 1835, a more uniform currency has been established. Silver is the legal medium of exchange, the gold coins not being demandable for payments, and not received into the public treasuries -a strange anomaly, that a government coinage is refused to be taken back by its makers. The following table exhibits the scheme of the British-Indian monetary system, as at present established : C.G. 42 The gold coins current are the mohur of 16 rupees, and the gold rupee of 15 rupees, with halves and quarters of proportionate weight. The silver coins are the double and single rupee, halves, quarters, and two annas. The copper pieces are half annas, weighing 200 grs., pysa of 100 grs., half pysa, and a pie of 333 grs. The standard of Bengal money is the rupee; it weighs 180 grains troy or one tolah, and contains 4ths, or 176 grs. of pure metal, and th, or 16 grs. of alloy. The London mint price of the rupee is 18. 11.04d., the Calcutta mint price is 2s. 0.035d., and the par exchange price is 1s. 11.51d. The Company's rupee is the only silver rupee in use, but accounts are still kept in sicca rupees, and some goods are sold by them, reckoning 100 sicca rupees equal to 106 Rs. 10 an. 8 pi., or 116 current rupees. There was formerly the Arcot rupee, 100 of which were equal to sicca Rs. 93 11 an. 735 pie; and the Sonaut rupee, 100 of which equaled sicca Rs. 95 11 an. O pie; these, as well as some others, are all gradually giving place to the standard rupee. A lakh is 100,000 rupees, and a crore is 100 lakhs or a million sterling; in accounts, sums are distinguished into crores and lakhs by being thus divided:-1,00,000, for one lakh, and 1,00,00,000 for one crore. Small white glossy cowry shells are sometimes used for small payments in the bazar, and are generally thus reckoned :— Weights. The unit of weights is the tola of 180 grs. troy, which is the weight of a rupee, and has been taken by the government as the foundation of the larger weights-seer and maund. This weight is very convenient, from the circumstance that fractions are rendered unnecessary in converting Indian into English weights, 35 seers being exactly equal to 72 lbs. av.; 49 maunds equal 4032 lbs. av. or 36 cut. From the tola upwards are derived the heavy weights, viz., chitak, seer, and maund; and by its subdivisions are obtained the small or jeweler's weights, called massa, ruttee, and dhan. The mun or maund varies exceedingly in its weight; at Tabriz in Persia it is only 6 lbs. av., while at Palloda in This effort to equalize the weights has not by any means yet done away with those which have been in use among the Hindoos for ages, but uniformity is gradually working its way among the people. By the legal maund of 824 lbs. av. or 100 lbs. troy, a picul is 1.62 maunds; an English cwt. is 543 seers or 1.36 maunds; and a ton is 27.22 maunds. The tola of this table weighs 11.6638 grammes, and the maund 37.3242 kilograms. In the Calcutta market, the weights used are the factory maund of 74 lbs. 10 oz., and the bazar maund of this table. Different weights used in Bengal reduced to sicca weights. The Bengal factory maund and its fractional parts, reduced to English avoirdupois weight, according to the standard received from Europe in 1787. 10 per cent. better than the factory maund. stating the fineness, as The massa and its subdivisions are used for well as the weight of the precious metals. Pure silver or gold is stated at 12 massas fine. The subdivision of the tola of 12 mashas into 96 ruttees of 4 dhans each, agrees exactly with the English division of the pound of 24 carats into 96 grains, subdivided into quarters, which is used in stating the purity of gold; 6 ruttees make 1 anna, and 8 ruttees make 1 massa; a rupee weighs 100 ruttees or 16 annas; a gold mohur 106 ruttees. Long Measures.-The unit of lineal measures is the guz, which differs very much in different provinces, and is constantly giving place to the English yard where education has obtained a footing. In the northwest provinces and Ludiana, an Ilahi guz is 33 ins., and 3 guz make 1 ganteh or bans, and 20 bans is 1 jarib. The Bengal coss is 100 danda. Square measures.-These are derived from the linear, and the same terms are used: This biggah measures 0.3306 of an acre, but the biggah in Benares contains 3600 square guz, or 3136 sq. yards, or 0.6479 of an acre. Liquid and dry measures.-In India, as in China, measures of capacity are estimated by the weight of grain, salt, oil, or spirits they will hold, and represent so many seer or maunds. The following measures are used for grain, with their approximate value in English measures:— A vessel holding a maund's weight of water measures 1 bushel. A corge or cooree is 20 pieces or particulars, equal to 4 gundahs. White twist is sold by the morah of 20 hanks. MADRAS. Coins.-Accounts were formerly kept in star pagodas, fanams, and cash; 80 cash made a fanam, and 42 fanams made a pagoda; this was a small gold coin valued at 4 rupees, and worth 7s. 54d. It is now rarely seen. The Weights in use are in the following proportions : 3 Tolas 5 Seers or 40 Pollams make 20 Maunds Pollam; = 14 oz. avoir. = 3 lbs. 1 oz. 5.64 drs. av. 1 Maund; = 25 lbs. or 0.304 of a gov't. maund. Candy; = 500 lbs. In mercantile dealings, the cutcha seer of 90 star pagodas or 114 oz. av., the maund of 28 lbs. and the candy of 5624 lbs. are used; but in weighing brass and zinc, the seer is 9 oz., the maund 22 lbs., and the candy 450 lbs. For cotton, the maund is 24 lbs. and candy 480 lbs. The seer of 2 lbs. is called pucka weight. At Tinnevelly, Coimbatoor, and the Northern Division, the weights vary in name and standard, and are still used in dealings in those places. In Coimbatoor, 5 seers of 8 pollams each make a vis, and 6 seers make 1 took. The measures of capacity are computed by a reference to the weight of their contents. The pudi, or regulation measure, is a cylinder 8 ins. by 4 ins. wide; it contains 100 cubic inches, and holds 1.44 quarts. is divided thus: 8 Ollacks make 1 pudi; weight in water is 3 lbs. 9 oz. 9 drs. 20 grs. It 4 Ollacks 8 Pudi pudi. 5 Mercal 1 para. |