Travels in India (Tavernier) 6: CHAPTER II Concerning the Customs, the Money, the Exchange, the Weights, and the Measures of India.
Travels in India (Ball) 6
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Contents
CHAPTER II Concerning the Customs, the Money, the Exchange, the Weights, and the Measures of India.
6.1.1
In order to avoid repetition, which one cannot escape in the course of a long journey, it is desirable to make the reader acquainted from the first with the practice in India in reference to customs, money, exchange, measures, and weights. As soon as merchandise is landed at Surat it has to be taken to the custom-house, which adjoins the fort. They are very strict and search persons with great care. Private individuals pay as much as 4 and 5 per cent duty on all their goods; but as for the English Company and the Dutch Company, they pay less. But I believe likewise that, taking into account what it costs them in deputations and in presents, which they are obliged to make every year at court, the goods cost them scarcely less than they do private persons.
6.1.2
Gold and silver pay 2 per cent, and as soon as they have been counted at the custom-house the Mintmaster comes to take them, and coins them into money of the country, which he hands over to you, in proportion to the amount and standard of your silver. You settle with him, according to the nature of the amount, a day when he is to give the new coins, and for as many days as he delays to do so beyond the term agreed upon he pays interest in proportion to the silver which he has received. The Indians are cunning and exacting in reference to coin and payments ; for when money has been coined for three or four years it has to lose 1/2 per cent, and it continues in the same proportion according to age, not being able, they say, to pass through so many hands without some diminution. You may carry all sorts of silver into the Empire of the Great Mogul, because there is a mint in each of the frontier towns, where it has to be refined to the highest standard, as is all the gold and silver in India, by order of the King, and it is coined into money of the country. Bar silver, or old silver plate which has been bought without payment for the workmanship, is that which has the least to lose, for on coined silver one cannot avoid the loss on coinage. Sales are in general conditional on payment being made in money coined during the current year ; and if one pays in old pieces it is necessary to submit to loss, according to the time they have been coined, as I have said above.
6.1.3
In all places at a distance from towns, where the common people do not understand silver well, and where there are no Changers, they will not receive a piece of silver till they put it into the fire to ascertain if it is good ; and this is practised especially at the river crossings. As their boats are made of osiers, covered only with oxhide, and are consequently very light, they keep them in the woods, and will not take them on their shoulders for crossing the water before they have received their payment. In so far as regards gold, the merchants who import it use so much cunning in order to conceal it, that but little of it comes to the knowledge of the customs’ officers. They do all they can to evade paying the customs, especially as they have not so much risk to run as in the custom-houses of Europe. For in those of India, when any one is detected in fraud, he is let off with paying double, 10 per cent instead of 5, the King comparing the venture of the merchant to a game of hazard, where one plays double or quits. However, for some time back this is somewhat changed, and it is to-day difficult to settle with the customs’ officers on that condition. The King has conceded to the English Captains that they shall not be searched when they leave their vessels to come on shore ;
6.1.4
but one day an English Captain, going to Tatta, one of the largest towns of India, a little above Sindi, which is at the mouth of the river Indus, when about to pass, was arrested by the customs’ guards, from whom he could not defend himself, and who searched him in spite of anything he could say. They found gold on him, he having already conveyed some in sundry journeys between his vessel and the town ; he was let off on payment of the ordinary duty. The Englishman, vexed by this affront, resolved to have his revenge for it, and he took it in a jocose manner. He caused a sucking-pig to be roasted, and to be placed with the grease in a china plate, covered with a napkin, and gave it to a slave to carry it with him to the town, anticipating exactly that which would happen. As he passed in front of the custom-house, where the Governor of the town, the Shah-bandar, and the Master of the mint were seated in a divan, they did not fail to stop him, and, the slave still advancing with his covered plate, they said to the master that he must needs go to the custom-house, and that they should see what he carried. The more the Englishman protested that the slave carried nothing which should pay duty, the less was he believed ; and after a long discussion he himself took the plate from the hands of the slave, and proceeded to carry it to the custom-house.
6.1.5
The Governor and the Shah-bandar asked him forthwith, in a sharp tone, why he was unwilling to obey orders, and the Englishman, on his part, replying in a rage that what he carried was not liable to duty, rudely threw the plate in front of them, so that the sucking-pig and the grease soiled the whole place, and splashed on their garments. As the pig is an abomination to the Muhammadans, and since by their law they regard as defiled whatever is touched by it, it became necessary for them to change their garments, to remove the carpet from the divan, and to make a new structure, without daring to say anything to the Englishman, because the Shah-bandar and the Master of the mint have to be particular with the Company, from which the country derives so much profit. As for the Chiefs of the Companies, both English and Dutch, and their associates, they have so much respect for them that they never search them when they come from the vessels; but they, for their part, do not attempt to convey gold in secret as the private merchants do, considering it beneath them to do so. The commerce of Tatta, which was formerly considerable, is beginning to decrease rapidly, because the entrance to the river becomes worse from day to day, and the sands which accumulate almost close the passage.
6.1.6
The English, seeing that they had adopted the custom of searching them, had recourse to little stratagems in order to pass the gold, and the fashion of wearing wigs having come to them from Europe, they bethought themselves of concealing the Jacobuses, rose nobles, and ducats in the nets of their wigs every time that they left their vessels in order to go on shore. There was a merchant who desired to take into Surat some boxes of coral without its coming to the knowledge of the customs’ officers. The vessel being ready to enter the river, he had the boxes tied to the stern, and being two or three feet under the water, those who came to examine the goods on the vessel were unable to see them. Several days passed before the goods were unladen, and before it became possible to convey the boxes in safety into the town without the customs’ officers having wind of it. The thing was at length cleverly accomplished, but the merchant had cause to repent of it, and he found himself on the wrong side of the account; for, since the river at Surat is always disturbed and thick, there attached itself to the coral, which had been a long time in the water, a sort of slime like a crust, and a white skin, which they had much trouble to remove, and after it was cleaned the loss to the merchant exceeded 12 per cent.
6.1.7
I now come to the coins which are current in India throughout the territories of the Great Mogul, and to all the kinds of gold and silver, which should be carried in ingots, rather than in coin, in order to secure most profit there. In the first place it should be remarked that it is advantageous to purchase gold or silver which has been worked, in order to make it into ingots, and to cause it to be refined up to the highest standard; for, being refined, you do not pay for the carriage of the alloy which was mixed with it before, and not carrying the gold or silver in coin, you do not pay what the prince and the mint have taken for their coinage dues.
6.2.1
If you take coined gold, the best pieces are rose nobles, old Jacobuses, Albertuses, and other ancient pieces, both of Portugal and other countries, and all sorts of gold coins which have been coined in the last century. On all these old pieces there is always some profit for the merchant. Among the good gold coins which one may carry to India all the ducats of Germany, both those of princes and those of imperial towns, as also the ducats of Poland, Hungary, Sweden, and Denmark must be included; and all these kinds of ducats are taken at the same standard. The golden ducats of Venice formerly passed as the best, and were each valued at four or five of our sols more than all the others ; but, since twelve years or thereabouts, it seems that they altered them, so that they are not valued now save at the same price as the others. There are still the ducats which the Grand Seigneur coins at Cairo, and those of Salee and Morocco, but these three coins are the least valuable of all, and are generally worth four sols less than the others.
6.2.2
Throughout the Empire of the Great Mogul all the gold and silver is weighed by a weight called tola, which amounts to 9 deniers 8 grains of our weight. When one has a quantity of gold or silver to sell, the Indians have brass weights, with the King’s stamp, to avoid fraud ; and with these weights they weigh all the gold or silver at a time, provided it does not exceed one hundred tolas. For all the weights of the Changers only range from one tola up to one hundred, and these hundred tolas are equivalent in our weight to 38 onces 21 deniers 8 grains. As for the gold or silver which is not coined, if there is much, they put it to the test, and the test having been applied, they bid for it as highly as they can, out of jealousy of one another. As there are merchants who have sometimes up to forty and fifty thousand ducats and more, the Indians weigh them with a weight which is exactly that of one hundred ducats, and also bears the King’s stamp. And should it happen that the hundred ducats weigh less than this weight, they add small stones till the weights are equal, and when the whole amount is weighed you make good to the Changer the value of the weights of these same stones. But before weighing these golden coins, be they ducats or be they other coins, they place the whole in a large charcoal fire, where the pieces become red-hot, after which they put out the fire by throwing on water, and then they withdraw them.
6.2.3
This is done for the purpose of ascertaining which of them are false, and in order to burn the wax or gum which they sometimes attach adroitly, in order that they may weigh more. But since some of the pieces are so well forged that they cannot detect them even after they have been in the fire, in order to discover such the Changers take them one after the other, to bend them, and by bending them they know if the coin is good, and they cut all those which are not. After having seen all, they cause to be refined those which they believe to be not good; and for so much of good that they have found in this refining they pay as for good ducats. Of all this gold they make coins, which they call golden rupees, with the exception of the ducats which have a face on one side ; these they seldom melt, because they sell them to the merchants who come from Tartary and the other countries of the North, as the kingdoms of Bhutan, Assam, and others more distant. It is of this kind of ducat that the women in these countries make their principal ornament : they hang them in their hair, and they rest on their foreheads. As for the other ducats which are without faces, they are not esteemed by the merchants of the North. With reference to all the other gold coins, they sell many to the goldsmiths, to the gold-drawers, and in general to all those who employ gold in their work. For if they can dispose of them without making them into rupees, they do not coin them ;
6.2.4
this indeed they seldom do, except when they place the kings on the throne, in order to make largesse of them to the people, together with silver rupees, and in order to sell them to the Governors of Provinces who require quantities, as also to the other nobles of the kingdom, to present to the King on the day when he enters into possession of his territories. For they do not always find jewels or other things worthy to be presented to him, not only on this day, but also at the grand ceremonial, of which I shall speak elsewhere, when they weigh the King every year. They are, I say, very glad to obtain golden rupees on these occasions, and they require them also in order to make presents to the courtiers, by whose interest they hope to obtain higher appointments and more considerable offices of government. In one of my journeys I saw by an example, which I had before my eyes, wherein the virtue of these golden rupees lay. Shāh-Jahān, the father of Aurangzeb, who reigns at present, had given to one of the nobles of his court the government of the province of Tatta, of which Sindi is the capital town. Although from the very first year of his government there were serious complaints against him of the tyranny with which he treated the people, and of his great extortions, the King allowed him to govern the Province for close on four years, after which he recalled him. All the people of Tatta rejoiced, supposing that the King had only recalled him to put him to death.
6.2.5
But it happened quite otherwise, for he was well received by the King, who conferred upon him the government of Allahabad, much more considerable than that of Tatta which he had just quitted. This good reception which he received from the King arose from this, that before he arrived at Agra he sent to him secretly as a present 50,000 golden rupees, which amount to 105,000 of our livres, and about 20,000 more golden rupees, both for the Begum Sāhib, who then governed the whole kingdom, and for other ladies, and for some courtiers who were able to aid him with their support. All these courtiers are very glad to obtain in that way plenty of gold, not only because it occupies small space, and they are able to conceal it easily, but also because they hold it honourable to leave to their wives and children, at their deaths, large sums, of which the King could not have any knowledge : for, as I shall say further on, when a great noble dies the King inherits his property, and his wife only remains mistress of her jewels. To return to the golden rupees. It should be stated that they are not current among the merchants ;
6.2.6
for although one is not worth more than 14 silver rupees, which are equal to 21 livres of our money, at 30 sols to the rupee, and that these golden rupees are scarcely ever to be met with save in the houses of the nobles, still when it happens that they make any payment with them they always desire to estimate them at a silver rupee, or at least at a quarter more than they are worth, by which the merchant cannot make his profit. Shaista Khan, uncle of the King, to whom I sold commodities for 96,000 rupees, when it came to the question of payment, asked me in what money I wished that he should make it to me, whether in gold or silver coin. Before I replied, he added that if I would believe him I would take it in golden rupees, and that he did not give this advice but under the belief that it would turn to his own advantage. I told him that I would follow his advice, and he immediately ordered them to count out golden rupees to the amount which was due to me; but he claimed to give the golden rupee for 14½ of silver, although among the merchants they only pass for fourteen. I was not ignorant of that, but I thought it would answer better to receive my payment as this Prince wished to make it to me, in the hope of recompensing myself otherwise to the extent of what he wished to make me to lose, or at least of a part of it.
6.2.7
I allowed two days to pass, after which I went to see him in order to say that I had endeavoured to dispose of these rupees for the price at which I had received them, but that I had done so unavailingly; and that accordingly, upon the payment which he had made me of 96,000 rupees, I should lose 3428½, the golden rupee which he wished me to take at 14½ rupees not being worth more than fourteen; whereupon he flew into a passion, and told me that he would give so many strokes of the slipper to the Dutch Changer or Broker, which he would remember (for in India they never speak of blows with a stick), believing that he was the cause of what I had come to say to him, for not having been willing to take the golden rupees at the price which he had given them to me, and that he would teach these people to understand money, and that these were all old rupees, and that they were worth 1/16th of a silver rupee more than those that were made then. As I knew the humour of Asiatic princes, with whom it is useless to excite oneself, I allowed him to say all he wished, and observing that he became quieter and began to smile, I asked him to permit me to bring back on the following day the amount which he had caused to be counted out to me, or that he would give me the balance of my payment which was still due, and that I would take the golden rupee at 14 1/2 rupees, as he had told me that it was value for so much.
6.2.8
The Prince then regarded me askance for some time without saying a word to me, and then he asked me whether I had with me that pearl which he had not been willing to buy. I replied that I had, and thereupon drew it from my bosom and gave it to him. It was a large pearl of good water, but badly shaped ; this had prevented him from taking it before.
6.3.1
After I had given it to him, “ Say no more about it,” said he. “In a word, how much do you want for this pearl.” I asked him 7000 rupees for it, and it is true that rather than carry it back to France I would have taken 3000. “ If I give you,” he replied, “ 5000 rupees for this pearl, you will be well repaid for the loss which you say you have sustained on the golden rupees. Come to-morrow and I shall pay you 5000 rupees. I desire that you should leave contented, and you shall have in addition a khil'at and a horse.” I then made him a bow, and besought him to give me a young horse, fit for work, as I had a long journey to make. I accordingly received, on the following day, as he had promised, the robe, mantle, two waistbands, and the turban, which constitute, as I have elsewhere remarked, the complete suit which these princes are accustomed to give to those whom they desire to honour. The mantle and the robe were of gold brocade, the two waistbands striped with gold and silver, the turban of cotton cloth was of fire colour striped with gold, and the horse, without a saddle, was covered by a housing of green velvet, with a small fringe of silver round it. The bridle was very narrow, and it had silver coins attached in some parts.
6.3.2
I believe the horse had never been mounted, for as soon as it had arrived at the house of the Dutch, where I lodged on this occasion, a young man having mounted it, it began to jump in so strange a manner and to shake him so that having fallen in jumping over the roof of a hut which was in the court, the Dutchman barely escaped being killed. Having seen that this impetuous steed was not suitable for me, I returned it to Shaista Khan, and telling him what had happened, I added that I believed that he did not wish me to return to my country, as he had asked me to do, in order to bring him some rarity. During my discourse he only laughed, and having ceased, he ordered them to bring the horse which his father used to ride. It was a large Persian horse, which had formerly cost 5000 écus when young, but it was then more than twenty-eight years old. They brought it, ready saddled and bridled, and the Prince desired me to mount it in his presence. It still had as good paces as any horse I had ever seen, and when I was mounted, he said, “ Well, are you content ? He will not give you a fall.” I thanked him, and at the same time took my leave of him ; and the following day, before my departure, he sent me a large basketful of apples. It was one of six which Shah Jahan had sent him, and which had come from the kingdom of Kashmir, and there was also in the basket a large Persian melon. All taken together might be value for 100 rupees, and I presented it to the wife of the Dutch Commander.
6.3.3
As for the horse, I took it to Golconda, where I sold it for 500 rupees, old as it was, because it was still able to render good service. To return to the discourse on coins, I shall add to what I have already said of the gold pieces, that it does not do to carry to India neither Louis d’or, Spanish nor Italian pistoles, nor other gold pieces coined of late years, because there is too much to be lost by them. The Indians, who have no knowledge of them as yet, refine all, and it is upon this refining that they make their profit. For the rest, each strives to pass his gold without the master of the customs knowing it ; and when the merchant has skill sufficient to conceal it, it gains for him the value of five or six of our sols on every ducat. I come to the silver coins, which it is necessary to distinguish as coins of the country and foreign coins, and I shall speak first of the latter.
6.3.4
The foreign silver coins which they take to India are German rix dalers and Spanish reals. The first are brought by the merchants who come from Poland, from little Tartary, and from the direction of Moscovie; the others by those who come from Constantinople, Smyrna, and Aleppo, and the principal part by the Armenians who have sold their silks in Europe. All the merchants strive to pass their silver through Persia without being discovered, because, if the customs’ officers have wind of it, it would be necessary that the silver should be carried to the masters of the mint to be coined into abásis which is the coinage of the King, and these abásis on arrival in India are again coined into rupees, in which there is a loss to the merchant of 10½ per cent, both on account of the coinage and on account of the King’s dues, which he must pay in Persia.
6.3.5
In order to know in a few words how one loses this 10½ per cent between Persia and India, and sometimes more, according to the nature of the reals which are generally taken to Persia, it is necessary to remember what I have said of the coins and exchange of Persia in the preceding volume. I have remarked that the real in Persia passes for 13 sháhis, which are equal to 3⅛ abásis, and that sometimes, when silver is scarce, they give half a sháhi more; that the abási is worth 4 sháhis, and the toman 50 abásis or 200 sháhis. Thus, the real passing for 13 sháhis, you receive 6½ tomans for 100 reals. If you take tomans to India you receive for each toman 29½ rupees, and, consequently, for 6½ tomans 191¾ rupees. But if you take to India Sevillian reals, of which I shall speak further on, for 100 you receive from 213 to 215 rupees; and for Mexicans for 100 you receive only 212. When, then, for the 100 reals you receive only 212 rupees, you gain on these 100 reals 10¼ reals, and on the Sevillians you make a profit up to 11 per cent. It should then be remarked that there are three or four kinds of Spanish real, and that they give for 100, according to their standard, from 208 up to 214 and 215 rupees. The best of all are the Sevillians, and when they are good weight you receive for 100, 213 rupees, and at certain times up to 215, according to whether silver is scarce or plentiful.
6.3.6
The Spanish real should weigh 3 gros and 7⅛ grains more than 2 rupees, but the silver of the rupees is much better, for the rupee is of the standard of 11 deniers and 14 grains, and the Sevillian real, like our white écu, is of the standard of only 11 deniers. The Mexican real is of but 10 deniers and 21 grains. For the Spanish real which weighs 73 vals you receive 4½ mahmūdīs, and a mahmūdī is worth 20 paisā, and thus for the Spanish real you receive 90 paisā, but they must be good, and, as I have said, weighing 73 vals; 81 vals making an ounce, and the val being of 7 deniers (standard). As for the German rix dalers, as they are heavier than the reals, you give for 100 up to 216 rupees; upon which it should be remarked that, in giving for the 100 reals and the 100 rix dalers up to 215 and 216 rupees, it appears as if every rupee should consequently be worth less than 30 sols. But, on the other hand, if the merchant counts the cost of carriage of the silver and the duties, he will find that each rupee costs him more. All these reals and rixdalers are weighed by the 100, and when the weight is short they add small stones as when they weigh gold, as I shall presently relate. But, in order that the merchant obtains value he must take care that all the reals of Mexico and the Sevillians weigh 21 deniers and 8 grains, i.e. 512 grains; and as for our white écu, it ought to weigh 21 deniers and 3 grains, which are equal to 509 grains.
6.3.7
I pass on to the coins of the country. The Indians have for their silver money the rupee, the half, the quarter, the eighth, and the sixteenth. The weight of the rupee is 9 deniers and 1 grain, and the standard of the silver 11 deniers and 14 grains. They have also a silver coin which they call mahmūdī, but it is only current in Surat and in the province of Gujarāt.
6.3.8
The small coin of India is of copper, and is called paisā, which is worth about two of our liards. There are some of them of a half paisa, of two paisá, and of four. According to the province you are in, you receive for the silver rupee more or fewer of these paisá. On my last journey the rupee at Surat was at 49 paisá, but there are times when it is worth 50, and others when it falls to 46. At Agra and at Jahanábád it is worth 55 and 56 paisá, and the reason of that is, that the nearer you approach to the copper mines the more paisá you receive for the rupee. As for the mahmúdí, it is always at 20 paisá. There are still two other kinds of small money in the empire of the Great Mogul: these are small bitter almonds and shells. In the province of Gujarát alone they use as small change these bitter almonds, which they bring from Persia, as I have remarked in the first part of my history. They grow in dry and arid places between rocks, and the tree which produces them closely resembles our broom. They call these almonds bádám, and they are so bitter that colocynth is not more so, and there is no need for fearing that children will amuse themselves by eating them. They sometimes give 35, sometimes 40, of them for the paisá.
6.4.1
The other small money consists of shells called cowries, which have the edges inverted, and they are not found in any other part of the world save only in the Maldive Islands. It is the principal source of revenue of the King of these Islands, for they export them to all the States of the Great Mogul, to the kingdoms of Bijapur and Golconda, and even to the islands of America, to serve as money. Close to the sea they give up to 80 for the paisá, and that diminishes as you leave the sea, on account of carriage; so that at Agra you receive but 50 or 55 for the paisá. Finally, according to the manner of counting by the Indians— 100,000 rupees make a lekke, 100,000 lekkes ,, kraur, 100,000 kraurs ,, padan, 100,000 padans „ nil. In India a village must be very small if it has not a money-changer, whom they call Shroff, who acts as banker to make remittances of money and issue letters of exchange. As, in general, these Changers have an understanding with the Governors of Provinces, they enhance the rupee at their will for paisá and the paisá for these shells. All the Jews who occupy themselves with money and exchange in the empire of the Grand Seigneur pass for being very sharp; but in India they would scarcely be apprentices to these Changers. [Here follows, in the original, a table giving the letters used as numbers, which need not be reproduced.]
6.4.2
They have a very inconvenient custom for payments, and I have already remarked upon it in reference to golden rupees when one makes a payment in that coin. They say that the longer time that a rupee of silver has been coined the less is it worth than those coined at the time, or which have been coined a short time, because the old ones having often passed by hand, it wears them, and they are in consequence lighter. Thus, when you make a sale, it is necessary to say that you require to be paid in Shah-Jahani rupees, i.e. in new silver, otherwise they will pay you in rupees coined fifteen or twenty years or more, in which there may be up to 4 per cent of loss. For, for those which have not been coined within two years they already demand ½ per cent, or at least ⅛th; and the poor people who do not know how to read the year when they coined these rupees or paisa are subject to be cheated, because they always deduct something from them, one paisa or half a paisa on a rupee, and on the paisa three or four cowries. As for false silver, but little is met with.
6.4.3
If by chance there should be a false rupee in a bag given by a private merchant, it pays better to cut it and to lose it than to say anything about it, because if they hear of it one has to run some risk, the order of the King being that you must return the bag to him who has given it, and it goes thence from one to another until they are able to discover the false coiner, and when one is detected, for sole punishment they merely lop off a finger. If it happens that they are unable to find the false coiner, and that they pronounce him who has given the silver to be not guilty, he is freed on payment of some fine. It is this which yields such large profits to the Changers, for when one receives or when one makes any payment he shows them the silver, and they receive for their commission 1/16th of a rupee per cent. As for the silver which goes out from the sarquet or treasury of the King, there is never anything base in it, for all that goes into it is carefully examined by the Changers of the King, and the great nobles also have their own. Before the silver goes into the treasury they throw it into a large charcoal fire, and when the rupees are red they extinguish the fire by means of water, after which they withdraw them. If any one is found which is not perfectly white, and has the slightest trace of alloy, it is immediately cut. Whenever these rupees enter the treasury they strike them with a punch, which makes a small hole without piercing;
6.4.4
and there are some of them which have seven or eight holes of this kind, i.e. which have entered the treasury seven or eight times. They are all placed by the thousand in sacks with the seal of the grand treasurer, to which is added the number of years since they have been coined. It is in this that the profit consists which the treasurers make, both those of the King and those of the nobles of the kingdom. When one makes a sale it is in new rupees, coined in the same year; but when one comes to receive payment the treasurers desire to make it in old rupees, by which one stands to lose up to 6 per cent; and if one wishes to have new silver, he must resolve to compound with them. On my fifth journey I went to see Sháistá Khán, as I had promised him to do so on the preceding occasion, having pledged myself that he would be the first who should see what I had brought. Immediately on my arrival at Surat I let him know, and I received a command to go to meet him at Choupart, a town of the Deccan to which he had laid siege. Having reached him in a short time, I sold him with but few words the greater part of what I had brought from Europe, and he told me that he awaited from day to day the money which they should send him from Surat to pay the army and to pay me at the same time for that which he had bought from me.
6.4.5
I was unable to believe, however, that this Prince was with so large an army without having much money with him, and I rather thought that he desired to make me lose something on the gold or silver pieces which I should receive for my payment, as he had done on my previous journey. The thing happened as I had foreseen; but for my sustenance and that of my people and cattle, he ordered that they should bring me food in abundance, both evening and morning, and on most days he sent to invite me to eat with him. Ten or twelve days passed, during which I heard no mention of the money for which he waited, and being resolved to take leave of him, I went to his tent. He appeared somewhat surprised, and, regarding me with a sullen countenance, “Wherefore,” said he to me, “do you wish to leave without being paid ? and who would pay you afterwards if you went away without receiving your money ? ” At these words, assuming a look as proud as his: “My King,” I replied, “will cause me to be paid ; for he is so generous that he will pay all his subjects when they have not had satisfaction for what they have sold in foreign countries.” “ And in what manner would thy King recoup himself ? ” replied he, as in a rage.
6.4.6
“ With two or three good vessels of war,” I replied, “ which he will send to the port of Surat or towards its coasts, to await those coming from Mocha.” He appeared stung by this reply, and, not daring to carry his ill-humour further, he at once commanded his treasurer to give me a letter of exchange on Aurangābād. At which I was very glad, because it was a place through which I had to pass in order to go to Golconda, and which, moreover, spared me carriage and the risk to my money. The following day I received my letter of exchange, and took my leave of the Prince, who was no longer angry, and he requested me if I returned to India not to omit to go and see him ; which I did on my sixth and last journey. When I arrived at Surat he was in Bengal, where I went to seek him, and he bought from me the residue of my goods which I had not been able to sell either to the King of Persia or to the Great Mogul. To return to my payment, having arrived at Aurangābād, I went to seek the Grand Treasurer, who had never previously seen me, but he told me that he knew wherefore I had come to see him, that three days previously he had received notice, and that he had already drawn from the treasury the money which he was to pay me. When all the bags required for my payment had been brought, I caused one of them to be opened by my Changer, who saw that it contained rupees on which 2 per cent would be lost.
6.4.7
Upon which I thanked the Treasurer, and told him that I did not understand that sort of thing, that I would send one of my people to complain to Shāistā Khān and ask him to order that I should be paid in new silver, or I would go to reclaim my goods : this I straightway did. But having sent a man to him, and getting no reply by the time that I might have received one, I went to tell the Treasurer that since I had no news from the Prince I was going myself to take back what I had sold. I believe that he had already received instructions as to what he should do, for seeing that I was resolved to start he said he would be grieved by the trouble I was taking, and it would be better that we should agree with one another. In short, after several discussions concerning the 2 per cent which they desired I should lose, I obtained 1 per cent of it ; and I would have lost the other except for the fortunate meeting with a Shroff who had to receive payment of a letter of exchange on Golconda ; for this Shroff, not having money at hand, was very glad to accommodate himself with mine, causing me to receive the same sum in new silver at Golconda at fifteen days’ sight.
6.5.5
Finally, these Changers, in order to test silver, make use of thirteen small pieces, one half of copper and the other of silver, which are the “touches.”
These thirteen pieces, being all of different standards, are not used by them except when a small quantity of silver or some worked silver is in question ; for in the case of a large amount they carry it to the refiner. All this silver is bought by the weight called tola, which weighs 9 deniers and 8 grains, or 32 vals, and 81 vals make, as I have said, one once ; so that 100 tolas makes 38 onces 21 deniers and 8 grains.
The following are the different values of the 13 standards of silver.
The first and lowest standard they take at 15 paisa the tola, which make of our money . . 9 sols 2 deniers The 2d at 18 paisa, which are equal to 10 ,, 2 „ 3d ,, 20 ,, ,, ,, 12 ,, 6 ,, 4th ,, 23 ,, ,, ,, 14 >> 5 ,, The 5th at 26 paisá, which are equal to 15 sols 10 deniers. 6th ,, 29 ,, ,, 17 ,, 6 ,, 7th ,, 32 ,, ,, 19 ,, 2 ,, 8th ,, 35 ,, ,, 20 ,, 10 ,, 9th ,, 38 ,, ,, 22 ,, 6 ,, 10th ,, 40 ,, ,, 24 ,, 2 ,, 11th ,, 43 ,, ,, 25 ,, 10 ,, 12th ,, 46 ,, ,, 27 ,, 6 ,, 13th ,, 49 ,, ,, 29 ,, 2 ,,
I must not forget to remark here on the extreme parsimony both of these Shroffs, or Changers, and of all Indians in general; and it will suffice to give an example of it which is very special, and of which Europeans are not as yet aware. It is, that of all the gold which remains on the touchstone when an assay has been made, and of which we here make no account, far from allowing so small a thing to be lost, they collect it all by means of a ball, made half of black pitch, and half of wax, with which they rub the stone which carries the gold, and at the end of some years they burn the ball and find the gold which it has accumulated. This ball is about the size of our tennis-court balls, and the stone is like those which our goldsmiths commonly use.
This is all that I have been able to remark of special importance with regard to the customs and coins of India, and there only remains for me to speak of the exchange.
As all goods produced in the Empire of the Great Mogul, and a portion of those of the Kingdom of Golconda and the Kingdom of Bijapur, reach Surat to be exported by sea to different places of Asia and Europe, when one leaves Surat to go for the purchase of these goods in the towns from whence they are obtained, as at Lahor, Agra, Amadabat, Seronge, Brampour, Daca, Patna, Banarou, Golconda, Decan, Visapour, and Dultabad, one takes silver from Surat and disposes of it at the places where one goes, giving coin for coin at par. But when it happens that the merchant finds himself short of money in these same places, and that he has need of it to enable him to pay for the goods which he has bought, it is necessary for him to meet it at Surat, when the bill is due, which is at two months, and by paying a high rate of exchange.
At Lahore on Surat the exchange goes up to 6¼ per cent.
At Agra from 4½ to 5.
6.5.3
At Ahmadābād from 1 to 1½.
At Sironj to 3.
6.5.3_2
At Burhānpur from 2½ to 3.
6.5.10
At Dacca to 10.
6.5.8
At Patna from 7 to 8.
6.5.6
At Benares to 6.
6.5.5_2
At these three last places they only give letters of exchange on Agra, and at Agra they give others on Surat, the whole only amounting to the sum I have stated.
At Golconda from 4 to 5.
6.5.3_3
And on Goa the same.
At Deccan to 3.
6.5.3_4
At Bijapur to 3.
6.5.p10
At Daulatābād from 1 to 1½.
In some years the exchange rises from 1 to 2 per cent, when there are Rajas, or petty tributary Princes, who interfere with trade, each claiming that the goods ought to traverse his territory and pay him custom. There are two in particular between Agra and Ahmadabad, one of whom is the Raja of Antivar, and the other the Raja of Bergam, who disturb the merchants much in reference to this matter. One may, however, avoid passing the territories of these two Princes by taking another route from Agra to Surat by way of Sironj and Burhanpur; but these are fertile lands intersected by several rivers, the greater number of which are without bridges and without boats, and it is impossible to pass until two months after the rainy season. It is for this reason that the merchants who have to be at Surat in the season for going to sea, generally take their way through the country of these two Rajas, because they are able to traverse it at all seasons, even in the time of the rains, which consolidate the sand with which nearly the whole country is covered.
Besides, it is not to be wondered at that the exchange is so high, for those who lend the money run, for their part, the risk that if the goods are stolen the money is lost to them.
When you arrive at Surat, to embark, you find there also plenty of money. For it is the principal trade of the nobles of India to place their money in vessels in speculations for Hormuz, Bassora, and Mocha, and even for Bantam, Achin, and the Philippines. For Mocha and Bassora the exchange ranges from 22 to 24 per cent, and for Hormuz from 16 to 20 ; and for the other places which I have named the exchange varies in proportion to the distance. But if the goods happen to be lost by tempest, or to fall into the hands of the Malabaris, who are the pirates of the Indian seas, the money is lost to those who have risked lending it.
I have but one word to say, in addition, regarding the weights and measures. Here, in the margin, is the 5th part of the ell of Agra, and the 4th of the ell of Ahmadābād and Surat. As for the weights, the ordinary mand is 69 livres , and the livre is of 16 onces ; but the mand , which is used to weigh indigo, is only 53 livres. At Surat you speak of a seer , which is 3/4 livres , and the livre is 16 onces.