DAVIS. — CERTAIN OLD CHINESE NOTES. 273 



1S61 they were sold by Dutch auction in the streets of Peking at a 

 discount of 97 per cent. 



What Chinese Historians say of the Notes. 



Our examination of the notes themselves has brought to our atten- 

 tion certain features connected with the respective emissions of 

 which they are representative. There remains, however, to be con- 

 sidered, the information which may be acquired from the accounts 

 of the Chinese historians, as to the functions of the notes, as to their 

 fluctuations, and as to the character of the support received by them 

 from the government from time to time. 



The numismatic manual of Ramsden is the only one among all the 

 works cited, so arranged as to give off-hand any idea of the chronology 

 of the emissions. The fact that the empire was at times administered 

 as a whole and at other times broken up into two or more governments, 

 all of which simultaneously emitted notes, is likely to produce much 

 confusion in the mind of an investigator, who is not familiar with the 

 eras of the dynasties and the areas under their respective control. 

 The dynastic arrangement by Ramsden, of his manual, relieves this 

 confusion somewhat and the simultaneous parallelism of the emission 

 of different dynasties thereby disclosed accounts for some of the 

 perplexities occasioned by the statements of Chinese writers. It is 

 obvious that the student who found in Chaudoir that in 1168 copper 

 plates were first made use of for printing notes, wood cuts alone up to 

 that time having served that purpose, would be surprised when he 

 found on the third page thereafter, the statement made that in 1277, 

 the Mongols first made use of copper plates in substitution for the 

 wood cuts from which they had previously printed the notes. If 

 however he were familiar w T ith chinese history, he would realize that 

 the Mongol conquerors had merely adopted at that date a practice 

 that they found in use by their more cultivated neighbors whose 

 territory they had invaded. This single illustration will show that 

 one who undertakes to examine this subject even if he follows in the 

 footsteps of European interpreters, needs to have some knowledge of 

 chinese history, would he comprehend clearly what he is dealing with. 



Again, it must not be forgotten that in attempting to discover 

 through chinese records the various experiences of China during this 

 long period of the use of paper money, we are compelled to struggle 

 against the difficulties interposed by a language which is not easy to 



