l6 SHOOTING IN CHINA 



reservation. It seldom happens that the 

 merchant has at hand to pay his duties the 

 fine silver (i,ooo) which is, theoretically, 

 the standard of all payments to the govern- 

 ment ; and tendering other silver, coin 

 money the ordinary trade silver of the 

 place, the rate at which it shall be accepted 

 becomes a matter of arrangei»ient with the 

 banker; the latter having to account to the 

 government for a certain weight of silver 

 I, GOO fine will be careful to cover his 

 liability. Another element of variation, 

 even of this currency, is the difference 

 between receiving and paying rates in force 

 in all government treasuries, all banks, and 

 with those merchants of sufficiently strong 

 standing to make their own counting-house 

 rules; this difference, usually between a 

 quarter and a half per cent, is made, not by 

 charging a commission, but by boldly using 

 two sets of weights, one for receiving and 

 the other for paying, and is intended to 

 compensate for the labour of weighing 

 ingots and lumps of silver of no fixed 

 weight, and for the risk incurred and expert 

 knowledge requisite for taking in silver of 

 unknown degrees ot fineness. The practice 



