l8 SHOOTING IN CHINA 



the currency will be informing on the 

 subject, and one town may be taken to 

 typify many. " In the town of Chungking, 

 in the province of Szechu'an, in the far 

 west of China, the standard of weight of 

 the tael for silver transactions is 543.7 

 grains, and this is the standard for all 

 transactions in which the scale is not 

 specified. Usually, however, a modifica- 

 tion of the scale is provided for, depending 

 in some cases upon the place from which 

 the merchant comes or with which he trades, 

 and in others upon the goods in which he 

 deals. A merchant coming from Kwei- 

 chow, or trading with that place, will 

 probably, but not certainly use a scale on 

 which the tael weighs 537.3 grains. A 

 merchant from Kwei-fu, a town on the 

 Yangtse, a hundred miles from Chungking, 

 will buy and sell with a tael of 550.7 

 grains ; and between these two extremes are 

 at least ten topical weights of tael all 

 current at Chungking. In addition to 

 these twelve topical currencies, there are 

 others connected with commodities. One 

 of the most important products of Szechu'an 

 is salt, and dealings in this are settled by a 



