ON THE STATISTICS OF DUKHUN. 327 
endeavour to levy duties; moreover, he is perplexed by the 
money claims of hereditary district officers upon the duties, 
independently of the customs-farmer’s dues. How the con- 
flicting interests are arranged I do not know; but they are so 
various and troublesome, that the merchant is commonly driven 
to the expensive necessity of contracting with a class of people, 
called Hoondeekuree, who undertake for a fixed swm to pass 
all the merchandize through a country to its destination, 
paying all duties ; constant practice, adroitness, and bullying, 
enabling them to arrange with the collectors better than the 
merchant could. 
All transit duties should be abolished; their amount in the 
interior of a country materially affects consumption, and is 
therefore injurious to trade. 
Coins. 
The only coins in use in Dukhun are silver rupees, half ru- 
pees, and copper pice. The rupees are of many mints, and have 
a different value in relation to the copper coin, resulting from the 
age of the rupee, and the number of punches or marks it may 
have on it made by the Shroofs or money-changers in passing 
through their hands*; the same rupee, of the same standard, 
and same mint, has not the same value im copper in neigh- 
bouring districts; this value fluctuates at the pleasure of the 
money-changers. On what principles they regulate the rela- 
tive values I do not know. The multiplicity of coins of dif- 
ferent mints, and the gradations of coins of the same mint, 
are great evils. It is unnecessary to enumerate these coins, as 
_ they are in the Bombay Almanac. 
Weights and Measures. 
A very considerable diversity prevails in every district, and 
often in neighbouring villages, in the weights and measures in 
_ use, whether of weight, length, or capacity ; this diversity goes 
- so far, that the subdivisions are often found not to be in a 
_ determinate proportion to each other. All this confusion is 
_ referrible to the want of an ancient permanent standard ; to the 
abrasion or decay of the weights and measures tolerated by go- 
_ vernment, the knavery of the owners of the weights, and the 
apathy or connivance of the district authorities t. Everywhere 
* These marks occasion a depreciation of one or more per cent. 
‘+ So great are the discrepancies, that they range from 41 per cent. below to 
q 100 per cent. above the Poona standard. 
