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«The annexed two sketches are taken from a cast of the 
species of money now at the present day passing current 
among the Africans. It so strongly resembles what we saw 
in Ireland, that I thought you might be interested in a copy 
of it. Mr. Dyson, who was for some years a surgeon on 
board an African merchantman, brought it with him; and 
the first opportunity, I shall make inquiries respecting this 
and other coin used among the natives. I am told that in 
the country they are made of solid gold, as in Ireland.” 
Sir William Betham also read an extract from a letter 
from Mr. Bonomi to T. C. Croker, Esq. 
“You ask me for a note on the ring money of Africa; 
here it is. So little has the interior of the country changed 
in that particular since the days of the Pharaohs, that 
to this day, among the inhabitants of Sennaar, pieces of 
gold in the form of a ring pass current as money. The 
rings have a cut in them for the convenience of keeping them 
together ; the gold being so pure you easily bend them, and 
unite them in the manner ofachain. This money is weighed 
as in the days of Joseph.” 
These gold rings are so similar in shape to the ancient 
rings found in Ireland, that the sketch of one accurately 
represents the other. 
It is a remarkable fact that the name manilla, which 
these brass and iron articles still bear in Africa, signifies 
money inthe Celto-Pheenician Irish. Main is ‘ value,’ ‘ worth,’ 
and aillech is ‘ cattle,’ ‘ household stuff,’ or ‘ any kind of pro- 
perty.’ So that in this respect the derivation is similar to 
that of pecunia from pecus. The manillas were, no doubt, 
introduced into Africa by the same people that brought 
them to Ireland; and as the Negro nations have changed 
_ but little, if at all, they still pass as money by their old Phe- 
nician name. 
