EXCHANGE. 389 



755. In the absence of measures of quantity and value, 

 the idea of equivalence must remain vague. Only where the 

 things offered in barter are extremely unlike in their 

 amounts or qualities or characters, does lack of equivalence 

 become manifest. How rude trading transactions are at 

 first, is well shown by the following extract concerning an 

 Indian people, the Chalikatas. Dalton says: 



&quot;It was very interesting to watch the barter that took place there 

 between these suspicious, excitable savages and the cool, wily traders of 

 the plains. The former took salt chiefly in exchange for the commodities 

 they brought down, and they would not submit to its being measured 

 or weighed to them by any known process. Seated in front of the 

 trader s stall, they cautiously take from a well-guarded basket one of 

 the articles they wish to exchange. Of this they still retain a hold 

 with their toe or their knee as they plunge two dirty paws into the 

 bright white salt. They make an attempt to transfer all they can 

 grasp to their own basket, but the trader, with a sweep of his hand, 

 knocks off half the quantity, and then there is a fiery altercation, which 

 is generally terminated by a concession on the part of the trader of a 

 few additional pinches.&quot; 



In the absence of a medium of exchange other inconveni 

 ences arise. One is the difficulty of bringing into relation 

 those whose needs are reciprocal. The experiences of Dr. 

 Earth in Africa clearly exemplify this evil. 



u A small farmer who brings his corn to the Monday market . . . 

 in Kukawa, will on no account take his payment in shells, and will 

 rarely accept of a dollar: the person, therefore, who wishes to buy 

 corn, if he has only dollars, must first exchange a dollar for shells, or 

 rather buy shells; then with the shells he must buy a kiilgu, or 

 shirt ; and after a good deal of bartering he may thus succeed in buy 

 ing the corn . . . The fatigue to be undergone in the market is such 

 that I have very often seen my servants return in a state of the utmost 

 exhaustion.&quot; 



In this place, better than elsewhere, may be named an ob 

 stacle to a developed system of exchange which results from 

 the misapprehensions of the uninitiated. Of the Chitralis 

 Captain Younghusband tells us that they supposed rupees to 

 be ornaments only, and could not understand receiving them 



