CHAPTER YIIL 



AUXILIARY EXCHANGE. 



757. How great is the labour and loss of time entailed 

 by lack of a circulating medium, is well shown by Cameron 

 in his Across Africa. He desired to hire a canoe at Kawelc. 

 The agent &quot; wished to be paid in ivory.&quot; Of this, says 

 Cameron, 



1 I had none ; but I found that Mohammed ibn Salib had ivory, 

 and wanted cloth. Still, as I had no cloth, this did not assist me 

 greatly until I heard that Mohammed ibn Gharib had cloth and 

 wanted wire. This I fortunately possessed. So I gave Mohammed 

 ibn Gharib the requisite amount in wire, upon which he handed over 

 cloth to Mohammed ibn Salib, who in his turn gave Syde ibn Habib s 

 agent the wished-for ivory. Then he allowed me to have the boat.&quot; 

 Evidently, pressure of inconveniences like these must 

 prompt the use of some one commodity generally desired 

 and generally possessed, which serves at once as a medium 

 of exchange and measure of value. This commodity varies 

 with place and circumstance; but, whatever its kind, it is 

 such as ministers to one of the chief needs sustentation, 

 defence, and decoration. 



Food, living or dead, existing in measurable quantities or 

 easily reduced to measurable quantities, is early employed as 

 a currency. Among the pastoral peoples of South Africa, 

 herds form men s chief possessions ; and the prices of women 

 and slaves are given in terms of cattle. That ancient pas 

 toral peoples had animal-money is a f amilar truth ; as even 



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