68 GOLD AND SILVER 



CHAP. XVIII. 



metals. The route to India by the Cape of Good 

 Hope, which the Portuguese had discovered, in- 

 duced other nations to follow in their steps. As 

 silver was found the most ready and beneficial 

 article to exchange for the commodities of the 

 east, a great transfer took place of that substance 

 between the European and the Asiatic world. 

 This did not affect the quantity produced, but 

 changed the locality of it. In that change, how- 

 ever, it seems more than probable that a large 

 portion of the silver which passed to the east 

 was abstracted from the use of it as money, and 

 applied to purposes of magnificence and splendour. 



From all we can learn of the ancient history of 

 India, we are warranted in concluding that at 

 the court of the Great Mogul, and among the 

 numerous feudal sovereigns who ruled in that 

 country, luxury in the use of gold and silver or- 

 naments was carried to a much higher point than 

 in Europe in that time, and indeed beyond what 

 is indulged in either in Europe or Asia in the 

 present day. In India, as well as in the extensive 

 empire of China, at all times, the difference be- 

 tween gold and silver in coin and in utensils was 

 very slight. It has been the general practice to 

 pass the precious metals from hand to hand by 

 weight, only first ascertaining the purity of the 

 metals by the trials of the shroffs, who have been 

 always skilful in assaying. 



In the eastern part of Asia the Turks had be- 



