326 AFRICA. 



CHAP. XXVII. 



hundred and forty-four pounds, and in the follow- 

 ing four years of peace, thirty thousand five hun- 

 dred and sixty-nine ounces valued at one hundred 

 and twenty-five thousand three hundred and eighty 

 pounds. As the Dutch and French, after the 

 return of peace, carried on some trade with their 

 settlements on the western coast of Africa, that 

 may account for our annual importations having 

 been somewhat less in the four years of peace than 

 in the preceding seven years of war. 



This communication, imperfect as it is, fur- 

 nishes a strong presumption that the produce of 

 gold from the African washings, the only source 

 from whence that metal is derived, has been com- 

 monly much exaggerated. It may also serve to 

 account for the fact, that though some larger 

 payments are made with gold dust, yet those 

 of lesser amount are made in Spanish dollars, 

 (which the lamentable extension of the slave trade 

 has introduced more copiously than at any former 

 period), and the fractional parts in those shells 

 called cowries, which were the former current 

 money of the whole of Africa. 



It is well known that in the trade on the coast 

 of Africa neither gold nor silver are made use of 

 as measures of value ; but that an ideal standard has 

 been adopted, originating at the period when the 

 Europeans first resorted to that coast. This 

 standard, called a bar, was at first used because 

 the chief commodity in request was bar iron. All 



