CHAP. XXVII. IN ASIA. 341 



usual current money, it could easily be exchanged 

 for it, and its compendious nature, which was fa- 

 vourable to concealment, or facilitated its removal 

 from one fortress to another, must have made it 

 one of the best preparatives for their defensive or 

 marauding operations. Gold was of use to them 

 as an object of luxury, for the ornaments of their 

 persons and their palaces, and the change that has 

 taken place by curtailing their power has deprived 

 many of the means of their most luxurious grati- 

 fications. 



The security which has been given to the pro- 

 perty of individuals, and the power of suppressing 

 warlike operations between the native princes, 

 which have both been the consequence of the Bri- 

 tish power, have rendered it unnecessary to form 

 such large deposits of the precious metals as were 

 known to be hoarded in former times by the several 

 courts in India. That treasure which used to be 

 inactive in the depositories of princes has been 

 dispersed among their subjects, and thus without 

 any increased production from the mines, and with 

 a diminished importation from other countries, 

 the inhabitants of India have from the greater 

 diffusion of that which was formerly stationary, a 

 sufficiency of metallic money to prevent any great 

 decline in the prices of the various commodities 

 they exchange for silver. 



From the state of society in Asia, a much smaller 

 quantity of the precious metals is necessary than 



