85 



The bankers are said to find the most advantageous 

 employment for their capitals in speculations in 

 Russian and Austrian funds. 



The interest of money in Poland, as elsewhere, 

 varies much, according to the necessity of the bor- 

 rower, and the greediness or suspicions of the lender, 

 as well as the nature of the security that is offered. 

 The Jews lend small sums frequently at two per cent, 

 per month ; any sum may be easily lent at ten per 

 cent, per annum on the security of jewels, plate, and 

 other valuables : but this lending is viewed with dis- 

 trust by monied men. When the interest becomes 

 due, if it is not paid, recourse must be had to the 

 courts of law ; and a judgment must be obtained 

 before the articles pledged can be sold. The suit 

 may be protracted for several years, whilst the high 

 interest is accumulating ; and at the period of deci- 

 sion, the sum originally lent, with the interest upon 

 it. may amount to more than the value of the pledge. 



In Poland I was forcibly impressed, by remarking 

 how much the actual use of money is dispensed with 

 in poor countries, and how much of the traffic can be 

 carried on by barter without its intervention. It is 

 in this kind of traffic that the lower class of the Jews 

 are enabled to make themselves the almost indispen- 

 sable agents in every transaction of buying and sell- 

 ing. The numbers of the country people that attend 

 at fairs and markets, with minute quantities of com- 

 modities, excite much surprise in one who remarks 

 the thinness of the surrounding population ; whilst 

 the number of Jews, apparently mere spectators, 

 sauntering through such collections of peasants, seems 

 no less extraordinary. 



Xo paper, or any other substitute for metallic 

 money, circulates in the country ; and the value in 

 specie of every commodity that is produced at home, 

 is very low ; and the productions of foreign countries, 

 exclusive of the taxes that are imposed, very high. 



M 



