CURRENCY AND COINAGE 177 



mind argues in the same fashion under both conditions. 

 The blame is usually cast on the trader, who is charged 

 with buying valuable articles from the savage for a mere 

 song. This is fair neither to the trader nor to the 

 mental capacity of the savage. 



There is in the Mergui Archipelago in the Bay of 

 Bengal a wild Malay tribe known as the Selungs, miser- 

 ably poor savages from our point of view. They are 

 exploited by Chinamen from British territory, who 

 barter with them 'a little cloth, paddy, tobacco, and 

 perhaps the smell of opium now and then/ for 'black 

 coral, eagle wood, and so on,' which these people gather. 

 The value of the goods given by the Chinamen is to 

 them about a fifth of what they get. The goods ob- 

 tained by the Selungs for what they give are to them 

 of vital importance, and ' they are enabled thereby to 

 maintain a wild independence.' There is nothing unfair 

 in the bargain. The Chinamen have to take what they 

 have received elsewhere before they can make a profit, 

 and the savage has given something that is of no value 

 to him for something which is very great value. This 

 is what is meant by the term ' trade,' or bargaining for 

 mutual benefit. We have in fact reached now the point 

 of trade by barter. 



As there have been so many animadversions wrongly 

 cast on European traders as to this matter, let us go 

 a little further into it. In 1871-2 an expedition had 

 to be undertaken against the Lushais, savages on the 

 eastern borders of Assam in India. Of some of these 

 savages it was reported that ' they brought down large 

 quantities of india-rubber, which they eagerly exchanged 

 for salt, equal weights, and as the value of the rubber 

 was more than four times that of the salt, any individuals 

 who could command a large supply of the latter had an 



