190 Asiatic Sovereigns and Paper Currency. [No. 2, 



on the kings of Persia. In the middle of the paper was drawn a 

 circle, and starting from the centre was written the value of the note, 

 which varied from half a dirrhem to ten din-hems. Certain lines 

 were also written on it, the substance of which was as follows, — that 

 the emperor in the year 693 (A. H.) had issued these auspicious 

 chaus ; that all who altered or forged them should be summarily 

 punished with their wives and children, and their property confiscated 

 to the treasury ; and that when these auspicious notes were once in 

 general circulation, poverty and distress would vanish from the people, 

 vegetables would become cheap, and rich and poor would be equal. 

 Certain poets and able authors of the time published their produc- 

 tions in praise of the scheme, to flatter the king and the minister ; 

 this single couplet is given as a specimen. 



If the chau ( «L*. ) becomes current in the world, 

 The glory of the empire will be eternal ( OlijLa- ). 



" Since it was part of the edict that all who melted silver or gold in 

 their trades, should cease to work any longer therein, and these men 

 had accordingly forsaken their businesses, it was provided, as a means 

 of their subsistence, that each of them should receive a certain fixed 

 amount from the chaukhanah. It was also ordered that whenever the 

 chaus became obliterated by use, they should be brought to the chau- 

 khanah and new given in exchange. The Persian merchants by sea, 

 who traded with foreign countries,* were to bring, on the eve of the 

 voyage, their chaus to the mint and there receive gold in exchange. 

 In fine, in the month Zu'l ka'dah, in the year 693, chaus were first 

 issued in Tabriz ; and in consequence of the stringent orders given, 

 for two or three days people used them in buying and selling. For 

 an order had been issued that every one should lose his head who 

 refused to accept the new currency. Many of the inhabitants of 

 Tabriz left the place and carried away their goods and provisions 

 from the bazar, so that this city, which is called the little Misr, 

 became as empty of people as a lover's heart of patience. The cries 

 of young and old rose to heaven, and the common people in the 

 Friday's assembly began to exclaim loudly against the tyrannous 



* I have corrected the obscure reading of the Bombay edition to ^^-i d^ J[ 

 t>ioUJ ^k i>-Cii>/of, the reading of the Society's MS. 



