200 ADDRESS TO THE |>ect. 



us very inconvenient, but after all it is not very dif- 

 ferent from that which prevails in China even at the 

 present day. The first money struck in Egypt, and 

 that for the use rather of the Greek and Phoenician 

 merchants than of the natives, was by the Satrap 

 Aryandes. 



In ancient Babylonia and Assyria, as in Egypt, the 

 precious metals, and especially silver, circulated as un- 

 coined ingots. They were readily taken, indeed, but taken 

 by weight and verified by the balance like any other 

 merchandize. The excavations in Assyria and Babylon, 

 which have thrown so much light upon ancient history, 

 have afforded us some interesting information as to the 

 commercial arrangements of these countries, and we 

 now possess a considerable number of receipts, contracts, 

 and other records relating to loans of silver on personal 

 securities at fixed rates of interest, loans on landed or 

 house property ; sales of land, in one case with a plan ; 

 sales of slaves, &c. These were engraved on tablets of 

 clay, which were then burnt. M. Lenormant divides 

 these most interesting documents into five principal 

 types : — 1. Simple obligations. 2. Obligations with a 

 penal clause in case of non-fulfilment. One he gives 

 which had seventy-nine days to run. 3. Obligations with 

 the guarantee of a third party. 4. Obligations payable 

 to a third person. 5. Drafts drawn upon one place, 

 payable in another. I may give the following illustrations 

 of these letters of credit from two specimens in my 

 collection, kindly read for me by Mr. Pinches. 1. " Loan 

 of two-thirds of a mana of coined silver by Nabu-sum- 

 ikum to Bainsat, at an interest of one shekel monthly 

 upon the mana ; fourth day of Sivan, eighth year of 



