24 



Travels in India. Part II. 



pay you in Roupics coin'd fome fifteen or twenty years ago, and upward ; where- 

 by you will lofe four in the hundred. For they will have one fourth, or at leaft 

 one eighth per Cent, allow'd for thole that were coin'd but two years before : So 



falfe Roupie in a Bagg lrom any particular perton, tis better to cut it to 

 and lofe it, than to "(peak of it j for if it (hould come to be known, ther 

 be danger in it. For you are commanded by the King's Law to return tl 

 where you received it 5 and to return it from one to another, till you can 



_.ghth/7t 

 that the poor people that cannot read the year wherein the Roupics were coined, 

 are fubjecl to be cheated ; for they will always abate a Pecha or half a Pecha upon 

 a Roupie, or three or four Cori's upon a Pecha. 



As for counterfeit Silver, there is very little among them. It you receive one 

 falfe Roupie in a Bagg from any particular pcrion, 'tis better to cut it to pieces, 



' known, there might 

 he Bagg 

 hnd out 

 the Counterfeiter ; who, if he be apprehended, is only fentene'd to lofe his hand. 

 If the Counterfeiter cannot be found, and that it be though* that he who paid 

 the Money is not guilty, he is acquitted upon fome fmall amercement. This brings 

 great profit to the Changers. For when there is any Summ of Money received 

 or paid, the Merchants caufe him to look it over, and for their rains, they have 

 one fifteenth of a Roupie in the hundred. 



As for the Money which is paid out of the Surqact, or King's Exchequer, there 

 is never any found that is counterfeit : For all the Money that is carried in thither, 

 is exactly view'd by the King's Bankers : The Great Lords have alio their par- 

 ticular Bankers. Before they put up the Money into the Treafury, they throw 

 it into a great Charcoal-fire, and when the Roupies are red-hot, they quench the 

 fire, by throviic water upon it ; and then take out the Money. If there be any 

 Piece that is Miite, or that has the Icafl mark of Alloy, it is prelcntly cut in 

 pieces. As often as theft Roupies are carried into the Treafury, they mark the 

 Pieces with a Puncheon, which makes an hole, but not quite through ; and there 

 are fome Pieces that have feven or eight holes made in that manner, to ffiew that 

 thev have been fo many times in the'Exchequer. They are all put, a thoufand 

 Pieces together, in a" bagg, feal'd with the Seal of the great Treafurer ; and 

 the number of years fuperfcrib'd, fince they were coin'd. And here you are to 

 take notice, whence the Treafurers profit arifes, as well that of the King's Trea- 

 furer, as that of the particular Treafurers of the Great Lords of the Kingdom. 

 When there is anv bargain made, they agree for new Roupies coin'd the fame 

 year: but when thev come to receive the payment, the Treafurers will make it 

 in old Roupies, wherein there is a lofs of fix per Con. So that if they will have 

 new Silver, the Merchants muft compound with the Treafurer. In my rift Voy- 

 age, I went to vifit Cba-Eji-Kan according to my promise, to let him have the 

 firft fight of what I brought along with me. So that as fbon as I arrived at Su- 

 ratt, I lent him word ; and received his Orders to meet him at Choupart, a City 

 in the Province of Dlcmi, to which he had laid Siege. Coming to him, in a lit- 

 tle time, and a few words, I fold him the greater!: part of what I had brought along 

 with me out of Europe : And he told me that he expedited every day, that Money 

 (hould be fent him from Suratt to pay the Army, and to pay me alfo at the fame 

 time for what he had bought of me. I could not imagin however, that fo great a 

 Prince as he, that commanded fo great an Army, had not ftore of Money by him* 

 but rather conjedur'd, that he had an intention to make me fome abatement, up- 

 on thofe Pieces which he would put upon me in payment, as he had ferv'd me be- 

 fore. It fell out, as I farefaw. But for Provifions for my felf, my Men, and my 

 Horfes, he took fuch order, that there was great plenty brought me, night and 

 morning, and for the moft part he fent for me my felf, to his own Table. Ten or 

 twelve days thus paft away, and not a word of the Money that I expected : So 

 that being refolv'd to take my leave of him, I went to his Tent. He appeared to 

 be fbmewhat lurpriz'd, and looking upon me with a frowning-brow ; wherefore 

 will you be gone, fa id he, before you are paid ? or who d'you think, (hall pay 

 you after wardsjf you go away before you receive your Money? Upon thefe words, 

 with a countenance as frern as his, my King, replied I, will fee me paid. For his 

 goodnefs is fuch, that he caufes all his Subjects to be paid, that have not received 

 fatisfaction for fuch Goods as they fell in forreign Countries. And what courfe 

 will he take, anfwer'd he in a great choler : with two or three ftout Men of War, 

 laid I, which he will lend either to the Port of Suratt, or toward the Coafts to 



wait 



