Book! Travels in India. 



17 



CHAP, II. 



Of the Cufioms, Money, Exchange , Weights and Measures 



of the Indians. 



TO avoid Repetitions, which cannot be fhunn'd in the Courfe of long Travels • 

 it behoves me to let the Reader underftand what belongs to the Cuftom- 

 houfes, Money, Exchange, Weights and Meafures of the Indians. 



When your Commodities are unladen at Smatt, you mult carry them to the 

 Cuftom-houlè adjoyning to the Fort. They are very fevere, and very exact in 

 (carching the people. Particular Merchants pay from four to five per Cent at the 

 Cuftom-houlè for all forts of Ware. But for the EngUJh and i/o/Z^W-Company, 

 they pay left : But I believe if they did but caft up what it cofts them in Depu- 

 tations and Prefents which they are oblig'd every year to (end to the Court, 

 they would not pay much lefs for their Wares, than particular Merchants. 



Gold and Silver pay two in the Hundred, and when it is brought into the 

 Cuftom-houfe, the Mafter of the Mint comes and takes it, and Coins it into the 

 Money of the Countrey. They agree with him upon the day wherein he will un- 

 dertake to return the new Pieces : And for fo many days as he makes them ftay 

 after that, he pays them Intereft, according to the proportion of the Silver 

 which he receives. The Indians are very fubtil and crafty in matters of Money 

 and Payments ; three or four years after the Silver is coin'd, it lofes half per 

 Cent, and goes at the fame rate as old Silver ; for, (ay they, it is impoffible but 

 that it (hould lofe in palTmg through fo many hands. You may carry all forts of 

 Silver into the Dominions of the Great Mogul. For in all the Frontier Cities 

 there is a Mint, where it is purified to the higheft perfection, as is all the Gold 

 and Silver in India, by the King's Command, and coin'd into Money. Silver in Bars, 

 or old Plate, which is bought without paying for the fafhion, is the Silver by 

 which you (ball lo(e leaft : For as for coin'd Silver, there is no avoiding the lois 

 of the Coinage. All their bargains are made, with a condition to pay in coinM 

 Silver, within the prefent year.. And if you ma'ke payment in old Silver, you 

 muft refolve to lofe according to the time fince it was firft coin'd. In all places 

 far remote from Cities, where the vulgar people have no great knowledg in Sil- 

 ver, and where there are no Changers, they will not receive a piece of Silver, 

 without putting it in the fire, to try whether it be good or no : And this is the 

 common practice at all Ferries and palfages over Rivers. In regard their Boats 

 are only made of Ofier, covered over with an Ox-hide, and by confcquence are 

 very light j they keep them in the Woods, and will not take them upon their 

 flioulders, till they have received their Money. 



As for their Gold, the Merchants have fo many cunning tricks to hide it, that it 

 feldom comes to the knowledg of the Cuftomers. They do all they can to (hift off 

 paying the Cuftomsjand that, fo much the rather, becaufe they do not run fo much 

 hazard as at the Cuftom-houfes of Europe. For in the Indian Cuftom-houfes, if 

 a man be caught in the fraud, he is quitted by paying double ; ten in the hundred, 

 inftead of five : The King comparing the venture of the Merchant to a game at 

 Hazard, where he plays quit or double. The King had granted to the EngUJh 

 Captains, that they fhould not be (èarch'd when they came a-(hore. But one day 

 one of the EngUJh Captains going to Tata, one of the greateft Cities in India y a 

 little above the Mouth of the River Indou, as he was going to pafs the River, he 

 was ftopp'd by the Officers of the Cuftom-houlè, who fearch'd and rifl'd him, 

 what-ever he could alledg to the contrary. They found Gold about him, of 

 which he had already carried off lèverai quantities, at feveral times, that he had 

 gone from his Ship to the City ; but they quitted him, upon paying the ufual 

 Cuftom. The EngUJh-xm\\ vex'd at fuch an affront, refolv'd to revenge himfelf j 

 which he did after a very pleafant manner. He caus'd a fucking-pig to be roafted, 

 and putting it, together with the dripping, and (a wee, in a China-phtter, covered 

 with a linnen-cloath, he gave it a Slave to bring along after him to the City $ 



* D imagining 



