1839] 



On the Slaiislics of Dukhun. 



445 



a class of people, called Hoondeeknree, who undertake iox ?l fixed sum 

 to pass all the merchandize through a country to its destination, paying 

 all duties; constant practice, adroitness, and bullying, enabling thern 

 to arrange with the collectors better than the merchant could. 



All transit duties should be abolished ; their amount in the interior of 

 a country materially affects consumption, and is therefore injurious to 

 trade. 



Coins. 



The only coins in use in Dukhun are silver rupees, half rupees, and 

 copper pice. The rupees are of many mints, and have a ditferent value - 

 in relation to the copper uoiii, resulting from the age of the rupee, and 

 the number of punches or marks it may have on it made by the Shroofs 

 or money-changers in passing through their hands* ; the same rupee, of 

 the same standard, and same mint, has not the same value m copper in 

 neighbouring districts: this value fluctuates at the pleasure of the 

 monev-changers. On what princij)les they regulate the relative values 

 I do not know. The multiplicity of coins of different mints, and the 

 gradations of coins of the same mint, are great evils. It is unnecessary 

 to enumerate these coins, as ihey are in the Bombay Almanac. 



Weiyhts and Measures* 



A vny consider.djle diversity prevails in every di«:(rict, and often in 

 neighbouring villages, in the weights and measures in use, whether of 

 "weight, length, or capacity: this diversity goes so far, that the subdivi- 

 sions are often found not to be in a determinate proportion to each 

 other. All this confusion is referrible to the want of an ancient perma- 

 nent standard ; to the abrasion or decay of the weights and measures 

 tolerated by government, the knavery of the owners of the weights, and 

 the apathy or connivance of the district authorities f- Everywhere 

 the apparatus of metrology is characterized by clumsiness in construc- 

 tion; rough stones are commonly substituted for stamped metal weights, 

 and joints of the hollow bamboo for authorized definite measures of 

 capacitv. The seer of weight Avas directed by the authorities at Poona 

 and Ahmednuggur to be of eighty Ankoosee rupees, and such a weight 

 may be in use where the district officers are located, but in very few 

 other places. Vriih respect to measures of capacity, not only has each 

 village its own, but I might almost say that each shopkeeper has his 

 ■own, for it is rare that the weights and measures of any two shopkeep- 



* These marks occasion a depreciation of one or more per cent. 



T So great are the discrepancies, that they range from 41 per cent, helo-w to 100 per 

 ceat. above the Poona standard. 



