COINAGE OF TRAVANCORE. 
51 
small in value are required by so poor a people, and even 
a single cash (about half a quarter of a farthing-) will pur- 
chase a determinable quantity of fruit, tobacco, vegetables, 
oil, or other cheap commodity. But there must be consi- 
derable loss of such tiny coins. British India rupees pass 
current and are used for large transactions. Silver fanams, 
equal in value to four chuckrams, and about the size of an 
English three-penny-piece, were introduced in 1860. Gold 
fanams, formerly in circulation, were re-introduced about 
1881, and a variety of other coins have occasionally been 
tried for a time. In 1876 the introduction of a double 
standard by the coinage of Pagodas was attempted, but it 
proved quite a failure, hardly any circulation of the coins 
being realised. 
Chuckrams being so small and globose are exceedingly 
troublesome to count or handle. They slip out of the 
fingers and run over the floor, and are only discovered 
again with difficulty. £100 sterling amounts (at par) to 
28,500 chuckrams weighing 241bs. Avoidupois ; and hours 
would be wasted in reckoning the number of the small 
coins. They are therefore measured or counted (like half- 
pennies in the mint at Birmingham) by means of a " chuck- 
ram board ", a square wooden plate with hollows the exact 
size and depth of the coin di-illed in i-egular rows on its 
surface. A board contains 50, 100, 200 or more of these 
holes according to convenience. A small handful of coins 
is thrown on the board and after being gently shaken from 
side to side so as to cause a single chuckram to fall into 
each cavity, the surplus, if Jmy, is swept off with the hand. 
A glance at the board when filled shows that it contaiug 
the exact number of coins for which it is intended. 
The Mint Department was established in 1790 at Palpa- 
nabhapuram, afterwards removed to Trevandrum, then to 
Mavelikara, Quilon, and Paravoor, and in 1823 it was again 
at Trevandram, In 1827 it was abolished but subsequent- 
