COMMUNICATIONS, 
In Fezzan the price of all things is meafured by grains of 
gold; and where the value is too fmall to be ealily paid in fo 
coftly a metal, the inhabitants have recourfe to corn, as a com- 
mon medium of exchange. But in Bornou, as in Europe, the 
aid of inferior metals is employed, and copper and brafs (which 
feem to be melted together, and to be mixed with other mate- 
rials) are formed into pieces of different weights, from an ounce 
to a pound, and conftitute the current fpecies of the empire. 
Dominions fo extenfive as thofe of Bornou have feldom the 
advantage of one uniform language ; but an inftance of fo many 
different tongues, within the limits of one empire, as are fpoken 
in that kingdom, and its ^dependencies, has flill lefs fre- 
quently occurred, for they are faid to be more than thirty In 
number. 
Of the language, however, which is current in the capital, 
U and 
* A faiall quantity of gold duft is produced in Bornoo ; but the principal medium 
^of exchange confiils of pieces of a metal which has fome rdemblance to tin. 
Bem AllIo 
