'Part II. Travels into the 'Levai>t_ 89 
CHAP. VII. 
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Th^ Continuation of the Obfervations of Ifpahan. 
' Of Moneys, Weights and Meafures. 
Since ir happens often in the feqilel of thisdifcourfejthat when I am to fpeak 
of things, I make ufe of the terms ufèd in the Countrey, without explai- 
ning them, for avoiding of prolixity ; I have thought fit to do it in a Chap- 
ter by it felf, where the Reader may be fatisfied when he has a mind. I ftiall 
onely fpeak hereof moneys that are current in Verfit^ and efpecially of the 
pieces of the Countrey. The Viafires are commonly worth there thirteen iMoneysand 
Schais, and when they are full weight they are worth thirteen Schais and a VVeights of 
Blfti ; the Bifii confifts of four Casb;ghis, of which ten make a Schai. The P«^fM' 
moft current money are the Aktffis, Mahmoudis, Chah and Casbeghis. The 
Ab.-:ffi. is of the value of four Schais, which make about eighteen Sols of our 
money, and the Mahmoudi contains two which are nine Sols; the Schai 
is \vorth about ïonv S els and a half, and the Casbeghi five Deniers and a halfor 
fomewhat lefs. The Jcw^?z is worth fifteen Viafires, or fifty Abajjis: The Bo- 
c^uelle is worth th ree Abajfis or twelve' Schais. They have great pieces of filvcr 
of the value of five Schais, and weigh two Medicals. The Mahmoudi is alfo cal- 
led Tuz- Alton, (which is as much as to fayj an hundred Ahons; and never- 
thelefs that word Alton which fignifies Gold, is commonly taken for a Chetjuin; 
but in a Mahmcudi^xt is taken for the value of a Denier, 2iX\à in the fame manner 
five AbaJfis are alfo called Min- Alton or Bing-alton, which fignifies a thoufand 
Alton, but I could not learn of any a fatisfadory reafon for that laft fignifi- 
cation. 
Seeing the Ahajjis are the pieces that are moft current in Ver fia, it is fit one 
Hiould know that it is the beft money in the World. They are of the fineft 
/ilver, and the Officers of the Mint dare not coyn one fingle piece, until they 
have firft refined the and other piecesof filver, that are appointed for 
the making of Ahajjis -. They are fi:amped fas all the reft of their money) with 
the hammer, and not milled, and there is fo great equality in their weight, that 
in great payments, they are weighed after this manner. They put five and 
twenty Abajjis, in one fcale of the balance, and as many in the other, and if 
the one weigh more or lefs than the other, they conclude for a certain that 
there are fome falfe AbajJis amongft them, and fail not to examine them ; in 
which they are never out,for each Scale ought moft exaftly to weigh alike. They 
then put the five and twenty of the one Scale into the other, which by that 
means contains fifty, and that number makes the Toman ; afterward they 
count no more of the money, but onely filling up the empty Scale of the Ba- 
lance, until it weigh as much as the other wherein the Toman is counted, and 
when they find that both fides weigh not alike, they examine the pieces. 
The Man of Ij^ahan is a weight of twelve pounds. 
In Geometry the Verfians make ufe of a certain Meafure, which they 
call the Farfange, and is as much as three Adiles ; the Mile contains four pj^fapi^e. 
thoufand Cubits, the Cubit four and twenty Fingers, and the finger fix Barley The Mile, 
Corns laid fide- ways; this account I had out of a Perfian Book of Geogra- 
phy. I have meafurcd fix Barley Corns with a pair of Compafles, and found 
that eight rimes that Meafure of fix Barley Corns, laid by one another fide- 
ways make eight common Inches: So that the four and twenty Fingers will 
make eighteen Inches, or a common Foot and a half, which is exadlly a Cu- 
bit, and fo the Mile will be fix thoufand commnn Feet, which make four 
thoufand Cubits. 
N rh^ 
