250 
Proceedings of the Royal Society 
People are rich or poor according to the number of cows they 
possess. A poor man often becomes rich by working hard, and 
thereby accumulating presents of cattle. 
Money — Exchangeable Values . — A good hull is worth fifteen 
sheep, and some favourite hulls are sold for not less than thirty 
sheep. A cow is worth fifteen young goats ; a he-goat, three sheep. 
A sheep values six hoes, eight or nine common spears, or three 
good spears, or one damoor cloth. 
Wedding dowries depend much upon arrangements made between 
the parents, and also very much upon the class of the contracting 
parties and the beauty of the bride. 
No heads or cowries are used as money, the standard money being 
damoor cloth, hut in the large towns imported cloth and Maria 
Theresa dollars are used. Forty small pieces of damoor cloth, a 
foot long and 4 inches broad, equal in value one white cloth, two of 
wdiich equal a dollar, a small blue cloth being used to represent half 
a dollar. The standard white cloth is called a tob ; the blue cloth, 
faradieli ; and the smallest pieces of cloth, rubieh. The prices at 
Dara, when I was there, were as follows : — An ox, from 3 to 6 dollars; 
a sheep, three-quarters of a dollar; a goat, half a dollar; a good 
riding camel, 50 to 70 dollars; a pack camel, 25 to 30 dollars. A 
horse cost 50 or 60, though some horses and hygeenes (riding camels) 
fetch as much as 300 or 400 dollars. 
The taxes then paid to the Egyptian Government were in tobs or 
grain, and the inhabitants were obliged to provide camels and oxen 
for transport, but for these they were paid at a fixed rate in tobs. 
Weights and Measures . — The standard measures are two sizes of 
wooden vessels, the largest of which holds about a peck of grain ; 
the other is half this size. Small adansonia fruit-shells are also 
used ; they vary in capacity. Strangers who come to the country 
to buy must use these measures. 
Damoor cloth is measured by the length of the arm, from the tip 
of the middle finger to the elbow, or to the axilla. If the whole arm 
is used, three fingers’-breadth more cloth is added, to make this 
measure double the length of the fore-arm and hand, which latter is 
the standard measure for cloth. Cloth is also measured on the 
ground, either by placing one foot before the other or by strides. 
When cutting out cloth and measuring its breadth, the span of the 
