38(5 
COINS. 
Coins, Swiss, are ratzes and blazes of 
billon; the ratze equal to of a penny 
sterling: and the blaze of Berne, nearly 
equal to the ratze. 
I he German, French, and Italian coins, 
are current here. 
Coins, Polish. 
s. d. 
The golden ducat 9 
The old silver dollar of Dantzic 4 
The old rix dollar of Thorn 4 
The rix dollar of Sigismund ITT. 
and Uiadislaus T Y . kings of Po- 
land 4 
Abra 1 
Koup 0 
Groch 0 
Coins, Danish, are. 
2.1 
6 .27 
5 .85 
6.4 
4 | 
0 * 
s. d. 
The gold ducat 9 3.2 
The horse 1 ] i 
The four-mark piece 2 8.23 
Marc lubs 1 6 
Schesdal, or two marks 3 0 
Rix mark 0 1 1 
Slet mark 0 9 
Coins, Swedish. Those of copper are the 
roustique, alluvre, mark, and money. 
s. d. 
A gold ducat is equal to 9 3 .2 
An eight-mark piece of silver 7 2 
A four-mark piece 2 7 
A Christine 1 1 i 
Caroline 1 5 | 
The Swedish money properly so called, is 
a kind of copper, cut into little square pieces, 
or plates, about the thickness of three Eng- 
lish crowns, and stamped at the four corners 
with the Swedish arms ; and current in Swed- 
en for a rix dollar, or piece of eight. 
Coins, Muscovite. The proper coins of 
Muscovy are. 
s. d. 
The copec of gold, worth 1 6 T * T 
Copec of silver, or denaing 0 1 
Polusk 0 Oi 
Motofske 0 OJ 
The ruble of silver, valued at 4 6 
The cheroonitz of gold, called ducat 
by foreigners 9 6 
Coins, Turkish. The gold coins are zin- 
gerlees, worth two dollars two-thirds ; and 
tomilees, worth two dollars and a half, reck- 
oning each dollar at 108 aspers ; the sultani, 
xeriff, and chequeens, each worth about 
9s. 4 d., 5d., or 6d., sterling. 
The silver ones are the asper, worth a 
trifle more than a farthing sterling ; and the 
para, or medin, worth three aspers. 
Coins of the coast of Barbary. Though 
the general currency in these parts is Spa- 
nish dollars, French crowns, Hungarian du- 
cats, and the Turkish golden sultanins, there 
are some coins struck by the kings or deys 
in their different territories. 
At Morocco, the metacals are a sort of 
gold ducats made by the Jews at their plea- 
sure, so that their standard is very uncer- 
tain. 
There are also the blanquille of silver, 
worth 2 Id . ; and the filours of copper, eight 
of which go to a blanquille. 
At Algiers, the gold coins are sultanins 
and aspers ; and burbas, of which six go to an 
asper. The dubla is silver, and worth about 
4.?. 6 d. The rubie, median, and zian, are of 
gold, the iirst equal to 35 aspers, or Is. 9d. 
and the last 100 aspers. 
At Tunis, they have sultanins of gold, but 
heavier by one-third than those of Constan- 
tinople : the nasura of silver, cut nearly 
square : and dublas and burbas, of the same 
value with those of Algiers. 
Coins, Persian, are either of silver or c. p- 
per : of the first kind are the 
5. d. 
Abassi, equal to 1 4 \ 
Mamoudi 0 8^ 
Shakee 0 4 | 
The copper coins are the casbequi, or cab- 
sequi, equal to 5-12thsof a penny sterling. 
The telac, or cherasis, is of gold, but it has 
no currency among the merchants, being 
only a medal struck by every king of Persia 
upon his accession to the crown. 
Coins, Chinese. Throughout the king- 
dom of China and Tonquin there are not 
properly any coins struck; instead of these 
they cut tneir gold and silver into little 
pieces, of different weigiits : those of gold are 
called goltschuts ; those of silver the natives 
call learn, the Portuguese taels. Beside these 
they have a small money of lead mixed 
with the scuin of copper, having holes in the 
middle to string them on for the ease of num- 
bering ; this species is called caxa, cas, and 
pitis ; and the string, which usually holds 200, 
is called santa. 1 here are two sorts of golt- 
schuts, the one of 32 and 1 -7th ounces, and 
the other but half as much. The tael, or 
leaiu, is equal to 65. 8 d. sterling. The caxa, 
cas, or pitis, is one-third of a farthing; 300,000 
of them are only worth about 56 guilders and 
5 stivers of Holland. 
Coins of Japan. The Japanese strike 
coupants both of gold and silver ; and cop- 
per pieces with holes in the middle, like 
those of China, six hundred of which make 
the tael. The other moneys, which they cut, 
like the Chinese, of different weights, are 
chiefly three : the largest of the weight of six 
reals/viz. 48 taels, the tael equivalent to 75 
Dutch stivers ; the second equal to 6 and a 
half, and the third to 1 and 1-1 6th. 
Coupant of gold, weighs one ounce six 
drachms ; its figure is a long oval, the longest 
diameter about lour inches, and the shortest 
half an inch : worth 61. 1 2s. 6 d. 
Other coupants of gold, near one-third of 
the former, amounting to about 2l. 4 s. 2d. 
Coupant of silver current at 4s. 6 d. 
Copper money, seven-twelfths oi a farthing. 
Coins of Siam. In the dominions of Siam 
are struck gold pieces five or six grains 
heavier than the half-pistole of Spain : but 
these are rather pieces of curiosity, than of 
use in commerce. Their silver coin is the 
tical or baat : the diminutions of which are the 
mayon or seling, -J of the tical; the fouang, 
\ of the mayon ; the page, ^ of the fouang ; 
and clam \ of the page ; there are also 
soinpays, in value \ a fouang. The 
tical weighs 3 gross and 23 grains, which, 
reckoning the ounce of silver at 3\ louis tour- 
nois, is 32 sols and 4 deniersof that money, 
as it weighs near half an ounce. 
Coins of the coasts and islands of the In- 
dies. The principal, and those most gene- 
rally current, are pagodos, rupees, larins, fa- 
nos or fanoms, and coupans, each of which 
are struck both of gold and silver. Besides 
these, there are also particular coins : as at 
Goa, St. Thomases of gold ; at Surat, Agra, 
and the rest of Indostan, the pecha, or pes- 
ga, and dcudus, all of copper ; the basarucos 
and chedas, of tin. The gold pagodo is com- 
mon on all the coasts of Coromandel, and 
almost tiie only one in use imthe trade car- 
ried on there. The Engl fin make them at 
Fort St. George, and the Dutch at Negapat- 
nam, of the same standard and weight with 
those of the country. Tire value is 5s. The 
value of the silver pagodo is very different : 
the smallest are worth eight tangas, reckon- 
ing thetanga at 90 or 100 basarucos, 85. 
The gold rupee is worth 1.'. 11s. 6 d. 
Silver rupee varies in fineness and value. 
There are three kinds current, viz. rupee 
sicca, worth at Bengal, 2s. 1 1 d. 
Rupee of Madras, 2s. 5\d. 
Rupee of Surat, 2s. 3d. 
This is to be understood of the new ru- 
pees ; for, as to the old ones of each kind, 
their value is less ; those of Madras are but 
equal to l,y. \ \d. those of Surat 2s. and the 
siccas 2s. 4 d. 
Larin, in form of a cylinder, bent in two, 
and flatted at each end. worth 9 d. 
Fanoms of gold are of different fineness, 
weight, and value. The heaviest are not 
worth above 5 d. or 5 \d. and the highest little 
more than five farlhingg. 
The silver fanoms are not worth at most 
above 2d. 
St. T homas, equal to 9s. 
Pecha or pessa of copper, worth about \d. 
Doudou, somewhat less than \d. 
Basaruco, l-5th of a farthing. 
Cheda of pewter is of two kinds : the one 
octagonal, current at lfcfi 
The other round, at § d. 
In the dominions of the Great Mogul are 
roupees, mainoudas, and pechas; the first, 
both of gold and silver ; the second of silver 
alone ; and the third, of copper. There are 
others struck by the princes tributary to him, 
particularly a silver piece of the king of Ma- 
toucha, worth \d. a silver piece of the king 
of Ogden, worth 6 d. a gold piece of the king 
of Achem, worth 1 /. 3s. a gold piece of the 
king of Macasser, taken for a guilder. 
Shells current for coins are, 1. Cowries, 
brought from the Maldives, and pass for tto 
of a penny sterling. The natives of the 
coast of Africa call them bouges. 2. Porce- 
laine, in America, a shell nearly on the same 
footing with the cowrie. 3. Zimbi, current 
particularly in the kingdoms of Angola and 
Congo. 
Fruits current for coins are, 1. Cacao, 
among the Americans, fifteen of which are 
esteemed equivalent to a Spanish rial. 2. 
Maize, which has ceased to be current since 
the discovery of America by the Europeans. 
3. Almonds, used in the East Indies, where 
cowries are not current. The value of these 
is higher or lower, according as the year is 
more or less favourable to this fruit ; in a 
common year, an almond is worth about 
l-20th part of a farthing. 
For real utility the following very short 
table will answer almost all pi-actical purposes 
with regard to coins as far as relates to Europe : 
English 
money. 
L. s. d. 
A florin of Germany 
Austria 
French 
money. 
Frs. Cts. 
2 20 
2 65 
0 1 10 
0 2 . 2 
