Indian Antiquary Vol 26

SR No.: 032518
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 360
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 15 MB

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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[DECEMBER, 1897.
rates varied between 15 and 16 to 1 in the early half of this Century the Chinese rates stood as high as 17 and 18 to 1, and I myself found in the Mindalay bazars in 1889 that, when in British India rapees were exchangeable at 17 to the sovereign, the exchange there was at 20 to the sovereign.
Turning to such references as I have been able to ak e as to definite relations between gold and silver at definite dates in Burma and its neighbourhood, the following statements are elicited.
c, 1788.-25 up to 28 to 1 at Rangoon : Flouest in T"oung Pao, Vol. II. p. 41 :- "L'or se pose aussi et vant 25 à 28 Ticals d'argent selon la rareté."
c. 1824. - 13 and 3} to 1 at Rangoon : Trant, Two Years in Ara, p. 90:-"Eight rupees = £1; sixteen rupees = £2;" again, p. 201, "150 Ticals = nearly £20."
c. 1829. - 17 to 1 at Ava: Crawford, Ava, p. 433 : -"Gold is generally held to be about 17 times more valuable than silver."
o. 1835. - 18 to 1: Malcom, Travels, Vol. II. p. 270:-“By Burman estimate, gold is eighteen times the value of silver. It often rises to 20 or more, when the people are compelled to obtain it at any price, to pay their tax toward the gilding of some pagoda."
c. 1852.-17 to 1: Phayre, Int. Num. Or. Vol. III. Pt. I. p. 38:- "Gold is generally held to be 17 times more valuable than silver."11
c. 1855. - 19 and 20 to lat Ava: Yale, Ava, p. 259:- "The best gold commonly fetches Learly 20 times its weight in silver." Again: p. 344:-"The gold as imported (from China) is remarkably pure. Its price, in 1855, was 19 times in weight of yeutni silver."'13
c. 1884. - 20 to 1 at Mandalay : vide the Burmese will quoted ante, p. 208.
In the Chinoso Shan States we find that in 1888 the ratio was 13 to 1: Bower's Conmercial Report on Sladen's Mission, p. 122, which is quoted by Yule, Marco Polo, Vol. II. p. 59.
For Siam we have the following evidence : -
. 1687. - 13 to 1: Anderson, Siam, p. 326 : -"On acc: of above 65,000€ Sterl. w: is upwards of rup: 500,000."
o. 1688. - 12 to 1: La Loubère, Siam, E. T., p. 72: "Gold is a Merchandize amongst them, and is twelve times the value of Silver, the parity being supposed equal in both metals."
c. 1884. - 16 to 18 to 1: Bock, Temples and Elephants, p. 141: - "Gold coins are rarely seen: the value of the few that exist is calculated at 16 times their weight in silver." Again, p. 398:- Gold of the first two grades realises in value from 16 to 18 times its weight in silver."
Lastly for Cochin-China we have the evidence of Crawfurd, Siam, in 1822, when the ratio was 17 to 1.124
It has always been important in Burma, owing to the common use of a lead currency, to note the ratio of silver to lead, On this point I have the following evidence to offer :
c. 1783. - 1,000 to 1: Browne, Thayetmyo, p. 102: - "(1783) One tickal of silver was considered to be equal to ten viss of lead."
c. 1819. - 1,000 to 1: Sangermano, p. 167: _"Sometimes a ticale of silver .... is equal to .... a thousand (ticale of lead) and even more."
c. 1829. - 500 to 1: Crawfurd, Ava, p. 433 : - "Lead .... in reference to silver may be commonly estimated in the proportion of 500 to 1."
11 This reads like a quotation from Crawfurd. 12 This might be read to increase the ratio by 10 %, i. e., to make it about 21 to 1.
12. By indirect evidence at p. 1608. of Ridgewuy's Origin of Currency we get 12, 16, 168 to 1 as the modern ratio of gold to silver in Cambodia, and the onrious modern rate of 4 to 1 in parts of the Eastern Shan States. This is coifirmed by Aymonier, Voyage dans le Laos, Vol. I. pp. 135 and 301 f., where the exchango is given as 12 to 16 to 1.
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