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

Page 323

DECEMBER, 1897.] CURRENCY AND COINAGE AMONG THE BURMESE.
That Rumphius meant in the above extracts the plant now known chiefly as Abrus precatorius is beyond doubt from the description and from the Plate (XXXII.) attached to p. 60, on which some former owner of my copy has written in faded ink, "Abrus precatorius:" also because in the Index (in Vol. VI.) Rumphius gives as a synonym for the "Corallaria parvifolia, which he has described as affording the genuine "Condorium or Condoryn," the name Adenanthera pavonina, L.31
317
At Vol. III. p. 174, after telling us that the Corallaria parvifolia is the Malay Zaga-pohon and the Dutch Kleinbladige Coraal-Boom, and that young women (or? daughters of the people, muliercula) bore the seeds and wear them in amulets, and that boys wear them round their necks in place of coral, Rumphius goes on to say: "Chinensis Condorius seu Tschonsidji in Australibus partibus Chamchia, Hayting, & insule Aymyu crescens ossicula gerit rotundiora. duriora, solidiora & graviora Amboinensi, quæ proprie argenti ponderi inserviunt, eo quod æqualem habeant gravitatem. Colliguntur ibi quoque ex altis arboribus, quæ siliquas gerunt breviores Amboinensi, non ultra digitum longas, sed semper incurvas instar acinacis. Decem talia Condori ossicula libræ momentum constituunt decemque momenta anum Tayl seu sectiunculum forte. quæ apud nos decem sunt drachmæ, nostrorum vero Amboinensium osriculorum quindecim unum Maas seu momentum constituunt, & centum & quinquaginta unui Tayl sen decem drach mas, ita ut in aliis regionibus sint graviora & majora forte. In Malabara aliisque Indostana regionibus quoque crescunt, atque Portugallice ibi vocantur Gondjo seu Gonzo Chapete, h.. plana grana, ad distinctionem Zage ossicalorum, quee Gonho Cabeça Preta vocant. In Java tam hæc quam Zage ossicula ad pecuniæ librationem adhibentur atque utraque vocantur Zaga seu Zoga."
This edition of Rumphius is that of Burmannus, who states that Rumphins by way of appendix added: Malabarice vocantur Mantsjadi, Portugallico Mangelin, Belgice Weekbomen35 . Javani hujus ossicula itidem Zaga vocant, a quibus etiam adhibentur ad auri & argenti librationem." As to the names for the tree Rumphius says: "Latine Corallaria parvifolia, h. e. Corallodendrum ab ossiculorum colore. Malaice Zaga-pohon, Amboinice Aylaru & Aylalu, utraque nomina a similitudine parvæ Zage & Alara, qui sarmentosus est frutex. Veri Malayenses hæc ossicula vocaut Condori seu Condorin, a Chinenses Tschongsidji."
1138
Part of the Dutch text is here remarkable:- Van zulke Condorins 10 maken een Maas, en 10 Maas een Tayl,30 't welk by ons 10 Drachma zyn; doch van onze Amboinsche kors gan 5 in een Maas, en 151 op een Tayl, zo datze in andere landen wat grooter of swaarden moeten zyn."
Now if there are three points more prominent than any others to be observed in the clabe rate descriptions by Rumphius of these two plants, Abrus and Adenanthera, they are that th names for the seeds are popularly mixed up, that the seeds themselves are uncertainly used by the populace as weight standards, and that the only way of getting practical standards, from either is by assuming the selection of the seeds used, and therefore their" conventionalisation.40
81 As I write, two pretty samples of this tree are visible from the windows.
52 They are still held to be good for scorpion stings in Upper Burma.
33 In the Dutch text Condorius, a misprint for Condorins.
34 Maas in the Dutch text.
38 Dutch text has Weekbocmen. 87 Dutch, Aylaru.
26 Dutch text, Coraal-boom.
On Plate 109, attached to p. 174, the hand above noted has written in faded ink, "Adenanthera pavonina." 39 Chinese calculation again.
40 There is a correct description of the Adenanthera seed and of its use for weighing gold and silver in the Diary of the First Dutch Voyage, 1595-7, at p. 221 of Collection of Dutch Voyages, 1703: but at p. 199 it is mixed up with the Abrus seed. It is in both places called Conduri and "Saga in Java." Its use is noted in the Malay Archipelago an China.