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209
AUGUST, 1897.]
CURRENCY AND COINAGE AMONG THE BURMESE.
The other two are by the same person, "Her Royal Highness, Her Ladyship of the Western Palace, Queen of the Convener of the Fifth Synod (King Mindôn)," who made two wills, dated, as a sign of the British supremacy, in dates A. D. and B. E. Both wills speak of rupees.
The first is dated, "This day, the 12th February, 1887, of the Christian Era (K'ayit87 Dekkayit 1887 k'u Pep'oys lá 12 yet) and 13th waning Tabôdwè, 1249, B. E., and says:"The land now bequeathed measures 350 feet from east to west and 222 feet from north to south, and comprises masonry houses, kitchens, stables and trees situated thereon, the whole property being valued at about Rupees (nguédingás) 4,000." The second is dated, "This day, the 23rd December, 1887, of the Christian Era (K'ayit Dekkayit 1887 Dizimb1á lá 23 yet) and the 10th waning Pyarô, 1249, B. E.," and says: "He (nephew) moreover gave me Rs. 315 (ngwé 315 kyat) to defray the costs of a suit in which I had to establish my proprietary rights over my enclosure and lands." 90
There is also a quantity of very valuable evidence on the valuation of property, etc., in later Burmese times of the same nature in Taw Sein Ko's Selections from the Records of the Hlutdaw, 1889, which is unfortunately still untranslated from the original Burmese.
The following quotation from Crawfurd's Ava, Appx., p. 27, will further throw much light on the practical methods of valuing property among the Burmese in pre-currency days :
"Registry and Conveyance of Land:- Year 1156, (1794 A. D.) 12th day of the increase of the moon Nat-dau, (Nadò, December) the Governor of Akharaing (Ak'âyin, an old Burmese township in the Rangoon District) and wife say, the mortgage of our inheritance of, and rightful authority over, the town of Akharaing, from Moung Po Tan, let Meng Chau Dagorgnakyanten (a title) and wife receive according to the saying of Governor B'hodaukalo (a title) and wife Me Aong, the original mortgage of Moung Po To, amounting by weight of silver of 5 per cent, alloy, 650 ticals; also, law expenses in the redemption of the town, silver of ten per cent. alioy, 550 ticals. Also, in payment of old debts demanded, silver of 5 per cent. alloy, 185 ticals-on account of the Governor of the town Shwepyi Nantw'hathaongyan (? Prome) receives of silver, 25 per cent, alloy, by weight 308 ticals. Also an Atwengwun (Secretary of State) beneath the sole of the golden foot has a demand, to pay which, B'hodaukalo and Me Aong received silver, 25 per cent. alloy, weight 150 ticals:-the sums collectively amounting to 2,293 ticals:- the silver to B'hodaukalo and Me Aong, Meng Chau Dagongnakyanten and wife pay, and purchase the right of possession of the town Akharaing "
The mortgagor in this transaction, grandiloquently described in the translation as "Governor," signs himself by the much humbler title of Myô-thûgyi, or hereditary head of a township under a Governor, and it is clear from the deed that the mortgagee paid his 2,293 tickals in varying quantities of no less than three different standards of silver, differing so much as to contain 5 per cent., 10 per cent., and 25 per cent. alloy. Calculation will shew that the amount of pure silver paid over was 1,734 tickals:-this, taking the currency of the period to be ywetní silver of 10 per cent. alloy at half-a-crown a tickal, amounts to a payment of 88 February.
89 December.
37 Christian. As an addition to the interesting dates above quoted, I may add that the signature to the original document forwarding these wills runs thus:-Kingwun Minj 1888 k'u 11 Mê la 14 yet 11 1250 11 Nayôn làzàn: 15 yet ne, Il i. e., Kinwan Minjt (Prime Minister), 14th May, 1888, 15th waxing Nayon, 1250 (B. E.).
91 See Horace Browne's Transliteration of Names of Places in British Burma, 1874, p. 22.
92 See Symes, Ava, pp. 826, 502: Crawfurd, Ava, p. 440. At p. 444, however, he values it at two shillings only. See also Crawfurd, Siam, pp. 108, 331. The author of Two Years in Ava, p. 90, makes the rupee go eight to the £ in 1824, which seems, however, to be a mistake, unless he means by "rapee" a "tickal of silver." But at p. 195 he says that 100 tickals equal £12. And at p. 201, 150 tickals equal nearly £20. At p. 280 he has another rate. Malcom, Travels, seems always to mix up the tickal and the rupee: Vol. II. pp. 99, 112, 137. A century earlier than Symes the tickal weighed half-a-crown and was worth three and threepence: Loubère, Siam, E. T., Vol. I. p. 72. Book in 1884 values the tickal at half-a-crown: Temples and Elephants, p. 4. Wilson, Documents, Appx., p. lxxxviii.. states that 1 tickal equals in sicca rupees about Rs. 2 as. 8 in 1827. Two Years in Ava, p. 280, makes 1 tickal equal sicca Rs. 2 as. 51, or 28. 8d. Clement Williams, Burma to Western China, 1864, p. 38, makes a tickal equal 2s. 6d.
