________________
AUGUST, 1898.)
CURRENCY AND COINAGE AMONG THE BURMESE.
203
He proceeded onwards in precisely the same way up to twenty and then said, pointing to the four heaps: -m'li mingá lifun," four fives (are) twenty." So on to kruk m'ngá 8ôms, 'six fives (are) thirty." Then by coaxing he went on to k'un m'nga l'ed "(a) scure (of) fives are a) hundred." After this he subsided, having reached his tether as regards enumeration, and was apparently unable to recognise the book words given for a thousand and onwards.
My sources of information on the Naga Languages most nearly connected geographically with the Singphô are:(1) Outline Grammar of the Lhota Naga Language, Witter, 1888, official publica
tion, Assam. (2) Outline Grammar of the 40 Naga Language, Mrs. Clark, 1893, official publica
tion, Assam. (3) The Ao Naga Language of Southern Assam, Avery, American Journal of Philo
logy, Vol. VII., No. 3, c. 1886.92 (4) Outline Grammar of the Angami Naga Language, McCabe, 1887, official publica
tion, Assam. (5) Outline Granmar of the Shaiyang Miri Language, Needham, 1886, official publica.
tion, Assam. (6) A Naga from Sibsagar and two Nagas from Maşipûr. To take the Lhota-Naga Language first, I find the money table to run as below, but it has an unstable appearance. In fact, instability seems to be a main, though distracting, feature of the Language. E. g., Mr. Witter remarks, p. 8 f., on the instability of both the vowel and consonantal sounds, and the instability of the words themselves can be ascertained by trying to make out the sentences given with the Grammar and by noting the variety of form given in the various parts of Mr. Witter's book for the words of currency and money. The probability is that the dialect differs on every hill side on which it is spoken, and that the speakers use it very much as the speakers of highly developed written languages use slang, 1. e., they are quite indifferent as to form, provided their meaning is understood, trusting rather to inference than to convention for the correct conveyance of their meaning,
Lhota-Naga Silver-money Table.
English.
Lhota Någa.
Sense of Vernacular.
I anna 2 spnas
4 annas
pôisa mez'i, rângmyê mezii ...! 4 pice, 4 red coins môiyâ matsang
1 môiyê rângterû êhm ... ... ... coin small white mõiya ennf ..
2 mbiya môiya etiam ...
3 môiyê râmpiak pôko ...
half rupee rângmyok tîzên... ... 8 red coins
A reprint sent me by the late Prof. Avery, based on notes supplied in 1884 by Mr. Clark, the husband of the authorens of the Ao Naga Grammar above quoted.
* Witter, pp. 88, 89. N This looks as if the word ringmyo were used indiscriminately for pice and anna, which is as likely not.
