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OCTOBER, 1898.7
CURRENCY AND COINAGE AMONG THE BURMESE
268
From Mr. Soppitt's account of the Kachcha Nagas of North Kachar one seems to find in their tongue a typically unstable language linking with both the Chin-Lashai and the Naga Groups. Witness his numerals30 :
Kachcha Naga Numerals. 1 ... kat...
... gana ... ... 3 ... gûjûm madai mingêo, mingao31...
sûrûk senâ dasát, dêsat33
sûgûi, shûguj gårêo ... gîrêo-kàt ...
enkai, enkai** enkai-kàt85 shimiệo ...
radai, r'da 36 ringjéo, ringa037..
ring-shrok 38
...riâg-sena 80 ... riâg.dasât ... ... ..riâg-sugüi ... ... 100 ... hai 1,000 ... shing
Mr. Soppitt gives (pp. 38, 42, 44) the Kachchâ Någa word for both silver and money as rang-gáng, ráng-kling, but I gather that the word is really ring, gång (kung) being its numerai coefficient. Gold he calls (p. 43) gáchák, and iron (p. 44) hégé.
Taking ráng = silver, money, rupee, and gáng, kungs as its numeral coefficient, we find that these Nagas reckon money much as do their neighbours. E. g.,
(a) by ropee plus coefficient :
p. 31 ... ... Re. 2 ... ... rấng King-gana p. 38 ... ... Rs. 25 ...
râng gang-enkai-mingao p. 38 ... ...) Rs. 40 ... ... rấng gâng-rdai (l) by numeral coefficient only :
P. 9 ... ... Re. 1 ... ... gâng-kit p. 32 ... ... Rs. 4 or 5 ... ... kang-madai-mingao
... Rs. 61 ... ... riâg-surik gâng-kåt It is also clear that they must have the same method as their neighbours for rockoning the parts of the rupee, as on p. 10 we find
hagi = 4 annas bipi = 8 annas
bagi-gujam 12 annas, lit., "4-anna-bits three" Mr. Soppitt gives no words for the weights, which is unfortunate as the Kachcha Nagas must have definite ideas on the subject, as may be seen from a remark on p. 10, that, in relation to weights, baddng = & quarter, gajét = a half, badáng-gujúm = three quarters.
Mr. Anderson's Hill Tippera Notes are very slight, my own attempts with & Tippera. one Narsî Râm, from Hill Tipperâ, being more productive of words for the present purpose. 10 Sre p. 8.
1 P..ges 29, 32, 47. 1 Page 12
33 Page 47. 4 Page 38. * Ewkas-sai kat. klo is the full expression and moans "twenty-full-(and)-one-single." 26 sge 39.
7 Page 47. R:0g is clearly "a ten," and the numerals equal 6, 7, 8, and 9 tons. Shimro, 30, seems to be formed in the me way, r o being ton. So also radai, 40, seems to equal 4 tens, and ringao, 50, to equal 5 tena.
King is the numeral coefficient for flat things in Kacharf: Endle, p. 13.
