________________
OCTOBER, 1893.]
Mr. Anderson makes no mention of money in his Vocabulary, but I squeezed a certain amount of information out of Narsi Bam on the subject. Thus :
Rupee, râng 43
one rupee
k'wa-â43
half rupee
màsâ, m'sâ
quarter rapee
sagi
Shown the coins, he enumerated the fractional parts of the rupee thus:
Re. 1
k'wa-â ânâ baroi
rupee one annas 4
Re. 1
k'wa-â m'sà....
Re. 12...
| k’wân sagi lê-tin
He enumerated his annas, however, in a complete 1 to 15, using the suffixed forms for 1, 2 and 3, thus:
one anna
... ânâ hâ
... two annas
gold
silver
ảnh nổi
three annas
...ânâ t'ân
four annas
ânâ baroi
and so on, even using and sd, eight annas, as a synonym for m'sá for the half rupee. The words given for the metals compare as under :
copper
brass
tin
CURRENCY AND COINAGE AMONG THE BURMESE.
iron
lead
...
Mr. Anderson.
rằng chảo rång
...
shor, char
See Endle, Preface, I v. ff.
rupee one (and) half
rupee (and) quarter by three and straightforward manner from
***
rằngzà
rûpai
poichân
petsh
adkopůs
(1) Bòrò, Bòdò, Boro, Bodo, Bàrà, Bodo,
(2) Mêch. Mês.
(3) Hciar. Hajong, Lâlang.
(4) Döfin Dhimal.
(5) GAro ipperâ, Mikir (P).
265
Sò
wind
Narsi Ram.
Of the above words in Narsi Rim's list, rúpai, petôh, sisa are directly Indian, and so is the interesting word poicha for copper, i. e., metal. Lastly, Narsi Râm at once recognised the Abrus seed, which he named byéwa.
Fer Kachari there is Mr. Endle's excellent and only too brief Outline Grammar, showing the connections and the wide spread of this tongue under its best known title of Bodo (Bòrò)."
43 Silver, according to Mr. Anderson.
43 K'wd is probably a numeral coefficient. Equal to three quarters. With this sagt cf. Kachcha Naga hagi, 4 annas, and hagi-gajam (three hagte).
12 annas.
45 White iron; kup'ar, white, Anderson, p. 18.
46 It may be as well to note here the various names, more or less well-known and familiar, under which Kacharis of sorts appear in books: -
