________________
APRIL, 1913.)
THE OBSOLETE MALAY TIN CU RRENCY
97
One general inference here which will be found to be supported by independent argument later on, is that the British took the surrounding Malay system directly for the basis of their imported money system, while the Dutch adopted for theirs the system originally invented by the Chinese to meet their own commercial necessities in the Malay Peninsula.51
III. Historical Examination.
Yule, Hobson-J06807,52 8.v. Malacca, quotes Groeneveldt, Chinese Annals, p. 123, to the following effect as to Malay currency in tin in 1409 A. D.:- "In the year 1409 ... the land was called the kingdom of Malacca (Moa-la-ka).... Tin is found in the mountains ... It is cast with small blocks weighing 1 catti 8 taels ... ten pieces are bound together with a rattan and form a small bundle, whilst 40 pieces make, large bunde. In all their trading ... they use these pieces instead of money." This provides a scale
1}kati make 1 patah 10 patah
1 tali. = 15 kati 4 tali
1 keping = 60 Ante, vol. XXXI. p. 51, I have quoted two statements from Stevens, Guide to East India Trade, 1775, p. 127, as under :Jonokosy lone.
Тооор. 3 panchorf4 make 1 poot.
3 pingas make 1 puta. 4 poot 1 vis.
4 patas 1 viss. 10 vis , 1 capin
10 viss , 1 onpin. 8 capin , 1 babar.
8 capin , 1 babar. And ante, p. 9, will be found Bowroy's statement in c. 1675, which affords the following table :
Janselone. 21 puttag65 small make 1 putta largo 4 patta large
1 viece 15 viece
, 1 copine 8 cupine
, 1 babarre of 420 lbs. From these statements and those above made (ante, p. 94) as to the gambar or animal ingots in use about 1860, and from the standard weights for tin currency set ap on the modern British and old Dutch scales, we can arrive at certain facts pertinent to the present parpose. The scale of 1409 shows 10 tali (bundles) of 1 kati = 1 unit of 15 kati. The modern scales show 8 tali of kati = 1 unit of 10 kati. The ratio of the two scales is therefore 11: 1. The modern standard viss or bidor = 3} lbs.; therefore the viss or bidor of 1409 was 54 lbs., i..., it was the great viss (11 standard viss). The scale of 1409 was consequently the scale of the great viss.
61 The British E. I. Co, made attempts to control the money of the Malay Arohipelago as long No M 1686, vide Pringlo, Consultations, Fort St. George, Vol. IV, p. 170, quoting an agreement with the Raja of Pryaman and Tika (Sumatra), dated 20th Jan. 1684 "No other Europeans or Natives be authorised of allowed to have a mint or coyne or stamp any sorts of mony, whither gold or copper, tinn, or any other mettle or thing whatsoever."
* See also Miscell. Papers relating to Indo-China, and Series, 1. 944. * Or bundle; it're presents on the great visa scale the "dollar" unit of the modern nomenclature. # Read panjur, patah, viss, köping, bahara. * Read patah, viw, köping, bahara.
