________________
98
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[APRIL, 1918.
Reducing all the scales above mentioned to the standard of 420 lbs. to the bahara, or 52 lbs. the keeping (ante, p. 90), we find that the scales of 1409 and 1725 are those of the great viss, and that all the rest were of the standard viss. This enables us to arrive at the following table:-56
Great viss scale.
1409
1a 10 b
4 c =
b
c
d
a =14 Oz. b =21 OZ. c5013 lbs. d = 52 lbs.
1775
3a=
4 b=
10 c=
8
b
C
d
0Zu OZ.
&= 7 b=21 c= 5 lbs. d=52 lbs.
Malay Tin Currency. Comparative Table of Scales:
1675
8
b
Standard viss scale.
a= 5 oz. b=14 03. c= 8 lbs. d=52 lbs.
⚫ 1860
2} a=
[2 a=
b]57 [2 a=
4 b=
с
C
5 b=
15 c=
4 b= 15 c= d 15 c= d Table stated in av. weight: [a= 7 oz.] b=14 oz. c= 3 lbs. d=52 lbs.
Standard ingots.
British scale.
b]ss
C
d
Old Dutoh scale..
[a= 5 oz.]59 b=114 oz. c= 3 lbs. d=52} lbs.
5 In accounts as the half gambar (buaya, ayam, bělalang) kěchil.
5 This is the " dollar" unit of later times on the great viss scale 4 viss or bidor.
a
2) a
b
4 b= c
15 c= d
a=154 oz. b=14 oz.
c= 3 lbs. d=52 lbs.
In terms of modern currency, on the standard of 420 lbs. to the bahara, the half-gambar kechil (small description of model of animal) or half-pěnjuru = 7 oz.: penjuru = 14 oz.: 22 oz. tali 28 oz. viss = 56 oz. (3 lbs.): great viss 84 oz. tampang (kati) (5 lbs.): "dollar" 224 oz. (14 lbs.): kepingto = 52 lbs.
=
=
The above comparative tables supply the following important facts:
(1) The "dollar" unit of weight (tin) is constant through the centuries at 13 lbs. on the great viss (bidor) scale and at 14 lbs. on the standard viss scale. The persistence of this unit accounts for its existing use to represent in weight of tin the dollar unit of European imported silver money. The old Chinese kati is represented on the modern scales by the penjuru, and the old Chinese tali (bundle) by the tampang (block), to which the name of kati has become transferred in the course of time in the Malay countries. The constant units are the penjuru at 14 oz.: tampang (Malay kati) at 21-22 oz. bidor (viss) at 56 oz, great viss at 84 oz.: "dollar" at 13-14 lbs.: keping at 52 lbs.: it being borne in mind that the bahara of the ingots and gambar ingots is still 420 lbs., though the modern standard British bahara has been rounded off to 400 lbs.
se I feel justified in setting up this standard of 420 lbs. to the bahara by a remark in Lockyer, Account of Trade in B. India, 1711, the most painstaking of all the writers of the period on commercial matters. He says, p. 30, that the Malay bahara weighed 422 lbs. 15 oz. o. 423 lbs. He also says that the dollar weighed 17 dwt. 14'81 grs. c. 423 grs., thus incidentally showing the cause of the standard bahara, for by it 1 gr. of silver money 1 oz. of merchandise. So all that the trader had to do was to bargain as to the number of grains silver currency he was to pay per ounce of stuff. This exhibits a strong instance of commerce accommodating itself to circumstances. The standard quoted by Lookyer was long maintained, for Dilworth, Schoolmaster's Assistant (Arithmetic), 1782, p. 103, makes "pieces of 8, old plate of (i. e., old Sp. dollar) 17 dwts. 12 grs." = 420 grs.
57 In accounts as the half buaya.
This denomination seems to have been originally the "great bundle" or tali, for which was afterwards substituted a slab of tin (köping) as the capacity for casting improved.
1 Also (at 1% standard viss) 70 oz.
