________________
APRIL, 1913.)
THE OBSOLETE MALAY TIN CURRENCY
105
2 suku make 1 jampal 2 suku make 1 jampal 2 suku make 1 jampal
2 jampal 1 dollar 2 jampal 1 dollar 2 jampal 1 dollar 1000 duit ayam (cash) to 1600 duit ayam to the 800 duit ayam to the the dollar. dollar.
dollar 86 (3). Maxwell, Man. of the Malay Language, 1882, p. 142, gives the following scale for Perak: 36 duit ayam" (copper)
make
I wang (silver)98 7 wang
1 suka 4 suku
1 dollar 1008 cash to the dollar. (4). Wilson, Documents of the Burmese War, 1827, App. 26, p. 61, says :- "The ticalo. and tin pice were the currency in Tavai and Mergui, but the former has been superseded by the rupee. The rates for the rupee and pice may be expected to vary, but the following was in use at the date of our suthorities (1826).100 12 small pice
make 1 large one or kebean. 88 kebean
1 Spanish dollar. 1056 pice (cash) to the dollar. "Small pice" here means cash, the Anglo-Indian term, pice (paisa), being then commuonly usel on the Coast, from the "pice" coined by the E. I. Company at Penang in tin for the nse of the Malay Settlements. Kebean is obviously kąping, used as an alternative for pitis, in the same sense as Mr. Laidlaw's informant used that term for a Dutch doit or cent.
There is also further instructive proof of the interdependence of the native and European money all down the Coast. Chalmers, Hist. of Currency in Brit. Colonies, p. 382 ff., says that in 1887 the E. I. Company commenced a coinage in Penang, which the Indian authorities proved very tenacious in retaining as long as they had control of the Straits Settlements up to 1867. This coinage consisted in the days of Wilson of balf and quarter rupees and copper cents, balf and quarter cents, and tin "pice" of the value of a cent. The rupee was the equivalent of the Dutch guilder, and so it was half a dollar. This means that they coined on the scale of 400 cash to the dollar. It is obvious, therefore, that Wilson's kebean referred to the E. I. Co.'s tin pice or cent, and his small pice" are cash at 1200 to the dollar. His other statements of 88 and 771 la kebean, s. e., 1056 and 930 cash to the dollar, merely represent the discounts the local native merchants or money-changers tried to get as their prost by manipulating the currency. * The difference here shows the difference in the value of tin on the coast and ap-country in Perak.
Called in Salangor, duit jagoh, Jav. jago, A cook. " Chalmers, Hist. of 'Currency in Brit. Colonies, 1893, p. 983, quotes in a footnote a letter from Maxwell. "The Wang was Netherlands-Indian stijver 4 duit, and the wang baharu was the European alijver - 5 duit. Twenty-two years ago (say 1870), when I was Magistrate of Malacca, I often heard the expression, wang bahari, wsed to signify 21 cents of a dollar, though there was no corresponding coin. This is similar to the use of the word ka pang (kupang) in Penang. This expression is still in use."
- Siamese silver coin, representing the old Indian tankha, whence came also the rupee
10 This is a point that the student should always bear in mind when appraising a traveller's or "authority's" statement: 6. 9., Bowrey, loc. cit., puts the patah at 8d. Eng. -60 Sp. dollars to the bahara. But p. 134 he says tin was rookoned at 28 dollars to the bahara "ready moneys," i. ., for immediate delivery, but 40 dollars the bahara "apon truck," i. 8., for future delivery.
1 Dr. Hanitsch, J.R.AS., Straits Branch, No. 39, P. 199, showa oopper pice from Penang minted by the E.I. Co., dated 1798 and 1805, and supersoribed 2, 3 and 4 köping, 6. e., , and 1 cent. On p. 194 he shows rupees. half rupees in silver, staivers and half stuivers, duita in copper, and daite in lead, issued by the E. I. Co, for Malacca in the years 1811-1816.
Ia See para. next but one below.
