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THE OBSOLETE MALAY TIN CURRENCY
128
APRIL, 1913.]
better specimen, which has an illegible debased Arabic legend on the reverse. He remarks (page 32) that hentha-ingot weights were common in Pegu. Phayre's specimen weighed 11 ounces and no doubt represents the penjuru (14 oz. standard) of Malay tin ingot weight. Phayre's Plate IV., fig. 3 shows a clear "cock" variety, with debased Talaing or Burmese characters on the reverse.
Plate V.
Figs. 3, 4 and 5: ex, ooll. R. C. Temple, Figs. 1 and 2: ex. coll. Horniman Museum, Forest Hill, London.
Fig. 1. A bělalang kechil, small "mantis" tin ingot: value a penjuru or 64 cents: weight 17 oz., length 7 in. (ante, p. 92).
Fig. 2. A kurakura kechil, small "tortoise" tin ingot: value a tampang or 10 cents: weight 22 oz., length 44 in., breadth 24 in. (ante, p. 92).
Fig. 3. A to tin weight or coin from Mergui (ante, p. 118) with the eight-star, or Malay "palm," symbol on reverse. Phayre, Numis. Orient., Coins from Aracan, Pegu and Tenasserim, Plates III. and IV., gives several examples, some with Pali and debased Talaing and Burmese characters on reverse: mahasukam nagaram (Oity of great rest, apparently Kedah, see ante, p. 118 . 55 and infra, Appx. III.) Phayre's Plate III., figs. 5-10 are small denominations, all showing debased chaitya on the reverse, and hence all Buddhist and from Burma. His figs. 8 and 9 show the transition to the chinthé, lion, and his fig. 5 to humped bull.
The effigies of the chinthe, lion, and the to have become so confused in the process of cutting moulds for metal castings for standard weights, just as have those of the hentha, goose, and the zitoago, swift (see Pl, IV. 3, figs. 3 and 6) that they are hardly distinguishable. This will be seen by comparing the drawing of a to weight below with that of chinthé weight on Plate IV., fig. 1. This confusion has been carried on into the Burmese coinage where the to has become a veritable lien. See Plate IV., figs. 7 and 9.
To-le, "Lion" Weight of Burma,
