Indian Antiquary Vol 48

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 112

108
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY:
[JULY, 1919
Piece of printed Paper is pasted to the middle of them, by which every one's Make is known as our Cutlers, and other Mechanicks do in their Trades. Both Ends of the Shoos are alike and bigger than in the middle, and thin Brims rising above the rest, whence the upper Side somewhat resembles a Boat; From the middle, which in cooling sinks into a small Pit, arise Circles one within another, like the Rings in the Balls of a Man's Fingers, 53 but bigger : The smaller and closer these are the finer the Gold is. When Silver, Copper or other Metal is inclosed in casting, as sometimes you may meet with it in small Bits, the sides will be uneven, knobby, and a rising instead of a Sinking in the Middle.... They are oall'd after the Makers Names, or from the Places whence they come; but I think the former, for, there is a great deal made at Pekin; but none of that Name. Chuja and Chuckja are 93 Touch. Tingza, Shing and Guanza 94. Of these the former turn to the best Account Sinchupoa and Chuchepoa are reckon'd 96 and 95 Touch... Gold in Bars or Ingots comes chiefly from Cochinchina and Tonqueen, and differs in Fineness from 75 to 100 Touch. "Tis of several sizes, and easier much than the Shoos to be counterfeited... Bargains for Gold are always so many Tale weight of Currant Silver, 94 Touch, which is really 93.".' This last remark gives us a valuablo hint that travellers and commercial writers, when talking of the "touch" of gold, may not be referring to a percentage of pure gold, but merely to a ratio between gold and some local standard of silver.
Lockyer further lets us into the secret of how the wily European merchant of the early days made a profit for himself out of the inveterate habit of the dealers of the Far East of adulterating their gold. At p. 136, he says "All the Eastern people allay their Gold with Silver ... The coursest, or Gold of the lowest Touch is most advisable : For, in a parting Essay you get all the Silver that is mix'd with it for nothing, viz, 80 Tale weight Touch 58, is 58 Tale of pure Gold, and 22 Tale of Silver Allay, which you pay not a farthing for." 56 This then was the reason why merchants of A.D. 1700 made themselves familiar with the various sorts of inferior gold, and the next quotation goes to show that the same desire existed a century later.
In that curious book, Comparative Vocabulary of the Burma, Malayu and T'hai Languages, 1810, p. 53, we find môjó (there spelt môukerov) in Burmese equals in Malay xuásá, and in Siamese (T'hai) nâk. It is translated “sudså, 56 a mixture of gold and copper,” showing that this quality of gold was then best known to Europeans by its Malay name. 56
A correspondent of the Singapore Chronicle in 1827 57 gives an account of the Residency of the North-West Coast of Borneo, and says that "Gold is found in almost every part of the Residency," and that “ The price at the principal ports may be taken at about two dollars and ninety cents per touch, or say 26 Spanish dollars of Sintang gold of nine touch," meaning by a "touch" one-tenth pure ur standard in the Indian fashion. He also says that gold "takes many names, being invariably designated by the name of the place.
3 See figs. 7 and 8. Plate I; but the specimens there shown are thd kwa silver, supposed to be a Chinese production.
51 Compare a merchant's advice as to Siam in 1833 in Moor's Indian Archipelago, p. 230.
55 Crawford, Malay Grammar, Vol. , p. clxxxv, gives this word all stowana, and says that neither copper nor silver is found in the Malay Archipelago. In Vol. II, p. 178, he says that "newasa is an alloy of gold and copper in about equal parts" and that the word is common to Malay and Javanese,
56 In Sumatra, in a.d. 1416, the Chinese found a gold dtnar current of 30% alloy. Indo-China 2nd Ser., Vol. I, p. 210.
In Moor's Indian Archipelago, 1837, p. 8.