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remotest mention that we had of money, was in the Scriptures: but if we admit the Laws of Menu to have existed at the dates generally allowed to them, and when various circumstances tend to shew they were in use, we shall find that not only the precious metals were employed as a medium of purchase, many centuries before their being first spoken of in that light in Jewish history, but that maritime commerce also was then practised in India. It seems to be almost universally allowed, that the knowledge of arts and sciences originated in, or was brought from India into more western nations; admitting this, we must allow time for their progress, and consequently conclude that the Hindūs practised them long before the Hebrews.

Though circumstances are found to induce the belief, that the Hindus at a most remote period employed money or current coins for purchase and hire, yet I have never heard of any Hindu coins of sufficient antiquity to support such belief. In the

Memoirs of the Asiatic Society, we have fac-similes of ancient inscriptions on silver and copper tablets, but it does not appear in those Memoirs that the subject of ancient Hindu money had yet occupied the attention of the society. Mr. Chambers, indeed, in his description of the ruins of Mahabalipoor or Mavalipuram, says: "It is much to be regretted, that a blind zeal, attended with a total want of curiosity, in the Mohammedan governors of this country, have been so hostile to the preservation of Hindū monuments and coins.-The Kauzy of Madras, who had often occasion to go to a place in the neighbourhood of Mahabalipoor, assured the writer of this account, that within his remembrance, a ryot (husbandman) of those parts had found, in ploughing his ground, a pot of gold and silver coins, with characters on them which no one in those parts, Hindu or Mohammedan, was able to decypher. He added, however, that all search for them would now be vain, for they had doubtless been long ago devoted to the crucible, as, in

their original form, no one there thought them of any value."*

It is said that in Nepaul, Boutan, Assam, and Thibet, where Mohammedan conquerors never established themselves, ancient coins are met with, bearing Sanscrit inscriptions on them. And in the description given of the ruins of the city of Oujein, that was buried under ground about 1800 years ago by an earthquake, we are told that ancient coins are found both in digging among the ruins and in the channels cut by the periodical rains.+

In the Laws of Menu, money is frequently referred to. In the article on marriages, when inculcating on those of a superior order the necessity of having due respect for their rank, it is said, by culpable marriages great families are sunk to a low state: so they are by practising manual arts, by lending at interest and other pe

* See Asiat. Res. vol. i. p. 158.

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+ Narrative of a journey from Agra to Oujein, Asiat. Reg. vol. vi. p. 36.

cuniary transactions."*-In the chapter of economics and morals, when speaking of the Brahmins, it is said: "traffic and money lending, are satyanrita; but service for hire is named swavritti or dogliving, and of course they must by all means avoid it."+

In the chapter on government and the military class, when speaking of persons fit to be employed by the sovereign in different capacities, after describing those worthy of his confidence, and proper to be consulted, it is added:

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He must likewise appoint other of ficers, men of integrity, well informed, steady, habituated to gain wealth by honourable means, and tried by experience.

"As many officers as the due performance of his business requires, not slothful men, but active, able, and well instructed; so many and no more let him appoint.

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* Sir Wm. Jones's Works, vol. vii. p. 163. + Ibid. vol. vii. p. 203.

the skilful, the well-born, and the honest, in his mines of gold or gems, and in other similar works for amassing wealth; but the pusillanimous, in the recesses of his palace."*

In treating of military affairs, and in the ordinance regarding fortresses, money is mentioned amongst the articles with which they should be provided.

On hire for servitude, it is said:

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One pana of copper must be given each day as wages to the lowest servant, with two cloths for apparel every half year, and a drona of grain every month."+

In the chapter on government, taxes are spoken of, and from what is said on that subject, it appears that they were paid in what has been translated money :

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Having ascertained the rates of purchase and sale, the length of the way, the expenses of food and of condiments, the charges of securing the goods carried, and

* Sir Wm. Jones's Works, vol. vii. p. 301. + Ibid. vol. vii. p. 312.

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