sage in Pausanias; who, after saying that money was not in use in Greece, at the time of the death of Polydorus, king of Lacedæmon, (that is about 720 years before our æra, and above 800 after the arrival in Greece of Cadmus, Danaus, and Cecrops) adds, that even in his own time, that is about the year 180 of our æra, the people of India, though their country abounded in metals, had no money;* and it is to be observed that Pausanias had great means of being informed on this point, by the extensive commerce then carried on by the Romans with India.

M. Sylvestre de Sacy, in a note which he obligingly communicated to the author, begins with the following observation of M. Chézy :

66

Le seul mot Sanskrit, à ma connoissance, qui signifie, tout à la fois, argent comme métal, et argent comme monnoie, est roupiam. Ce mot est employé dans les anciens livres des Indiens. Si, comme on

Pausanias, Journey in Laconia, lib. iii. c. 12.

pourroit le croire, il est dérivé du mot roupam, figure, forme, on pourroit en induire que très-anciennement, aux Indes, l'argent reçevoit une empreinte qui en déterminoit la valeur dans les échanges commerciaux."

"Note de M. Chézy."

M. de Sacy then proceeds:

"J'aurois peine à admettre cette conjecture, qui paroit contraire à la marche

naturelle des idées.

"Les Egyptiens et les Syriens se servent communément des mots qui signifient l'argent comme métal, pour désigner la monnoie. Ensuite ils emploient des mots pris du Grec, les Syriens les mots dinoro et daricouno, les Coptes les mots nomisma et sateri. Cependant les Syriens, ainsi que les Chaldéens, ont les mots zouz, zouza, et zouzo, qui paroissent désigner une monnoie proprement dite, d'argent, et on les trouve aussi dans le dialecte des Samaritains. Mais il paroit douteux que ce mot soit d'origine Syrienne: il ne semble pas tenir à une racine Chaldaïque et Syriaque, et il

pourroit être Persan d'origine; il pourroit venir du nom de la ville de Suse, Zouzen, comme Besans de Byzantium. Les Syriens et les Chaldéens ont encore un autre nom d'une sorte de monnoie, zifla, et par métathèse zelafto; mais la vraie signification de ce mot est fort douteuse."

"S. de SACY."

In a letter to the author on the subject of ancient coins, particularly with the Hindūs, M. Langlès observes:

"Les Egyptiens n'avoient pas de monnoie de métal, et si les Hindous en eussent eu, ils n'auroient pas manqué d'emprunter d'eux cette découverte au reste je doute de l'existence du système monetaire des anciens Hindous; la langue Sanskrite n'a aucun synonyme pour le mot monnoie, pièce de monnoie; je ne connois que le mot rastjata en Bengali, argent, métal, roupa, et roupia; en effet les plus anciennes nations connues n'avoient point de monnoie. Le Pana et le Drauna des Hindous sont des poids, et non des monnoies; et le texte Hébraique du mot Sikel, ou Sicle,

ou Shequel, comme on l'écrit dans les langues modernes, est également un poids, comme l'indique la racine même qui signifie peser.".

To these observations of M. Langlès, it may be added, that, in the Laws of Menu, where hire for servitude is mentioned, it is said one pana of copper shall be given; but if by pana, a coin were here meant, the word copper would be superfluous. We say, a penny, a shilling, a crown, a guinea; not a penny copper, or a shilling or crown of silver, or a guinea of gold.

of

We find in the Scriptures, that 1860 years before our æra, Abraham having purchased a piece of ground for a burying place, weighed to Ephron for it, four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchants;* that 121 years afterwards, Jacob bought a parcel of a field where he had spread his tents, for a hundred pieces

* See Genesis, c. xxiii. In the translation of the Bible, the word money is employed.

E

of money; shortly after this, that Joseph was sold by his brethren to Midianite merchants going to Egypt, for twenty pieces of silver;+ and that Moses, about 1571 years before our æra, laid a poll-tax of one bekah, or half a selah or shekel, on every male, from twenty years and upwards, for the purpose of building the tabernacle.‡ Solomon, who began his reign 556 years afterwards, sent ships to Ophir,§ which

* Genesis, c. xxxiii. v. 19.

+ Idem. c. xxxvii. And on the money, or silver given in payment by the Jews, see Otho Sperlingius, from c. vi. to c. xviii. inclusively.

See Exodus, c. xxxviii. v. 25, 26. The tax according to Brerewood, amounted to eighteen pence English a head, which on 603,550, the number of males mentioned, makes for the whole 45,266 pounds, English money.

The Ophir of the Jews is supposed by Bruce, and others, to be the country named Sofala, on that part of the continent of Africa opposite to Madagascar. The ships of Solomon sailed from a place that was named Ezion-Geber, situated at the bottom of the Elanitic gulf; whence proceeding down the Red Sea, or Arabian gulf, they entered the Indian ocean. The voy