The Indian cubit (drah belédee), used for measuring Indian The Turkish cubit (drah stamoolee), used for measuring The ckub'dahs is the measure of a man's fist with the thumb The feddan (about one-third of an English acre) has twentyfour parts, or cheeréts, or ...... The malackal, or Egyptian league, is, in Lower Egypt, from 24 miles to In Upper Egypt from 34 miles to..... of a grain. 1 keerat (carat). 1 mitqàl. 1 oqéea. 1 derhm, or nearly 72 grains. 1 oqéea or oz. av. ............. 1 rotl or pound. 1 equ or wuq'qa. 110 1 qantar or cwt. for coffee. .................................... for pepper, &c. for cotton. for gums, &c. EGYPTIAN MONEY. The kees, or purse, is the sum of 500 piastres, or... The khaz'neh, or treasury, is 1000 purses, or ....................... The coins of Constantinople are current in Egypt, but scarce. European and American dollars are also current, most of them equivalent to twenty Egyptian piastres. The English sovereign is called gin'yeh (for guinea), and is current in Egypt. * There are pieces of five, ten, and twenty fuddahs. CHINESE MONEY, WEIGHTS, AND MEASURES. As the Chinese have no gold or silver coins, but make payments in those metals by weight, this table applies equally to money and to weights of all kinds, excepting that, in money reckonings, nothing higher than the leang or tael is employed. The only coined money the Chinese have is the le, or cash. It is made of a very base alloy of copper, is round, about the size of an English farthing, and has a square hole in the middle, by which a hundred or more are usually strung together; on one side are Chinese characters, denoting the reign under which the cash was cast; and on the other side, in those of the present dynasty, are either Chinese or Manthchou characters, designating the place of coinage. Under preceding dynasties, two, five, and ten-cash pieces have been in use, as well as other coins of various descriptions; but the single cash is the only coin now current throughout the empire. It is cast also in Japan, Corea, and Cochin-China, and is clandestinely imported from the lastnamed place, to a large amount. Weights. In China, almost every thing is sold by weight, not excepting even liquids and live stock. The only weights are those already given above, the principal of which are the pecul, catty, and tael, divided thus : At Macao, the pecul is distinguished by the Portuguese into three kinds, viz. * These terms are also applied to designate the parts of a dollar: haou is a tenth, and sze a hundredth part. † In money, the value of the candareen varies from ten to thirteen or fourteen copper cash, and hence the mace varies from 100 to 140, and the dollar from 720 to 1000 cash; but in weight, whether of silver or of any other article, the le, or cash, always continues the same integral part of a candereen. This is the general estimate, made by the government, and the bazaar change for dollars to small amount, seven mace two candereen being the full weight of a good and unmutilated dollar; but in consequence of the system adopted by all Chinese merchants and shopkeepers, stamping every dollar they pay out, the weight very speedily diminishes, until the dollar is eventually broken into pieces, in which state it is melted into sycee. By the first, are sold cotton and valuable articles; by the second, alum, pepper, and coarse goods; and by the third, rice. In transactions between one Chinese and another, goods are weighed by the Chinese dotchin, or balance, which is about 3 per cent. less than the English weights; the latter are always used in transactions with foreigners. Note. At the money standard of 120 oz. 16 dwts. English troy weight for 100 taels, the pecul, which contains 1600 taels, should weigh, avoirdupois, 132,535lbs. The actual standard of the pecul being 1333lbs., a slight discrepancy thus appears between the money tael and the commercial tael, as the standard assigned to each. But no such difference is recognised by the Chinese. This is noticed, to account for what will otherwise appear erroneous in some of the following tables. The above are employed in the measurement of all kinds of piece goods, &c., as well as of every description of workmanship. The following are employed in measuring distances : 5 chih, or covids, make a poo, or pace 5 feet nearly.* a too, or degrees on the equator. The chih, covid, or foot, is of several varying lengths; according to Milburne, that of the Mathematical Academy is about 13 English inches; that of the Tribunal of Public Works, 12.7 inches; and that employed by tailors and tradesmen, 13 inches. None, however, of these three, is the same as the ordinary covid of Canton, used both in the measurement of vessels, and by tradesmen, which is about 143 inches. The le, or mile, is likewise a very uncertain measure of length, varying in almost every part of the country. It also, like the European geographical mile, forms an integral part of a degree, whether of latitude or longitude. But the scientific division of a degree, derived from the European missionaries, is into 60 fun, or minutes, the fun being divided into 60 meaou, or seconds. This is the present established land measure, which varies considerably from that formerly in use. In scientific calculations, the mow is divided into ten fun, and the fun into 24 le, and so on, through the several fractional terms which have been already given, at the commencement of the table of weights. The poo, or pace, also, is divided decimally, the same terms, fun, le, &c., being employed. *This, being according to the measure of the mathematical academy, differs from the preceding statement. This is the scientific division, established by the reigning dynasty. The This table is employed almost exclusively in the measurement of grain; all other articles, and even liquids, being sold by weight. In dealings with foreigners, however, and probably, also, in large dealings among themselves, the Chinese sell rice and other grain by the catty and pecul weight, instead of the shing, tow, &c. In the sale of paddy, two-thirds are allowed for the trouble and diminution in weight, which accompany the taking off the husk, or, which is the same thing, paddy is sold at one-third the price of the same weight of rice. Numbers. Though not properly included among the subjects now treated of, may be, not inappropriately, here given. The ten units are the following: : The Chinese term for expressing 100, is pih; 1000, tseen; 10,000, wan; 1,000,000, pih wan, “a hundred myriads;" 100,000,000, yih, &c., progressing decimally through the terms chaou, king, hae, te, jang kon, këen, ching, and tsae. To express 12, 13, &c., the words are figures 10 and 2, 10 and 3 are put together; thus, shih-urh, 12; shih-san, 13, &c. Also urh-shi-yih, “two tens and one," denotes 21, &c. In China, almost every trade has a distinct system of secret numbers; that is, instead of using the proper characters for designating prices, they adopt other characters, by which they arbitrarily express their meaning, so as to be understood only by persons of the same trade. The Chinese method of computing is by a kind of abacus, which they call a Swan-pwan, "counting board.” • In the Fokien provincial dialect characters have two pronunciations, the reading and the spoken or colloquial. The pronunciations here printed in italics are the colloquial. THE BENGAL SEASONS AND THEIR PRODUCE. JANUARY. THIS is one of the most pleasant months in the year; its temperature is cool and refreshing, and extremely congenial to all but the victims of gout and rheumatism. The air at mid-day is generally clear and wholesome, but the mornings and evenings are sometimes damp and foggy. The thermometer ranges, in the shade, from 52° in the morning to 650 in the afternoon. A northerly wind prevails during this month, but seldom blows with much strength. When it does, and is accompanied with rain, the cold is very disagreeable. Vegetables of all kinds are now in the highest state of perfection; the markets abound with green peas, cauliflowers, cabbages, turnips, potatoes, asparagus, yams, carrots, spinach, greens, cucumbers, radishes, celery, lettuces, young onions, nol-cole, kutchoo, French beans, seem, brinjalls, red and white beet, &c., &c. In the meat market there is a plentiful supply of beef, mutton, veal, lamb, pork, kid, poultry, &c., of the superior kinds. Game also is to be had in great abundance-snipe, duck, teal, &c. The fish market is well supplied at this season, with beckty, or cock-up (the salmon of the East), moonjee, rowe, cutlah, quoye, sowle, selliah, bholah, eels, soles, and many others of inferior descriptions. Fruit trees, in general, begin to show their buds and blossoms this month; mangoe, peach, pumplenose (shaddock), rose-apples, &c. The fruits in season are Sylhet and China oranges, loquats, plantains, pineapples, long and round plums, large guavas, pumplenose, tipparah, and a few others. The following fruits and vegetables are procurable, not only in this month, but throughout the whole year, viz.-plantains, sugar-canes, cocoa-nuts, guavas, pine-apples, papiahs, custard-apples, jack, country almonds, tamarinds, omrah, barbutty, mint, sage, parsley, onions, radishes, lettuce, &c. Sow the first crop of melon seeds about the 20th or 25th of this month. FEBRUARY. This month is generally cool and comfortable, particularly if the northerly wind prevails; the weather afterwards becomes disagreeable, till a change of season takes place about the end of the month. When the weather is variable, the wind blows principally from the N.W., veering round occasionally to the N.E., attended with clouds and drizzling rain; this continues till about the 20th, when the southerly wind sets in. The weather now becomes mild and genial; the days, however, sometimes rather hot, and the nights cold, with heavy dews. The thermometer, in the shade, ranges, on a medium, from 58° in the morning to 750 in the evening. |
