32f)
CHAP. XXVII.
hundred and forty-four pounds, and in the follow-ing four years of peace, thirty thousand five hun-dred and sixty-nine ounces valued at one hundredand twenty-five thousand three hundred and eightypounds. As the Dutch and French , after thereturn of peace, carried on some trade with theirsettlements on the western coast of Africa , thatmay account for our annual importations havingbeen somewhat less in the four years of peace thanin the preceding seven years of war.
This communication, imperfect as it is, fur-nishes a strong presumption that the produce ofgold from the African washings, the only sourcefrom whence that metal is derived, has been com-monly much exaggerated. It may also serve toaccount for the fact, that though some largerpayments are made with gold dust, yet thoseof lesser amount are made in Spanish dollars,(which the lamentable extension of the slave tradehas introduced more copiously than at any formerperiod), and the fractional parts in those shellscalled cowries, which were the former currentmoney of the whole of Africa .
It is well known that in the trade on the coastof Africa neither gold nor silver are made use ofas measures of value; but that an ideal standard hasbeen adopted, originating at the period when theEuropeans first resorted to that coast. Thisstandard, called a bar, was at first used becausethe chief commodity in request was bar iron. All