CIIAP. XXVII.

AFRICA.

32 7

others were measured by it. Thus a slave, a pieceof cloth, or an India baft, was reckoned worth agiven number of bars; and even iron itself was,and still is, measured by these imaginary bars.

As gold is thus rendered a mere commodity andof less value than it would represent if it per-formed also the function of money, it will generallyand profitably find its way to other countries,whei’e, from being both a commodity and a mea-sure of all others, it acquires a greater worth whenexchanged for other objects.

We are therefore disposed to estimate at a verylow rate the whole produce of gold from Africa ,and as no silver is known to be extracted fromthat part of the world, in our estimate of the pro-duction and consumption of the world at large wehave not thought it necessary to take notice ofeither the western or eastern shores of that quarterof the world.

The eastern coast of Africa , where the For- Easterntuguese still retain some settlements for carryingon the slave trade, may be passed over with aslight notice. According to some of the authorsof the sixteenth century, Melinda, Sofala, Mozam-bique, and other spots on that side of Africa ,afforded large portions of gold, but their ac-countsmust be received with, great hesitation.

The latest traveller, Mr. Salt , who visited thoseplaces in 1809, represents their present supply ofgold as very insignificant, and has removed much