CHAP. XXVII.

CHINA.

333

By a recent account, which appears worthy ofcredit, “ the whole revenue of China amounts toeighty-four million ounces of silver. Of this,about thirty-three millions are paid in metal, andabout fifty-one millions in grain and other com-modities, consumed for the most part by the localadministration of the several provinces; a portiononly, to the amount of six million ounces, isannually remitted to Pekin V’

No money, either of gold or silver, is coined inChina . The money in use there is the dollars ofSpain or of her late colonies, which, either wholeor divided into halves or quarters, are very generalon the sea-coast, or sheets of silver rolled thin soas to be easily divided into the portion required forpayment. The coined as well as the rolled silverpasses by weight, and every trader carries with himscales for weighing, and a touchstone to test thedegree of purity of the metal. The only moneycurrent in China of native fabrication is a smallbrass coin, known by the name of the cash , which,though one hundred and fifty of them are onlyworth one shilling sterling, are well adapted tothe use of a country where money is dear, or,what is the same, where all other commodities arecheap, in order to facilitate the exchanges of onedescription of common articles with others.

In the contraband trade carried on in the out-

1 Bulletin des Sciences, No. 5, May, 1829.