342
MONEY IN
CHAP. XXVII.
in Europe, and in the parts of America settledby the English. In China and India , and in theother countries of the east, by far the greater por-tion of the inhabitants are employed solely on thecultivation of the land, and subsist chiefly on theproductions they themselves raise. They havelittle to sell and little to buy, and consequentlyrequire the use of a very small portion of metallicor other money. Mr. Barrow, speaking of China ,says, “ In the province of Kiang-nan, each growshis own cotton ; his wife and children spin it intothread, and it is woven into a web in his ownhouse, sometimes by his own family, but moi’e fre-quently by others hired for the purpose. A fewbamboos constitute the whole machinery requiredfor the operation. Money he has none ; but hisproduce he can easily barter for any little articlesof necessity or luxury. The only coin in circula-tion is the Tahen, a piece of some inferior metalmixed with a small portion of copper, of the valueof a thousandth part of an ounce of silver. Withthis small piece of money the little and constantlydemanded necessaries of life are purchased, suchas could not conveniently be obtained by barter.Silver is rarely lent out to interest except betweenmercantile men in the large cities. The legal in-terest is twelve per cent.; but it is commonly ex-tended to eighteen, sometimes even to thirty-six 1 .”