Page:Aurangzíb and the Decay of the Mughal Empire.djvu/126

120 The former difficulty is easily disposed of. The average value of the rupee at the period, covered by the returns, from 1594 to 1707 was 2s. 3d. in English money of the time. The value of the rupee varied a little with the condition of the coin. If much worn it fell to perhaps 2s.; if quite new and of full weight it may have been worth as much as 2s. 6d.; but that 2s. 3d. was the ordinary rate of exchange is abundantly clear from numerous records. Mr. H. G. Keene, the able historian of Hindústán, has fallen into the error of estimating the rupee as low as 1s. 3d., from a mistaken valuation of the French livre, which he would make equivalent to 10d. Apart from the fact that we have Bailly's authority for estimating the livre of the period at 1s. 6d., it is inconceivable that English travellers should have exchanged their money at the rate of 2s. 3d. for the rupee, whilst French travellers of the same period should have obtained the rupee for 1s. 3d. We may be perfectly certain