Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 1 (1876).djvu/167

 the tenth of a kiang is a feng; 16 liangs make a king (or hing). The weight of the ounce varies according to the three different scales used, viz. government, market, and hand-balance. The purest silver is cast in wedge-shaped ingots, each weighing about 50 ounces and bearing the government mark, or the stamp of the private firm which has cast them. There is less alloy in this than in any other. In paying small sums you cut off bits from the ingot as you require them, weighing them in a hand-balance; for larger dealings a pair of scales and two bowls are used. In these transactions the experienced Chinaman invariably gets the better of you, by inclining the balance one way or the other, according as he has to pay or receive; he will also cheat you, in the quality, particularly when in small lumps, which are apt to contain a good deal of bad metal.

I should also mention that petty transactions are ordinarily settled with cash, which are so heavy that a ruble's worth (about 2s. 8d.) weighs on an average 8. lbs. Of course you cannot take enough coins with you, and are, therefore, obliged to exchange your silver as you find it necessary; your difficulties are further increased by the different rates of exchange in almost every town and in many of the villages in China. In some places, 30 cash count as a hundred, in others 50, 78, 80, 92, 98 are worth no more: an absurdity which could only be