Page:Origin of metallic currency and weight standards.djvu/62

 amount of half a moda; whilst as elsewhere articles of value are bought by the toukkiyeh or dollar. In a very great number of places merchandise is exchanged against oxen; thus the horse is worth 10 to 20 oxen.

Accordingly while each district of Darfour has some peculiar form of currency for small change the higher currency is the same everywhere, the piece of cloth, the ox, the slave.

In the region of Wadai the same shrewd Arab tells us that cattle are kept by even the most barbarous tribes. Thus the Fertyt tribe, who go in a state of almost complete nudity, and thus have no need of cloth, possess large herds of cattle, which are not branded, but each owner distinguishes his cattle by giving a peculiar shape to their horns as soon as they begin to grow. In the less barbarous communities of Wadai slaves and beads are employed as currency as well as cattle. The bead used is called the mansous. It is of yellow amber and of different sizes. Number 1 is so called because one string (containing 100 beads) weighs one rotl (pound) of 12 ounces; Number 2 because two strings weigh a rotl; Number 3 because 3 strings make a rotl and so on. The first is the most costly of all beads. Often a single bead of this sort (soumyt) is worth two slaves; if it is abundant each bead is worth a slave.