Page:Reflections on the Formation and the Distribution of Riches by Anne Turgot.djvu/62

Rh of the slaves; in such a way that a particular slave may be counted as two heads of Negro.

The Mandingo Negroes who carry on the gold-dust trade with the Arabian Merchants bring all their commodities to a fictitious scale whereof the parts are called macutes, so that they tell the merchants that they give them so many macutes in gold. They value likewise in macutes the commodities which they receive, and their chaffering with the Merchants turns upon this valuation. Thus also in Holland people reckon by Bank florins, which are nothing but a fictitious money, and which in commerce have sometimes a higher and sometimes a lower value than the money called florins.

S38
Every commodity is a pledge representing all the articles of Commerce; but it is more or less convenient in practice, according as it is more or less easy to transport & to keep without alteration.

The variation in the quality of commodities, and in their price in accordance with this quality, which renders them more or less suitable than others to serve as a common measure, is also an impediment more or less to their being a representative pledge of every other commodity of a like value. Nevertheless there is, in regard to this last property also, a very great difference between the different sorts of merchandise. It is evident, for example, that the man who possesses a piece of cloth is far more sure of being able to procure for himself, whenever he may wish it, a certain quantity of corn, than if he had a barrel of wine