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Currency and Weights

CURRENCY

Cruzado (Cr) A Portuguese silver coin with a fluctuating value: 1777: 3.75 Cr = 1 Piastre (see below); 1813: 2.60 Cr = 1 Piastre.¹

Maria Theresa Dollar (MT$) A coin known as the Austrian Crown, the ‘Black dollar’, Kursh or Rial. Current on the East African coast until the 1860s when it began to be replaced by the American dollar. 1 MT$ = Rs 2.10–2.23 during the first half of the nineteenth century. £1 = MT$ 4.75. Spanish, Mexican Piastres or dollars and American dollars were exchanged at Zanzibar at 1 per cent to 6 per cent discount.²

Rupee (Rs) The Indian unit of currency. Before 1836 different parts of India had their own coins. The universal rupee was established in that year, but the value fluctuated until 1899: 1803–1813: 1 Spanish Dollar = Rs2.38–2.14. 1841–1868: 1 Spanish dollar = Rs2.10–2.18.³

WEIGHTS

Arroba (Ar) A Portuguese unit equal to 14.688 kg.⁴

Frasela (Fr) A unit widely used along the East African coast varying from 27 lbs or 12.393 kg in Mozambique; 35 lbs in Zanzibar; 36 lbs on the Benadir.⁵

Maund An Indian unit, of varying weight. The Surat maund used to weigh ivory equalled 37-1/2 lbs.⁶

Sources:

1. Freeman-Grenville (1965), p. 88; Milburn, Vol. 1, p. 60.

2. See p. 136 below. Milburn, Vol. 1, p. 198; Burton (1872), Vol. 1, pp. 324–5, Vol. 2, pp. 406, 418–19; MAE, CCZ, Vol. III, pp. 344–9; Bennett and Brooks (eds) (1965), pp. 477, 499, 534–5.

3. Phillips (ed.) (1951), p. 62; Milburn, Vol. 1, p. 116; Hamerton to Bombay, 3 January 1841, MA, 54/1840–1, pp. 20–2; Churchill to Bombay, 28 October 1868, MA, 156/1869, pp. 120–1.

4. Alpers (1975), p. xiv.

5. ibid.; Fabens to Hamblet, 10 October 1846, PM, Fabens Papers, II.

6. Milburn, Vol. 1, p. 159.

Plate 1 Zanzibar from the sea, c.1857