Note 40 — V.

In the early part of the British Government in Bengal, cowries were the common currency of the Province in the ordinary transactions of life. People used to make their hautbazar (market) with cowries, and a family that made a daily bazar with sixteen or eighteen kahuns of cowries, equal to one rupee or so, was reckoned a very respectable family. The prices of provisions ranged nearly one-third of what they now are. Even the revenues of Government were sometimes paid in cowries in the Eastern districts, namely, Assam, Sylhet, &c.