Note 3 — How a Woman became a Lapwing1

Lit., “silvers.” In the Arabian Nights (Lady Burton’s ed., vol. i, p. 234) there is a similar expression denoting silver coins: “I gave the servant a few silvers.” The ridī or larin is the silver wire “hook-money,” at first imported from the Persian Gulf, where it was coined in Lāristān, but afterwards made in Ceylon. Captain Robert Knox says of it, “There is another sort, which all People by the King’s Permission may and do make. The shape is like a fish-hook, they stamp what mark or impression on it they please” (Hist. Relation of Ceylon, 1681, p. 97). Baldaeus remarked, “The most current coin here are the silver Laryns each whereof is worth about tenpence … as well in Ceylon as Malabar two golden Fanams, at five-pence a piece, make a Laryn” (A Description of ye East India Coasts, etc., translation, 1672, p. 727). As a later value I was informed that three ridīs were equal to one rupee. Further information regarding this money will be found in the Additional Notes at the end of vol. iii. ↑