by this small damling which is only the weight of a tical (234 grains Troy). In reference to my argument that as gold is the first of all things to be weighed, the primitive weight unit is certain to be small, as no man has, as a rule, any need to weigh his gold by the hundredweight or large mercantile talent, this fact that the highest unit for weighing gold in Attopoeu is so small, not even reaching the weight of the Graeco-Phoenician heavy gold shekel or double ox-unit of 260 grains, is of considerable importance.
This region supplies us with yet another point which can help to clear up the history of early metallic currency. The iron ingots which come from the Cambodian provinces of Kompong Soai form a special kind of money. These ingots are not weighed, but they have the length of the space between the base of the thumb and the tip of the forefinger, they are in breadth two fingers, and one finger in thickness in the middle, thinning off to either end. Three of these ingots = 1 chi = 1 sling = 1 string of cash; thus 12 ingots = 1 tical of silver. These ingots are also counted by bags of 20; thus 1 nên or bar of silver = 15 bags = 300 ingots of iron.