CHAPTER VII. The Weight Systems of China and Further Asia.

of human society we seem to be transported back into that far away Homeric time, and as we hear of slaves, and kine, chaldrons and kettles we think of the old Epics with their tale of slaves valued in beeves, and “crumple-horned shambling kine, and tripods” and “shining chaldrons.” In the light of such analogies we at last can understand the significance of the 10 axes and 10 “half-axes” which formed the first and second prizes in the Iliad¹² when Achilles “set out for the archers the dark-hued iron, and put down 10 axes and 10 half-axes.” Who can doubt that these axes and half-axes played much the same part in the Homeric system of currency as the hoes do at this present moment in that of the Bahnars of Annam? Probably such too were the 12 axes which Penelope¹³ brought out from the treasure chamber to serve as a target for the suitors in their contests with the bow of Ulysses. The hoe is thus the lowest unit of currency among the Bahnars. From the known interrelations of all the articles of daily life it is easy to estimate how many hoes any even of their more costly possessions is worth. Thus the full-grown buffalo = 7 jars = 28 muks = 280 hoes, or about £1. 3s. 4d. of our money. All these transactions require no use of weights, being reckoned by bulk or tale. But now comes the most interesting feature for us, a people in the complete stage of