Their common measures of weight, and consequently of value, are,
The xarobe (or harrobe) the weight of which is four grains, and which expresses the value of thirty-three piastres of Tripoli, or 6d. sterling.
The mitkal, the weight of which is eighty-one grains, and which expresses the value of 668¼ Tripoli piastres, or 10s. 1½d.
A single grain therefore is equal in value to 1½d.
In the choice of the first of these measures, the xarobe, they seem to have been influenced by the discovery, 1st, That four grains is the usual weight of a hard and durable berry,[9] which is called habbat ell goreth; and 2dly, That half that weight, two grains, is the weight of another and very beautiful berry, which is brought from Nigritia, and to which, from its scarlet colour, and the black stroke that ornaments one of its ends, they have given the name of eyne-deeka, or the cock’s eye. These berries are therefore employed as the common weights for gold dust in Fezzan; for the xarobe and the mitkal have only an ideal existence.
But for the greater convenience of exchange, the Merchants of Fezzan are generally furnished with small papers of gold dust, of different values, from that of two xarobes, or one shilling, to such an amount as their business is likely to require.
If the value of the article to be purchased is less than two xarobes, the payment is generally made in corn or flour. Thus the smaller articles of provisions, as eggs, onions, &c. are generally purchased by a proportionable value in corn.
TABLE.
| One grain (in weight) of gold is equalto | ⎰ ⎱ | 8¼ piastres of Tripoli, | ||
| 1½d. sterling. | ||||
| Four grains ditto areequal to | ⎧ ⎨ ⎩ | 1 xarobe of Fezzan, | ||
| 33 piastres of Tripoli, | ||||
| 6d. sterling. | ||||
| Eight grains ditto areequal to | ⎧ ⎨ ⎩ | 2 xarobes of Fezzan, | ||
| 66 piastres of Tripoli, | ||||
| 1s. sterling. | ||||
| Twenty xarobes, | ⎫ ⎬ ⎭ | are equal to | ⎧ ⎨ ⎩ | [10]1 mitkal (an imaginary coin ofFezzan) |
| or | 660 piastres of Tripoli, | |||
| Eighty grains, | 10s. sterling. | |||
In this view of the currency of Fezzan, the small fractions that would be requisite to render it perfectly accurate are omitted.