1584.—"For the money of Goa there is a kind of money made of lead and tin mingled, being thicke and round, and stamped on the one side with the spheare or globe of the world, and on the other side two arrows and five rounds;[[217]] and this kind of money is called Basaruchi, and 15 of them make a vinton of naughty money, and 5 vintons make a tanga, and 4 vintenas make a tanga of base money ... and 5 tangas make a seraphine of gold[[218]] (read 'of silver'), which in marchandize is worth 5 tangas good money: but if one would change them into basaruchies, he may have 5 tangas, and 16 basaruchies, which matter they call cerafaggio, and when the bargain of the pardaw is gold, each pardaw is meant to be 6 tangas good money,[[219]] but in murchandize, the vse is not to demaund pardawes of gold in Goa, except it be for jewels and horses, for all the rest they take of seraphins of silver, per aduiso.... The ducat of gold is worth 9 tangas and a halfe good money, and yet not stable in price, for that when the ships depart from Goa to Cochin, they pay them at 9 tangas and 3 fourth partes, and 10 tangas, and that is the most that they are worth...."—W. Barret, in Hakl. ii. 410. I retain this for the old English, but I am sorry to say that I find it is a mere translation of the notes of Gasparo Balbi, who was at Goa in 1580. We learn from Balbi that there were at Goa tangas not only of good money worth 75 basarucchi, and of bad money worth 60 basarucchi, but also of another kind of bad money used in buying wood, worth only 50 basarucchi!
1598.—"The principall and commonest money is called Pardaus Xeraphiins, and is silver, but very brasse (read 'base'), and is coyned in Goa. They have Saint Sebastian on the one side, and three or four arrows in a bundle on the other side, which is as much as three Testones, or three hundred Reijs Portingall money, and riseth or falleth little lesse or more, according to the exchange. There is also a kind of money which is called [Tangas], not that there is any such coined, but are so named onely in telling, five Tangas is one Pardaw or Xeraphin, badde money, for you must understande that in telling they have two kinds of money, good and badde.... Wherefore when they buy and sell, they bargain for good or badde money," &c.—Linschoten, ch. 35; [Hak. Soc. i. 241, and for another version see [XERAPHINE]].
" "They have a kind of money called Pagodes which is of Gold, of two or three sortes, and are above 8 tangas in value. They are Indian and Heathenish money, with the feature of a Devill upon them, and therefore they are called Pagodes. There is another kind of gold money, which is called Venetianders; some of Venice, and some of Turkish coine, and are commonly (worth) 2 Pardawe Xeraphins. There is yet another kind of golde called S. Thomas, because Saint Thomas is figured thereon and is worth about 7 and 8 Tangas: There are likewise Rialles of 8 which are brought from Portingall, and are Pardawes de Reales.... They are worth at their first coming out 436 Reyes of Portingall; and after are raysed by exchaunge, as they are sought for when men travell for China.... They use in Goa in their buying and selling a certaine maner of reckoning or telling. There are Pardawes Xeraphins, and these are silver. They name likewise Pardawes of Gold, and those are not in kinde or in coyne, but onely so named in telling and reckoning: for when they buy and sell Pearles, stones, golde, silver and horses, they name but so many Pardawes, and then you must understand that one Pardaw is sixe Tangas: but in other ware, when you make not your bargaine before hand, but plainely name Pardawes, they are Pardawes Xeraphins of 5 Tangas the peece. They use also to say a Pardaw of Lariins (see [LARIN]), and are five Lariins for every Pardaw...."—Ibid.; [Hak. Soc. i. 187].
This extract is long, but it is the completest picture we know of the Goa currency. We gather from the passage (including a part that we have omitted) that in the latter part of the 16th century there were really no national coins there used intermediate between the basaruccho, worth at this time 0.133d., and the pardao xerafin worth 50d.[[220]] The vintens and tangas that were nominally interposed were mere names for certain quantities of basaruccos, or rather of reis represented by basaruccos. And our interpretation of the statement about pardaos of gold in a note above is here expressly confirmed.
[1599.—"Perdaw." See under [TAEL].]
c. 1620.—"The gold coin, struck by the rāīs of Bijanagar and Tiling, is called hūn and partāb."—Firishta, quoted by Quatremère, in Notices et Exts. xiv. 509.
1643.—"... estant convenu de prix auec luy à sept perdos et demy par mois tant pour mon viure que pour le logis...."—Mocquet, 284.
PARELL, n.p. The name of a northern suburb of Bombay where stands the residence of the Governor. The statement in the Imperial Gazetteer that Mr. W. Hornby (1776) was the first Governor who took up his residence at Parell requires examination, as it appears to have been so occupied in Grose's time. The 2nd edition of Grose, which we use, is dated 1772, but he appears to have left India about 1760. It seems probable that in the following passage Niebuhr speaks of 1763-4, the date of his stay at Bombay, but as the book was not published till 1774, this is not absolutely certain. Evidently Parell was occupied by the Governor long before 1776.
"Les Jesuites avoient autrefois un beau couvent aupres du Village de Parell au milieu de l'Isle, mais il y a déjà plusieurs années, qu'elle est devenue la maison de campagne du Gouverneur, et l'Eglise est actuellement une magnifique salle à manger et de danse, qu'on n'en trouve point de pareille en toutes les Indes."—Niebuhr, Voyage, ii. 12.
[Mr. Douglas (Bombay and W. India, ii. 7, note) writes: "High up and outside the dining-room, and which was the chapel when Parel belonged to the Jesuits, is a plaque on which is printed:—'Built by Honourable Hornby, 1771.'">[