These ingots were called saum. Ibn Batuta says: "At one day's journey from Ukak are the hills of the Rūs, who are Christians; they have red hair and blue eyes, they are ugly in feature and crafty in character. They have silver mines, and they bring from their country saum, i.e. ingots of silver, with which they buy and sell in that country. The weight of each ingot is five ounces."—ii. 414. Pegolotti (c. 1340), speaking of the land-route to Cathay, says that on arriving at Cassai (i.e. Kinsay of Marco Polo or Hang-chau-fu) "you can dispose of the sommi of silver that you have with you ... and you may reckon the sommo to be worth 5 golden florins" (see in Cathay, &c., ii. 288-9, 293). It would appear from Wasāf, quoted by Hammer (Geschichte der Goldenen Horde, 224), that gold ingots also were called sum or saum. The ruble is still called sūm in Turkestan.
The term Sonaut rupees, which was of frequent occurrence down to the reformation and unification of the Indian coinage in 1833, is one very difficult to elucidate. The word is properly sanwāt, pl. of Ar. sana(t), a year. According to the old practice in Bengal, coins deteriorated in value, in comparison with the rupee of account, when they passed the third year of their currency, and these rupees were termed Sanwāt or Sonaut. But in 1773, to put a stop to this inconvenience, Government determined that all rupees coined in future should bear the impression of the 19th san or year of Shāh 'Alam (the Mogul then reigning). And in all later uses of the term Sonaut it appears to be equivalent in value to the Farrukhābād rupee, or the modern "Company's Rupee" (which was of the same standard).
Like the Βαιτύλιον which the Greeks got through the Semitic nations. In Photius there are extracts from Damascius (Life of Isidorus the Philosopher), which speak of the stones called Baitulos and Baitulion, which were objects of worship, gave oracles, and were apparently used in healing. These appear, from what is stated, to have been meteoric stones. There were many in Lebanon (see Phot. Biblioth., ed. 1653, pp. 1047, 1062-3).
"It is curious that without any allusion to this work, another on the Veterinary Art, styled Sálotari, and said to comprise in the Sanskrit original 16,000 slokas, was translated in the reign of Sháh Jahán ... by Saiyad 'Abdulla Khán Bahádur Firoz Jang, who had found it among some other Sanskrit books which ... had been plundered from Amar Singh, Ráná of Chitor."
Of the birch-tree, Sansk. bhurja, Betula Bhojpattra, Wall., the exfoliating outer bark of which is called tōz.