The romantic East: Burma, Assam, & Kashmir - Khamkoo

36 THE ROMANTIC EAST
could not find any niello work. In the latter the
chasing
is filled in with black niello, an alloy composed
of lead, silver, copper, and sulphur.
All,
from the poorest workmen to Maung Yin
Maung "Master Silversmith," ask double the
weight of the article in rupees, a price which only
the latter should get for his very finest work.
Even supposing the silver in the bowl to be of
standard fineness, 'it
is only worth twelve annas per
tola instead of sixteen ;
so that buying silver
articles, even at their simple weight in rupees,
means giving a profit of thirty-three per cent on the
cost of the silver. As this method of selling worked
silver by weight
is in use all over India from
Burma to Kashmir, it
may be well to explain the
calculation in detail. The rupee
is of British
standard silver and weighs exactly one tola. The
tola weighs 180 grains or f of an ounce troy.
Therefore when bar silver of standard fineness
is worth 26f pence per ounce the silver in the
rupee is worth f of 26f or exactly 10 pence.
For
the silver in the rupee to be worth a shilling, bar
silver must sell at 32 pence, to be worth the
present par of 16 pence (or annas),
bar silver would