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Show 'HISTORY OF M~XfC ·O .• DISSERT. them until the time of the Maccabees. The want of coined money, VI. therefore, is no argument of barbarity. ~ If by money is undedl:ood a fig11 reprefenting the value of all mer chandize, as Montefquieu defines _it (c), it is certain, that the Mexi~ cans, and all the other nations. of Anahuac, except the barbarous :Chechcmecas and Otomies, employed · money in their commerce. What was the cacao., of which they made confl:ant ufe in the market to purchafc whatever they wanted, but a fign rcprcfcnting the value of all merchandize. The cacao had its fixed value, and was reckoned by numbers; but to fave the trouble of counting it, when the merchan. dize was of great value and worth, many thoufands of the nuts, they . knew that every bag of a certain fize contained three Xiquipilli, or .twenty-four thoufand nuts. Who will not acknowledge, that the ca. cao is much fitter to be made ufe of as money than oxen or lheep, which the Greeks and Romans made ufe of, or the fait which is at prefent employed by the Abyfiinians? The oxen and fheep could not be employed to purchafe any thing of finall value, and any ficknefs~ or ~ther misfortune, which might befall thofe animals, would impovenfh thofe who had no other capital. " Metal has been adopted for " money," f~ys Montefquieu, " that the fign may be more .durable. '" The fait which the Abyffinians ufe has this defec:t that it is contJ ·" nually ~iminiiliing." Cacao~ on the contrary, oould pafs for any m~rchand1ze, was tranfportable~ and guarded more eafily, and preferved w1th lefs danger and with lcfs car.e. The ufe of cacao in the commerce of thofe nations, will appear, perhaps, to foc1c perfons, a mere exchange; but it was not fo : for ·the~e were feveral fpecies of cacao, and the 'I'!alcacahuatl, fmall cacao, wluch .they ufed in their_ diet and beverages, was not ufed as money : the~ employ~d other fpec1es~ of inferior quality and lefs ufcful for food, wh1 h were 111 confi:ant circulation as money (d), and ufcd in no other wa~ almofl: th.en in c~mmerce. Of this fort of money, all hiftonans of Mex1co, Spamfh, as well as Indian, make mention. Of the (c) L'Efprit de Loix:. (J) In the cnpital itfelf of Mexico 1 · f · h .r . ) • • , w lCte rom etg teen to twenty thoufnnd crowns (pcfoa .~uhe·1rtcc sf m annually cotncd 1n "Old , d fil 1 . 11 . . 1 . h o ·lll 1 vcr, t \C poor people ihll make ufc of the cacao to f>llr• .. "'' a at ttc cs 1n ·t c market. 6 other H f S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X r C. 0~ otHer four fpecies,. which we fpoke of in our V!Ith book of this hif .. tory, CorteS and Torquemada both give an account. Cortes, in his l~ft letter to .the emperor Charle~ V. affirms, that having made inqui. rJCS conccrnmg the commerce of thofe nations, he found that in Tlachco, a11d other provinces, they trafficked with money. If he had not meant to be underftood to fpeak of coined· money, he would not have rcftriCl:ed the ufe of it to· Tlachco, and fomc other provinces; becaufe, he knew very well, without making fuch enquiries, that at the markets of Mexico, where he had been. frequently prcfcnt, they employed, inftcad of money, the cacao, and certain little cloths of cotton, called by them P atolquac!Jtli, and gold in duft enclofed in goofe quills . It is therefore fomewhat fufpiciou s, notWithO:anding what we have fuid in , our former book, that there was alfo coined money among them, and that both thofe thin pieces of tin which Cortes meutions, and thofe pieces of copper, in form of T, mentioned by T orquemada, as two fpecies of money, had fome ftamp upon them authorifed by the fovereign, or his feudatory lords. To hinder any frauds in commerce, nothing but common articles of food could be fold out of the market-place, which was kept, as we have already faid, in the greatefi order that can be imagined. There were m,eafures fixed by the magiftrates ; the commiflaries we mentioned for111erly, were continually obferving all that happened; and the judges of commerce were charged to take cognifance of all difputcs between the merchants, and punilh every, trefpafs which was committed ; and notwithfi:anding it muft be faid, that the Mexicans were inferior in induftry to the rudeft people of the old continent; among whom are [orne, that after fo many centuries, and the example of other nations of their own continent, do lilOt yet know the advantages of money. S E C T. . II .. On the Vfe of Iron. The ufe of iron is on·e of thofe things which M. de Paw requires · to call a nation c'ultivatcd; and from the want of it he believes all the · Americans barbarians. So that if God had not created this metal, all• men.l 367 DISSERT. VI. |