net-justified by the frets. The Chinese at the opening of trade in new districts naturally distrusted strange coins of foreign origin and were ready to give more for those previously thrown to them. The knowledge, however, which experience conferred, gradually put an end to all fanciful distinctions between coins, leaving only that which arose from the difference of intrinsic worth, and gained general recognition for trading purposes. It would also seem that the projectors of the Mint overlooked the fact that the ancient usages of the Chinese Empire necessarily prevented one dollar being more than another by reason of its repeated value containing silver.
56. This will be clearer if it be remembered that the real medium of Exchange in China consists simply of Silver, whether in shapeless lumps or elegant coin being a matter of indifference in the Chief Mart of Trade. This principle is carried so far that the coins received in payment of Chinese customs dues, and taken simply for their intrinsic worth compared with the standard of pure Hak wan silver, are melted down and indiscriminately cast by the Chinese into the form of sycee and ingots, showing a preference for bullion. It may be urged that a system which, strictly speaking, should entail...