. The Australian Museum magazine. Natural history. THK. ArSTI^vALTAX MTSKl'M .MA(;AZL\E. 281 Barter, Currency and Coinage. By W. 'I'horpk. TO-DAY, when one handles money, one is more concerned regarding its ]iiirchasing ])o\ver, or value, than its ap])earance. As a work of art a coin may be dis])araged, but all would realise how essential money is to our life, and what an im]iortant factor it is in the mechanism of commerce. In days of old, those days so often spoken of, money as we understand it was imknown and barter ruled in its place, one commodity being exchanged for another. As
. The Australian Museum magazine. Natural history. THK. ArSTI^vALTAX MTSKl'M .MA(;AZL\E. 281 Barter, Currency and Coinage. By W. 'I'horpk. TO-DAY, when one handles money, one is more concerned regarding its ]iiirchasing ])o\ver, or value, than its ap])earance. As a work of art a coin may be dis])araged, but all would realise how essential money is to our life, and what an im]iortant factor it is in the mechanism of commerce. In days of old, those days so often spoken of, money as we understand it was imknown and barter ruled in its place, one commodity being exchanged for another. As an instance of this, one may cite a trading custom that obtains to-day in Papua, where stone-age man yet lingers. The natives of Port Moresby are adept ]X)tters, but the sago palm, which affords their prin- ciple article of food, does not thrive in their district. Away to the west in the Papuan Gulf the sago palm flourishes, and, as the natives there are not pot- tery makers, what is more natural than for them to trade ? So every year, at the end of Se])tember or beginning of October, the season of the south-east trade wind being then at its close, a fleet of lakatois, or large sailing canoes, laden with pottery leave Port Moresby on a voyage to the deltas of the Pa^nmii Gulf, whence they later return with cargoes of sago. This primitive form of exchange, through which all communities must have ])assed, later gave way to cur- rency or the ado]ition of articles not easily acquired or manufactured. A host of things have served in this capacity—grain, wheat, rock-salt, tob- acco, gold-dust, cinnabar, sheep, cattle (from which the word pecunia is derived), skins, cloth, knives, Loading Lakatoi at Port Moresby. [After Lincll,. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Australian Museum; Australi
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectnaturalhistory, booky
