. The Burton Holmes lectures;. ly a franc, twenty cents ; but in theunfortunate financial condition of the country the drachmahas depreciated. All the gold and silver coin of Greece has passed out of thekingdom, and is inuse upon the Conti-nent. The papercurrency alone re-mains, a paper drach-ma being worth onlyabout twelve of this paper isas depreciated inquality as in value,and unless carefullyhandled the raggedbills will fall to pieces in your fingers. In honor of theGames, a new issue of bank notes was made. The newnotes come in the form of a long ribbon of fresh, crispcoupons.
. The Burton Holmes lectures;. ly a franc, twenty cents ; but in theunfortunate financial condition of the country the drachmahas depreciated. All the gold and silver coin of Greece has passed out of thekingdom, and is inuse upon the Conti-nent. The papercurrency alone re-mains, a paper drach-ma being worth onlyabout twelve of this paper isas depreciated inquality as in value,and unless carefullyhandled the raggedbills will fall to pieces in your fingers. In honor of theGames, a new issue of bank notes was made. The newnotes come in the form of a long ribbon of fresh, crispcoupons. The American athletes used to rush into Cooksofftce every morning and ask, How much to-day for ayard of drachmas ? And the clerks, consulting the latestexchange-bulletins, would measure off the Greek green-backs according to the value of the French or Englishgold laid on the counter by the delighted purchaser, whoby this operation doubled instantaneously the value of hispocket-money. But at hotels, patronized by foreigners the. A JOKF. HV JACOMB-HOOI) THE OLYMPIAN GAMES 25 bills are always made out on a gold basis. To pay abill of a hundred francs requires almost two hundred paperdrachma. Only in dealing with unsophisticated Greeks,if such there are, could we gain anything through the cheap-ness of Greek money. The traveler is always made topay in francs fgold valuej even for such articles or serviceas will be given to the native for the same number of paperdrachmas. It is affirmed that if the Greek cannot get morefrom the stranger than would satisfy him if paid by a fellow-countryman he will refuse to sell. Another curious point about Greek money is that thereare no bank notes of the denomination of hve drachma.
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectvoyages, bookyear1901
