About the same period, in the first year of Cyrus, after his conquest of Babylon, we hear of two men receiving 2 _pi_ 30 _qas_ (102 _qas_) of grain for the month Tammuz. Each man accordingly received a little over a _qa_ a day, the wage being practically the same as that paid by Nubtâ to the slave. On the other hand, a receipt dated in the fifteenth year of Nabonidos is for 2 _pi_ (72 _qas_) of grain, and 54 _qas_ of dates were paid to the captain of a boat for the conveyance of mortar, to serve as “food” during the month Tebet. As “salt and vegetables” were also added, it is probable that the captain was expected to share the food with his crew. A week previously 8 shekels had been given for 91 _gur_ of dates owed by the city of Pallukkatum, on the Pallacopas canal, to the temple of Uru at Sippara, but the money was probably paid for porterage only. At all events, five years earlier a shekel and a quarter had been paid for the hire of a boat which conveyed three oxen and twenty-four sheep, the offering made by Belshazzar “in the month Nisan to Samas and the gods of Sippara,” while 60 _qas_ of dates were assigned to the two boatmen for food. This would have been a _qa_ of dates _per diem_ for each boatman, supposing the voyage was intended to last a month. In the ninth year of Nabonidos 2 _gur_ of dates were given to a man as his nourishment for two months, which would have been at the rate of 6 _qas_ a day. In the thirty-second year of the same reign 36 _qas_ of dates were valued at a shekel, or a penny a _qa_. In the older period of Babylonian history prices were reckoned in grain, and, as might be expected, payment was made in kind rather than in coin. In the reign of Ammi-zadok, for instance, 3 homers 24⅔ _qas_ of oil, though valued at 20⅔ shekels of silver, were actually bought with “white Kurdish slaves,” it being stipulated that if the slaves were not forthcoming the purchaser would have to pay for the oil in cash. A thousand years later, under Merodach-nadin-akhi, cash had become the necessary medium of exchange. A cart and harness were sold for 100 shekels, six riding-horses for 300 shekels, one “ass from the West” for 130 shekels, one steer for 30 shekels, 34 _gur_ 56 _qas_ of grain for 137 shekels, 2 homers 40 _qas_ of oil for 16 shekels, two long-sleeved robes for 12 shekels, and nine shawls for 18 shekels. From this time forward we hear no more of payment in kind, except where wages were paid in food, or where tithes and other offerings were made to the temples. Though the current price of wheat continued to fix the market standard of value, business was conducted by means of stamped money. The shekel and the maneh were the only medium of exchange.