Northern and Central India, the parts more immediately under the Mogul empire, were silver-standard countries. The silver rupee (sicca, = 192 grains) was the standard; and the golden rupee of the same weight, called an Ashráfi, or gold mohur, was valued at 16 rupees, though generally more, according to the market-value of gold. The E.I.C. continued to strike gold mohurs, with halves, thirds and quarters. Other gold coins were current, notably the Venetian zechin, and the approximate correspondence of this coin to the quarter-mohur caused the latter to be commonly known as a ‘chick.’[39] Footnote 39: At whist, high play was for ‘Rupee points and a chick on the rub.’ Southern India offers the curious instance of a gold-standard country (a century ago) having changed to a silver standard. The pagoda has disappeared in currency. The beautiful Farūki pagoda of Tippoo is still to be found; and the Venetian zechin with its archaic design, never changed since it was first struck in the thirteenth century, is highly esteemed in the household treasuries of affluent Indians for its great purity. The word zechin or sequin is derived from sikkah, ‘coin.’ The usual Persian inscription on the Mogul coinage, continued by the E.I.C., is _Shah Alam, bádshah gházi, sikkah mubárak_ (Shah Alam, king victorious, coin auspicious).[40] Footnote 40: The E.I.C. continued the custom of inscriptions on coins being in Persian, the polite language of Moslem India. 4. DECIMAL CURRENCY It is scarcely necessary to describe the decimal systems of which the Dollar currency is the type. They have some advantages in numeration with the counterbalancing defects of all decimal series. Division of the dollar stops at a quarter; then there is a drop to 10 cents, and that coin has no quarter. Any thirding can only be approximate. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER XIV MEASURES OF TIME The primitive divisions of time were the day (the civil day between two sunrises or sunsets), and the lunar month taken as 30 days instead of the actual 29-1/2. Twelve lunar months made a calendar year of 360 days, to which were added, in ancient Egypt, five intercalary days. The additional day required every fourth year was called by the Romans _bissextum calendis_, as it was introduced by repeating the sixth day of the calends of March (our February 24). From the 360 calendar days of the year was derived the division of the sun’s apparent path on the ecliptic (and of every other circle) into 360 degrees. The ecliptic was divided, like the year, into twelve equal parts named from the constellations to which they corresponded; each of these was of 30 parts.