Thus the Orang Glaï have often to buy a pair of elephant’s tusks at the cost of eight buffalos or eight bars of silver. Taxes are paid in buffalos; thus the Tjrons of Karang pay a buffalo for each house, or compound for the whole village by a payment of ten buffalos whose horns are at least as long as their ears[221]. Here then we find that exactly as the ancient Irish when they borrowed the Roman system of _unciae_ and _scripula_ (_unga_ and _screapall_) equated the ounce of silver to their own unit, the cow, so we find these wild tribes of Annam forced to adapt their primitive unit to the metallic unit of their more cultured neighbours. Again, the Bahnars of Annam, who dwell on the borders of Laos, have much the same system. With them the highest unit is the _head_, _i.e._ a male slave, who is estimated, according to his strength, age and skill, at 5, 6, or 7 buffalos, or the same number of kettles, as the buffalo and the kettle have the same value, which naturally varies with the size and age of the animal and the quality of the kettle. A full grown buffalo, or a large kettle, is worth seven glazed jars of Chinese shape with a capacity of 10 to 15 litres each. One jar is worth 4 _muks_. The _muk_ was originally the name of some special article, but now is simply used as a unit of account. Each _muk_ is worth 10 _mats_, or iron hoes, which are manufactured by the Cédans, and which form the sole agricultural implement of the wild tribes of all these regions. This hoe is the smallest monetary unit used by the Bahnars, and is worth about one penny in European goods. This _mat_ or hoe serves them as small currency and all petty transactions are carried on by it. Thus a large bamboo hat costs 2 hoes, a Bahnar knife 2 hoes, ordinary arrows are sold at 30 for 1 hoe and so on. A large elephant is worth from 10 to 15 “_heads_” or slaves, whilst a horse costs 3 or 4 kettles or buffalos. When we read of such a state of human society we seem to be transported back into that far away Homeric time, and as we hear of slaves, and kine, chaldrons and kettles we think of the old Epics with their tale of slaves valued in beeves, and “crumple-horned shambling kine, and tripods” and “shining chaldrons.” In the light of such analogies we at last can understand the significance of the 10 axes and 10 “half-axes” which formed the first and second prizes in the _Iliad_[222] when Achilles “set out for the archers the dark-hued iron, and put down 10 axes and 10 half-axes.” Who can doubt that these axes and half-axes played much the same part in the Homeric system of currency as the hoes do at this present moment in that of the Bahnars of Annam? Probably such too were the 12 axes which Penelope[223] brought out from the treasure chamber to serve as a target for the suitors in their contests with the bow of Ulysses. The hoe is thus the lowest unit of currency among the Bahnars. From the known interrelations