The _Vediuppu_, or saltpetre, which comes from Bengal, brings only a low price at Madraspatnam; but if transported to Cochin on the Malabar coast, it becomes exceedingly dear on account of the carriage. If readers in general, therefore, do not pay particular attention to the distances of places, they will be often at a loss in regard to the price of merchandise; because the same article valued at fifty rupees by one traveller, is estimated by another at a hundred. The case here is the same as when one says: In the month of July it is winter in India, while another asserts that at that period it is summer. Both at bottom are right; for the one alludes to the coast of Coromandel, and the other to the coast of Malabar, where in July the rainy season commences, and consequently winter. These apparent contradictions disappear when people reflect on time, place and climate, and the particular circumstances under which the traveller or writer lived. In Pegu a weight called _Tical_ has been introduced. It weighs fourteen Roman _Danari_, twenty-four of which are equal to an ounce. In Siam the _Tical_ weighs also fourteen Roman _Danari_. The _Tical_ of Pegu contains four _Tomat_, or four _Magnon_, which is a piece of silver equivalent to about four Roman _Julios_[50]. Half a _Tomat_ is called _Tebe_, and, to be standard, should be equal in weight to eight grains of rice. Sixteen of these grains make, therefore, a whole _Tomat_. A hundred _Tical_ are equal to one _Bisa_; and the _Bisa_ contains thirty-four ounces Italian weight. Two rupees of Madras weigh in Pegu seven _Tomat_. Such is the information given by Father Joseph de Amato, in his notes to the manuscript of the Peguan philosopher _Maha Tabassi Dharma Rajah Guru_, which is preserved in the Borgian Museum at Velitri. In the same museum there is also an original standard of the Peguan _Tical_, with all the weights belonging to it. They are of brass, have a cylindric form, and bear the impression of a four-footed dragon, with an elevated crest, and its tail doubled over its back. The Peguan coins are ugly shapeless pieces of pure silver, which have no mixture of alloy. They are weighed like other articles of merchandise by the _Tical_, _Tomat_, _Tebe_ and _Bisa_.