'Field notes. Mesopotamia' [‎102r] (208/230)

BiUMHH
i
193
gold is in circulation. It remains ^
that flotitious,—the Shan^wSh^ ° 0in ” d
in the date trade. Thpr^ wna « 116 Unit imputation
name with a nominal value of 10 goH 6 p^tre^but^h ? ^
having been reduced by order of the TnS-n ^ that Value
after the last Russo-Turkish war to eold - h Governm ent
less than the price of the met^! ™ ? • P lastres > which was
melted down and has now altogether Sn’l^rTf 11616
the quotations of the date market. PP d except from
The coinage of A1 Hasa is peculiar to thedistriet • i
the Turkish pound or lirah, the Maria Theresa dollar tv d lncIud i es
tawila, and copper coins from India Moan f r, * > e rupee, the
and British East Africa. Of these the Maria T , an5 '' lba J Gei, uian
coined speciaHy for Arabia and parts of East AfrLTtnd alU ^
the date 1780. They are known as rials The t i d i 11 bear
is one of the so called fishhook S IWs ^ ^
copper, shaped like a compressed Y, with some Arabte el ^^t ° f
stamped on it. These have not been cowl^lff^d ^
years, and Al Hasa is the only place in which they are current. ^
Tlirah 6 ° f eXChange 111 the s P rin g of 1896 was as follows
1 rial * * ’ * • • 8 rials.
1 tawila ;; “ •• 80 tawiias. Rs. 1-14-0.
• • j anna.
For currency of Kuwait see page 41.
Chronology.—The Moslem day is reckoned from Sunset tn * *
and is divided into 24 hours, which are cnntite^ 8 V • et
Sunset is reckoned as 12 o’clock and is the f tw . 1Ce 12 ‘
each day. Twelve hours after sunset is again ^o’clock. ° mng f ° r
A J Ph< : v ¥ 0 ® lem calendar begins with 16th July, in the year 622
A. D., this being the date of the Hajirah or flight nr I ,
from Mecca to Medina. The Moslem vear is f f . M 1 uhaminad
of 12 months. Each of the odd numbeted ^ ^
days each of the evenmumbered months 30 days Therea ^ 29
345 days m the year, or 355 in leap year 1 1 of^ v, • are thus
cycle of 30 years. In the course of 33 years eacb
complete circuit of the seasons. On the 25th iTh 1 ^ makes a
began the year mi at Haj ir a^ h “™^.
'iw W re years earUer, consequently the Cbhh
year, 1327, now corresponds to our 1911. uriasn
S212(w)GSB m