"كتيّب بلاد الرافدين. المجلد I. ١٩١٨" [‎٢‎٣‎٦] (٥٦٨/٢٤٥)

236 CUREENCY, WEIGHTS AND MEASURES
coinage had been reduced to insignificance in the occupied area in
southern Irak, though Persian coins had still a small circulation in
bazaars.
The English equivalents of Indian coins are as follows ;
1 Pie . . . . = i Farthing.
3 Pie = 1 Pice
4 Pice = 1 Anna
16 Annas = 1 Rupee
15 Rupees
3
Id.
Id.
1 5. 4:^,
£1.
Maria Theresa dollars [riyals, worth about 1-| rupee) were imported
from Aden and Masqat for the purchase of camels in Arabia.
Exchange. —The rate of exchange for the was variable ; it
might fall as low as 105^ (£T105^ = <£100 sterling) in the date season,
and rise to 110 or higher in winter. The exchange also fluc
tuated (see further below, p. 237), but in their accounts merchants
used a fictitious hook-qran fixed at 344 to the The Baghdad
money market was controlled by sarafs (compare p. 206). The
money-changer's business was made very lucrative by the number of
different coinages in circulation. Merchants wishing to dispose of
their foreign money usually purchased drafts allowing coins to return
to the country of their origin, these drafts having a rate of their
own different from that of the coinages.
Mosul
Mosul has a piastre of its own, the valuation of which is as
follows:
40 Mosul paras = 1 Mosul
25-| Mosul piastres = 1
137^ Mosul piastres = 1
Arabistan
Currency. —The following Persian coins were current in Arabistan
before the war:
The siyahpul, a copper coin of variable value ; it has been known
to stand at ^and of the q at the same time in different
parts of Arabistan.
The shahi, nickel, -£ 0 of the qran.
The qamari, nickel, of the qran
The qran or hazar (at Shushtar and Dizful sometimes called