Spanish, Mexican and South American Dollars, worth 4s. 2d. sterling each, are the most usual medium of payment.

Previous to the year 1838 the currency of the West Indies was on a very unsatisfactory footing. Accounts were kept and reckonings made either in Pounds, Shillings, and Pence, currency, or in Dollars and Cents, and to these denominations, arbitrary values were assigned which varied in the different islands. From the over-valuation of the gold coins in circulation relatively to those of silver, the Spanish Dollar had almost wholly disappeared from circulation; mutilated coins or parts of coins had been substituted, and there was even a difficulty in retaining these latter in sufficient quantity to meet the wants of domestic interchange. The want of small silver coins for the ordinary transactions of the market and the shop led to the practice of cutting Silver Dollars into "Bills," nominal values in the currency of the islands being assigned to those Bills. In other words, the number of Bills reckoned equal to a Dollar, varied at different places; thus at Dominica, Nevis, Moulsurat, St. Kitts, Antigua and Demerara, 12 Bills, at Barbadoes 10 Bills, and at Trinidad 9 Bills, were reckoned equal to a Dollar.

A Royal Proclamation, dated 14th September, 1838, fixed the British sterling value of the Doubloon and Dollar respectively at 648., and 4s. 2d. sterling. Immediately after that Proclamation the Governors of the several islands determined the colonial currency rates at which the Doubloon, the Dollar, and the British Shilling were to be a legal tender. These rates were as follows:

Moulsurat, St. Kitts, Antigua, Nevis 7 4 0

In the Island of Jamaica, and most others of the British West Indian group, the only legal denominations of money of account are now Pounds, Shillings, and Pence sterling. The Doubloon is a legal tender, at the value of 64s., and the Dollar at the rate of 4s. 2d. sterling, and gold and silver coins of Great Britain are a legal tender to any amount at the rates current in Great Britain.

WEST INDIES. (Spanish.)

CUBA, PORTO-RICO, AND THE ISLETS OF MARGARITA, TESTIGOS, TORTUGA, BLANQUILLA, ORCHILLA, ROCA, AND AVES.

The denominations of money in which accounts are kept are the same as those of Spain. (See Spain.)

The current coins are gold Doubloons and silver Dollars and their subdivisions. (See Mexico.)

COURSE OF EXCHANGE.

Exchanges are quoted by per centages upon the amounts in sterling money. The exchange fluctuates from 6 to about 20 per cent. premium.

WEST INDIES. (Dutch.)

VIZ.,

BONAIRE, CURACOA, ORUBA, ST. MARTIN, SABA, AND

ST. EUSTATIUS.

The money, weights and measures are the same as those of the Netherlands, which see.

ST. THOMAS, ST. JOHN, ST. CROIX.

The money, weights and measures, are the same as those of Denmark, which see.

WEST INDIES. (Swedish.)

VIZ.,

ST. BARTHOLOMEW.

The money, weights and measures, are the same as those of Sweden, which see.

HAYTI (or Hispaniola, or St. Domingo).

Accounts are kept in current Dollars (called Gourdes) and nts.

The native currency consists of Depreciated Paper Gourdes, and of copper coins.

The value of the Paper Gourde is very fluctuating. It may be taken, however, at about 16 Haytian Gourdes or Dollars for 1 Spanish Dollar. This would give 34d. sterling as the English value of the Paper Gourde, or about 77 Gourdes for £1 sterling.

The chief medium of payment in all small transactions is copper money, consisting of 1 and 2 Cent Pieces.

Some old silver pieces of 25 and 50 Cents (called Gourdins) and of 2 cents are still in circulation. Their value is four times that of the paper money, the 25 Cent Piece being equal to 1 Paper Gourde.

In large commercial dealings with foreign countries the chief medium of payment consists of Spanish, Mexican, and South American gold Doubloons and silver Dollars, and their subdivisions. The Doubloon-64s. and the Dollar=4s. 2d. sterling.

COLOMBIA (United States of).

VIZ.,

NEW GRANADA, VENEZUELA AND ECUADOR.

In wholesale commercial transactions, merchants reckon in Dollars of 9 Reals, or 10 Decimos, or 100 Centavos, but generally in practice only two denominations, namely Dollars and Centavos, are used in keeping accounts.

In domestic trade retail dealers and shopkeepers are in the habit of reckoning by the Sencilla, or Macuquina Dollar, divided into 8 Reals, thus:

8 Reals =

1 Sencilla, or Macuquina Dollar = 3s. 4d. The Macuquina Dollar is a coin of an inferior standard of fineness, and is equal in value to about #ths of a Spanish or an American Dollar; so that 4 Spanish or American Dollars are equal to 5 Macuquina Dollars.

Colombia having no special coinage of her own uses the currencies of other countries, assigning thereto definite rates.

The Centavo and the Half-Centavo, equal respectively to d. and d. sterling, are the nominal copper coins, but all copper moneys of equal value are accepted, such as the French 5 Centime Piece, the English Half-penny, and the American Cent.

The gold coins current in British Guiana are English Sovereigns and Half-Sovereigns at their full nominal value; Spanish, Mexican, and South American Doubloons, at the rate of 64s. sterling each, and United States Eagles, Half-Eagles, Quarter-Eagles, and Gold Dollars at the respective rates of 41s., 20s. 6d., 10s. 3d., and 4s. 1d. sterling.

SILVER COINS.

The silver coins of Great Britain are in circulation, as also Dollars of Spain, Mexico, and South America.

Previous to the year 1839 accounts in British Guiana were kept in Guilders, Stivers, and Pfennings.

British sterling value. jd. 1s. 1jd.

The metallic currency consisted of tokens of various denominations, from 3 Guilder Pieces downwards, coined at the British Mint; of British silver coins, and of Mexican and South American Dollars. In 1839 Dollars and Cents were established as the legal moneys of account and the old currency was converted into Dollars at the rate of 3 Guilders for a Dollar. The local government paper currency, consisting of Joe notes and Half-Joe notes (the Joe being equal to 22 Guilders), was at the same time rendered convertible into specie of the Dollar currency at the same rate of 3 Guilders for a Dollar.

In order to meet the wants of the negroes and the labouring peasantry, who were in the habit of computing by Bitts, that is, fractional parts of the currency, the Dollar was declared equal to 12 Bitts, the Shilling to 3 Bitts, the Fourpenny Piece to 1 Bitt, and the Twopenny Piece to Half-a-Bitt.

BANK NOTES.

There are notes (of the British Guiana Bank and of the Colonial Bank) for 5, 10, and 20 Dollars. These are payable in silver on demand.

CAYENNE (or French Guiana).

Money, weights and measures, same as those of France.