A " BRICK " OF TEA
16!n long by 8 ; n wide and about l£in thick represents 60 kopeks, equal to Is Gd. If a smaller sum is necesEary, the brick is cut up into sections, say, six of 10 kopeks each, and even these are again subdivided by the poorer Mongols. It is curious to note that although Mongolia is really Chinese territory, everything is Russian so to speak, and even the tea and silk represent an equivalent in Russian and not Chinese money. Some of the Russian merchants in Ourga have even adopted a sort of
PRIVATE BANK-NOTE SYSTEM so as to do away with the bother of haviDg to keep a large stock of loose cash — that is of "bricks" — always handy. These notes represent so many bricks each, and are redeemable on demand, but the Mongol? prefer the bulky article to the flimsy paper substitute. When, after a time, this currency becomes injured by hard usage, and chipped round the edges, it is used for the usual purposes of tea, and it may be imagined what a delightful beverage it makes after it has been passirg from hand to hand for some months among the dirty Mongols 1
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Bibliographic details
Otago Witness, Issue 2009, 25 August 1892, Page 40
Word Count
200A " BRICK " OF TEA Otago Witness, Issue 2009, 25 August 1892, Page 40
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