Post by Deleted on May 31, 2016 11:38:35 GMT
When the men chose to leave the castle , they were given marked shells, rather like ostraka. These could be exchanged for things in the villages, fish, rice, sake, a fermented drink made from rice, and such, and, in the stalls, beads, cloth, trinkets, and such.
These shells were not typical Pani currency, which, for the most part, consisted of metal coins, of silver, gold, and copper, of various certified weights, struck by various shoguns. As on the continent there is no common currency, but a variety of currencies , which often entails rumors, scales, bargainings, and such.
Many of these coins, not all, were perforated in the center. One threads one or more such coins on a string, the string fastened about the bottom and top coin, or loops a string through several coins, and ties the loop shut above the top coin. In this way the coins are kept together , perhaps tied about one’s waist, under the clothing, or put about one’s neck, under the clothing, or simply dropped into a pouch, usually of silk.
Lesser Pani sometimes, on errands, carry the coin or coins in the mouth, rather as slaves may on the continent, and on the islands, while marketing for their masters. The marked shells, then, I gathered, were rather in the nature of a form of script. I also gathered that if the villagers did not accept them they risked the loss of an eye, a hand, a foot, or a head. As long as they were unquestioningly exchanged, of course, at least in the local villages, the nature of the material made little difference.
The marking on the shells , in part done in dots, presumably for our benefit, stipulated the value to be assigned to the shell. One bargained, of course, with such things , much as one might with pieces of metal, or, in the Barrens, with beads, strips of leather, furs, blankets, arrowheads, bowstrings, slaves, and such. In one village there was a slave hut, as alluded to, popular with the men, whose occupants I looked in on, but did not put to use. Their use cost a two-dot shell.
Norman, John. Mariners of Gor (Kindle Locations 6809-6823)
Most rice is grown in village fields, several villages often under the rule of a single daimyo. These villages pay the rice tax, supplied primarily in produce, rice itself, to the daimyo , and the shogun receives his tax, usually in kind, as well, from the daimyos. Sometimes, too, the tax is supplied in terms of men, serving as porters, workers, and Ashigaru. Some villages, on the other hand, are under the rule of the shogun himself, so he profits both in virtue of a direct and an indirect tax. To be sure, silver , gold, and copper also function as means of exchange in the islands, either in the form of marked coinages or as plates and bars. Similarly various forms of produce other than rice may be taxed, exchanged by bartering, and so on. Fishing villages, of course, share portions of their catch, fresh, or dried, with their patrons and protectors, these goods gathered by low-level administrative officials. A great deal of the exchange in the islands is effected by barter. It was thus not all that unusual that many of the slaves of the holding of Lord Temmu had been exchanged for rice. What was unusual was the desperation on the part of the besieged to obtain rice, and the ratio of exchange, often as surprising as one fukuro for a slave.
Norman, John. Rebels of Gor (Gorean Saga Book 33) (Kindle Locations 3042-3054)
These shells were not typical Pani currency, which, for the most part, consisted of metal coins, of silver, gold, and copper, of various certified weights, struck by various shoguns. As on the continent there is no common currency, but a variety of currencies , which often entails rumors, scales, bargainings, and such.
Many of these coins, not all, were perforated in the center. One threads one or more such coins on a string, the string fastened about the bottom and top coin, or loops a string through several coins, and ties the loop shut above the top coin. In this way the coins are kept together , perhaps tied about one’s waist, under the clothing, or put about one’s neck, under the clothing, or simply dropped into a pouch, usually of silk.
Lesser Pani sometimes, on errands, carry the coin or coins in the mouth, rather as slaves may on the continent, and on the islands, while marketing for their masters. The marked shells, then, I gathered, were rather in the nature of a form of script. I also gathered that if the villagers did not accept them they risked the loss of an eye, a hand, a foot, or a head. As long as they were unquestioningly exchanged, of course, at least in the local villages, the nature of the material made little difference.
The marking on the shells , in part done in dots, presumably for our benefit, stipulated the value to be assigned to the shell. One bargained, of course, with such things , much as one might with pieces of metal, or, in the Barrens, with beads, strips of leather, furs, blankets, arrowheads, bowstrings, slaves, and such. In one village there was a slave hut, as alluded to, popular with the men, whose occupants I looked in on, but did not put to use. Their use cost a two-dot shell.
Norman, John. Mariners of Gor (Kindle Locations 6809-6823)
Most rice is grown in village fields, several villages often under the rule of a single daimyo. These villages pay the rice tax, supplied primarily in produce, rice itself, to the daimyo , and the shogun receives his tax, usually in kind, as well, from the daimyos. Sometimes, too, the tax is supplied in terms of men, serving as porters, workers, and Ashigaru. Some villages, on the other hand, are under the rule of the shogun himself, so he profits both in virtue of a direct and an indirect tax. To be sure, silver , gold, and copper also function as means of exchange in the islands, either in the form of marked coinages or as plates and bars. Similarly various forms of produce other than rice may be taxed, exchanged by bartering, and so on. Fishing villages, of course, share portions of their catch, fresh, or dried, with their patrons and protectors, these goods gathered by low-level administrative officials. A great deal of the exchange in the islands is effected by barter. It was thus not all that unusual that many of the slaves of the holding of Lord Temmu had been exchanged for rice. What was unusual was the desperation on the part of the besieged to obtain rice, and the ratio of exchange, often as surprising as one fukuro for a slave.
Norman, John. Rebels of Gor (Gorean Saga Book 33) (Kindle Locations 3042-3054)