iv INTRODUCTORY NOTES
Burmese Words
Burmese and some of the languages on the frontier of China have
the following special sounds :-
aw has the vowel-sound in ' law.'
61 and u are,pronounced as in German.
gy is pronounced almost like j in ' jewel.'
ky is pronounced almost like chin.' church.'
th is pronounced in. some cases as in.':this,' in, some cases as in
' thin.'
w after a consonant has the force of uw. Thus, ywa and pwe
are disyllables, pronounced as if written yuwa and,puwe.
It should also be noted that, whereas in Indian words the accent
or stress is distributed almost equally on each syllable, in Burmese
there is a tendency to throw special stress on the last syllable.
General
The names of some places-e.g. Calcutta, Bombay, Lucknow,
Cawnpore-have obtained a popular fixity of spelling, while' special
forms have been officially prescribed for others. Names of persons
are often spelt and pronounced differently in different parts of India;
but the, variations have been made as-few as possible by assimilating
forms almost alike, especially where a particular spelling has been
generally adopted in English books:
NOTES ON MONEY, PRICES, WEIGHTS AND MEASURES
As the currency of India is based upon the rupee; all statements
with regard to money throughout the Gazetteer have necessarily been,
expressed in rupees, nor has it been found possible to add generally
a conversion into sterling. Down to about 1873 the:gold value' of
the rupee (containing 165 grains of pure silver) was approximately
equal to 2s., or one-tenth of a £ ; and for that period it is easy to
convert rupees into sterling. by striking off, the final cipher (Rs. i,ooo
_ £.roe), . But after r873, owing to the depreciation of silver as,
compared with gold throughout the world, there came a serious. and
progressive fall in the exchange, until at one time the gold value of
the rupee dropped as low as is. In order to provide a ,remedy for
the heavy loss caused to the Government of India in respect of its
gold, payments to . be made in England, and also to relieve foreign .
trade and finance. from the inconvenience due to constant and
unforeseen fluctuations in exchange, it was resolved in 1893 to close
the.mints to the free coinage of silver, and thus force up the value of
the rupee by restricting the circulation. The intention was to raise
|
![[Digital South Asia Library]](/graphics/thirdlevel.gif)
