Taels.—Dollars.—Exchange.—Silver Shoes.—Foreign Mints
Taels.—Dollars.—Exchange.—Silver Shoes.—Foreign Mints.
She was not long out from England, and a comprador order was as yet an unnatural phenomenon to her. She supposed it was something like a cheque upon a bank, or a circular note, with which Continental travel had made her intimately acquainted. "What is the value of a dollar in English money?" she had asked before starting on her tour from Shanghai. "Oh yes, I understand it depends upon the exchange. I used always to keep myself in gloves on what one gained in Italy. Now it is horrid; one gains nothing. I don't quite know why it is. But how much about is the dollar worth, when exchange is—is—nothing particular?" Then she had such long speeches made to her, and heard so much conflicting information, she felt deafened, but ultimately arrived at the conclusion that there were about—yes! about six dollars in an English pound, and there ought not to be so many. Now, somewhat to her consternation, she discovered that her comprador orders had taels printed upon them; so she made out her order in taels, secretly wondering what they were. She had never seen them.121
"Do you think I got the right exchange?" she asked of her Boy; then, trying to suit herself to his needs, and speak English "as it is spoke," "He pay my right money?"
"My no savey what thing one taelee catchee Hankow side," said the Boy, with flippancy but decision. He came from farther inside the province.
She felt abashed, and supposed she must just take her money, hoping it was right. Next time she would be wiser. Arrived at Ichang, she scratched out taels, and was about to write in dollars.
"Dollars! Dollars aren't known at Ichang," said the Captain.
"What had I better do?" she asked of the oldest resident. Again she was overwhelmed with words. But she gathered she ought to ask for taels.
"Taels don't exist," said the Captain. "I never saw a tael, did you? He'll bring you your money in lumps of silver, if you don't take care."
"Yes," said the old resident, "you had better not get lumps of silver."
"They vary in value, according to the quality of the silver," persisted the Captain. "You won't know what to do with them. You can't break them up. You will have to weigh them. And what can you pay for in lumps of silver? Nobody will take them for anything you want to buy."
銀兩——銀元——匯率——銀鞋——外國造幣廠
她從英國來中國的時間不長，對於買辦的訂單還很陌生。她以為這東西像支票或者旅行支票，因為她在歐洲旅行時經常接觸這些。“一個銀元值多少英鎊？”她在從上海出發旅行前問道。“哦，是的，我知道這取決於匯率。我以前在意大利時，總是用匯率差額來買手套。現在匯率變得很糟糕，什麼也賺不到。我不太明白為什麼。但在匯率一般時，一個銀元大概值多少英鎊？”她聽到了一大段解釋，信息相互矛盾，使她感到困惑，但最終得出結論，一英鎊大概值六個銀元，而不應該是這麼多。現在，她有點不安地發現她的買辦訂單上印有銀兩，所以她用銀兩填寫訂單，心裡暗自琢磨這到底是什麼。她從未見過銀兩。
“你認為我換到正確的匯率了嗎？”她問她的僕人，然後試著迎合他的需求，用簡單的英語說，“他付我對的錢了嗎？”
“我不懂銀兩是什麼東西，”僕人輕率但堅決地說。他來自更內陸的省份。