in the reign of Louis XIV-about sixty cents, from which it
fell rapidly to the epoch of the Revolution, when its value was only
nineteen cents, and the franc took its place.

It is plain from this, that, when livres are spoken of during a period
of a hundred years, their precise equivalent in English or American
money cannot be stated,--still less their market-relations to all
the necessaries of life. The reader can therefore procure from the
statistics of these periods only an approximative idea of the values of
crops and the wealth created by their passing into trade.

A great deal of the current specie of the island consisted of Spanish
and Portuguese coin, introduced by illegal trade. A Spanish _piastre
gourde_ in 1776 was rated at 7-1/2 livres, and sometimes was worth 8-1/4
livres. A _piastre gourde_ was a dollar. If we represent this dollar
by one hundred cents, we can approach the value of the French livre,
because the _gourde_ passed in France for only 5-1/4 livres; that is,
a livre had already fallen to the value of the present franc, or about
nineteen cents.

The difference of value between Paris and the colony was the cause of
great embarrassment. Projects for establishing an invariable money were
often discussed, but never attempted. All foreign specie ought to have
become merchandise in the colony, and to have passed according to its
title and weight. Exchange of France with San Domingo was at 66-2/3:
that is, 66 livres, 13 sols, 4 deniers tournois were worth a hundred
livres in the Antilles. Deduct one-third from any sum to find the sum in
livres tournois.

Pounds. Livres.
Sugar, {To France, 166,353,834 for 61,849,381
{Abroad, 104,099,866 " 38,703,720

Coffee, {To France, 61,991,699 " 29,421,039
{Abroad, 50,058,246 " 23,757,464

Indigo, {To France, 2,067,498 " 17,573,733
{Abroad, 1,130,638 " 9,610,423

Cacao, {To France, 1,562,027 " 1,093,419
{Abroad, 794,275 " 555,992

Roucou,[D] {To France, 352,216 " 220,369
{Abroad, 153,178 " 95,838

Cotton, {To France, 3,407,157 " 11,017,892
{Abroad, 102,011 " 255,027

[Footnote D: This was the scarlet dye of the Caribs, which they procured
from the red pulpy covering of the seeds of the _Bixa orellana_, by
simply rubbing their bodies w