the bartering of one product
for another (and it is still much in vogue)--food, mantas, birds,
stock, lands, houses, fields, slaves, fisheries, palms, nipa-groves,
woodlands, and other similar products. Sometimes those products were
sold for a price, which was paid in gold, according to the terms of the
agreement. Thus they traded among themselves with the products of their
own lands, and with foreigners from other nations for products peculiar
to them; and for this they were wont to have their deferred payments,
their days of reckoning, and their bondsmen who were concerned
therein--but with exorbitant profits, because they were all usurers.

488. In regard to money of silver or gold they did not possess it
in that [early] time. Those metals were employed in their trading
only by the weight, which was used alone for silver and gold;
and that weight they called talaro, and was indicated by balances,
like ours. They reckoned and divided by this. And after they learned
about money they gave to each piece its proper name, taking the coin
that we call "toston," or "real of four," as the basis for greater
sums. This they called salapi, although that is the common term
for all kinds of money. They divided the salapi into two cahatis,
the cahatis into two seycapat, the seycapat into two seycavalos, the
seycavalo into two calatios, the calatio (which they call aliu) into
the cuding, etc. All this division was regulated by tostons in this
manner: the cahati signifies one-half toston; seycapat, the fourth
part; seycavalo, the eighth; calatio is the Tagalog cuartillo; [356]
and so on. In order to say "three reals," they say tatlongbahagui,
that is, three parts of the toston. From the toston on, they count up
to ten, and from ten to twenty, etc. Consequently, in their language
they use this expression for ours, saying, "I ask ten and one more,"
or "I ask one for twenty;" and so on. But now since they know what
pesos are, that is, reals of eight, some of them reckon by pesos,
which is more familiar to the Spaniards. But most of them do not
forget their salapis, nor the method of reckoning used by the ancients.

489. The gold, which they call guinto, was also reckoned by weight. The
largest weight is the tahel, which is the weight of ten reals of
silver--or, as we say, of one escudo. The half-tahel is called tinga,
which is the weight of five reals. The fourth part is called sapaha,
which is two and one-half reals. They also used o