Some of the older issues are thin and square, with well-preserved
inscriptions, and of these a fine collection--mostly gold--may be seen
at the British Museum; but the majority, closely resembling those of
India and Persia, are rudely stamped and unmilled, not even round,
but thick, and of fairly good metal. The "floos" referred to (_sing._
"fils") are of three sizes, coarsely struck in zinc rendered hard and
yellow by the addition of a little copper. The smallest, now rarely
met with, runs about 19,500 to £1 when this is worth 32-1/2 Spanish
pesetas; the other two, still the only small change of the country,
are respectively double and quadruple its value. The next coin in
general circulation is worth 2_d._, so the inconvenience is great.
A few years ago, however, Europeans resident in Tangier resolutely
introduced among themselves the Spanish ten and five céntimo pieces,
corresponding to our 1_d._ and 1/2_d._, which are now in free local
use, but are not accepted up-country.

What passes as Moorish money to-day has been coined in France for many
years, more recently also in Germany; the former is especially neat,
but the latter lacks style. The denominations coincide with those of
Spain, whose fluctuations in value they closely follow at a respectful
distance. This autumn the "Hasáni" coin--that of Mulai el Hasan, the
late Sultan--has fallen to fifty per cent. discount on Spanish. With
the usual perversity also, the common standard "peseta," in which
small bargains are struck on the coast, was omitted, the nearest coin,
the quarter-dollar, being nominally worth ptas. 1.25. It was only
after a decade, too, that the Government put in circulation the
dollars struck in France, which had hitherto been laid up in the
treasury as a reserve. And side by side with the German issue came
abundant counterfeit coins, against which Government warnings were
published, to the serious disadvantage of the legal issue. Even the