sous-pieces

Updated: May 6, 2025

The French governor received the Prince and his suite, very well; he caused them to be paid about sixty francs in two sous-pieces; this sum seemed enormous to them; for they were extremely satisfied with it: this gives ground to suppose that they were not acquainted with the value of the gourde, when they demanded eight hundred for the ransom of each of the two travellers.

Alexandre Corréard - Narrative of a Voyage to Senegal in 1816: Undertaken by Order of the French Government, Comprising an Account: of the Shipwreck of the Medusa, the Sufferings of the Crew, and the: Various Occurrences on Board the Raft, in the Desert of Zaara, at: St. Louis, and at the Camp of Daccard. to Which Are Subjoined: Observations Respecting the Agriculture of the Western Coast of: Africa, from Cape Blanco to the Mouth of the Gambia.

These were chiefly exchanged for bars of copper, which were made into a very clumsy kind of coin for paying the native and European troops, as well as the people employed in the counting-houses of Java and the Moluccas. These ingots are of the finest red copper, and as thick as the finger. They are cut into two, four, six, and eight sous-pieces of Holland. The value is inscribed on them.

William Henry Giles Kingston - Old Jack