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 with them. The seeds, when macerated and fermented, yielded a paste, which was imported in rolls under the name of _Orléan_, and was used in dyeing. It was also put into chocolate to deepen its color and lend an astringency which was thought to be wholesome. Tonic pills were made of it. The fibres of the bark are stronger than those of hemp. The name _Roucou_ is from the Carib _Urucu_. In commerce the dye is also known as Annotto.]