Summary Trade By Barter

EARLY TRADE AND LEGAL TENDERS

(a) Trade by Barter

The earliest form of trade that the Ígáláà participated in was trade by barter, in which they carried their farm produce, crafts, cloths, and other commodities to markets and, there, exchanged them for the goods or services that they needed at that material time. As time went on, the barter method did not offer them satisfaction. For example, sons, there was a coincidence of needs, in which other people brought exactly the same items to the market for exchange. In such a situation, the hope of returning home with targeted goods or services were aborted. Another reason was that appropriate value could not be assigned to certain commodities, which led to lop-sided transactions in which one

The Narrative of the second expedition describes the bustling business of slave trade in coastal markets: “Under the mats and in the enclosures are to be seen male and female slaves, from the age of five up to thirty. Some of these children of misfortune, more intelligent than others, are to be seen sitting pensive and melancholy, apparently in deep thought, while their poor legs are swelled from confinement in irons, or being closely stowed at the bottom of a canoe; some are eating yams and Indian-corn bread, while their owners are making a bargain or bartering them away for elephants ' teeth or cowries.” It goes on to reveal that “A young female would fetch from sixty to twenty thousand cowries. She must, however, to command the highest price, be beautiful.” It added that “A strong, well-grown man is worth from thirty to fifty thousand cowries. A boy, pony, an ox for burthen, a donkey or common working slave, from ten to thirty thousand.” (p. 299-300). It got to a point when cowries became cumbersome and incapable of coping with the constantly rising volume of trade. Other media of exchange, like iron rods, copper wires and, later, manila (a blend of the copper and iron, see údẹ) were adopted. Manila was also used as an ornamental object, as jewelleries worn by the society’s rich

Like in the metric system, it involved units, tens and hundreds, beginning with a single unit, ‘òké.’ Cardinal numbers (or cardinals) are numbers denoting quantity (as in one/two/three or four goats or sheep). Ordinal numbers (or ordinals) are numbers showing order or sequence of occurrence, like 1st, 2nd , 3rd 4th, 6th, etc. As a cardinal, ‘òké’ (single unit) indicates quantity, ranging from one (1) to nine (9), as in ‘òké káà’ (one unit), òké méjì (two units) òké mẹ́ta (three units), etc. The cardinal, òké káà, is reduced to ‘òókáà,’ while ‘òké méjì’ is shortened to ‘èjì’ and òké mẹ́ta to ‘ẹ̀ta,’ up to ‘ẹ̀lá’ (nine), as shown below. The counting activity, which involves the use of Ordinals, starts with ‘ényẹ́,’ (one), which is the equivalent of ‘òókáà.’ It then continues with ‘èjì,’ (two), ẹ̀ta (three), ẹlẹ (four), ẹ̀lú (five) up to ‘ẹ̀lá’ (nine). ‘Ẹ̀gwá’ (ten) indicates the end of the first group of ‘one to 10