d in Chapter xxxi.

The first Philippine bank was opened in Manila by a certain Francisco
Rodriguez about the year 1830.

From the conquest up to the year 1857 there was no Philippine
coinage. Mexican dollars were the only currency, and in default of
subsidiary money these dollars, called _pesos_, were cut. In 1764 cut
money was prohibited, and small Spanish silver and copper coins came
to the Islands. In 1799 the Gov.-General forbade the exportation of
money, and fixed the peso at 8 _reales fuertes_ and the _real_ at
17 _cuartos._ Shortly afterwards gold came to the Islands, and was
plentiful until 1882. In 1837 other copper coins came from Spain,
and the _real fuerte_ was fixed at 20 _cuartos_. In 1857 the Manila
mint was established, _pesetas_ were introduced, five being equal to
one peso, and 32 cuartos being equal to one peseta. Contemporaneously
the coinage in Spain was 34 cuartos to one peseta and 5 pesetas to
one _duro_--the coin nominally equivalent to the peso--but the duro
being subdivided into 20 _reales vellon_, the colonial real fuerte
came to be equivalent to 2 1/2 reales vellon. The evident intention
was to have one common nominal basis (peso and duro), but subdivided
in a manner to limit the currency of the colonial coinage to its own
locality. With pesos, reales, cuartos, maravedis, and ounces of gold,
bookkeeping was somewhat complicated; however, the Government accounts
were rendered easy by a decree dated January 17, 1857, which fixed
pesos and cents for official reckoning. Merchants then adopted this
standard. Up to 1860 gold was so abundant that as much as 10 per cent,
was paid to exchange an _onza_ of gold (P16) for silver. In 1878 gold
and silver were worth their nominal relative values. Gold, however,
has gradually disappeared from the Colony, large quantities having
been exported to China. In 1881 the current premium for purchasing
gold was 2 per cent., and at the beginning of 1885 as much as 10 per
cent. premium was paid for Philippine gold of the Isabella II or
any previous coinage. The gold currency of Alfonso XII. (1875-85)
was always of less intrinsic value than the coin of earlier date,
the difference averaging about 2 per cent. At the present day gold
could only be obtained in very limited quantities at about the same
rate as sight drafts on Europe. Philippine gold pieces are rare.

In 1883 Mexican dollars of a later coinage than 1877 were called
in, and a term was fixed after which