According to him, the productions
of the East came to the Venetians in two different ways. Cloves, nutmegs,
pearls, gems, and other articles of great value, and small bulk, were
conveyed up the Persian Gulf and the Tigris to Bassora, and thence to
Bagdat; from which they were carried to some port in the Mediterranean. The
more bulky and less valuable articles were conveyed by Arabian merchants to
the Red Sea, and thence across the desert and down the Nile to Alexandria.
He adds, that ginger and cinnamon, being apt to spoil on shipboard, were
from ten to twenty per cent. better in quality, when brought by land
carriage, though this conveyance was more expensive.
From the works of Sanuto, it appears that sugar and silk were the two
articles from their trade in which the Saracens derived the greatest
portion of their wealth. Cyprus, Rhodes, Amorea, and Marta (probably
Malta), produced sugar; silk was the produce of Apulia, Romania, Crete, and
Cyprus. Egypt was celebrated, as in old times, for the fineness of its
flax; European flax was far inferior. The Egyptian manufactures of linen,
silk, and linen and silk mixed, and also the dates and cassia of that
country were exported to Turkey, Africa, the Black Sea, and the western
ports of Europe, either in Saracen or Christian vessels. In return for
these articles, the Egyptians received from Europe, gold, silver, brass,
tin, lead, quicksilver, coral, and amber: of these, several were again
exported from Egypt to Ethiopia and India, particularly brass and tin.
Pages:
537
538
539
540
541
542
543
544
545
546
547
548
549
550
551
552
553
554
555
556
557
558
559
560
561