THE NATURAL HISTORY OF DISTANT LANDS 23 



Phoenicians, and Greeks explored every known sea, 

 and brought to Mediterranean ports a variety of 

 foreign wares. Under the Roman empire strange 

 animals were imported to amuse the populace ; silk, 

 pearls, gay plumage, dyes, and drugs to gratify the 

 luxury of the rich. 



Long after the fall of the empire foreign trade was 

 kept up along the coasts of the Mediterranean. Con- 

 stantinople was still a great emporium. Silk was not 

 only imported from the East, but cultivated around 

 Constantinople in the sixth century. The cotton plant, 

 the sugarcane, the orange tree, and the lemon tree 

 gradually spread northward and westward until they 

 became established in Italy, Spain, and the islands of 

 the Mediterranean. 



Western Europe had during many centuries little 

 share in this commerce. The large and conspicuous 

 animals of Africa and Asia, such as the elephant, 

 camel, camelopard, ostrich, pelican, parrot, and croco- 

 dile, would have passed out of knowledge altogether 

 but for chance mention in the Bible and the Bestiaries. 

 Little \vas done to supplement native food-plants and 

 drugs by imported products, and the knowledge of 

 foreign vegetation became as indistinct as that of 

 foreign animals. 



In the thirteenth century communication between 

 Western Europe and the far East was restored. China 

 \vas thrown open by the Tartar conquest, and Marco 

 Polo was able to reach the court of Khan Kublai. 

 Pilgrims from the Holy Land brought back information 

 which, however scanty it might be, was eagerly 

 received. One of the earliest printed books (1486) 

 contains the travels of Bernard of Breydenbach, a 

 canon of Mainz, whose narrative is adorned by curious 



