658 THE EVOLUTION OF COMMERCE. 
first they sailed only with the wind, but by slow degrees they learned 
to tack; then decks were built over the stern and prow, leaving the 
midships exposed to the high seas. This class of vessels, sometimes 
with banks of oars, continued until the middle of the last century. In 
the early part of the fifteenth century smaller but stronger vessels of 
better material were built for the voyages of discovery undertaken by 
the Portuguese. At this time, also, {fhe mariner’s compass was brought 
into general use, having been introduced from Arabia; eighty years 
later it found its way to England. Two of the vessels of Columbus 
were decked only at the prow and stern, and the three were manned 
by 120 men. 
The armada of Queen Elizabeth was formed of merchant vessels fitted 
up as men-of-war, and not until the time of Charles I were there any 
regular ships of war in England or, probably, in other countries. 
Commerce was usually carried on by companies, with rules regulat- 
ing the quantity of goods to be exported, so that the market should not 
be over-stocked and unremunerative prices obtained. Sometimes the 
merchant was owner of the vessel, who adventured with his cargo and 
sailed in his own ship. The ships were constructed with little reference 
to speed, sailing 40 or 50 miles a day.* 
The steam engine came into use near the middle of the eighteenth 
century in England, and two generations passed before it was used on 
vessels. The first steamboat ran on the Hudson in 1807, in England in 
1812. Then another generation passed before the ocean was crossed 
by the Sirius and Great Western, in 1833. These ships sailed from 7 to 
8 knots an hour. Ten years later iron ships were built; then came the 
propeller, the invention of Ericsson, followed by vessels built of steel, 
and lastly the City of Paris and Majestic, carrying 1,500 tons of freight 
and sailing 500 knots a day, or 20 knots an hour. 
Until the present century all commerce between remote points was 
by water, excepting in the Roman Empire. After the downfall of 
Rome there was neither commerce nor travel and no use for roads, the 
cost of transportation even for a short distance exceeding the value of 
the goods. 
The railroad was introduced about the same time into England and 
America, and was rapidly extended into every country. The steam 
engine on land and water has revolutionized the methods of transpor- 
tation and created a new commerce. ‘The movement of goods in a 
year on all the through routes of the world did not then equal the 
movement on a single one of our trunk lines of railroad for the same 
period.” Formerly it cost $10 to move a ton of freight 100 miles; now 
it can be moved 1,300 miles for the same sum. The grain and corn 
from our Western lands, then not worth the transportation to the sea- 
coast, are now sold in London, and our prairies yield to the Western 
*The breadth was about one-fourth the length, and not until within forty years 
were the proportions of one-tenth or one-twelfth of the breadth obtained. 
