92 CONCHOLOGIST’S COMPANION. 
the commander of a ship engaged in the Indian trade, 
ventured, about fourscore years after Egypt was 
annexed to the Roman empire, to relinquish the 
slow and gradual course through which the commo- 
dities of India had found their way into Egypt, 
and stretching boldly from the mouth of the 
Arabian Gulf across the ocean, was carried by the 
western monsoon to Musiris, a harbour in that part 
of India, now known by the name of the Malabar 
coast. 
The discovery of this route to India was considered 
of great importance, and Musiris as well as Barace, a 
harbour not far distant, were continually resorted to 
by the Indian and Egyptian merchants. Hence the 
splendid productions of the East, its elegant manu- 
factures, spices, aromatics, precious stones and pearls, 
were more readily diffused among nations possessed 
of wealth sufficient to purchase them; and Rome, the 
ancient capital of the empire, and Constantinople, 
the new seat of government, were supplied with the 
precious commodities of that country by the mer- 
chants of Alexandria. 
Under the Emperor Justinian, Persia became a 
rival to Rome, in the Indian seas. About four- 
score years after his decease, the conquests of 
Mahomet occasioned a considerable revolution in 
Oriental commerce; and at length the same com- 
