148 FOREIGN TRADE '. 



and reached the Mediterranean by Licia and Antioch, and 

 had been distributed in Europe in greater plenty and at less 

 price than that at which it could be procured when Sanuto 

 wrote. At this time, however, the trade had been directed 

 in -great measure to Aden, was transported thence by a nine 

 days' journey across the desert to Chus on the Nile, and 

 thence in fifteen days to Babylon, whence there was a canal, 

 two hundred miles long, to Alexandria. Upon this traffic the 

 Sultan levied a toll of thirty-three per cent. 



Sanuto's object is to effect a diversion of this trade from 

 the Sultan of Egypt's route to Armenia and the Black Sea. 

 He recognizes soundly enough, that as water flows to valleys, 

 so traffic follows demand b ; and that when merchants are 

 hindered or prohibited from employing any route, they, look- 

 ing to their own advantage, are sure to discover some other 

 way by which to attain their purpose . Even now, he says, 

 spices of the highest value are carried by the Asiatic route 

 to the Mediterranean, as, for instance, cc cubebse, spicum, gario- 

 phili, nuces muscatse, maci ;" whereas those of less value, as 

 pepper, ginger, frankincense, and canella, go by way of Alex- 

 andria. Even here, however, the ginger and canella which 

 passes through Asia is far better, the charge incurred by pack- 

 ing and land carriage being large, the tolls small; whereas 

 that which passes through Alexandria is visited by a heavy 

 tax, and is cc coctum et perforatum." 



The commodities against which these articles are exchanged 

 are gold and silver, copper, tin, lead, iron, and quicksilver, 

 wood, pitch, coral, and amber. Import duties are levied on 

 these articles : six and two-thirds per cent, on gold, from 

 four and a half to three and a half on silver, twenty-five, in 

 various duties, on copper or brass, twenty on tin and the 

 other articles. Besides these articles, Egypt, according to 



b c * Sicut aqua naturaliter labitur ad valles, sic mercimonia transferuntur ad loca ubi 

 magis requiruntur." 



c " Quando mercimonia constringuntur vel impediuntur taliter quod conduci nequeant 

 aliquo per unam viarn, mercatores ad utilitatem suam vigilantes, cogitant perquirunt 

 et inveniunt viarn aliarn, per quam conducunt ad locum ipsum." 



