OCEAN, THE UNIVERSAL HIGHWAY 219 



expert coasting sailors, but when out of sight of land 

 were helpless from lack of the mathematical and 

 astronomical knowledge which was a monopoly of the 

 Arabs. 



When, however, these latter fierce seamen began 

 to invade Europe their sea-lore soon became common 

 property, with the result that the Mediterranean be- 

 came the great cockpit wherein the struggle for 

 supremacy between East and West was waged for 

 centuries. The energetic and astute Italians excelled 

 in the new art, and although each petty republic, 

 Pisa, Genoa, Venice, fought steadily for their own 

 aggrandisement, careless apparently whether it was 

 against each other or the infidel, it was against the 

 Arab that they always combined whenever they did do 

 so. Even then they did not scruple to enlist the Moor 

 or Arab whenever possible, having the greatest respect 

 for his courage and ability, and the position of Othello 

 must have been quite a common one among the Italian 

 republics of the Middle Ages. 



Yet, in spite of the almost incessant internecine 

 strife, in spite of the ever-present necessity of waging 

 war against the infidel, there was a vast amount of 

 traffic carried on, and the argosies of the Italian 

 republics gradually pushed on until they passed into 

 the dreaded Atlantic and brought their wares to 

 Britain, now by constant intercourse with France and 

 Scandinavia becoming ripe for a commerce of her own. 

 The Moorish invasion of Spain and Portugal had also 

 imbued these valiant descendants of the old Koman 

 colonists and the aboriginal inhabitants with the desire 

 of seeking new outlets for trade and conquest over- 

 sea ; and so it came about that, even in the throes of 



