352 ITALIAN TRADE WITH 



CHAP. XIII. 



Emperor Charlemagne, and by decrees of the 

 Popes, was continued in a contraband way to 

 a very profitable extent. The inhabitants of 

 Amalfi shared the disgrace and the profit of this 

 trade with the Venetians, and both were soon 

 afterwards joined in it by the cities of Genoa 

 and of Pisa. Before the commencement of the 

 crusades, the ships of those states found a bene- 

 ficial employment in conveying to Palestine the 

 crowds of pilgrims which flocked from every 

 part of Christendom to offer their devotions at 

 the sacred shrine of Jerusalem. The Amalfians 

 had obtained permission to establish a factory in 

 the holy city, at that time in the power of a 

 sultan of the race of the Fatemites, which served 

 as a shelter for pilgrims, and as a storehouse for 

 the commodities which Europe furnished to the 

 Mahometans. Those Italian states were the 

 channels by which the gold from India, from 

 the eastern shores of Africa, and from the inte- 

 rior of that continent, flowed into Europe. The 

 Byzantines drew some of it by their land trade 

 with the east, some of it reached Asia Minor by 

 the cities on the Persian gulf, and some was 

 brought either by the Red Sea or by the cara- 

 vans, which after crossing that sea near the 

 straits of Babelmandel passed the whole length 

 of Arabia on the eastern side of it. 



A modern writer on this subject observes, 

 that " the Lombards and the Franks, who ruled 



