730 EEPOET— 1888. 



Kiang; Hindu in those of the Indus and the Ganges; Chaldaean and Assyro- 

 Babylonian in those of the Tigris and Euphrates ; and Egyptian in that of the Nile. 

 India is separated from China, on the one hand, by rugged, lofty mountain ranges, 

 and the high-lying plateau of Thibet ; and from Mesopotamia, on the other, by the 

 Suleiman Mountains and the Perso- Afghan plateau. Intercommunication between 

 these early seats of man's activity must, therefore, have been of slow growth. From 

 ISIesopotamia, on the contrary, there is easj^ access to the Nile basin by way of 

 Syria and Palestine, and there are indications of traffic between these districts at a 

 very remote period. Enquiry into the causes which first led to intercommunication 

 and into the means by which it was efl'ected is needless. Desire of gain, lust of 

 power, were as much a part of human nature in the earliest ages as they are now. 

 The former induced the pioneers of commerce to feel their way across trackless 

 deserts, and to brave the hidden dangers of the sea ; and for nearly three hundred 

 years it led gallant men to seek a way to the wealth of India through the ice-laden 

 seas of the Arctic region. The latter brought the great empires of Assyria and 

 Egypt into hostile conflict, and earned Alexander to the banks of the Oxus and the 

 Indus; and it is largely answerable for the land-hunger of European states in our 

 own generation. 



Nations rise, fall, and disappear, but commerce extends in ever-widening 

 circles, and knows no limits. Efforts are constantly being made to discover and 

 open up new fields of commercial activity and to connect the great centres of com- 

 merce by quicker and shorter trade routes. The earliest traffic was conducted by 

 land ; men travelled together in caravans for mutual protection, and rested where 

 food and water were to be obtained ; at the most important of these halting places 

 cities were founded. As trade extended it became necessary to carry goods through 

 independent tribes or countries which often insisted on retaining the transit trade in 

 their own hands, and this led to the rise of cities at points convenient for the 

 transfer of loads and the exchange of the commodities of one country for those of 

 another. Generally speaking this early overland trade was co- extensive with the 

 geographical limit of the camel. Next in order to land traffic came that by 

 water, first on rivers, then on the sea; and cities naturally sprang up at 

 places on the coast where the merchandise brought down tlie rivers in boats 

 could, conveniently and safely, be transferred to galleys or ships suitable for 

 coasting. After a knowledge of the monsoons had been acquired men began to 

 trust themselves to the open sea; the ships were improved, and a system was 

 established under which voyages were made, with great regularity, at certain 

 seasons of the year so that advantage might be taken of the periodic winds. 

 Increased knowledge of the globe, improvements in the art of shipbuilding, and 

 the invention of the steam-engine have gradually led to the ocean traffic of the 

 present day, conducted by large steamers which, regardless of wind and tide, follow 

 the most direct course from one point to another. The trade routes of the world 

 are subject to two great modifying influences, one physical, the other political. The 

 inland trade of India, for instance, can only reach Central Asia and the West by way 

 of Herat or Bamian ; caravan roads across the deserts of Asia and Africa must 

 follow lines of springs or wells ; climatic conditions render all Polar routes imprac- 

 ticable ; and the removal of a physical obstacle, by the construction of the Suez 

 Canal, is now causing a remarkable redistribution of the channels of commerce. So 

 too disturbance of traflic by war, or its designed destruction by conquerors ; and 

 great political changes such as the establishment of the Persian Empire, the rise of 

 Kome, the disruption of the Roman Empire, and the advent of the Arabs to power 

 in Western Asia, divert trade from its accustomed routes and force it into new 

 channels, to the ruin of some cities and states and the enrichment of others. The 

 general tendency of trade so diverted is to seek, where possible, a maritime route, 

 for water transport is not only less costly but less liable to interruption than land 

 transport. 



India,partly from its geographical position, partly from the character of its people, 

 has always played a passive role in commerce, and allowed the initiative in commercial 

 enterprise to rest with the West. The greatest advaul ages have always been derived 

 from the possession of the trade between the East and the West, and, from a 



