558 TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION E. 
Mediterranean: Spices no doubt were less talked about, less prominent as 
symbols of wealth, than gems and jewels, fine woods and ivory, but they formed 
the basis of a larger trade, which was in the aggregate probably more profitable 
than that in the still more costly wares. 
The geographical relations between India and the Mediterranean necessarily 
determined the routes followed by this traffic. ‘These routes were singularly few. 
They were practically confined for the most part to minor variations in two main 
routes, one by way of the Red Sea, the other by the Persian Gulf. At more than 
one period of history, in very early times in the days of the splendour of Assyria 
and Babylonia, and again in the flourishing days of the Caliphs of Baghdad, the 
Persian Gulf route had a peculiar advantage in the existence of the large and rich 
populations that afforded an intermediate market; and another important fact 
in the relations of geography and commerce, one that has had vast effects on 
human history, is that the physical conditions of the area between the head of the 
Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean are and throughout human history have been 
such as to make the most convenient outlet of that route some point or points on 
that seaboard which in ancient times was known as Pheenicia. Between that 
seaboard and the Euphrates the desert is sufficiently narrowed to be most easily 
crossed. The most favoured outlets on this seaboard were not always the same. 
They varied in different circumstances, which gave a different geographical value 
now to one point, now to another. But on these variations, interesting and 
instructive as they are from a geographical point of view, there is no time to enter 
on this occasion, and it will be enough to call attention to a very interesting paper 
by the late Elisée Reclus entitled ‘La Phénicie et les Phéniciens,’ dealing with 
this and other matters connected with the geographical basis of Phcenician com- 
merce and,industry, a paper too that is apt to be overlooked, inasmuch as it was 
contributed by him with a generosity characteristic of one of the least self-seeking 
natures with which the world was ever blessed to a rather out of the way 
publication, the ‘ Bull. de la Soc. Neuchateloise de Géog.’ (vol. xii. 1900). But 
while I do not desire to enter into details regarding the Phcenicians it is necessary 
to point out how naturally and indeed inevitably this position of the Phoenician 
cities between the Mediterranean on the one hand and Mesopotamia and the 
Persian Gulf route to India on the other hand brought other sources of wealth in 
its train. Conveniences for the distribution of manufactured goods have always 
been one of the most important advantages for the development of manufacturing 
industry, and the wealthier the community forming the market for the products 
of such industry the more valuable are the manufactures likely to be. Hence the 
Phcenician manufactures of fine linens and woollens richly dyed, glass and metal 
wares, for which other parts of the Mediterranean and its seaboard furnished the 
raw materials, slaves to do the manual labour, and food for that population which 
the narrow strip of Phoenicia could not adequately supply. Food is indeed a bulky 
commodity, but even bulky commodities could be transported by sea at a rela- 
tively small cost, and in connection with this traffic we must note the indirect 
effect which the wealth of Phcenicia must have had in promoting the settlement 
of districts favourably situated for supplying food, and especially of such districts 
where the opportunities for producing food were great, but not fully turned to 
account, where the supply therefore could easily be made superabundant in 
proportion to the wants of the population. This shows that from the very nature 
of commerce its benefits are not confined to one side. Although the geographical 
conditions for a long period of time led to a special accumulation of the wealth 
due to commerce on Pheenicia, Phcenician trade promoted the growth of wealth 
and civilisation elsewhere. The Greeks of the Hgean distinctly recognised what 
they owed to the Pheenicians, and they in their turn derived much wealth from 
Eastern trade, even though not so directly as the Phcenicians, and they in their 
turn derived some of the food for a commercial population from the far west— 
from Syracuse, Sybaris, and even the distant Kume. But the far east had a 
peculiar fascination. As the articles from which much of the wealth of commerce 
was derived originally came from India, it was natural that the idea should arise 
that India was a wealthy country, a country well worth possessing. I am not 
