Susa occupied nearly a half year of 

 time. 



The next great extension of the com- 

 merce of the West with the East was 

 that developed by the Romans. While 

 they were not a commercial people in 

 the generally accepted sense of the word, 

 the fact that they were compelled to 

 supply the wants of the luxurious ele- 

 ment of a city having more than one 

 million people led them to cultivate a 

 much greater trade with the Orient than 

 had been ever before known. Their 

 area at the west and north extended to 

 the Atlantic and the British Isles, and 

 at the south included the coasts of 

 Africa, and on the east touched the Red 

 Sea and the Persian Gulf, through 

 which they had ready access to India. 

 Their vessels were a considerable ad- 

 vance upon those of the Phoenicians, 

 though still propelled in part by oars, 

 and a large trade was carried on with 

 India, extending to Ceylon, where ex- 

 changes of merchandise were made with 

 coasting vessels from China. This trade 

 was chiefly in the luxuries which India 

 could supply to the wealthy Romans, 

 and it is stated that the silk brought 

 from China was considered worth its 

 weight in gold, and that as much as 

 $240,000 was paid for a single pearl 



from India. The chief articles drawn 

 from the Orient by the Romans were 

 cotton goods, silks, ivory, carvings, 

 spices, incense, perfumes, ointments, 

 jewelry, pearls, sapphires, and dia- 

 monds, and the articles sent in exchange 

 included woolen and linen cloths, glass, 

 tin, wines, and gold and silver. 



Even the darkness of the middle ages 

 did not terminate the commercial rela- 

 tions of the Occident with the Orient. 

 The great commercial city of Venice, 

 which sprang into existence with the 

 decadence of the Roman Empire, de- 

 veloped a trade with the Far East which 

 surpassed that of any of its predecessors. 

 Its ships sailed at regular intervals for 

 Alexandria and the eastern ports of the 

 Mediterranean and Black Seas, accom- 

 panied by fleets of war vessels for their 

 protection. The merchandise passing 

 to and from the Orient was in part sent 

 overland from the Mediterranean to the 

 Red Sea or the Persian Gulf, and thence 

 eastward by water and in part by the 

 land routes east of the Mediterranean 

 and Black Seas. A consular system 

 established by the Venetian government 

 helped in developing trade abroad and 

 in the distribution of geographic infor- 

 mation, and commerce extended not 

 only eastward, but also to the north and 



