Occupations > Historical disquisition concerning the knowledge which the ancients had of India; and the progress of trade with that country

124 AX HISTORICAL DISQUISITIOK S. Xir*, |
by barter than with ready money. Egypt, th® j
chief mart for Indian goods, though a most »
fertile country, is destitute of many things re- j r
quisite in an improved state of society, either 11!
for accommodation or for ornament. Too li- |
mited in extent, and too highly cultivated to ,
afford space for forests; too level to have mines \,
of the useful metals | it must be supplied with t
timber for building, with iron, lead, tin, and j
brass, by importation from other countries. The |
Egyptians, while under the dominion of the
Mameluks, seem not themselves to have traded
in the ports of any Christian state, and it was
principally from the Venetians that they re¬
ceived all the articles which I have enumerated, ;
Besides these, the ingenuity of the Venetian
artists furnished a variety of manufactures of
woollen cloths, silk stuffs of various fabric, !
camblets, mirrors, arms, ornaments of gold and
silver, glass, and many other articles, for all
which they found a ready market in Egypt and
Syria. In return, they received from the mer¬
chants of Alexandria, spices of every kind,
drugs, gems, pearls, ivory, cotton, and silk,
unwrought as well as manufactured, in many
different forms, and other productions of the
East, together with several valuable articles of
Egyptian growth or fabric. In Aleppo, Baruth,
and other cities, besides the proper commodities
of India brought thither by land, they added to
their cargoes the carpets of Persia, the rich
wrought silks of Damascus, still known by a
name taken from that city, and various produc- !
fions of art and nature peculiar to Syria, Pales- ]
tine and Arabia. If, at any time, their demand