Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 1.djvu/69

 The English trade with Turkey, in addition to being subject to the sentimental objection, which had extraordinary force in that age, of being carried on with barbarous infidels, was exposed to unusual risks in the passage from England, many hostile people sweeping the intervening seas with their craft. When the Turkish ports had been safely reached, the profits of the voyage were seriously diminished by the expense of the gifts that had to be made before any bargains could be closed, the value of these presents in one year, 1582, amounting, it was calculated, to nearly two thousand pounds sterling. The English trade with Italy was open to similar perils in the voyage through the Mediterranean, the Algerian pirates especially taking advantage of every opportunity to seize upon the merchandise in the English ships, and to carry off the mariners with the view of securing large ransoms in their release. In their commercial relations with some parts of Italy, the English merchants were compelled to pay heavy customs both upon the English goods which they imported into those territories, and also upon the Italian goods which they exported.

The English trade with Spain and Portugal was in that age very large and profitable on account of the varied