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 trading-stations at Aden, on the shores of Arabia and in Socotra, while during the same period the commerical relations between the Persians and India had undergone a great expansion. Before the first half of the fifth century had ended this commerce had been considerably extended while the Roman trade had declined, and according to Masudi and Hamza of Ispahan the port of Hira was visited at this time by numbers of vessels, not only from the mainland of India, but also from distant China. The rise of the Muhammadan power, while it closed the portals of the East to the nations of Europe, gave to the Muslims the practical monopoly of Asiatic trade with the West, and during their prime the Khalifs of Baghdad were well-nigh supreme in the Indian Ocean, Muhammadan colonies were scattered broadcast over the eastern world, and in 758 the followers of the Prophet in China were sufficiently numerous to be able to cause serious disturbances in that country. The existence of these colonies too made it possible for a Muslim to travel with ease in almost any quarter of the East, and the excellent Ibn Batuta, the professional religious man who preyed upon the Faithful with such satisfaction to himself and to his victims, though he was one of the earliest to give to us a detailed account of his wanderings, was certainly not among the first Muhammadans to take advantage of the opportunities which the accident of their religion afforded to them.

It has already been noted that no mention of the sea-route to China occurs in any work prior to that of