Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 1).djvu/163

 from the time of its being first introduced into Rome, silk continued to be valued at its weight in gold. No doubt this arose in a great measure from the fact that the merchants of Alexandria, by whom the silk was imported, had no direct intercourse with China, the only country in which the silkworm was then reared, while the place of production was too remote, and the means of increasing the supply then too limited, to meet the greatly increasing demand.

Arrian has left the fullest information now obtainable with reference to the commodities in his time, which constituted the chief articles of commercial intercourse between Europe and India. Pattala, on the river Indus, was then the first mart for the vessels arriving from Egypt, and from Leuke Kome. He states that the outward cargoes consisted of woollen cloth of a light fabric, linen in chequer work, glass vessels, wine, and aromatics of a sort unknown in India, besides some precious stones, wrought silver, coral, borax, and specie. For these were received cotton cloths, silk thread, and silk stuffs of different sorts, black pepper, sapphires, and other gems, as well as various kinds of spices.

Barygaza, on the same coast, soon, however, became a more important mart than Pattala; and, by the minute description Arrian has given of its position, that port would seem to correspond with Baroach, on the great river Nerbudda, by means of which it had navigable communication for many hundred miles into the rich interior of India. The articles of import and export were much more various and