Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 1).djvu/548



In all the commercial places of importance through-*out the Mediterranean, where sovereignty was not exercised by the Venetians, they established consuls, investing them with considerable power, so as to ensure the respect of foreigners. Each consulate had a chaplain, a notary, and a physician. The establishment was allowed to levy a duty of two per cent. on all Venetian imports and exports, a percentage which is said to have yielded the consuls of Syria and Alexandria an annual income of no less than 25,000 ducats. The Venetian consuls were not merely the advocates of their countrymen in any wrongs they might suffer, but they had also judicial authority in cases of controversy, and sometimes even decided disputes among the native population.

Ships' consuls appear to have existed at a very remote period in all the ports of the Mediterranean. Their duty was to watch over the interests of the vessels of the nations they represented, to see that no frauds were committed, and especially that the persons who provisioned them used honest weights, and "mixed no water with the wine" they sold. They were allowed a half share in all penalties imposed, and were entitled to a present of a "carpet," a curious gift, for every enemy's ship captured: should, however, the consul connive at any of the frauds committed against the ships or crews it was their duty to watch over, they were liable to lose their office,