Page:Indian Shipping, a history of the sea-borne trade and maritime activity of the Indians from the earliest times.djvu/175

 wares which were sold for a hundred times their original value, "so dearly do we pay for our luxury and our women." What gave a great impetus to this Roman trade, and increased considerably its volume and variety, was, besides this steady and growing demand, the discovery of the regularity of the monsoons in the Indian Ocean. This discovery was made about the year 47 by a pilot named Hippalus, and ships began to sail direct to the port of Muziris (Muyirikolu) in Malabar—a circumstance which added immensely to the security of the cargoes which no longer had to fear the attack of Arabs on caravans crossing the deserts or of pirates on vessels hugging the coast.

The articles of this Roman trade comprised chiefly (1) spices and perfumes, (2) precious stones and pearls, and (3) silks, muslins, and cotton. The consumption of aromatics in Rome was stimulated by religious and funeral customs. Incense was burnt at every worship. At the funeral of Sylla 210 loads of spices were strewn upon the pile. Nero is reported to have burnt at the funeral of Poppoea fully a year's produce of cinnamon and cassia. These spices were supplied to Rome by Arabians, who obtained them from India, famous from time immemorial as the land of aromatics. Pliny