Distant sea voyages were still uncommon. An English law of about 900 provided that “if a merchant thrived so that he fared thrice over the wide sea by his own vessel” he might be promoted to a higher social class; and later laws refer to merchant ships again. The Scandinavians have left records of adventurous voyages to the North and West, and a vast number of silver coins found in Russia and the Baltic countries shows that a land trade with southwestern Asia persisted in the period of which we treat. It is only toward the close of this period, however, that we begin to get details about distant commerce, and can see that it is firmly established. The Institutes of London, issued in the eleventh century, and regulating the commerce of the town, mention ships coming from Flanders, from Rouen and other places in France, and from Germany. Foreign merchants bought wool and pigs, and sold wine, furs, spices, gloves, and fish. =42. Character of the merchant in the early Middle Ages.=—We know even less of the person of the merchant, in this period (about 1000 A.D.), than of the wares that he carried. It is certain, at any rate, that the merchant was not the specialist that he afterwards became, but was a jack-of-all-trades. He might be wholesaler and retailer, transporter and pedler, and often an artisan too. Nothing like the country store of the present day existed, and trade outside the few centers where markets had been established was carried on by pedlers, who carried their wares on the back or on a pack animal. Every merchant was sure to be something of a soldier, as he was thrown largely on his own resources for self-defence; and he often assumed the garb of a missionary or pilgrim to get the help of the church in carrying on his trade. The pilgrim was exempt from many burdens laid on the ordinary traveler or merchant, and though this exemption had later to be abolished, because it was so frequently abused, it seems to have been of great use in helping commerce through its early stages. QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 1. Modern France has, approximately, an area of 200,000 square miles. Calculate the average size of the feudal state about the year 1000, and compare it with the county in which you live. 2. Can you suggest anything in cow-boy life on the plains of the West reminding you of feudal conditions, when the State was weak? 3. What district, known to you, has the least commerce with the outside world? 4. How does the yield of wheat, as given in the text, compare with the yield in different parts of the U. S.? [See Abstract of the United States Census.] 5. Show why the lack of commerce requires small groups of people to produce everything for themselves, and why this self-sufficiency involves a low standard of living. 6. How does commerce remedy the waste and want which are characteristic of self-sufficiency? Why cannot people plan to produce just enough food?