7. Indicate on an outline map of Europe the position of the ports named, in sect. 82, using the conventional signs of death (†) and birth (*) to show those that declined and those that gained in importance. 8. Write a report on the credulity of early sailors. [Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor in the Arabian Nights, a popular romance of the Indian trade in the ninth century; Voyages of Sir John de Mandeville, N. Y., Macmillan, 1900, $1.50; Selections in Cassell’s Library, paper, $.10.] 9. What is the difference between a government war-vessel, a privateer, and a pirate? [Dictionary and encyclopedia, or some manual of international law.] BIBLIOGRAPHY Articles and bibliographies by *Clowes in Traill’s Social England; John Fiske, *Discovery of America; Alice Law, Notes on English medieval shipping, in the Economic Review, 1898, vol. 8; Cornewall-Jones, The British merchant service; Lindsay, History, vol. 2. CHAPTER X THE LEVANT TRADE =88. Wares of the Levant trade. Slaves.=—The “colonial products” of the modern world (tea, coffee, spices, etc.) have familiarized us with a class of wares which cannot be produced at home and are imported from distant countries. In the commerce of medieval Europe there were wares like these which could not be produced near the place where they were to be consumed, because of the severe climate, or the lack of technical skill, and yet which were eagerly desired by the upper classes. These wares were obtained from Asia, and formed the basis for an Oriental trade which was one of the most important branches of medieval commerce. There was one ware of Oriental trade in which there was a reciprocal exchange; this was slaves. Slaves were exported from Europe to the great market at Cairo in Egypt, and were imported from western Asia and Africa. At the very end of the fifteenth century there were said to be 3,000 slaves in the single city of Venice. Most of the wares, however, flowed in only one direction; and to give an idea of the character and importance of the trade we shall preface our narrative of its development by a description of the chief products imported into Europe.