=89. Spices.=—Among the raw materials a very important place was taken by spices, the product of tropical plants and trees which thrive only in a few parts of the world even now. The food of the common people in the Middle Ages would seem intolerably coarse and monotonous to a modern laborer, on whose table appear regularly products from all parts of the world; and even the diet of the rich needed a great deal of condiment if it was to be palatable. A staple import, then, was pepper, the berry of a vine growing in India and in the islands of Asia, which was used in Europe by all who could afford the luxury of a seasoning. For common use the price was prohibitive. Cloves, from the Molucca Islands, were even more expensive, costing two and three times as much as pepper; they were used for seasoning food and drink, and also as medicine. Cinnamon, nutmegs, and mace served similar purpose, and ginger took a place among medieval luxuries of this kind second only to pepper. =90. Drugs; perfumes; sugar.=—Beside the spices which were employed in medicine by medieval apothecaries many wares were imported which served solely or mainly for drugs. Among them were rhubarb, aloes, balsam, borax, gum tragacanth, gum benzoin, cubebs, cardamoms, camphor, etc. Sugar belongs in this list of wares, on the border-line between medicines and table delicacies. It was far too costly to be an article of common consumption, and the gift of a small piece of loaf sugar implied far more devotion than would be evidenced now by a present of the finest confectionery. It found its main employment in medicine, therefore, and though it was used in increasing quantities for sweetening food and drink and for preserving, native honey was the medium commonly used. =91. Precious stones; preponderance in general of luxuries over articles of general utility.=—Another category of wares, which found a ready market among the upper classes of medieval Europe was precious stones. The part of Europe which now produces a considerable quantity of these, the region of the Ural Mountains, was still unexplored; the source of supply in the New World was of course unknown; and Europe looked entirely to Asia and Egypt for its supply. Diamonds, emeralds, rubies, sapphires, lapis lazuli, etc., were collected in various parts of the East, passed through innumerable hands, and finally found a resting-place among the jewels of some great lord or lady of the West. Pearls came from the Indian Ocean, and ivory from Africa, through the hands of Asiatic traders. Europe was able to make a return in kind from the Mediterranean coral fisheries; the greater part of European coral was exported to meet the demand in the East, being carried to Egypt by Spanish or Italian ships, and distributed from there to India and China.