=99. Effect of the crusades on knowledge of the East and of eastern wares.=—Aside from the help which the crusades gave the Italians in building up their fleets and in establishing trading posts or colonies in the East, they were of no less importance in extending the market for eastern wares in Europe. The crusaders lost their provincialism, and acquired new fashions (shaving the beard and bathing); they became acquainted with fine stuffs and dyes and were no longer satisfied with the coarse products of home. The European vocabulary was not large enough to give names to the new acquisitions, and we can trace back to this period many words which were borrowed from Arabic, the common language of the Mohammedans: alcove, sofa, mattress, talisman, elixir; many of commercial significance, bazar, tariff, corvette, barracks. Not only the words but the things themselves became native in many cases; the crusades spread in Europe the cultivation of the lemon, apricot, watermelon, rice, and sugar cane. European literature described the marvels of the Orient, the silks of Syria, the tapestries of Persia, the precious stones and perfumes of Arabia; the names of eastern countries became familiar and knowledge of geography widened rapidly. QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 1. Selecting any one among the more important wares, sects. 88-94, write a report on its production, uses, value, and history as an article of commerce. [Encyclopedia; commercial geographies; encyclopedias of commerce and of manufactures, as those by McCulloch, Waterston, Homans, Ure.] 2. Taking British India as a characteristic source for the Eastern wares, contrast the exports then and now. [Statesman’s Year-Book, index, India, exports.] 3. What seaports of those named in sect. 95 are still of importance? [Statesman’s Year-Book, index, Italy, shipping.] 4. What evidences have the other ports left of their former greatness? [Encyc.; *Baedeker’s guide-books.] 5. Which one of the three routes, sect. 96, is now the most important? 6. What railways have been constructed or proposed along the line of ancient routes? [See a good atlas, and note the proposed railway from Asia Minor through the Mesopotamian valley to the Persian gulf. What effect may this railway have on the importance of Constantinople?] 7. Read a description of one of the ancient centers of trade in modern times. [Consult books by modern travelers in south-western Asia.] 8. Where now can be found pilgrimages like those of the Christians to Jerusalem? What is their commercial influence? [See Mecca in the encyclopedia; and in Poole’s Index.] 9. How does the average number of crusaders going per year to Palestine compare with the number of Americans going abroad? 10. Prepare, from descriptions in the current history manuals or from a historical atlas (Droysen’s, for example), a map showing the route of each crusade; number each route that the development of the sea-route may be more apparent.