[350] The Greek fire was prepared chiefly from _naphtha_, with which there was mixed sulphur and pitch, extracted from evergreen firs. The admixture, when ignited, produced a fierce and obstinate flame, which burned with equal vehemence in every direction, and, instead of being extinguished, was nourished and quickened on the application of water. Sand, urine, or vinegar, were the only known applications which could damp its fury; the Greeks styled it appropriately the _liquid_ or _maritime_ fire. For the annoyance of the enemy, it was employed either by sea or by land, and with equal effect in battles or in sieges. Sometimes it was poured from the ramparts of a besieged city from large boilers, or launched in red-hot balls of stone or iron, or darted in arrows and javelins, twisted round with flax or tow which had been soaked in this inflammable oil. On other occasions it was deposited in fire-ships, and thence often, by some unexplained contrivance, blown through long tubes of copper, which were planted on the bow of a galley, and fancifully shaped into the mouths of savage monsters, that seemed to vomit a stream of liquid and consuming fire. Its composition was jealously concealed, and the Greeks terrified their enemies, not merely by the fire itself, but by the reports currently believed that its knowledge had been revealed, by an angel, to the first and greatest of the Constantines for the special use of the people of the eastern portion of the Roman empire. The secret was kept by them for more than four hundred years. CHAPTER VIII. Constantinople, A.D. 718-1453: its increased prosperity—Manufactures of Greece—System of taxation, and of expenditure—Fleets, and mode of warfare—Struggle for maritime supremacy—Scandinavians—Muscovites, their trade and ships—Russians; their early commerce, and attempts to capture Constantinople—Their ships—The Normans, and their expeditions—Establish themselves in Italy, A.D. 1016—Amalfi—Futile attempts of the Normans to take Constantinople, A.D. 1081-1084—Rise of Venice—The cause of its prosperity—Spread of the Scythians, Huns, or Turks, A.D. 997-1028—The Crusades, A.D. 1095-1099—Siege of Acre, A.D. 1189—Armistice, A.D. 1192—Fourth Crusade, A.D. 1202—The effect of the Crusades on the commerce of Constantinople, and on its fall—Power of Venice, A.D. 1202; her ships join in the Crusade, which was afterwards altered from its original design—They besiege and take Constantinople, A.D. 1204—Commerce declines under the Latins, but revives on the restoration of the Empire, A.D. 1261—Genoa—Genoese settlement at Galata and Pera—Arrogance of the Genoese, who at last rebel, A.D. 1348, and declare war, A.D. 1349—The progress of the Turks, A.D. 1341-47—Their fleet—First use of gunpowder and of large cannon—The Turks finally become masters of the Eastern capital, A.D. 1453.