Of the internal commerce of Greece, in the earlier ages, little, comparatively, is known. Goguet[1493] appears to suppose, that hardly any traffic can be carried on without the aid of sumpter animals, such as camels, mules, or asses. But the natives of Canara[1494] drive a pretty thriving trade, though nearly every article of merchandise is transported on men’s heads. In Greece, however, the use of vehicles was very ancient, its origin being lost in fable.[1495] Boats, canoes, &c., came early into vogue also; and yet Thucydides relates, that the intercourse of the rural tribes of the Hellenes was for many ages so slight as scarcely to merit attention. Bad roads, the absence of inns, the want of a police, the great number of robbers, were great obstacles; but the very existence of robbers attests the fact, that attempts were constantly made to extend inland commerce, though it may have been long before it was established on a solid basis. ----- Footnote 1493: Origine de Loix, t. iv. p. 204. Footnote 1494: Buchanan, Journey through the Mysore, ii. p. 347. Hindoos, i. p. 44. Footnote 1495: Ælian. iii. 38. ----- Descending towards the historical periods we find the Æginetans first distinguishing themselves as a commercial people. Their history, as far as ancient fragments supply it, has been composed by a modern scholar[1496] of eminence, whose researches must prove of the utmost utility to all succeeding inquirers. This people, living on a small and nearly barren island, early directed their attention to the arts, to the various processes of industry, and to commerce, the only employment suited to the nature of their soil. Too much stress has, perhaps, been laid on the situation of Ægina, which will not at all explain the commercial turn of its inhabitants, since Crete, with more abundant means, and possibly a better situation, was never very remarkable as a trading country. However, poverty and a good position combined with the genius of the people to render them commercial. They enjoyed still fewer advantages in the matter of soil even than Attica; their lands were of little value; they could neither become hunters nor shepherds; nor could even the most slender population subsist on the produce of the mines. Fishing they, probably, tried at the outset, as well as piracy, but, finding that neither led to opulence, they adopted the mercantile life; for which reason they have, with much ingenuity, been termed the Phœnicians of Greece,[1497] though no colonies from Phœnicia ever settled in their island. The Æginetæ were already famous, however, from remote antiquity, as mariners, and, in the course of time, converted their whole island into an emporium.[1498] ----- Footnote 1496: Müller, in his Æginetica. See on the subject of Commerce and Industry, c. iii. 74, sqq. And compare the account of Coronelli, Mémoires, &c., p. 187, sqq. Footnote 1497: By Müller, Æginetica, iii. p. 74. Footnote 1498: