The trade which, meanwhile, was carried on by Laconia must have been at times very considerable, though there were few points on the coast provided with roadsteads, or harbours, capable of receiving ships of burden. To facilitate intercourse with foreign nations, an artificial harbour was constructed at Trinasos, around which the inhabitants of Gythium, situated on an eminence some distance inland, gradually clustered, deserting their ancient residence for one more convenient and profitable. From hence the productions of Laconia, which will be enumerated elsewhere, were shipped for foreign countries, Libya for example, and Egypt, whence merchandise of various kinds were obtained in return. But, as this port appears to have been little commodious or secure, the merchantmen, on their return from Africa, usually put into the island of Cythera,[1545] where are several harbours, amongst which that of St. Nicholas, anciently Scandeia,[1546] on the eastern coast, is sheltered and spacious, and provided with so narrow an entrance that it may at pleasure be closed with a chain. The inhabitants of this island, like those of the Laconian territories on the main, were free Lacedæmonians, who appear to have directed their attention entirely to commerce and agriculture, and the management of the productive purple fishery, carried on among the shoals and rocks encircling their island.[1547] Besides its use in dyeing, this fish is said to have been employed as a bait in taking the pelamys, and there was, likewise, in this sea, a considerable whale fishery. The nerves of these leviathans, properly prepared, were used in stringing the psaltery, and other musical instruments, and also for bowstrings. It may, therefore, be presumed, that they formed an important article of commerce.[1548] ----- Footnote 1545: Thucyd. iv. 53. Footnote 1546: Pausan. iii. 23. 1. Steph. de Urb. p. 672. Footnote 1547: Strab. viii. 5. l. ii. p. 186. Plin. Nat. Hist. ix. 60. xi. 22. xxxv. 26. Horat. Carm. ii. 18. 8. The purple of Laconia was esteemed only second to that of Phœnicia:—κόχλους δὲ ἐς βαφὴν πορφύρας παρέχεται τὰ ἐπιθαλλάσσια τῆς Λακωνικῆς ἐπιτηδειοτάτας μετά γε τὴν Φοινίκων θάλασσαν. Pausan. iii. 21. 6. Footnote 1548: Dapper, Description des Iles de l’Archipel. 554. Ælian. De Animal. xvii. 6. -----