The Exports
Were, Myrrh, Frankincense, Cassia, Inferior Cinnamon, Substituted For The
Oriential; Gum, And A Few Slaves.
The only article of export peculiar to
the third mart, Mundus, was a fragrant gum, which seems to have grown only
in its vicinity.
The fourth and last mart mentioned as lying on the African side of the
channel, which opens from the Straits of Babelmandeb, is Mosullon; this was
the most important mart on the whole coast, and that which gave a specific
name to the trade of the ancients: the imports were numerous, comprising,
besides those already mentioned, some that were peculiar to this place,
such as vessels of silver, a small quantity of iron, and flint glass: the
exports were, cinnamon, of an inferior quality; the quantity of this
article is noticed as so great, that larger vessels were employed in the
trade of this port, expressly for conveying it, than were seen in the other
ports of Africa. We are informed by Pliny, that Mosullon was a great market
for cinnamon, - and it would seem, from its being conveyed in large vessels
by sea, that it came from Arabia. The cinnamon mentioned in the Periplus,
is, indeed, particularized as of an inferior quality, which is directly at
variance with the authority of Dioscorides, who expressly states that the
Mosulletic species is one of prime quality; if this were the case, it must
have been Indian. The other exports were gums, drugs, tortoise-shell,
incense, frankincense, brought from distant places; ivory, and a small
quantity of myrrh.
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