This Is, Perhaps, The Most Ancient Mode Of
Communication Between Nations; And, From The Descriptions We Possess, The
Caravans Of The Remotest Antiquity Were, In Almost Every Particular, Very
Similar To What They Are At Present.
The human race was first civilized in
the East.
This district of the globe, though fertile in various articles
which are well calculated to excite the desires of mankind, is intersected
by extensive deserts; these must have cut off all communication, had not
the camel, - which can bear a heavy burden, endure great famine, is very
docile, and, above all, seems made to bid defiance to the parched and
waterless desert, by its internal formation, and its habits and
instinct, - been civilized by the inhabitants. By means of it they have,
from the remotest antiquity, carried on a regular and extensive commerce.
The caravans may be divided into those of Asia and those of Africa: the
great centre of the former is Mecca: the pilgrimage to this place, enjoined
by Mahomet, has tended decidedly to facilitate and extend commercial
intercourse. Two caravans annually visit Mecca; one from Cairo, and the
other from Damascus. The merchants and pilgrims who compose the former come
from Abyssinia; from which they bring elephants' teeth, ostrich feathers,
gum, gold dust, parrots, monkies, &c. Merchants also come from the Senegal,
and collect on their way those of Algiers, Tunis, &c. This division
sometimes consists of three thousand camels, laden with oils, red caps,
fine flannels, &c. The journey of the united caravans, which have been
known to consist of 100,000 persons, in going and returning, occupies one
hundred days: they bring back from Mecca all the most valuable productions
of the East, coffee, gum arabic, perfumes, drugs, spices, pearls, precious
stones, shawls, muslins, &c. The caravan of Damascus is scarcely inferior
to that of Cairo, in the variety and value of the produce which it conveys
to Mecca, and brings back from it, or in the number of camels and men which
compose it. Almost every province of the Turkish empire sends forth
pilgrims, merchants, and commodities to this caravan. Of the Asiatic
caravans, purely commercial, we know less than of those which unite
religion and commerce; as the former do not travel at stated seasons, nor
follow a marked and constant route. The great object of those caravans is
to distribute the productions of China and Hindustan among the central
parts of Asia. In order to supply them, caravans set out from Baghar,
Samarcand, Thibet, and several other places. The most extensive commerce,
however, carried on in this part of Asia, is that between Russia and China.
We have already alluded to this commerce, and shall only add, that the
distance between the capitals of those kingdoms is 6378 miles, upwards of
four hundred miles of which is an uninhabited desert; yet caravans go
regularly this immense distance. The Russians and Chinese meet on the
frontiers; where the furs, linen and woollen cloth, leather, glass, &c. of
Russia, are exchanged for the tea, porcelain, cotton, rice, &c. of China.
This intercourse is very ancient.
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