ia (Pegu) and Cambaia.
Dates from Arabia Felix and Alexandria.
Sena from Mecca.
Gumme Arabicke from Zaffo (Jaffa).
Ladanum (Laudanum) from Cyprus and Candia.
Lapis Lazzudis from Persia.
Auripigmentum (Gold Paint) from many places of Turkey.
Rubarbe from Persia and China.

These are only a few selections from Barrett's list, but will
sufficiently indicate what a large number of household luxuries,
and even necessities, were derived from Asia in the Middle Ages.
The Arabs had practically the monopoly of this trade, and as Europe
had scarcely anything to offer in exchange except its gold and
silver coins, there was a continuous drain of the precious metals
from West to East, rendering the Sultans and Caliphs continuously
richer, and culminating in the splendours of Solomon the Magnificent.
Alexandria was practically the centre of all this trade, and most
of the nations of Europe found it necessary to establish factories
in that city, to safeguard the interests of their merchants, who
all sought for Eastern luxuries in its port Benjamin of Tudela,
a Jew, who visited it about 1172, gives the following description
of it:--

"The city is very mercantile, and affords an excellent market to
all nations. People from all Christian kingdoms resort to Alexandria,
from Valencia, Tuscany, Lombardy, Apulia, Amalfi, Sicilia, Raguvia,
Catalonia, Spain, Roussillon, Germany, Saxony, Denmark, England,
Flandres, Hainault, Normandy, France, Poitou, Anjou, Burgundy,
Mediana, Provence, Genoa, Pisa, Gascony, Arragon, and Navarre.
From the West you meet Mohammedans from Andalusia, Algarve, Africa,
and Arabia, as well as from the countries towards India, Savila,
Abyssinia, Nubia, Yemen, Mesopotamia, and Syria, besides Greeks
and Turks. From India they import all sorts of spices, which are
bought by Christian merchants. The city is full of bustle, and
every nation has its own fonteccho (or hostelry) there."

Of all these nations, the Italians had the shortest voyage to make
before reaching Alexandria, and the Eastern trade practically fell
into their hands before the end of the thirteenth century. At first
Amalfi and Pisa were the chief ports, and, as we have seen, it
was at Amalfi that the mariner's compass was perfected; but soon
the two maritime towns at the heads of the two seas surrounding
Italy came to the front, owing to the advantages of their natural
position. Genoa and Venice for a long time competed with one another