frequently represented historical and geographical subjects.
Thus at the greatest auction that ever took place in the palace
of the khaliph Montaser, there were offered for sale nearly a
thousand silk carpets, on which were represented a series of
different dynasties with the portraits of kings and celebrated
men. On another enormous piece of silk stuff, having a blue
ground varied with other colours, were depicted the different
countries of the globe, their mountains, seas, rivers, towns, and
roads; with the name of each province, town, &c., embroidered
in gold, silver, or silk.1
Trade from Commerce by sea between the ports of Basrah, Ob’oll’ah, Basrah to , , , J r , ’ ’
India, China, and Maskat, and the distant countries of Zinzibar, India, and
an ca' China, was carried on by the Arabs of the tribe of Azd, and
also by the Jews; and, up to the commencement of the Abbas-
side dynasty, there was an interchange of commodities with
the celestial empire, Chinese vessels coming to Ob’oll’ah, and
those of the Arabs going to Canton.2 When the rebellion in
a . d . 877. China, a . h . 264, interrupted this intercourse, the exchange took
place, as already mentioned, with Ceylon.
Indian trade Part of the Indian commerce was, however, carried on by
partly by lan . ]an{j . anq this was particularly the case with perfumes, which
would have been injured by a sea voyage. As a proof of the
connexion existing between Arabia and India, it may be mentioned
that a physician was sent from India at the request of
Harun-el-Rashid. He traversed the Hindu Kush, and sailed
down the Oxus; and, on the death of the khaliph, returned to
India by sea from the Persian Gulf.
Trade between Ibn Khordadbeh, a contemporary of A1 Mutawakkel, gives
Europeand , „ . . ’ * J ’ °
eastern the following account ot commerce between Kurope and the
coan es' east. The Jewish merchants called Rohdamans, who speak
the Persian, Greek, Arabic, Frank, Spanish, and Sclavonian
languages, constantly travel to and fro between the eastern and
western countries; and, from the former, they import slaves and
dibaj (in modern Arabic, brocade) into the empire of the
1 Die Handelszeuge der Araber, &c., von F r. Stuewe. Berlin, 1836,
p p . 4 8 , 4 9 .
s The voyage of Nicolo di Conti was more than five centuries later, viz.,
a .b . 1420.
n1 1 ! i i