THE ROMANCE OF SPICE.

Franklin Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 100, 28 August 1933, Page 6

THE ROMANCE OF SPICE.

IMPORTANCE IN HISTORY. The important part that spices once played in the economy of the Eastern world is indicated by the frequent and honourable mention they receive in the Old Testament. Balm and spices were a part of the present with which Jacob equipped his sons for their mission to the Court of Egypt. When the Queen of Sheba visited King Solomon her “ very great train ” included “ camels that bare spices and very much gold and precious stones,” and in the account of Hezekiah’s treasuries and in Ezekiel’s great picture of the traffic of Tyre there is the same close association of spices with gold and precious stones: Tribute Paid in Pepper. The importance that pepper had attained at the beginning of the fifth century A.D. as an article of diet for the Roman and the barbarian worlds is proved by a strange feature of a great historical episode. When Alaric had Rome at his mercy in the year 408 his first demands were such as to leave the citizens with little but their lives, but he afterwards granted an armistice and

condescended to negotiation. “ The stern features of Alaric ” (says the historian Gibbon) “ were insensibly relaxed. He abated much of the rigour of his terms, and at length consented to raise the siege on the payment of 5000 pounds of gold, of 30,000 pounds of silver, of 4000 robes of silk, of 3000 pieces of fine scarlet cloth, and of 3000 pounds weight of pepper.” Pepper from India. Pepper was thus given exactly the same association with the precious metals by the King of the Goths that had been given to spices by the Queen of Sheba and Hezekiah more than 1000 years previously. “ Pepper was a favourite ingredient of the most expensive Roman cookery, and the best sort commonly sold for 15 denarii, or 10 shillings, the pound. ... It was brought from India, and the same country, the coast of Malabar, still affords the greatest plenty : but the improvement of trade and navigation has

; multiplied the quantity and reduced the price.” j According to Pliny, who is one of I Gibbon’s authorities, cinnamon and ! pepper were the two most important • of the spices for which Rome was indebted to India, and the exports which she sent in return included glass, textiles, coral and amber. But her supplies of these articles were inadequate, and the result was, as Pliny points out, an adverse balance ! of trade equivalent in the currency | of to-day to about £1,000,000 a year. “ So dearly,” says Pliny, “ do we pay for our luxuries and our women.” “ The Influence of the Spice Trade : on History ” is the fascinating title | of an article in a London magazine. | If the writer has not proved that a : nation of shopkeepers has founded | its world - wide Empire on spice ■he has certainly put it beyond a doubt that in her slow and | largely - undesigned march towards j sea power and world power Britain ; has been led for a considerable part of the way by the call of a trade , which has long ago declined into relative insignificance. I “ For two centuries ” (he writes) ; “ the Eastern trade flourished, but it came to an end owing to the decline of Roman power and prestige, the result of which was that the Arabs and Abyssinians practically closed the Red Sea to Roman ships, Indeed from that period until the appearance of Vasco da Gama in Eastern waters there was no direct commercial intercourse between Europe and India or the Spice Islands —a period of more than 1000 years.” The direct intercourse which was I blocked by the death of the old sea j power was not resumed until a new j sea power had opened up another j route. i