Commerce, the great civiliser, had its own part, too, in keeping the peace between Christian and infidel. On the fifteenth of every September there was held a kind of fair in Jerusalem. Thither flocked merchants from Pisa, Venice, Genoa, and Marseilles, eager to satisfy at once their desire for gain, and their desire to obtain a reputation for piety. And for a short time Jerusalem seems to have served as the chief emporium, whither the East sent her treasures, to sell them to the West. The objects in demand at this fair were those which were luxuries to the West; cloves, nutmegs, and mace from India ; pepper, ginger, and frankincense by way of Aden ; silks from 'India and China ; sugar from Syria ;* dates, cassia, and flax from Egypt ; and from the same country quicksilver, coral, and metals ; glass from Tyre ; almonds, saffron, and mastic, with rich stuffs and weapons from Damascus ; and dyed stuffs from Jerusalem itself, when the Jews had a monopoly, for which they paid a heavy tax, for dying.f Gold in the West was scarce, and the trade was carried on either by exchange, or by means of silver. The chief traders were the Italians, but the French, especially through the port of Marseilles, were great merchants, and we find Guy de Lusignan, King of Jerusalem, according to French traders singular privileges and immunities, solely in reward for their assistance at Saint Jean dAcre. There can be no doubt that this trade had a great deal * Albert of Aix speaks of the Crusaders first coming upon the sugar-cane : " The people sucked sweet reeds which were found in abundance in the meadows, called zucra This reed is grown with the greatest care every year; at the time of harvest the natives crush it in mortars, and collect the juice in vessels, when they leave it till it hardens, and becomes white like snow or salt." t See Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions. M. de Guignes sur l'état du commerce des François dans le Levant avant les Croisades. ' J-•·