ABSTRACT
The merchant ships themselves differed little in essentials from the round-ships of the Phoenicians, but the demands of commerce led to a great increase in size. The corn ships, indeed, and other cargo-vessels carried great numbers of people travelling for business or pleasure; but there were also ships built specially for the passenger traffic. Arabs, Cretans, and various peoples of Asia Minor took a share of the traffic; but of all the foreign merchants and shipowners who thronged the foreign quarter at Memphis, the most numerous and the most enterprising were the Phoenicians, and as the might of Egypt decayed, her trade fell largely into Phoenician hands. From Phoenicia and Syria the Egyptians imported timber, dyed fabrics woven on Phoenician looms, gold and silver vessels chased by Phoenician craftsmen, and spices and aromatic woods brought by the caravans from Arabia and the East.
