which differs widely from
the Phoenician: and thus commenced, according to their authors, the
series of outrages.'[26]

Commerce is thus a striking example of the unity of mankind, being a
practically universal form of human activity which arises as soon as man
verges from the earliest stages of barbarism. In the case of individuals
it is easy to see how this desire to exchange commodities between one
individual and another meant so great an increase in human efficiency
that it had only to be thought of to be universally adopted. The
primitive savage, doing everything for himself, building his own hut,
killing or finding his own food, and making his own clothes, such as
they were, was an extremely versatile and self-sufficing person. At the
same time the comforts that he enjoyed were probably not very
satisfactory. His hut was almost certain to be draughty and to let in
rain through the roof; his hunting and finding of food must have very
often left him with his larder empty, and the state of his wardrobe was
probably simple rather than satisfying. It would inevitably happen that
certain members of the tribe would show greater efficiency than others
in doing a certain one of these various businesses which are essential
even to the simplest form of human life. Thus the tendency to
specialization begins to show itself. The skilful hut-builder builds
huts not only for himself but for other members of the tribe; he
acquires further skill by constant practice and the huts are more
quickly built and better when finished. The other tribesmen, in effect,
pay him by supplying him with a certain amount of food and clothes. The
tendency for specialization would make very rapid progress, and it is
easy to see how at a very early date and in the most primitive
communities there would be bowyers, arrow-makers, and leather-dressers,
and how various kinds of artificers would arise, supplying the wants of
the community in some special line, and receiving from the community all
the commodities which they required apart from those which they produced
themselves. The individuals of the community thus become mutually
dependent, and live by one another's production. Hence comes unity, and
with it a fresh cause of disunion, owing to the likelihood of
quarrelling over the exchanges effected.

As progress developed and the communities at a greater distance became
acquainted with one another's wants and the various kinds of goods that
certain