rly
one-eighth were lost. Even the risk of loss in sailing from Lisbon to
the ports of northern Europe was appreciable. The king of Portugal
insured ships on a voyage from Lisbon to Antwerp for a premium of six
per cent.

[Sidenote: Spain]

Spain found the path towards the setting sun as golden as Portugal had
found the reflection of his rising beams. At her height she had a
thousand merchant galleons. The chief imports were the precious
metals, but they were not the only ones. Cochineal, selling at $370 a
hundredweight in London, surpassed in value any spice from Celebes.
Dye-wood, ebony, some drugs, nuts and a few other articles richly
repaid importation. There was also a very considerable export trade.
Cadiz and Seville sent to the Indies annually 2,240,000 gallons of
wine, with quantities of oil, clothes and other necessities. Many
ships, not {525} only Spanish but Portuguese and English, were weighted
with human flesh from Africa as heavily as Christian with his black
load of sin, and in the case of Portugal, at least, the load almost
sent its bearer to the City of Destruction.

But Spanish keels made other wakes than westward. To Flanders oil and
wool were sent to be exchanged for manufactured wares, tapestries and
books. Italy asked hides and dyes in return for her brocades, pearls
and linen. The undoubtedly great extent of Spanish commerce even in
places where it had no monopoly, is all the more remarkable in that it
was at the first burdened by what in the end choked it, government
regulation. Cadiz had the best harbor, but Seville was favored by the
king; even ships allowed to unload at Cadiz could do so only on
condition that their cargoes be transported directly to Seville. A
particularly crushing tax was the alcabala, or 10 per cent. impost on
all sales. Other import duties, royalties on metals, excise on food,
monopolies, and petty regulations finally handicapped Spain's merchants
so effectually that they fell behind those of other countries in the
race for supremacy.

[Sidenote: France]

As the mariners of the Iberian peninsula drooped under the shackles of
unwise laws, hardy sailors sprang into their places. Neither of the
other Latin nations, however, was able to do so. The once proud
supremacy of Venice and of Genoa was gone; the former sank as Lisbon
rose and the latter, who held her own at least as a money market until
1540, was about that time surpassed, though she was never wh