41 Benjamin Franklin [1760
communication between Pekin in China and Petersburg.
 And none of these instances of inland commerce
 exceed those of the courses by which, at
several periods, the whole of the trade of the East was
carried on. Before the prosperity of the Mameluke
dominion in Egypt fixed the staple for the riches
of the East at Cairo and Alexandria (whither they
were brought from the Red Sea), great part of those
commodities were carried to the cities of Cashgar
and Balk. This gave birth to those towns, that still
subsist upon the remains of their ancient opulence,
amidst a people and country equally wild. From
thence those goods were carried down the Ami (the
ancient Oxus) to the Caspian Sea, and up the Wolga
to Astrachan; from whence they were carried over
to and down the Don, to the mouth of that river;
and thence again the Venetians directly, and the
Genoese and Venetians indirectly, by way of Kaffa
and Trebisond, dispersed them through the Mediterranean
 and some other parts of Europe.
Another part of those goods was carried over land
from the Wolga to the rivers Duna and Neva; from
both they were carried to the city by Wisbuy in the
Baltic (so eminent for its sea-laws); and from the
city of Ladoga on the Neva, we are told, they were
even carried by the Dwina to Archangel; and from
thence round the North Cape. If iron and hemp
will bear the charge of carriage from this inland
country, other metals will, as well as iron; and certainly
 silk, since three pence per pound is not above
one per cent. on the value, and amounts to twentyeight
 pounds per ton. If the growths of a country

Ea
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