Yet, notwithstanding the effectual demand for East India commodities was necessarily increased by the increased supply of the precious metals, yet the supply of these commodities being increased in a much greater proportion, their price was much lowered.  This lowering of price naturally arose from two circumstances:  after the passage to India by the Cape, the productions and manufactures of the East were purchased immediately from the natives; and they were brought to Europe directly, and all the way, by sea.  Whereas, before the discovery of the Cape, they were purchased and repurchased frequently; consequently, repeated additions were made to their original price; and these additions were made, in almost every instance, by persons who had the monopoly of them.  Their conveyance to Europe was long, tedious, and mostly by land carriage, and consequently very expensive.  There are no data by which it can be ascertained in what proportion the Portuguese lowered the price of Indian commodities; but Dr. Robertson’s supposition appears well founded,—­that they might afford to reduce the commodities of the East, in every part of Europe, one half.  This supposition is founded on a table of prices of goods in India, the same sold at Aleppo, and what they might be sold for in England,—­drawn up, towards the end of the seventeenth century, by Mr. Munn:  from this it appears, that the price at Aleppo was three times that in India, and that the goods might be sold in England at half the Aleppo price.  But as the expense of conveying goods to Aleppo from India, may, as Dr. Robertson observes, be reckoned nearly the same as that which was incurred by bringing them to Alexandria, he draws the inference already stated,—­that the discovery of the Cape reduced the price of Indian commodities one half.  The obvious and necessary result would follow, that they would be in greater demand, and more common use.  The principal eastern commodities used by the Romans were spices and aromatics,—­precious stones and pearls; and in the later periods of their power, silk; these, however, were almost exclusively confined to rare and solemn occasions, or to the use of the most wealthy and magnificent of the conquerors of the world.  On the subversion of the Roman empire, the commodities of the East were for a short time in little request among the barbarians who subverted it:  as soon, however, as they advanced from their ignorance and rudeness, these commodities seem strongly to have attracted their notice, and they were especially fond of spices and aromatics.  These were used very profusely in their cookery, and formed the principal ingredients in their medicines.  As, however, the price of all Indian commodities was necessarily high, so long as they were obliged to be brought to Europe by a circuitous route, and loaded with accumulated profits, it was impossible that they could be purchased, except by the more wealthy classes.  The Portuguese, enabled to sell them in greater abundance, and at a much cheaper rate, introduced them into much more general use; and, as they every year extended their knowledge of the East, and their commerce with it, the number of ships fitted out at Lisbon every year, for India, became necessarily more numerous, in order to supply the increased demand.