After the fall of Palmyra the Indian trade was transferred to Batne, near the Euphrates, but it lasted only a short time, and in the 4th and 5th centuries may be regarded as having become extinct in so far as Roman merchants were concerned. The trade, however, was still kept up by the Arabs. Epiphanius, about A.D. 375, gives an account of trade carried on through Berenice, by which the merchants of India imported their goods into the Roman territory, and there is also Chinese authority for believing that a great trade between Rome and India existed in the 6th century. Ma-Touan-Lin, A.D. 1317, in his researches into antiquity, affirms that in A.D. 500-516 India carried on a considerable commerce by sea with Ta-Tsin, the Roman Empire, and with the Ansi the Syrians,[41] but Arab and not Roman vessels were employed. Masoudi says that in the early part of the 7th century the Indian and Chinese trade with Babylon was principally in the hands of the Indians and Chinese. The usual passage after rounding the Point de Galle was to creep up the Madras coast during the S.W. monsoon and take a point of departure from Masulapatam towards the leading opening of the Ganges.[42] Meanwhile the overland trade between Europe and India in the 3rd and 4th centuries was carried on by the Sassanidæ, who in the 4th century entered into commercial relations with China, to which country they sent frequent embassies in the 6th century, and through this route silk was imported into Europe. In A.D. 712 Sind was conquered by the Arabs, and in addition to the kingdom of Mansurah and Multan, other independent Muslim governments were established at Bania and Kasdar.[43] There is also the evidence of the merchant Sulamin and the researches of Mr. Edward Thomas into the coins of the Balhara to prove the continuance of Arab intercourse with India during the 9th century.
During all this time the relations between Scandinavia and Rome appear to have been scarcely less extensive. Although the Romans never succeeded in penetrating Scandinavia, the discovery of coins, vases in bronze and glass, and other objects of art, is sufficient to prove that Scandinavian art was greatly influenced by intercourse with Rome during the first part of the 2nd century of our era. In the early stages of society, communication by sea offered greater facilities for traffic than land journeys, and for this reason the Island of Gotland, now so isolated and rarely visited except by antiquaries, appears to have served as a portal for the entry of Roman and Oriental goods and civilization into Scandinavia.[44] After the fall of the Roman empire, Scandinavia was left to its own resources, aided by occasional intercourse with Byzantium, until in the later iron age, extending from the 8th century to the middle of the 11th century, another line of communication was established with the East, still entering Scandinavia mainly through the Island of Gotland. Mr. Hildebrand records the discovery of 20,000 Arab coins in Sweden and Gotland, and traces the channel of their transmission by Russian finds from the states near the Caspian, through Russia to the shores of the Baltic, and thence, thanks to the commerce established by the inhabitants of Gotland, over to that island. From Gotland, and probably also by direct intercourse with Russia, the Mahomedan coins were spread over Scandinavia, being more common in the eastern provinces of Sweden than in the west or in Norway. The greater part of these coins appear to have come into Sweden between the years 880 and 955, but the latest belongs to the year 1010. On the line of communication here indicated, iron keys of the kind adapted both to the tumbler lock and the spring padlock have been discovered in the governments of Vladimir and Jaroslav, in the graves of the Neriens,[45] dating about the 8th century A.D., showing that in all probability it was by this line that the use of these locks were imported into Sweden. The key of the padlock found here was of the form of the Roman key, (fig. 21C, Plate V.), the Indian one (fig. 46C, Plate VI.), and the modern one from Cairo (fig. 47C, Plate VI.). It also resembles that of the Swedish lock (fig. 26C, Plate V.), and belongs to the most primitive form of the mechanism.
Whilst this traffic was being carried on between Scandinavia and the East, the intercourse of the Vikings was kept up with Britain, Ireland, and the coasts of the English Channel, commencing in 787 and continuing to the 11th century. These Western relations, like those with the East, appear to have taken place chiefly through Gotland; and the number of Anglo-Saxon coins found in that Island and the East of Sweden greatly exceed those discovered in Norway and the West.
The foregoing summary of the evidence of commercial relations between Southern Europe and the East and North during the early part of the Christian Era is sufficient to show that ample facilities existed for the spread of early forms of locks and keys. The padlock, more especially—which, as I have said when referring to the etymology of the word "pad," was the class of lock associated with portable merchandise—must have been carried into all those parts of the world between which commercial relations had been established.
At what time and through what particular channels the various kinds of locks were distributed can only be determined after more extended inquiry into the archæology of padlocks. Some points may, however, I think be considered to be more or less established by the evidence I have adduced. The particular form of padlock represented in fig. 44C, Plate VI., from India, and fig. 21C, Plate V., from the Roman period of Europe, must in all probability have been communicated in Roman times, as I am not aware that this precise form of padlock was in use in Europe later than the Roman age, having been superseded by the more modern improvements which have been described in this paper. The use of padlocks in the forms of animals in Egypt, Persia, and China, must also very probably belong to the same period. The Chinese and Japanese padlocks appear to belong to a more advanced stage of the development of the mechanism, and correspond to the form used in Europe in the Middle Ages; whilst the use of the revolving key in Europe, India, and Japan, to compress the springs, as shown in figs. 39C, Plate VI., 90C, Plate VIII., and 98C, Plate XI., must date from a still later phase in the art; and unless they are to be regarded as improvements introduced independently in those countries, the idea must have spread by means of Arab traders, if not still more recently. In like manner, the adoption of the screw principle with these locks must either have been conveyed by traders, or applied independently in different countries to the form of padlock already in use. The hinge of the staple, as seen in figs. 26C and 31C, Plate V., though derived from the earlier form of the parallel bar, which has a wide distribution, has not been universally adopted, but is used chiefly in Sweden and Europe, and is an improvement introduced, no doubt, in modern times. Further information is needed to enable us to trace the distribution of all these different varieties more continuously, before any satisfactory judgment can be formed as to the date of connection. In Scandinavia we find the padlock in use in Gotland, in Björkö, and in Sweden; and Hans Hildebrand, in his work on 'The Industrial Arts of Scandinavia,'[46] published by the South Kensington Museum, says that they were already known in that region in Pagan times. It is to be hoped that this announcement may be only a prelude to some more detailed publication of his researches into a subject to which the present paper can only be regarded as a first introduction—not previously attempted, that I am aware of, in its ethnological and commercial bearings. Local archæologists must work out the rest. Enough has, I trust, been said to show that a large field lies open to the student of the archæology of locks and keys, and that whenever the history of this mechanism is traced in Scandinavia, Persia, India, and China, in the same way that I have endeavoured to trace it in Europe, much light will thereby be thrown on the ramifications of trade and the commercial relations of distant countries in non-historic times.
PLATE I.
Fig. 1. Japanese book fastening derived from the common pin.
Figs. 2 and 3. Common wooden bolt used at Gastein, in Austria, at the present time.
Fig. 2. Front view.
Fig. 3. Transverse section on A B.