Caesar informs us, that the
Britons often assisted the Gauls, both by land and sea; and we have seen
that they sent assistance to the Vanni, in their sea-fight against Caesar;
but it is not to be supposed that their leathern boats, small and weak as
they were, could have been of any material advantage in an engagement with
the Roman ships. Besides, the Britons, who inhabited the coast opposite to
Gaul, carried on, as we have remarked, a considerable and regular trade
with the Vanni; it is, therefore, reasonable to presume, that they would
learn from this tribe, the art of building ships like theirs, which were so
well fitted for these seas, as well as for war, that Caesar built vessels
after their model, when he formed the determination of opposing them by
sea.
The Britons, however, certainly did not themselves engage much in the
traffic with Gaul, and therefore could not require many vessels of either
description for this purpose. From the earliest period, of which we have
any record, till long after the invasion by Caesar, the commodities of
Britain seem to have been exported by foreign ships, and the commodities
given in exchange brought by these.
In our account of the commerce of the Phoenicians, their trade to Britain
for tin has been described. Pliny, in his chapter on inventions and
discoveries, states that this metal was first brought from the Cassiterides
by Midacritus, but at what period, or of what nation he was, he does not
inform us.
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