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. This trade was so lucrative, that a participation in it was
eagerly sought by all the commercial nations of the Mediterranean, and even
by the Romans, who, as we have seen, were not at this period, much given to
commerce. This is evident, by the well known fact, of one of their vessels
endeavouring to follow the course of a Phoenician or Carthaginian vessel,
in her voyage to Britain.
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