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Massalian merchants to discover the sources of the lucrative tin trade, the secret of which had hitherto been jealously guarded by the Carthaginians, who monopolised it. The narrative of his voyage is for us of peculiar interest, for its fragments contain the first notices of what was then an almost unknown land; 1 while the fact that the Massalians thought the tin trade of such importance as to warrant the expense of an exploring expedition is a proof of the activity of the foreign commerce of pre-historic Britain. Pytheas, on reaching Britain, which he first touched on the shores of Kent, not only landed there, but travelled over part of the country on foot to collect information about the tin trade. He almost certainly went westward, passing through what is now Wiltshire and South Hampshire- then a great forest district to Cornwall. "Here he found the country of the tin, which was dug out of the ground in mines with shafts and galleries. The people were very hospitable, their commerce with foreign merchants having civilised them and softened their manners."2 The tin thus mined was carried six days' journey to an island called Ictis, whence the traders from Gaul conveyed it across the Channel into Gaul, and finally down the Rhone in barges to Massalia. Besides tin-mining, Pytheas found a fairly considerable agriculture, observing "an abundance of wheat in the fields," though, owing to the moist nature of the climate and lack of regular sunshine, the sheaves had to

1 The statements of Pytheas, recorded as they are only by his critics, have been received both in ancient and modern times with considerable scepticism, but there seems, after a careful review of them, little reason to doubt their substantial accuracy. See especially C. R. Markham's paper on Pytheas, the discoverer of Britain, in The Geographical Journal, Vol. I. No. 6, where his observations are vindicated from a geographical standpoint.

2 Cf. Diodorus Siculus, c. 22. This account was almost certainly taken from Timaeus, who derived it from Pytheas.

"Where "Ictis" was situated is still a subject of controversy. Elton thinks it was Thanet (p. 35-37), Sir E. Bunbury and Captain Markham think it was St Michael's Mount. Professor Rhys (Celtic Britain, 46, 47) inclines to Thanet. This latter view certainly explains Caesar's story that the tin "nascitur in mediterraneis regionibus," and also explains why Pytheas on touching the coast at Kent had to travel westwards, seeing on his way the temple of Stonehenge, very early reports of which reached the Greek. But Elton doubts his being in those parts.

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be thrashed in "great barns." 1 The natives possessed also "cultivated fruits, a great abundance of some domesticated animals but a scarcity of others, and made a beverage from wheat and honey," the "metheglin" of some country districts in the present day. That the state of agriculture was, however, very backward in some districts (probably those occupied by the older inhabitants), we gather from Posidonius, who visited Britain in the first century B.C., and related that the " people have mean habitations made chiefly of rushes or sticks, and their harvest consists in cutting off the ears of corn and storing them in pits underground," using it from day to day. But, on the other hand, agriculture was well advanced in the Gaulish settlements of the South and East. "The British Gauls," says Elton," appear to have been excellent farmers, skilled as well in the production of cereals as in stock-raising and the management of the dairy. Their farms were laid out in large fields without enclosures or fences, and they learned to make a permanent separation of the pasture and arable, and to apply the manures which were appropriate to each kind of field. The plough was of the wheeled kind, an invention that superseded the old 'overtreading plough' held down by the driver's foot." A remarkable proof of their advanced knowledge was shown in the practice of marling. "They relied greatly on marling and chalking the land. The same soil, however, was never twice chalked, as the effects were visible after standing the experience of fifty years. The effect of the ordinary marl was of even longer duration, the benefit being visible in some instances for a period of eighty years." Many varieties of marl were used-the lime-marl, chalk-marl, the red, dove-coloured, sandy, and pumice varieties being all mentioned by Pliny. They had two varieties of cattle-the small Welsh breed or "Celtic shorthorn and the Kyloe or Argyllshire variety-as well as sheep, pigs, and fowls.5 It is worthy of notice, in view of landed customs which we shall have to note in later times, that there is no trace among them of co-operative husbandry.

1 Strabo, iv., v. 5. (Cas. 201). 4 Elton, pp. 115-116.

2 Ib.
3 See Diodorus, v. 21.
5 Ib., pp. 116-117.

The Gauls were likewise expert not only in agricultural but also in textile manufactures of a simple kind in cloth and linen. "They wove their stuffs for summer, and rough felts or druggets for winter wear,1 which are said to have been prepared with vinegar, and to have been so tough as to resist the stroke of a sword. They had learned the art of using alternate colours for the warp and woof, so as to bring out a pattern of stripes and squares," and obviously of dyeing the materials.

We see, then, from a survey of the various inhabitants of Britain in pre-Roman times, that they had reached in some parts a very fair degree of industrial development, especially in agriculture, though in other districts they were equally backward. Manufactures and mining 2 were in progress, and the latter had given rise to what must have been for those times a considerable foreign commerce, though this was confined to the southern coasts. It is not easy,

perhaps, to gain a general survey of the country, because the conditions of culture in the various districts and among the different races were so diverse, and this diversity was at once a consequence and a cause of the difficulties of communication. But though we cannot in this period make any industrial generalisations, we may be certain that its industrial conditions left some marks on future ages, and that any consideration of post-Roman civilisation and customs -especially in the permanent and abiding influences of agriculture—must necessarily be imperfect if it fails to take into account the survivals of the pre-historic period.

§ 9. Foreign Trade of Britain.

It was the conquest of Gaul that brought the Romans of Julius Cæsar's day close to the shores of Britain, and it was mainly from the reports of Gaulish traders that Cæsar derived not only his knowledge of that country but also his

1 Elton, pp. 110, 111.

2 The tin districts of the time of Pytheas and Posidonius, i.e. in the third and first centuries B.C., are given by Elton, p. 33, as Dartmoor, the country round Tavistock and round St Austell, the southern coast of Cornwall, the district round St Agnes on the north coast, and between Cape Cornwall and St Ives.

desire to conquer it. The Romans evidently thought the conquest worth making for the sake of the possible wealth that might accrue from it, for the inhabitants of Britain were hardly formidable enough politically to threaten the Roman frontiers in Gaul. Probably they expected more from the island than they actually obtained.1 and, as Elton remarks," the ultimate conquest was doubtless hastened by the dream of winning a land of gold and a rich reward of victory." But although we may admit that the Romans entertained exaggerated hopes, we may glance for a moment at the actual state of trade in Britain in the days before their arrival.

It is obvious, in the first place, that the Phenicians and Carthaginians, and-after the voyage of Pytheas also the Greeks, would not have made their long and dangerous voyages to Britain for tin unless the supplies of that metal had been sufficiently large to make it well worth their while, especially as it was procurable also in Spain. Hence the British tin trade must have been of considerable dimensions for those times. It is equally obvious that the foreign traders must have brought other goods to exchange for tin, since the British were in that stage of civilisation when barter comes naturally to the uncommercial mind, and the use of coined money was little understood. Besides tin, it is certain that the gold which is found with tin in Cornwall, and the silver which is also mingled with the lead, formed articles of export. Iron was also exported, especially when the Gauls of the later immigration began to work the mines of the Weald of Kent. Besides metals, we find mention of agricultural and pastoral produce, corn and barley, cattle and hides; and the trade in the special British breed of hunting dogs,5 both with Gaul and Rome, was of some importance. The pearl fishery, of which we hear so much from Bede, was probably greatly exaggerated, since Tacitus mentions British pearls only to slight them, and it is improbable that it should not have continued till

1 Tac., Agric., 12.

3 For these imports, see p. 16.

2 Origins, p. 293.

4 Cæsar, B. G., v. 12.

5 Martial, Epigram. xiv. 200; Claudian, Stil., iii. 301.

much later times if it had been lucrative. On the other hand, the slave trade was an important feature, especially after the Roman conquest. Among the most ancient articles of commerce was almost certainly amber, of which small quantities were found on certain portions of the British coast; but the British supply is too small to account for the great quantity found in the tumuli,1 and hence it must have formed an important article of import from the North Sea and Baltic shores. Very probably the Phenician and other traders found it a useful medium of exchange, and under the Roman Empire the import from the Ostians was sufficient to bear a tax which yielded a small revenue.3 Ivory, bracelets (and certainly other ornaments), glass, and "such-like petty merchandise," are all mentioned by Strabo as being imported, and his statements indicate the kind of trade that must have gone on for centuries before his time. Weapons of all kinds would find a ready sale in the island, while furs and the skins of wild animals, of which there were very large numbers in Britain, were exported. Speaking generally we may say that, although the Britains were able to manufacture implements, weapons, pottery, and clothing for themselves, yet the foreign trade was necessarily an exchange of foreign manufactured articles for raw produce, and continued for many centuries to be of this nature.

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§ 10. Internal Trade: Roads and Rivers.

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The means of communication by which trade was carried on internally were the rivers, the "ridge ways or roads on the open ground at the top of ridges of hills—of which the High Street in the Lake district, afterwards a Roman road, is a very good example-and other rough tracks. The first road-makers were the wild animals migrating to early pastures and the savages who followed them. But the place of rivers in the commercial history of the early and middle ages was most important, since, till good roads were made, 1 Cf. Elton, p. 63.

2 They occupied the district near the mouth of the Elbe, though Dr Latham places them further east.

3 Strabo, iv. 278.

4 16.

5 Social England, vol. i. p. 88.

"Thorold Rogers, Econ. Int. of History, p. 490.

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