l i ' i
CBANIA BRITANNICA. [CHAP. V.
exclusively possessed the trade to tlie Cassiterides, and concealed the way thither from all
others*." So jealous were they lest this trade should be known, that the master of a Gaditauian
vessel ran his ship on a shoal and suffered shipwreck, rather than allow the Romans who
IbUowed him to become acquainted with the route. Much mystery and very inaccurate notions
existed as to the situation of these islands, which were also named, by some of the Greek
OTiters, CEstrymnides, and by others Hesperides, from their western situation. They were often
described as situated in the depth of the ocean, rather than in any specific relation to Britain or
Gaul. Strabo speaks of them as lying in the main sea, northwaxd from the Artabri, but neai'ly
within the same climate, or as we should say latitude, as Britaint. Diodorus connects them
rather with Spain, when he says they "lie off Iberia in the oceanj." Festus Avienus,
^v•ho names them Qistrymnides, says they are situated in " the vast Oistrynmian Gulf,
which stretches from the promontory of Qilstrymnis§" (Neriuni or Cape rinisterre). It seems
probable that the Phoenicians did not make a coasting voyage to these islands, but reached them
dn-ectly fr-om the north of Spain, or the Magnus Portus of the Artabri. To this voyage from
Gadeh-a, Strabo apparently refers, when he says, " but those who sail to the north direct their
course from the Sacred Promontory (Cape St. Vincent) to the Artabri, having Lusitania on the
right hand, and then for the rest towards the east in an obtuse angle with the furthest Pyrenees,
which terminate in the ocean; northward and opposite to which are the western coasts of
Britain II."
When, in the sixth century B.C., Tyre, after the siege by Nebuchadnezzar, lost its former
importance in the west, Carthage gradually succeeded to that dominion which had previously
belonged to the parent state; and Gadeira, with the other Phoenician colonies of Spain, seems to
have submitted to its supremacy. The trade to the Cassiterides was now doubtless shared at
least by the merchants of Carthage. It was during this period, " when the Punic power was at
its height**," in the fourth or fifth century B.C., that the navigator Himilco, who had been sent
by his government to explore the north-west of Europe, ia a voyage of fom- months, visited the
Cassiterides. Pestus Avienus, in his poem " Ora Maritima," seems to have followed a lost
periplus of this voyage, as, in his description of these islands, he names Himilco, refers to the
voyages of both the Tartessians and Carthaginians, and asserts his access to Punic records t+.
There is no proof that the Phoenicians, either of Gades or Carthage, founded any colony on
the shores of Britain, or that they obtained at any time so secm-e a hold of the soil in the southwest
of the island, as to be able to work the mines themselves; though, as already hinted, they
may have encouraged the settlement of miners from Spain, possibly of mixed Iberian and
Phoenician race. That during their many voyages individual Phoenicians settled in the mining
districts of the Cassiterides and Belerium, is hardly to be doubted, when the readiness with
which they mixed with other nations is considered. A tincture of Semitic blood and manners,
it is very probable, may thus have been communicated to the south-west of Britain; and it may
* Strabo, lib. iii. c. 5. § 11.
t Strabo, lib. ii. c, 5. § 15 ; and lib. iii. c. 5. § 11.
J Diodorus, lib. T. C. 38.
§ Ora Maritima, v. 94.
II Strabo, lib. ii. c. 5. § 15. Compare lib. iii. c. 3. § 5.
^ Kenrick, loc. cit. p. 153.
** Pliny, lib. ii. § 67.
•ft Ora Marit. y. 04 et seti-
" Tartessiisque in termines OEstryranidum
Negotiandi mos erat ; Cartbaginis
Etiam colonis ; et vulgus, inter Ilerculis
Agitaus columnas, haïe adibant Eequora."—v. 113.
" Heec olim Himilco Poenus oceano super
Speetasse semel et probasse retulit ;
Hoec nos ab imis Punieorum annalibus.
Prolato longe tempore edidimus tibi."—v. 412.
ClIAP. V.] HISTORICAL ETHNOLOGY OE BRITAIN. 61
fairly be questioned whether certain eastern peculiarities in the Druidical institute and doctrines,
and in the mythology and religious rites of the Britons, are not in this way to be accounted for*.
The Greeks of Phocaia, the most maritime of the Hellenic people, who founded Massilia
about the sixth century B.C., had at this early period extended their voyages as far as the pUlars
of Hercules. At the time of the Persian conquest of Asia Minor, they had fitted out an expedition
to the west of Europe, and reached " Iberia and Tartessus," previously unknown to the
Greeks t. Towards the period of the decline of the Carthaginian power, the merchants of
Massilia seem to have become acquainted with the source of tin in Britain, in consequence,
probably, of the voyage of Pytheas, upwards of 300 years B.C. At this time, the trade of Massilia
was greatly extended, and after the destruction of Carthage (146 B.C.) it seems to have succeeded
to the commerce of that state. Much mystery, however, still attached to the trade in tin; and
Polybius, in the middle of the second century before our era, teUs us that the conqueror of
Carthage, Scipio, could learn little worthy of notice respecting Britain from the people of
Massilia i- Polybius omits any mention of the Cassiterides, in his brief allusion to the working
of tin; and names the Brettanic Islands only as the country which produced this metal. It
is probable that he derived his information from the traders of Massilia, which place he doubtless
visited in his journey to Gaulj perhaps in company with his friend Scipio§. Posidonius,
about fifty years later, after stating that tin was found in some parts of Spain, adds that it was
also found " in the islands Cassiterides, and that fr-om the Brettanic Islands it is carried to
Massalia||." The mention of both Britain and the Cassiterides in this connexion is important,
as affording proof that the latter were reaUy British islands, and that they were so regarded.
Posidonius visited Gades as well as Massilia, for the sake of geographical information, residing a
month at the former place; and it may be conjectiued that he found the older name of
Cassiterides in use at Gades, and the more modern one of Britain at Massilia. It is at least
clear, that in the time of Posidonius, this city had become the principal centre of the trade in tin.
More accurate and deiinite views as to the principal sources of this metal now gradually
obtained. Diodorus Siculus, -nTiting probably a little before the commencement of our era, still
alludes to its being brought from the little islands Cassiterides, as well as fr-om Britain, much
as Posidonius had done^f; but another passage shows that he was accui-ately informed as to the
district on the mainland of Britain where the metal was, and still is, most abundantly produced.
" They who live," says Diodorus, " near that promontory of Britain called Belerium (Land's End)
obtain the tin by skUfnUy working the soil which produces it; * * * * they carry it to a certain
island which lies off the coast called Ictis (' Ictin'); for at the ebb tides the intervening space
is dry, and the tin in great abimdance is carried over in carts * » * Here the merchants
purchase it from the natives**." In this passage, the site of the principal tin mines is truly
* Heeren ("Historical Researches," 1833, vol. ii. p. 418),
whilst admitting the want of proof, thinks a Phoenician colony
in Britain probable. Though they may not have founded
any colony, they may have established a factory, and this indeed
appears to have been the usual character of the Phcenician
settlements. If such existed in Britain, frequent marriages
with native women must almost certainly have occurred. Dr.
Latham (Smith's " Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography,"
vol. i. p. 438) allows of Phffinician elements in the population
of Britain. See also Ethnology of Europe, 1852, p. 27.
t Herodotus, lib, i. c. 163.
Strabo, lib. iv. e. 2. § 1. Polybius adds, that similar ignorance
was professed by the people of Narbon and of Corbilo
on the Loire, the two other principal places of trade in Gaul.
This is the earliest mention of Britain, under that name; excluding
that in the treatise " De Mundo," as of doubtful date.
i Polyb. Hist. lib. iii. c. 67, 59.
II Posidonius apud Strabon., lib. iii. c. 2. § 9.
^ Diodorus, lib. v. c. 38.
** Diodorus, lib. v. c. 22. The name of the island in the
Greek is Ictin, in the accusative, and the translators have generally
rendered it in the nominative by Ictis. It has, however,
been argued that the actual name in the Greek or Phocuician,
from which latter language, or from the British, it may
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