220 ROMAN VILLAS DISCOVERED IN DORSET. 



be chiefly found. This would seem to be a chief reason why 

 our county is so rich in Roman remains. Many an old 

 Legionary soldier, his fighting days over, would be glad to 

 settle down in this, now peaceful, neighbourhood, far removed 

 from war's alarms. He was in close touch with the Empire, 

 from which only a narrow belt of water divided him. And 

 the Roman civil system encouraged it ; lands in a conquered 

 territory would be given to old soldiers ; Roman citizenship 

 was not lost ; we see Camulodunum made a " Colonia," 

 Verulam a " Municipium." 



Friendly intercourse would be established between Rome 

 and Britain through the use which Roman generals made, 

 as we learn from Tacitus, of British auxiliaries. 



The Britons were also skilful boatmen. Their " Coracles " 

 mentioned by Caesar were a few years ago still to be seen on 

 the Severn, though they are less common now. They are 

 formed of canvas, tarred and pitched, stretched over basket- 

 work ; they are light and easily carried. In these it is not 

 unlikely that the fearless Briton may have crossed the Channel 

 and traded with the Belgse, and picked up something of 

 Roman civilisation in those hundred years between Caesar's 

 raid and the final conquest by Rome. They also had their 

 " Dug-outs," such as have been discovered in the lake- 

 dwellings near Glastonbury. 



But the mention of Glastonbury reminds us that in the 

 Lake-Village (Crannog or Stockaded Island) discovered by 

 Arthur Bulleid at the close of the last century, in the close 

 neighbourhood of Glastonbury, we have an excellent intro- 

 duction to the state of British civilisation just previous to 

 the Roman occupation. The date is very accurately fixed 

 by the relics which excavations of a very thorough nature have 

 afforded. These are distinctly British, and pre-Roman ; 

 anything of a later date was found in superficial strata, and 

 therefore of later importation. Samian ware, an evident mark 

 of contact with Rome, is conspicuous by its absence. No 

 Roman coins have been discovered ; the only coin, of tin, is 

 contemporary with the British coins of the beginning of the 



