458 EARLY MAN IN BRITAIN. [CHAP.XIII. 



Cape (Finisterre) Nerium, where a chain of lofty moun- 

 tains, formerly called OEstrymnis, rises perpendicularly 

 from the sea. Thence he crossed the Bay of Biscay, and 

 arrived at the islands of the CEstrymnides, " rich in tin 

 and lead, and inhabited by a numerous, proud, and in- 

 dustrious population accustomed to commerce, and in 

 the habit of going to sea in poor leathern boats 

 (coracles). Thence he sailed two days farther to grass- 

 green ' Insula Sacra' (Ireland), inhabited by the races 

 of the Hibernians." * These seas were visited by the 

 sailors of Carthage and of Gades, who were in the habit 

 of carrying on a trade with the natives. The voyage 

 back from the CEstrymnides is described as follows : 

 " He who dares to steer from them into the open sea 

 with a north wind lands on the green shore of the 

 Ligurians," which may reasonably be taken to be the 

 lower district of the Loire (Ligeris), or that district from 

 which in later times intercourse was maintained between 

 Cornwall and Massilia. 2 From this place the QEstrym- 

 nian Bay reaches as far as Ophiusa, the coast of which 

 has the same extent as that of the Peloponnese, and 

 from which it is a journey of seven days on foot to the 

 Mediterranean or Sardinian Sea. 



It is obvious, from this confused account, that we 

 possess merely imperfect fragments of the records of 

 the voyage. But even these prove that the Phoenicians 

 were in the habit of trading with the natives of north- 

 western Europe, as early as B.C. 500, and that they 

 penetrated as far as the British and Irish Seas. The 

 CEstrymnides are probably the same as the Cassiterides, 



1 Rufus Festus Avienus, Poetce Latince Minores, ed. Le Maire, 1. 80, 

 Paris, 1825; Orce Maritime, ed. Wernsdorf, v. 11Y, 383, 412; Mon. 

 Hist. Brit. xix. 2 Strabo, in Mon. Hist. Brit. vi. 



