486 EARLY MAN IN BRITAIN. [CHAP. xiv. 



was embroidered with gold. 1 Their shoes were open in 

 front, and fastened round the ankle. Boadicea wore a 

 many-coloured tunic, drawn closely around her bosom, 

 and over this a mantle, with a gold collar or torque 

 round the neck. In the tin districts black mantles were 

 worn. 2 The natives of the interior wore skins in the 

 days of Caesar, and those of North Britain are described 

 by Herodian and other writers as being half naked. 

 Woad was used for staining the skin blue, and the 

 figures of various animals are stated by the above- 

 mentioned author 3 to have been tattooed on their 

 bodies. The personal ornaments were the same as 

 those described in the twelfth chapter. Their weapons 

 were daggers, long iron swords, and short spears ; small 

 round targets also were used, and in the south oblong 

 shields like those of the Gauls ; helmets and breast- 

 plates were unknown. Cavalry were used in warfare, 

 and large numbers of chariots, like those of the Homeric 

 heroes, drawn by small galloways, and sometimes bear- 

 ing scythes on either side. 4 



The tribes of the south-eastern districts were, as might 

 be expected from their contact with Gaul, and those 

 of Cornwall from their intercourse with the Phoenician 

 and Greek traders, more highly civilised than the other 

 Britons. Coins were used as far north as York, but 

 were not current among the Silures. 5 Many of the 

 mines were worked in various parts of the country, 

 and a brisk export trade was carried on not merely in 



1 Thurnarn, Crania Britannica, i. p. 75. 



2 Strabo, Mon. Hist. Brit. v. 3 Mon. Hist. Brit. Ixii. 



4 For these facts, see Mon. Hist. Brit. ; also Thurnam, Crania Bri- 

 tannica, i. p. 85 et seq. 



5 Solinus, A.D. 80. See Evans, Ancient British Coins, c. i. 



