CHAP, xiv.] POPULATION AT TIME OF ROMAN CONQUEST. 487 



tin, but in gold, silver, iron, corn, and cattle, peltry, 

 slaves, and hunting-dogs ; the imports being, according 

 to Diodorus Siculus, ivory bracelets, necklaces, amber, 

 bronze wares, glass vessels, and "such like mean 

 merchandise " from Gaul. This trade was sufficiently 

 important to be taxed by Caesar. British pearls also 

 were known in Eome, and a breastplate inlaid with them, 

 presented by Caesar to Venus Genetrix, was preserved in 

 Eome in her temple. Coracles, and boats made of osiers 

 covered with hides, were employed in navigation, as 

 well as wooden boats and ships ; and in these the hardy 

 natives of the west were in the habit of crossing over 

 into Ireland. The tribes inhabiting Ireland were, as 

 might be expected from their remoteness from the 

 Continent, more rude and barbarous than those of 

 Britain, although they belonged to the same races. 

 Their ignorance of coins marks their lower position in 

 the social scale. 



Three, if not more, distinct peoples were in the 

 British Isles at the time of the Eoman conquest (1) 

 the small dark Iberians in the west, the remnants of the 

 Neolithic aborigines ; (2) their Celtic conquerors, who 

 introduced a new civilisation from the Continent in the 

 Bronze age, occupying by far the larger portion of the 

 island ; and (3) the Caledonians in the north, large- 

 limbed, and with red hair, considered by Tacitus to be 

 of Germanic origin. 1 The last are identified by Dr. 

 Beddoe with the tall red-haired population in the east 

 in Athole and Mar. 2 They probably arrived in Scotland 



1 Dr. Thurnam considers this a mere speculation of Tacitus. Crania, 

 Brit. i. p. 169. Jornandes notes the large size and red hair of the 

 Caledonians, as well as the dark complexions and curly black hair of the 

 Silures, Mon. Hist. Brit. Ixxii. 2 Proceed. Soc. Antiq. Scot., 1855. 



