BRITAIN, ITS EARLY POPULATION. 235 



amount of metallurgic skill that it secretly practised at 

 Alesia and elsewhere. 



Fierce and undaunted in battle, the ancient Britons 

 were also a horse-loving people, and largely employed 

 horses in peace, as well as in war. They appear to have 

 been passionately fond of horses, as the fragments of 

 their poetry that have reached us abundantly testify : and 

 it would almost appear that all their fighting men were 

 mounted on spirited steeds.' Whether ridden by their 

 fearless masters, or harnessed to the multitudes of chariots 

 so conspicuous in their armies, the little hardy British 

 steeds appear to have been well trained, Caesar's first 

 impression of them was anything but favourable to the 

 expected success of the Roman arms. When attempting 

 to land upon our coast, he thus describes them : ' The 

 barbarians (as was then the fashion to designate our valiant 

 woad-stained forefathers), upon perceiving the design of 

 the Romans, sent forward their cavalry and charioteers 

 {essedarii), a class of warriors of whom it is their prac- 

 tice to make great use in their battles ; and following 

 with the rest of their forces, endeavoured to prevent our 

 men landing. In this was the greatest difficulty, for the 

 following reasons, namely, because our ships, on account 

 of their great size, could be stationed only in deep 

 water ; and our soldiers, in places unknown to them, with 

 their hands embarrassed, oppressed with a large and heavy 

 weight of armour, had at the same time to leap from 



' For proof of this, see that most interesting collection of traditional 

 poetry translated from the Welsh by Mr Skene, entitled ' The Fonr 

 Ancient Books of Wales.' Edinburgh, 1 868. The poem designated the 

 ' Triads of the Horses ' is very remarkable. 



