36 GEOGRAPHY OF THE HOMERIC PERIOD, [CHAP.
of the workings have been found in modern times. But by far
the largest amount was brought from Britain, where
and Britain. the Comjgh mjnes furnished that metal in an abun-
dance elsewhere unknown. The Phoenicians were the importers,
and their entrepdt for what was obtained from both those countries
was Cades; though, as we have seen in the case of amber, an
overland route for this traffic through Gaul to the mouth of the
Rhone probably existed at an early period. It is a reasonable
conjecture that in Northern Gaul this line of trade passed by way
of Brittany, for the Veneti, who occupied part of that district, are
spoken of by Caesar as being bold navigators, and accustomed to
make the voyage to Britain1. And if, as seems probable, Ushant
and the other islands in the neighbourhood of the Armorican
peninsula are the Oestrymnides which arc mentioned by Avicnus,
we have direct testimony to the presence of tin in connexion with
them even before the time of Pytheas. For Avienus, whose
account of the inhabitants of the Oestrymnides tallies in many
points with what Caesar says of that region, speaks of those
islands as being rich in tin; and his description is professedly
based on that of Himilco, the Carthaginian explorer, whose
voyage took place not later than the fifth century before our era8.
rlrepov] & rots Mp robs Awirovota /3apj8d/jois: Pliny, 34. 156; mine cerium
est [plumbum album] in Lusilania gigni et in Callaeiia.
1 Caesar, B. £., 3. 8. i; Naves habent Veneti plurimas, quibus in Uritan-
niam navigare consuerunt, et scientia atquc usu naulicarum rcrum rcliquos
antecedunt, et in magno impetu maris atque apcrto paucis port i bus inter-
jectis, quos tenent ipsi, omnes fere qui eo mari uti consuerunt, huhcnt vccti-
gales.
2 Avien., Ora Maritima, 90—102;
Et prominentis hie jugi surgit caput,
Oestrymnin istud dixit aevuni antiquius,
Molesque celsa saxei fastigii
Tota in tepentem maxime vergit notum.
Sub hujus autem prominentis vertice
Sinus dehiscit incolis Oestrynmicus,
In quo insulae sese exserunt Oestrymnides
Laxe jacentes et metallo divites
Stanni atque plumbi. Multa vis hie gentis est,
Superbus animus, efficax sollertia,
Negotiandi cura jugis omnibus,