XI.] HIS NOTICES OF BRITAIN. 231
were acquainted only with the south-eastern portion and the
adjoining districts of the interior. Caesar's starting-point was
the Portus Itius, a harbour of the Morini, whose territory lay
in that part of Gaul which adjoins the Straits of Dover. Among
the many competing sites which claim to be identified with that
place the two that deserve especial consideration are Wissant, a
village on the coast to the east of Cape Gris Nez, and Boulogne}
but both this question and that of the point on the coast of
Britain at which he landed are so debateable, that it is not
possible to speak with great confidence on the subject. The
first of these expeditions was little more than a reconnaissance,
for Caesar on that occasion hardly penetrated at all into the
country; in the second, with a view to which he prepared a
large fleet and a force of five legions and two thousand cavalry,
he advanced into the interior as far as the Thames, which river
he crossed at a point about eighty miles from the sea, somewhere
perhaps between Kingston and Brentford He did not, however,
proceed much further than this, for in no long time Cassivelaunus,
the chief of the Trinobantes, who commanded the British forces,
made submission to him, and Caesar was willing to quit the
island on terms favourable to the natives. In consequence of
this it is not surprising if his knowledge of the country was
limited. He rightly describes it as triangular in
shape; with the island of Hibernia, which he
estimates at half the size of Britain, on its western
side. He is also the first writer who notices the Isle of Man;
for it seems to be this, and not Anglesea, that he means by
Mona, for he speaks of it as lying half-way between the two
larger islands. In Pliny the Isle of Man is called Monapia1.
As regards the inhabitants he remarks that the most civilised
were those that dwelt in the south-eastern parts, who were
settlers of Belgian race, having migrated from the mainland,
and both in their dwellings and their manner of life resembled
those in Gaul The tribes of the interior he characterises as
barbarous in their customs and as leading the life of herds-
men*.
1 JET. AT, 4.103, * A Gn 5. i* -14.