Separated from the rest of Europe by a sea, which in winter is very boisterous, and in summer often disturbed by currents and uncertain winds; surrounded by a coast full of danger, and with the channels to its principal havens interspersed with treacherous sand-banks, the ancient Britons must have been an adventurous race to launch their frail barks, for even a limited voyage, on waters so often disturbed by storm and tempest. Their trade, moreover, during the early periods of their history, was very inconsiderable, notwithstanding the convenient situation of their island for carrying on an extensive commerce; and the greater number of their vessels were of the rudest description. Cæsar speaks of them as being, even in his time, of the slightest construction, with the keels and ribs framed of some light wood and covered with leather; and Lucan[406] says “they were constructed of osiers, twisted and interwoven with each other, and then covered with strong hides.” In such vessels as these the Britons worked their way along their iron-bound and tempest-tossed shores, and frequently made the passage to Ireland and the coasts of Gaul. From the fact, however, that they carried on a trade, though limited, in their own vessels with the Veneti on the coasts of Brittany, sometimes extending their voyages to the river Garonne, it is a fair inference that they possessed other vessels of a larger and stronger description, and that they had learnt something of ship-building from the Veneti, and, possibly, from the Phœnicians. But if it were true, as has been asserted by more than one author, that when the Britons undertook a voyage they abstained from food till it was completed, these voyages must have been very short, indeed, not longer than to Gaul or Ireland. [Sidenote: Encouragement by law to construct superior vessels.]