Page:Craik History of British Commerce Vol 1.djvu/17

Rh nothing of the countries from which their tin came, the trade being, in fact, carried on, as we have just supposed, through the medium of the merchants of the north-west coast of Gaul. The Romans, according to the account given by Strabo in another place, had made many endeavours to discover the route to these mysterious isles, even while the trade. was still in the exclusive possession of the Carthaginians. He relates, that, on one occasion, the master of a Carthaginian vessel finding himself pursued, while on his way to the Cassiterides, by one whom the Romans had appointed to watch him, purposely ran his vessel aground, and thus, although he saved his life, sacrificed his cargo; the value of which, however, was repaid to him, on his return home, out of the public treasury. But the Romans, he adds, at length succeeded in discovering the islands, and getting the tin trade, or at least a part of it, into their own hands. As Strabo died A.D. 25, this commercial intercourse of the Romans with the south-west of Britain must have long preceded the invasion of the south-eastern part of the country by Claudius, and may very possibly have preceded even the earlier invasion by Cæsar. It is remarkable that Strabo does not speak of it as having been a consequence of, or in any degree connected with, the last-mentioned event. He says, that some time after its commencement a voyage was made to the island by a Roman navigator of the name of Publius Crassus, who, finding the inhabitants of a pacific disposition, and also fond of navigation,gave them some instructions, as the words seem to imply, for carrying it on upon a larger scale. This passage has attracted less attention than it would seem to deserve; for, if the Cassiterides be, as is generally supposed, the Scilly Islands, we have here the first notice of any commercial intercourse carried on with Britain by the Romans, and a notice which must refer to a date considerably earlier than that at which it is usually assumed that the country first began to be resorted to by that people.

We are inclined to believe, however, that the trade of the Romans with the Cassiterides was entirely confined