Page:Early Man in Britain and His Place in the Tertiary Period.djvu/514

486 was embroidered with gold. Their shoes were open in front, and fastened round the ankle. Boadicea wore a many-coloured tunic, drawn closely around her bosom, and over this a mantle, with a gold collar or torque round the neck. In the tin districts black mantles were worn. The natives of the interior wore skins in the days of Cæsar, and those of North Britain are described by Herodian and other writers as being half naked. Woad was used for staining the skin blue, and the figures of various animals are stated by the above-mentioned author to have been tattooed on their bodies. The personal ornaments were the same as those described in the twelfth chapter. Their weapons were daggers, long iron swords, and short spears; small round targets also were used, and in the south oblong shields like those of the Gauls; helmets and breast-plates were unknown. Cavalry were used in warfare, and large numbers of chariots, like those of the Homeric heroes, drawn by small galloways, and sometimes bearing scythes on either side.

The tribes of the south-eastern districts were, as might be expected from their contact with Gaul, and those of Cornwall from their intercourse with the Phoenician and Greek traders, more highly civilised than the other Britons. Coins were used as far north as York, but were not current among the Silures. Many of the mines were worked in various parts of the country, and a brisk export trade was carried on not merely in