maritime affairs; and he expressly informs us, that he built his ships at a
port at the mouth of the Seine, when he was preparing to invade Britain. In
his wars against the Vanni he brought ships from the present provinces of
Saintoinge and Poitou, which we may thence conclude were inhabited by
people skilled in maritime affairs. In later times, there was a marsh
filled with sea-water, not far from Bourdeaux, which made that city a
convenient port, and a place of considerable commerce. Strabo mentions a
town of some commerce, situated on the Loire, which he represents as equal
in size to Narbonne and Marseilles; but what town that was has not been
ascertained.

The most powerful and commercial, however, of all the tribes of Gaul, that
inhabited the coasts near the ocean, in the time of Cæsar, were the Vanni.
These people carried on an extensive and lucrative trade with Britain,
which was interrupted by the success of Cæsar, (who obliged them, as well
as the other tribes of Gaul, to give him hostages,) and which they
apprehended was likely to be still further injured by his threatened
invasion of Britain; in order to prevent this, as well as to liberate
themselves, they revolted against the Romans. As Cæsar was sensible that it
would be imprudent and unsafe to attempt the invasion of Britain, so long
as the Vanni were unsubdued and powerful at sea, he directed his thoughts
and his endeavours to build and equip such a fleet as would enable him
successfully to cope with them on their own element. In building his ships,
he followed the model of those of his enemies, which were large,
flat-bottomed, and high in the head and stern: they were strong-built, and
had leathern sails, and anchors with iron chains. They had a numerous
squadron of such vessels, which they employed chiefly in their trade with
Britain: they seem also to have derived considerable revenue from the
tribute which they levied on all who navigated the adjacent seas, and to
have possessed many ports on the coast. Besides their own fleet, the