sea is reported to be sluggish and laborious to the rower; and even to be
scarcely agitated by winds. The cause of this stagnation I imagine to be
the deficiency of land and mountains where tempests are generated; and the
difficulty with which such a mighty mass of waters, in an uninterrupted
main, is put in motion. [42] It is not the business of this work to
investigate the nature of the ocean and the tides; a subject which many
writers have already undertaken. I shall only add one circumstance: that
the dominion of the sea is nowhere more extensive; that it carries many
currents in this direction and in that; and its ebbings and flowings are
not confined to the shore, but it penetrates into the heart of the
country, and works its way among hills and mountains, as though it were in
its own domain. [43]

11. Who were the first inhabitants of Britain, whether indigenous [44] or
immigrants, is a question involved in the obscurity usual among
barbarians. Their temperament of body is various, whence deductions are
formed of their different origin. Thus, the ruddy hair and large limbs of
the Caledonians [45] point out a German derivation. The swarthy complexion
and curled hair of the Silures, [46] together with their situation
opposite to Spain, render it probable that a colony of the ancient Iberi
[47] possessed themselves of that territory. They who are nearest Gaul
[48] resemble the inhabitants of that country; whether from the duration
of hereditary influence, or whether it be that when lands jut forward in
opposite directions, [49] climate gives the same condition of body to the
inhabitants of both. On a general survey, however, it appears probable
that the Gauls originally took possession of the neighboring coast. The
sacred rites and superstitions [50] of these people are discernible among
the Britons. The languages of the two nations do not greatly differ. The
same audacity in provoking danger, and irresolution in facing it when
present, is observable in both. The Britons, however, display more