CHAP. CV.

CORYLA'CEvE. GUE'RCUS.

1749

time,” having been beaten by the storms for nearly a thousand winters, theypromise to endure a thousand more. {Ibid.)

The ancient Britons appear to have first used the oak for ship-building;the alder (see p. 1680.), the cypress, the pine, &c., having been previouslyused for that purpose by the Romans. The Britons, indeed, appear tohave possessed a species of navy almost from the earliest period of theirexistence as a nation. The ancient name of Britain, according to theWelch bards, was Clas Merddin, “ the sea-defended green spotand we read,that, before the invasion of Britain by Julius Cmsar (52 b.c.), a naval engage-ment took place between the Romans and the Veneti, aided by the Britons,or Cymry, in which the vessels of the latter are said to have been so firmlyconstructed, that the beaks of the Roman ships could with difficulty make anyimpression on them. These vessels were built of oaken planks, their sailswere made of skins, and their anchors were attached to iron chains, or cables.The Saxons, who settled in Britain about the middle of the fifth century, werefamed for their piracies at sea, and seem to have kept up a formidable marine.Their vessels, we are told by Aneurin, a Welch bard, “ were single-masted,carrying one square sail. They had curved bottoms, and their prows and poopswere adorned with the heads and tails of monsters.” (See Saturday Magazine,vol. iv. p. 73.) King Alfred, who ascended the throne in 872, had nume-rous vessels, some of which carried sixty oars; and his enemies the Daneswere also celebrated for their ships. The English vessels, at this period, areknown to have been of oak; and that the Danish ones were built of thesame timber is extremely probable. Professor Burnet, writing on this sub-ject, says, “ An ancient vessel was discovered, some years ago, in a branch ofthe river Rothen, near the west end of the Isle of Oxney, in Kent, and abouttwo miles from the spot where formerly stood the Roman city of Anderida.The timber of which this vessel was constructed is oak, perfectly sound, andnearly as hard as iron; and some persons believe it to be one of the fleetabandoned by the Danes after their defeat in the reign of Alfred. This, how-ever, is but conjecture: still, whether it be so, or whether it be a wreck ofsome Danish pirates, it must have lain there many centuries. {Lit. Reg.)Sir Joseph Banks records, in the Journal of Science (vol.i. p. 244.), the fol-lowing account of an ancient canoe found in Lincolnshire in April, 1816, ata depth of 8 ft. under the surface, in cutting a drain parallel with the riverWitham, about two miles east of Lincoln, between that city and HorsleyDeep. It seems hollowed out of an oak tree : it is 30 ft. 8 in. long, and mea-sures 3 ft. broad in the widest part. The thickness of the bottom is between 7 in.and 8 in. Another similar canoe was discovered in cutting a drain nearHorsley Deep; but it was unfortunately destroyed by the workmen before itwas ascertained what it was. Its length was nearly the same as the former,but it was 4J ft. wide. Besides these, three other canoes, resembling the abovein construction, have been found in the same county : one in a pasture nearthe river Trent, not far from Gainsborough; and two in cutting a drain throughthe fens below Lincoln. One of these is deposited in the British Museum.Conjecture alone can be indulged with regard to the probable age of thesethree canoes; but the fact of their being hollowed out of the trunks of oldtrees must carry them back to a very early date, and establish their extremeantiquity. Long before the time of Alfred, the Britons were familiar withships regularly built: vessels such as these are found only amongst the rudestpeople, and in the earliest stages of society ; and the epoch when any of theEuropean nations used such canoes must be remote indeed.” {Amasn. Quer.)The fleet of King Edgar, however, appears to have consisted chiefly of boats;and, though that of William the Conqueror, amounting to 900 vessels, withwhich he invaded England in 1066, is said to. have consisted of ships, thereDresentations extant of them bear hut little resemblance to our men-of-war. William set great value on his navy, and was the monarch who firstgave exclusive privileges to the Cinque Ports. John was the first who as-serted the exclusive right of the English to the dominion of the seas; and, in

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