OF THE HOMAN EMPIRE.
423
vate interest, of obscure usurpers, who seized chap.
on the vacant throne, admitted the Goths into___
the heart of Bosphorus . With the acquisitionof a superfluous waste of fertile soil, the con-querors obtained the command of a naval force,sufficient to transport their armies to the coastof Asia. 1 The ships used in the navigation of wh .° ac -the Euxme were of a very singular construe- naval
J ° force.
tion. They were slight flat-bottomed barksframed of timber only, without the least mix-ture of iron, and occasionally covered with ashelving roof, on the appearance of a tempest. kIn these floating houses, the Goths carelesslytrusted themselves to the mercy of an unknownsea, under the conduct of sailors pressed intothe service, and whose skill and fidelity wereequally suspicious. But the hopes of plunderhad banished every idea of danger, and a natu-ral fearlessness of temper supplied in theirminds the more rational confidence, which isthe just result of knowledge and experience.Warriors of such a daring spirit must have of-ten murmured against the cowardice of theirguides, who required the strongest assurancesof a settled calm before they would venture toembark, and would scarcely ever be temptedto lose sight of the land. Such, at least, is thepractice of the modern Turksand they areprobably not inferior, in the art of navigation,to the ancient inhabitants of Bosphorus .
1 Strab. 1. xi. Tacit. Hist iii, 47. They were called Camara.
1 See a very natural picture of the Euxine navigation, in the six-teenth letter of Tournefort .