nk human blood or to be
supplied with human slaves, and that the only way to give them what
they wanted was to despatch as many human beings as possible into the
other world. The favourite way of doing this was to construct a huge
wicker basket in the shape of a man, to cram it with men and women,
and to set it on fire. At other times a Druid would cut open a single
human victim, and would imagine that he could foretell the future by
inspecting the size and appearance of the entrails.

[Illustration: Julius Caesar. (From a bust in the British Museum.)]

11. =The Romans in Gaul.= B.C. =55=.--In the year =55= B.C. the Celts
of south-eastern Britain first came in contact with a Roman army. The
Romans were a civilised people, and had been engaged for some
centuries in conquering the peoples living round the Mediterranean.
They possessed disciplined armies, and a regular government. By the
beginning of the year the Roman general, Gaius Julius Caesar, had made
himself master of Gaul. Then, after driving back with enormous
slaughter two German tribes which had invaded Gaul, he crossed the
Rhine, not because he wished to conquer Germany, but because he wished
to strike terror into the Germans in order to render them unwilling
to renew their attack. This march into Germany seems to have suggested
to Caesar the idea of invading Britain. It is most unlikely that he
thought of conquering the island, as he had quite enough to do in
Gaul. What he really wanted was to prevent the Britons from coming to
the help of their kindred whom he had just subdued, and he would
accomplish this object best by landing on their shores and showing
them how formidable a Roman army was.

12. =Caesar's First Invasion.= B.C. =55=.--Accordingly, towards the end
of August, Caesar crossed the straits with about 10,000 men. There is
some uncertainty about the place of his landing, but he probably first
appeared off the spot at which Dover now stands, and then, being
alarmed at the number of the Britons who had crowded to defend the
coast, made his way by sea to the site of the modern Deal. There, too,
his landing was opposed, but he managed to reach the shore with his
army. He soon found, however, that the season was too advanced to
enable him to accomplish anything. A storm having damaged his shipping
and driven off the transports on which was embarked his cavalry, he
returned to Gaul.

13. =Caesar's Second Invasion.= B.C. =54=--Caesar had hitherto fail