avel with great speed by finding a fresh
horse ready at every stage. By this means he sometimes traveled himself
a hundred miles in a day. This system, thus adopted for military
purposes in Caesar's time, has been continued in almost all countries of
Europe to the present age, and is applied to traveling in carriages as
well as on horseback. A family party purchase a carriage, and arranging
within it all the comforts and conveniences which they will require on
the journey, they set out, taking these post horses, fresh at each
village, to draw them to the next. Thus they can go at any rate of speed
which they desire, instead of being limited in their movements by the
powers of endurance of one set of animals, as they would be compelled to
be if they were to travel with their own. This plan has, for some
reason, never been introduced into America, and it is now probable that
it never will be, as the railway system will doubtless supersede it.

[Sidenote: Caesar's invasion of Britain.]
[Sidenote: His pretext for it.]

One of the most remarkable of the enterprises which Caesar undertook
during the period of these campaigns was his excursion into Great
Britain. The real motive of this expedition was probably a love of
romantic adventure, and a desire to secure for himself at Rome the glory
of having penetrated into remote regions which Roman armies had never
reached before. The pretext, however, which he made to justify his
invading the territories of the Britons was, that the people of the
island were accustomed to come across the Channel and aid the Gauls in
their wars.

[Sidenote: Caesar consults the merchants.]

In forming his arrangements for going into England, the first thing was,
to obtain all the information which was accessible in Gaul in respect to
the country. There were, in those days, great numbers of traveling
merchants, who went from one nation to another to purchase and sell,
taking with them such goods as were most easy of transportation. These
merchants, of course, were generally possessed of a great deal of
information in respect to the countries which they had visited, and
Caesar called together as many of them as he could find, when he had
reached the northern shores of France, to inquire about the modes of
crossing the Channel, the harbors on the English side, the geographical
conformation of the country, and the military resources of the people.
He found, however, that the merchants could give him