11. These chariots were used in war, and sharp scythes were fixed to the axles of the wheels, which made terrible havoc when driven through a body of enemies.
12. But I shall not say much about the wars of the ancient Britons, or their mode of fighting; as there are many things far more pleasant to read of, and more useful to know.
13. At that time, which is about one thousand nine hundred years ago, the country was almost covered with forests; and when the people wanted to build a town, they cleared a space for it by cutting down the trees, and then built a number of round huts of branches and clay, with high pointed roofs, like an extinguisher, covered with rushes or reeds.
14. This was called a town; and around it they made a bank of earth, and a fence of the trees they had felled; outside the fence, they also dug a ditch, to protect themselves and their cattle from the sudden attacks of hostile tribes.
15. As to furniture, a few stools or blocks of wood to sit upon, some wooden bowls and wicker baskets to hold their food, with a few jars and pans of coarse earthenware, were all the things they used; for they slept on the ground on skins, spread upon dried leaves, and fern, or heath. Their bows and arrows, shields, spears, and other weapons, were hung round the insides of their huts.
16. The Britons were not quite ignorant of the art of working in metals; for there was a class of men living among them who understood many useful arts, and were learned, too, for those times, although they did not communicate their learning to the rest of the people.
17. These men were the Druids, or priests, who had much more authority than the chiefs, because they were so much cleverer; therefore the people minded what they said.
18. They made all the laws, and held courts of justice in the open air, when they must have made a very venerable appearance, seated in a circle on stones, dressed in long white woollen robes, with wands in their hands, and long beards descending below their girdles.
19. The ignorant people believed they were magicians, for they knew something of astronomy, and of the medicinal qualities of plants and herbs, with which they made medicines to give the sick, who always thought they were cured by magic.
20. Some of the Druids were bards, that is poets, and musicians; others taught young men to become Druids; and some of them made a great many useful things out of the metals that were found in the mines.