THE ANCIENT BRITONS.

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume 1, Issue 24, 22 November 1849, Page 4

THE ANCIENT BRITONS.

"Time was when clothing, sumptuous, or for use, Save their own painted skins, our sires had none; The hardy chief upon the rugged rock, Wash'd by the UNKNOWN or on the gravll'y bank Thrown up by wintry torrents roaring loud, Fearless of wrong, reposed his weary strength." It is supposed that Great Britain and Ireland ivree originally settled by a colony from Gaul. These were called Gaels or Celts. Their descendants are found at this day in Ireland and Wales, and the Highlands of Scotland.— Some of these still speak the ancient Gaelic or Celtic language. Very little is known about these islands till Iho time of Julius Caesar. He invaded England in the year 56', before the Christain era. The country was then called Britannia or Britain. It was inhabited by barbarians, some of whom wore the skins of wild beasts, while others were entirely naked ; their bodies were painted. Their weapons were clubs, spearJ, and swords, with which they fiercely attacked i their Roman invaders. '

The ancient Britons, like the other portions of Europe, were idolators, Their priests were called Druids—their placos of" worship were in the air, and consisted of huge etone pillars standing in a circle- A large stone in the middle wus used as an altar, and human victims were sacrificed upon it. The ruins of one of these temples still remain at Stouchenge, and are very wenderful. The Druids considered the oak n sacied tree } tbey set a great value on the mistletoe, a sort of plant which sometimes grows on the oak. Wherever they found a mistletoe, they lieln a banquet beneath the spreading branches of the oak on which it grew. The Druids incited the Britons to oppose the Roman power. Tlicy fouglit fircely, and the country was not entirely subdued tilt sixty years after the Christian era.