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Science of Seership

Geoffrey Hodson

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natives. They are aided by the fact that they have begun to discover the use of iron. They have shields, helmets and axes of that material, and their arrows are pointed with it. Their feet and legs are covered with leather, bound by thongs wound round the leg. They are smaller in build than the natives, less hairy, and their skin is much fairer. They are far fierier and more belligerent than the defenders, who appear to be a quiet, peace-loving people. After the battle the wounded are despatched with extreme brutality, and many of the unwounded prisoners are bound and sent down to the ships to be borne away as slaves. Sporadic attempts at rescue, are made on the way down, and these are in some cases successful, but the dejection of the captives is pitiable in the extreme, and it is most pathetic to see their relations, gathered at different points on the route, watching their men-folk being carried off. At this particular invasion a very wide area of the country was captured. The earlier inhabitants were being slaughtered of driven farther inland, and there appears to have been a considerable exodus northwards into Wales, where the mountains offered greater security from attack. The invaders, however, did not remain for any length of time, satisfying themselves with pillage and the carrying off of such game, food and captives as their ships would hold. The ships are heavy, lumbering galleys, propelled by a single row of about twelve oars on each side, and by a single sail. The oarsmen sit on benches, two to an oar. There is nothing in the form of a dock, except fore and aft, where portions of the hull are roofed in. The ships are very strongly made of pine wood, and the sail, which in shape is nearly square, is of some woven woollen material. The owners of the ship use the roofed-in shelters when required, but there is no covering for the oarsmen, who are, on the return journey, the captured defenders of the fort. When loaded up the ships are turned down the Severn, and sail away to the west, on a route which would appear to take them by the south coast of Ireland.
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