excursions through the woods, they are accustomed to cut even the
hair from their heads; so that this nation more than any other
shaves off all pilosity. Julius also adds, that the Britons,
previous to an engagement, anointed their faces with a nitrous
ointment, which gave them so ghastly and shining an appearance,
that the enemy could scarcely bear to look at them, particularly if
the rays of the sun were reflected on them.



CHAPTER XII



Of their quickness and sharpness of understanding


These people being of a sharp and acute intellect, and gifted with
a rich and powerful understanding, excel in whatever studies they
pursue, and are more quick and cunning than the other inhabitants
of a western clime.

Their musical instruments charm and delight the ear with their
sweetness, are borne along by such celerity and delicacy of
modulation, producing such a consonance from the rapidity of
seemingly discordant touches, that I shall briefly repeat what is
set forth in our Irish Topography on the subject of the musical
instruments of the three nations. It is astonishing that in so
complex and rapid a movement of the fingers, the musical
proportions can be preserved, and that throughout the difficult