It may be difficult to decide how much of this is really derived from Himilco. The name "Œstrymnis" is not found elsewhere in literature, and may be taken from him.[33] The supposition that it was Cape Finisterre and that the Œstrymnic Bay ("sinus Œstrymnicus") was the Bay of Biscay is improbable; a bay so open and wide could scarcely have been described in terms which a Latin author would have rendered by "sinus"; besides which there would be difficulties with the Œstrymnides which were widely spread therein. Œstrymnis is certainly in Brittany, and since it "turns chiefly towards the warm south wind," we may suppose it to be a headland on the south coast. That the Œstrymnic Bay opens out beneath this headland ("sub hujus") agrees with all that we know of it. As already stated, the tin-producing Œstrymnides are undoubtedly the Cassiterides, which may probably be the islands in the bay by the mouth of the Vilaine and Quiberon, on the south side of Brittany, where tin occurs.
It is just in this district, at the mouth of the Loire, that we find the Veneti as the only people famous for seamanship in ancient times in these parts. But, according to Cæsar's valuable description, they had strong, seaworthy ships, built wholly of oak and with leather sails. This seems scarcely to tally with the statement that the people of the Œstrymnides sailed the sea in boats of hide, the coracles of the Celts, which is also confirmed by Pliny's statement [xxxiv. c. 47] that "according to fabulous tales tin was brought in ships of wicker-work sewed round with hides from islands in the Atlantic Ocean." Either the Veneti must have acquired the art of shipbuilding after the voyage of Himilco--perhaps, indeed, through their intercourse with Carthaginians and Gaditanians--or else we must believe that the statement in Avienus rests upon a misinterpretation of the original authorities, and that the flowery language really means that the ships were not built of fir, maple or spruce, but of oak, the omission of which is striking.
Thus a comparison of the various statements points definitely to Brittany as the place where we must look for the tin-bearing islands. That it was two days' voyage thence to the holy island of Hierne, and that near to it lay the land of Albion, also agrees; but too much weight must not be laid upon this, as we do not know for certain whether this is really derived from Himilco.