The civilized population either perished or was reduced to slavery, and all the high grounds were added to the previous conquests of the Salians.
But the maritime population, when once possessed of the whole coast, did not seek to make the slightest progress toward the interior.

The element of their enterprise and the object of their ambition was the ocean; and when this hardy and intrepid race became too numerous for their narrow limits, expeditions and colonies beyond the sea carried off their redundant population.
The Saxon warriors established themselves near the mouths of the Loire; others, conducted by Hengist and Horsa, settled in Great Britain.

It will always remain problematical from what point of the coast these adventurers departed; but many circumstances tend to give weight to the opinion which pronounces those old Saxons to have started from the Netherlands.
Paganism not being yet banished from these countries, the obscurity which would have enveloped them is in some degree dispelled by the recitals of the monks who went among them to preach Christianity.
We see in those records, and by the text of some of their early laws, that this maritime people were more industrious, prosperous, and happy, than those of France.

The men were handsome and richly clothed; and the land well cultivated, and abounding in fruits, milk, and honey.

The Saxon merchants carried their trade far into the southern countries.