TEMPORARY EXPEDIENTS. 85 



written, sculptured, and painted, bears undeniable evidence 

 to the fact that neither the Greeks nor the Romans were 

 in the habit of shoeing their animals by nailing a piece of 

 iron on the hoofs as we now do. The contrivance they 

 employed was probably a sock made of leather or some 

 such material, and similar in form and general character 

 to the solea spartea : being passed under and over the 

 foot, and bound round the pastern joints and shanks of 

 the animal by thongs of leather, like the carhat'ince of the 

 peasantry. This sock was not permanently worn, but was 

 put on by the driver during the journey in places or upon 

 occasions when the state of the roads required, and taken 

 off again when no longer necessary. Both the nature of 

 the contrivance, showing that it was a close shoe covering 

 the entire foot, and the practice of putting it on and 

 removing it occasionally, is sufficiently testified by the 

 particular terms employed to designate the object itself 

 and the manner of applying it — mulas calceai-e, mulis 

 soleas induere. When the underneath part of the sock 

 was strengthened by a plate of iron, it was termed solea 

 ferrea'. This writer describes the solea spartea, and 

 compares it to the sandal used by the Japanese, which, 

 he says, is ' a small basket, made to the shape of the 

 animal's foot, on to which it is bound by a strap round the 

 fetlock.' I have seen nothing in or from Japan answering 

 to this description, nor at all like the drawing he gives. 



The ' Nouveau Dictionnaire des Origines, Inventions, 

 et Decouvertes,' also maintains that the Greeks and 

 Romans were ignorant of this art, and that they were 

 content to attach the coverings they used by means of 

 straps, in the same manner as men's shoes. 



