114 HORSE-SHOES AND HORSE-SHOEIXG. 



of moisture a thin plate would not be long in rusting to 

 powder. And those who have had the superintendence 

 of these disinterments have not, it is to be feared, been 

 always careful enough to direct their attention to such an 

 insignificant matter as the condition of the hoofs, when 

 these were yet intact. 



From their situation, and the remains accompanying 

 the horse-shoes found in certain regions, as well as from 

 their later history, there is every reason to believe that the 

 Celts or Celt£c, and their chief branch, the Gauls or Gael, 

 were cognizant of the art of shoeing with metal and nails 

 at a very remote period, and before thev were conquered 

 by the Romans under Caesar. 



The early history of this great nation is lost in the 

 thick haze of antiquity. Originally a section of the Aryan 

 family, at some very distant period they left Asia and 

 spread themselves over various parts of Europe in their 

 descent from the Caucasus and along the south side of 

 the Danube. Several Celtic tribes took possession of 

 different countries under various names ; others settled on 

 the shores of the Adriatic, along the banks of the Danube, 

 and in the southern part of Germany ; while the principal 

 branch of the nation located itself between the Pyrenees 

 and the Alps, the ocean and the Rhine, in the country 

 which received its name from them ; from thence they 

 passed into Albion and lerne (Great Britain and Ireland). 

 Everything relating to their history at this time is so ob- 

 scure, that we have sometimes little but conjecture to aid 

 us in tracing their migrations. It would appear, nev^erthe- 

 less, that the eastern Gauls or Celts who passed along the 

 Danube occasioned the migrations of whole nadons, and 



I 



