132 



HORSE-SHOES AND HORSE-SHOEIXG. 



fis;. 18 



together, form the neck of a jar (fig. 18). From all 



this it will be seen that 

 the cairn of Chateleys 

 was not an ordinary 

 tomb. I do not hesitate 

 to assert that it was more 

 than a tomb. This forge- 

 hammer ; these imple- 

 ments for working in 

 iron ; these horses and pigs, emblems of Gaulish nation- 

 ality, lying [jele-inele on the sacrificial hearth, beside an 

 altar built by nature— all this composed a page of antique 

 symbolism curious to decipher. The Druidical traditions 

 of Ireland tell us that each of the great regions of the 

 Gallo-Cimbric race had a centre, a sacred rallying-place, 

 to which all parts of the confederate territory resorted.' 

 In this centre burned, on an altar of rough stones, a per- 

 petual fire, which was designated the parent flame. The 

 guarding of this sanctuary, and the maintenance of the 

 sacred fire, w^ere entrusted to a school or college of pontifl- 

 artists, commanded or directed by a smith. This Druidi- 

 cal college combined with the exercise of the pontificate, 

 the teaching of mysteries and the industrial arts. ' It forged 

 two kinds of swords and lances: — religious arms— the glaive 

 of honour and death-dealing weapons — the sword and lance 

 for fight.' In this way is the mystery which shrouded the 

 promontory of Alesia cleared up. Instead of being a hill 

 devoted to graves, we have discovered the sanctuary of 

 Alesia, the oppidum which Diodorus terrned the primitive 

 metropolis of the Celts. Nothing is wanting to complete 



' Henri Martin. Hi.^tuire de France, vol. i. p. 71. 



