THE SANCTUARY OF ALE SI A. 133 



the picture ; neither the altar, which the hand of man has 

 not fashioned, nor the insignia of the pontiff-blacksmith, 

 nor the buckle of his magical leather apron, nor yet the 

 sacrificing knife, or the bones of boars, horses, and bears 

 mingled with the remains of human victims consumed by 

 the flames. More able men than ourselves had fanned 

 these embers eighteen centuries ago, and from them had 

 attempted to wring out lamentable secrets. They carry us 

 back to distant ages, and show us the chiefs of Gaul de- 

 liberating around this place of worship, and the Druids, the 

 ovates, and the bards seeking to gain, by sacrifices and sup- 

 plications, the countenance of the tutelary genii of their 

 nation ; then, when all hope has disappeared, when the 

 fates have pronounced the fatal decree, the worshipping 

 priests have broken the sacred instruments, and have 

 covered over their holy place to conceal it from the pro- 

 fanation of their vanquishers.'' 



The publication of this discovery gave rise to much 

 discussion. Col. Coinard denied the accuracy of the con- 

 clusions arrived at by the Besanqon archaeologists, and 

 clung to the written history of the Greeks and Romans. 

 M. Quicherat, however, replied to his attacks in a very 

 direct manner. ' M. de Coinard exults because we ad- 

 mit that the Gaulish horses were shod ; he overwhelms us 

 with citations to prove that shoeing was not practised, 

 neither in the Roman cavalry nor yet in that of Mithri- 

 dates, when we speak of the cavalry of Gaul. Horse- 

 shoes are discovered with Gaulish pottery ; in two of the 

 tumuli of Alesia they are embedded in the floor of the 

 graves, in the midst of cinders, under a thick pavement. 

 ' Castan. Les Tombelles Celtiques. Besan^on, 1858. Megn'in. 



