134 HORSE-SHOES AND HORSESHOEING. 



M. Castan has mentioned this discovery in his reports on 

 the tombs of Alesia. / ivas present, and I can certify 

 that there was a well-alluijed bed {g'isement). The author- 

 ity of the compiler Beckmann, quoted by M. de Coinard, 

 cannot prevail against a fact of which Beckmann was 

 ignorant, and of which M. de Coinard cannot speak.' ' 



M. Troyon, the celebrated Swiss archaeologist, in 

 noticing these discoveries, and the dispute as to which of 

 the Alesias Caesar had to contend with, remarks of this I 



one : ' This is not the place to enter into the discussion I 



raised as to whether this Alesia is the place of which Caesar 

 speaks. Whatever may be the opinion of savans on the ' 



subject, it cannot be doubted that the majority of the ob- 

 jects discovered in these later years characterize the first 

 age of iron. It is evident that this locality has been the 

 seat of a Gaulish establishment of great importance. 

 The numerous tumuli of Alesia no doubt cover the re- 

 mains of diverse generations interred in the age of bronze, 

 and during the Roman period. However this may be, 

 the intermediate epoch is largely represented ; the major- 

 ity of the specimens collected belong to the space between 

 these two periods, and give rise to important relations with 

 the Helvetic antiquities.' ^ 



Lest it be supposed that this haunt of Druidism was 

 only destroyed in a.d. 864, it may be useful to recollect, 

 that the Druids were banished from Gaul by Tiberius and 

 Claudius in the first half of the first century of our era. 



This holy blacksmith, the pontiff' of the Druids, will 

 be alluded to hereafter, when we come to speak of the 



' Moniteur de TArmee, April 16, 1864. 

 ' Habitations Lacustrcs, p. 334. 



