142 HORSE-SHOES AND HORSE-SHOEING. 



so far as I am aware^ to aid in retaining them on the feet. 

 The great majority of them have calkins or catches at the 

 extremities. 2. The nail-holes are certainly peculiar. They 

 are six in number in all, save very exceptional, instances. 

 For each hole there is a long and wide oval cavity, evi- 

 dently intended to give partial lodgment to the head of the 

 nail, and through the middle of this socket the opening is 

 made. 3. The disproportionate size of these cavities, and 

 perhaps the absence of a suitable anvil, has left these primi- 

 tive defences with an irregular bulging or undulating outer 

 margin, and not unfrequently the inner one also, like the 

 undulated ' saunions ' these people fought with. 4. The 

 nails are also curious. The head is very large and flat, so 

 that it must have projected much beyond the shoe, even 

 when imbedded in the ovoid groove, and generally ap- 

 proaches the letter T in shape. Their appearance will be 

 more particularly noticed when we speak of individual 

 specimens of shoes. 



The shoes of a later date, as will be seen hereafter, are 

 larger, wider across their face, and thicker ; they are also 

 more regularly formed, and the holes are square., or 

 ' counter- sunk ;' their borders are very rarely, if ever, un- 

 dulated; or they have a continuous groove running along 

 their ground surface into which the nail-heads fit. 



The Abbe Cochet' reports that, in 1844, a discovery 

 was made which was all the more interesting because it 

 appeared to carry with it a determined date. At Yebleron, 

 near Yvetot (not far from Rouen), a wooden bucket, 

 mounted with an iron handle and hoops, was found, and 

 inside it were three bronze chandeliers, one of which, 

 ' Le Tombeau de Childeric I., p. j6i. 



