2o6 HORSE-SHOES AND HORSE-SHOEING. 



was valued at five times the amount of a labourer or 

 shepherd, and equal to that for the murder of a Roman 

 slave belonging to the king.' The German and Salic 

 laws also show that the duty of the ' marechal ' or 

 ' mariscalcus ' was to attend to twelve horses. ' Si maris- 

 calcus, qui super xii. caballos est, occiditur,' &c.^ 



From the Rhenish provinces as far as Russia, what is 

 termed the German shoe is in use. This is the model 

 figured by Quiquerez, and which is fiat on both sides, 

 and with the fuller or groove for the nail-heads so 

 far from the edge of the shoe, as to make the nail-holes 

 very coarse. Immense calkins, and even toe-pieces of 

 various shapes, are as much in vogue with the Germans 

 as they are with the waggoners of Manchester, Liver- 

 pool, and other large cities in England and Scotland. 



The Dutch and Russian shoes are coarse imitations of 

 the German ones. 



For Scandinavia, I am not aware of any discoveries 

 which would show that this handicraft was practised at a 

 very early period. If we are to give credence to the his- 

 torians, archaeologists, and anthropologists of that country, 

 the Celtae inhabited this region of the north ; and if they 

 did so, they doubtless preserved the same arts and usages 

 as their nation in other parts of Europe. The 'Duergars' 

 were their traditional workers in metals ; and these 

 fabricated steel and iron implements in secret caves. I can 

 find but little mention of shoes, however, though doubtless 

 these cunning workmen armed the hoofs as well as the 

 bodies of the warriors, who were essentially an equestrian 

 race. 



' Martbi. Op. cit., i. p. 437. ' Lex Alemannor. Lex Salica. 



