JFORKING IN IRON. 239 



the sacrificial flames, they ransomed me with gold, iron, 

 and steel! 



The Britons made swords and other weapons of iron ; 

 their chariot-wheels were shod with iron, and these wheels 

 are, perhaps, the most characteristic memorials of this 

 ancient race. Their remains have been discovered not 

 only in France, but in many English barrows, with 

 iron snaffies for horses' bridles. York Museum contains 

 a good specimen of both. The impressions upon the 

 coins of Cunobelin and others testify that they were pro- 

 ficients in the construction of carriages and wheels. 



Arch^ological researches, so far as they refer to the 

 subject of horse-shoes, have been much less successful in 

 this country than m France. From what we have just 

 noticed of the dexterity of these Celtic horsemen and 

 charioteers, and of the manner in which they used the 

 horse, it is scarcely possible to believe that the hoofs of 

 that animal could have been unshod. The daily practice 

 of their warlike manoeuvres, particularly in our climate, 

 must have entailed an amount of strain and wear upon 

 the feet which they could not have withstood, unless pro- 

 tected in some substantial manner ; and as the art of shoe- 

 ing with iron plates and nails was, as there appears to be 

 abundance of archaeological evidence to prove, practised 

 by the same race in Gaul at this period, it can hardly be 

 doubted that such was also the case in Britain. The 

 discoveries of iron shoes, however, have here been com- 

 paratively few^ and far between, though for what reason it 

 would be difficult to say ; but perhaps the little attention 

 given to such an apparently trifling matter may be the 

 cause. 



