Page:Horse shoes and horse shoeing.djvu/224

 the same Duchy of Luxemberg, Engling found two iron plates which had been horse-shoes, and he figures them among Roman urns and vases from this antique locality, believing them to be Roman. Each shoe possesses six nail-holes, and has the rainure circling from heel to heel. In shape they are not very unlike those from Dalheim (and which are now in the Archæological Museum of Luxemberg). They are described as so remarkably small that they were surmised to have been worn by mules; but, from their form, they were undoubtedly intended for the small indigenous horse (figs. 62, 63). This grooved shoe is perfectly distinct from that of the Gauls or Celts, and is certainly a great advance in workmanship. The rough, bulging border gives place to an uniform one; and the groove, as well as the nail-holes and general form of the shoe, evidence skilful manufacture. From these discoveries, we are led to believe that the powerful equestrian nation of the Suevi, as well as the German tribe which in after-times constituted the Burgundi, shod their horses immediately after, if not before, the Christian era. How they acquired the art we know not; but it is well to remember that, in the 3rd century B.C., the Gauls passed along the line of the Danube as conquerors, and in their course left colonies among the Suevi, who, even in the time of Tacitus, still spoke the Gaulish tongue; and also that it was often