Page:Horse shoes and horse shoeing.djvu/391

 and iron, and worshipped in Rhea and on Mounts Ida in Phrygia and Crete, but chiefly in Samothracia, M. Rossignol draws the following conclusions: 'In the collection of facts which spring from the same source, are woven together by regular deductions, and all tend to the same end, it is impossible to mistake the existence of a religious doctrine founded on the discovery and the first employment of metals, as that of Eleusis was on the introduction of the culture of wheat. Therefore we do not hesitate to believe, that by this comparison we have thrown light on the mysteries of metallurgy, hidden under the name of the Mysteries of Samothracia.'

And Martin writes: 'The ancients have not mistaken the close relationship of these mysteries (of Druidism) with those of Samothracia, where the same symbol is found nearly entire. Gwyon is the Gijon of the Phœnicians, the Pelasgic Casmil; Koridwen is the grand goddess of the Cabiric rites of Thrace and Phrygia (Rhea). A very positive indication is to be found in the names of the Cabires—those cosmical genii from Western Asia, which exist scarcely changed in Irish poetry. The Gaëls no doubt carried these symbols with them from the West.' Strabo lends his authority to this assertion in an unequivocal manner: 'In one of the sacred islands near the coast of Britain, are celebrated mysteries similar to those of Samothrace and Eleusis; these are the mysteries of Koridwen, to the observance of which the Druidesses appear to be more particularly devoted.'

In the mysteries of Samothrace, the sacred order of the