rench
horseshoe, a form of which has been preserved by Bourgelat and is
represented by Fig. 14, still remained in the smooth, turned up in
front and behind, like the shoe of the southern climates, with Asiatic
traces, which hold on the ground, the same as all southern shoeing, by
the nail heads.

[Illustration: FIG. 14.]

The transit of the German empire, in order to keep up the historical
course, once more brings us back to the middle of the fifth century.
At this time Attila, the "Godegisel" (gods' scourge), left his wooden
capitol in the lowlands near the river Theis, to go to the Roman
empire and to the German and Gallican provinces, there to spread
indescribable misery to the horrors of judgment day.

The following is a prayer in those days of horror:

"Kleiner Huf, kleines Ross,
Krummer Sabel, spitz Geschoss--
Blitzesschnell und sattlefest:
Schrim uns Herr von Hunnenpest."

We are at present reminded of those times of fright, when during the
clearing and tilling of the soil, a small roughly made horseshoe is
found in Southern Germany, about as far as the water boundary of the
Thuringian forest, and occasionally on, but principally around
Augsburg, and in France as far as the Loire.

These shoes, covering the margin or wall of the foot, show slight
traces of having been beveled on the lower surface, and contain two
bent calks very superficially placed. Occasionally they are sharpened
and turned in two directions. The characteristic wide bean-shaped nail
holes are conical on the inside, and are frequently placed so near the
outer margin of the shoe that from the pressure the hoofs were likely
to split open. The nail heads were shaped like a sleigh runner, and
almost entirely sunk into the shoe. It evidently was not bent up at
the toe, like the old form of these kinds of shoes.

These shoes, according to our conception of to-day, were so carelessly
finished that in the scientific circles of historical researches they
were, until very recently, looked upon as saddle mountings or
something similar, and not as horseshoes.

This shoe was for some time, while it was plentifully found in France,
regarded as of Celtic make; but this is certainly not the case, as it
is of Hunish and Hungarian "nationalitat" (nationality). An exactly
scientific proof, it is true, according to our present knowledge,
cannot be furnished; however, it will stand well enough until the
error is proved.

This pe