e divinities of rivers and
springs doubtless had the earlier and foremost place, especially as
their cult was connected with fertility. The gods, fewer in number, were
all equated with Apollo, but the goddesses were not merged by the Romans
into the personality of one goddess, since they themselves had their
groups of river-goddesses, Nymphs and Naiads. Before the Roman conquest
the cult of water-divinities, friends of mankind, must have formed a
large part of the popular religion of Gaul, and their names may be
counted by hundreds. Thermal springs had also their genii, and they were
appropriated by the Romans, so that the local gods now shared their
healing powers with Apollo, AEsculapius, and the Nymphs. Thus every
spring, every woodland brook, every river in glen or valley, the roaring
cataract, and the lake were haunted by divine beings, mainly thought of
as beautiful females with whom the _Matres_ were undoubtedly associated.
There they revealed themselves to their worshippers, and when paganism
had passed away, they remained as _fees_ or fairies haunting spring, or
well, or river.[609] Scores of fairy wells still exist, and by them
mediaeval knights had many a fabled amour with those beautiful beings
still seen by the "ignorant" but romantic peasant.

Sanctuaries were erected at these springs by grateful worshippers, and
at some of them festivals were held, or they were the resort of
pilgrims. As sources of fertility they had a place in the ritual of the
great festivals, and sacred wells were visited on Midsummer day, when
also the river-gods claimed their human victims. Some of the goddesses
were represented by statues or busts in Gallo-Roman times, if not
earlier, and other images of them which have been found were of the
nature of _ex votos_, presented by worshippers in gratitude for the
goddess's healing gifts. Money, ingots of gold or silver, and models of
limbs or other parts of the body which had been or were desired to be
healed, were also presented. Gregory of Tours says of the Gauls that
they "represent in wood or bronze the members in which they suffer, and
whose healing they desire, and place them in a temple."[610] Contact of
the model with the divinity brought healing to the actual limbs on the
principle of sympathetic magic. Many such models have been discovered.
Thus in the shrine of Dea Sequana was found a vase with over a hundred;
another contained over eight hundred. Inscriptions were engraved on