M. Castan has mentioned this discovery in his reports on the tombs of Alesia. I was present, and I can certify that there was a well-alloyed bed (gisement). The authority of the compiler Beckmann, quoted by M. de Coinard, cannot prevail against a fact of which Beckmann was ignorant, and of which M. de Coinard cannot speak.'[1]
M. Troyon, the celebrated Swiss archæologist, in noticing these discoveries, and the dispute as to which of the Alesias Cæsar had to contend with, remarks of this one: 'This is not the place to enter into the discussion raised as to whether this Alesia is the place of which Cæsar speaks. Whatever may be the opinion of savans on the subject, it cannot be doubted that the majority of the objects discovered in these later years characterize the first age of iron. It is evident that this locality has been the seat of a Gaulish establishment of great importance. The numerous tumuli of Alesia no doubt cover the remains of diverse generations interred in the age of bronze, and during the Roman period. However this may be, the intermediate epoch is largely represented; the majority of the specimens collected belong to the space between these two periods, and give rise to important relations with the Helvetic antiquities.'[2]
Lest it be supposed that this haunt of Druidism was only destroyed in A.D. 864, it may be useful to recollect, that the Druids were banished from Gaul by Tiberius and Claudius in the first half of the first century of our era.
This holy blacksmith, the pontiff of the Druids, will be alluded to hereafter, when we come to speak of the
