speak a little Latin, and have a few Roman weapons as great improvements
upon their own. Their fortifications were wonderfully strong. Trunks of
trees were laid on the ground at two feet apart, so that the depth of
the wall was their full length. Over these another tier of beams was
laid crosswise, and the space between was filled up with earth, and the
outside faced with large stones; the building of earth and stone was
carried up to some height, then came another tier of timbers, crossed as
before, and this was repeated again to a considerable height, the inner
ends of the beams being fastened to a planking within the wall, so that
the whole was of immense compactness. Fire could not damage the mineral
part of the construction, nor the battering ram hurt the wood, and the
Romans had been often placed in great difficulties by these rude but
admirable constructions, within which the Gauls placed their families
and cattle, building huts for present shelter. Of late, some attempts
had been made at copying the regular streets and houses built round
courts that were in use among the Romans, and Roman colonies had been
established in various places, where veteran soldiers had received
grants of land on condition of keeping the natives in check. A growing
taste for arts and civilization was leading to Romans of inferior
classes settling themselves in other Gallic cities.

The first rising of the Gauls began by a quarrel at the city we now call
Orleans, ending in a massacre of all the Romans there. The tidings were
spread through all the country by loud shouts, repeated from one to the
other by men stationed on every hill, and thus, what had been done at
Orleans at sunrise was known by nine at night 160 miles off among the
mountains, which were then the homes of a tribe called by the Romans the
Arverni, who have left their name to the province of Auvergne.

Here dwelt a young chieftain, probably really called Fearcuincedorigh,