ALTHOUGH the sheaths which protected the daggers and swords described in the preceding chapters consisted probably for the most part of wood or leather, yet in many instances some portion of the scabbard and its fittings was made of bronze; and to the description of these objects it seems desirable to devote a separate chapter. It is rarely that the metallic portions of the sheaths have been found in company with the blades; but in one instance at least a portion of a sword blade has been discovered within a surrounding sheath of bronze; which, however, does not extend the full length of the blade, the upper part of the scabbard having probably been formed of wood. This discovery proves that the short bronze sheaths, which are usually from 8 to 12 inches long, belonged to swords, and not, as at first sight might be inferred from their size, to daggers. [Illustration: Fig. 364. Isleworth. ¼] In France some much longer bronze sheaths have been found with the swords still in them. The most noteworthy is that from the neighbourhood of Uzés,[1136] Gard, now in the Musée d’Artillerie, at Paris, which is decorated with transverse beaded lines alternating with ornaments of concentric rings. This scabbard is longer by some inches than the blade it contains. In fact, in no instance does the point of the sword appear to have reached so far as the end of the sheath. Another sheath found at Cormoz (Ain)[1137] is in the museum at Lyons. In a few instances the wooden sheaths of bronze swords have been found entire. The finest is that from the Kongshöi,[1138] Vamdrup, Ribe, Denmark. It was found with a body in a tree-coffin of oak. This sheath is about a fifth longer than the blade of the sword, and is carved on both faces, though more highly decorated on what must have been the outer face, than on the inner. There is no metal mounting at either end. Another scabbard found in the Treenhöi[1139] is likewise of wood. Its chape also is formed of some hard wood. It has been lined with skin, the hair towards the blade of the sword. This sheath is about an eighth longer than the blade of the sword. No doubt many of the British sheaths were made of wood alone. Others, though partly made of that material, were tipped with bronze, the metal being secured to the wood, or the leather, if that material was used, by a small rivet which passed diagonally through the metal. As Mr. Franks[1140] has pointed out, the presence of this rivet-hole would have been sufficient to show that these objects are not dagger sheaths, as some have thought, for the rivet leaves too small a part of the bronze receptacle available for a blade even as long as that of an ordinary dagger. The discovery already mentioned places this question beyond doubt. The bronze sheaths of the iron swords and daggers of the Late Celtic Period are of a different character from those I am about to describe, and are made of sheet bronze, and not cast in a single piece.