of the _oppidum_ came with their vessels. Napoleon III. had the
subterranean gallery cleared, and its artificial character was proved by
the discovery that massive beams of wood, of which there were some remains,
had been used to prevent the soil from falling in upon the workers. It has
now been nearly filled up again by the calcareous deposit of the water.
The river mentioned by Caesar as the one that flowed in the valley beneath
Uxellodunum [Footnote: 'Flumen infimam vallam lividebat quae totum
poene montem cingebat, in quo positum erat praeruptum undique oppidum
Uxellodunum.'--'De Bello Gallico,' Lib. VIII.] is a small tributary of the
Dordogne, called the Tourmente. This is assuming the Puy d'Issolu to have
been Uxellodunum. The most convincing material proof that the two places
are the same was furnished by the discovery of the tunnel; but some strong
corroborative evidence is to be found in local names. The word _puy_
affords no clue; for it simply means a high place. In the dialect of the
Viscounty of Turenne the Puy d'Issolu is pronounced _Lo Pe de Cholu_. In
the word Issolu or Cholu, we may have something of the Celtic word, which
was Latinized by Caesar after his custom; but this verbal similarity would
not in itself go far to prove the identity of the height near Vayrac with
the position defended by Drappes and Lucterius. Lying in the Correze at
no great distance from the Dordogne is the town of Ussel--a name that
approaches much more nearly the sound of Uxellodunum. But an educated
native of Vayrac, whom I chanced to meet months after my visit to the Puy
d'Issolu, furnished me with some local testimony which appears to be
of value in connection with a subject that has given rise to so much
controversy. The stream where it issues near the base of the rocky height
has been known in the neighbourhood from time immemorial as 'Lo foun
Conino'--Conino's Fountain. Conino is a natural Romance corruption of
Caninius, the name of Caesar's lieutenant who in the first instance
directed the siege of Uxellodunum. The French name for the stream at the
bottom of the valley already mentioned is derived from the Romance one, Lo