The Nevada County picayune., 1920-08-05
;;,EEklNG UAtNAk
 N ROMAN RUINS
Buried Fortress of Segontium, Near Castle, to Be Ex-
 cavated.
OF GREAT HISTORIC INTEREST
Results of the Excavation Will Be keenIy Followed by Archaeology
 ists of Both Hemfspheres- British History Involved.

Less than half mile to the south, east of the ancient castle of Carnar- von in North Wales lies the buried Roman fortress of Segontium. The castle is a grim and lorvlly pile plant ed by grim kiIfgs in token of his might; erected, so Pennant says. by the forced labor of Welsh peasants on rooney wrung from the Welsh chief. tains who had failed in the struggle against King Edward I. It dates back some seven hundred years in British history. but compared with the Roman fortress of SegontiHm 1t is thing Of yesterday. Ernest H. Ram tells the Boston Transcript Long before the Saxon, Dane or Norman trod the soil of Britain the land echoed to the heavy tread of armed Roman leg1ons as they pushed on toward the setting sun in their attempt to establish the dominion of the Caesars over the whole of western Europe. They laid the course of Waiting street diagdnal- Iy across the country. through St. AL bans (veroiamium). Dunstable tDuro. cobf lae) and Towcester (Lacth- dorum) to Chester (Deva) on a line now followed by the London and Northwestern railway. Through Chester they passed on to Carnarvon (Segontium) and struggled across the Menai straits, over a track now fol- lowed by the "Wild Irishman.' the London Northwestern mall train, as 1t swirls on to HOlyhend.
 The Light of the Spade In History.
 At Segentium was established the last Roman fort, at the terminus of their military road in North Wales. It Is this Roman fort which British arcbaeologists now propose to exca- vate if the sufficient sum of $1O,OOO can be raieed ts defray the expenses of the work. -. z--~s'.,e
 There are few more obscure periods in the history of Wales than that Of the Roman occupat tion, and 1t Is not to be expected that much light will be thrown upsn 1t. by literary records. But the spade may give us what we seek in vain from the written or print cd page. and excavation has already yielded valuable results from Caer- went, Cellig4er. Oastell Collen and Caersws. 50 far. however nothing has been done in the northwest cor ner of the psfncipality. that region of Gvynnedd which occupies so large space in the history of medieval Wales. The proposed excavation Of Segontiu,n may elable this gap to be filled with accurde If not extensive 
 The Roman fort of Segontium took its name from the river (now the Saint) on which it stood, and occu. pied the higher ground behind the present town of Carnarvon, where In a later age was built the church or Llanbeblig. It was known to the Welsh as .Caer Saint" or " Gser VII Arfon." While inferior in import. ance to the leglonary stations at 1sca and Deva, 1t was a fortress of some consequence, covering about five and a half acres and serving, as I have said, as the terminus of the military road which ran through North Wales.
 And l may add that from Aberglas- lyn and Gortmadoe, in the neighbor- hood of Carnarvon, Prince Madcr ap Owaln Gwynedd Is said fin Welsh legend to have mustered his forces and sailed in ten ships for the colonl- zation of North America. toward the end of the twelfth century.
 A Belgian Garrison.
 An inscription of about 200 A D. chronicles the fact that at that time the water supply of the place was put in order by the first cohort of Sunici. and this auxiliary force, drawn or partly drawn from Belgium, may have furnished the regular garrison of Se- gontium. No attempt has hitherto been made to examine the site sys- tematically, and. as was said by the late Doctor HaverfieId-than whom no greater authority on Roman Brit ain lived-"The spade alone can de termine the successive stages which Roman Carnarvon may have experi- enced. This much is certain. There is no site in North Wales. and only one or two others in the whole penin- if tarnInrlr