as very remarkable, especially when we note the strange persistency with which he and the gods, of whom he is the emblem, are associated with agriculture, wealth, power, honour, gold, and gems; and strange to say, the deeper we delve into this mysterious past, the more numerous and important do these serpent legends become, bringing to our view whole tribes who were supposed to be half serpents-kings and heroes of semiserpentine descent, and gods either serpentine in form, or bearing the serpent as a sacred symbol; and it is a strange fact that all these gods and men thus singularly connected with the serpent have also always some inexplicable relation to precious stones, the precious metals, the dawn of science and of agriculture.

The mediæval dragon was always the guardian of hidden treasures in classical times; it was the dragon who guarded the golden apples of the Hesperides, and the semi-serpent Cerberus watched over Hades, the kingdom of Pluto and realm of wealth. Going back farther still, we find Hoà, one of the chief of the Chaldæan gods, whose emblem is a serpent, called also the layer-up of treasure.

Indra, the old aboriginal god of India, is worshipped to this day as the giver of wealth, which wealth is guarded by serpents. Kneph and Osiris in Egypt, both symbolized by serpents, are also gods of wealth; the former represented as the potter forming Hephaestus or Vulcan; whilst in the far-off region of Mexico, Quetzalcoatl, the serpent, is regarded as having taught metallurgy and agriculture to the people.

When, therefore, we find in so many widely remote nations traces of unaccountable reverence for a deadly reptile, and side by side with it evident signs of the rudiments of metallurgy blended with traditions which, however distorted, may yet be deemed a survival of prehistoric beliefs, and which all point to the serpent as the revealer of knowledge and the guardian of hidden treasure, we may, I think, assume that in some mysterious manner the serpent had something to do with the first knowledge of metals. The animals revered of old were

those which had in various degrees rendered themselves useful to man; and it seems unreasonable to suppose that this deadly reptile would have been exalted to so high a place in the mythology of all nations, unless he had rendered some service to mankind. The veneration for the serpent doubtless originated in an age of Totemism, when animals were invested with human attributes, and the clan to which they were sacred, looked upon themselves as in some sort their children, calling themselves snakes, or eagles, or stags, according to the totem adopted.

It appears to me not improbable that the first to adopt the serpent as a totem may have been led by some dream to find treasures of gold and gems in a cave, in which he also found the snake apparently guarding the treasure, and hence the persistent stories handed down from generation to generation, for who can say how many centuries, in which the serpent is always represented as the guardian of hidden treasure in every country to which that early serpent tribe conveyed the knowledge of metals.

Whether snakes, like some other animals, do really hoard glittering objects, I do not know, and the only notice of such a propensity I have met with, is the following from Beaufort's Egyptian Sepulchres and Syrian Shrines "There was an old hag of a woman at Tadmor, much thought of because she had twice made the pilgrimage to Mecca. One day when she saw me busy cleaning a pretty pebble I had found, she began, 'Oh, lady! I have found something much prettier than that; it must needs be a stone belonging to some jinns, for I never saw anything like it before. She told us that she had been out one day among the ruins of Zenobia's palace about midday, when the sun being very hot, she sat down by a low wall to rest. Presently she heard the hissing of serpents close to her, and turning her head to look over the wall, she saw at a few yards off two serpents fighting; their heads were curved far back as their bodies glided and wriggled about facing each other; and every now and then they would dart

like lightning one at the other, each trying to seize his enemy's head. At last one gave the other a mortal bite, and he fell prostrate and bleeding on the sand. Then she made a noise, and the victor glided frightened away, while she went to look at the dead snake, curious to see for what they had been fighting. And lo! out of his mouth came the apple of discord-this little white stone!'-and she opened her hand and showed me a large round pearl, a costly one in any place, but doubly valuable with this marvellous tale attached to it." 1 The Bedouins did not know it was a jewel, nor had any of them ever seen a pearl before.

The Sheikh said, that although the old woman was a great rhodomontader, he did not think the story of the serpents untrue, for he had himself more than once seen serpents fighting in the manner she described, for some such article as a bit of stone." 2

Old Indian sculptures represent Krisna standing upon the conquered serpent holding a gem in his hand, as though that had been the prize of victory, whilst a ball or gem of the same kind adorns the head of the snake; and the sacred snake of the Mexicans is similarly adorned. Perhaps also the Druidical serpent's egg and the Popo beads of Dahome may point to the fondness of snakes for glittering objects.

In any case it seems clear that the first metal workers belonged to that ancient pre-Aryan race denominated Turanian; but perhaps more correctly Mongoloid, for it is among Mongolian races that reverence for the serpent or dragon is, and always has been, carried to excess. China and Japan may be quoted as examples of this at the present day, but ancient legends tell the same tale

1 Beaufort's Egyptian Sepulchres and Syrian Shrines, p. 390. 2 The following, from Three Generations of English Women, vol. ii. p. 187, seems to denote a natural tendency in snakes to appropriate gold and gems. The tame snake "was fond of glittering things, and when Lucie (i. e. Lady Duff Gordon) took her many rings off her fingers, and placed them on different parts of the table, it would go about collecting them, stringing them on its lithe body, and finally tying itself into a tight knot, so that the rings could not be recovered till it chose to untie itself."

of India, at that remote epoch when the Aryans crossed the Himalayas and swarmed into those great cities inhabited by tribes who were certainly not savages, but were skilful metal workers, especially in gold.

Amongst these may be specially noticed a tribe calling themselves Nagas, or snakes. These Nagas are represented in all the old Indian sculptures and paintings, with snakes springing from their shoulders, and forming a canopy over the head of the king. They appear to have long continued a powerful tribe, for when the Buddha of history (B.C. 640 or 560, or according to Huc, 960) is required to prove his divine mission in presence of the gods, two Naga kings, who seem to have become converts, presented him with a thousand-leaved lotus, the size of a cart-wheel, all of gold, with a stalk of diamond,1 upon which Buddha seated himself, and hence is denominated the "Gem in the lotus."

In vol. iii. of Asiatic Researches, we find “The king of serpents (Nagas) reigned in Chacragiri, but the Garudas (Ruchs) having conquered the Nagas, had a serpent every day for dinner, which Garuda, the eagle or Roc, obliged the king of serpents to supply. The place where the royal snake resided had the name of Câtimà, not far from which was the mountain called brilliant, from the precious metals and gems with which it abounded; hence say the Hindoo writers, They who perform yearly and daily rites in honour of Sancha Naga will acquire immense riches.'

There are legends of a similar race under the same name in Africa. The Universal History says-" After the reign of the gods and demi-gods in Egypt, and the kings of the cynic cycle, came another race denominated nekyes (Nagas ?), a title implying royal, splendid, glorious." The mountains of snakes mentioned by Nubian geographers, were named Ophiusa by the Greeks, doubtless the Ophir of Scripture, which sometimes signified the whole of Africa.

The Greek legend of Cadmus is of especial interest in connection with this subject. Cadmus, whose name 1 Mrs. Spiers' Life in Ancient India.

signifies the East, we are told came to Boeotia, where he slew a dragon sacred to Mars, which guarded a well; and by the advice of Athena sowed the monster's teeth, from which sprang armed men, who destroyed each other, until he taught them the art of agriculture, and formed them into a peaceful colony; he and his wife were afterwards transformed into serpents, and were worshipped in that form.

Now I would read this story as a very simple allegory, in which Cadmus, with a few followers coming into Greece, either from Phoenicia, Egypt, or India, and finding himself opposed by a warlike aboriginal race, at first overcame them by the superior weapons at his command, and afterwards taught them the use of those weapons, whereupon they turned their arms against each other, and were almost exterminated before he succeeded in teaching them a nobler and more peaceful use for their newly acquired knowledge. Cadmus

vanquishing with the plough the dragon of Mars, is a favourite subject in Etruscan tombs, and it is somewhat significant that to him is ascribed the first working of the mines of Pangeaon in Thrace, and he is reputed to have taught mining, as well as agriculture and writing, to the Greeks. Another Greek semi-serpentine divinity associated with the introduction of metallurgy and agriculture, is Triptolemus, the son of Demeter, the earth goddess; and many others, as Cecrops and Draco, might be adduced.1

Quetzalcoatl, the Mexican serpent deity,2 is represented as a benefactor who had taught the Aztecs the use and art of manufacturing metals, of which he wore a shining helmet on his head. He also taught them how to cultivate maize, of which a single ear was a load

1 See Smith's Classical Dictionary: Articles, "Cadmus"; "Demeter"; "Triptolemus."

2 In the curious Mexican mosaics in the Christy collection the sacred serpents are carefully marked out with beads of gold, and Torquemada says the images of the three great Mexican gods were each of a golden serpent; whilst in the mounds of the West, among many sculptured serpents discovered, there was one carefully enveloped in sheet copper.