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.

for a man, and instructed them in the cutting of gems.1 In Peru, Manco Capac and Mama Oello, sent by the sun to teach men the arts of agriculture, were to settle where a golden wedge they carried, sank into the ground; which legend, compared with that of the Chaldæan deity Hoà, whose emblems were a wedge and a serpent, is certainly remarkable. The name of Osiris, too, the agricultural god of Egypt, whose emblem is the serpent, is derived, according to the Encyclopædia Britannica, from Oshir, which signified gold. But it would appear to me that these early men-serpents, when they first quitted their Indian or Egyptian home, to scatter the seeds of civilization over the benighted West, were not acquainted with the art of smelting metals, or with that combination forming bronze, afterwards so universally used. Gold, silver, and copper, the three metals most commonly found in a pure state, were doubtless the first to come under the notice of mankind. Max Müller points out that what makes it probable that iron was not known before the separation of the Aryan nations is, that the name for it is different in every one of their languages, whilst Sanskrit, Greek, the Teutonic and Slavonic languages, agree in their names for gold; Sanskrit, Greek, and Latin, in the names for silver; Sanskrit, Latin, and German, in their names for the third metal, probably copper.2

Silver, however, seems to have been very little used in pre-historic times, although the large quantity of this metal found in the tombs explored by M. M. Siret,

1 Prescott's Peru.

2 There is a legend in Grimm belonging to the Iron age which is interesting, as connecting the serpent not only with gold, but with man's soul or spirit, and the curious superstition which makes a running stream an impassable barrier to supernatural beings. The story runs-"King Gunthram lay in a wood asleep, with his head in his faithful henchman's lap. The servant saw as it were a snake issue from his lord's mouth and run to the brook, but it could not pass. So the servant laid his sword across the water, and the creature ran across it and up into a mountain. After a while it came back and returned into the mouth of the sleeping king, who waking, told how he had dreamt that he went over an iron bridge into a mountain full of gold."

1

in South-east Spain, proves that it was well known and much used by the unknown dwellers in that region. Although it seems probable that the early serpent race, who presumably taught the use of metals, were not acquainted with the art of sinelting those metals, yet there is a curious legend in the Mahabbarata 1 connecting serpents with smelted metals. This is related in the third Avater of Vishnu in the form of a tortoise, and is thus given in Maurice's History of HindostanThe good genii, wishing to obtain the amrita or water of life, went before Brahma and Vishnu, and requested their help to remove the mountain Mandar, wherewith to churn the ocean. Then he with the lotos-eye directed the king of serpents to appear. Anata, the serpent king, arose, and instructed by Narayen (Vishnu), took up the mountain and carried it to the ocean with all its inhabitants, and the Soors (good genii) accompanied him into the presence of the Ocean, whom they thus addressed—'We will stir up thy waters to obtain the amrita'; and the Ocean replied, 'Let me also have a share, seeing I am to bear the violent agitation caused by the whirling of the mountain.' Then the Soors (good) and the Assoors (evil genii) spake unto Courmarajah, i. e. Vishnu, king of the tortoises, and said, 'My lord is able to be the supporter of this mountain,' who replied, 'Be it so,' and it was placed upon his back. So the mountain, placed on the back of the tortoise, was whirled by Indra like a machine.”

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The mountain Mandar served as a churn, and the serpent Vasookee for the rope, and thus the waters of the ocean were stirred up for the discovery of the amrita. The Assoors were employed at the serpent's head, and the Soors at his tail, whilst Anata stood by Narayen. The serpent thus pulled violently backwards and forwards, vomited forth a continual stream of fire and smoke and wind, which ascending in thick clouds mingled with lightning, began to rain down upon the

1 The Mahabbarata is supposed to be 4000 years old.

2 Maurice's Hindostan. This churn is identified by Mr. Tylor with the early implement for fire-making.

labourers, already fatigued with their exertions. The roaring of the ocean so violently agitated was like the bellowing of a mighty cloud. Thousands of the productions of the water were torn to pieces and confounded with the briny flood, and all the inhabitants of the great abyss below the earth were annihilated, whilst the forest trees were smitten together, with the birds thereon, and from their friction fire was produced, covering the mountain with smoke. The fire is at length quenched by a shower of cloud-borne water poured down by the immortal Indra; and now a heterogeneous stream of the concocted juice of various trees and plants ran down into the briny flood. It was from this milk-like stream of juices and a mixture of melted gold, that the Soors obtained their immortality.

With regard to the discovery of the art of smelting metals, it may be observed that many old geographers attribute it to a violent conflagration, which melted the ores, and caused them to flow down pure. In what way the art of metal working, with its distinctive serpent legends, was conveyed to America is an unsolved problem. Many great ethnologists, and amongst them Mr. Darwin, have denied that the civilization of remote lands, and particularly that of Mexico and Peru, can be ascribed to wanderers from civilized lands, adducing in proof of their belief the small progress made by modern missionaries; but we must remember that Christian missionaries teach an invisible God, an abstraction not readily comprehended, whilst these ancient sun and serpent worshippers could point to the bright luminary above, and the deadly reptile at their feet, as visible and powerful divinities. We all know that the early success of Cortez in Mexico was due to his having been looked upon by the simple Aztecs as their great serpent

1 It may be observed that although the serpent myth does not seem fully developed in the South Sea Islands, where when discovered metals were unknown, yet in the Tonga and Fiji islands, in which there are traces of a race of superior civilization prior to the present inhabitants, we find a divinity worshipped half stone, half serpent.

god and benefactor, Quetzalcoatl, whose return they were expecting.

It certainly seems more reasonable to suppose that the seeds of knowledge were implanted by strangers according to the traditions of the people, than that they should have acquired independently a mythology, astronomical records, various arts of civilized life, such as metal-working, architecture, agriculture, and pottery, so nearly resembling those of Eastern Asia, Egypt, and Etruria. Dr. Wilson and Dr. Tylor, as well as many other excellent anthropologists, assign an Asiatic origin to these things, but the route by which they were conveyed is undetermined. To Peru the way across the calm Pacific from China or Japan does not seem impossible; but to Mexico, the most likely route would be across the Atlantic, and for this the fabled island of Atlantis seems a necessity. Atlantis has been made the subject of much controversy, and its existence is stoutly denied by most geologists, but it comes up again and again with renewed vigour, and it has always appeared to me probable that although the account of this great island and its destruction may have been greatly exaggerated, there must have been some foundation for the myth; and indeed Mr. Wallace allows an extension of land or a chain of islands, since submerged, to have stretched some distance across the Atlantic, and these may reasonably have formed stepping-stones for people who had attained to the art of navigation even in a rudimentary form.

At all events, judging from the numerous legends, from sculptures and other works of art, especially in metal, there seems every reason to suppose that the great serpent myth originated in Asia, and was thence conveyed at a very early date by pre-Aryan metalworkers to Europe, Africa, and by one or more routes to America. The subject is so curious and interesting, and the legends connecting the serpent not only with metals, but with sacred stones and gems, are so numerous, that I purpose to devote a chapter to this branch of the subject, showing how the legends have spread from land