But, whether from fear or not, Draco inspired wide-spread attention and worship. Lillie remarks that the serpent of the “three precious gems” of the Buddhist, the serpent, sun, and tree, the A. U. M., is Draco at the pole. The Tria Ratna, or three precious symbols of the faith, have, in the representation given, their earliest emblem, except, perhaps, the swastika,[241] or cross, which was doubtless formed at one time of two serpents.[242] [Illustration: FIG. 9.—THE BUDDHIST TRIA RATNA.] In the illustration, the serpent represents the male and the staff the female or negative principle. It has been asserted that we have in it the prototype of the caduceus of Hermes. The assumption of the serpent as a totem,[243] or symbol, of a family or tribe has been held—as, for example, by Mr. McLennan[244] and Sir John Lubbock[245]—to afford an explanation of the origin and practice of serpent-worship. This honor was no doubt accorded the reptile at a very early period and in different parts of the world; and it is still done by the Nagas of India and others. In speaking of Parium, a city of the Troad, Strabo says: “It is here the story is related that the Ophiogeneis have some affinity with the serpent tribe.... According to fable the founder of the race of Ophiogeneis, a hero, was transformed from a serpent into a man. He was, perhaps, one of the African Psylli.” The power of curing by touch persons bitten by serpents[246] was claimed by this tribe. David would seem to have belonged to the serpent family, as appears from the name of his ancestor, Naasson; and it has been suggested that the brazen serpent found by Hezekiah, in the Temple of Solomon, was a symbol of it. The friendliness of David to the king of Ammon is thus explained.[247] Speaking of rattlesnakes, it is said, in Miss Emerson’s work, “These creatures were so highly esteemed that to have a serpent as his totem elevated an Indian chief above his brothers.”[248]