CHAPTER IX. 89 Ophiolatreia in Britain--The Druids--Adders--Poem of Taliessin-- The goddess Ceridwen--A Bardic poem--Snake stones--The anguinum-- Execution of a Roman Knight--Remains of the serpent temple at Abury--Serpent vestiges in Ireland of great rarity--St. Patrick. CHAPTER X. 94 India conspicuous in the history of Serpent Worship--Nágpúr-- Confessions of a snake worshipper--The gardeners of Guzerat-- Cottages for snakes at Calicut--The Feast of the Serpents--The deity Hari--Garuda--The snake as an emblem of immortality. CHAPTER XI. 99 Mr. Bullock's exhibition of objects illustrating Serpent Worship. OPHIOLATREIA. CHAPTER I. _Ophiolatreia an extraordinary subject--Of mysterious origin--Of universal prevalence--The Serpent a common symbol in mythology--Serpent-worship natural but irrational--Bacchic orgies--Olympias, mother of Alexander, and the Serpent emblem--Thermuthis, the Sacred Serpent--Asps--Saturn and his children--Sacrifices at altar of Saturn--Abaddon--Ritual of Zoroaster--Theologo of Ophion--The Cuthites--The Ophiogeneis--The Ophionians--Greek Traditions--Cecrops--Various Serpent worshippers._ Ophiolatreia, the worship of the serpent, next to the adoration of the phallus, is one of the most remarkable, and, at first sight, unaccountable forms of religion the world has ever known. Until the true source from whence it sprang can be reached and understood, its nature will remain as mysterious as its universality, for what man could see in an object so repulsive and forbidding in its habits as this reptile, to render worship to, is one of the most difficult of problems to find a solution to. There is hardly a country of the ancient world, however, where it cannot be traced, pervading every known system of mythology, and leaving proofs of its existence and extent in the shape of monuments, temples, and earthworks of the most elaborate and curious character. Babylon, Persia, Hindostan, Ceylon, China, Japan, Burmah, Java, Arabia, Syria, Asia Minor, Egypt, Ethiopia, Greece, Italy, Northern and Western Europe, Mexico, Peru, America--all yield abundant testimony to the same effect, and point to the common origin of Pagan systems wherever found. Whether the worship was the result of fear or respect is a question that naturally enough presents itself, and in seeking to answer it we shall be confronted with the fact that in some places, as Egypt, the symbol was that of a good demon, while in India, Scandinavia, and Mexico, it was that of an evil one. It has been remarked that in the warmer regions of the globe, where this creature is the most formidable enemy which man can encounter, the serpent should be considered the mythological attendant of an evil being is not surprising,