332 
19. Let us go further afield. On the west coast of Africa is the 
kingdom of Whidah, where the serpent was, till recently, wor- 
shipped hy two different people or tribes ; but although violen 
antagonism existed as to the qualities ot their deity, 01 the 
mode of worshipping him, they both agreed in this, that a 
human sacrifice was the most acceptable offering to their serpen 
deity ; and we know, from the recent slaughtering by Dahomey, 
that the custom of man shedding man’s blood was, may 1 say, 
naturalized in that district* Asthey also attributed benign poweis 
to their god, the mixture of good and evil is again apparent, i ^ 
name of the deity here is Obion, and indicates the sun, On, 
and the serpent, “ Ob.”t In Mexico we find, not only extensive 
evidences of serpent-worship, but emblems assimilating to the 
Egyptian ; not only are there vast pyramids, shorn of their 
apices, as in Egypt (figs. 18 ,18), but the ringed serpent 
is even more explanatory than that already mentioned It is 
formed by two entwined serpents, the heads of which meet 
face to face. One is represented as old and bearded, the 
other as young and vigorous, clearly indicating the new day 
about to drive away the old night. These are represented 
in figure 19, and are in position for comparison with 
the simple ring formed by the serpent biting his own tail 
(fig. 4 supra). The Mexican emblems are placed vertically, 
and in’such a position that the new day, or new year it may be, 
represented by the more youthful serpent, is shown as being 
not yet quite risen, the head of the old serpent being upper- 
most. Fig. 19a is Egyptian, and shows the same idea ot 
20.*A°-ain, amongst the animal-shaped mounds of America, we 
find one device, somewhat rarely, it is true, but which is very 
remarkable in form, indeed unmistakable; it is figured in the 
Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, and is a instinct 
representation of the winged sphere of Egypt, which is likewise 
almost identical with that of Asshur, previously mentioned, as 
found in the Assyrian sculptures, which are all shown in 
the diagrams (figs. 20 a, b, c ) ; but beyond this ^ the fact ot 
unmistakable enormous serpent similitudes found in America, 
several of which are in my illustrations. (Fig. 21 ; compare with 
figs. 1, 2, and 3, supra.) 
* In a communication just made (January 1875) to the Geo^phieal 
Society, the writer, at the supposed source of the Nile, states that each tune 
he visited the king several persons were decapitated as a mark of respect to 
hl f’see the author’s paper read before the British Association, at Brighton, 
in 1872, and contained in the official report of the Association, viz., O 
some Evidences of a Common Migration from the East. 
