NO. 1887. CENSERS AND INCENSE OF MIDDLE AMERICA— HOUOH. 133 



those whose names have survived in the chronicles are copal hlanco 

 white copal, with mixtures of tobacco, etc. ; incenso comun, ordinary 

 incense; and cJiapopopotli, bitumen, the latter used in the worship 

 of the god of war, Huitzilopochtli, all the foregoing being employed 

 by the Nahuas. The Mayas used copal; copal ground with maize; 

 caoutchouc; zacaTi, a kind of incense burned by priests; and cJiachalte, 

 burned by nobles.' 



The Mexicans, like other peoples in close touch with their environ- 

 ment, were acquainted with the properties of plants, and to this day 

 the exhaustive pharmaceutic and utilitarian botany of a village 

 market is one of the most surprising things one meets with in that 

 country. The ancient Mexicans had thus ransacked the plant world 

 for vegetal substances, which on burning would produce an agreeable 

 odor, many of which are mentioned in the works of Hernandez, 

 Monardes, and others, but whose identification botanically is almost 

 invariably impossible owing to incomplete characterization. 



Dr. S. A. Barrett informs me that at the present time the Cayapas 

 use in Ecuador for religious feasts a sort of whitish resinous substance 

 (copal) which comes from the interior of the country. They do not 

 have very much of it, and prize it very highly on account of having 

 come from such a distance. They burn this substance at ths time 

 of a death. 



There is a great confusion as to the identitj" of copal, the name, 

 according to some writers, being used to cover a number of gums. 

 It is possible that the confusion has arisen from post conquest times 

 when errors multiplied rapidly as the Mexican culture slipped s\viftly 

 into the background, for the earliest reliable chroniclers are clear as to 

 the commonest use of the gum whichnve know as copal, and whose 

 characteristic odor would place it distinctly in the first rank of incense 

 materials. 



The follomng notes from Sahagun refer to various vegetal sources 

 of incense substances burnt for the odor: 



There ia a plant called quauhyayaual. Its roots are long and become green at the 

 ends. The leaves are small and round. The exterior of the plant mixed with incense 

 acts as perfume. The root is of no utility. They find the plant on the mountains.' 



There is another plant called tlalpoyomatli, of which the leaves are ashy, soft, and 

 velvety. It has flowers. Its odor has caused it to be chosen for the perfumes which 

 they introduce into the reeds for smoking. Its aroma spreads far.^ 



This appears to be the artemesia, sage, which was a sacred plant 

 among the Pueblos and many other tribes of Indians. 



There is a small wild tree called teocote (Pinus teocote), of which the root has the 

 odor of incense when it is burnt. Only the lords and the dignitaries have the privi- 

 lege of using it. Other persons are not authorized and have not the right to use it.* 



• Bancroft, Native Races, vol. 2, p. 702; Tozzer, op. cit., 1903, p. 20. 

 ' Sahagun, work cited, p. 753. 



• Idem, worlc cited, p. 766. 



• Idem, work cited, p. 73L 



