18D4.] «^-^ • [Brmton. 



When the sorcerer was examined as to the manner of assign- 

 ing the proper nagual to a child he gave the following account : 



Having been informed of its day of birth, he in due time 

 called at the residence of the parents, and told the mother to 

 bring the child into the field behind the house. Having there 

 invoked the demon, the nagual of the child would appear under 

 the form of the animal or object set opposite its birthday in the 

 calendar, a serpent were it born on the 2d of January, a flower 

 were it on the 13th, fire were it on the 24th, and so on. The 

 sorcerer then addressed certain prayers to the nagual to protect 

 the little one, and told the mother to take it daily to the same 

 spot, where its nagual would appear to it, and would finally ac- 

 company it through all its life. Some, but not all, obtained the 

 power of transforming themselves into the nagual^ and the 

 author declares that, though he could not cite such a case from 

 his own experience, his father knew of several, and reliable 

 priests, religiosos de /e, had told him enough examples to fill 

 volumes.* 



The tribes to which this author refers were the Cakchiquels 

 and Quiches, who spoke practically the same tongue. An ex- 

 amination of some of the old dictionaries prepared by the early 

 missionaries furnishes further and interesting information about 

 this obscure subject. 



In the Cakchiquel language of Guatemala, the word naual was 

 applied both to the magician himself, to his necromantic art, 

 and to the demonic agency which taught and protected him. 

 This is shown by the following explanation, which I quote from 

 Father Coto's Vocahulario de la Lengiia Cakchiquel^ 1651, a 

 manuscript in the library of the American Philosophical So- 

 ciety : 



" Magic or Necromancy : puz or naual ; and they were accustomed to 

 call their magicians or sorcerers by the same terms. It was a kind of 

 magic which tiiey invoked in order to transform themselves into eagles, 

 lions, tigers, etc. Thus, they said, rupuz,rti naual, -pedro la cot, balam, 

 'Peter's power, his naual, is a lion, a tiger.' They also applied the words 

 puz and naual to certain trees, rocks and other inanimate objects, whence 

 the Devil used to speak to them, and likewise to the idols which they 

 worshiped, as gazUc die, gazUc abah, huyu, k'o ru naual, ' The life of 

 the tree, the life of the stone, of the hill, is its naual,' etc. ; because they 

 believed there was life in these objects. They used to have armies and 



* Ilistoria de Guatemala, d, Recordacion Florida, Tom. ii, p. 44, scq. 



