Brinton.] ♦^^ [Jan. 5, 



inA'-ocation were taught by the veteran nagualists to their neo- 

 phytes.* 



These Zahoris,f as the.y are generally called in the Spanish of 

 Central America, possessed many other mysterious arts besides 

 that of such metamorphoses and of forecasting the future. 

 They could make themselves invisible, and walk unseen among 

 their enemies ; the}' could in a moment transport themselves to 

 distant places, and, as quickly returning, report what they had 

 witnessed ; they could create before the eyes of the spectator a 

 river, a tree, a house, or an animal, where none such existed ; 

 they could cut open their own stomach, or lop a limb from 

 another person, and immediately heal the wound or restore the 

 severed member to its place ; they could pierce themselves with 

 knives and not bleed, or handle venomous serpents and not be 

 bitten ; they could cause mysterious sounds in the air, and fas- 

 •einate animals and persons by their steady gaze ; they could 

 call visible and invisible spirits, and the spirits would come. 



Among the native population of the State of A^era Cruz and 

 elsewhere in southern Mexico these mysterious personages go 

 by the name jyadrinos, godfathers, and are looked upon with a 

 mixture of fear and respect. The}^ are believed by the Indians 

 to be able to cause sickness and domestic calamities, and are 

 pronounced by intelligent whites to present " a combination of 

 rascality, duplicity and trickerj'."! 



17. The details of the ceremonies and doctrines of Nagual- 

 ism have never been fully revealed ; but from isolated occur- 

 rences and partial confessions it is clear that its adherents 

 formed a coherent association extending over most of southern 



* " Wird ein Kind ira Dorfe geboren, so erhiilt der heidnische Gotzcnpriester von die- 

 sem Ercignisse viel eher Kunde, als der katholische Plairer. Erst wenn dem neuen 

 Weltbiirger durch den Aj-quig das Horoskop gestellt, der Name irgnnd eines Tbieres 

 beigelegt, Mi-si-sal (das citronengelbe Harz des Rhus copallinum) verbrannt, ein Lieb- 

 liiigsgotzc angerufen, und noche vlele andere aberglaiibische ISIyslerien verriclitet wor- 

 sen sind, wild das Kind nach dem Pfarrhause zur ehristlichen Taufe getiagen. Das 

 Thier, dessen Name dem Kiude kurz na<-h seiner Geburt vom Sonnenpriester beigelegt 

 wird, gilt gewolnilieh aucb als sein Schutzgeist {nagual) fiirs ganze Leben." Dr. Karl 

 Scherzcr, Die Jridiaiier von Santa Catalina Istlavamn, p. 11, Wien, 1856. 



t The word zaiiori, of Arabic origin, is thus explained in the Spanish and English dic- 

 tionary of Delpiiio (London, 176:'.) : "So they call in Spain an impostor who pretends to 

 see into the bowels of the eartli, through stone walls, or into a man's body." Dr. 

 Stoll says the Guatemala Indians speak of their diviners, the Ali Kih, as zahorin. Guate- 

 mala, s. 2l'9. 



X Eraetorio Pineda, Dcseripcion Geografica de Chiapas y Soconusco, p. 22 (Mexico, 1815). 



