1894.] 37 [Brintoa. 



mala; a fourth at Cancuc, Chiapas; a fifth at Teozapotlan, 

 Oaxaca ; and a few others may be surmised. 



The high priest who resided at each of these centres exercised 

 control over all the nagualistic teachers and practitioners in an 

 extensive district. On the occasion of an official inquiry by the 

 Spanish authorities it was ascertained that the high priest of 

 Zamayac included under his rule nearly one thousand sub- 

 priests,* and no doubt others of his rank were not less potent. 



The unity between the members of the association over an in- 

 definitely wide area was perfectly well known to the Spanish 

 priests and civil anthorities. The ceremonies, formulas and 

 methods of procedure were everywhere identical or alike. Tliis 

 itself was justly regarded as a proof of the secret intelligence 

 which existed among the members of this cabalistic guild."}" 



To a certain extent, and at least in some localities, as Chiapas 

 and Guatemala, the priesthood of Nagualism was hereditary in 

 particular families. This is especially stated by the historian 

 Ordoiiez y Aguiar, who had exceptional opportunities for ac- 

 quainting himself with the facts. | 



A traveler of the first decade of this century, who has left ns 

 a number of curious details of the superstitions of the Chris- 

 tianized Indians in Mexico of that day, Benito Maria de Moxo, 

 informs us that he had discovered the existence of different 

 grades in the native soothsaj'ers and medicine men, and that all 

 in a given locality recognized the supremacy of one whom the}'^ 

 referred to as "the little old man," El Viejito. But he was un- 

 able to ascertain by what superior traits or rights he obtained 

 this distinction. § 



According to some authorities, the highest grade of these 

 native hierophants bore among the Nahuas the s^-mbolic name 



* Iii/orme del teniente general, Don Jacobo de liarba Figueroa, corregidor de la Provincia 

 de Sucliilrpcquc. quoted by Brasseur. 



t Jaeinlo de la Senia says : " Los tneestros de estas cereraonias son todos unos, y lo que 

 sucede en esta Cordillera en todas sucede." Mantial d€ Minigtros, p. 52. Speaking of tlie 

 methods of the nagualists of Chiapas, Bishop Nunez de la Vega writes: "Concuerdan 

 los mas modernos con los mas aniiguos que se practicaban en Mexico." Count if aciones 

 Dioresanas, p. l:{4. 



I He observes that there were " familias de los tales Fabios en las quales en manera de 

 patrimonio se heredaban, succediendo los hijos & los padres, y principalmente su abom- 

 inable secta de Nagualismo." Historia del C'ielo y de la Ticrm, MS., p. 7. Ordonez ad- 

 vances various erudite reasons for believing that Nagualisra is a religious belief whose 

 theory and rites were brought from Carthage by Punic navigators in ancient times. 



§ Maria de Moxo, Cartas Mejicanas, p. 270 yCienova, n. d.;. 



