1894.] 45 [Brinton. 



baps bis account is somewbat fanciful ; it is so, indeed ; but it 

 is grounded on tbe uusbaken beliefs and ancient traditions of 

 tbe natives of tbose climes, and on customs well known to tbose 

 wbo reside tbere. 



Tbe late distinguished Americanist, tbe Abbe Brasseur de 

 Bourbourg, during bis long travels in Mexico and Central 

 America, bad occasion more tban once to come in contact witb 

 this trait of tbe ancient faith of the Nagualists, still alive in 

 their descendants. Among the Zapotecs of 'the Isthmus of 

 Tebuantepec be saw one of tbe queens of the mystic fraternity, 

 and be describes her witb a warmth which proves that be bad 

 not lost bis eye for tbe beautiful. 



" She wore a piece of light-green stuff loosely folded around her form 

 at the hips, and falling to a little distance above the ankle ; a jacket of 

 red silk gauze with short sleeves and embroidered with gold, clothed the 

 upper part of her person, veiling her bosom, upon which lay a chain of 

 heavy gold pieces, pierced and strung on a cord. Her rich black hair was 

 divided on the forehead, and drawn back in two splendid tresses fastened 

 with blue ribbons, while a white muslin kerchief encircled her head like 

 the cahmtica of the ancient Egyptians. Never in my life have I seen a 

 more striking figure of an Isis or a Cleopatra. 



"There was something strange in her expression. Her eyes were the 

 blackest and the brightest in the world ; but there were moments when 

 she suddenly paused, leaned against the billiard table or the wall, and 

 they became fixed and dead like those of a corpse. Then a fierj^ glance 

 would shoot from beneath her dark lashes, sending a chill to the heart of 

 the one to whom it was directed. Was it madness, or was it, as those 

 around her believed, a momentary absence of soul, an absorption of her 

 spirit into its narjual, a transportation into an unknown world? Who 

 shall decide?"* 



34. It would be a mistake to suppose that Nagualism was an 

 incoberent medley of superstitions, a mass of jumbled fragments 

 derived from tbe ancient paganism. My study of it has led me 

 to a widely different conclusion. It was a perpetuation of a 

 well-defined portion of the native cult, whose sources we are 

 able to trace long anterior to the period of the conquest, and 

 which had no connection with the elaborate and bloody ritual of 

 the Aztecs. Tbe evidence to this effect is cogent. 



Wherever in later daj's the Catholic priests found out the 



* Voyage d V Isthmus de Tehuantepec, p. 164. He adds a number of particulars of tlie 

 power she was supposed to exercise. 



