Briuton.] ^^ [-Tan. 5, 



and another in the State of Hidalgo. * Probablj' they were 

 used in some such ceremonies as Oviedo describes among the 

 Nahuas of Nicaragua, where the same S3'mbol was represented 

 by conical mounds of earth, around which at certain seasons the 

 women danced with libidinous actions. Although as a general 

 rule the pottery of ancient Mexico avoids obscenity, Brasseur 

 stated that he had seen many specimens of a contrary character 

 from certain regions,f and Dr. Berendt has copied several strik- 

 ing examples, showing curious yoni symbols, which are n.ow in 

 my possession. 



We may explain these as in some way connected with the 

 worship of Pantecatl, the male divinity who presided over pro- 

 fligate love, and of Tlazolteotl, the Venus Impudica of the Aztec 

 pantheon ; and it is not without significance that the cave-temple 

 of Votan, whose contents were destroyed by the Bishop of Chi- 

 apas, in 1691 (see above, p. 47), was located at Tlazoaloyan, both 

 names being derived from a root signifying sexual action. J The 

 other name of the divinity, called " the Heart of the Hills," is 

 in Quiche, Alom, " he who begets,'' and the Zapotec Cozaana, an- 

 other analogue of the same deity, is translated by Seler, " the 

 Begetter." Such facts indicate how intimately the esoteric 

 doctrines of Nagualism were related to the worship of the re- 

 productive powers of nature. 



35. It will readily be understood from what has been said 

 that Nagualism was neither a pure descendant of the ancient 

 cults, nor yet a derivative from Christian doctrines and Euro- 

 pean superstitions. It was a strange commingling of both, often 

 in grotesque and absurd forms. In fact, the pretended Christi- 

 anity of the native population of Mexico to-day is little more 

 than a figment, according to the testimony of the most competent 

 observers. § 



The rituals and prayers of the nagualists bear witness to 

 this. It is very visible in those I have quoted from Nuiiez de 



* Cf. G.Tarayre, Exploration Mineralopique dcs Regions Mcxicaines, p. 233 (Paris, 1S69), and 

 Bulletin de la Sociiti. d' Anthropologic de Paris, Juin, 1893. 



t Sources de I'Histoire Primitive de'Mexique, p. 81. 



X From so, to join together. Compare my Essays of an Americanist, p. 417 (Philadel- 

 phia, 1890). 



I " El indio Mexicano es todaviiiidolatra." F. Pimentel, La Situacion actual de la Jiaza 

 Indigena de Mexico, p. 197. 



