Briaton.] ^^ [Jan. 5, 



and otlier small snakes of the same kind, wbicli enter at the joints of the 

 fingers, beginning with the left hand, and coming out at tlie joints of the 

 right liand, and also by the ears and the nose ; while the great snake 

 enters tlie body with a leap and emerges at its posterior vent. After- 

 wards the disciple meets a dragon vomiting fire, whicii swallows him en- 

 tire and ejects him posteriorly. Then the Master declares he may be ad- 

 mitted, and asks him to select the herbs with whicli he will conjure ; the 

 disciple names them, the Master gathers them and delivers them to him, 

 and then teaches him the sacred words. 



"These words and ceremonies are substantially the same in all the 

 provinces. The healer enters the house of the invalid, asks about the 

 eickness, lays his hand on the suffering part, and then leaves, promising 

 to return on the day following. At the next visit he brings with him 

 some herbs which he chews or mashes with a little water and applies to 

 the part. Then he repeats the Pater Noster, the Ave, the Credo and the 

 Salve, and blows upon the seat of disease, afterwards pronouncing the 

 magical words taught him by his master. He continues blowing in this 

 manner, inhaling and exhaling, repeating under his breath these mstgical 

 expressions, which are powerful to kill or to cure as he chooses, through 

 tlie compact he has made with the Devil. Finally, so as to deceive the 

 bystanders, he ends with saying in a loud voice : 'God the Father, God 

 the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. Amen.' 



"This physician or healer is called in the towns of some of the 

 provinces pox^a ea/ie^s, and the medicine gspoxil ; and everything relat- 

 ing to healing among the Indians to which they apply these terms means 

 also to practice sorcery ; and all words derived from pox allude to the 

 Nagual ; for this in some provinces is called poxlon, and in others patzlan, 

 and in many tzihuizin, which is something very much feared by the In- 

 dians. We have ascertained by the confessions of many who have been 

 reconciled that the Devil at times appears to them in the shape of a ball 

 or globe of fire in the air, with a tail like a comet.* 



" According to the most ancient traditions of these Indians this idol, 

 poxlon, was one of the most important and venerated they had in the old 



• Fattier Lara, in his Vocabnlario Tzendul MS. (in my possession), gives for medical 

 (medico), ghpoxil; for medicine (medicinal cosa), pot, xpoxtacnghbil ; for physician 

 (medico\ ghpoxta vinic (the form vanegh, person, is also correct). The Tzendal pox (pro- 

 nounced push) is another form of the Qiiiche-Calichiquel pia, a word which Father 

 Ximenes, in liis Vocabtdario Cakcldqud MS. (in my possession), gives in tlie compound 

 puz-naual, witli the meaning, enchanter, wizard. Both these, I talce it, are derived from 

 the Mayap?«, which means to blow the dust, etc., olf of something (soplar el polvo de 

 la ropa 6 otra cosa. Dice, de la Lengua Maya del Convento de Motid, MS. The dictionary 

 edited by Pio Perez does not give this meaning). The act of blowing was the essential 

 feature in tlie treatment of these medicine men. It symbolized the transfer and exer- 

 cise of spiritual power. When Votan built his underground shrine he did it d soplos, by 

 blowing (Nunez de la Vega, Constittd. TJiorrsan.p. H)}. The natives did not regard the 

 comet's tail as behind it but in front of it, blown from its mouth. The Nahuatl word in 

 the text, tzihuizin, is the Pipil form ol' xihidtziii, the reverential of xihniU, which means a 

 leaf, a season, a year, or a comet. Apparently it refers to the Nahuatl divinity Xiuhti- 

 cutli, described by Sahagun, llistoria de Nueva EspuFM, Lib. i, cap. 13, as god of fire, etc. 



