91 



1894.] ^^ [Brinton. 



rod or wand eraplo3'ed by the magi in conjuration.* So also 

 Naualac, the " wizard water," an artificial lake not far from the 

 city of Mexico, surrounded by ruined temples, described by INf. 

 Cliarnay.f 



9. The belief in a personal guardian spirit was one of the 

 fundamental doctrines of Nagualism ; but this belief by no 

 means conn.otes the full import of the term (as Mr. H. II. Ban- 

 croft has erroneously stated). The calendar system of Mexico 

 and Central America, which I have shown to be substantially 

 the same throughout many diverse linguistic stocks,Jhad as one 

 of its main objects, astrological divination. B}' consulting it the 

 appropriate nagual was discovered and assigned, and this was cer- 

 tainly a prominent feature in the native cult and has never been 

 abandoned. 



In Mexico to-day, in addition to his special personal guardian, 

 the native will often choose another for a limited time or for a 

 particular purpose, and this is quite consistent with the form of 

 Christianity he has been taught. For instance, as we are in- 

 formed by an observant traveler, at New Year or at corn- 

 planting the head of a family will go to the parish church and 

 among the various saints there displayed will select one as his 

 guardian for the 3'ear. He will address to him his pra3'ers for 

 rain and sunshine, for an abundant harvest, health and pros- 

 perity, and will not neglect to back these supplications by lib- 

 eral gifts. If times are good and harvests ample the Santo is 

 rewarded with still more gifts, and his aid is sought for another 

 term ; but if luck has been bad the Indian repairs to the church 

 at the end of the year, bestows on his hol}^ patron a sound curs- 

 ing, calls him all the bad names he can think of, and has nothing 

 more to do with him.§ 



10. A Mexican writer, Andres Iglesias, who enjoyed more 

 than common opportunities to study these jiractices as they 

 exist in the present generation, describes them as he saw them 

 in the village of Soteapan, a remote hamlet in the State of Yera 

 Cruz, the population of which speak the Mixe language. This 



* Anales de Cuaufititlan. p. 31. The translator renders it " palo biujo." 

 + Les Ancieiiiies Villes du Noiiveau Monde, pp. HG-14S, figured on p. 150. On its signifi- 

 cance compare Hamy, Decades Amerieanx, pp. 74-81. 

 t TliC Native Calendar of Central America and Mexico (Pbiladelplna, 1S93). 

 g Eduard Miihleupfordt, Mexico, Bil. i, s. 255. 



