1S94.] It) [Brinton. 



and there appealed to the streams, rocks and trees around him, and weep- 

 ing, implored for himself the favors they had conferred on his ancestors. 

 He then sacrificed a dog or a fowl, and drew blood from his tongue, or 

 his ears, or other parts of his body, and turned to sleep. Either in his 

 dreams or half awake, he would see some one of those animals or birds 

 above mentioned, who would say to him, ' On such a day go hunting and 

 the first animal or bird you see will be my form, and I shall remain your 

 companion and Nag ual for a\\ time.' Thus tlieir friendship became so 

 close that when one died so did the other ; and without such a Nagual the 

 natives believe no one can become rich or powerful,"* 



This province of Cerquin appears to have been peopled by a 

 tribe which belonged to the great Mayan stock, akin to those 

 which occupied most of the area of what is now Yucatan, Tabasco, 

 Chiapas and Guatemala. f I shall say something later about the 

 legendary enchantress whom their traditions recalled as the 

 teacher of their ancestors and the founder of their nation. 

 What I would now call attention to is the fact that in none of 

 the dialects of the specifically Mexican or Aztecan stock of lan- 

 guages do we find the word nagual in the sense in which it is 

 emplo3^ed in the above extract, and this is strong evidence that 

 the origin of Nagualism is not to be sought in that stock. 



3. We do find, however, in the Nahnatl language, which is 

 the proper name of the Aztecan, a number of derivatives from 

 the same root, na, among them this very word, Nahnatl, all of 

 them containing the idea " to know," or " knowledge." The 

 early missionaries to New Spain often speak of the naitalli 

 (plural, nanahualtin) , masters of mystic knowledge, dealers in 

 the black art, wizards or sorcerers. They were not always evil- 

 minded persons, though they seem to have been generally 

 feared. The earliest source of information about them is 

 Father Sahagun, who, in his invaluable History, has the follow- 

 ing paragraph : 



"The naualli, or magician, is he who frightens men and sucks the 

 blood of children daring the night. He is well skilled in the practice of 

 this trade, he knows all the arts of sorcery (nauallotl) and employs them 

 with cunning and ability ; but for the benefit of men only, not for their 



• Historia de Ins Indias Occidentalfs, Dec. iv, Lib. viii, cap. 4. 



t More especially it is the territory of the Chorti dialect, spoken to this day in the 

 vicinity of the famous ancient city of Copan, Honduras. Cerquin lies in the mountains 

 nearly due east of this celebrated site. On the Chorti, see StoU, Zur Ethnographie der Re- 

 publik Ouatcmala, pp. lOG-9. 



