1894.] ^*J [Brinton. 



incapacity, as well as scant instruction in the Holy Catholic 

 faith, for the crimes of heresy, apostasy, heretical blasphemy, 

 sorcery, incantations, superstitions," etc. 



Energetic inquisitors, however, conceded very grudgingly this 

 exemption. In the imposing auto de fe celebrated in the city of 

 Mexico, in 1659, a half-breed, Bernardo del Carpio by name, 

 son of a full-blood Indian mother, accused of blasphemy, etc., 

 endeavored to escape the Holy Office b}- pleading his Indian 

 blood ; but his appeal was disallowed, and the precedent estab- 

 lished that any admixture whatever of European blood brought 

 the accused within the jurisdiction of the Inquisition.* Even 

 this seems to have been a concession, for we find the record of 

 an auto de fe held in 1609, in the province of Tehuantepec, in 

 which eight full-blood natives were punished for worshiping 

 the goddess Pinopiaa.f Mr. David Ferguson, however, who has 

 studied extensively the records of the inquisition in Mexico, in- 

 forms me that in none of the trials read b}' him has he observed 

 any charges of Nagualism, although many white persons were 

 accused, and some tried, for consulting Indian sorcerers. 



37. It will be seen from what I have said, that the rites of 

 Nagualism extended as widely as did the term over Mexico and 

 Central America. It becomes, therefore, of importance to dis- 

 cover from what linguistic stock this term and its associated 

 words are derived: From that source it is reasonable to sup- 

 pose the rites of this superstition also had their origin. 



The opinions on this subject have been diverse and positive. 

 Most writers have assumed that it is a Nahuatl, or pure Mexi- 

 can, word ; while an eminent authority. Dr. Stoll, is not less cer- 

 tain that it is from a radical belonging to the neighboring great 

 stock of the Mayan dialects, and especially the Quiche, of Gua- 

 temala.! Perhaps both these positions are erroneous, and we 



* See the Relacion del Auto cekbrado en Mexico, at'io de 1G59 (Mexico, En la Imprenta del 

 Santo Officio, 1G59). 



t J. U. Carriedo, Estudios Historicos del Estado Oaxaqueno, Tom. i, pp 8, 9 (Onxaca, 1849). 

 About 1610 a number of Indians in the province of Acapulco were put to deatli for hav- 

 ing buried enchanted ashes beneath the floor of a chapel ! (Serna, Manual de Ministros. 

 p. 52.) 



J " Nagual ist in seiner correeten Form naoal cin cehtes Quichu-Wort, cin Substanti- 

 vum instrumentale, vom Stamme nao, wissen, crkennen. I\aoal ist dnsjenige, womit 

 Oder woran etwas, in dieseni Falle das Schicksal des Kindes, erkannt wird, und hat mit 

 dem mexikanischen naliualli (Ilexe), niit dem man es vielleicht in Verbiudung bringen 

 mijchte, nichts zu schaffen." Guatanala, s. 238. 



