New York Zoological Society. 
ALLIGATOR TEGU (Dracaena guianensis). Length: 2% feet. Range: Northern 
South America: the Guianas. 
Close observation of lizards, which seem to renew their youthful com¬ 
plexions by casting off their old skin, may have led to an interesting cus¬ 
tom of ancient Mexico. Sufferers from diseases of the skin or eyes mas¬ 
queraded in the flayed skins of men and women who had impersonated 
local gods in religious ceremonies. They evidently hoped to slough off 
their own dirt, diseases and parasites as their reptilian neighbors were 
seen to do. 
The Tamanachiers of the Orinoco and the Arawaks of British Guiana 
used to say that their god once visited the earth and was set upon by human 
beings, who did not recognize him. He took away their gift of immortality 
to punish them, and bestowed it upon lizards, snakes and the other skin- 
changers. 
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