Part 10

A Knife of Copper.--“The yellow Chichimec” (because the Chichimecs were alleged to tear out the bowels of their enemies).

The Maguey Plant.--“My sister, the eight in a row” (because it was planted in this manner).

A Road.--“That which is divided in two, and yet has neither beginning, middle nor end” (because it always lies in two directions from a person, and yet all roads lead into others and thus never end).

Sickness.--“The red woman;” “the breath of the flame;” “our mother the comet” (all referring to the fever); “the Chichimec” (because it aims to destroy life, like these savage warriors); “the spider” (because of its venomous nature).

Smoke.--“The old wife” (i. e., of the fire).

The Sun.--“Our holy and pockified Uncle” (referring to the myth of Nanahuatl, who was syphilitic, and leaping into the flames of a fire rose as the sun).

Tobacco.--“The nine (or seven) times beaten” (because for sacred purposes it was rubbed up this number of times); “the enchanted gray one” (from its color and use in conjuring).

Water.--“The Green Woman” (from the greenness which follows moisture); “our Mother, whose robe is of precious stones” (from the green or vegetable life resembling the turquoise, emerald, jade, etc.).

=36.= It might be asked how the dark arts and secret ceremonies of the Nagualists escaped the prying eyes of the officers of the Holy Inquisition, which was established in Mexico in 1571. The answer is, that the inquisitors were instructed by Cardinal Diego de Espinosa, who at that time was Inquisitor General and President of the Council of the Indies, “to abstain from proceedings against Indians, because of their stupidity and 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 fé 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 by pleading his Indian blood; but his appeal was disallowed, and the precedent established that any admixture whatever of European blood brought the accused within the jurisdiction of the Inquisition.[55-*] Even this seems to have been a concession, for we find the record of an auto de fé held in 1609, in the province of Tehuantepec, in which eight full-blood natives were punished for worshiping the goddess Pinopiaa.[55-†] Mr. David Ferguson, however, who has studied extensively the records of the inquisition in Mexico, informs me that in none of the trials read by 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 discover from what linguistic stock this term and its associated words are derived. From that source it is reasonable to suppose 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 Mexican, word; while an eminent authority, Dr. Stoll, is not less certain that it is from a radical belonging to the neighboring great stock of the Mayan dialects, and especially the Quiche, of Guatemala.[55-‡] Perhaps both these positions are erroneous, and we must look elsewhere for the true etymology of these expressions. Unquestionably they had become domesticated in both Maya and Nahuatl; but there is some reason to think they were loan-words, belonging to another, and perhaps more venerable, civilization than either of these nations could claim.

To illustrate this I shall subjoin several series of words derived from the same radical which is at the basis of the word nagual, the series, three in number, being taken from the three radically diverse, though geographically contiguous, linguistic stocks, the Maya, the Zapotec and the Nahuatl.

From the Maya, of Yucatan.

Naual, or nautal, a native dance, forbidden by the missionaries.

Naatil, talent, skill, ability.

Naat, intelligence, wisdom.

Naatah, to understand, to divine.

Nanaol, to consider, to contemplate, to meditate, to commune with oneself, to enter into oneself.

Noh, great, skillful; as noh ahceh, a skillful hunter.

From Maya Dialects.

QUICHE-CAKCHIQUEL.

Naual, a witch or sorcerer.

Naualin, to tell fortunes, to predict the future.

Qui naualin, to sacrifice, to offer sacrifices.

Na, to feel, to suspect, to divine, to think in one’s heart.

Nao, to know, to be alert or expert in something.

Naol, a skillful person, a rhetorician.