ivided 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 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
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 fe_ 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