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.

_Naotizan_, to make another intelligent or astu