r nagualists.[12-*]

The word _naualli_ also occurs among the ancient Nahuas in composition
as a part of proper names; always with the signification of "magician,"
as in that of Naualcuauhtla, a chief of the Chalcos, meaning
"wizard-stick," referring probably to the rod or wand employed by the
magi in conjuration.[13-*] So also _Naualac_, the "wizard water," an
artificial lake not far from the city of Mexico, surrounded by ruined
temples, described by M. Charnay.[13-[+]]

=9.= The belief in a personal guardian spirit was one of the fundamental
doctrines of Nagualism; but this belief by no means connotes the full
import of the term (as Mr. H. H. Bancroft has erroneously stated). The
calendar system of Mexico and Central America, which I have shown to be
substantially the same throughout many diverse linguistic
stocks,[13-[++]] had as one of its main objects, astrological
divination. By consulting it the appropriate nagual was discovered and
assigned, and this was certainly a prominent feature in the native cult
and has never been abandoned.

In Mexico to-day, in addition to his special personal guardian, the
native will often choose another for a limited time or for a particular
purpose, and this is quite consistent with the form of Christianity he
has been taught. For instance, as we are informed by an observant
traveler, at New Year or at corn-planting the head of a family will go
to the parish church and among the various saints there displayed will
select one as his guardian for the year. He will address to him his
prayers for rain and sunshine, for an abundant harvest, health and
prosperity, and will not neglect to back these supplications by liberal
gifts. If times are good and harvests ample the Santo is rewarded with
still more gifts, and his aid is sought for another term; but if luck
has been bad the Indian repairs to the church at the end of the year,
bestows on his holy patron a sound cursing, calls him all the bad names
he can think of, and has nothing more to do with him.[13-Sec.]

=10.= A Mexican writer, Andres Iglesias, who enjoyed more than common
opportunities to study these practices as they exist in the present
generation, describes them as he saw them in the village of Soteapan, a
remote hamlet in the State of Vera Cruz, the population of which speak
the Mixe language. This is not related to the Nahuatl tongue, but the
terms of their magical rites are drawn from Nahuatl words, showing their
o