. Others of
these _nanahualtin_ will transform themselves to all appearances
(segun la aparencia), into a tiger, a dog or a weasel. Others again
will take the form of an owl, a cock, or a weasel; and when one is
preparing to seize them, they will appear now as a cock, now as an
owl, and again as a weasel. These call themselves
_nanahualtin_."[6-[++]]

There is an evident attempt in this somewhat confused statement to
distinguish between an actual transformation, and one which only appears
such to the observer.

In another work of similar character, published at Mexico a few years
later, the "Road to Heaven," of Father Nicolas de Leon, we find a series
of questions which a confessor should put to any of his flock suspected
of these necromantic practices. They reveal to us quite clearly what
these occult practitioners were believed to do. The passage reads as
follows, the questions being put in the mouth of the priest:

"Art thou a soothsayer? Dost thou foretell events by reading signs,
or by interpreting dreams, or by water, making circles and figures
on its surface? Dost thou sweep and ornament with flower garlands
the places where idols are preserved? Dost thou know certain words
with which to conjure for success in hunting, or to bring rain?

"Dost thou suck the blood of others, or dost thou wander about at
night, calling upon the Demon to help thee? Hast thou drunk
_peyotl_, or hast thou given it to others to drink, in order to
find out secrets, or to discover where stolen or lost articles
were? Dost thou know how to speak to vipers in such words that they
obey thee?"[6-Sec.]

=4.= This interesting passage lets in considerable light on the claims and
practices of the nagualists. Not the least important item is that of
their use of the intoxicant, _peyotl_, a decoction of which it appears
played a prominent part in their ceremonies. This is the native Nahuatl
name of a certain plant, having a white, tuberous root, which is the
part employed. It is mentioned as "pellote" or "peyote" in the
_Farmacopea Mexicana_ as a popular remedy, but its botanical name is not
added. According to Paso y Troncoso, it is one of the Compositae, a
species of the genus _Cacalia_.[7-*] It is referred to in several
passages by Father Sahagun, who says that it grows in southern Mexico,
and that the Aztecs derived their knowledge of it from the older
"