he fingers, beginning with the left hand, and coming out at the
joints of the right hand, and also by the ears and the nose; while
the great snake enters the body with a leap and emerges at its
posterior vent. Afterwards the disciple meets a dragon vomiting
fire, which swallows him entire and ejects him posteriorly. Then
the Master declares he may be admitted, and asks him to select the
herbs with which he will conjure, the disciple names them, the
Master gathers them and delivers them to him, and then teaches him
the sacred words.

"These words and ceremonies are substantially the same in all the
provinces. The healer enters the house of the invalid, asks about
the sickness, lays his hand on the suffering part, and then leaves,
promising to return on the day following. At the next visit he
brings with him some herbs which he chews or mashes with a little
water and applies to the part. Then he repeats the _Pater Noster_,
the _Ave_, the _Credo_ and the _Salve_ and blows upon the seat of
disease, afterwards pronouncing the magical words taught him by his
master. He continues blowing in this manner, inhaling and exhaling,
repeating under his breath these magical expressions, which are
powerful to kill or to cure as he chooses, through the compact he
has made with the Devil. Finally, so as to deceive the bystanders,
he ends with saying in a loud voice: 'God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Ghost. Amen.'

"This physician or healer is called in the towns of some of the
provinces _poxta vanegs_, and the medicine _gspoxil_; and
everything relating to healing among the Indians to which they
apply these terms means also to practice sorcery; and all words
derived from _pox_ allude to the Nagual; for this in some provinces
is called _poxlon_, and in others _patzlan_, and in many
_tzihuizin_, which is something very much feared by the Indians. We
have ascertained by the confessions of many who have been
reconciled that the Devil at times appears to them in the shape of
a ball or globe of fire in the air, with a tail like a comet.[20-*]

"According to the most ancient traditions of these Indians this
idol, _poxlon_, was one of the most important and venerated they
had in the old times, and the Tzentals revered it so much that
they preserved it in