as I shall show, it has been recognized as a cult, no less
powerful than mysterious, which united many and diverse tribes of Mexico
and Central America into organized opposition against the government and
the religion which had been introduced from Europe; whose members had
acquired and were bound together by strange faculties and an occult
learning, which placed them on a par with the famed thaumaturgists and
theodidacts of the Old World; and which preserved even into our own days
the thoughts and forms of a long suppressed ritual.

In several previous publications I have referred briefly to this secret
sodality and its aims,[4-[+]] and now believe it worth while to collect
my scattered notes and present all that I have found of value about the
origin, aims and significance of this Eleusinian Mystery of America. I
shall trace its geographical extension and endeavor to discover what its
secret influence really was and is.

=2.= The earliest description I find of its particular rites is that which
the historian Herrera gives, as they prevailed in 1530, in the province
of Cerquin, in the mountainous parts of Honduras. It is as follows:

"The Devil was accustomed to deceive these natives by appearing to
them in the form of a lion, tiger, coyote, lizard, snake, bird, or
other animal. To these appearances they apply the name _Naguales_,
which is as much as to say, guardians or companions; and when such
an animal dies, so does the Indian to whom it was assigned. The way
such an alliance was formed was thus: The Indian repaired to some
very retired spot and there appealed to the streams, rocks and
trees around him, and weeping, implored for himself the favors they
had conferred on his ancestors. He then sacrificed a dog or a fowl,
and drew blood from his tongue, or his ears, or other parts of his
body, and turned to sleep. Either in his dreams or half awake, he
would see some one of those animals or birds above mentioned, who
would say to him, 'On such a day go hunting and the first animal or
bird you see will be my form, and I shall remain your companion and
_Nagual_ for all time.' Thus their friendship became so close that
when one died so did the other; and without such a _Nagual_ the
natives believe no one can become rich or powerful."[5-*]

This province of Cerquin appears to have been peopled by a tribe which
belonged to the great Ma