to bring the child into
the field behind the house. Having there invoked the demon, the _nagual_
of the child would appear under the form of the animal or object set
opposite its birthday in the calendar, a serpent were it born on the 2d
of January, a flower were it on the 13th, fire were it on the 24th, and
so on. The sorcerer then addressed certain prayers to the _nagual_ to
protect the little one, and told the mother to take it daily to the same
spot, where its _nagual_ would appear to it, and would finally accompany
it through all its life. Some, but not all, obtained the power of
transforming themselves into the _nagual_, and the author declares that,
though he could not cite such a case from his own experience, his father
knew of several, and reliable priests, _religiosos de fe_, had told him
enough examples to fill volumes.[23-*]

The tribes to which this author refers were the Cakchiquels and Quiches,
who spoke practically the same tongue. An examination of some of the old
dictionaries prepared by the early missionaries furnishes further and
interesting information about this obscure subject.

In the Cakchiquel language of Guatemala, the word _naual_ was applied
both to the magician himself, to his necromantic art, and to the demonic
agency which taught and protected him. This is shown by the following
explanation, which I quote from Father Coto's _Vocabulario de la Lengua
Cakchiquel_, 1651, a manuscript in the library of the American
Philosophical Society:

"_Magic_ or _Necromancy_: _puz_ or _naual_; and they were
accustomed to call their magicians or sorcerers by the same terms.
It was a kind of magic which they invoked in order to transform
themselves into eagles, lions, tigers, etc. Thus, they said, _ru
puz_, _ru naual_, _pedro lae cot_, _balam_, 'Peter's power, his
_naual_, is a lion, a tiger.' They also applied the words _puz_ and
_naual_ to certain trees, rocks and other inanimate objects, whence
the Devil used to speak to them, and likewise to the idols which
they worshiped, as _gazlic che_, _gazlic abah_, _huyu_, _k'o ru
naual_, 'The life of the tree, the life of the stone, of the hill,
is its _naual_,' etc.; because they believed there was life in
these objects. They used to have armies and soldiery to guard
their lands, and the captains, as well as many who were not
captains, had their _nauales_. They called the captain _ru g'