0, when they were led by a native priest who claimed to
be an incarnation of the old god Quetzalcoatl, the patron deity of the
nagualists.[32-[++]]

In the city of Mexico itself, in the year 1692, there was a violent
outbreak of the natives, when they destroyed three million dollars worth
of property. Doubtless this was partly attributable to the scarcity of
food which prevailed; but that the authorities traced it also to some
secret ceremonials is evident from the law which was immediately passed
forbidding the Indians to wear the _piochtli_, or scalp-lock, a portion
of the hair preserved from birth as part of the genethliac
rituals,[32-Sec.] and the especial enactments against the _octli_.

As for the revolt of the Tzentals of Chiapas, in 1712, it was clearly
and confessedly under the leadership of the nagualistic priesthood, as I
shall indicate on a later page.

The history of the native American race under the Spanish power in North
America has never yet been written with the slightest approach to
thoroughness. He who properly qualifies himself for that task will
certainly reach the conclusion expressed a number of years ago by the
eminent American antiquary and historian, Mr. E. G. Squier, in these
words:

"Among the ruling and priestly classes of the semi-civilized
nations of America, there has always existed a mysterious bond, a
secret organization, which all the disasters to which they have
been subjected have not destroyed. It is to its present existence
that we may attribute those simultaneous movements of the
aborigines of Mexico and Central America, which have more than once
threatened the complete subversion of the Spanish power."[33-*]

That mysterious bond, that secret organization, is _Nagualism_.

=20.= A remarkable feature in this mysterious society was the exalted
position it assigned to Women. Not only were they admitted to the most
esoteric degrees, but in repeated instances they occupied the very
highest posts in the organization. According to the traditions of the
Tzentals and Pipils of Chiapas, when their national hero, Votan,
constructed by the breath of his mouth his darkened shrine at
Tlazoaloyan, in Soconusco, he deposited in it the sacred books and holy
relics, and constituted a college of venerable sages to be its
guardians; but placed them all in subjection to a high priestess, whose
powers were absolute.[33-[+]]

The veracious Pascual de Andago