“At present, all are not so subject to the promptings of the Devil as formerly, but there are still some so closely allied to him that they transform themselves into tigers, lions, bulls, flashes of light and globes of fire. We can say from the declaration and solemn confession of some penitents that it is proved that the Devil had carnal relations with them, both as incubus and succubus, approaching them in the form of their Nagual; and there was one woman who remained in the forest a week with the demon in the form of her Nagual, acting toward him as does an infatuated woman toward her lover (como pudiera con su proprio amigo una muger amancebada). As a punishment for such horrible crimes our Lord has permitted that they lose their life as soon as their Nagual is killed; and that they bear on their own bodies the wound or mark of the blow which killed it; as the curas of Chamula, Copainala and other places have assured us. “The devilish seed of this Nagualism has rooted itself in the very flesh and blood of these Indians. It perseveres in their hearts through the instructions of the masters of the sect, and there is scarcely a town in these provinces in which it has not been introduced. It is a superstitious idolatry, full of monstrous incests, sodomies and detestable bestialities.” Such are the words of the Bishop of Chiapas. We learn from his thoroughly instructed and unimpeachable testimony that at the beginning of the eighteenth century Nagualism was a widespread and active institution among the Indians of southern Mexico; that it was taught and practiced by professors who were so much feared and respected that, as he tells us in another passage, they were called “masters of the towns;”[21-†] that they gave systematic instruction to disciples in classes of three, all of whom were bound together by pledges of mutual information and assistance; that a fundamental principle of the organization and an indispensable step in the initiation into its mysteries was the abjuration of the Christian religion, and an undying hatred to its teachers and all others of the race of the white oppressors; and that when they made use of Christian phrases or ceremonies it was either in derision or out of hypocrisy, the better to conceal their real sentiments. There are a number of other witnesses from the seventeenth century that may be summoned to strengthen this testimony, if it needs it. =14.= In the _History of Guatemala_, written about 1690 by Francisco Antonio Fuentes y Guzman, the author gives some information about a sorcerer of this school, who was arrested in Totonicapan, and with whom the historian had something to do as _corregidor_.