The _tonal_ was by no means an indefeasible possession. It was a sort of independent _mascotte_. So long as it remained with a person he enjoyed health and prosperity; but it could depart, go astray, become lost; and then sickness and misfortune arrived. This is signified in the Nahuatl language by the verbs _tonalcaualtia_, to check, stop or suspend the _tonal_, hence, to shock or frighten one; and _tonalitlacoa_, to hurt or injure the _tonal_, hence, to cast a spell on one, to bewitch him. This explains the real purpose of the conjuring and incantations which were carried on by the native doctor when visiting the sick. It was to recall the _tonal_, to force or persuade it to return; and, therefore, the ceremony bore the name “the restitution of the _tonal_,” and was more than any other deeply imbued with the superstitions of Nagualism. The chief officiant was called the _tetonaltiani_, “he who concerns himself with the tonal.” On a later page I shall give the formula recited on such an occasion. =8.= There is some vague mention in the Aztec records of a semi-priestly order, who bore the name _naualteteuctin_, which may be translated “master magicians.” They were also known as _teotlauice_, “sacred companions in arms.” As was the case with most classes of the _teteuctin_, or nobles, entrance to the order was by a severe and prolonged ceremony of initiation, the object of which was not merely to test the endurance of pain and the powers of self-denial, but especially to throw the mind into that subjective state in which it is brought into contact with the divine, in which it can “see visions and dream dreams.” The order claimed as its patron and founder Quetzalcoatl, the “feathered serpent,” who, it will be seen on another page, was also the patron of the later nagualists.[12-*] The word _naualli_ also occurs among the ancient Nahuas in composition as a part of proper names; always with the signification of “magician,” as in that of Naualcuauhtla, a chief of the Chalcos, meaning “wizard-stick,” referring probably to the rod or wand employed by the magi in conjuration.[13-*] So also _Naualac_, the “wizard water,” an artificial lake not far from the city of Mexico, surrounded by ruined temples, described by M. Charnay.[13-†] =9.= The belief in a personal guardian spirit was one of the fundamental doctrines of Nagualism; but this belief by no means connotes the full import of the term (as Mr. H. H. Bancroft has erroneously stated). The calendar system of Mexico and Central America, which I have shown to be substantially the same throughout many diverse linguistic stocks,[13-‡] had as one of its main objects, astrological divination. By consulting it the appropriate nagual was discovered and assigned, and this was certainly a prominent feature in the native cult and has never been abandoned.