This study concerns a sector of north Mexico in Coahuila, Durango, and Torreón, once an oasis of marsh, lake, and streams flanked on three sides by unfriendly desert. At the beginning of the colonial epoch the native Indians, called Laguneros, were mixed with Tlaxcalans whom the Spaniards moved up to pacify the uncertain northern provinces. In the nineteenth century peoples of various backgrounds settled there, and soon little survival of pure Indian blood could be found. The author thinks, however, that some of the beliefs stem from Indian traditions brought into the region by the Tlaxcalans.
A chapter is devoted to pregnancy, birth, and post-natal care and to what is done when a wife is childless. Other chapters deal with the enormous body of popular medicine and the practice of magic to insure good fortune. Extraordinary popularity is enjoyed by the lodestone—“piedra imán.” Here again an indigenous cult is blended with Christian touches.
The far-ranging matter in the book is well organized and pleasantly written. Toward the end Dr. Kelly points out that while she was able to trace the sources of the major part of her material, there are still components of indefinable origin, because of the widely diffused traditions, ancient and modern, from other Indian cultures and from the Old World. An appendix described some thirty herbal specimens in use, and another gives instances of local spiritualism.
