NO. 4 NKW ORIGINAL BOSCANA HARRINGTON 37 



mained without moving for 2, 3 or more hours until the function 

 was concluded. 



The immunity which these temples or Vanquex possessed was so 

 great that whatever the crime, be it what it might be, homicide, 

 adultery, theft, etc., if the delinquent had the fortune to be able 

 to take refuge at the temple before his opponents encountered him, 

 and those whom he had aggrieved knew that he had taken asylum, he 

 was already free and could go where he pleased without ever being 

 molested or the least mention being made of what had happened ; 

 they merely told him if they met him: You went to the God Chinig- 

 chinix, and had you not gone we would have slain you, but he 

 will punish you because you are wicked. They believed that Chinig- 

 chinix was a friend of the good, and punished the wicked, as we 

 have said above, and they also believed that Chinigchinix did not 

 wish when once refuge had been taken with him in the Vanquex 

 that they should take vengeance or justice with their own hands, and 

 for this reason they let him [the delinquent] go free. It is to 

 be noted that although the delinquent remained free, the crime did not 

 remain exempt from punishment, for although the evil doer might 

 not be molested in any way, either his children or grandchildren or 

 relatives came to pay for it, which happened when the grievance was 

 the occasion for vengeance, and this hatred or grudge with desires 

 for revenge ran on, being handed down from parents to children 

 until they were able to fulfill their desires. 



In this same way the chief could save his life and escape from 

 death when they accused him of squandering the seeds which he 

 had on deposit, if he had the fortune to be able to take refuge at the 

 temple, and when they went to look for him for the purpose of 

 slaying him to be found there ; indeed no one entered or dared to 

 shoot an arrow, for if anyone had dared the least profanation and 

 irreverence they would immediately have taken his life. And from 

 that time on the chief could go about during his entire lifetime free, 

 as a private and not public man, without anyone daring to make to 

 him the slightest mention of what had happened ; but he lost forever the 

 diadem of chief, and immediately they elected one of his sons, to 

 whom it fell by right, admonishing the new chief that he should behold 

 the example of his father, that if he was not a good chief they would 

 do the same with him. 



