neral diet, which is called Butacoyog or Auca' 

 coyog, the great council, or council of the Arau- 

 canians. This assembly is usually held in some 

 large plain, where they combine the pleasures of 

 the table with their public deliberations. 



Their code of laws^ which is traditionary, \W 

 denoininated Admapu, that is to say, the customs 

 of the country. In reality these laws are nothing 

 more than primordial usages^ or tacit conven- 

 tions that have been established among them, as 

 was originally the case with almost all the laws 

 of other nations ; they have, consequently, all 

 the defects peculiar to such systems, since, as 

 they are not written, they can neither be very 

 compendious, nor made sufficiently public. 



The clearest and most explicit of their poli- 

 tical and fundamental laws are those that regu- 

 late the limits of each authority ; the order of 

 succession in the Toquiates and in the Ulminates, 

 the confederation of the four Tetrarchates, the 

 choice and the power of the commanders io 

 chief in time of war, and the right of convoking 

 the general diets, which is the privilege of the 

 Toquis ; all these laws have for their object the 

 preservation of liberty and the established form 

 of government. According to them, two or more 

 itates cannot be held under the rule of tlie same 

 chief. Whenever the male branch of the reign- 

 ing family becomes extinct, the vassals recover 

 their natural right of electing their own chief 



