NARROW ESCAPE FROM CANNIBALS. 233 



process of getting rid of an intractable chief by knock- 

 ing him on the head ; and certainly that would be the 

 solution adopted if usage had not provided a law for his 

 protection, according to which he cannot be killed by 

 any one inferior to him in birth. We have here the 

 English law, that a peer cannot be tried except by his 

 own peers, in its rudest embryonic form. It would be 

 " taboo " for any commoner or serf to lay violent hands 

 on a chief ; and, however obnoxious he might have been 

 to the community, the taboo-breaker would not go un- 

 punished. Outsiders might suppose that amongst a peo- 

 ple destitute of all written law much confusion existed 

 in regard to the application of this peculiar code of po- 

 lity and customs. Never would a greater mistake be 

 committed. All their usages are as firmly established, 

 and as strictly adhered to, both in letter and spirit, as 

 if they had been engraven on tablets of stone. The 

 early white settlers soon found this out, and often owed 

 the preservation of their lives to a thorough knowledge 

 of this system. Thus, an Englishman, of the name of 

 Pickering, once fell into the hands of a hostile tribe 

 long on the look-out for his body. He soon became 

 aware that they were making preparations for a canni- 

 bal feast, of which he was to be the principal dish, 

 though these preparations would not have been noticed 

 by any one less versed in their peculiar customs. He 

 knew that before they proceeded to kill him a bowl of 

 kava would have to be made, that a prayer would have 

 to be said over the beverage when ready, and that the 

 person saying the prayer could not be the one eaten. 

 Pretending utter unconsciousness of what was going on 



