102 THE " TAPU." [PART i. 



It was the custom ! Another canoe was launched, 

 in which they proceeded to the place of rendezvous. 

 A canoe found adrift is " tapu :" but here this word 

 has a somewhat different meaning ; it is " tapu" 

 (i. e. belongs) to him who saves it. A canoe with a 

 party in it, when saved from being lost, stands in the 

 same predicament, and becomes forfeited to those 

 who came to its relief. In these instances we easily 

 recognise the primary principles of our own laws 

 relating to deodands, royal droits, and the claims of 

 salvors. Sick persons, with the house they dwell 

 in, and all utensils they use, are " tapu ;" but in 

 general this is the case only with persons of con- 

 sequence. A married woman and a girl promised 

 in marriage are inviolably " tapu." 



No one will deny that many of these customs are 

 agreeable to common sense, although others are 

 absurd, and often very annoying to the traveller. 

 I must, however, bear testimony to the natives, 

 that, if treated with a little tact, they are not very 

 obstinate with a stranger in regard to these ordi- 

 nances, and that, with the hand in the pocket, he 

 may, as in other more civilized communities, free 

 himself from most of them. 



A woman had been murdered by some people of 

 a neighbouring tribe, on the road between Rotu-rua 

 and Tauranga, shortly before my arrival at the for- 

 mer place. The road had been laid under a strict 

 " tapu ;" but the principal natives, although they 

 are perfectly of the old school, and heathens, did not 



