CHAP. VII.] TITLES AND RIGHTS. 115 



The right certainly is on the side of the conqueror, 

 although another tribe is in possession. Such cases 

 must be settled by a liberal system of compromise. 



After a war, the conquered land was distributed 

 according to natural limits amongst the principal 

 people, each of them acting as trustee for his imme- 

 diate followers. Every hill, vale, or creek in New 

 Zealand has its name, and the definition of the 

 portion of each individual is therefore comparatively 

 easy. 



The rangatira, or freemen of a tribe, are very 

 independent of each other. They are kept to- 

 gether more by custom and relationship than by 

 any laws. Each may assemble around him a tribe 

 of his own, and build a pa a case which not un- 

 frequently happens. And this has probably been 

 the origin of so great a variety of tribes a powerful 

 family forming a clan for themselves, and adopting 

 a name of their own. 



The leader in war is not necessarily an ariki or a 

 rangatira of the first rank, although by his renown 

 as a warrior he may have gained great influence 

 over the tribe. 



If we take religion in its common meaning as a 

 definable system of certain dogmas and prescrip- 

 tions, the New Zealanders have no religion. Their 

 belief in the supernatural is confined to the action 

 and influence of spirits on the destiny of men, mixed 

 up with fables and traditions. I have before ob- 

 served that Maui and his brothers, in consequence 



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