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 
