350 
TENURE OF LAND. 
them, but it is customary for a portion of the fish to be pre- 
sented to the head chief. Their kumara and taro grounds 
are generally contiguous, and divided into lands, these are 
also carefully marked by stones, over which incantations 
have been uttered which render them so sacred that to move 
one was supposed sufficient to cause death. But hunting 
grounds, though the boundaries were well known, being 
formed by rocks, trees, streams, or posts, were still held in 
common ; in fact, whilst a race is in its patriarchal state, 
land has only a nominal value. 
It has been much the same with the Maori as the High- 
lander, and Irish, one was divided into Clans , the other 
into Septs, every individual member was entitled to all the 
privileges of his clan or sept, and was called one of the 
children of the chief, assumed his name or that of the 
territory ; the whole district was held in common ; the chief 
had no personal property in the sense of what is called 
hereditary, even a single acre, neither had the members 
of the Sept. The whole belonged to the chief and people 
alike, who regarded it as one vast common, and neither he 
nor they could alienate any portion, each held a part of it 
for life, and at his death, instead of descending to his sons, 
it reverted to the common stock ; every man had thus, during 
life, enough to cultivate for his wants, and could depasture 
cattle where he pleased. The population was so sparce that 
there was more land than required. 
The chief or head of the Sept was allowed “ horse meat 
and man’s meat/’ to enable him to receive his guests with 
hospitality, to maintain his horsemen and footmen, as well 
as all his retinue, this was afterwards called coyne and 
livery. In process of time the chief increased in dignity 
and wealth, and gradually obtained a permanent hold upon 
the land which the poorer members of the clan or sept could 
not hinder, and with the increase of population, the separa- 
tion between him and his retainers became wider and more 
marked, until at last, the only relation remaining between 
the duke and the peasant, was their bearing the same name ; 
even the commons or moors themselves became the sole 
