When the Pakeha first came to New Zealand, they often ignorantly violated _tapu_, and how much they suffered in consequence depended upon the character and temper of the community. The Maori were not ungenerous, and in cases of inadvertence frequently made allowances and spared accordingly. On the other hand, two great navigators, Captain Cook and Marion du Fresne, were slain because of their trespass on ground which was _tapu_, and sacred in the eyes of the South Sea Islanders.
_Tapa_--to command--was in effect the law of might against right, that
Good old rule, the simple plan, That they should take who have the power, And they should keep who can.
In practice it consisted in commanding, or, as we might say, "commandeering" anything one fancied to one's own use.
Indicating the desired object, the claimant would observe, "That club"--or tree, or canoe, or whatever it happened to be, "is _tapa_ to me. It is my skull," or "my eye," or "my backbone. I command it to myself."
The article thus denominated was held to belong to the claimant, since no one could justly urge that a man's skull, eye or backbone was not his own. Yet, if the practice were abused, an appeal could be made, and a chief had power to undo the _tapa_ and order restitution of the property claimed. After a battle, disputes frequently arose between those who claimed priority in having applied the _tapa_ to articles in possession of a foe whom they had then still to vanquish.
This was the law of _muru_, which the Maori accepted philosophically enough, because, though vexatious, it fell with equal severity upon all.
If a man committed an offence against the community, he was punished by the community, his fellow-tribesmen adjusting the fine and collecting it with a generous appreciation of their individual requirements.
For example, if one accidentally killed another, he was punished for depriving the community of a useful member. If a man carelessly damaged public property, he was punished by the loss of his own. Even if the damage done merely affected another private person, compensation was assessed by means of _muru_, and, as no money circulated in those days, the fine was exacted in goods.
The victim of his own indiscretion, sighing at the crookedness of fate, always made provision against the day of reckoning and, having politely inquired on what day _muru_ was to be enforced, issued instructions to the ladies of his family to prepare the best feast possible in the time at their command.