From this state of things regular warfare arose, as a matter of course; the military art was studied as a science, and brought to great perfection, as applied to the arms used; and a marked military character was given to the people. The necessity of labour, the necessity of warfare, and a temperate climate, gave them strength of body, accompanied by a perseverance and energy of mind, perfectly astonishing. With rude and blunt stones they felled the giant kauri--toughest of pines; and from it, in process of time, at an expense of labour, perseverance, and ingenuity, perfectly astounding to those who know what it really was, produced, carved, painted, and inlaid, a masterpiece of art, and an object of beauty--the war canoe, capable of carrying a hundred men on a distant expedition, through the boisterous seas surrounding their island. As a consequence of their warlike habits and character, they are self-possessed and confident in themselves and their own powers, and have much diplomatic finesse and casuistry at command. Their intelligence causes them theoretically to acknowledge the benefits of law, which they see established amongst us; but their hatred of restraint causes them practically to abhor and resist its full enforcement amongst themselves. Doubting our professions of friendship, fearing our ultimate designs, led astray by false friends, possessed of that "little learning" which is, in their case, most emphatically "a dangerous thing," and divided amongst themselves,--such are the people with whom we are now in contact--such the people to whom, for our own safety and their preservation, we must give new laws and institutions, new habits of life, new ideas, sentiments and information--whom we must either civilize or, by our mere contact, exterminate. How is this to be done?[1] Let me see. I think I shall not answer this question until I am prime minister. [1] PRINTER'S DEVIL.--How is _this_ to be done?--_which?_--_civilize_ or _exterminate_? PAKEHA MAORI.--_Eaha mau._ CHAPTER VII. Excitement caused by first Contact with Europeans.--The two great Institutions of Maori Land.--The Muru.--The Tapu. Instances of Legal Robbery.--Descriptions and Examples of the Muru.--Profit and Loss.--Explanation of some of the Workings of the Law of Muru.