"She wished to know who you were, and when I said a pakeha rangatira, her reply was, 'Oh, quite true; he looks like one.' They are keen observers, you see, and very conservative. It would astonish you to see how quickly they find out the different rank and standing of the white people they meet."
"They have no modern craze for equality or socialistic rule?"
"None whatever. A chief is born to his exalted rank, which is undisputed. At the same time, he must keep up to a certain standard in war or peace, otherwise his mana, his general reputation and influence, would suffer."
"And a slave?" inquired he.
"Oh, a slave is forced to work at the pleasure of his owner, and may be killed for any reason or none at all. So also the common people of the tribe must obey the chiefs, more particularly in war, though, like those of other nations, they can make their voices heard at critical times."
"And the women?" queried Massinger.
"Oh, the women!" said Erena, while a graver expression overspread her face. "I am afraid that they have to work hard, and are not so much considered as they might be. They do most of the cultivation, mat-making, cooking, and general household duties, particularly when grown old. The younger ones have a better time of it."
"So they have everywhere. It is the prerogative of the sex. It only shows that human nature is much the same everywhere, and that all societies differ less in the essentials of life than is generally supposed."
Having skirted the river-shore, a part of which was of the nature of quicksand, and so needed a guide to the manner born, they began to ascend the slope of the volcanic hill, which, as throughout the North Island, had been selected for the tribal castrum. After a lengthened climb, which would have tested the powers of less practised pedestrians, they stood upon the wind-swept summit, artificially levelled, and through the heavy sliding gates entered the ancient fortress. Before doing so they had to cross trenches, to scale embankments, and had time to note the various strategic preparations which, though crumbling or partially dismantled, exhibited the skill with which they had been constructed. The water-supply, as in most of the "castles" of the period, was the weak point, the besieged having to steal out in the night at the peril of their lives to procure the indispensable element.