War was to them something more dignified than a mere lawless struggle.

It was a solemn game to be played according to rules as rigidly laid down and often as honourably adhered to as in the international cricket and football matches of Englishmen and Australians.
As is so often the case with fighting races capable of cruelty, they were strictly courteous in their intercourse with strangers.

Indeed, their code of manners to visitors was so exact and elaborate as to leave an impression of artificiality.

No party of wayfarers would approach a _pa_ without giving formal notice.

When the strangers were received, they had the best of everything, and the hosts, who saw that they were abundantly supplied, had too much delicacy to watch them eat.