Polynesian Researches
XXV. Concerning the unauthorized Climbing for Food
XXV. Concerning the unauthorized Climbing for Food
Climb not, unauthorized, another person's tree for food; one man who does this is criminal. To beg, to ask explicitly the owner of the land (is right.) The man who steals food in a garden, or by the side of the house, takes that which is not given by the owner of the land. If the proprietor of the land desire that he may be tried, he shall be tried, and punished with labour. For food stolen from a garden—for the owner of the enclosure he shall perform labour, such as erecting a fence, the length being regulated by the value of the food stolen. But if it was food growing wild, or unenclosed, he shall make forty fathoms of road, or four fathoms of stone-work.