236 ADVENTURE EN NEW ZEALAND. Chap. IX. 
places 10 feet below the top of the bank ; but there 
were abundant marks of recent inundation on the 
trees to the height of three feet above the ground. A 
scanty population reaps a plentiful and easy harvest 
from some chosen spots along the immediate banks ; 
retreating to the pa or to elevated spots when the 
waters rise. I was told that a dispute was existing 
between the inhabitants and Rauperaha as to the 
right to cut the totara trees, which are renowned for 
their size and quality. The conqueror had allowed 
these vanquished tribes to live here on sufferance, re- 
serving the timber for himself ; but since the spread of 
the doctrines of Christianity and peace among so many 
of his former followers as well as among themselves, 
the tributaries had not feared to defy Rauperaha, and 
to assert their right to the land and the timber too. 
We had arrived on a Saturday night. The next 
day I met with a remarkable instance of the strait- 
laced and puritanical way in which these people had 
learned to observe the forms of the Christian religion. 
I was very anxious to get to the survey station at 
Kare kare, or " Dig-dig," about 24 miles lower down 
the river ; and, after the morning service, I asked the 
man who seemed to have the principal authority here 
to let me have a canoe for the purpose. He answered, 
that the people were all missionaries, and it was not 
straight to pull in canoes on the " week." (For the 
natives, curiously enough, have adopted the word 
wiki, missionary for " week," to mean the first day 
in it.) 
I told him I did not want any of his men, but only 
a canoe ; as I had plenty of boys of my own who were 
" devils," and did not fear paddling down a river on a 
Sunday. But he told me that the very canoes were 
all tapu on the " week," and that the thing was quite 
