TAPir. 
58 
this was a great annoyance ; the members of the Mission 
were often unable to communicate with each other, until 
the dreaded pole was removed ; but at last they determined 
to observe the tapu no longer; the boat was manned, and they 
rowed along in defiance of the sacred prohibition They had 
not gone far, however, before they were pursued ; the boat was 
taken ashore, and all the articles in it were seized, amongst 
which were some bottles of medicine and pots of preserves; 
these were immediately eaten, and great wrath and indignation 
expressed ; but by preserving a firm deportment, the natives 
were conquered; the medicine perhaps had itsshare in obtaining 
the victory, as they found they could not meddle with the Euro¬ 
pean with impunity. They held a meeting, and it was then 
resolved, that for the future, as Europeans were a foreign 
race, and subject to a different religion, the tapu should not 
apply to them; and afterwards, as their converts increased, 
the permission was enlarged to take them in as well; and 
finally, the tapu became disregarded by all, and fell into disuse. 
Those who were tapued for any work, could not mix again 
in society, until it was taken off, or they were “ ivaka noa," 
that is, made common, or deprived of the sanctity with which 
they had been invested. This was done by the priest, who 
repeated a long karakia, and performed certain rites over them. 
If any one wished to preserve his crop, his house, his gar¬ 
ments, or anything else, he made it tapu ; a tree which had 
been selected in the forest for a canoe, a patch of flax or raupo 
in a swamp, which an individual might wish to appropriate to 
himself, and which he could not then do so, he rendered tapu 
by tying a band round the former, with a little grass in it, or 
by sticking up a pole in the swamp with a similar bunch at¬ 
tached. If a person had been taken prisoner in war, and a feeling 
of pity arose in the breast of one of his captors, though it 
may have been the general determination to put him to death, 
the desire of the merciful individual would prevail, by throw¬ 
ing his garment over him ; he who then touched the prisoner 
with a hostile intention touched also his preserver. An instance 
of this kind occurred during the late war at Wanganui: one 
of the inhabitants was captured by the hostile natives, he was 
