cted round an
object which seemed to attract general attention, and which they told
him was "tabooed." It turned out to be a plant of the common English
pea, which was fenced round with little sticks, and had apparently been
tended with very anxious care.

When the "Prince Regent" schooner, which accompanied the "Dromedary,"
lay at anchor in the river Shukehanga,[Y] a chief named Moodooi,[Z]
greatly to the comfort of the captain, came one day on deck and
"tabooed" the vessel, or made it a crime for any one to ascend the side
without permission, which injunction was strictly attended to by the
natives during his stay in the harbour.

So, when any land is purchased, it is secured to the purchaser by being
"tabooed."

Marsden states that upon one occasion he found a great number of canoes
employed in fishing, and all the fish which they took were immediately
"tabooed," and could not be purchased. These fish were probably intended
to be cured and preserved as part of the common stock of the tribe.

The principal inconveniences sustained by the person who is "tabooed"
seem to be that he must have no communication with any who are not in
the same condition as himself, and that in eating he must not help
himself to his food with his hands. The chiefs are in such a case fed
by their attendant; but the absurd prohibition is a serious punishment
to the common people, who have nobody to assist them.

Nicholas relates an amusing incident illustrative of this. "On going
into the town," says he, "in the course of the day, I beheld several of
the natives sitting round some baskets of dressed potatoes; and being
invited to join them in their meal, I mingled with the group, when I
observed one man stoop down with his mouth for each morsel, and
scrupulously careful in avoiding all contact between his hands and the
food he was eating. From this I knew at once that he was 'tabooed;' and
upon asking the reason of his being so, as he appeared in good health,
and not afflicted with any complaint that could set him without the pale
of ordinary intercourse, I found that it was because he was then
building a house, and that he could not be released from the 'taboo'
till he had it finished. Being only a "cookee,"[AA] he had no person to
wait upon him, but was obliged to submit to the distressing operation of
feeding himself in the manner proscribed by the superstitious ordinance;
and he was told by the tohunga, or priest, that if he presumed