JOHN RUTHERFORD 89 minutes, while, in the meantime, it would afford me some amusement for my trouble. I therefore thrust into his mouth the largest hot potato I could find, and this had exactly the intended effect; for the fellow, unwilling to drop it, and not daring to penetrate it before it should get cool, held it slightly compressed between his teeth, to the great enjoyment of his countrymen, who laughed heartily, as well as myself, at the wry faces he made, and the efforts he used with his tongue to moderate the heat of the potato, and bring it to the temperature of his gums, which were evidently smarting from the contact. But he bore this trick with the greatest possible good humour, and to make him amends for it, I took care to supply him plentifully, till he cried out, ‘Nuee nuee kiki,’* and could eat no more; an exclamation, however, which he did not make till there was no more in the baskets.”! *This means “plenty of food,’’ or “sufficient”; but it is European-Maori. One Maori, speaking to another, would say “He nui te kai.” tThe best account of the operation of the law of tapu is given by Judge Maning in “Old New Zealand.”