Cruise states that this solemn dedication has sometimes saved these depositories from spoliation, even on occasion of a hostile attack by another tribe. “One of the gentlemen of the ship, ’ ’ this writer adds, ‘ ‘ was present at the ‘shackerie,’* or harvest-home, if it may be so called, of Shungie’s people. It was celebrated in a wood, where a square space had been cleared of trees, in the centre of which three very tall posts, driven into the ground in the form of a triangle, supported an immense pile of baskets of coomeras. The tribe of Teeperree** of Wangarooaj- was invited to participate in the rejoicings, which consisted of a number of dances performed round the pole, succeeded by a very splendid feast; and when Teeperree’s men were going away, they received a present of as many coomeras as they could carry with them.” In New Zealand all the cultivated fields are strictly “tabooed,” as well as the people employed in cultivating them, who live upon the spot while they proceed with their labours, and are not permitted to pass the boundary until they are terminated; nor are any others allowed to trespass upon the sacred enclosure. We have already mentioned more than once the lofty forests of New Zealand. Of these, *The hakari, or feast, a great function in former times. **This name is spelt wrongly. It might be Te Pahi, a famous chief, but it is reported that he died soon after the affair of the “Boyd,” in 1809, some time before Rutherford’s arrival in New Zealand. The tribe, however, may still have been known as Te Pahi’s. tWhangaroa.