20 GENERAL REMARKS. [CHAP. I. 



reflect that the first serious attempt will be made in 

 New Zealand to civilise what has been termed a 

 horde of savages, to amalgamate their interest with 

 that of Europeans, and to make them participate in 

 the hereditary immunities and privileges of British 

 subjects. The natives are the national wards of 

 England, and it seems possible to prevent another 

 blot appearing on the pages of history, regarding the 

 intercourse of civilised nations with savage tribes. 



I have attempted in the following pages to de- 

 scribe New Zealand as far as I have become ac- 

 quainted with the country, its natural productions, 

 and the state of its native population ; and my pur- 

 pose will be accomplished if future colonists obtain 

 a true description of what they have to expect, and 

 if they relinquish those ideas of the savage nature of 

 its inhabitants, derived from a series of publications, 

 written by persons whose knowledge of the country 

 is so slight, and whose intercourse with the natives 

 has been so limited, as to render it impossible for 

 them to form a correct judgment. 



