164 HOW TO LEGISLATE [PART I. 



the Bay of Islands have but lately been occupied by 

 them ; and many densely populated districts have no 

 missionaries at all. The expenses of the establish- 

 ments of the Church society amount to nearly 

 17,0007. annually. 



If asked to point out the fruits of employing 

 such a large body of teachers, I should, from my 

 own personal experience, answer as follows : 



The exhaustion produced by sanguinary wars dur- 

 ing many years, and the necessity imposed upon the 

 natives, by the influx of Europeans, to accommodate 

 themselves to certain changes, have prepared the 

 field to receive the seeds of Christianity. The most 

 powerful lever in the hands of the missionaries was 

 the printing of a translation of the Gospel, the Ca- 

 techisms, and a few tracts. They gave the natives 

 a language, by communicating to them the art of 

 reading and writing, and, as the latter possess a 

 great taste for such occupations, this knowledge 

 spread throughout the country by mutual instruc- 

 tion, even in places where no missionary had ever 

 been, and many thus became acquainted with the 

 precepts of Christianity. It is not at places where 

 the greatest number of teachers is found that there 

 are the best Christians : on the contrary, the mis- 

 sions were generally established near the chief har- 

 bours, and the natives of such places are the worst 

 in the islands. Christianity has not failed to exer- 

 cise its inherent soothing and pacifying influence ; 

 but the assertion is not quite correct that the mis- 



