CHAP. 1X.J FOR THE NATIVES? 165 



sionaries have cleared the way for the settlement of 

 Europeans, as in almost all cases they have been pre- 

 ceded by European adventurers, who dwelt in safety 

 amongst the natives for many years before any 

 missionary made his appearance. Their efficiency 

 would undoubtedly have been greater if they had 

 shared the adventurous spirit of the settlers, and 

 had lived amongst the interior tribes, instead of 

 dwelling many together on the coasts and in har- 

 bours, where so many things counteract their efforts. 



The New Zealand mission having been first esta- 

 blished as a trial of the so-called civilizing principle, 

 many men were chosen who, although otherwise 

 respectable, could not, from their limited education, 

 and their somewhat low views of the apostolical 

 character of their mission, be expected to dedicate 

 themselves entirely to the business of their call. 

 The consequence has been, that many of these older 

 missionaries have become landed proprietors ; and 

 many, by other pursuits, such as banking, or trading 

 with the produce of their gardens or stock, have 

 become wealthy men. Their influence upon the 

 native character would have been the same if they 

 had been sent out and supported merely as colonists, 

 and with no higher pretensions than their station 

 of life entitled them to. 



The acquisition of land by these individuals is 

 the reason why the whole body has been so much 

 abused, although the fault lay only with a few. 

 It cannot be doubted that, in a country where each 



