410 Essays. 
which (and often of the most wretched kind) they paid almost fabulous 
prices. These fatal exchanges and gifts came to them from all quarters, and 
were, and long continued to be, of immensely greater value in their eyes than 
anything else. In 1805 Mr. Savage, an English surgeon, visited them, and 
remained a short time at the Bay of Islands, taking with him to London, in 
1806, the chief Moehanga, who was the first known New Zealander who 
visited England. In 1809 the sad tragedy of the murder of the captain and 
crew of the “ Boyd,” nearly seventy in number, and the pillage and burning 
of the ship, occurred at Whangaroa, to which harbour the ship, on her return 
voyage from New South Wales to England, had put in for kauri spars. For 
this savage murder the New Zealanders, as a people, again paid severely, 
many hundreds of all ages and both sexes being soon after slaughtered by 
the enraged united crews of several whalers; but their retribution, unfortu- 
nately, fell wholly (a la Nouvelle Zelande!) on a wrong tribe. Nearly the 
whole of this period was one of great loss and suffering to the New Zea- 
landers, from the cupidity and lust of their European visitors; and to such a 
length did their maltreatment of them proceed, that at last the New South 
Wales Government was obliged to interfere by severe proclamations. In 
1814 a few missionary settlers (who had come out for that purpose some time 
before to New South Wales, under the auspices of the Church Missionary 
Society) arrived in New Zealand, and they settled at Rangihoua, in the Bay 
of Islands. They brought with them several New Zealanders from Port 
Jackson, among whom was the notorious Hongi. Some time after the Rev. 
S. Marsden paid his first visit to New Zealand, accompanied by his friend, the 
classical New Zealand historian, Mr. Nicholas, and remained in New Zealand 
uad three months. From Mr. Marsden the natives received several useful 
e From the introduction of the first British settlers and Christianity 
(1814) to the Treaty of Waitangi (1840). This period of another quarter of 
a century was also a very important one for New Zealand. It is highly 
probable that in no like period did the New Zealanders lose such a number 
of their population. From without, as before, the natives received much 
good, although not unfrequently dashed with some evil, often the fruits of 
their own sad doings. During this period the crews of several small trading 
vessels treacl ly murdered; among others were those of the * Agnes" 
at Tokomaru, of a whaler at Whanganui, and of the “ Sydney Cove” farther 
south. For a long time the first settlers, although daily benefiting the. 
natives, only held their ground with extreme difficulty, more thon once being: 
on the point of leaving. During this period the Wesleyan Society also: 
commenced a mission in New Zealand. Such, however, was the dreadful 
e. d state. of things, that finir first station at Whangaroa was obliged to be: 
