6879. | A Sketch of New Zealand. 71 
Since New Zealand was made an English colony, in 1840, great 
numbers of Europeans have emigrated to her shores. These 
colonists carried with them the energy and civilization of their 
native land, and at once became actively engaged in commerce, 
New Zealand Forest. 
agriculture, mining and other industries. The contrast between 
the thriving colony of to-day and the luxuriant wilderness 
described by early travelers is very striking. It almost seems as 
if some magician had waved his enchanted wand over those dis- 
tant islands and caused populous and beautiful cities to appear 
where before only rank ferns grew. 
The early voyagers to New Zealand found the land inhabited by 
an offshoot of the widely scattered Polynesian family. These 
aborigines still retained the stamp of the brown race from which 
