202 



APPENDIX. 



Having thus explained to you, generally, the course of proceeding 

 by which I think your residence in New Zealand may be made condu- 

 cive to the suppression of the enormities which British subjects, and 

 those of other states, have been in the habit of committing in these 

 islands, I have only further to observe, that it will be your duty to 

 assist, by every means in your power, the commercial relations of 

 Great Britain and her colonies with New Zealand. It would indeed 

 be desirable that you should become the medium of all communica- 

 tions between the New Zealand chiefs and the masters of British or 

 colonial vessels frequenting the coasts, and the merchants and set- 

 tlers established in the islands. This arrangement will probably grow 

 out of your residence in the country, and you should keep it in view 

 as an important object. You will be pleased to forward by every 

 opportunity a shipping report, setting forth the names, masters, 

 number of crew, tonnage, and countries, of vessels arriving at the 

 Bay of Islands, or other parts of New Zealand, whence you can 

 obtain correct accounts ; with the cargoes of such vessels, their 

 objects in touching at New Zealand, as far as you are informed ; and 

 any other particular concerning them that may be worthy of notice. 



I beg to call your attention to the strange and barbarous traffic in 

 human heads, which certainly did exist to some extent, but which, I 

 am given to understand, is now nearly abandoned. Should it be 

 found to continue or revive, some legislative act may be necessary to 

 prohibit, in this colony, the crime and disgrace of participating in so 

 brutalizing a commerce. 



Having already mentioned the assistance which I anticipate you 

 will receive from the missionaries, I have now only to impress on you 

 the duty of a cordial co-operation with them in the great objects of 

 their solicitude, namely, the extension of Christian knowledge 

 throughout the islands, and the consequent improvement in the 

 habits and morals of the people. 



Richard Bourke. 



No. 39. 



The modes of surveying coasts, where there is anchorage, and 

 water smooth enough to admit of boats being frequently employed, 

 have been so often detailed, that, without repeating what is said 

 in every treatise on the subject, I will only try to describe in this 



