Chap. I. CONDUCT OF A MISSIONARY. 9 
Mason resided. Mr. Bell was very soon warned oft' by 
one or two of the natives, who threatened to burn any 
house he should put up, and prevent his settling. Mr. 
Mason, on his application, had refused " to say a word 
*' which had to do with land to the natives." Bell 
afterwards removed to an equally good spot higher up 
the river on the same side ; partly on account of the 
trouble from the natives, and partly because a gentle- 
man who had joined the above-mentioned engagement 
not to interfere with his selection, had changed his 
mind as soon as Bell's location pointed out the best 
spot. In the new place. Bell finally established 
himself, not without plenty of obstruction from the 
natives ; but how he overcame this we shall see 
hereafter. 
About the same time, Mr. Matthews circulated very 
industriously among the settlers, that the whole pur- 
chase of the place had been a farce from beginning to 
end ; that the natives who signed the deed and re- 
ceived the payment formed but a very insignificant and 
uninfluential proportion of the owners of the land ; 
that the payment made was not more than one hundred 
})ounds' worth of goods ; and that E Kuru, who was 
said to have managed the whole transaction, and to 
have secured the largest share of the goods, was hardly 
a chief, and had not the slightest right to dispose of 
the country near the sea. 
Thus, while the natives began to be divided into two 
great parties, those who supported and those who re- 
pudiated the bargain, the repudiators being almost 
without exception mihanere, the settlers began to take 
these long stories for granted, and to grumble and 
complain that they had been deceived. The " repu- 
diators" grew daily in numbers and obstinacy ; and 
openly confessed, when pressed to explain themselves 
fully, that Mr. Mason told them " that the settlers 
