194 ADVENTURE IN NEW ZEALAND. Chap. VUI. 
settlers at Wellington ; and it was at once thought 
that but little good could come of the son of such a 
man. 
But their premature aversion was changed into 
laughter when they saw a gaunt lad of 18, who 
had evidently got his tail-coat on for the first time. 
It was difficult to guess what might be his qualifica- 
tions for replacing Messrs. Halswell and Thompson 
in the protection of the aborigines before the Court 
of Claims. These two gentlemen were both of some 
station, both married and of mature age, both mem- 
bers of the English Bar, and enjoying the advantage 
of an English University education. They were at 
any rate somewhat experienced in the manners and 
ways of the world, and therefore capable of devising 
some plans for the effectual protection of the abori- 
gines: Mr. Clarke junior had, I believe, been born and 
bred at the missionary head-station near the Bay of 
Islands, almost among the darker natives ; or if he had 
even been to school at Sydney, it was difficult to su])pose 
that, so young, he could have acquired at either place 
the knowledge of mankind and peculiar talent neces- 
sary for the due fulfilment of his very delicate and 
difficult duties. 
His descent from a catechist gunsmith and too fa- 
mous interpreter was of bad omen ; his tender years 
and very imperfect education seemed to imply the 
certainty of his incapacity ; and the fact of his being 
sent to supersede the two original officers placed his 
unfitness in still stronger relief. 
Mr. Clarke junior immediately employed himself 
in prowling about among the pfis, especially those of 
the discontented natives : he neither sought nor 
obtained the acquaintance of any of the leading 
colonists ; and resembled, in the little of his manners 
