Chap. XII. SOCIETY OF AUCKLAND. 315 
Tamaki river, whose embouchure lies a few miles east 
of Auckland heads. Colonel Wakefield described with 
much admiration some fields of artificial pasture laid 
down by Mr. Fairburn, the missionary catechist who 
had claimed 40,000 acres of land on the isthmus, as 
almost the only agriculture which he saw. He 
described the general appearance of the country as 
pretty, from the very contrast between the bare 
plains and the gullies fringed with small timber, 
and from the numerous volcanic peaks of varying 
size with which that tract of country is dotted. As 
to climate, there seemed little to prefer in that of 
Auckland. During the whole month there had been 
plenty of heavy and continuous rain ; and the prevail- 
ing westerly wind blew almost incessantly across the 
flat isthmus from Manukau, hard enough to prevent 
you from hearing your companion speak when galloping 
side by side over the plain. 
The society, as might have been expected, was posi- 
tively none. Even the families of the officials were 
alienated from each other by vulgar quarrels and 
recriminations ; and the only pleasant associates were 
a Captain of Engineers on service at Auckland and 
the other habitues of the mess of the garrison. 
As an improvement to this state of society, 91 
juvenile delinquents from the seminary at Parkhurst, 
in the Isle of Wight, sent out by the Government, 
had arrived at the capital. Some of these were to be 
liberated at once ; others were to be bound to a certain 
term of apprenticeship. It was not long before these 
ingenuous youths showed their skill as instructors of 
the natives. I have heard it more than once described, 
by visitors from Auckland, that there were known 
places of rendezvous outside the town, where the boys 
used to meet the natives coming into town to trade at 
