Chap. XYU. PURCHASE OF A SITE. 439 
1815, they visited the coast in different places, and 
" explained to the chiefs the objects of the mission, 
" and that the arts of civilization would be introduced 
" among them, and their condition bettered by being 
" taught the culture of wheat and other grain ;"* on 
which they expressed a great willingness to see such a 
state of things. A spot near the Bay of Islands was 
then selected, and bought of the natives to whom it be- 
longed. Two parchment deeds, which had been pre- 
pared in Sydney, were filled up with the boundaries of 
the land in question, which consisted of about 200 
acres, and for which twelve axes were given as payment. 
The moko, or fac-simile of the tattooing on the face of 
the vendors, was drawn upon the deeds, and, with the 
addition of the vendor's mark, served as the ratifying 
symbol of the agreement. The deeds were witnessed by 
Messrs. Kendall and Nicholas on the part of the pur- 
chasers, and by a native carpenter, who drew the moko 
of one of his cheeks, on the part of the natives. The 
native who had ratified the deed and his brother, to 
whom the land belonged, now declared the ground to 
be tapu to all but the White people ; and the natives 
were not allowed to enter it without the concurrence 
of the missionaries. This most curious document, pro- 
bably the first written contract of any kind that was 
ever made between a White man and a New Zea- 
lander, and certainly the first conveyance of land in 
New Zealand ever executed, is supposed to exist in the 
Missionary House in London. An exact copy is given 
by Mr. Nicholas, from whose pages I have transcribed 
it:— 
" Know all men to whom these presents shall come, 
'* that I, Ahoodee O Gunna, King of Rangee Hoo, in 
* Nicholas's E\'idence before the House of Lords' Committee, on 
the 3rd of April, 1838, p. 4. 
