A brief sketch of the island, and the causes that have led to that and the present war, will not be without interest. The aboriginal inhabitants of New Zealand are known by the name of Maoris—a word which in their language signifies indigenous to the soil—and are about 60,000 in number. They are supposed to have emigrated, about four centuries ago, from the Society and Sandwich Islands, and to have dispossessed another race, many traces of whose existence are still to be found in New Zealand. In appearance they bear a striking resemblance to those gipsies who may still occasionally be seen in the neighbourhood of Norwood and the Crystal Palace. They are a fine, powerful, muscular race, naturally fond of war, and possessed of great energy of character. They have made great progress in civilization since the island was first discovered, in 1642, by Abel Tasman, a Dutch navigator, who named it after his own country. It was visited in 1769 and 1777 by Captain Cook, who took possession of it in the name of the English Government, and suggested that it should be used as a penal settlement. He introduced pigs, cabbages and turnips into the island, and his name is still familiar to the natives as one of their greatest benefactors. There are several fountains known as Cook’s Springs, and the rum he occasionally distributed among them is gratefully remembered as “Te wai toki a rangi”—Cook’s sweet water of heaven. While the natives were kind and hospitable to those who treated them well, they were ever ready to revenge any injury they received, and murdered the crews of several vessels of whose misconduct they had reason to complain. Thus, in 1809, the sailors on board the _Boyd_, an English ship, under the command of Captain Thompson, were massacred at Wangaroa. This melancholy event was the result of the captain’s imprudence. Among the passengers was a Maori chief, who had visited Sydney, and was now on his way to his native land. Being short of hands, the captain requested him to assist the sailors in working the ship. On his refusal to do so he was tied to the mainmast and flogged. This degrading punishment roused all the savage passions of his nature, but, disguising his feelings, he persuaded the captain to visit Wangaroa, of which he was the leading chief. All suspicion was disarmed by the friendly bearing of the natives, who were only biding their time. Watching for a favourable opportunity, they attacked the ship, and murdered the captain, the crew, and many passengers. A similar calamity had overtaken the crews of two French vessels, in consequence of their having unintentionally desecrated the place set apart for the burial of the natives.