IV. In a philanthropic point of view, New Zealand is a most eligible field for colonization. It is perhaps the sole instance, at least the most striking instance, of a thin or scattered population which would not necessarily suffer, but might greatly benefit by the immigration of Europeans into their country. The aborigines of the greater part of America and of New Holland are, or, when in existence, were _hunters_, subsisting upon the _feræ naturæ_. From long-continued use, constituting instinctive habit of race, they had themselves become, or were, in a manner, _feræ naturæ_, altogether incapable of, or extremely inapt to, agricultural labour and fixed residence, at least without a very gradual change of habit extending to several generations. As these hunters, in their pristine state, have their numbers balanced to the hunter means of subsistence which the whole country produces, the entrance of the civilized races, occupying a portion of their territory, not only abridges their hunting-grounds, but also by the employment of firearms speedily diminishes the game in the adjacent territory. Thence, if the hunter-aborigines do not fall by the musket of the stranger they are forced by famine to invade the hunting-grounds of the neighbouring tribes, and war ensues. Thus the aboriginal race is gradually extirpated by slaughter and famine, assisted by the new diseases and intoxicating poisons of the stranger. Much the same takes place with nomadic nations,--tribes subsisting principally by flocks and herds,--such as the Hottentot and Caffre of South Africa, who are also already, at least were, balanced in number to the means of their _pastoral_ subsistence. These, when encroached upon by and forced to retreat before the fire-armed European, have not space left for the support of their herds. They are driven by necessity to trespass in search of pasture upon their neighbour’s territory, and exterminating war is the result. On the other hand, the New Zealanders, in a country, although so rich in vegetation, almost destitute of game, and without herds of any kind, have been accustomed to raise their food, with the exception of fish, by agricultural labour (either by digging for roots, or digging to produce roots); and, instead of being peopled up to the means of subsistence obtainable by agriculture, do not reach the one-hundredth part, their numbers having been kept down apparently by their ferocity and by anarchy. The entrance of Europeans in a friendly manner (such as is here proposed) affording them protection to person and property, domestic animals, better implements of husbandry, more valuable fruit-bearing trees and edible plants, all the advantages and comforts of civilization, which tend so much to the increase of population, and which they, from their character and previous habits, appear capable of receiving and benefiting by, must, instead of operating to their injury or destruction, prove to them the greatest blessing.