ibe
or not, and in their blind fury burnt Te Pehi's village, severely
wounding the chief himself. This outrage stopped all friendly
intercourse for a long time. The whalers shot the Maoris whenever they
saw them, about a hundred being killed in the next three years, while
the Maoris killed and ate any white people they could catch. Thus in
1816 the _Agnes_, an American brig, happened to be wrecked on their
shores. They killed and ate everybody on board, except one man, who was
tattooed and kept for a slave during twelve years.

#11. The Missionaries.#--In spite of all these atrocities a band of
missionaries had the courage to settle in New Zealand and begin the work
of civilising these Maori tribes. This enterprise was the work of a
notable man named Samuel Marsden, who had in early life been a
blacksmith in England, but had devoted himself with rare energy to the
laborious task of passing the examinations needed to make him a
clergyman. He was sent out to be the chaplain to the convicts at Sydney,
and his zeal, his faith in the work he had to do, and his roughly
eloquent style, made him successful where more cultured clergymen would
have failed. For fourteen years he toiled to reform convicts, soldiers,
and officers in Sydney; and when Governor King went home to England in
1807, after his term was expired, Marsden went with him on a visit to
his friends. While in London, Marsden brought before the Mission Society
the question of doing something to Christianise these fierce but
intelligent people, and the society not only agreed, but employed two
missionaries named Hall and King to undertake the work.

[Illustration: THE REV. SAMUEL MARSDEN, "THE APOSTLE OF NEW ZEALAND".]

When Marsden, along with these two courageous men, started back to
Sydney in the _Ann_ convict ship, in 1809, there was on board, strangely
enough, a Maori chief called Ruatara. This young fellow was a nephew of
Hongi, the powerful head chief of the Ngapuhi tribe. Four years before,
being anxious to see something of the wonders of civilised life, he had
shipped as a sailor on board a whaler. He had twice been to Sydney and
had voyaged up and down all the Pacific. At length, in 1809, he had gone
to London, where he was lost in surprise at all he saw. The climate,
however, tried him severely, and he was sick and miserable on the voyage
back to Sydney. Marsden was kind to him and gave him a home in his own
house. Ruatara had many troubles and dangers