and villages; but the next day when the Maoris
gathered, forty-six chiefs put their marks to the parchment now always
known as the treaty of Waitangi.

This treaty was taken by missionaries and officers from tribe to tribe,
and in the course of two or three months over five hundred chiefs had
signed it. On the 21st May, Hobson proclaimed that the islands of New
Zealand were duly added to the British Empire, and that he would assume
the rule of the new colony as Lieutenant-Governor. Meantime houses
had been built at Kororarika for the Governor and his officers; a
custom-house had been set up, and taxes were levied on all goods landed,
so as to provide a revenue with which to pay these and other Government
expenses.

#6. Auckland.#--But the people at Kororarika had bought from the natives
all the level land in the place, and thinking their town would soon be a
great city, and the capital of an important colony, they would not sell
it except at very high prices. Now Captain Hobson had seen at the head
of the Hauraki Gulf a place which seemed to him to be more suitable for
the capital of the future colony. To this lovely spot he changed his
residence. He bought from the natives about thirty thousand acres, and
on an arm of the gulf, where the Waitemata harbour spreads its shining
waters, he caused a town to be surveyed and streets to be laid out. In
April, 1841, after he had reserved sufficient land for Government
offices, parks and other public purposes, he caused the rest to be
offered in allotments for sale by auction. There was a general belief
that now, when the islands were formally annexed to the British Empire,
New Zealand would be a most prosperous colony, and that land in its
capital would go up rapidly in value. Many speculators came over from
Sydney. The bidding was brisk, and the allotments were sold at the rate
of about six hundred pounds per acre. A few months later a sale was held
of lands in the suburbs and of farming lands a little way out from the
town. This was again successful. Houses began to spring up, most of them
slender in structure, but with a few of solid appearance. Next year
ships arrived from England with 560 immigrants, who rapidly settled on
the land, and before long a thriving colony was formed. The little town
was very pretty, with green hills behind the branching harbour that lay
in front, dotted with volcanic islets. The whole district was green; and
the figures of Maoris in the grass