ew Zealand for the site of their colony, and
understanding that the New Zealand Company had bought half of the North
Island they gave that company L10,000 for the right to select 60,000
acres of it. It was in March, 1841, that the pioneers of this new colony
arrived at Wellington under the guidance of Mr. Carrington, a surveyor
in the ship _William Bryant_. The exploring party had just come back,
and its report of the Taranaki land was very tempting. Immediately after
receiving that report Colonel Wakefield had gone off to purchase it. He
found a few natives left there, the remnant of the tribes whom Te Whero
Whero had either destroyed or carried into slavery. These few people had
taken refuge up in the awful solitudes of the giant Mount Egmont, but
had come back to dwell, a sorrow-stricken handful, in the homes of their
fathers. Barrett was left to arrange a bargain with them, and in return
for a quantity of goods they sold all the land along sixty miles of
coast with a depth of fifteen miles inland. This was the land which
Wakefield recommended for the new settlers, and he lent them a ship to
take them round. There they landed, and in spite of their disappointment
at the want of a safe harbour, they set to work and built up their
little town, which they called New Plymouth.

In September of the same year the main body of settlers arrived for this
new colony, and were landed at Taranaki, when they immediately scattered
out over the country, as fast as Carrington could survey it for them.
But there was now a difficulty. For Te Whero Whero and his tribe had
released many hundreds of the Taranaki natives who had been carried off
as slaves. Whether it was because they had now become Christians or
because the slaves were more in number than they could use, it was not
easy to determine; but at any rate, in that very month of September when
hundreds of white men were arriving to occupy the land, hundreds of
Maoris were coming back to re-occupy it. They begged the settlers not to
fell their big trees, but were very mild in their conduct. They chose
places not yet claimed by the white men, and there fenced in the land on
which to grow their sweet potatoes.

Meanwhile there was another complication. By Maori custom a warrior had
the ownership of the lands he conquered. Governor Hobson therefore
regarded Te Whero Whero as the owner of the Taranaki land, and gave him
L400 for his right to it. Hobson declared that the Auckland Gove