rnment
was the owner of this land, and that all settlers must buy it from him.
Eventually the trouble was cleared up for the time being, when Hobson
allowed the company to keep ten miles of coast running back five or six
miles, the rest to belong to the Government, which would set aside a
certain part for the use of the Maoris. In December, 1842, a settler
claimed a piece of land which a Maori had fenced in; he pulled down the
fence; the Maoris put it up again. The settler assisted by an officer
pulled it down once more. A young chief who brandished a tomahawk and
threatened mischief was arrested, and carried into New Plymouth where a
magistrate liberated him, and declared the action of the settler
illegal. Matters for a time kept in this unfriendly state, ominously
hinting the desperate war that was to follow.

#11. Wanganui.#--Meanwhile the settlers in the Wellington district were
finding that by crossing difficult mountains they could get sufficient
level land for their purpose, and at the close of 1840 two hundred of
them sailed 150 miles north to where the river Wanganui falls into Cook
Strait. The land was rich and the district beautiful. Colonel Wakefield
supposed that he had bought the whole of it, though the natives
afterwards proved that they sold only a part on the north side of the
river. Here, about four miles from the mouth of the stream, the settlers
formed a little town which they called Petre, but which is now known as
Wanganui. The natives were numerous; on the river banks their villages
were frequent, and up on the hills, that rose all around like an
amphitheatre, the palisades of their fortified pahs were easily visible.
But the fine black soil of the district, in places grassy, in places
with patches of fine timber, proved very attractive to the settlers, and
soon there came half a dozen ships with more colonists direct from
England. The natives were friendly to white men, and gave them a cordial
welcome. Down the river came their canoes laden with pigs, potatoes,
melons, and gourds for sale in the market of the little town. All was
good-will until the Maoris found that the white men had come not merely
to settle among them, but to appropriate all the best of the land. Then
their tempers grew sour and the prospect steadily grew more unpleasant.

#12. Nelson.#--The emigration spirit was at this time strong in England;
for it was in the year 1840 to 1841 that free settlers chiefly colonised
both