hat is not straight to-day;
and then, God will see that my heart is becoming good. But, Mr. Yate,
perhaps you will, and perhaps you will not, believe it: I thought no
good thoughts, and I did no good works all day; and yet I was still, and
not angry with myself, no, not at all. Now, my Teacher, you say what I
am to do, before the next day of the Lord's Supper. I think I must pray
to God for a new heart, and for His Holy Spirit."

This honest confession agrees with the observations of many outside
observers of the change wrought in the Maoris by their new religion. Not
all received the "new heart." Indeed, to judge from the accounts of men
like Wakefield and Fox, the old heart was hardly touched by the new
doctrines. The Christian Maoris were blamed for covetousness and
insolence, for dishonesty and lying. "Give me the good old Maori who has
never been under missionary influence," was the feeling of many of the
colonists. It was the same complaint as is heard in every mission field.
But calmer and more unprejudiced observers give a different verdict. The
Bishop of Australia reported: "In speaking of the character of the
converted natives, I express most unequivocally my persuasion that it
has been improved, in comparison with the original disposition, by their
acquaintance with the truths of the Gospel. Their haughty self-will,
their rapacity, furiousness, and sanguinary inclination have been
softened--I may even say, eradicated; and their superstitious opinions
have given place, in many instances, to a correct apprehension of the
spiritual tendencies of the Gospel. Their chief remaining vices appeared
to me to be indolence, duplicity, and covetousness."

In mentioning these three prevailing vices, the bishop lays his finger
upon faults which the lover of the Maori has still to deplore. His
tendency to indolence shows that Marsden's insistence on industrial
training was sound in theory, though not easy to carry out in practice.
Highly endowed as the Maori was in many respects, he found it hard to
copy the white man in his regular and even life of toil. The Maori was
in fact the Greek of the south. Intellectually he was brilliant, and his
memory was nothing short of marvellous. Somewhat later than our period,
an English surveyor on the west coast of the South Island was disturbed
in his camp by a party of Maoris who had come from Ahaura in the valley
of the upper Grey. They had never seen a white man before, but they had