e were either too mountainous, too barren, or too heavily timbered
for such an ease-loving race. The Maoris clustered in greatest numbers
round the warm springs of Rotorua, on the coast to the east, and in the
extreme north; but their most powerful warrior was Rauparaha, who had
migrated (as before explained) to the island of Kapiti. The tribes were
all Christian, or ready to become so, and Selwyn in all his travels
seldom found a professing heathen.

The South Island was still little known, except at the extreme north and
the extreme south. At the north, the town of Nelson had just been
founded, and farming had begun on the Waimea Plains. In the south,
Maoris and whalers lived an isolated life on the harbours and islands of
Foveaux Strait. A few whaling stations were dotted along the east coast
of the island, but the maps of the time show the ignorance that
prevailed. The sea is represented as covering the whole district in
which the town of Christchurch now stands; mythical bays indent the
coast; while the interior is marked simply by "high mountains supposed
to be covered with perpetual snow," and "greenstone lakes" which occur
in unexpected places.

The one spot in this region which might have redeemed its otherwise
inhospitable character was the harbour of Akaroa, where a French colony
had lately made its home. But this bit of old France had nothing to do
with the rest of the country. The settlers went their own way, planting
their vines and their fig-trees, propagating the willow slips which they
had gathered on their outward voyage at Napoleon's grave, and turning
their eyes to the French warship which lay in their harbour, rather than
to the Union Jack which floated on the shore.

Of the two races which formed his flock, there could be no question as
to which needed the bishop's attention first. The Maoris were well cared
for by the missionaries, but for the white settlers very little had been
done. The number of these was considerable. There were over 3,000 of
them at Wellington and Petone, over 2,000 at Nelson, and 1,900 at
Auckland; while the smaller towns of New Plymouth and Wanganui contained
some hundreds of inhabitants. Not being "heathens," they did not come
within the regular sphere of the Church Missionary Society, and the
English bishops did not show themselves eager to co-operate with
Wakefield and his Company. The old Church Society "for the Propagation
of the Gospel," which was afterwards to give