han common note. Pre-eminent
among these is Old Colonial. Indeed, our chum is generally looked upon
by the Maoris as a sort of chief among the Pakehas of the district. His
experience and acumen have made him a general referee among the Kaipara
settlers; and, in all important matters, he is usually the interpreter
and spokesman between them and the natives. Moreover, he is now the
oldest settler in the district; that is, he is not the oldest man, but
has been in the Kaipara longer than any other Pakeha, having come here
before any settlement had been made in this part. And so he is an old
and intimate friend of the Maoris.

To him, then, I have heard Arama discoursing on his project for the
regeneration of the Maori race, talking as one chief among men may talk
to another. For the ariki is thoroughly aware of the gradual extinction
which is coming for his race. He sees and knows that the Maori is dying
out before the Pakeha, and his great idea is how the former may be
perpetuated.

Says he to Old Colonial, for example, somewhat as follows:--

"Oh, friend! What shall be for the Maori? Where are they now since the
coming of the Pakeha? The forest falls before the axe of the Pakeha; the
Maori birds have flown away, and strange Pakeha birds fly above the new
cornfields; the Pakeha rat has chased away the kiore; there are Pakeha
boats on our waters, Pakeha fish in our rivers. All that was is gone;
and the land of the Maori is no longer theirs. God has called to the
Maori people, and they go. The souls of our dead crowd the path that
leads to the Reinga.

"Lo! the Pakeha men are very many. It is good that they should see our
maidens, and it is good that they should marry them. Then there will be
children that shall live, and a new race of Maori blood. So there shall
be some to say in the time to come, 'This is the land of our mothers.
This was the land of the Maori before the Pakeha came out of the sea.'

"Oh, friend! send your young men to Tanoa, that they may see our
maidens, and may know that they are good for wives. The mihonere and the
kuremata[7] have taught them the things of the Pakeha. It is good that
we should cause them so to marry."

Thus does Arama propound his plan for a fusion between the races. Still
more to further it, he proposes to endow certain young ladies of his
tribe with considerable areas of land, in the event of any
Pakeha--_rangatira_ Pakeha--who may be acceptable to the tribe, offering
to mar