Arriving in August among the whalers then settled in Queen Charlotte’s Sound, Colonel Wakefield enlisted Dicky Barrett’s services, and, passing on to Port Nicholson, entered into a series of negotiations with the Maori chiefs, which led to extensive land purchases.  Ultimately Colonel Wakefield claimed that he had bought twenty millions of acres—­nearly the whole of what are now the provincial districts of Wellington and Taranaki, and a large slice of Nelson.  It is quite probable that he believed he had.  It is certain that the Maoris, for their part, never had the least notion of selling the greater portion of this immense area.  It is equally probable that such chiefs as Rauparaha and Rangihaeata, who were parties to the bargain, knew that Wakefield thought he was buying the country.  Fifty-eight chiefs in all signed the deeds of sale.  Even if they understood what they were doing, they had no right, under the Maori law and custom, thus to alienate the heritage of their tribes.  Had Colonel Wakefield’s alleged purchases been upheld the Company would have acquired nine-tenths of the lands of no less than ten well-known tribes.  The price paid for this was goods valued at something less than L9,000.  The list of articles handed over at the Wakefield purchases is remarkable enough to be worth quoting:—­

300 red blankets. 200 muskets. 16 single-barrelled guns. 8 double-barrelled guns. 2 tierces tobacco. 15 cwt. tobacco. 148 iron pots. 6 cases soap. 15 fowling pieces. 81 kegs gunpowder. 2 casks ball cartridges. 4 kegs lead slates. 200 cartouche boxes. 60 tomahawks. 2 cases pipes. 10 gross pipes. 72 spades. 100 steel axes. 20 axes. 46 adzes. 3,200 fish-hooks. 24 bullet moulds. 1,500 flints. 276 shirts. 92 jackets. 92 trousers. 60 red nightcaps. 300 yards cotton duck. 200 yards calico. 300 yards check. 200 yards print. 480 pocket-handkerchiefs. 72 writing slates. 600 pencils. 204 looking glasses. 276 pocket knives. 204 pairs scissors. 12 pairs shoes. 12 hats. 6 lbs. beads. 12 hair umbrellas. 100 yards ribbons. 144 Jews’ harps. 36 razors. 180 dressing combs. 72 hoes. 2 suits superfine clothes. 36 shaving boxes. 12 shaving brushes. 12 sticks sealing wax. 11 quires cartridge paper. 12 flushing coats. 24 combs.

The purchasing took three months.  While it was going on Henry Williams and other missionaries urged the chiefs not to sell.  But with the goods spread out before them—­especially the muskets—­the chiefs were not to be stopped.  The Wakefields justified the transactions on the ground that population would rapidly make the ten per cent. of the country reserved for the natives more valuable than the whole.  Gibbon Wakefield talked airily to the parliamentary committee next year of a value of 30s. an acre, which, on a reserve of two million acres, would mean three million sterling for the Maoris!  Nothing can justify the magnitude of Colonel Wakefield’s claims, or the payment of fire-arms for the land.  But at the bottom of the mischief was the attempt of the