PART 111. HISTORICAL. THE COMING OF THE PAKEHA.

Otago Witness, Issue 2649, 21 December 1904, Page 19 (Supplement)

PART 111. HISTORICAL. THE COMING OF THE PAKEHA.

Having gained some idea of the ancient Maori — his life, character, and surroundims — we shall now see how he first came into contact with the Pakcha, and began the process of his evolution into the modern Maori. On the 18th September, 1642, Abel Tasman, the Dutch navigator, with hia ships the Zcehaan. and the Heemskirk, anchored in a bay near the present town of Nelson. Two Maori canoes put off, and their crews reconnoitred thosa strange marine monsters, whose arrival from the unknown had no doubt created a fever of curiosity, not unmixed with foreboding, among the natives. They returned to shore without venturing on board. Next day a single canoe was quietly paddled round the great ships, which, after all, seemed to he manned by a mild and inoffensive race, who made friend'y overtures by displaying goods for barter. Nothing, however, would induce the natives to come on board, and after events point to a supposition on their part that ihese confiding visitors and their lavish stores might be captured wholesale, rather