i's wars,
and that the few remaining inhabitants were naturally hostile to
anything that seemed to come from the Ngapuhi. Concentration was forced
upon the mission by the circumstances of the time. When once the schools
were established, they required the whole of the available staff of
teachers to conduct them efficiently. To have weakened the schools would
have been bad policy, even if openings had presented themselves
elsewhere.

[Illustration: HENRY WILLIAMS AT THE SIGNING OF THE TREATY AT WAITANGI.]

But, as a matter of fact, the missionaries "builded better than they
knew." The really important feature of their work was little guessed
even by themselves. Among their classes at Paihia were many wistful
faces of slaves who had been torn from their distant homes in Hongi's
wars. These had been befriended by the missionaries, and were placed on
an equal footing in the schools with the sons of chiefs and rangatiras.
It was these who drank in most deeply the Christian teaching, and it was
these who were destined to be the pioneers of the future.

Outwardly the most striking achievements of these schools were the
annual examinations which took place at the close of the years 1828 to
1830. Twice the scholars from Paihia and Rangihoua were taken by boat to
Kerikeri, where the proceedings lasted for two or three days, and always
finished with a generous feast. The gathering of 1830 took place at
Paihia, and included 178 men and boys, besides 92 girls. It is not often
that a school examination acquires a political significance, but it was
so in this case. There were more than 1,000 Maori spectators
present--men who had fought on opposite sides in the recent battle of
Kororareka. The orderliness of the proceedings, and the delightful
atmosphere of keenness and pleasure which pervaded the scene, drew all
parties together and served to weld the bond of peace.

Such exhibitions of the working of the new faith, together with the
adhesion of a powerful convert like Taiwhanga, were bound to tell upon
the people around. Evidences began to multiply of a serious attention to
the teaching of the missionaries. Here and there in unexpected quarters
signs appeared of coming change. To use the picturesque native simile,
"the fire was spreading in the fern."

CHAPTER V.

THE FORWARD MOVE.

(1831-1837).

Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward.
--_Exod._

Unlike their brethren in Africa and some othe