Excerpt from History of New Zealand, Vol. 1 of 3 IT is impossible to study the facts connected with the Maori race without being deeply interested in their fortunes. With whatever motive any one might undertake to write a history of the English occupation of New Zealand, he is no sooner confronted by the facts with regard to the Maoris their polity, their laws, their sagacity, their cannibal rites, their blood-thirstiness, their heroism, their generosity, and their eloquence - than he finds that amongst them, and not amongst the invaders of their country, will be found the chief and most lasting interest of his work. He will find also that many of the hundreds of volumes written about New Zealand transmit statements originally put forward by those who had an interest in deception in order to conceal their own misdoings. But, though the task may be laborious, he will find also, by diligent search amongst authentic records, ample proof of the real facts, and of the methods by which they have been obscured or mis represented. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.