These gentry were for the most part admirably qualified to spread the vices of civilization and discredit its precepts.

But, illiterate ruffians as most of them were, they had their uses in aiding peaceful intercourse between the races.

Some, too, were not illiterate.

A Shakespeare and a Lempriere were once found in the possession of a chief in the wildest part of the interior.

They had belonged to his _Pakeha_ long since dead.