An adventurer of French parentage, a certain Baron de Thierry, had proclaimed himself King of New Zealand, and through the agency of missionary Kendall bought, or imagined he bought--for thirty axes--40,000 acres of land from the natives.

He landed at Hokianga with a retinue of ninety-three followers.

The Maoris of the neighbourhood gravely pointed out to him a plot of three hundred acres, which was all they would acknowledge of his purchase.
Unabashed, he established himself on a hill, and began the making of a carriage-road which was to cross the island.

Quickly it was found that his pockets were empty.

Laughed at by whites and natives alike, he at once subsided into harmless obscurity, diversified by occasional "proclamations," which a callous world allowed to drop unheeded.
Yet this little burlesque was destined to have its share in hastening the appearance of England on the scene.