The land-shark wanted a claim with which to harass others; the Maori signed a worthless document on receipt of a few goods.

By 1840 it was estimated that, outside the sweeping claim on the South Island, 26,000,000 acres, or more than a third of the area of New Zealand, was supposed to have been gobbled up piecemeal by the land-sharks.

The claims arising out of these transactions were certain at the best to cause confusion, ill-feeling, and trouble, and indeed did so.

Some legally-constituted authority was clearly wanted to deal with them.
Otherwise armed strife between the warlike Maoris and adventurers claiming their lands was inevitable.

Before Marsden's death in 1838 both he and his ablest lieutenant, Henry Williams, had come to see that the only hope for the country and the natives lay in annexation and the strong hand of England.
[Illustration].