Page:Some Account of New Zealand.pdf/112

have attempted to describe is of greater importance to Europeans than any other, on account of the ocean in its vicinity being very much frequented by spermaceti whales, and the ample supply of refreshment it affords. The harbours are safe and capacious, the country beautiful, the soil favourable to cultivation; and the natives are in all respects a superior race of Indians. These advantages hold out great inducements for colonization, which may hereafter deserve the attention of some European power. The exorbitant price of European labour in new colonies, it is extremely probable would be obviated by the assistance of the natives: their intelligence is such as to render them capable of instruction, and I have no doubt but they would prove as essentially useful to a colony established in their country, as the natives of India prove to our Asiatic dominions.