This period of calm183031saw the regular traders more permanently establishing themselves.

Tapsell had settled at Maketu and had no doubt visited Rotorua before Williams and Chapman. It is thought that his European flax buyers had even gone from there to Matamata in the Thames district. On the east coast Harris established himself at Poverty Bay in 1831; in the same year, 1831, Captain Kent settled at Ngaruawahia on the Waikato. They, with several others, left little record of their activities, and few missionaries deigned to note their existence. One trader was J. S. Polack, who wrote an account of his experiences during 183137. He told of his journeys from Hokianga to Kaipara and of his visit to the east coast. There he saw moa bones and heard legends of the bird which he termed 'a species of struthio.' This was the earliest reference to the moa made by any European. Although he did not venture very far inland he gave a fair description of the North Island. He knew of the thermal regions of Rotorua and Taupo, he could describe Manukau and the Waikato. To the existing South Island map he added really interesting detailsthe Buller river was the Rapid river, Otago harbour was Port Oxley, Foveaux Strait was, he thought, discovered by some sealers (the only contemporary reference to its discovery by O. F. Smith in 1804), and 'also by Captain Stewart.' There had also been an increase of resident flax-traders in the southern districts. The trader no longer wasted time bartering from harbour to harbour. He landed collectors at the different settlements and expected them to search the countryside for flax which could be loaded when the ship returned. In 1831 Price and Williams of the Victoria went overland from Port Cooper to Kaiapoi to get flax and pigs in exchange for muskets and tobacco. They lost their way on the Canterbury plains when making for the mouth of the Waimakariri. A still greater change came about 1829 with the development of shore whaling. In Cook Strait and along the east coast of the South Island there sprang up those little communities of reckless Europeans, who took more interest in the interior than some historians would have us believe. From the Port hills whalers saw the Canterbury plains, from Dunedin whalers went overland to the Taieri plain and canoed down the Taieri river to the station at

its mouth. And up the great Molyneux, Palmer and other whalers went fifty miles in a whale-boat. Henry Williams, Brown, Fairburn, and Morgan opened the campaign by venturing up the Thames valley in October and November 1833. They were not the first Europeans in this district; on the way to Matamata, the residence of the chief Te Waharoa, they met four traders whom Williams admits were very civil. The parties camped beside each other and the missionary natives sang hymns while the traders from a nearby whare sang 'Old King Cole'. The track through the swamps was rather heavy going and Williams was carried on two poles by natives who often sank up to their chests in mud. Still, they reached Matamata and were hospitably received. After discussing affairs with Te Waharoa they returned and selected Puriri as a mission site. It was established by December 1833 and the rather bold expedition had been justified.