Sovereignty of Queen Victoria, and the colonisation of the country
quickly followed.

The seat of Government was first placed at Auckland, where resided the
Governor, and there were formed ten provinces under the jurisdiction of
superintendents. The head of the Government was subsequently transferred
to Wellington, the provincial system abolished, and their powers
exercised by local boards directly under the Governor.

The total area of the three islands is about 105,000 square miles, and
the population, which has been steadily increasing, was in 1865 upwards
of 700,000.

The Maori race is almost entirely confined to the North Island, and,
although it was then gradually dying out, numbered about 30,000. They
are of fine physique, tall and robust, and are said to belong to the
Polynesian type, probably having come over from the Fiji Islands, or
some of the Pacific group, in their canoes.

When first discovered they lived in villages or "Pahs," comprising a
number of small circular huts, with a larger one for the Chief,
mud-walled and thatched with grass or flax. The pahs usually occupied a
commanding position, and were fenced round with one or more palisades of
rough timber.

The Maori dress consisted of a simple robe made of woven flax, an
indigenous plant growing in profusion over most of the country. They
practised to a large extent the custom of tattooing their faces and
bodies, and further decorated themselves with ear-rings of greenstone,
bone, etc.