Throughout the nineteenth century, ambitious Pacific Islanders saw a variety of chances to transform their lives and their production and exchange. Several formed alliances with foreign adventurers, to extract or exploit resources. As the balance of political power tilted against the chiefs, however, it became increasingly difficult to retain land, labour, and autonomy. Radical scholars argue that development can be destructive, especially in societies remote from metropolitan centres and lacking political leverage. The frequency of shipwrecks even in the seventeenth century implies that many earlier vessels, seeking sandalwood or beche-de-mer, struck the western Carolines. Across the temperate South, British settlers flowed with increasing strength and turbulence. In the early nineteenth century the New Zealand Maori had earned a reputation as brutal yet intelligent natives. Islanders often had to make sacrifices to retain autonomy. The Vaitupu Company in Tuvalu (Ellice Islands) made heroic attempts at self-reliant development.