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tomahawk out of his hands” and had “an appearance of sly hostility in his manner” (I:61), 114 the
chief, Te Heuheu, who told a missionary that “he would only have one more fight with the tribe at
Wanganui, to settle his old grievances, then make a durable peace, settle down, and ‘believe’”
(I:361), and Te Puata (Te Rauangaanga?) who is “still bent upon war, and […] would fight till he
was dead” (I:317).
As can be seen, the introduction of Christianity by the missionaries and civilisation
through continual interaction with Europeans and colonisation have, in Dieffenbach’s opinion,
made varying degrees of inroads into the formerly unchristian practices of the Maori. However,
he argues that the missionaries cannot be said to have cleared the way for European settlement as
generally believed, since many adventurers walked around unhindered for years before their
arrival (II:164f.). Furthermore, various tribes still oppose Christianity despite new conversions
occurring all the time. In Dieffenbach’s view, Christianity, or rather the teachings of the
missionaries, presents itself as an ambivalent condition in respect to the Maori, as different
feuding factions or denominations compete against one another to the point where, it seems, the
main goal is not to civilise the Maori, but to be the Church with the most converts, even if in
name only. As a result of his anticlerical stance, he questions the moral centres and education of a
number of the above missionaries, “who are too apt to consider the people to whom they have
been sent to preach the Gospel as an inferior race of beings” (I:41). In fact, despite the spread of
Christianity, the missionaries remain on the coasts instead of in the interior where their services
would be most needed, the result ironically being that the best Christians are often not where the
mission stations are, and those who dwell in the harbours are the “worst in the islands” (II:164),
although there are naturally other influences also at work here. 115 Furthermore, there are various
instances of missionaries deviating from their “proper sphere as civilizers and instructors”
(II:166) by taking land for themselves and not even cultivating most of it. Many older ones have
become “landed proprietors; and many, by other pursuits, such as banking, or trading with the
produce of their gardens or stock, have become wealthy men” (II:165), an act in itself which goes
against the obvious duties and principals of missionary work. Although it is only a few who abuse
their office, when he left New Zealand eleven missionaries had reportedly claimed a grand total
of 96,219 acres of land for their own purposes (II:166). 116
114 Dieffenbach adds: “[H]e was the only New Zealander who gave me any apprehension, which was probably
altogether unfounded” (I:61).
115 Cf. I:79.
116 See II:168.
96