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the German original nor the exact words of the attributed author, facts which appear nowhere in
this edition. Moreover, the editing alone is worthy of criticism, as he re-orders, renames, and at
times combines or separates numerous chapters without correcting common misspellings of place
names and Maori names, 40 whilst often omitting or paraphrasing sections, paragraphs and entire
pages, and in some cases even inventing sentences and altering the chronology, none of which is
mentioned by the editor, as if the omissions, including key German phrases, have either been
deemed too difficult to translate or else not relevant or interesting enough for the contemporary
readership, if not both. Without complete access to the original notebooks and manuscripts,
however, we are still left with the problem of authorship when it comes to specific sections of the
book. Furthermore, as the image of Reischek is a major component in understanding and
validating his perceptions of New Zealand and the Maori, it is also necessary to evaluate the
controversy surrounding his behaviour and actions. Therefore the object of this chapter is
twofold: to extrapolate the likely influences of Reischek junior from the narrative of the 1924
edition of Sterbende Welt in order to identify the perceptions and stereotypes which are consistent
with Reischek senior and the mentality of the late nineteenth century, in addition to examining the
latter’s other available writings, and, at the same time, rectify the unbalanced interpretation of
King and others, who have done him a great disservice through basing their arguments primarily
on an inferior and abbreviated translation, which excludes the necessary balance that can be
observed particularly in his numerous German-language contributions, if not also those in
English.
40 In a review of Yesterdays in Maoriland, New Zealand historian James Cowan criticises the frequent and often
inexcusable mistakes which appear in the text: “Misspellings of scores of Maori names and words and phrases, too,
mar an otherwise most useful book. […] The number of mistakes in names is extraordinary, and there are errors in
fact which should have been corrected or referred to in notes. If the book goes into a second edition we hope it will
be thoroughly revised” (James Cowan, “Our Native Wilds: Adventures of a Naturalist: Story of Reischek the Bird-
Hunter”, in: The Auckland Star 17 May (1930): 18). Unfortunately, no changes were made in subsequent editions.
The fact that Priday incorrectly refers to Reischek as being the first to climb Mt Ruapehu in his original transcript for
Yesterdays in Maoriland (King, Collector, 134n), which neither Reischek mentions, further suggests that he also did
not have a comprehensive knowledge of New Zealand history. Ironically, all he had to do was view Cowan’s The
New Zealand Wars (1922-23) to find the correct spelling of many of these names, as well as more reliable versions of
history. Granted the majority of spelling errors can be attributed to both Reischek senior and junior, it does not
change the fact that the job of an editor surely encompasses making corrections or at least making reference to the
exact spelling and information, a task which Reischek junior was unable to do with his limited knowledge of the
country, leading to perhaps more errors in spelling than his father originally made due to the nature of the latter’s
difficult handwriting. Poor spelling in later published accounts by the elder Reischek can also be attributed to the
transcriber misreading his handwriting, which often involved, for example, ‘u’ being mistaken for ‘n’ due to the
similarity in handwritten form.
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