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Königs überreicht. Whatiwhatihoe King Country 1882.” 201 Here, Reischek interprets this gesture
as a transferring of status from one Maori chief to another, which, if true, would leave him with
the rank of Maori King, or at least an ‘ariki’ of the highest order! However, this is certainly not
the case. And although it was not presented to him by Tawhiao in person, he still regards it as the
highest honour that can be bestowed on any individual. 202 Even so, there is no reason to believe
this alleged custom could be appropriate for a European recipient (if it is believed to have existed
among Maori in the first place), especially one who had only been with them for a short time, was
not actively involved in their community and never would be, and would not be living among
them or even in the country beyond seven years’ time (and even then there were many
suggestions that his departure would be sooner rather than later). 203
In the end, even if he misunderstood this gesture, it is nowhere made apparent in his own
words that he considered himself an honorary Maori chief, let alone that the honour was
hereditary. If he had, he would surely have made reference to this in his other papers on the Maori
and his excursion into the King Country. However, again this is not the case. In “Meine Reisen
auf Neu-Seeland”, he simply states: “Während dieser drei Wochen gelang es mir nun doch, den
König und seine Häuptlinge freundlicher gegen die Europäer zu stimmen. Ein Häuptling
überreichte mir vom König einen Huia-Schwanz, die höchste Auszeichnung eines Maori, und ich
durfte nun sein Land durchforschen.” 204 All that can be read from this statement is that Reischek
made a favourable impression to win the trust of Tawhiao and his prominent chiefs, which
resulted in the King’s gifting of a huia tail and allowing Reischek to explore his territory. The
impression one is therefore left with is that the gesture was viewed more as a symbol of his
friendship and a sign of protection and permission, which entitled Reischek to explore the region
unhindered, rather than a transfer of rank. Furthermore, the fact that he is given huia feathers on
at least four further occasions, 205 of which only three are recorded in the text and seemingly
without ceremony (190, 206, 208), when the presence of Tawhiao’s would already have been
known, suggests this gesture was little more than an offering of a prized possession to an
201
Cited in: Kolig, Umstrittene Würde, 98.
202
Cf. 219, 304.
203
Kolig, “Andreas Reischek in Neuseeland”, 51.
204
Reischek, “Meine Reisen auf Neu-Seeland”, 617.
205
Moschner lists a total of five huia tail feathers in Reischek’s Viennese collection (Nr. 42.482-42.486), one each
from Tawhiao, Wahanui, Te Whitiora, Te Rerehau and Honana (Moschner, “Katalog der Neuseeland-Sammlung”,
121f.). However, according to Reischek junior, the private family collection also included “ein schwarzweißer
Federstoß vom heiligen Vogel Huja [sic]” (Reischek, Jr., Cäsar, 7). King meanwhile refers to a total of eleven tail
feathers (King, Collector, 88).
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