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absent chiefs, and met Toetoe’s wife and friends at Rangiaowhia during his travels. In this
instance, he was met with much interest not only in the form of many questions, but also
numerous letters and greetings, and even a photograph to take back with him, before being
permitted to visit the then King Potatau at his residence in Ngaruawahia. 222 Thus, the glowing
reputation of Hochstetter and the Austrian people in general among the Waikato Maori would
have done no end of good to enhance the status of Reischek. As soon as he mentioned that he was
Austrian and a friend and colleague of Hochstetter he would have appeared on the same level as
his mentor, especially when combined with the favourable stories of the two chiefs from their
time with the Novara crew and their nine-month stay in Vienna. When the questionable
significance of the huia tail is taken out of the equation, Reischek’s treatment by certain sections
of the King Country Maori is therefore still believable, even accounting for his son’s
Romanticism. In the end, however, as the general notion of honorary hereditary chieftainship is
highly imaginative, it seems likely the significance of the title has again been exaggerated beyond
the real honour presented to him in recognition of his being viewed as a ‘great chief’ in the eyes
of the Maori.
because they had “proved friendly and helpful as guides to Hochstetter”, as he appears to have been the one
responsible for their inclusion on the Novara. However, this could only have occurred during his journey to the Drury
coalfields between 28 December and 2 January (Hogan, Bravo, Neu Zeeland, 16; cf. Morrel, Wiremu Toetoe Tumohe,
10; Sauer, “Zwei Maoris in Wien”, 58). Reischek also claims Hochstetter invited both chiefs on board (SW, 184,
207). If this was indeed the case it would therefore account for even more gratitude on their behalf. The only
reference Hochstetter makes on the subject, however, is a remark that the Commodore invited the two to join the
crew (Hochstetter, Neu-Seeland, 526), as the decision to offer several Maori this opportunity in the first place
ultimately rested on him. Scherzer, on the other hand, maintains the expedition parties used every opportunity to
inquire for prospective Maori wishing to join their crew for the return journey following the Commodore’s decision
to take on board “einige schön tättowirte Maori’s”, but reports none were found in Orakei (Scherzer, Reise (1864-66),
II:348f.). Although he does not state whether this intention had been made prior to Hochstetter’s trip to Drury, which
was led first and foremost by Captain Drummond Hay who was familiar with the district, it seems likely that he was
aware of the fact, but ultimately makes no mention of this in his account. In the end, it seems, it was the Novara’s
delayed departure from Auckland which secured the services of Toetoe and Te Rerehau, who had in the last few days
stated their interest in joining the crew. Originally four Maori and a half-caste had intended to do so, but only these
two remained when the time came to sail on 8 January 1859. It is not stated whether they were previously invited or
recommended, nor if any of the interested were in fact part of the entourage of six Maori chiefs who visited the
Novara with Bishop Pompallier and his vicar-general on New Year’s Day. However, we are told the vicar-general
made a last minute, albeit wasted, effort to add several Catholic Maori to the crew (ibid., II:369-71). As Sauer notes,
there were in fact three names on the official contract dated 7 January 1859, the third name being “Ihaia Pohskala”
[sic], in which the ship’s diary reports three Maori boarded on 7-8 January, but one disembarked before their
departure (Sauer, Aufenthalt zweier Maoris, 188f.).
222 Hochstetter, Neu-Seeland, 314-18. Hochstetter’s reputation may have been great among certain Maori, but the
South Island gold-mining capital of Hokitika (hoki = to return, tika = direct, i.e. in a straight line) was not in fact
named after ‘Hokitata’ or ‘Hokiteta’ (Hochstetter) by West Coast Maori as Reischek junior later claims (Reischek,
Jr., Weißer Häuptling der Maori, 56, 109f.). This mistake is most likely due to an incorrect rendering of ‘Hokiteka’
by Reischek, which lends itself more to the possibility of being a misspelling of Hokitika (see A. W. Reed, The Reed
Dictionary of New Zealand Place Names. 3 rd Ed. Auckland: Reed, 2002, 206f.).
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