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welchem sie jetzt zu Markt kamen, ließ allerdings vermuthen, daß sie einen Streich von dieser Art
ausgeführt hatten, und das wird schwerlich ohne Blutvergießen abgelaufen seyn” (I:400).
Forster gives a much more human angle to the issue of cannibalism, which stays clear of
the extreme stereotypical bloodthirsty savage who kills in a wild frenzy and naturally eats the raw
human flesh in the same manner, through instead portraying it as something almost natural, albeit
uncivilised, comparable to the way Europeans eat animal flesh. For example, after Lieutenant
Richard Pickersgill purchases the head of the cannibalised youth he is accosted by other Maori
who show an interest in obtaining the head. He replies by cutting a piece off the cheek which they
proceed to eat in mocking fashion only after it has been cooked. 58 This scene is witnessed by the
Resolution’s crew and repeated for Captain Cook’s benefit. There is consequently a range of
questionable reactions from the more adventurous seamen who “fast Lust […] haben mit
anzubeißen, und glaubten etwas sehr witziges zu sagen, wenn sie die Neu-Seeländischen Kriege
für Menschen-Jagden ausgaben” to those who are so riled up between complete disgust and
outrage that “sie die Neu-Seeländer alle todt zu schießen wünschten, gerade als ob sie Recht
hätten über das Leben eines Volks zu gebieten, dessen Handlungen gar nicht einmal für ihren
Richterstuhl gehörten!” (I:404). If anything, it is their reactions which Forster sees as the most
abhorrent.
Thus, both Forsters are apparent witnesses to the proof of anthropophagy, which only
reconfirms eyewitness accounts from the previous voyage. However, Georg diverges from the
popular beliefs of contemporary theorists as to the causes of such a custom among savage nations,
the most common being a lack of food which drove them to eat one another out of necessity. 59 He
disproves this assessment through the estimated size of the population in the North Island of
100,000 60 in comparison with the overall size of the island, the abundance of fish which are
readily available, and the beginnings of agriculture in the northern areas. For him, it is the key
notion of revenge which most likely gave rise to Maori cannibalism in the first place, as it is wellknown
that “die Rachsucht bey wilden Völkern durchgängig eine heftige Leidenschaft ist, und oft
zu einer Raserey ausartet, in welcher sie zu den unerhörtesten Ausschweifungen aufgelegt sind”:
58 Salmond, Between Worlds, 94; Obeyesekere, Cannibal Talk, 30-36.
59 Cf. Hawkesworth, Voyages, III:43f.
60 Pool posits a total population for both islands of about 100,000, or at least no more than 110,000-115,000, at the
time of Cook’s first contact in 1769 (Ian Pool, Te Iwi Maori: A New Zealand Population Past, Present and
Projected. Auckland: Auckland University Press, 1991, 42f., 53, 57f.; cf. Ian Pool, The Maori Population of New
Zealand 1769-1971. Auckland: Auckland University Press, 1977, 48-52).
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