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or at least a head with a tongue poking out, which could signify the worship of a deity. 65
However, as no piece of this art was ever denied to the Europeans when trading, even if some
were valued more than others, it appeared to lessen the strength of this argument. In fact, he
notices that this design is featured on the prow of Maori canoes (‘manaia’), 66 the handle of battleaxes,
around their neck in the form of a greenstone medallion or “Etighi” (‘hei tiki’) 67 and even
on their bales and paddles; in other words, on everything which relates to war and armaments:
“Vermuthlich hat die hier zu Lande durchgehends übliche Gewohnheit, den Feind durch
Austreckung der Zunge zu schimpfen und auszufordern, zu so häufiger Abbildung solcher
Fratzengesichter Gelegenheit gegeben” (I:199). Furthermore, the several rows of human teeth that
hang around their necks also appear to have no superstitious significance, but are rather a sign of
bravery and trophies of their slain enemies to be paraded in victory, much like the fish hooks
made of human bone and the heart of the slain youth situated on a prong on the prow of a canoe
(I:410), the latter in fact being an offering to Tu, the god of war. 68 As can be seen, Forster’s
notions of war and religion in the context of the Maori are relatively unconnected concepts, which
then sees them as a race of irreligious warriors who are unswayed by superstition. 69
According to history, the Maori have been “gefährliche Feinde” to all the nations they
have been in contact with, and presumably “wissen also, ohnstreitig schon seit 1642, wie das
Fleisch eines Europäers schmeckt” (II:351) with the taking of one of the bodies of Tasman’s
crew. The next and worst case, however, was the killing of Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne and
twenty-eight of his fellow Frenchmen in the Bay of Islands in 1772, who presumably “ohne es
vielleicht selbst zu wissen oder gewahr zu werden, ihnen etwas in den Weg gelegt, wodurch jene
sich für berechtigt gehalten haben, ihrer Rachsucht dermaaßen den Zügel schießen zu lassen, als
dies von rohen Wilden nur immer erwartet werden kann” (II:355). 70 The Grass Cove killings of
65
Anything represented in art at the time which was contrary to the conventions of harmony, order, symmetry,
proportion and perfection, as was epitomised in the ideals of Greek art and the works of Johann Joachim
Winckelmann and Gotthold Lessing, was often regarded as rude, primitive, distorted, chaotic, ugly and imperfect
(Esleben, Enlightenment Canvas, 37-52).
66
See Hope B. Werness, The Continuum Encyclopedia of Native Art: Worldview, Symbolism, and Culture in Africa,
Oceania, and Native North America. New York: Continuum, 2000, 189f.
67
‘Hei tiki’ were in fact prized ancestral heirlooms to be passed from one generation to the next, taking on ‘mana’ in
the process, and over time became “imbued with powerful magical forces connected with continuity and fertility”
(ibid., 131f., 189).
68
The human bones of enemies could reportedly be used for making such things as flutes, hooks and spears, whilst
preserving the victim’s head was a more common practice when it became a favoured item of trade with Europeans
(Vadya, Maori Warfare, 94-97).
69
For an understanding of early Maori religion, see Salmond, Between Worlds, 401-509.
70
Salmond suggests a possible reason for Marion du Fresne’s killing as retribution for breaking ‘tapu’ restrictions
(Salmond, Two Worlds, 359-429).
49