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have no other object than to clear the greatest possible amount of profit in the shortest time, even
at the sacrifice of a large and invaluable forest. It is utterly impossible ever to make good the
damage thus done to the real interests of the country at large, as the kauri-land is so exhausted that
scarcely anything will grow on it but fern and manuka. Unless the strictest measures are
immediately taken to prevent this reckless destruction, it is very certain that the forests of this
noble tree will be greatly and irreparably reduced, as the kauri is already a scarce tree, and is
confined to very narrow limits. These reflections occurred to me more than once during my
wanderings in New Zealand, having many times seen kauri-forest burning, not fired for the
purpose of clearing the land, but in order to get a dozen or two of logs: sometimes the
conflagration has been caused by neglect: in several places, many square miles in extent are
covered with the burnt remains of the forest. (I:227f.) 61
At the same time, he reflects on the introduction of the European dog, cat and rat, which have led
to the diminishing number, if not near extinction, of numerous native wildlife (including the kiwi,
moa, kakapo, the New Zealand quail, huia, weka, indigenous rat or kiore, native dog or kuri, seal,
whale, tuatara and guana), 62 as well as changes to the fauna of New Zealand, not only through the
introduction of European plants, 63 but more importantly the unhealthy destruction of forests
which favours specific types of vegetation over others, as the “agency of man has effected a part
of that eternal fluctuation in the organic world, the knowledge of which has been one of the most
important results of modern science” (I:417). In this way, Dieffenbach can be seen as one of New
Zealand’s first true conservationists, whose views as a naturalist on the man-made impact on the
local environment were ahead of his times, as the only agent in his eyes which could spoil the
abundance and beauty of New Zealand’s natural landscape was man himself, particularly
European. 64
61
A similar view appears in the needless destruction of the pohutukawa around the Auckland region, in which “one
after another these beautiful trees are cut down, and thus the naked sandstone cliffs are laid bare, although these trees
in no way interfere with architectural or commercial improvements” (I:279).
62
I:7, 52-54, 91, 114, 185, 195, 230, 312, 362, 396, 417, II:45f., 136f., 183f., 194, 205; cf. Ernst Dieffenbach, “Ueber
die ausgestorbenen Riesenvögel Neuseelands, genannt Moa”, in: Allgemeine Zeitung [=AZ] 226 14 Aug (1846):
1802-4; 227 15 Aug (1846): 1811-13; “Zur Geologie der Südseeinseln. Die ausgestorbenen Riesenvögel
Neuseelands”, in: Ausland 20:249 17 Oct (1848): 993f.; see also Nolden, German and Austrian Naturalists, 21, 25-
28.
63
Not all changes were viewed as detrimental, however, such as the introduction of flowering plants which in his
eyes actually improved the landscape (I:247).
64
Up to 90 percent of the land was originally covered by forest before humans arrived. According to recent research,
this was roughly halved by 1840 predominantly at the hands of both deliberate and accidental Maori burning,
especially in the first few centuries of human habitation, before being halved again following the arrival of Europeans
to around 20 percent. During the Polynesian period roughly 700 years ago 38 species of endemic birdlife alone
became extinct. This was followed by a further 20 during European settlement. (See Atholl Anderson, “A Fragile
Plenty. Pre-European Maori and the New Zealand Environment”, in: Environmental Histories of New Zealand. Eds.
Eric Pawson and Tom Brooking. Auckland: Oxford University Press, 2002, 19-34; Evelyn Stokes, “Contesting
Resources. Maori, Pakeha, and a Tenurial Revolution”, in: ibid., 35-51; Jim McAloon, “Resource Frontiers,
Environment and Settler Capitalism 1769-1860”, in: ibid., 52-66; Peter Holland, Kevin O’Connor and Alexander
Wearing, “Remaking the Grasslands of the Open Country”, in: ibid., 69-83; Graeme Wynn, “Destruction under the
Guise of Improvement? The Forest, 1840-1920”, in: ibid., 100-16; Paul Star and Lynne Lochhead, “Children of the
77