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Jewish expression of their features, the very light colour of their skin, and the whole of their
customs” (II:98), of which the former was “in a state of infancy, yet was civilized, and understood
the art of navigation in a higher degree than they do now”, or at least had “better means of
traversing the sea”, but has since “sunk into comparative barbarism” (II:96f.). However, at the
end of this process he sees the future of the Maori and Europeans entwined, with mixed marriages
providing its early stages. As Maori women are anxious to marry European men, to whom they
make affectionate and faithful wives, the result is not only that the latter “obtains, as a matter of
course, the full protection of her father; and if the latter is a powerful chief, the son-in-law can
exercise a great influence, as the natives generally take great delight in their grandchildren”, but
also “one of the finest half-castes that exists, and I would add, also, an improvement on the race,
at least in its physical particulars, as far as can be judged from children” (II:41). In his view, this
intermarriage provides harmony through “mutual advantage”, as even in death the European
relatives are “bewailed as brothers by these sons of nature” (I:191), and since there appear to be
more females than males, “this will furnish a remedy against certain evils experienced in other
colonies, where the contrary was the case, and tend to what I conceive to be very desirable – an
ultimate blending of the races” (II:41f.). 72
One of the many important sources for conveying the Company’s views was the oft-cited
‘Romantic Maori’ extracts of Augustus Earle, an English artist and later draughtsman to the
Beagle, 73 along with the staple reading diet of Captain Cook, William Yate, Joel Samuel
Polack, 74 John Liddiard Nicholas and John Savage, which were distorted to wholeheartedly
endorse Maori offence at being overlooked for colonisation in favour of those of New Holland
who they viewed with great disdain. 75 Earle’s A Narrative of a Nine Months’ Residence in New
Zealand in 1827 (1832) is the best literary example of the early Romantic representation of the
Maori. Unlike the natives of Australia, who, according to Earle, “seem of the lowest grade – the
last link in the great chain of existence which unites man with the monkey”, with “neither energy,
enterprise, nor industry; and their curiosity can scarcely be excited”, the Maori are instead
[…] ‘cast in beauty’s perfect mould;’ the children are so fine and powerfully made, that each
might serve as a model for a statue of ‘the Infant Hercules;’ nothing can exceed the graceful and
athletic forms of the men, or the rounded limbs of their young women. These possess eyes
beautiful and eloquent, and a profusion of long, silky, curling hair; while the intellects of both
72 Cf. Dieffenbach, “Report to the New Zealand Company”, 104; New Zealand and the New Zealanders, 15f.
73 See Anthony Murray-Oliver, “Earle, Augustus 1793 – 1838: Artist, traveller, writer”, in: DNZB 1, 115f.
74 See Jocelyn Chisholm, “Polack, Joel Samuel 1807 – 1882: Trader, land speculator, writer, artist”, in: ibid., 343f.
75 See Wakefield and Ward, British Colonization, 269.
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