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een carried silently for forty years, when it was at length expiated by the death of him who
committed it.
They are cruel in their wars, either of retaliation or aggression, and it cannot be denied that
they possess a good deal of selfishness, and have not that true generous spirit, that gratitude for
benefits conferred, or that true friendship, so characteristic of European and Eastern nations. But
we never find these qualities amongst savages: they are, in fact, the fruits, and the best fruits, of
refinement and civilization. 84
It will readily be seen that the character for ferocity and treachery, which has been
ascribed to the New Zealanders, does not justly apply to them in times of peace. In their domestic
relations they are easily guided; and if outrages are committed, they are either the consequence of
superstition or are authorized by what they regard as lawful customs. (II:109f.)
Thus, in spite of their unhealthy preoccupation with revenge, which reveals the worst of their
character, it is, however, confined to infighting amongst themselves, as “the hatred of the New
Zealander is never directed against the white man, who may travel where he likes, and is never
molested unless his own misconduct give rise to a quarrel” (I:106).
The treatment of Maori wives and females in general, in conjunction with their raising of
children, were seen by Georg Forster as characteristic of a savage and barbaric disposition which
contributed to the unflattering appearance of the former and the unrestrained freedom of the latter.
For Dieffenbach, however, his ideas on the above themes have been formed by the images of the
‘Romantic Savage’ and its opposition to contemporary cultural biases and racial stereotypes.
Although he notes that in the past Maori women have been treated as “an article of trade” through
their predilection before marriage to “dispense their favours as they like” (II:40) without
tarnishing their status among their fellow men and women, his Romantic lens puts them in an
almost equal position with the males, albeit coupled with, to a lesser extent, traditional European
stereotypes:
The females are not in general so handsome as the men. Although treated by the latter with great
consideration and kindness, enjoying the full exercise of their free will, and possessing a
remarkable influence in all the affairs of a tribe, they are burdened with all the heavy work; they
have to cultivate the fields, to carry from their distant plantations wood and provisions, and to bear
heavy loads during their travelling excursions. Early intercourse with the other sex, which their
customs permit, frequent abortions, and the long nursing of the children, often for three years,
contribute to cause the early decay of their youth and beauty, and are prejudicial to the full
development of their frame. 85 Daughters of influential chiefs, however, who have slaves to do the
84
Ironically, he contradicts his earlier comments in typical European fashion when he states: “Joy and mirth, I have
found from experience, are always sure to find an echo in the susceptible heart of the New Zealander and are also the
best means to secure his good will and confidence” (I:33); and that the “undisguised joy and sorrow” of an old
woman showed him “how equally Nature has distributed amongst the whole of the human family the kindly
affections of the heart, which are not the privilege of any one race or colour, nor increased by civilization, which
indeed too often blunts and destroys them” (I:167f.).
85
To this should also be added the tattooing of women’s lips which gives them “a livid, deadly appearance, certainly
not to their advantage” (II:36).
84