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the strength and courage of a devoured enemy are transferred to him who eats him, are, without
question, the causes of this unnatural taste – not the pleasure of eating human flesh, which is
certainly secondary, and, besides, is not at all general. A chief is often satisfied with the left eye of
his enemy, which they consider the seat of the soul. They likewise drink the blood from a similar
belief. The dead bodies are “tapu” until the tohunga has taken a part of the flesh, and, with prayers
and invocations, has hanged it up on a tree or on a stick, as an offering to the Atuas, or to the
wairua of him to revenge whom the war was undertaken. The heads are stuck up on poles round
the village. Women, especially those who plant the kumara, and those who are with child, are not
allowed to eat of the flesh, but children are permitted to do so at a certain age, when the priest
initiates them into the custom by singing an incantation […]. Many men too are restricted from
eating it. They all agreed, when conversing with me freely upon the subject, that human flesh is
well flavoured, especially the palm of the hands and the breast. The flesh of Europeans they
consider salt and disagreeable – a curious physiological fact, if true; and they stated the same
regarding the flesh of our dogs and the introduced European rat. It appears very doubtful whether
they ever killed a slave merely for the purpose of eating him. Where such murder was committed
there was generally some superstitious belief connected with the act, or it was done as a
punishment. (II:128-30)
Thus, it is a more humane picture that Dieffenbach creates of the ravages of combat. Yet, he
combines this image with that of ‘moko-mokai’, namely preserving the heads of slaughtered
enemies and parading them in victory on ‘taiahas’ before placing them on fences outside their
houses (II:134), 99 and ‘taua tapu’ (sacred fight) or ‘taua toto’ (fight for blood), in which “[i]f
blood has been shed, a party sally forth and kill the first person they fall in with, whether an
enemy or belonging to their own tribe; even a brother is sacrificed” (II:127). However, we are
told that “the native ventures out in his war canoe, now, happily, seldom bent on warlike
enterprises, but on peaceful visits to his friends and relations” (I:95).
When viewed in this light, the responsibility for the excessive acts committed by the
Maori can be directly related to their beliefs and customs, rather than simply being characteristic
of an innately treacherous and dishonest nature. 100 In spite of their style of combat being altered
through the introduction of firearms, 101 a degree of chivalry still exists as “strangers or neutrals
99 “After the brain has been taken out (and eaten), the head is slowly steamed over hot stones, the exudating humidity
is wiped off, and this process is continued till the head becomes mummified, in which state it can be preserved for a
long time […]” (II:134). It should be noted, however, that heads of lost relatives were also embalmed (I:364; cf.
II:66).
100 However, he is less than charitable in his praise of the Maori that inhabit the Chatham Islands following their
treatment of the indigenous Moriori who were, if not exterminated, turned into slaves by their oppressors (Ernest
Dieffenbach, “An Account of the Chatham Islands”, in: Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London 11
(1841): 195-215, esp. 208).
101 It is generally argued that Maori warfare changed from a less frequent and destructive event of shorter duration to
something which could be sustained over a longer period of time with more portable European foods, was quicker,
deadlier and more expansive in effect, all in the name of settling old scores, resulting in the extermination or
depopulation, as well as the movement and displacement of numerous tribes in the first half of the nineteenth century
in what is known today as the ‘Musket Wars’ (see R. D. Crosby, The Musket Wars: A History of Inter-iwi Conflict
1806-45. With an introduction by Michael King. 2 nd Ed. Auckland: Reed, 2001). Ballara, on the other hand, is of the
opinion that the effect of muskets has been exaggerated, and it was not until the late 1820s that their numbers
90