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pakea [sic] (stranger) is doing” (II:72). Their housing is naturally characteristic of their general
sense of hygiene, a subject Forster spoke frequently on:
The New Zealander is not over-clean in his person, but he is very particular respecting his food;
and his dwelling also is kept in as much order as possible. The introduction of blankets and all
sorts of ragged European clothing, accompanied with the parasitical flea, which, according to
native accounts, only appeared with the Europeans, has not improved his sense of propriety or his
general appearance. The rigour of the climate and the want of soap are the principal causes of this,
as the natives do not cease washing and cleaning themselves when they have plenty of that
invaluable article, or when the vanity of females is any way concerned. (II:58) 104
Throughout his journeys Dieffenbach witnesses the traditionally constructed Maori houses, which
range from an old native house in the bush, which is a “hotbed” for many “smaller animals, not to
be named to ears polite” (I:145), 105 to the “most whimsical structures I ever saw” in a little village
at Cape Maria van Diemen, whereby “[e]ach dog and each pig had its sty fenced in, and the men
themselves had similar little sties to live in” (I:199), and finally to the more common abode:
In the middle of the house a fire is lighted in the evening, which fills it with smoke; sometimes a
[sic] times a lamp is burnt, for which purpose they use shark or whale oil in a pawa (Haliotis),
with a wick of the native flax. Each member of the family lies down on a mat, and goes to sleep in
the dress that he or she wore during the day, but this is often thrown off if the heat becomes
excessive. The smoke and heat render it very disagreeable for a European to sleep in these houses;
besides, the natives are so communicative, that on the arrival of a stranger talking goes on all
night. Inferior persons and slaves range themselves around the fire in the kitchen, but more
frequently they all sleep in the same house. (II:69f.)
However, this does not always mean European structures are an improvement, as when the
“upstart settlements of missionary natives” are compared with an “old heathen pa, the former
really look extremely miserable and tame” (I:391). 106 Furthermore, various locally constructed
houses outshine those of Europeans, of which “some are not inferior to those of the villages in
many parts of Europe” (I:38), not to mention the churches, huts and living quarters made for
missionaries all in the European style, the latter of which is “in strength and beauty equal to any
in New Zealand on the European plan” (II:71). Moreover, in neatness their plantations often
“exceed everything that would be done by Europeans with similar means” (I:226), in which
everything is “kept clean and in good order, and in this respect it surpassed many villages in
Europe” (I:103): “Here and there fields of potatoes, kumaras, melons, and pumpkins, neatly
104
See I:163.
105
He adds: “[A]fter this night’s experience I always preferred sleeping in the open air, or under my own tent, which
I found by far the most comfortable” (I:146).
106
Cf. I:247, 316, 320, 390.
92