174: Pre-1840 interaction between Maori and European

The divide in cultures and the understanding between cultures can be vast. This is no more evident that how European and Maori understood each other, or 'failed to' as the case was. It was never a one sided event, but it was someone else's land the European had entered.

The first known meeting (and we say 'known' as the only reason we know of this event, is that the sailors arrived back home to tell their tale) was with the Dutchman Abel Tasman. He didn’t even get ashore before being attacked with four of his crew being killed. There was no provocation other than turning up, or was there? It was 127 years before any known ‘white man’ came back. Cook in 1769, the Frenchmen D'Urville and Dufresne, also encountered Maori hostility. Dufresne was killed in 1772.

Initially Maori saw Europeans as some sort of gods and were afraid of them (Abel Tasman apparently not, but that's the Dutch for you!). Maori were therefore genuinely surprised when they could be killed and eaten (and yes, they were eaten). As contact became easier, Europeans saw large meeting houses but small stick huts for sleeping in, stockades, gardens, intricate weapons and tools, all made from stone or wood. Consequently, and within their cultural understanding the time, Europeans saw Maori as in the stone age, but of a vastly superior culture than others they had seen elsewhere. Europeans catalogued whatever seemed interesting to them but, unfortunately, without any cultural reference or understanding. The dried heads of chiefs, or captured foes, were most fascinating, for few cultures ever did this. Likewise Maori could not understand the white man's lack of fear of tapu and this caused much friction between the two races.

In 1769 Maori saw their land as the only world that existed; with Hawaiki now some mystical homeland across the sea. To them the rules and regulations were governed by the atua and yet these white beings seemed greater for a time. When attacked, these white gods could kill from a distance. Fear therefore gripped many of the native people (not yet called Maori). But after a length of time they saw them not as gods but human beings and they were fascinated by their white skins, bright coloured clothing, shiny trinkets and iron! Trading was thereafter very enthusiastic and every new ship was swamped with maori seeking to trade or steal.

Once again, stealing was not seen the same from the Maori perspective as it did from the European. This is where the misunderstanding of the doomed ship, the Boyd, began. An alleged theft of European spoons by a Maori on a European ship was therefore justified by European custom to a flogging. Maori however saw that as incredibly offensive in their culture and for the flogging of one man they massacred 90 people from the Boyd. While Europeans saw that as horrific, it was cultural (at the time) for Maori to avenge an insult - and the number of dead was irrelevant.

There is also the massacre on the Parramatta in 1808 where the crew were killed after the vessel was wrecked near Cape Brett, Northland. They had earlier obtained urgently needed supplies of pork, fish, and potatoes. When the locals who had provisioned the ship asked for payment, they were thrown overboard and three were shot and wounded. As karma would have it, a storm then drove the Parramatta onto rocks before it had left the Bay, and the crew were massacred and the ship plundered. This story of the blatant European abuse of native kindness needs to be told also - so why isn't it?

On several occasions visiting Europeans were attacked by Māori. These were not random acts of violence. The point here is that even today European and Maori still see each event in the light of the cultural expectation and understanding of the day. Each was fully justified within their own culture and practice in 1772, yet even in 2019, (nearly 250 years later) Maori still get offended by European treatment, in say 1790, while expecting Europeans to not get offended at Maori practice at the same time. That is clearly racism (in 2020) as it suggests that one races culture and practices 250 years ago, were superior to another’s. They were not, they were simply different.

Without European arrivals, Maori would still be living the same way today as they did in 1792. But two types of European arrived to change everything. The religious and the commercial – each brought their western way of life but different values to an unwitting culture. Prior to 1769, not much is known other than by verbal telling. Stories suggest people existed long before the migrations and people with fuzzy hair and artifacts similar to western pacific (Melanesia) were evident. Regardless, that is not our focus – all we focus on here is the interaction between maori and white people.

In regard to Maori - attacks, killing and cannibalism cannot be criticized for the sole reason they were part of the culture back then. Equally for the Europeans who saw themselves as peaceful explorers; being attacked by anyone allowed retaliatory response. In most cases the injuries or deaths caused by Europeans were a result of fear, retaliation or misunderstanding. On the Maori side, deaths and injuries to Europeans was initially from fear, and then from the Europeans lack of understanding the ways of the Maori; a bit hard when you don't know the language. It would be no different today with aliens landing on earth and doing something we find offensive but they don't, and the army blowing them way, or more likely visa-versa.

It has been suggested that up to 200,000 Maori lived here prior to Cooks arrival. They were unevenly distributed with the southern island having no more than 10,000. Most lived in the far north where most post-Cook contact was made. The long term contact with Europeans gradually changed the diet, clothing, mannerisms, and the tools of Maori. Note that none of this was not forced upon them, for this is what the Maori chose to do. Maori were very keen to trade in what they saw as valuable (at the time). Diseases were unknown and none were introduced until Europeans arrived. Maori were isolated both physically and mentally and by that we mean they had nothing to challenge their thinking, beliefs or way of life. Remember we said above that they thought they were the universe... and why not - they knew of no others alive.

Let's make this clear. Prior to Cook, and for a long time afterward, and to some extent even now; Maori lived in a world to which no one, who did not belong to it, can ever fully understand. And to Maori, they struggled with changing their practices to European ways while holding onto their Maori mentality. This caused much mental anguish for many. The two ways are not interchangeable. You sway fully one way, or the other, to make sense of things. More on that later.

Religion was deep seated. Forces they could not understand they personified. Breaking tapu caused many to die for no other reason than the realization of what they had done (fear). It later confused tohungas who saw Maori break tapu; and therefore would die, be healed by missionary healers. Was the European God more powerful? It was of great concern to their belief structure. Tapu defined their whole existence, but only to those who believed it. Revenge of the gods could only afflict those who believed they could - and there were gods of just about everything. To live a successful life you needed to avoid angering the gods.

The rapid decline in population of Maori from 1810 onwards was a result of two primary things...

1. The European diseases inadvertently introduced.

2. Maori finding a new superior weapon of warfare with which to fight other tribes.

The numbers of dead from the two examples above are probably about equal, maybe in the vicinity of 40,000 for each method. War may have started for land conquest (land conquest was still going on between 1700 and 1850), but it evolved into a matter of mana. An insult demanded revenge and that was just the way of it. And revenge for that event would still need to be taken at some point. Long seated plans of utu could fester for 40 years or more. War was mainly small scale but did result in killing, cannibalism, the taking of slaves and sometimes land. And the gods were instrumental in every victory or defeat. Slaves (yes they kept slaves - and it was cultural) were also a measure of wealth, as it was with the Europeans, Americans, Arabs and Mediterranean peoples. But as sickening as Europeans saw this, it was accepted custom at the time it was practiced, as it was a European custom at the time it was practiced.

After initial contacts, whalers, sealers and traders arrived. They introduced disease, alcohol - and mayhem. However, contrary to the reports in media, the debauched residents of Kororareka were not in their element until the late 1830’s. Prior to that there were few Europeans in number. In fact; and hear this.... until about 1840 Maori could have have eliminated the European at any stage, so dependant were they upon the Maori for protection and food. Maori were in total control of proceedings until after 1840.

About 1816 the missionaries began to arrive in numbers, each denomination seeking its own converts., They were largely unsuccessful. It took upward of 30 years before any real progress was made and in the end the great numbers that turned to Christianity did so because it was ‘fashionable’ to do so rather than true meaningful conversion. In the Bay of Islands even Maori missionary girls would head out the ships for sex in return for fancy clothes. Once again, this horrified the Europeans, but Maori cultural practice did not frown on what we would call premarital sexual relations. Unfortunately the sexual diseases and other diseases that flourished through close contact spread like wildfire - literally. In the early days, 1816-1819 only fourteen ships visited the Bays of Islands, that’s only one every 6 weeks as an average although more arrived at favourable times of year. Eventually ships would, arrive every year. Visitors like Augustus Earle noted that even as at 1832 the missionaries had certain spiritual, social and mental flaws. In fact missionaries would often ‘maorify’ themselves in order to win converts. Living with the people, as closely to their way of life, was seen as a way to better understand them. This was not always successful and many abandoned their European ways for a time. In 1833 there were still no more than about 30 white people actually living in the Bay of Islands. But that decade saw much change. There were often violent disagreements. Killing occurred on both sides.

Trade of all sorts flourished for a time. Timber, flax, pigs, iron, muskets, prostitution, and potatoes flowed both directions. Many European settlers without a wife, took Maori wives as much for protection as comfort. 1830’s were still a dangerous time to live in a country with a dominant native population. When whalers arrived, many Maori would work on them, abandoning tapu until back at the village again (!). Escaped convicts would flee into the interior and if they survived would live with Maori.

For a long time bad language and alcohol were rejected by Maori. But there were many other problems. Wearing European clothing without washing it, caused much illness disease. Fevers were dealt with by immersing in rivers which missionaries finally persuaded Maori not to do and therefore saved many lives. Pakeha Maoris were instrumental in helping interpret the language and helping in negotiation between whites and Maori. By 1839 1100 Europeans were in the country. Most of those were connected to missions but about 400 of them were there as traders. Only after 1840 did the non-missionary population exceed the missionary population. The missionaries of different faiths often argued among themselves. It took until 1925 to get a single convert and other 3 years for the second. The Maori wars were of great concern to the missionaries. While they had protection of the likes of Hongi Hika, they stood back and watched as musket armed bands left for war and returning with full bellies and host of slaves. This was a reality in Aotearoa between 1815-1840 and beyond. It was fueled by utu (revenge) for past insults going back many years, maybe even hundreds of years, but once Ngapuhi has a superior weapon the means by which to fulfil the vows of utu were overwhelmingly effective. Up to 40,000 Maori were killed by Maori. Tribes without the musket were decimated, and only when muskets were prolific through the country did the senseless war stop. However, to call them senseless is a European interpretation. Maori did not and still do not see it that way. If Maori had a superior weapon to Pakeha now, who knows what would happen? When the wars ended, the missionaries became more successful. This was mainly due to confusion of the Maori. It was apparent the wars were decimating their population along with unknown illnesses, infanticide, food, habits etc.

Maori were healthy before Europeans arrived and they lived to a good old age; excepting war. That changed by 1840. The maori practice of mingling and the use of the hongi spread disease rapidly. They saw illness and related it to religion. Tohungas were the most trusted people for cures. But many Maori aggravated European illnesses but their attempts to cure it. There were several epidemics. Venereal diseases were rfie. Maori were not forced into prostitution, they didn’t see it as that as they willingly did it for trade. Considering the amount of ‘intercourse’ going on, very few half caste children were ever seen. Interestingly, before Europeans infanticide and abortion were common. But with the advent of European men in ships, daughters were useful again and infanticide dropped dramatically.

European animals decimated Maori plants and gardens, so European plants were used. Pigs became a problem as they got into gardens and tapu areas. European dogs, rats and cats decimated wildlife. The Maori dog, once used for food became extinct.

Sadly, once drinking alcohol was learned by Maori (and it took a long time for that to happen), it just exacerbated the misery of the Maori after 1831, but it took until 1840 before it became a problem. Few people ever saw a drunk Maori before 1840.

It must be noted that Maori were the ones producing food for the Europeans and they worked themselves ragged in producing it. Those that grew trade for food had less food for themselves than other Maori in other areas who did not have as much trade. They also ate poorer quality food than they traded. They would eat rotten corn, a practice still in vogue today. Not only did they drain themselves for trade, they changed location in which they lived. This was disastrous because instead of living on high places they now lived in low flat places where dampness and cold prevailed.

Once the muskets trade fell, the clothing trade began in earnest. To look European was seen, by Maori, as prestigious. But they would wear winter clothes in summer, and when hot, would plunge into streams and continue to wear that wet clothing. Evern to speak English held a certain mana and to walk, stand, rest and convey certain postures of the European was seen as a step up by this time. Yet all it did in their ignorance and quest for meaning was produce more confusion to their cultural beliefs. Maori still died, seemed unhealthier, and were more miserable. Some of them even asked to leave the country on sailing ships. Think about that for a moment!

We won’t go into the wars between Maori too much. We already have a few accurate historical articles on these wars and the land wars; and they should both be taught in schools by the way. A one sided history is not history. What should be noted is that even missionaries traded muskets knowing what was going on, but they had very little influence with the chiefs and still needed their protection. The numbers of Maori that Maori killed was astronomical. They killed more than had been killed in all the 500 years prior in this land - and let that detail sink in... Hongi, a great friend and protector of the missionaries, was the biggest culprit to this frenzy of utu (that is what it was – blood lust). Yet Hongi was a brilliant man. Clever, well educated, resected. Within Maori culture, what he was doing was perfectly acceptable.

In 2021, if the European should 'but out' of the cultural issues of Maori (as some suggest they should), then Maori have no right to complain about European cultures either whether they be in 1790, 1820, 1840 or 2021. It cannot go just one way. Europeans were welcomed into NZ by Maori who could have easily eliminated them at any time prior to 1840. Areas once thriving with Maori villages were empty and decimated in 1835 due to the musket wars (a time when Maori were still dominant in numbers). Auckland was one of those empty areas. Europeans then saw it as vacant and abandoned. They had no understanding of land ownership as it was understood by Maori.

Changes in behaviour of the Maori were seen in different fronts. The Europeans could write about what they saw in cannibal feasts, but could not explain Maori personality or behaviour at all. You just couldn’t do so from a European viewpoint. European only saw a limited set of experiences. Maori had lifetimes of cultural ingrained beliefs. Europeans oversimplified everything they saw, yet the Maori back then were a complicated race. Europeans judged character based on their nineteenth century morals. Some saw Maori as noble, others as bloodthirsty. For an immigrant to arrive with word of an 'open country and a respectable people', they could easily be shocked and disappointed at what they experienced. You cannot simple force an unconscious explanation of different Maori activities into European modes of thought. Maori saw missionaries acting poorly toward one another. Critics of the missionaries thought it useless to berate the ‘poor savages’ (1830 terminology of the time) with things they did not understand and confuse them with pompous prayers, lesson and trends of the future. Whalers and settlers thought the missionaries failed because the conversions were not real, they were faked and convenient for whatever one could get at the time. Many would arrive at missions and once they got the clothing or food they needed, they would disappear again.

The Maori dominated the early years. They were in control. They became rapidly aware of the the knowledge of the white man and how to gain the best advantage from them for themselves. But as the years passed and the perception of Europeans by the Maori took shape, the resulting ‘westernisation’ expected did not take place. Well into the 1820’s maori were assertive about their own ways of life. Stealing what was not nailed down was not seen through the same eyes. This is what caused many arguments, and sometimes deaths. Maori could steal from Europeans because their culture did not see it that way, yet Maori complained loudly if you took something of theirs? It still happens. The arrogance is part of the nature of both Maori and Europeans; either consciously or unconsciously.

In the 1830's Maori used western foods and weapons to attempt to restore the balance in an incredibly confused time of insults and arguments and defeat in war. Therefore cultural assertion was a reaction to foreign contact. However not much of the culture changed with the coming of the Europeans. Only in warfare did a massive change come to the culture. All Maori did was take their culture and their grievances against other tribes, and use European ways or weapons to assist in that goal. Wars were based on motives that were generations old. Huge 'massacres' occurred. IN reality they were genocides.

Prior to 1830 the Maori felt a self-confidence and superiority toward the European, and quite justifiably so. Europeans were forced to adjust to Maori ways, not the other way around. Missionaries were a way to gain new tools and weapons so maori wanted missionaries around them. The influence was one way only at that time. The missionaries laboured on despite a growing disillusionment and utility of their work. Only in healing matters did they gain some mana. Those that gained mana, settlers included, were listened to by the Maori and influence began to be applied slowly. Maori conversion for missionaries was slow but between 1835 and 1842 attendance at church grew from 1500-3500. Sudden illnesses and death, threats of war and the growing inability to regulate their lives many Maori began to become bewildered and this was a time which prepared the way for many conversions, but how many were genuine when the missionaries were now ‘cash cows’ with their apparent wealth? Missionaries defied tohungas and gained prestige with their lack of death while healing maori. All these things began a rapid decline in customary beliefs but they continued to use the missionaries for whatever they could be useful for. The first conversions were slaves, it took much more time before chiefs themselves converted and swayed whole tribes to a new religion. Maori turned to Christianity so fast, it was a race as to which denomination could reach new tribal areas first.

Christian confusion with Maori words led to atua meaning God when it really meant 'gods'. Indeed, as the word tohi was used toward baptism the Maori began to think of baptism in the own understanding of tohi (which was a rite of protection of an infant). Tohi was performed for three purposes; (1) to dedicate the child to his life's work, (2) to strengthen and preserve him in battle, and (3) to protect the life principle. As Maori read the old testament, they found the religion affirmed for the large part their traditional ways of life. Maori already understood gods and spirits and miracles. Prayer and worship appeared to Maori more in the light of potent charms and incantations than of a spiritual relationship with a spiritual being. Bibles were sought in huge numbers, mainly as a way to learn reading, as bibles were the only book in existence in any numbers. Missionaries often said “Maori had an amazing ability to memorize but did not always understand what they memorized.” I would say that is the case with many ‘Christians’ today, regardless of race. With the advent of conversions, real or perceived, slavery and cannibalism fell slowly into disuse, wars among themselves ceased, infanticide was abandoned and some of the European vices, prostitution and alcohol also diminished.

When Governor Hobson declared the sovereignty of Great Britain over the whole of NZ in 21st May 1840 everything began to change. Generally, Maori looked forward to the changes as they were generally miserable and confused with the mix of cultures and looked forward to more opportunities to trade. European numbers did not outweigh the declining Maori population until 1855. Until then they were still better armed and more skilful a warrior than most British colonists. On the other hand, Ngapuhi were more westernised (by choice), than the rest of the entire country.

However, cultural misunderstandings still continued and none more so than the interpretation of the treaty. But it seems ignorance is voiced now as to what that Treaty meant. Yet the treaty was written in Maori, and explained in Maori, by those Maori who knew both languages. Back then those signing knew exactly what that sovereignty meant. The Chiefs knew what they signed - or those Maori interpreting were liars.