The Maoris

     Michael Bassett warns that someone will have to practice that form of cannibalism known as eating you own words. He says:
     "George Sassoon's story about a privately published book in New Zealand by someone called Doutre, who, as an historian, I have never heard of, makes interesting reading. Proof that legends can grow in minds based on nothing factual.
     The Chatham Islands to the east of New Zealand were settled slowly by Polynesians from about the Thirteenth Century. They came by canoe from the South Island of NZ, and by 1791, when the first Europeans appeared (Captain W.R. Broughton of "The Chatham"), they had developed their own distinctive, but completely Polynesian culture. They called themselves Moriori. There were about 2,000 of them by this time. There is no evidence of Celts. Much archaeological study has been done.
     The arrival of European sealers and sailors brought disease to the Chathams (the Moriori called the islands Rekohu), and the population declined, but worse was to come. In 1835, 900 Taranaki Maori living in the Wellington area and belonging to the Te Ati Awa tribe, captured a European vessel that had arrived from Sydney and obliged the captain to sail to the Chathams. The mainland Maori soon slaughtered around 300 of the Moriori, whose warrior abilities were slight. Some cannibalism took place. Over time the Moriori declined rapidly, and, of course, in due course intermarriage took place. The last full-blooded Moriori died in 1933. But many Moriori names are carried by Chatham Islanders to this day.
     In my capacity as Minister of Internal Affairs 1987-90 I was in charge of the Chathams. Today the total population is about 700. They divide roughly into three groups - full Europeans (a relatively small number), those whose primary links are to Moriori (a larger number), and the largest group who regard themselves as the descendants of mainland Maori. Interestingly, the Maori MP for the islands for many years was the Western Maori MP from the Taranaki region on the west coast of the North Island where most of the Maori on the Chathams originally came from.
     I repeat, there are few mysteries about the islanders' backgrounds. The best book on the islands is by Michael King, Moriori: A People Rediscovered, Viking Press, Auckland, 1989."


     My warning: Historical reefs ahead in another of today's postings.

Ronald Hilton - 1/2/00