1840: Tour of Duty or Tour of Booty?
May 3, 2019
By AHNZ
Today in New Zealand History, a young man’s grave mistake….works out just fine! It’s a very interesting window on how benign New Zealand was; Or did he just get lucky? It happened on 4 May, 1840, on Coromandel Peninsula.
HMS Herald was touring New Zealand collecting Treaty signatures for Hobson’s great scheme. Future Rear-Admiral (retired) Henry Comber has very informative journal entries of this time which I have been reading (Tour of Duty (1999.))
On this day Comber headed off on a recreational shooting while others took care of the Treaty business. Comber states he has never had a better day’s sport of shooting, managing to take down several big wood pigeons and tui.
The young man forgot himself, caught up in the reverie of nature and the hunt. Then, a cold realisation washed over him. Comber was alone, far from the ship, and in a primordial stone age forest. And, it was after dark!
His crew understandably thought he may have been killed and eaten by Maoris. Next day, Comber returned safely to the Herald soon after noon. Where had he been?
In fact, the young man had spent the night in the hospitality of three Maori women in their basic little whare. Henry negotiated his way into their absent husband’s sleeping spot and has them cook up a stew with his birds and their potatoes. Next morning, Henry is helped back by the other tenant of this “miserable” hut, a young boy. The women are rewarded with Henry’s neck handkerchief for their hospitality.
One sound interpretation of all of this is what a perfectly secure and bucolic world this 1840 New Zealand was. Or, was seen to be. One young chap, just turned 19, can wander about a cannibal land safely and even be welcomed. Try the same thing in the Rambo novel First Blood and you’ll have Brian Dennehy busting your arse and his man-hunters driving you into the bush! Comber stumbles upon hot food, shelter, and welcoming women.
Tour of Booty?
A less sound interpretation must be considered too which is that these women offered more than “hospitality” while their husband was away. Comber has remarked on other pages of having found Maori women attractive so if propriety was maintained it may be of great credit to himself and to restraint of the lonely Coromandel harem.
—
ref. Tour of Duty : Midshipman Comber’s Journal Aboard HMS Herald, W.D. and M. McIntyre (1999); Canterbury University
Image Ref. J. Bunker portrait of Comber; University of Canterbury Art Collection
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