Irritable in Aotearoa; Darwin & the Barbarians

The New Zealand that Charles Darwin dismissed as “the land of cannibalism and all atrocity” after his short visit in 1835, later featured prominently in his writings on evolution.

https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/irritable-in-aotearoa-darwin-the-barbarians/

"Darwin was astute enough to realise that it wasn’t just Maori whose tenure, if not very survival, was jeopardised by a flood of overseas immigrants, but the endemic flora and fauna as well. Although he did little natural history work during his stay other than measure the girth of a few kauri trees, he noted that certain weeds (a French “leek” and English dock) had “overrun whole districts, and will be very troublesome” and that the Norway rat had “annihilated from the northern extremity of the island the New Zealand species, in the short space of two years”.

Even a grumpy, homesick, and seasick Darwin could see the damage that was being done.

^{from original drawings by Augustus Earle, draughtsman of H.M.S. "Beagle"}

More to come on this article, but needed to get it recorded here.