Kōrero: Visitors’ opinions about New Zealand

This sketch appeared in a 1783 book by Julien Crozet, Voyage à la mer du sud. Crozet was the second-in-command to French explorer Marc Joseph Marion du Fresne, whose expedition stopped in the Bay of Islands for over two months in 1772. Initially the party had good relations with Māori and Marion du Fresne idealised them. However, when the French violated a restriction placed on a nearby bay, Marion du Fresne and 24 of his men were killed. This led to a dramatic change in the French view of Māori, and Crozet presented them as a treacherous people.