Signed in 1840, the Treaty of Waitangi is an agreement between the British Crown and Maori. Around this time, there were 125,000 Maori and about 2000 settlers in New Zealand. Sealers and whalers were the first Europeans settlers, followed by missionaries.
Their male subjects burned 105 calories running, 52 walking; the women, 91 and 43. That is, running burns twice as many net calories per mile as walking. And since you can run two miles in the time it takes to walk one mile, running burns four times as many net calories per hour as walking.
The American Council on Exercise estimates that a 160-pound person will burn about 8.7 calories per minute walking and about 7.3 calories per minute biking at 10 mph. A person who weighs 180 pounds will burn about 9.7 calories per minute that they walk and 8.2 calories per minute biking at 10 mph. Therefore, walking typically burns more calories than biking at a similar pace -- and is thus more beneficial for losing fat.