When The Rainbow Is Pale

Te Ao Hou, March 1963, Page 57

When The Rainbow Is Pale by George Joseph Whitcombe and Tombs, 12/6 dear Reader, this book is hardly worth the mentioning. It is about Jack Rutherford, a man who lived for about ten years from 1816 with Maoris. In his introduction to the book the author writes pleasantly and intelligently enough of his interest in the three or four facts upon which the book is based. Once the story begins, however, the author writes down, presumably to the level of his hero, who, so the book says several times, is an illiterate. As the story goes the American brig, ‘Agnes’ is attacked by Maoris seeking revenge for the drowning of one of their womenfolk. The crew is killed and eaten except for Rutherford and a lad who are enslaved. They run away but meet a war-party advancing to attack the village from which they have escaped. The lad is killed but Rutherford manages to warn ‘his’ village of the danger and the village is saved. For this he is given his freedom. From then on he shares fully in the life of the village, its simple routines and cannibal feasts, its councils and cannibal feasts, and its wars and cannibal feasts. Rutherford is made a chief, is heavily tattooed, has an enemy, and two wives, and comes to enjoy cannibal feasts. Yet he remains a pakeha and one day he sails away. This happens when he reveals to the crew of a ship off shore, a plan to attack the ship as the ‘Agnes’ has been attacked. Years later he returns to the village, knowing that he will be killed for his past deceit, but not caring so long as he can spend one night in the whare that had been his home. His old enemy, who has become the chief, is looking forward to killing Rutherford in the morning but Rutherford dies during the night. This provides the local missionary with a powerful argument for the Christian God and when the book ends there is a sense that Rutherford has done something useful at last. The author is a lawyer and there is some gratuitous nonsense about Roman law and Maori customs. The love story is weak. The author's idea of life in the Maori village is vulgar. Gentle Reader, this book is not recommended. —Earle Spencer