BOOKS

THE WORLD OF THE MAORI by Eric Schwimmer reviewed by N. P. K. Puriri A. H. & A. W. Reed, 21s E hoa e Eric, Tena koe me to hoa rangatira e noho mai na i tawahi. Kaati. I have just finished your book. Don't start stuttering or stammering, I am not going to attack it. Mind you I must confess that was my original intention. Anyway, it wouldn't be me if I hadn't thought about it. For the life of me, I don't know how you did it. You have covered a fantastic field. If you had made serious omissions, I would have forgiven you, because I well remember 10 years ago, when you stayed with me and my family in Auckland. Remember, on the third night of your stay you didn't turn up until the next evening because you had forgotten our address and I suspect you had even forgotten my name. The publication of your book is timely, like the pipiwharauroa from across the oceans, the harbinger of spring heralding the season of warmth and plenty. It's easy to read. Your technique in using short snappy and to the point chapters, has to be read to be believed. They are informative and factual, and your facility for compressing your material into a succinct statement is truly magnificent. Other writers would have written tomes whereas you cover the subject in one page. Fantastic. It is the kind of book that once you start reading you don't want to put down. I go so far as to say that even if your mokopunas or relatives arrived on your front doorstep, you would be, to put it mildly, a little annoyed at the interruption. Your introduction, in my opinion, is an understatement. Obviously, in your travels you have come across the proverb 1 The kumara never says it is sweet. ‘e kore te kumara e ki te mangaro ia’. However, e hoa, don't be whakama, let me sing your praises now, not when it is too late. I consider this book to be the best of its kind that has yet been published. It is not only good for the Maori in having a better understanding of himself, but it is also good for the Pakeha to enable him to understand his fellow New Zealander. For me personally, it has helped to fill in the gaps and to have a clearer view of myself. The chapters on Kinship, Learning to be a Maori, Modern Maori, Maori Revival, and the Conclusion are gems. Mind you this is an unfair statement—I should have said all the chapters were gems. You have made the quest for identity much easier, by covering the past in the way you have, and stressing Maori thought and philosophy of life. The present can be better understood and the future made more coherent. Your book, or should I say our book, is a ‘must’ for all people who work with and live alongside Maori people, more especially social workers, teachers, employers and students. Reading the book, it is obvious that you are steeped in things Maori. You are truly a tohunga. The book is perfect but like the master of old, you have purposely made an error and that is at page 143, where you talk about the challenge (wero) and you added an ‘h’ making it whero. This will make many of our friends up the Coast chuckle with glee. I have a faint suspicion that you are having some fun at someone's expense. It must be your Maori sense of humour. It struck me as rather incongruous that Chapter 10 on Law and Order, has a full page reproduction captioned ‘Warrior Chieftains of New Zealand 1846. What you didn't do was to name the chieftains. Possibly you didn't want to show any favouritism but, in case you didn't know I will name them for you, and point out that they were not all chieftains, one was a chieftainess. They are from left to right—Hariata daughter of Hongi Hika (of musket fame) and wife of Hone Heke, Hone Heke (of flagstaff fame) and Kawiti of Ngatihine. I recall when I was at primary school many years ago the teachers referred to them as ‘rebels’ much to my annoyance, because they are my ‘bones’. Well, Eric, I should have followed your example by being brief and the review would have read as follows: 2Tis indeed a magnificent job. ‘Ae marika mahi tika ana.’ Let not this be the first nor the last book, but the forerunner of many more. Ma te rungarawa korua e manaki. He oi ano Nu to hoa.