The Spanish Helmet (28 page)

Matt looked at Aimee, hoping she would start things off. She would surely know how to go about this tactfully. Certainly, she was better equipped to tackle this than he was. She took her cue.

‘We want to discuss the history of the region and the local Maori with you. We would like to hear about your oral traditions. What stories have you had passed down from your fathers? Stuff like that.’

‘What sort of stuff in particular?’ Andrew asked, leaning forward and looking interested.

‘It might be a bit of a touchy subject,’ Aimee said, a nervous twinge to her voice.

‘Don’t worry about us girl, we’re big kids, touch away.’ Matawai said, as she glanced over to Andrew.

Aimee looked at Matt.
His turn.
He now leaned forward a little closer too, he didn’t really want everyone else in the atrium hearing what he was about to say.

‘We want to know if there are any oral traditions of white people living amongst you, or visiting, before the British came.’

Andrew sat bolt upright, sucking in his breath with shock. The look on his face said it all.
Horror.
Matawai also sat back, exhaling and looking thoughtful. Matt looked at Aimee, who looked like she was holding back tears. He didn’t even want to know how pale he had turned at their reaction. He felt sick. Five or six seconds passed,
then
Matt got the shock of his life when Matawai and Andrew glanced at each other and burst out laughing.
Two foghorns repeating their merry scales for a good thirty seconds or more.
Matawai composed herself first.

‘Oh God,’ she said, through lighter laughs and visibly struggling to catch her breath. ‘We love doing that. You white
fullas
fall for it every time.’

Andrew was still laughing, but he held up his hand to signal to Matt his agreement. He clearly needed longer to get his breath and seemed to relive the joke every few seconds and started up again and again. Eventually he settled.

‘We’ve got no problem talking about these stories, Matthew. There are some born-again Maoris who would rather not know about them, but us older folk haven’t forgotten.’

‘Born-again Maoris?’

‘Some of the
young’uns
.
They don’t give a toss for Maoridom their whole lives, then they go get a degree and decide that they want to make a difference. They become a born-again Maori and start fighting for our rights. But mostly, they don’t represent us at
all,
they don’t even know what it is to be a Maori. They just want to be important somehow.
A whole lot of noise.
Mostly a problem up north, Wellington, Auckland.’

‘Oh. I see.’

‘So what stories have you got?’ Aimee asked.
‘Anything about earlier visitors?’

‘Yeah,’ Matawai answered, turning to Andrew. ‘Your Dad told you the same stories too?
About the ones out on the peninsula?’

‘He did. They came a long time ago on a big canoe, that’s how the story went. Now we know it was a ship, of course, but we tell it like our ancestors told it.
So, a big canoe.’

‘What happened?’ Matt asked.

‘Don’t know exactly,’ Matawai said. ‘My uncle told me that many years ago, maybe four or more generations before Cook came, a big canoe arrived on the Peninsula. The white men on the canoe were friendly and came to stay with the people here. They were welcomed into the tribe and had families. They lived in a village near a beach and there was a cave above the beach with their special things. After many years, they wanted to take their canoe and look up and down the coasts. They left their wives and children behind and sailed away, promising to come back. They were never seen again.’

‘And their wives and children?’

‘Lived among the Maori, as Maori.
Their wives were Maori anyhow. They didn’t come with woman, only men.’

‘That’s amazing,’ Matt said. ‘Do you believe it?’

Matawai laughed. ‘Of course I believe it. We don’t make up stories like this. This is our people’s history.’

‘Why isn’t stuff like this more known? Why don’t you tell the stories to others?’ Aimee asked.

‘We have. This was all common knowledge years ago, but people forget. No one is interested. All they have to do is come and ask.’

Matt sat there bewildered. They had merely met with two Kaumatua and already they had been told of white people living amongst them before Cook. How many others must there be? What would possess a country to not speak with their natives and find out their version of events? It beggared belief.

‘So this happened out on the peninsula?’ Matt asked. ‘You mean the Otago Peninsula then?’

‘Not many others out here,’ Andrew said, laughing. ‘I reckon if you go out there and ask around, you’ll find out even more. We’re from a little further south of here. It wasn’t our people’s story.’

‘We’ll do just that,’ Aimee said.
‘Tomorrow.’

Matt and Aimee said their thanks and goodbyes to the friendly Maori pair. He wondered if they were married, or just good friends from the same place. It didn’t matter. They were obviously as close as family. He was struck by the affection that he had witnessed and by how friendly the Maori were. He hadn’t known what to expect. His constant incidences with Hemi had put him on guard. But now he knew, despite a minority of bad examples, there was a fantastic group of people in New Zealand that he would love to have the chance to learn more about. Maybe tomorrow would bring him that opportunity.

  * * *

Hemi had observed the meeting between Matt, Aimee and the Maori couple from the mezzanine floor of the atrium. This time, he had gone unnoticed. Or so he thought. The problem with the whole GPS scenario was not losing his prey, but being unaware of their plans. When he saw the Maori couple that met with Matt and Aimee, he had to ask a student if she knew who they were. Thankfully he had spotted a Maori girl at a table upstairs and she immediately recognised them as Kaumatua from her tribe. Hemi had too much respect for his elders to get in the way of a meeting like that. He wanted to lay low and let things take their course. Hopefully Matt and Aimee could learn something valuable to their research here today. Thank God Warren Rennie wasn’t about to witness this. Speaking of which, it was time to touch base with Warren again. He had managed not to contact him since Nelson so Hemi knew that Warren would probably be pissed. Hemi still wanted to suck Warren into a trap by getting him mad, but likewise he hoped that nothing would get in Matt and Aimee’s way of successfully completing their research. He had to play his cards carefully. Watching Matt and Aimee leave the building, he took his mobile from his pocket and selected Warren from his contacts list.

‘Hemi!’
The phone was answered by an angry and blunt voice. ‘Decided to get back in touch, did
ya
? I wondered how long it would take you.’

‘Yeah, sorry.
I’ve been rather busy.’

‘Not half as busy as I have son.
Doing all your work for you.
Where are you? What’s happening?’

‘I’m at the University of Otago.
Observing Dr. Cameron.’

‘What’s he doing in Dunedin? Did he go to Moeraki? What about the Banks Peninsula?
Waihopai?’

‘He went to Moeraki and Waihopai,’ Hemi said.

‘Uhuh, and now
he’s
in Dunedin, eh? And what’s he doing there?’

‘I’m not sure exactly.’ Hemi lied. He didn’t like the sound of Warren’s voice. He was mocking him. Hemi wasn’t mocked.

‘He wouldn’t be chasing up his father’s theories would he?’

‘I don’t know, maybe, maybe not. He could be looking for more Celtic stuff. Big Scottish community you know.’

‘Then why was he having morning-tea with two Maori elders?’

Shit
. Hemi spun around and scanned the lobby. Warren had to be here, or had been here. He couldn’t possibly know that Matt had been with the Kaumatua, could he?

‘Why so quiet, Hemi?’

‘Where are you?’

‘That’s not important boy. You haven’t been taking care of your part of the bargain so I’ve come to sort it out for you. I’ll see you tomorrow.’

‘Where, when?’ Hemi asked, continuing his room-scan but still coming up empty.

‘Don’t worry, I’ll find you.’

The line went dead.

Hemi slipped the phone back in his pocket and lifted himself off the chair. As he walked out of the building, trying to look as relaxed as possible, he stole glances in every which direction that he could. Warren was here.
Somewhere.
Either that or he had someone else in his employ. That was a possibility Hemi didn’t want to have to consider. But he knew he had to now.

Wednesday, November 17, 1526

Our fears were unfounded. The local natives have proven to be friendly and welcoming, although wary at first. It would seem they have never seen a ship like ours. Their canoes are much smaller and certainly wouldn’t be suitable for crossing an ocean. The colour of our skin is also of much amusement to them. The native men have strong looking bodies wrapped in a very dark brown skin. They have black hair, often a black beard, white teeth, and a few have markings upon their faces. The older men appear to have more markings. Most of the men have none at all. The women mostly appear to wear their hair long, though a few of the older woman have it cut short.

The natives go about in an array of clothing or with none at all. The clothing they do wear is often basic, made out of a broad leafed grass that we have seen much of. They all wear pieces of shell or stone hanging from the ears and in chains around their necks. Some of the men wear two or three long white feathers in their hair when they are clothed. The women often wear a comb in their hair. The combs are made from bone or wood. There seems to be much respect for the older men from the younger.

We are struggling with finding a common language for communication. I tried Spanish, a few words of French, some English too. But the natives don’t appear to have had any contact with Europeans before, as I expected. We have, therefore, fallen back on signals. A lot of pointing and the slow pronunciation of
words, that
we might come to understand each other.

We have given them some of the sweet potato plants that we brought with us and these have been quickly planted, along with a few other specimens we had on board. The women were delighted with this gift. In return, we were rewarded with some very good fish and we have been shown where we can take water from the stream.

I think we will be able to get the ship onto the beach here and make repairs in a safe haven. At least for now, we have a good neighbourly relationship with the land’s people. I hope to be able to observe them more and to learn more about their ways.