Codes of Survival -Scripts - a series of short factionalized stories based on historical events in the Subantarctic Islands written by Lloyd Godman to accompany the exhibition and installation - 1993 - © Lloyd Godman

Codes of Survival - Scripts

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'Kore te hoe, te tata. (No bailer.) Is this the place we shall remain forever? Haha te whenua,   haha te tangata.(In a desolate land, man is deserted.) We have travelled so far across moana, tongaroa and we have not seen Hawaiki, we may never do so, it is too far from here. Are we  lost? We are far far from kainga. It makes us weep.   It is such a sad thing.

Ah, it is hurokuroku hau, ua rangi.  (Ah, it is continuously windy and raining).   There is no escape at all. Do we have to die here away from kainga, huna with no 
mana or tumanako a hoki. We are neither Maori or Pakeha;  are we mahue ki tenei whenua. (are we lost to the land?)   This is the home of Tawhiri- matea,  
Tonga Tonga and tangoroa, for it is always Te ngaunga a Hine-moana upon the whenua. We live in tumakuru, but just survive. It is hard, it is hard. Tangaroa pukanohi nui is   all around us.(Big eyed Tangaroa) There is no escape.  There is no escape.

We are Turingongengonge to the ways of the past anyway,  we wheta to rerenga'. The world is changing, the world  is changing. We are here in isolation, the Pakeha are  changing the old ways. It shall never be as it was.   And if we are left here we shall never know. Me kauhi ranei koe ki te huruhuru kakapo pu mai o 
te tonga.(Shall I cover you with a feather cloak, heaped  up here from the south?) E makariri ana te hau. Ae, ka  nui te makariri. Kei te huka ouku ringaringa (The wind is  cold. Yes it is very cold. My hands are frozen)   The wind it blows and blows. The cold it bites and bites.   We must suffer this too. It is bad. The few hunched figures sat prodding the fire with the thin  end of a stick. Across each arched back the warmth of a  thick blanket broke the slash of the wind. It was still  
cold under the warmest of cloth. And beside them,   on the sands laid out   as a meagre offering to their bodies was a few small fish  caught that day ready to be cooked. He torutoru rawa nga ika i mau i a matou i te ata nei.  (We caught very few fish this morning.) But may be this   will be enough. We have some fern roots as well and a  few potatoes left behind. But these potato are nearly all gone.

 Food here is neither varied or plentiful. Tena ko te toa  mahi kai e kore e paheke.( A warrior who works hard at growing food will not fail) and yet, E rua tau ruru,  
E rua tua wehe, E rua tau mutu, E rua kore kai.   (two years of wind and storm, two years when food is scarce,two years when the crops fail,  two years of no food.) We need Te iti  oneone i kapunga mai i Hawaiki.  (A little bit of earth from Hawaiki in the  hollow of the hand.) We need some fortune just to keep us alive.
Kia eke au ki runga ki te puna o Tinirau.(I might as well be sitting on the blow hole of a whale.) He kai tangata, he kai titongi kaki.(Another man's food is food that mock the   throat). We can but dream, we can but dream. He  whiunga nui tenei.(It is a great misfortune). There is still Te Tutanga te unuhia. (the portion that can never be  withdrawn) And we do have this.

Are we Ka ngaro i te ngaro a te moa. At this time when we should be working together not thinking of war. Ko  tireki paku kore. ( this is Tireki which does not posses the smallest thing of value.) Are we lost as the Moa is lost. The tribe has been  divided even here with fights and squabbles. We fight as  dogs about silly things. Ko nga ngarara a Rauhina.  (Like the lizards or monsters of Rauhina.) We should  be one family. Since the Pakeha have left, the fighting  is worse. There seemed some purpose then. It is  impossible now, there is no future. He iti whainga,  he nui te paremata.( A little dispute, a great revenge)  this is all they think off. E kore ratou e pai kia houhia te rongo? E kore . Ka whawhai tonu, ka whawhai tonu.   (They will not make peace?  They will not.   They will carry on the war as long as they can). There are several groups of us now, we are dispersed  as the puawananga kano that blows on the wind.   Some at Ranui   and other parts of the main island,  also those of us here at Enderby island . Those here  could not stand the silly fights any longer and have little contact with the others.
It was not so bad when the Pakeha were here . That time brought its own problems, but there did seem some   purpose. We are such a small group now that we cant   afford to fight, and yet here we are split into two groups. 

Ko te uri o pani.(Offspring of an orphan) We are all  orphans now. Orphans of the whanau, orphans of the land. There has been no ship, no people, we are mahue.  Now we have no kuri, they are gone too. The Pakeha  had us destroy them all because they were attacking the animals. Now there are no animals, no Pakeha  and no kuri.  Sometimes there is a seal we can catch, and these taste  good, but these are too few. At night there is the sound of hokioi, it is the only other creature. It terrorises us, but it   can never be seen, never be caught and could never be eaten. A long thin hand reached out with a final prod to the fire   where the hot red embers glowed in the gathering night.   The few fish were nearly done and it was time to bring   over the others to share in the kai. In the half light they gathered about and ate. These fish had a thread worm,   they had no choice but to eat it though. In aotearoa they  would never eat this, there would be no need, but here  it was different, there was no choice. The children laughed and played after dinner, for they   knew nothing else. They all cuddled up as one warm   group, and this felt better. There was some mild laughter  and story telling, but not as they had known in the years  before they had come here. Before long it was time 
for sleep. At least it was good to have some whenua.  There was little else. In the gaining light of morning one after the other   they crawled out of the whare and stretched with a  yawn on the sandy beach. The children brought  wood for the fire and soon there was the welcome   warmth of the flame. For another day the wind was  soft, the day could be clear and it looked  good for fishing.

Ko te ra maeneene a te rahui Tangaroa.( This is a calm  day for the flocks of Tangaroa) Kei te pari mai te tai.  (The tide is coming in). There could be fish jumping, 
there could be fish to catch. There was a rush  for the fishing equipment, and off they set. But somehow, the best fish hook had vanished.  No matter how they searched it was gone. Something  had stole in during the night an taken it away.   Was it man or a ghost of the darkness, who  could be sure. It was one of the few bone fish hooks,  it was the one that caught the most. It was a real loss.  All the other hooks were there with the lines,   but in the night this treasure had been taken or lost.  E kore e kitea he toki huna.  (A hidden adze cannot be found)   The fish hook is lost. Ut may never be found,  it may never be found. 

But somehow, the best fish hook had vanished.  
No matter how they searched it was gone. Something  
had stole in during the night an taken it away.  
Was it man or a ghost of the darkness, who  
could be sure. It was one of the few bone fish hooks, 
it was the one that caught the most. It was a real loss. 
All the other hooks were there with the lines,  
but in the night this treasure had been taken or lost. 
E kore e kitea he toki huna. 
(A hidden adze cannot be found)  
The fish hook is lost. Ut may never be found, 
it may never be found. 

end