Simply Maori. I loved the rawness of this story. There wasn't much of the post-pakeha cultural change left out of this 1950s story. I lived in New Zealand at this time and I was about the same age as Himiona (Simeon). Admittedly, my pakeha life was centered on the opposite coast. The cultural differences between Taranaki and Poverty Bay Maori were quite sharp as I remember my childhood friends and neighbours, but they were also achingly non-existant in the great Polynesian scheme of things. I think I've said what I mean. In case I haven't said it in an understandable way, try this: Maori are Maori but Poverty Bay Maori seem to have been hurt more by the advent of the power brought by the white immigration. The religions practiced on the east coast were nicely nuanced. ( )