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Sport 8: Autumn 1992

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It seems as if earthquakes were always a feature of the land. The original inhabitants, a race of noble Polynesians, devised many strange and haunting legends concerning the tremors.

Many of these tales concern an earthquake god, Whakaruaumoko, whom they propitiated with gifts of kumara and intricately carved wooden boxes.

The legends and the gifts, although beautiful, do not seem to have stopped the earthquakes. However, most people agree that matters have become very much worse since the arrival of Europeans.

Sometimes I wonder what they must have thought, my ancestors, when they first felt the ground trembling beneath their feet. Perhaps they thought little of it, blinded by the richness of the land, the abundance of nature. So much rich, loud rain. The wind. Sunlight, abundantly bright. So, there were earthquakes as well ... So, the country was young, it was enthusiastic!

Such a young land.

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