SPOILERS!!!
The New Zealand Company offers the German settlers land in another area. Karl, who has been working for the surveyor, turns up and tells them that the land is worthless because the rain floods everything and turns the land into a swamp. The men despise Karl and won't heed them. Ida follows Karl outside, and he tells her to elope with him and they will get married, but she walks away.
The German settlers leave Nelson for the new area, and soon afterwards Ida and Ottfried marry. Ida realises that married life is torturous. Not only does she realise that Ottfried has an insatiable appetite, but he drinks too much, and when she dares to contradict him, he hits her. Shortly afterwards the community realise that Karl's warning was true, and all the work they do is wasted when the rain floods the land. Soon families return to Nelson, and the men still won't accept that Karl is right, and they think that it is God's punishment and it is the women's fault that keep nagging and complaining.
Chris and Jane also get married, and they move to Canterbury where Chris has got the land, which was what he was getting from Beit. Jane knows that she doesn't love Chris an dhe doesn't love her either. Here in Canterbury she has no servants, and she wonders how she will learn everything. Then the first morning after their arrival she is surprised to find the Maori welcoming committee, and the women help her with unpacking the trunks and preparing the garden. So she tells Christ that she wants to hire a Maori woman to help her in the house, and Chris says that they need to be careful because they may insult the Maori because some of the women may be pricesses. So he formulates Jane's request in another way, and they are told that they need to talk to the chieftain.
In Nelson Cat loses her job when the New Zealand Company goes bankrupt. She wonders what she will do, and she thinks she could travel north and offer her language skills to the Maori there. Mrs Hansen, the housekeeper, tells her that she may travel with Mrs Robins, who is the woman running the guesthouse where she was staying when she first arrived in Nelson. I wonder what is going to happen to her now. I have the hunch that she and Chris will meet again.
No comments:
Post a Comment