I decided to consult an authority. Cultural studies professor Bill Pucki (Ngapuhi, Ngai tahu with a light dusting of Scots-Irish) was only too glad to help. He holds a chair at Waikato University and pulls it out from under any Pakeha who tries to sit on it. Over several whiskies, at the student bar, he outlined some of the Maori discoveries and inventions that I was sadly ignorant of.
