THE LION OR KAIMATA?

This is one of the most dramatic mountains seen from Blackball. A few of my friends may remember that last year I was experimenting with low-res impressionistic photography. Here’s another of those experiments. What can we call this mountain that’s been smacking my gob since childhood? Although I’ve worked hard to be a wordsmith most of my life, I’ve always felt that it’s a bit of an impertinence to slap a label on something as big, as strong and so beyond us as this peak that humps itself nearly two thousand metres up into the sky. At the same time, whenever I look towards it – which I do every day – I feel a need to name it. The official name on maps is Mount Alexander. I don’t know why. The name used by Blackball people is The Lion. After a snowfall you’ll hear people saying: ‘I see there’s a mane on The Lion today.’ A far older name is Kaimata. The most likely meaning of Kaimata is ‘Raw Food.’ Which must have a story behind it. A group of travellers hundreds of years ago getting a bit desperate because they couldn’t make a fire and found themselves forced to eat things raw that they’d normally eat cooked? I like the fact that the peak has three names. Although Te Pāti Māori argues that only te reo names should be used for maunga – an argument I respect – I disagree. If our species is going to go around naming mighty massifs that are many millions of years old then a certain degree of linguistic instability is, maybe, apt?