Te Ika a Maui
Or, New Zealand and its Inhabitants, Illustrating the Origin, Manners, Customs, Mythology, Religion, Rites, Songs, Proverbs, Fables, and Language of the Natives

A detailed description of Maori mythology and culture with a discussion of the natural history and geology of New Zealand.

Richard Taylor (Author)

9781108017220, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 26 August 2010

530 pages, 65 b/w illus. 8 colour illus. 1 map
21.5 x 14.2 x 3 cm, 0.7 kg

Reverend Richard Taylor (1805–1873) was an English missionary, who wrote extensively on Maori culture and the plant and animal life of New Zealand. Taylor graduated from Queens' College, Cambridge in 1828 and was ordained as an Anglican priest the same year. After serving as a curate in the Isle of Ely, Taylor was appointed as a missionary to New Zealand for the Church Missionary Society. He arrived in Australia in 1836 and landed in New Zealand in 1839. Taylor quickly became a peacekeeper between the different Maori tribes in his district. This volume, first published in 1855, provides a detailed account of Maori mythology and culture with a description of the plant life, animal life and geology of the North Island. Taylor strongly condemns contemporary (nineteenth-century) attitudes to Maori culture and demonstrates the complexity of their society in this sympathetic book.

Preface
1. Introduction
2. Mythology
3. Mythology continued
4. Tapu
5. Whare-Kura
6. Fishing ceremonies
7. Customs relating to the dead
8. Tinirau
9. Wakatauki, or proverbs
10. Songs
11. Personal ornaments
12. Dreams
13. Amusements
14. Origin, as traced by language
15. History
16. The geology of New Zealand
17. Climate
18. Native chiefs
19. Samuel Marsden
20. Church
21. Hongi
22. Te Rauparaha and Rangihaeata
23. Hone Heke
24. Means of support
25. Natural history
26. Botany
27. Hints to intended emigrants
Appendix
Index.

Subject Areas: Archaeology by period / region [HDD]