The Ancient History of the Maori, his Mythology and Traditions

Published 1887–90, this six-volume compilation of Maori oral literature, with English translations, contains traditions about deities, origins and warfare.

John White (Author)

9781108039628, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 3 November 2011

522 pages, 13 b/w illus.
21.6 x 14 x 3 cm, 0.66 kg

First published between 1887 and 1890, this six-volume work, containing Maori texts with English translations and commentary, and engraved illustrations, was one of the first printed records of the oral traditions of the Maori. The project was commissioned by the New Zealand government in 1879 when it was observed that, due to the introduction of European culture and education, indigenous traditions were in danger of dying out. The material was collected by John White (1826–91), an ethnographer, public servant and writer who had arrived in New Zealand as a boy and first began documenting Maori poetry in the 1840s. Volume 4, published in 1888, focuses especially on the Tainui migration and includes several chapters on Paoa, the legendary ancestor of the Ngatipaoa tribe.

Preface
Introduction
1. Hape-ki-tu-a-rangi
2. Tai-nui
3. The war of Mango
4. Pahau and Karewa
5. Ponga and Puhi-huia
6. Puhi-huia arrives at Tipi-tai
7. Heke-maru
8. Tar-ao and Karewa
9. Hotu-nui
10. Hoto-nui
11. Paoa
12. Paoa
13. Paoa.

Subject Areas: Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography [JHMC]