George Grey’s Polynesian Mythology

Record summary

George Grey’s Polynesian Mythology, first published in 1855, presents Māori narratives concerning creation, gods, heroes, underworld travel, death, and cosmic order, with Māori-language material and English translation. It is a major nineteenth-century documentary lead for studying apocalyptic journeys and sacred travel in the Pacific, especially episodes involving Māui, Tāwhaki, and the underworld. The book is not a transcript of an untouched oral tradition: Grey selected informants and texts, translated them, and arranged them for a Victorian readership. Later scholarship disputes attribution, textual dating, and the effects of editorial intervention.