The Making of Religion in the Society Islands

Record summary

Teuira Henry’s collected and translated accounts of Tahitian traditions, published posthumously as Ancient Tahiti, preserve material on religion, genealogies, cosmology, voyaging, and social institutions. The work is a key source for examining how Pacific oral traditions were transcribed and converted into historical and comparative-religious evidence. It can illuminate claims about ancient migrations or sacred knowledge without proving every narrated event. Researchers should distinguish Tahitian informants’ traditions from Henry’s editorial organization, translation choices, and the later use of the material in speculative histories.