Richard Taylor’s Te Ika a Maui

Record summary

Richard Taylor’s Te Ika a Maui, published in 1855, combines natural history, Māori traditions, biblical comparison, ethnography, and discussion of religious practices. It includes material on atua, tohunga, tapu, creation narratives, and ritual customs, making it a useful source for examining how nineteenth-century missionaries interpreted Māori sacred knowledge. The work also illustrates comparative habits that linked Polynesian traditions to biblical or classical frameworks. Its descriptions are historically valuable but cannot be assumed to preserve indigenous categories without alteration, and some interpretations reflect Victorian theological judgments.