William Wyatt Gill’s Myths and Songs from the South Pacific

Record summary

William Wyatt Gill’s Myths and Songs from the South Pacific records traditions from the Cook Islands and surrounding regions, including accounts of gods, culture heroes, death, the spirit world, and journeys between realms. Published in 1876, it is a useful nineteenth-century source for comparing Pacific cosmologies without treating them as modern paranormal reports. Gill was a missionary, and his selection, translation, Christian framing, and decisions about what counted as myth strongly affect the text. Researchers should compare his versions with later Rarotongan scholarship, language work, and other island-specific records.