The Lore of the Whare-wānanga

This account of Maori traditions, dictated by elders in the 1850s, was published with an English translation in 1913–15.

The Maori texts in this 1913–15 publication were written down over fifty years earlier by W. H. Whatahoro, acting as scribe for senior Maori elders. Whatahoro himself helped prepare the accompanying English translation. Volume 2 covers traditions concerning the origins and early history of the Maori people and their migrations.Stephenson Percy Smith (1840–1922) arrived in New Zealand as a boy, and soon became fascinated by Maori culture. After retiring in 1900 from his career as a government surveyor, Smith devoted himself to the study of the Maori and co-founded the Polynesian Society, which published this two-volume study in 1913–15. The book contains the Maori text of an important body of beliefs and traditions which had been committed to writing over fifty years earlier, when the young W. H. Whatahoro had acted as scribe for a group of senior elders concerned to preserve this ancient and sacred knowledge. Only long afterwards was Whatahoro willing to divulge it to Europeans, and he personally assisted Smith with the translation provided here. Volume 2 focuses on traditions relating to the history and migrations of the Maori people and their arrival in New Zealand in the 'Great Fleet'.