Story: Ideas about Māori origins

Page from The Maori race (2nd of 2)

Page from The Maori race

As Tregear noted, Māori told of goblins and wild men of the woods, known as mohoao, māero and māeroero. The mohoao was described as ‘a very tall, horrible looking man, having long yellow hair, and with teeth like down-bent tusks at the corners of the mouth’. Although Tregear raised the possibility that these figures could be equated with a pre-Māori people, he was more interested in the psychological origins of belief in such demons.

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Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand
Reference: Edward Tregear, The Maori race. Wanganui: A. D. Willis, 1904, p. 573.

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How to cite this page:

K. R. Howe, 'Ideas about Māori origins - 1840s–early 20th century: Māori tradition and the Great Fleet', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/document/1754/page-from-the-maori-race (accessed 3 May 2024)

Story by K. R. Howe, published 8 Feb 2005