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Overview

Gill’s creation account places Tinirau second among the children made from Vari-ma-te-takere’s right side. Like Vatea, he has a human and marine form; the fish portion is described as of the sprat-kind. His domain is Motu-Tapu, the Sacred Isle, with ponds containing many kinds of fish, and his authority extends from sharks downward. A footnote distinguishes the mythic island in the shades from a modern geographical identification at Ngatangiia, Rarotonga.

In the voyage of Ina, daughter of Ngaetua, the Sacred Isle contains salt-water ponds and even a fish-preserve inside Tinirau’s dwelling. Ina beats a wooden drum whose sound reaches him at Pa-enua-kore, No-land-at-all. He returns twice: she first hides behind a curtain, then calls him back with another performance and becomes his wife. She learns that his power supplied the possessing spirit and protection during her voyage. Their children are Koro, also called Koromau-ariki, and Ature. Gill interprets Tinirau’s name as an immense number referring to innumerable fish-spawn; this remains his collected explanation rather than a universal definition.

Fish-filled pondsDistantly audible drumProtection of Ina
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Origins & earliest records

William Wyatt Gill, Myths and Songs from the South Pacific (London: Henry S. King, 1876), I, pp. 4–5; VI: Ina’s Voyage to the Sacred Isle, pp. 88–95. The individual prose narrator is not named in these sections.

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Records & interpretation

Complete selected prose read in digitized primary OCR; publication and printed page headings checked. Illustration pixels not inspected.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

  1. 01

    Myths and Songs from the South Pacific: I, pp. 4–5; VI: Ina’s Voyage to the Sacred Isle, pp. 88–95

    William Wyatt Gill, collector and translator · 1876

    Direct historical collected witness; translation and collector interpretations remain attributed.

Family & connections

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References

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  1. Primary collected textGill 1876, I, pp. 4–5; VI: Ina’s Voyage to the Sacred Isle, pp. 88–95Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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