 Genealogies, songs, and narratives were written out in full, just as if they were being recited or sung.Many of these early manuscripts have been published, and scholars have access to a great body of material (more than for any other area of the Pacific) containing multiple versions of the great myth cycles known in the rest of Polynesia, as well as of the local traditions pertaining only to New Zealand.A great deal of the best material is found in two books, (The Deeds of the Ancestors), collected by Sir George Grey and translated as "Polynesian Mythology"; and "Ancient History of the Māori" (six volumes), edited by John White.