"... Features the earliest illustrations and descriptions of Pacific peoples and cultures as they were observed and recorded on Captain James Cook's third and final Pacific voyage (1776-1780) with HMS Resolution and Discovery. Reproduced are all sixty-one engraved plates made from the artist John Webber's drawings, plus three maps published in the rare folio atlas accompanying the British government's official report, A voyage to the Pacific Ocean (1784) ... The text describing each illustration comes from the meticulous notebooks and detailed journals kept by Cook and his officers -- cartographers, astronomers, artists, and scientists. These records are invaluable in the quest to understand the Pacific in early times. The locales depicted include Hawai'i, Tonga, New Zealand, Tahiti, other regions of the Pacific Northwest and Russia. Webber's drawings provide a pictorial record of each major landfall, including views of landscapes, structures, and people engaged in activities such as entertainment, sporting events and religious ceremonies. An introduction and biographical sketches of artist John Webber and the twenty-five engravers who rendered his drawing are also a part of this volume ..." -- Inside front cover.