An Account of the Voyages Undertaken by the Order of His Present Majesty, For Making Discoveries in the Southern Hemisphere. Vol. III

1773

de Beer Ec 1773 H

London: Printed for W. Strahan and T. Cadell

Cook’s first voyage had the backing of the Royal Society, and funds from patron Sir Joseph Banks, who travelled on board the Endeavour. Banks responded enthusiastically to Tahiti, and the Tahitian women. In fact, on his return (with a tattoo proudly engraved on his arm) he, perhaps more than anyone, shaped British perceptions of Tahiti. Images such as this Greco-classical engraving of a dance inside a house on Ulieta (now Rai’atea of the Society Islands) also played a part in promoting the South Seas as a pleasure resort. The image displayed (after a drawing by Giovanni B. Cipriani) is reversed from the original in the folio edition of Hawkesworth’s Account (1773).