Natche, Ou Greande Fete En L'Honneur Du Fils Du Roi De Tongataboo [The natche, a ceremony in honour of the King's son, in Tongtaboo]; [From Plate 22, Troisieme Voyage de Cook, 1785] [Engraved by Robert Bernard]

Paris: Hotel de Thou, 1785. First French Edition. Illustration. Good. John Webber. [Illus. 9.5x18.25in on 10.5x20.25in Sheet] ; Colored Plate No. 22; Some soiling and age toning, closed tears along edges, small damp spot stains on print, vertical fold creases .[Beddie 1556]. John Webber (1752-1793) was the official artist that accompanied Captain Cook on the third voyage of the Resolution and Discovery, 1776-1780. This voyage was to the islands of the Pacific, Australia, the Pacific Northwest America, Alaska, Kamchatka and Hawaii. In Hawaii, Cook was killed in a misunderstanding with the natives at Kealakekua Bay.

From the National Maritime Museum, "Cook was in the Friendly Isles in May of 1777. The ships then went to Tongatapu, Tonga from June 10-July 10, 1777. Tongatapu (also known as Amsterdam) was the largest of the Tongan islands. The most unusal and extraordinary ceremony observed was the Inasi, which took place at Mua from 8-9 July. Its meaning was not fully understood, and the descriptions that Cook and Anderson have left us do not help to make it any less mysterious.