The inside of the house, in the Morai, in Atooi

James Cook's third pacific voyage (1776-1780) visited the island of Atooi (Kauai) in the Sandwich Islands group (Hawaii) in January 1778. This engraving shows the inside of a structure that housed ceremonial objects and, according to Cook's journal, under the rectangle of stones in the foreground, the grave of seven chiefs. The expedition artist John Webber made several studies of this Morai or Burying Place, and a view of the whole site was also turned into an engraving.

The engraving is part of a series of 78 plates, based on some of Webber's many drawings from the voyage, by various engravers. They were first printed as part of an Atlas volume accompanying the journals of the expedition commanders, titled A voyage to the Pacific Ocean, undertaken, by the command of His Majesty, for making discoveries in the northern hemisphere, etc.

The engravings were made, with Webber's assistance, from his original sketches and watercolours, and subjects include Indigenous people, artifacts and views from the Pacific Islands, North America, Alaska and Siberia.