A Fiatooka or Morai in Tongataboo

This engraving shows what John Webber called in his preparatory sketches A View of a fa'itoka, or Burying Ground. Such ceremonial areas in the islands of Tonga were carefully tended and regarded by the Europeans as picturesque.

The British Admiralty appointed John Webber as the artist on Captain James Cook's third expedition (1776-1780). 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.