The biography of Tupaia, the Polynesian priest, scholar, diplomat, navigator, translator and artist who accompanied Captain James Cook on the Endeavour voyage. Tupaia was an expert local navigator, charting the area for Cook and piloting the Endeavour. Of high social ranking he acted as a diplomatic intermediary, interceding on behalf of the European voyagers with the New Zealand Maori. His explanations of local culture, customs and ceremonies informed Joseph Banks's published descriptions of these first encounters. Tupaia died of illness in Batavia in 1770.