Inscribed, as title, in the lower margin, and signed and dated by the artist below the image l.r., 'W. Ellis fect. 1777'. This is a view of Eua, which is second largest island in the Tongatapu group of Tonga in the south-west Pacific, with a single-masted double-hull canoe sailing into view at lower left. It is a hilly volcanic and limestone island rising to 1,078 feet (329 metres) and has area of 33.7 square miles (87.4 square km). It was first sighted in 1643 by the Dutch navigator Abel Tasman, who named it Middelburg (and Tongatapu itself 'Amsterdam'). Captain Cook called Tonga the 'Friendly Isles' from his reception there on his second Pacific voyage (1772-75). This drawing was made during his last voyage (1776-80), when a group of Tongans seriously planned to kill him and seize his ships, a plot of which he remained unaware after they called it off owing to internal disagreement. This drawing is listed and illustrated as no. 3.66 by Joppien and Smith, 'The Art of Captain Cook's Voyages', vol III (1988). Another version is in the Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu (J&S 3.65, p.329). Both may be based on a third in the Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington (B41/44) once attributed to Ellis but which J&S record as more probably by John Webber. Ellis gives a description of 'Middelburg or Eaoowe' in vol. 1, pp 87-8, of his 1782 account, cited by J&S with the entry on the Honolulu version.

Ellis (1756?-1785) was surgeon's mate in the 'Discovery' on the third voyage. David Samwell, his equivalent in 'Resolution', called him a 'genteel young fellow' and he is thought to have been educated at Cambridge and St Bartholomew's Hospital, London. He was also an amateur artist interested in wildlife - in which he encouraged John Webber, official 'view' artist on the voyage to try his hand with fine results - and who under Webber's guidance himself improved his personal skills in landscape and coastal views. He later presented many if not most of his drawings to Sir Joseph Banks, who also gave him some payment but, under further pressure for money, was then persuaded to publish an account of the voyage in 1782, for 50 guineas. This ruined his naval career since contrary to Admiralty policy before the official version appeared (in 1784). He died in a fall from a mast, at Ostend in 1785, during preparations to sail in the scientific party of an Austrian Pacific expedition. Ellis gives a description of 'Middelburg or Eaoowe' in vol. 1, pp 87-8, of his 1782 account, cited by J&S with the entry on the Honolulu version of this drawing (3.65 p 329). [PvdM 9/18]