Afia-Too-Ca, A Burying Place in the Isle of Amsterdam

This engraving represents a burial place on the island of Tongatapu in the Pacific. The print caption refers to the island as the “Isle of Amsterdam”, the name given to it by Abel Tasman in the 1640s. Cook landed on the island on 4 October 1773 and stayed for three days. He later visited against from 26–29 June 1774.

Captain James Cook (1728-1779) made three separate voyages to the Pacific (with the ships Endeavour, Resolution, Adventure, and Discovery) and did more than any other voyager to explore the Pacific and Southern Ocean. Cook not only encountered Pacific cultures for the first time, but also assembled the first large-scale collections of Pacific objects to be brought back to Europe. He was killed in Hawaii in 1779.

This is the first of two such engravings.
Mounted in album with PAI3938-PAI4043, PAI4045-PAI4076.; Page 94.

Object Details

ID: PAI4044
Type: Print
Display location: Not on display
Creator: Byrne, William
Places: Unlinked place
Date made: 16 Jul 1776
Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London
Measurements: Sheet: 350 x 523 mm; Plate: 262 x 415 mm
Parts: Atlas to Cook's Voyages Vol I 1773-1777. (Illustrations are from Hawkesworth's 'Voyages to the Southern Hemisphere', all volumes, and Cook [ed. Douglas] 'A Voyage towards the South Pole... ' [1773-75], page 70 onwards) (Album)