On 4 March 1785 the English tourist Dorothy Richardson visited Webber's studio in London and noted there 'three Oil Landscapes, one of them a view in China, another in Otaheite, with a Hut, & a plantation of Cabbage Trees. - Mr Webber excels equally in Oil, & in watercolours...' (Hugh Belsey, 'Some artists' studios described in 1785', in 'Windows on that World: Essays on British Art presented to Brian Allen' [Paul Mellon Centre..., London, 2012], p. 124 citing Richardson's journal in the John Rylands University Library, Manchester).

This painting, signed and dated 1784 (and including part of a 'Hut' or more strictly an East Indies bungalow), is presumed to be the last of these, despite Richardson's wording being a little unclear and the broad-leaved trees probably plantains or bananas: the China view is presumed to be the 'View of Macao' (ZBA7955). Both Macao and Krakatoa were ports of call for 'Resolution' and 'Discovery' on their westward return from Cook's third voyage, following his death in 1779.

The present picture, ZBA7955 and BHC2957 (Poedua) were apparently all painted for the Admiralty - which retained Webber after the voyage to help prepare its publication illustration and do other work for them: all three oils were exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1785. The 'Otaheite' of 1783, probably that seen by Miss Richardson, is in the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney.