The Italian engraver, Giovanni Cassini, produced this splendid early view of the Hawaiian Islands as part of his epic three-volume atlas.

This is the only map we have seen embellished with a decorative cartouche, imaginatively illustrating the death of Captain Cook on the island of Hawaii in 1779. Captain Cook's daring voyages and untimely death made this one of the most famous scenes of the late 18th century.

Cassini, who had never been to Hawaii, used Cook's Chart of the Sandwich Islands as a model for his map. His representation of the Hawaiian natives with their feather headdresses is actually more reminiscent of the American Indians. His final faux pas is to show Cook, an English naval officer, in an Italian naval officer's uniform.