A Curious Collection of Voyages. Vol. 9

1761

Shoults Eb 1761 C

London: J. Newberry

On leaving Juan Fernández Islands, Jacob Roggeveen (sometimes Roggewein) sailed west-northwest and on Easter Sunday, 5 April 1722, spied islands which he named Paasch Eyland (Easter Island). After investigating the large stone idols (for which it is now famous) and making contact with locals – not without friction and causing some deaths – the expedition proceeded west, sighting Bora Bora and Maupiti of the Society Islands and most of the Samoan islands. Roggeveen, the last important Dutch explorer in Polynesia, returned to the Dutch East India post of Jepara (on today’s Java) on September 10, 1722. This image portrays two very ‘fashionable’ locals from Easter Island.