A MISSIONARY VOYAGE TO THE SOUTHERN PACIFIC OCEAN,
performed in the years 1796, 1797, 1798, in the Ship Duff, commanded by Captain James Wilson. Compiled from journals of the officers and the missionaries; and illustrated with maps, charts, and views, drawn by Mr. William Wilson, and engraved by the most eminent artists. With a preliminary discourse on the geography and history of the South Sea islands; and an appendix, including details never before published, of the natural and civil state of Otaheite; by a committee appointed for the purpose by the Directors of the Missionary Society. Published for the benefit of the Society. Pp. [xii]+c+420+[xii](list of subscribers), 6 engraved plates, 7 maps or charts (5 folding, two of which have small closed tears to folds), appendix; med. 4to; rebound in later brown morocco, spine lettered and decorated in gilt between raised bands, boards with double rule border; later endpapers, upper hinge tender, a little early inked marginalia, some offsetting of plates and charts, a couple of small edge chips or tears, a little light foxing and occasional faint soiling; printed by S. Gosnell, for T. Chapman, London, 1799. First edition. F. 301; Hill, 1894. *Wilson's voyage was financed by the newly formed London Missionary Society and was the first missionary voyage to the South Pacific region. The Duff sailed from London on August 10, 1796, via Rio de Janeiro, arriving in Tahiti after 208 days. Seventeen missionaries disembarked there, with a further twelve at Tonga, and one on the Marquesas. The ship proceeded from Tonga through the Fiji and Caroline islands to Canton, discovering en route a new group of islands, named the Duff Group. Following trouble amongst the natives, three of the missionaries on Tonga were killed, and others had to flee to Sydney (although they returned to Tonga in 1815). Several eventually settled in Australia. According to Hill (second edition, p. 671), 'The anonymous editor of the work was Dr. Thomas Haweis, one of the founders of the London Missionary Society. The long "preliminary discourse" was anonymously written by Samuel Greatheed, using the then-unpublished narrative of James Morrison, one of the pardoned Bounty mutineers. Morrison's manuscript was also the source for the extensive appendix on Tahiti. Indeed, William Wilson and James Morrison may be called co-authors of this book.'. Item #156348
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